At the time, Townshend reported meeting some stiff resistance from the Ottomans, but predicted that his men would advance rapidly once they had broken into the open country, which he stated would happen soon, further adding that a KCB was the greatest military honour that would please both himself and his family. Townshend was encouraged in his optimism as he had seriously underestimated the Ottoman numbers, believing he was faced with less than 10,000 Ottomans when he in fact he was going up against more than 20,000. After Neuve Chapelle, Loos and Gallipoli, the government was looking desperately for a success and the Prime Minister H. H. Asquith after seeing Townshend's advance was more than inclined to believe in the reports of Nixon and Townshend that they would soon take Baghdad, giving his approval out of the hope that taking Baghdad would at long last give his government a victory. As the general in charge of the only victorious campaign for the Allies in the fall of 1915, the campaign in Mesopotamia had acquired a massive degree of media attention that tended to overrate the importance of taking Baghdad, and with journalists writing articles predicting the coming fall of Baghdad, Townshend found himself "riding a wave" that he "could not get off".