Evening Republican, Volume 20, Number 238, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 4 October 1916 — BRITISH PILE UP SHELLS AT BASRA [ARTICLE]

BRITISH PILE UP SHELLS AT BASRA

End German Dream Of Proposed Terminus of Berlin-Bagdad Railway Line; CAPTURED SHIPS HI TIGRIS Simple Possession of the River Tigris Is Sufficient to Control the Population for Many Miles Inland. " General Headquarters Mesopotamian Expeditionary Force, Basra.—The culmination of Germany’s immediate eastern aspirations’ was”the" creattonof Basra as the Persian gnlf terminus -of the Berlin-Bagdad railway system, writes Louis Edgar Browne in the Chicago News. The Germans In their wildest dreams could hardly have imagined Basra as it Is today. It is the headquarters and main base for British operations in Mesopotamia. The term “base” has come to mean a place where thousands of troops are encamped in glistening white tents, carefully arranged In rows and blocks with military precision; mountains of food stores for the men and fodder for the animals; hospitals and headquarters and dispatch riders dashing about as though the angel of death were after them. Basra is all that and more. Never was there a more unique campaign than this one, where there Is etery contrast between east and west. ——

The Tigris is all Important in the campaign. It is fickleness personified, It floods, subsides and spreads cholera with absolute impartiality. Hardly two engagements out of all the furious encounters that have marked the steady progress of British troops up the river have occurred more than eight miles from its banks. The British objective has been to take possession of the river. The Turks have tried only to hold It. Simple possession ot the rlvfif Is sufficient to control the population for many miles inland. - ;j British Ships Everywhere. One stands on the army commander’s pier and realizes that Britain does control the seas. As far as one can see, either up or down the river, there are ocean-going ships tugging at anchor chains drawn taunt as bow strings by the swift current. The ships are anchored one behind the other in a long column. They hail from many corners of the earth and among their cargoes one may find everything from a big howitzer shell to a skein of embroidery for some Arab harem. The ships are nearly all British. They fly one of the varied designs of the British flag. It may be the white ensign of the royal navy or the red ensign of the mercantile fleet or the blue ensign with India’s rising sun or the Australian flag with its four stars depicting the southern cross. Every day a few ships draw Into midstream and with half exposed propellers thrash their way toward the sea. They have before them a terrible tossing about by the Arabian sea monsoon, but even at that they must be thankful to the depths of their souls. Basra is all that is vile. The very air one breathes is rank poison. The tem-

the rlyer. It will go higher. The shore Is a smelling swamp where dangerous mosquitoes breed by billions. Heat apoplexydiangs over every man’s head like a sword suspended by a thread. Cholera comes in the night. Tried to Block Channel. A funnel top, a jumble of topmasts and a few shreds of loose cordage snapping in the breeze bear mute evidence of the way the Turks attempted to block the river. British monitors were pressing close upon the retreating Turkish army, hurling high explosive shells into its rear guard. The Turkish admiral hurriedly threw three ships across the river and scuttled them. The middle -ship was a fine German liner containing cargo. The British contemplate salvaging her. The others were smaller ships —one a light ship and the other a small steamer. The plan was admirable, but it was engineered with characteristic Turkish inefficiency, and the small steamer on the right swung clear of the channel and fouled the liner before she sank. The Turks are a bit superstitious about the Tigris and they declare the river foiled their plans becalise it dld SSt wish to bore through the river bank to form a new channel, which It would have done had the admiral been successful. ■ Anchored in the stream is great black ship, with a golden star and the letters “P. S. S.” painted on fcer funnel. The letters translate “prize steamship.” I have seen so many prize steamships in the East that it seems as though British captures of Germany's mercantile marine must compensate largely for her losses through Germany’s submarine campaign. The prizes still retain their German names, probably for the purpose of identification, although they fly the red ensign and are operated by government crews. ? ' ' .