What a pleasure to get on shore again! At such a moment a regiment is almost like a boy's school let out after hours; everyone was in high fettle and pleased, our long journey was nearing its end, and very soon we would be relieving General Townshend who had been locked up in Kut since December 5th.
By three o'clock all were ashore and an attack on an imaginary enemy was practised, and of course victory achieved; but on returning to the river, it was found that the boats had moved up a mile or so, and tired and weary the Regiment had to go in search of them, and to add to the discomfort the rain started to come down, so that by the time everyone was on board again at seven-thirty it was dark and the men were wet, and a very subdued regiment ate their evening meal in comparison to the high spirits of earlier in the afternoon. However, very soon it would be good-bye to the boats for good, as it was expected that the following day we should land at Ali-el-Gharbi.
CHAPTER III
The 2nd Battalion disembarked at Ali-el-Gharbi, one hundred and eighty miles from Basrah. The ground was little better than a bog from the rain of the previous day; with very little rain the whole countryside seems to become a quagmire. The mud is about the most slippery kind to be found anywhere, so that walking is made most difficult. The first work was to unload the barges. All the kit, supplies, and tents had to be taken ashore as we were leaving the boats for good and were now in a hostile country. The unloading is a tedious business and one of the most tiring of fatigues, but when the whole of a regiment is put on to it the work is soon finished. That night No. 1 Company was on Out-Post duty and the rest slumbered.
The following morning broke fine and sunny, as so often happens in this country after wet and miserable evenings. The clouds roll up during the night and the morning is such that one feels it is good to be alive. There was a sharpness in the air that made it almost impossible to think that in a few months' time this country would be proving itself to be the hottest in the world. The orders were to be up at dawn and start immediately after breakfast. Part of the Brigade transport was of camels, but the camels getting out of hand disappeared into the desert and the start had to be made without them. It is a fascinating picture to see a long line of camels in single file starting off on a voyage across the desert. But this misadventure had delayed matters and the heat after midday was very trying for marching although in the distance one could see the snow on the higher summits of the Pusht-i-kuh Mountains which form the dividing line between Persia and Turkey. From an aeroplane the picture of the Tigris flowing through this flat country with all its numerous twists and turns must resemble a huge snake. A short halt was made in the middle of the day for lunch, and a final halt was not called till within five miles of Sheikh-Saad, and a distance of twenty-two miles had been covered, not bad work, considering the Regiment had just landed after being cooped up for a month on transports and river boats. But everyone was dead tired and exhausted and No. 1 Company was pleased that they had provided the Out-Posts the previous night, and that it was the turn of No. 2 to do duty. General Younghusband with part of his division had moved out and engaged the enemy, and that night we could see the flashes of the guns and hear the constant rattle of musketry. At break of day General Aylmer, the Corps Commander, rode out past us to the advanced force, but it was not till after nine o'clock that our Brigade advanced some five miles and lay down to await orders. The orders were clear and promised success. One Brigade was to deal with the Turks on the right bank of the Tigris, one Brigade was to hold his forces near the left bank, while a third, with ours in immediate support, was to make the decisive attack on the enemy's left flank. This Brigade and ours therefore manœuvred to the right for position. Before we had taken sufficient ground to our right, fresh orders arrived directing both Brigades to counter-march back and attack the centre of the enemy's line, against which the Brigade on our left was already moving. Instant action was demanded and instantly the 2nd Battalion and a battalion of Jats moved forward to the attack. No time was given for the issue of orders, no frontage or direction was given, no signal communication was arranged. To all enquiries the one answer was given "Advance where the bullets are thickest" and right there did the 2nd Battalion advance. Magazines were charged and bayonets fixed on the move; the companies moved with great rapidity and wonderful exactness considering the exhausting march of the day before and the little practice they had had in open warfare. But without covering fire, and there was little artillery fire available to cover our attack such an attack over bare open plain cannot succeed unless the enemy be few in numbers or of poor heart. The Turk was neither weak nor faint-hearted, and poured in so deadly a fire that before the leading lines were within 200 yards of the enemy, five hundred of the battalion had been killed or wounded. Other units suffered with almost equal severity, the attack came to an inevitable halt, there were no reserves to drive it home, consequently orders were sent up from the Brigade that the infantry should dig themselves in where they were. Nineteen officers and two-thirds of the men had been hit: Colonel Wauchope was severely wounded by a shell and Major Hamilton Johnstone took over command.
THE PIPE BAND.
CORPORAL MCLEOD.
THE PIPE BAND.
OUR LEFT FLANK AT SAN-I-YAT, THE TIGRIS.
CAPT. HALDANE INSPECTS THE HANNAH TRENCHES.
AT MOHAMMERAH.
But if our losses were heavy and the sufferings great, the Turk had also suffered so heavily at our hands, that he was forced to evacuate his position on the following day, and we occupied it on the 9th. The situation was one of extreme difficulty for the new Commanding officer. If there were few men left there were still fewer officers or sergeants remaining with much experience. Yet the Turks were close to our trenches and re-organisation of the depleted platoons imperative. But his indomitable spirit and the determination within the regiment, so often shown at times of crisis, made the hardest tasks possible. The wounded were brought back, the dead buried; rations were got forward and the trenches securely held. New leaders were appointed, and on January 10th when the Brigade moved forward from Sheikh-Saad the Battalion had been reformed under its well-loved commander, ready as always to do whatever duty lay before.
Progress was made up the river bank slowly, but always in the direction of Kut, the aim and object of our every march and fight at this period. The enemy had retreated some miles and, on January 13th, they were attacked and driven out of their position on the Wadi, the 2nd Battalion playing a small but successful part in this action and losing 34 men. The Turks then fell back on to a more strongly entrenched position at Hannah.
The rainy season was now in full swing. It rained day after day and the whole country became sodden, making it very difficult to move troops and almost impossible to move artillery. The discomfort the men suffered is almost indescribable, with no tents and everyone chronically wet to the skin and unable to have properly cooked food, made a seemingly hopeless position; but it is wonderful how hardship and discomforts are forgotten at the thought of beleaguered comrades in need of help and, as the country dried up and the sun shone forth, the men's spirits rose. On the eighteenth the 2nd Battalion had orders again to move forward. They did so and occupied a line of trenches about two thousand yards off the enemy, who were strongly entrenched in what is now known as the Hannah position. The whole country here, it must be understood, is absolutely flat, only in the distance twenty or thirty miles away one could see the snow-clad Pusht-i-kuh Mountains. Each night short advances were