. British campaigns in the nearer East, 1914-1918. condition, but what else was there for it ? At the outset there was little opposition. Onlyskirmishing parties of the enemy were met with. Thedistance to Aziziya was speedily covered. From thatpoint, half-way to Bagdad, the real defence informations, previously received, had declared,the Turks were found concentrated at Laj. Behindthem, within easy distance up the river, they hadthe fortified position at Ctesiphon to fall back enemy at Laj was attacked (November 21) anddislodged. Having occupied Laj, Townshend, after the brie
. British campaigns in the nearer East, 1914-1918. condition, but what else was there for it ? At the outset there was little opposition. Onlyskirmishing parties of the enemy were met with. Thedistance to Aziziya was speedily covered. From thatpoint, half-way to Bagdad, the real defence informations, previously received, had declared,the Turks were found concentrated at Laj. Behindthem, within easy distance up the river, they hadthe fortified position at Ctesiphon to fall back enemy at Laj was attacked (November 21) anddislodged. Having occupied Laj, Townshend, after the briefestpossible delay, pushed on to Ctesiphon. It was impor-tant to anticipate the arrival of enemy reinforcementsknown to be on the way. Ctesiphon, not more than 16 miles—one days longmarch—from Bagdad, is not a town or village, but thesite of the ancient city marked by mounds covering itsruins. Nothing but the Arch of Ctesiphon remainsto attest bygone importance. There is, hard by thesite, a wretched hamlet called Bustan, but the existence 120. [To face page 120. MESOPOTAMIA: THE ADVANCE TO KUT of these few mud huts by the riverside served merelyto emphasise the surrounding sohtude. It is littlecause for wonder that in this lonely land, as vast as it isunoccupied, the Indian soldiers, as they marched deeperinto its recesses, looked over their shoulders. From the enemys point of view the position atCtesiphon was well chosen. Besides affording a certainvantage of observation, the mounds lent themselves tothe construction of defence works, and gave somecover for the guns. It would not be easy to attackfrom the river because just below the position thereis a sharp bend which would have to be negotiated, ifat all, under a concentrated fire. And on the oppositeside of the great waterway also there is a tongue of land,long and narrow and marked off from the adjacentcountry by the ancient bed of the river, which had hereages ago formed an acute loop. The modern courseof the river cu
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