was moved to the front in preparation for the British advance. Stations "A" through to "H" were Australian, while Stations "I" to "L" were New Zealand. The mobile Anzac stations allowed the commander of the British forces, General Frederick Stanley Maude, direct control over columns of cavalry out on operations. The column commanders were required to report via the wireless stations, to Maude every hour. The stations achieved reliable communications by using a series of relays, in which the rear most station would dismantle the moment the foremost station began to transmit. Although the rear station usually had a cavalry escort while it caught up with the main column, sometimes it had to depend on itself for protection. Stations "A" and "F" were on interception duties, while stations "B" and "E" were at the headquarters of the two British corps. The British offensive began on the night of 13 December with a short thrust across the desert to the Shatt al-Hayy, a channel connecting the Tigris and Euphrates Rivers. The cavalry reached the channel by dawn and began advancing towards the Tigris. During this advance 'G' station came under fire from a Turkish monitor on the river and it and the cavalry were forced to withdraw back to the channel. Between January and February, a series of infantry attacks cleared the Turks from the right bank of the Tigris river. During this period, the wireless stations supported the cavalry, who conducted raids, screened artillery movements and tried to outflank the Suwaikiya marshes, a wide flanking maneuver which failed due to torrential rains. Kut fell on 23 February 1917 and the cavalry was ordered to cross the Tigris and cut off the retreating Turks. The Turkish rear-guard managed to check the pursuit of the cavalry, who were now too tired to cut off the Turks. However, British gunboats on the Tigris caught up with the retreat on the 26th and forced the Turks to abandon many gunboats, barges, land transport, ammunition and money. The cavalry entered Aziziyeh, north of Kut on 29 February, where it was forced to break off the pursuit for a week while it waited for supplies. Fall of Baghdad On 5 March 1917, Maude moved on Baghdad, but was checked on the Diyala River. Maude shifted a column to try to turn the Turkish left. The commander of the Turkish forces, Khalil Pasha, shifted his forces away