LAND AND WATER. 
January 27, 1916. 
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II 
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The second movement is of the Russians in 
Persia at B B. 
They have advanced also along the only road 
to be discovered for many days' marching in those 
regions, the road from Teheran to Bagdad. They 
have tiken the town of Hamadan, crossed the 
mountain ridge called the Alvvan and come down 
to the plain of Kangawar upon the further side. 
A German wireless affirms that the Turks have 
retaken the town of Kangawar itself and pushed 
up to the roots of the Alwan mountains, retaking, 
for instance, the village of Assadabad immediately 
at their feet. At any rate, the limits of the 
Russian attack, so far, is marked roughly by this 
short and steep Alwan mountain range. 
Finally, there is, of course, south of Bagdad, 
the British force coming up the Tigris with the 
object of relieving the original Expedition now 
encircled by the Turks at Kut-el-Amara. 
Now the nerve of all this business, the 
channel of communications which, if it be main- 
tained, certainly gives the enemy a superiority 
in Mesopotamia both in numbers and munitions 
against anything that is likely to come against it, 
is the so-called Bagdad railwaj'. 
We must estimate the value of any move- 
ment made, whether by the Russians or by our- 
selves in terms of that avenue of communication. 
Let us first of all see how the Bagdad railway 
at present stands. 
We have, of course, no public information 
upon the limits it has reached at this moment, 
but it is to be presumed that the rail stands much 
as is suggested upon Sketch II. 
The railway was, at the moment when the war 
broke out, in process of completion by work done 
from both ends. It has been pushed forward 
from the Aleppo end eastward and also northward 
and westward from the Bagdad end. It had from 
the Aleppo end reached and passed the river 
Euphrates and was being pushed eastward. We 
may well imagine that in the long interval of time 
since war broke out everything has been done to 
extend it. It is almost certainly workable as far 
as Raslain and quite possibly as far as Nisi bin. 
At the other end it extends up to the Tigris, 
at least as far as Samarra, probably to Tekrit, 
and may even possibly have already reached 
the point above Shoreimieh, where the Tigris 
passes through narrows between higher ground 
upon either side. The extension, however, up 
the river is not here so \-ery important because, 
especially at this season, the river itself is an 
excellent avenue of communicat'on. The real 
breach in continuity to the Turkish armies in 
Mesopotamia at this moment is between Ras-el-Ain 
(or possibly Nisibin) and Mosul. Along that 
stretch a road is already in existence which has 
been undoubtedly of importance to the enemy 
in the last few months. 
There are no very appreciable difficulties, no 
sharp contours and no peculiarities of soil that would 
interfere with its rapid construction and main- 
tenance. And the whole distance is no more than 
200 miles at the most, at the least 130 to 140 
miles, say three weeks to a fortnight's marching, 
with the exception of certain very heavy munition- 
ment. The gap is not so serious as comment in 
this country sometimes regards it. And we may 
take it that the Turkish armies, whose main 
business it is to maintain a position in Mesopo- 
tamia, and particularly Bagdad, are in fairly 
rapid touch with their distant bases. 
Now the threat to that central nerve upon 
which the whole depends is extremely remote. 
The Russians advancing upon Krzerum are 20c 
miles away with the enormous mass of the 
Armenian Taurus between them. The Russians 
ou Lake Van are much nearer, but with the very 
worst of the mountains in front of them, and no 
sort of good road whereby they can advance. 
The Russians on the Persian side are com- 
paratively few in number. There is here again at 
least 200 miles between their present ])osition 
and Bagdad. And, moreover, the whole tangle 
of mountains, the escarpment which has from 
tmie immemorial politically separated the plateau 
of Persia from the Plains of Mesopotamia, the 
heights to which Persia owes its national existence 
and history, stand between. 
