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1086 (Lt.-Comm. Chas. Cartwright) was badly hit. But the flotilla forced its way through, and opening a heavy fire with its 6-in. guns at close range on the Turks converted the retreat into a rout, recapturing the " Sumana " and forcing the " Basra," " Pioneer " and " Firefly " aground. 'Asiziya was reached on March i and the Union Jack hoisted at Bagdad on March n 1917. Shortage of river transport was at the root of the British troubles in Mesopotamia, and the failure there and in the Dardanelles was largely due to the glamour of a possible victory concealing the technical difficulties in its path. In Meso- potamia, when these were realized, victory was achieved.

\VHITE SEA AND DVINA

CAMPAIGN 1917 - 1919 (Sketch)

The expedition to Archangel and up the Dvina was of a different nature. It began only in 1918 and survived the war. The closure of the Baltic and the Black Sea had enormously enhanced the importance of the Arctic coast, and a stream of munitions for Russia passed daily along that track. There were two ports there, Murmansk in Kola Bay and Archangel, the former ice free, the latter accessible to ships of 24 ft. from July to October. From Lerwick to Kola Bay was 1,152 m., and from Murmansk a railway was being built to Petrograd, but it was not completed till 1917. Archangel remained the only port of entry on the Russian railway system, and to establish direct telegraphic connexion a cable 1,427 m. long was laid from Peterhead to Murmansk in Jan. 1915. At both ports British patrol flotillas were stationed, but up to 1917 they were engaged only in minesweeping and escort work. In 1917 when Russia collapsed the whole position became precarious. Vast quantities of supplies were lying at Archangel. In 1917 some 600,000 tons of warlike stores had entered the port in addition to 600,000 tons of coal. As it was thought possible that the Germans might send a force against Murmansk, the British cruiser " Cochrane " and the French cruiser " Admiral Aube " were sent in Feb. 1918 to reinforce the old battleship " Glory " there. It was then merely a question of retaining the hold on the coast. By May 1918 the Germans were in Finland, and it was decided to send a force of 600 British and 2,000 other troops to Archangel and 1,500 British and 5,000 others to Murmansk. In June 1918 Sir Eric Geddes arrived, to gain an idea of the situation on the spot. It was then decided by the Supreme War Council to send 5,000 troops to occupy Arch- angel and push on down to Vologda, join hands with Kolchak's force and endeavour to reestablish Russia's resistance to Ger- many. The Archangel force arrived at the end of June 1918. The cruisers " Admiral Aube," "Attentive" and " Nairana " {aircraft carrier) pushed on to Archangel, and the town was occupied with little resistance on Aug. 2 1918.

The campaign resolved itself into the Allied troops (French and British) under Gen. Poole advancing up the railway, which ran 400 m. to the southward to Vologda, in conjunction with a flotilla working on the river Dvina. The latter consisted of two monitors, M23 and M25, four Russian river gun-boats, and two Russian motor-launches, under Capt. Ed. Altham. Beresniki, some 200 HI. from- Archangel, was reached on Sept. 3 1918, and the enemy were driven up the river, but by Oct. 19 the flotilla had to retire when the river began to freeze.

The campaign survived the war. In March 1919 it was decided to withdraw all forces from the N., and the North Russian Relief Force, consisting of a couple of brigades, was sent in May 1919 to facilitate the retirement. The flotilla now consisted of 6 monitors (M23, 25, 26, 27, 31, 33), four Chinese gunboats (" Glowworm," " Cockchafer," " Cicala," "Cricket" 2 6-in., 2 3-in., 6 maxims), four minesweepers and six coastal motor-boats, and a last push was made up the river in June. Then suddenly the plans at home were altered. It was proposed that Gen. Ironsides should push up the Dvina to Kot- las, 200 m. above Beresniki, through stretches of river little known and with little more than 3^ ft. of water. But at the end of June the river commenced to fall. By July 7 there was only 4 ft. of water between Archangel and Beresniki. The general's hope of reaching Kotlas fell with the river. His Russian troops mutinied, and it was only the arrival of the relief force which saved the situation. The flotilla gradually fell down the river, blowing up M25 and M27, which could not be got down in time. By Sept. 27 1919 the evacuation was complete, leaving N. Russia to the Bolsheviks and winter.

In conjunction with Capt. Cyril Fuller's expedition in Came- roon, these two river expeditions supply an almost inexhaustible store of experience in river warfare. The work of the navy in the latter expedition consisted in the sweeping of the Duala estuary and the establishment of a base, the clearance of the enemy from its tortuous and narrow creeks, the transport of the military up the various branches of the river, and the seizure of the port of Victoria, Nov. 14 1914, on the coast. The vessels which took part in it were the " Cumberland " (Capt. C. M. Fuller), " Challenger " (Capt. C. P.Beatty Pownall), the gunboat " Dwarf " (Comm. F. E. Strong, 2 4-in., 4 i2-pdr.), the "Ivy," a Nigerian vessel, and a number of smaller craft. Duala was occupied by Sept. 27, when eight of the Woermann line were captured, and though the final surrender did not take place till Feb. 28 1916, the colony was virtually captured by the end of 1914.

Things did not go so happily in E. Africa. Early in Aug. 1914 the German governor at Dar es Salaam had agreed to regard the ships there as British prizes, but when the boats of the " Goliath " and " Fox " entered the harbour on Nov. 28 1914, to disable them, a heavy fire was opened in total dis- regard of the governor's agreement. Comm. Peel Ritchie was severely wounded in bringing the boats out of harbour, and won a V.C. Far inland on Lake Tanganyika two motor- launches, the " Mimi " and " Tou-tou," arrived in Dec. 1915, and after an action with the German craft secured British communications there. They were under Comm. Spicer Simson, who brought them all the way from the Cape by land, a long journey of 2,000 miles. Early in 1916 another German ship managed to get out of the North Sea, and in March slipped into Sudi, a port in the south of the colony, bringing von Lettow Vorbeck, the German military commander, an in- valuable cargo of munitions and stores, which enabled him to continue the campaign.

The coastline of German E. Africa remained in the enemy's hands till June 1916, when Tanga was occupied by the cruisers " Talbot " and " Severn." Bagamoyo was occupied by the old battleship " Vengeance " and the cruiser " Challenger " on Aug. 15 1916, and by the end of Sept. Rear-Adml. Edward Charlton, with his flag flying in the " Vengeance," could report the whole coastline in British hands. But in the interior fight- ing dragged on till the Armistice.

In Sept. 1918 there came news of the last German raider, the " Seeadler " (Capt. von Luckner), which left Bremen on