Page:Turkey, the great powers, and the Bagdad Railway.djvu/311

 mountains by mule-back, wagon, or automobile, and then reloaded on cars south or north of the unfinished tunnels. To remedy these deficiencies, herculean efforts were made by Germans and Turks during 1915 to improve the service on existing lines and to hurry the completion of the Bagdad Railway. Locomotives and other rolling stock were shipped to Turkey, and German railway experts coöperated with the military authorities in utilizing transportation facilities to the best advantage. In September, 1915, the Bagtché tunnel was pierced; and although through service to Aleppo was not inaugurated until October, 1918, a temporary narrow-gauge line was used, during the interim, to transport troops and matériel through the tunnel. Commenting on the importance of the Bagtché tunnel, the American Consul General at Constantinople wrote: "With its completion the most serious difficulties connected with the construction of the Bagdad Railway have been overcome, and the work of connecting up many of the isolated stretches of track may be expected to be completed with reasonable rapidity. In spite of delays occasioned by the war, this most important undertaking in railway construction in Turkey has passed the problematical stage and is now certain to become an accomplished fact in the near future."[18]

The effects of German assistance to Turkey soon made themselves apparent. Field Marshal von der Goltz, commanding a reënforced and reinvigorated Ottoman army, supported by German artillery, compelled General Townshend to abandon hope of occupying Bagdad and to fall back toward Basra. By December 5, 1915, Townshend's army was besieged in Kut-el-Amara; and although the Turks failed to take the town by storm, they did not fail to beat off every Russian and British force sent to the relief of the beleaguered troops. About the same time, December 10, evacuation of the Dardanelles was begun,