ABSTRACT
Sannaiyat, or Falahiyeh, as the position was called in Baghdad, had become a familiar name all over the world for more than a year. There was no village there, not even a mud hut; but the Arabs attach place-names to featureless stretches of country where they graze their herds by the river bank. The Turks neglected to hold it during Townshend’s advance, and entrenched a few miles back in the inferior and more extended position at Sinn. But in the interval between Ctesiphon and advance from Ali Gharbi in January, 1916, someone, possibly old von der Goltz himself, recognised Sannaiyat as the only strong position between Basra and Baghdad. For weeks before the attack the Turks had suffered many bombardments which had not been followed up by an assault. In the face of disaster the Turkish Commander kept his head and held up 3rd Corps and cavalry all through the 24th while the Sannaiyat troops were getting away.
