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Show BRITISH TROOPS TAKE MORE TOWNS IN MESOPOTAMIA LONDON, March 31, 3:55 p. m. British forces in Mesopotamia advancing advanc-ing to the north of Bagdad have occupied occu-pied the town of Kalaat Felujah and the areas of Deltawah and Sindiyah and Sheraban, according to an official statement state-ment issued today oy the British press bureau. The British troops, the statement adds, were now confronted by the remnants rem-nants of the Turkish army which retreated re-treated from Kut-el-Amara, which were reinforced by fresh unit6 near Deltawah and Zindyah. The statement reads: Since March 19 our forces operating oper-ating to the north and northeast of Bagdad have been actively engaged iu pressing back the enemy troops still remaining in this area and generally gen-erally securing and consolidating the positions. In the course of their converging movement toward Khanikin (on the Persian border 100 miles north of Bagdad) our own and advancing Russian columns encountered considerable con-siderable difficulties, the former due to the number of small canals and rivers, most of which had to be bridged and the latter owing to snow and the devastation of the country by retreating Turks and the formidable obstacle offered by the position at Paitak pass. In this , direction considerable Turkish forces were encountered by our troops. The enemy has opposed strenuous resistance, in the course of which we inflicted very severe losses upon him and captured a considerable consider-able number of prisoners besides quantities of foodstuffs and supplies. sup-plies. On March 23 we occupied Shahro-ban Shahro-ban (Sheraban) after lively fighting fight-ing on the out-skirts of the town. On the 25th there was severe fighting on the Diala river about Jebel Hamrin (a range of hills stretching north of the Diala river to the Tigris) and in the direction of Kizil Bobat (twenty miles south of Khanikin), the enemy being heavily punished. Deltawah and Zindyah, rich and productive areas some thirty-five miles north of Bagdad, are now occupied oc-cupied by our forces, who are con fronted by remnants of the enemy defeated at Kut-el-Amara, which have been reinforced by freah units. Falluja.h (Kalaat Felujah), thirty-six miles west of Bagdad on the Euphrates, was occupied March 19, the Turkish force offering little or no opposition and retreating in the direction of Hit, sixty miles to the northwest. The Turkish town of Sheraban is on the Diala river sixty miles northeast of Bagdad. It is about thirty miles from the Persian border, towards which the Russian forces in the province of Ker-manshah Ker-manshah are advancing from Kerind. Some 150 miles further north another Russian army has crossed the Persian frontier into the Turkish province of Mosul. Kalaat Felujah is situated on the left bank of the Euphrates river about fifty miles west of Bagdad. |