Page 188 - Gertrude Bell (H.V.F.Winstone)

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Gertrude arrived in India at the nadir of the allies’ fortunes in the
war. The appalling casualty lists from the Western and Russian
fronts and the tactical stalemate of the European campaigns gave
the public of the allied powers no hint of relief from their
sacrifices. Now the Dardanelles were closed and only the long
Arctic route to Russia remained open. The great hero of the
British public Lord Kitchener was in disgrace, having been told
that the new Chief of the General Staff Sir William Robertson
would henceforth have direct access to the Cabinet and War
Committee and that he, Kitchener, would have no further say in
strategic matters. Sir Henry McMahon carried on his negotiations
with the wily Sharif of Mecca in an effort to raise an Arab rebellion
in return for the stewardship of practically all Arabia and a sum
of £225,000 a month from Britain. In Mesopotamia, the capture
of Basra, the advance through marsh and swamp to Nasiriyah on
the Euphrates and Amara on the Tigris, and the capture of Kut-
al-Amara, the little township in a bend of the Tigris about 300
miles from Basra, had provided the only comfort for Press and
public of the Allied Powers in 1915. The commander of the
assault on Kut, General Sir Charles V. F. Townshend, issued a
statement on September 28th, 1915 which said: ‘The battle of
Kut-al-Amara may be said to be one of the most important in the
history of the British army in India.’ There had, he said, been
‘nothing of its magnitude either in the Afghan War or the
Mutiny’, for it was fought against troops ‘equally well armed and
of equal numbers to ourselves’. His remarks were reported glee­
fully and gratefully, and the high command began to entertain a
grander strategy in Mesopotamia. The Turks were in retreat.
Baghdad, showpiece of the second Arab Empire, a name which