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diff --git a/.gitattributes b/.gitattributes new file mode 100644 index 0000000..6833f05 --- /dev/null +++ b/.gitattributes @@ -0,0 +1,3 @@ +* text=auto +*.txt text +*.md text diff --git a/17584-8.txt b/17584-8.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..d581bf6 --- /dev/null +++ b/17584-8.txt @@ -0,0 +1,4887 @@ +The Project Gutenberg EBook of Letters from Mesopotamia, by Robert Palmer + +This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with +almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + + +Title: Letters from Mesopotamia + +Author: Robert Palmer + +Release Date: January 23, 2006 [EBook #17584] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1 + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK LETTERS FROM MESOPOTAMIA *** + + + + +Produced by David Clarke, Sankar Viswanathan, and the +Online Distributed Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net +(This file was produced from images generously made +available by The Internet Archive/Canadian Libraries) + + + + + + + + + + LETTERS FROM MESOPOTAMIA + + + IN 1915 AND JANUARY, 1916, + FROM ROBERT PALMER, WHO + WAS KILLED IN THE BATTLE OF + UM EL HANNAH, JUNE 21, 1916 + AGED 27 YEARS + + + + _PRINTED FOR PRIVATE CIRCULATION ONLY_ + + * * * * * + + _He went with a draft from the 6th Hants to reinforce the + 4th Hants. The 6th Hants had been in India since November, + 1914._ + + * * * * * + + + War deemed he hateful, for therein he saw + Passions unloosed in licence, which in man + Are the most evil, a false witness to + The faith of Christ. For when by settled plan, + To gratify the lustings of the few, + The peoples march to battle, then, the law + + Of love forgotten, men come out to kill + Their brothers in a hateless strife, nor know + The cause wherefor they fight, except that they + Whom they as rulers own, do bid them so. + And thus his heart was heavy on the day + That war burst forth. He felt that men could ill + + Afford to travel back along the years + That they had mounted, toiling, stage by stage-- + --A year he was to India's plains assigned + Nor heard the spite of rifles, nor the rage + Of guns; yet pondered oft on what the mind + Experiences in war; what are the fears, + + And what those joys unknown that men do feel + In stress of fight. He saw how great a test + Of manhood is a stubborn war, which draws + Out all that's worst in men or all that's best: + Their fiercest brutal passions from all laws + Set free, men burn and plunder, rape and steal; + + Or all their human strength of love cries out + Against such suffering. And so he came + In time to wish that he might thus be tried, + Partly to know himself, partly from shame + That others with less faith had gladly died, + While he in peace and ease had cast a doubt, + + Not on his faith, but on his strength to bear + So great a trial. Soon it was his fate + To test himself; and with the facts of war + So clear before him he could feel no hate, + No passion was aroused by what he saw, + But only pity. And he put all fear + + Away from him, terming it the offspring + Of an unruly mind. Like some strong man + Whom pygmies in his sleep have bound with threads + Of twisted cobweb, and he to their plan + Is captive while he sleeps, but quickly shreds + His bonds when he awakes and sees the thing + + That they have bound him with. His faith and will + Purged all evil passions from his mind, + And left there one great overmastering love + For all his fellows. War taught him to find + That peace, for which at other times he strove + In vain, and new-found friendship did fulfil + + His thoughts with happiness. Such was the soul + That he perfected, ready for the call + Of his dear Master (should it to him come), + Scornful of death's terrors, yet withal + Loath to leave this life, while still was some + Part of the work he dreamed undone, his goal + + As yet unreached. There was for such an one + A different work among those given, + Who've crossed the border of eternity + In youthful heedlessness,--as unshriven + Naked souls joined the great fraternity + O' the dead, while yet their life was just begun ... + + And so he went from us unto his task, + For all our life is as it were a mask + That lifteth at our death, and death is birth + To higher things than are upon this earth. + + L.P. + + * * * * * + + +FLASHMAN'S HOTEL, +RAWAL PINDI. +_April 25th, 1915._ + +TO HIS MOTHER. + +They are calling for volunteers from Territorial battalions to fill +gaps in the Persian Gulf--one subaltern, one sergeant, and thirty men +from each battalion. So far they have asked the Devons, Cornwalls, +Dorsets, Somersets and East Surreys, but not the Hampshires. So I +suppose they are going to reserve us for feeding the 4th Hants in case +they want casualties replaced later on. Even if they come to us, I +don't think they are likely to take me or Luly, because in every case +they are taking the senior subaltern: and that is a position which I +am skipping by being promoted along with the three others: and Luly is +a long way down the list. But of course I shall volunteer, as there is +no adequate reason not to; so I thought you would like to know, only +you mustn't worry, as the chance of my going is exceedingly remote: +but I like to tell you everything that happens. + + * * * * * + +Four months after he wrote this, in August, 1915, Robert was on leave +at Naini Tal, with Purefoy Causton, a brother officer. + + * * * * * + + +MÉTROPOLE HOTEL, +NAINI TAL. + +_August 3rd_, 1915. + +TO HIS MOTHER. + +It has been extremely wet since I last wrote. On Saturday we could do +nothing except laze indoors and play billiards and Friday was the +same, with a dull dinner-party at the end of it. It was very nice and +cool though, and I enjoyed those two days as much as any. + +On Sunday we left Government House in order to be with Guy Coles +during his three days' leave. + +It rained all the morning: we went to Church at a spikey little chapel +just outside Government House gate. It cleared about noon and we +walked down to the Brewery, about three miles to meet Guy. When he +arrived we had lunch there and then got ponies. + +We had arranged to take Guy straight to a picnic with a nice Mrs. +Willmott of Agra, who comes here for the hot weather. So we rode up +past the lake and to the very top of Agarpatta, one of the humps on +the rim of hills. It took us over two hours, and the mist settled in +just as we arrived, about 5, so we picnicked chillily on a misty +mountain-top; but Mrs. Willmott and her sister are exceptionally nice +people, so we all enjoyed it. They have two small children and a lady +nurse for them. I never met one before, but it is quite a sensible +plan out here. + +We only got back to this Hotel just before dinner, and there I found a +wire from Major Wyatt asking me if I would command a draft and take it +to the 4th Hants in the Persian Gulf. This is the exact fulfilment of +the calculation I wrote to you in April, but it came as a surprise at +the moment. I was more excited than either pleased or depressed. I +don't hanker after fighting, and I would, of course, have preferred to +go with the regiment and not as a draft. But now that I'm in for it, +the interest of doing something after all these months of hanging +about, and in particular the responsibility of looking after the draft +on the way, seems likely to absorb all other feelings. What appeals to +me most is the purely unmilitary prospect of being able to protect the +men, to some extent, from the, I'm sure, largely preventible sickness +there has been in the P.G. The only remark that ever made me feel a +sudden desire to go to any front was when O'Connor at Lahore told me +(quite untruly as it turned out) that "the Hampshires are dying like +flies at Basra." As a matter of fact, they only had ten deaths, but a +great deal of sickness, and I do enjoy the prospect of trying to be +efficient about that. As for fighting, it doesn't look as if there +would be much, whereon Purefoy greatly commiserates me; but if that is +the only privation I shan't complain! + +I'm afraid your lively imagination will conjure up every kind of +horror, and that is the only thing that distresses me about going: but +clearly a tropical climate suits me better than most people, and I +will be very careful to avoid all unnecessary risks! both for your +peace of mind and also to keep the men up to the mark, to say nothing +of less exalted motives. + +I know no details at all yet. I am to return to Agra on Saturday, so I +shall only lose forty-eight hours of my most heavenly fortnight here. + +I got this wire Sunday evening and Purefoy sat up talking on my bed +till quite late as we had a lot to say to each other. + +_August 4th._ On Monday morning it was pouring harder than ever, +quite an inch to the hour. I walked across to the Telegraph Office and +answered the Major's wire, and got wet through. After breakfast I +chartered a dandy and waded through the deluge to the station +hospital, where the M.O. passed me as sound, without a spark of +interest in any of my minor ailments. I then proceeded to the local +chemist and had my medicine-case filled up, and secured an extra +supply of perchloride. There is no Poisons Act here and you can buy +perchloride as freely as pepper. My next visit was to the dentist. He +found two more decayed teeth and stopped them with incredible +rapidity. The climate is so mild that though I was pretty wet through +I never felt like catching a cold from being operated on. He was an +American with a lady assistant to hold one's mouth open! I never feel +sure that these dentists don't just drill a hole and then stop it: but +no doubt teeth decay extremely quickly out here. + +Then I went back to the Telegraph Office and cabled to Papa and got +back in time for lunch after the moistest morning I ever remember +being out in. + +This hotel is about the worst in the world, I should say, though there +are two in Naini reputed to be worse still. It takes in no newspaper, +has no writing-paper, only one apology for a sitting-room, and can't +supply one with fuel even for a fire. However, Moni Lal is resourceful +and we have survived three days of it. Luckily there is an excellent +custom here by which visitors belonging to another club, _e.g._, the +Agra Club can join the Naini Club temporarily for 1s. per day. So we +spent the afternoon and evening at the Club and I spiflicated both +Purefoy (giving him forty and two turns to my one) and Guy at +Billiards. + +On Tuesday (yesterday) we got up at 7.0 and went for a sail on the +lake. Guy is an expert at this difficult art and we circumnavigated +the place twice before breakfast with complete success and I learned +enough semi-nautical terms to justify the purchase of a yachting cap +should occasion arise. + +After breakfast we were even more strenuous and climbed up to +Government House to play golf. It came on to rain violently just as we +arrived, so we waited in the guard-room till it cleared, and then +played a particularly long but very agreeable 3-ball, in which I lost +to Guy on the last green but beat Purefoy three and one. We got back +to lunch at about 3.15. + +As if this wasn't enough I sallied out again at 4.0 to play tennis at +the Willmotts, quite successfully, with a borrowed racquet, my own +having burst on introduction to the climate of this place. Mrs. W. +told me that there was a Chaplain, one Kirwan, here just back from the +Persian Gulf, so I resolved to pursue him. + +I finished up the day by dining P. and G. at the Club, and after +dinner Purefoy, by a succession of the most hirsute flukes, succeeded +in beating me by ten to his great delight. + +I went to bed quite tired, but this morning it was so lovely that I +revived and mounted a horse at 7.0 leaving the other two snoring. I +rode up the mountain. I was rewarded by a most glorious view of the +snows, one of the finest I have ever seen. Between me and them were +four or five ranges of lower hills, the deepest richest blue +conceivable, and many of their valleys were filled with shining seas +of rolling sunlit cloud. Against this foreground rose a quarter-circle +sweep of the snows, wreathed and garlanded with cloud wracks here and +there, but for the most part silhouetted sharply in the morning sun. +The grandest mass was in the centre: Nanda Devi, 25,600, which is the +highest mountain in the Empire, and Trisoul, over 22,000. There were +six or eight other peaks of over 20,000 ft. + +I got back to the Hotel for breakfast, and from 9.30 to 10.45 we +played tennis, and then changed hastily and went to Church for the War +Anniversary Service. The station turned out for this in unprecedented +numbers--churchgoing is not an Anglo-Indian habit--and there was no +seat to be had, so I sat on the floor. The Bishop of Lucknow, Foss's +uncle, preached. + +After the service I waylaid the Revd. Kirwan and found he was staying +with the Bishop, who immediately asked us to lunch. So Purefoy and I +went to lunch--Guy preferring to sail--and I extracted quite a lot of +useful information from K. Incidentally the Bishop showed me a letter +from Foss, who wrote from the apex of the Ypres salient. He isn't +enjoying it much, I'm afraid, but was quite well. + +When we left the Bishop, it was coming out so fine that we decided to +ride up and try again to see the snows. So up we rode, and the cloud +effects were lovely, both over the plains and among the mountains; but +they hid more than half the snows. + +We rode down again to Valino's, the nutty tea-shop here, where we had +reserved a table on the balcony. Guy was there before us and we sat +there till nearly seven listening to the band. We got back to dinner +where Purefoy had secured one of his innumerable lightning friends to +dine with us, and adjourned to the Club for billiards afterwards: +quite a full day. + +_Thursday: Government House._--Another busy day. It was fine again +this morning, so we all three rode up to Snow View and got an +absolutely perfect view: the really big snows were clear and +cloudless, while the lower slopes and hills and valleys were flooded +with broken seas of dazzling cloud. I put it second only to the +Darjeeling view. + +After breakfast Purefoy and I came up and played golf. Guy took fright +at the chance of being asked in to lunch here and went sailing again. +A shower made us late in starting, and we only got through twelve +holes, after many misfortunes. I ended dormy five. + +Lady M. had been in bed ever since we left, but is up to-day, looking +rather ill still. + +To-night there is a dinner party. + +_Friday._--The dinner party was uneventful. I sat next a Mrs. ----, +one of the silliest females I ever struck. Her only noteworthy remark +was that of course the Germans were well equipped for the War as they +had been preparing for it for arcades and arcades. + +It is wet again to-day. No mail has arrived. I start for Agra after +lunch. I have had a delicious holiday. My address now will be: + +"Attached 1/4 Hants Regt., +I.E.F. 'D,' c/o India Office, S.W." + +and post a day early. + + * * * * * + + +NAINI TAL CLUB. + +_August 4th, 1915._ + +To N.B. + +I got a telegram on Sunday asking me to take out a draft to the 4th +Hants, in the Persian Gulf, so my address till further notice will be +"I.E.F. 'D,' c/o India Office, S.W." I thought I should hate the idea +of going to the P.G., but now that it's come along I'm getting rather +keen on going. We have been kicking our heels so long while everyone +else has been slaving away at the front, that one longs to be doing +something tangible and active. The P.G. is not exactly the spot one +would select for a pleasure trip: but on the other hand there is +likely to be more to do there that is more in my line than the purely +military side of the business. The main trouble there is sickness and +I'm sure a lot of it is preventible: and though in a battle I should +be sure to take the wrong turn and land my detachment in some +impossible place, I don't feel it so beyond me to remind them to boil +their water and wear their helmets. + +I don't know when I'm off, having heard nothing but the bare telegram. +They don't want me back in Agra till Saturday, so I shall almost +finish my full fortnight's leave. It has been heavenly here and the +memory of it will be a joy for months to come. The forests are +lovelier than ever: the ferns which clothe the trees are now full +grown, and pale purple orchids spangle the undergrowth. Wild dahlias +run riot in every open bank, and the gardens are brilliant with lilies +and cannas. + +It rained with drenching persistence for three days, but the last two +have been lovely. I got up early this morning, rode up a mountain and +saw the most superb view of the snows. The brown hills between me and +the snows had their valleys full of rolling white clouds, and the +result was a study in deepest blue and purest white, more wonderful I +think than anything I've seen. + +The whole station turned out to the Anniversary Service to-day. It is +dreadful to think that we've all been denying our Christianity for a +whole year and are likely to go on doing so for another. How our +Lord's heart must bleed for us! It appals me to think of it. + + * * * * * + + +GOVERNMENT HOUSE, + +NAINI TAL. + +_August 5th, 1915._ + +TO HIS FATHER. + +I have written all the news to Mamma this week. The chief item from my +point of view is that, as I cabled to you, I am to take a draft from +our two Agra Double Coys. to reinforce the 4th Hants, who are now at +Nasiriya on the Euphrates. I got the wire asking me to do this on +Sunday, but have heard no details since (this is Thursday night), so I +presume they know nothing more at Agra or the Major or Luly would +surely have written. + +On the other hand the Major wants me back in Agra by Saturday, so I +suppose I shall be starting some time next week, but unless I hear +before posting this I can tell you nothing of the strength or +composition of the draft or the date of sailing. + +Everyone insists on ([Greek: alpha]) congratulating me for going to +a front and ([Greek: beta]) condoling that it is the P.G. I don't +really agree with either sentiment. I'm afraid I regard all war jobs +as nasty, and the more warlike the nastier, but I do think one ought +to taste the same cup as all one's friends are drinking, and if I am +to go to any front I would as soon go to the P.G. as anywhere. It will +be a new part of the world to me and very interesting. The only bore +is being separated from the regiment. + +_Friday._--I had a talk on Wednesday with a Chaplain just returned +from Basra, and he told me we're likely to stand fast now holding the +line Nasiriya-Awaz (or some such place on the Tigris). An advance on +Baghdad is impossible without two more divisions, because of the +length of communications. There is nothing to be gained by advancing +to any intermediate point. The only reason we went as far as Nasiriya +was that it was the base of the army we beat at Shaiba, and they had +reformed there in sufficient strength to be worth attacking. This is +not thought likely to happen again, as the Dardanelles will +increasingly absorb all Turkey's resources. + +It seems to me that what is wanted here pre-eminently is thinking +ahead. The moment the war stops unprecedented clamours will begin, and +only a Government which knows its aim and has thought out its method +can deal with them. It seems to me, though my judgment is fearfully +hampered by my inability to get at any comprehensive statement of most +of the relevant facts, that the aim may be fairly simply defined, as +the training of India to self-government within the Empire, combined +with its good administration in trust meanwhile. That gives you a +clear criterion--India's welfare, not British interests, and fixes the +limit of the employment of Indians as the maximum consistent with good +government. + +The _method_ is of course far more difficult and requires far more +knowledge of the facts than I possess. But I should set to work at it +on these lines:-- + +1. Certain qualities need to be developed, responsibility, public +spirit, self-respect and so on. This should be aimed at (i) by our own +example and teaching, (ii) by a drastic reform of higher education. + +2. The barbarisms of the masses must be attacked. This can only be +done by a scheme of universal education. + +3. The material level of civilisation should be raised. This means +agricultural and industrial development, in which technical education +would play a large part. + +Therefore, your method may be summed up in two words, sympathy and +education. The first is mainly, of course, a personal question. +Therefore, preserve at all costs a high standard of _personnel_ for +I.C.S. Try to get imaginative men at the top. Let all ranks understand +from the outset the aim they have to work for, and let Indians know +it. Above all let every official act prove it, confidence is a plant +of slow and tender growth here. Beware of phrases and western formulæ; +probably the benevolent autocrat, whether English or Indian, will +always govern better than a committee or an assembly. + +The second--education--is a question of _£ s. d._ The aim should be a +far-sighted and comprehensive scheme. A great effort to get the +adequate funds should be made and a scheme capable of ready expansion +started. Reform of higher education will be very unpopular, but should +be firmly and thoroughly carried out; it ought not to cost much. The +bulk of the money at first should go to technical education and the +encouragement of agriculture and industry. This will be remunerative, +by increasing the country's wealth. Elementary education would have to +begin by supplying schools where asked for, at a certain rate. From +this they would aim at making it gradually universal, then free, then +compulsory. But that will be many years hence inevitably. + +I should work at a policy on these lines: announce it, invite Indian +co-operation, and meanwhile deal very firmly with all forms of +disorder. + + * * * * * + + +AGRA. + +_August 12th, 1915._ + +To R.K. + +This last list is almost more than I can bear. It is hardly possible +to think of poor dear Gilbert as killed. Do let me know how Foss is +and how he gets on. Your letters are such a joy, and they give me news +I get from nobody else. + +I'm afraid my share in the correspondence may become even less than +before, as I shall henceforth be on more than nominally active service +and under the eye of the censor. + +Luly is clamouring for lunch, which we eat at 11, and I shall have no +peace afterwards till the ship reaches a landlocked bit of Gulf: so +goodbye for the present. + + * * * * * + + +"S.S. VARSOVA," + +BOMBAY. + +_August 16th, 1915._ + +TO HIS MOTHER. + +I shall just have time to write you a line about our journey so far, +and may be able to write to Papa later. + +They gave me a very nice farewell dinner on Friday at Agra. Raju came +and sat next me and it all went off very well. Almost the whole +station turned up. After dinner we sat outside, playing the +gramophone, etc. Swift, seconded by Luly and Purefoy, made a +determined effort to make me tight by standing me drinks and secretly +instructing the Khitmagar to make them extra strong; but I was not +quite green enough for that and always managed to exchange drinks at +the last moment with the result that Swift got pretty tight and I +didn't. + +I sat in the bungalow talking to Purefoy till 2, and was up again at +6. From 6 till 11 I was busy with seeing to things and hardly had a +moment's peace. We paraded at 10.45 and marched to the station, with +the Punjabis band leading us. It was excessively warm for marching +orders--96° in the shade--and the mile to the station was quite +enough. There was a great crowd on the platform and everyone was very +nice and gave us a splendid send-off. I was too busy all the time to +feel at all depressed at leaving Luly and Purefoy, which I had rather +feared I should. Partings are, I think, much more trying in the +prospect than at the actual moment, because beforehand the parting +fills one's imagination, whereas at the moment one's hopes of meeting +again come into active play. Anyway, I hadn't time to think much about +it then, and I was already very sleepy. We started at 12.5. + +At 1.30 Sergt. Pragnell came running along to say that L/C. Burgess was +taken very bad; so I went along, with the Eurasian Assistant-Surgeon, +who was travelling with us to Bombay. (These Eurasian A.-S.'s are far +more competent than the British R.A.M.C. officers, in my experience.) We +found Burgess with all the symptoms of heat-stroke, delirium and red +face and hot dry skin. A thermometer under his armpit, after half a +minute, showed a temperature of 106°. So the A.S. had all his clothes +removed and laid him on a bench in the draught and dabbled him gently +with water all over from the water-bottles. Apparently in these cases +there are two dangers, either of which proves fatal if not counteracted: +(1) the excessive temperature of the body. This rises very rapidly. In +another half an hour it would have been 109°, and 110° is generally +fatal. This he reduced, by the sponging and evaporation, to about 100° +in the course of an hour. But the delirium continued, because (2) the +original irritation sends a rush of blood to the head, causing acute +congestion, which if it continues produces apoplexy. To prevent this we +wanted ice, and I had wired on to Gwalior for some, but that was three +hours ahead. Luckily at about 3 we halted to let the mail pass, and a +railway official suggested stopping it. This we did, I got some ice +which soon relieved the situation. But of course we couldn't take poor +Burgess with us, so we wired for an ambulance to meet us at Jhansi, and +put him ashore. + +Meanwhile at Gwalior a pleasant surprise was in store. We had "train +rations" on the usual measly Indian scale, but for tea on Saturday we +were to rely on tea provided by Scindia at Gwalior. Happily a +Maharajah's ideas of tea are superior to a Quartermaster's, and this +is what we had for fifty men! Unlimited tea, with sugar, twenty-five +tinned cheeses, fifty tins of sausages and twenty-five 2lb. tins of +Marie biscuits! This feed tinted the rest of the journey rose-colour. + +The only other incident was the loss by one of the men of his +haversack, which he dropped out of window. + +Yesterday, Sunday, was much cooler. When I woke at Bhopal it was only +76° and it only got even as high as 89° for about half-an-hour. We ran +into rain in the afternoon. + +We reached Bhusawal at 7 p.m. and had to wait four hours to be picked +up by the Nagpur mail. In the refreshment room I met a Terrier gunner +officer who was P.M.C. of the Mess at Barrackpore when we messed there +in December. He was just back from a course at Mhow and had been +positively told by the Staff Officers there that his and most other T. +batteries were to be sent back to Europe in a month's time: and +moreover that a whole division of Ts. was going to the Persian Gulf +and another to E. Africa. + +The air is full of such rumours. Here the Embarkation N.C.O. says +78,000 K's have already sailed to relieve us. But the mere number of +the rumours rather discredits them. And the fact of their using us for +drafts to P.G. seems to show they don't intend moving the units. + +We left Bhusawal at midnight and arrived here at 9.15 without +incident. Bombay is its usual mild and steamy self, an unchanging 86°, +which seemed hot in November, but quite decently cool now. + +This boat is, from the officers' point of view, far more attractive +than the "Ultonia." Being a B.I. boat it is properly equipped for the +tropics and has good 1st class accommodation. She is about 6,000 tons. +The men are, I'm afraid, rather crowded. There will be 1,000 on board +when complete. We pick up some at Karachi. We sail to-morrow morning. +If not too sea-sick I will write to Papa and post it at Karachi. + +I am going out now to do a little shopping and get my hair cut, and I +shall post this in the town. + +P.S.--The whole country is deliciously green now, not a brown patch +except the freshest ploughed pieces, and the rivers no longer beggarly +trickles in a waste of rubble, but pretty pastoral streams with +luxuriant banks. + + * * * * * + + +"S.S. VARSOVA," + +_August 21st_,1915. + +To N.B. + +I don't know when I shall next get one of your letters. It will have +to follow me painfully round _via_ Agra. And if I post this at Basra, +it will have to go back to Bombay before starting for England; though +people here are already talking of the time when we shall have +finished the Baghdad Railway and letters come by rail from England to +Basra in about 5 days. + +Meanwhile as I have no letters of your's to answer and no news to +discuss, I will try and give you an account of myself and my fifty +veterans since I last wrote. + +The fifty just form a platoon. You see, my retromotion goes on apace. +A Company Commander from August to April, a Company Second in Command +from May to August, and now a platoon Commander. I shall find the +stage of Sergeant harder still to live up to if it comes to that. + +Twenty-five are from 'D' Double Company; but only seven of these are +from my own original lambs of 'F': because they wouldn't take anyone +under twenty-three, and as I have mentioned before, I think, very few +of 'F' have qualified for pensions. As it is, two of the seven gave +false ages. The other twenty-five are from a Portsmouth +Company--townees mostly, and to me less attractive than the village +genius: but I daresay we shall get on all right. + +Our start wasn't altogether auspicious--in fact taking a draft across +the middle East is nearly as difficult to accomplish without loss as +taking luggage across Scotland. We had a very good send-off, and all +that--concert, dinner, band, crowd on the platform and all the moral +alcohol appropriate to such occasions. It was a week ago, to-day, when +we left Agra, and Agra climate was in its top form, 96° in the shade +and stuffy at that. So you can imagine that it was not only our +spirits that were ardent after a mile's march to the station in +marching order at noon. An hour after the train had started one of my +lance-corporals collapsed with heat-stroke. The first-aid treatment by +the Eurasian M.O. travelling with us was a most instructive object +lesson. The great thing is to be in time. We were summoned within ten +minutes of the man's being taken ill. His temperature was already +106°: the M.O. said that in another half-hour it would have been 109° +and in an hour he would probably have been dead. We stripped him +stark, laid him in the full draught, and sponged him so as to produce +constant evaporation: held up the Punjab mail and got 22lbs. of ice to +put under his head: and so pulled him round in less than two hours. We +had to leave him at Jhansi though, and proceeded to Bombay forty-nine +strong. + +The ten-little-nigger-boy process continued at Bombay. We arrived on +board on Monday morning: and though orders were formally issued that +nobody was to leave the docks without a pass, no attempt was made to +prevent the men spending the day in the town, which they all did. + +On the Tuesday morning the crew told the men we should not be sailing +till Wednesday: and accordingly a lot of them went shopping again. But +for once in a way the ship actually sailed at the appointed time, 11 +a.m. on Tuesday, and five of my gallant band were left behind. However +they were collected by the Embarkation Authorities, and together with +their fellow-victims of nautical inaccuracy from the other drafts were +sent up by special train to Karachi, where they rejoined us: the C.O. +according them a most unsympathetic reception, and sentencing them all +(rather superfluously) to Confinement to Barracks for the remainder of +the voyage. + +There are no fewer than forty-one units on board this ship. They include +drafts from almost every Territorial Battalion in India, convalescents +rejoining the regular battalions already in Mesopotamia, and various +engineers and gunners. The ship is grossly overcrowded--1,200 on board +an ordinary 6,000 ton liner. The officers are very well off, though. She +is a bran-new boat, built for this very run (in anticipation of the +Baghdad Railway), with big airy cabins and all the latest improvements +in lights, fans and punkahs. There is nobody I know on board and though +they are quite a pleasant lot they don't call for special comment. The +C.O. is a genial major of the Norfolks. He did some star turns the first +two days. There was a heavy monsoon swell on, and the boat rolled so, +you could hardly stand up. However the Major, undaunted, paraded about a +score of men who had squeaked on to the ship after the roll-call at +Bombay. These were solemnly drawn up in a line as defaulters and +magisterially called to attention to receive judgment. On coming to +attention they over-balanced with the regularity of ninepins in a row: +and after three attempts the major had to harangue them standing +(nominally) at ease. Even so, his admonition was rather impaired by his +suddenly sitting down on the deck, and having to leave rather hurriedly +for his cabin before the peroration was complete. + +We are just going through the Straits of Ormuz now: we saw the coast +of Persia on and off all to-day. We spent Thursday, by the bye, at +Karachi, an awful hole it looks--treeless and waterless and very much +the modern port. It reminds one strongly of Port Said, though not +_quite_ so repulsive: and there is a touch of Suez thrown in. + +So far it has been quite cool, 84 to 86°: but we shall be beyond the +cloud-zone to-morrow and right inside the Gulf, so I expect it will +get hot now. + +We expect to reach Basra on Tuesday evening. After that our movements +are wholly unknown to us. + +The casualty lists just before we left were so dreadful that I am +rather dreading the moment when we see the next batch. + + * * * * * + + +"H.M.S. VARSOVA," +OFF FARS IS. + +_August_ 22, 1915. + +To R.K. + +It is too warm to be facetious, and I have no letter of yours to +answer: so you will have to put up with a bald narrative of our doings +since I last wrote. + +They gave us various binges at Agra before we left. A concerted effort +to make me tight failed completely: in fact of the plotters it could +be said that in the same bet that they made privily were their feet +taken. + +We left on Saturday, 15th: fifty rank and file and myself. One had a +heat-stroke almost as soon as the train had started (result of +marching to the station at noon in marching order and a temperature of +96°) and we had an exciting hour in keeping his temperature below 109° +till we met the mail and could get some ice. We succeeded all right +and sent him safely to hospital at Jhansi. The rest of the journey was +cooler and uneventful. + +We reached Bombay at 9.15 a.m. on Monday, and went straight on board. +The ship did not sail till next day and when it did they contrived to +leave thirty-two men behind, including five of mine. + +This is a new and pleasant boat, almost 6,000 tons and fitted up with +every contrivance for mitigating heat. But there are far too many +persons on board: nearly 1,200: and as they simply can't breathe +between decks, the decks are as crowded as a pilgrim ship's. There are +over forty units represented: including drafts from about twenty-eight +T.F. battalions. + +We had the devil of a swell the first two days, though luckily we hit +off a break in the monsoon. Anyway, Mothersibb preserved me from +sea-sickness: but in every other respect I felt extremely unwell. We +reached Karachi on the Thursday morning and stayed there all day. It +is a vile spot, combining the architectural features of a dock with +the natural amenities of a desert. The only decent spot was a Zoo and +even that had a generally super-heated air. + +The thirty-two lost sheep turned up at Karachi, having been forwarded +by special train from Bombay. No fatted calf was killed for them: in +fact they all got fourteen days C.B. and three days pay forfeited; +though, as Dr. Johnson observed, the sea renders the C.B. part rather +otiose. + +All Friday we coasted along Baluchistan and Persia. It is surprising +how big a country Persia is: it began on Friday and goes right up into +Europe. On Saturday we reached the Straits of Ormuz and to-day +(Sunday) we are well inside the Gulf, as the mention of Fars doubtless +conveyed to you. + +It is getting pronouncedly hotter every hour. It was a quarter to one +when I began this letter and is now half-past twelve, which is the +kind of thing that is continually happening. Anyway the bugle for +lunch has just gone, and it is 96° in my cabin. I have spent the +morning in alternate bouts of bridge and Illingworth on Divine +Immanence: I won Rs three at the former: but I feel my brain is hardly +capable of further coherent composition until nourishment has been +taken. So goodbye for the present. It will take ages for this to reach +you. + + * * * * * + + +"P.S.S. KARADENIZ," +BASRA. + +_Friday, August 27th_, 1915. + +TO HIS MOTHER. + +I wrote to Papa from just outside the bar, which is a mud-bank across +the head of the Gulf, about seventeen miles outside Fao. We anchored +there to await high tide, and crossed on Tuesday morning. + +Fao is about as unimpressive a place as I've seen. The river is over a +mile wide there, but the place is absolutely featureless. In fact all +the way up it is the same. The surrounding country is as flush with +the river as if it had been planed down to it. On either side runs a +belt of date palms about half a mile wide, but these are seldom worth +looking at, being mostly low and shrubby, like an overgrown market +garden. + +Beyond that was howling desert, not even picturesquely sandy, but a +dried up marsh overblown with dust, like the foreshore of a third-rate +port. The only relief to the landscape was when we passed tributaries +and creeks, each palm-fringed like the river. Otherwise the only +notable sights were the Anglo Persian Oil Works, which cover over a +hundred acres and raised an interesting question of comparative +ugliness with man and nature in competition, and a large steamer sunk +by the Turks to block the channel and, needless to add, not blocking +it. + +There was a stiff, warm wind off the desert, hazing the air with dust +and my cabin temperature was 100°. Altogether it was rather a +depressing entrée, since amply atoned for so far as Nature is +concerned. + +We reached Basra about 2 p.m. and anchored in midstream, the river +being eight hundred yards or so wide here. The city of Basra is about +three miles away, up a creek, but on the river there is a port and +native town called Ashar. + +The scene on the river is most attractive, especially at sunrise and +sunset. The banks rise about ten feet from the water: the date palms +are large and columnar; and since there is a whole series of creeks, +parallel and intersecting--they are the highways and byeways of the +place--the whole area is afforested and the wharves and bazaars are +embowered in date groves. The river front and the main creeks are +crowded with picturesque craft, the two main types being a large high +prowed barge, just what I picture to have taken King Arthur at his +Passing, but here put to the prosaic uses of heavy transport and +called a mahila; and a long darting craft which can be paddled or +punted and combines the speed of a canoe with the grace of a gondola +and is called, though why I can't conceive, a bhellum. Some of the +barges are masted and carry a huge and lovely sail, but the ones in +use for I.E.F.D. are propelled by little tugs attached to their sides +and quite invisible from beyond, so that the speeding barges seem +magically self-moving. + +Ashore one wanders along raised dykes through a seemingly endless +forest of pillared date palms, among which pools and creeks add +greatly to the beauty, though an eyesore to the hygienist. The date +crop is just ripe and ripening, and the golden clusters are immense +and must yield a great many hundred dates to the tree. When one +reaches the native city the streets are unmistakably un-Indian, and +strongly reminiscent of the bazaar scene in Kismet. This is especially +true of the main bazaar, which is a winding arcade half a mile long, +roofed and lined with shops, thronged with men. One sees far fewer +women than in India, and those mostly veiled and in black, while the +men wear long robes and cloakes and scarves on their heads bound with +coils of wool worn garland-wise, as one sees in Biblical pictures. +They seem friendly, or rather wholly indifferent to one, and I felt at +times I might be invisible and watching an Arabian Nights' story for +all the notice they took of me. By the way, I want you to send me a +portable edition of the Arabian Nights as my next book, please. + +But the most fascinating sight of all is Ashar Creek, the main +thoroughfare, as crowded with boats as Henley at a regatta. The creek +runs between brick embankments, on which stand a series of Arabian +cafes, thronged with conversational slow moving men who sit there +smoking and drinking coffee by the thousand. + +It is a wonderful picture from the wooden bridge with the minaret of a +mosque and the tops of the tallest date palms for a background. + +So much for Ashar: I've not seen Basra city yet. We're here till +Sunday probably, awaiting our river boats. There were not enough +available to take us all up on Wednesday, so those who are for the +front line went first. They have gone to a spot beyond Amara, +two-thirds of the way to Kut-al-Amara, which is where the Shatt-al-Hai +joins the Tigris. The Shatt-al-Hai is a stream running from the Tigris +at K-al-A to the Euphrates at Nasria, and that line is our objective. +There is likely to be a stiff fight for the K-al-A, they say, rather +to my surprise. But the 4th Hants has been moved to Amara and put on +line of communication for the present; so our thirst for bloodshed is +not likely to be gratified. + +We have moved across to this ship while awaiting our river boat. They +use ships here as barracks and hotels, very sensibly seeing that there +are none fit for habitation on land; while being about 400 yards from +either bank we are practically free from mosquitoes. But this +particular ship is decidedly less desirable for residential purposes +than the Varsova. It was originally a German boat and was sold to the +Turks to be used for a pilgrim ship to Mecca; and I can only conclude +either that the Turkish ideas of comfort are very different to ours or +that the pilgrimage has a marked element of asceticism. + +But I am quite ready to put up with the amenities of a Turkish pilgrim +ship. What does try me is the murderous folly of military authorities. +They wouldn't let us take our spine-pads from Agra, because we should +be issued with them here. They have none here and have no idea when +they will get any. Incidentally, no one was expecting our arrival +here, least of all the 4th Hants. Everyone says a spine-pad is a +necessary precaution here, so I am having fifty made and shall try and +make the Colonel pay for them. Every sensible Colonel made his draft +stick to theirs; but our's wouldn't let us take them, because Noah +never wore one. + +To continue the chapter of incredible muddles; the 780 who went off on +Wednesday were embarked on their river-boat--packed like herrings--at +9 a.m. and never got started till 4 p.m. A bright performance, but +nothing to our little move. This boat is 600 yards from the Varsova, +and they had every hour in the twenty-four to choose from for the +move. First they selected 2 p.m. Wednesday as an appropriate hour! It +was 100° in the shade by 1 p.m., so the prospect was not alluring. At +1.30 the order was washed out and for the rest of the day no further +orders could be got for love or money. + +We were still in suspense yesterday morning, till at 8.30--just about +the latest time for completing a morning movement--two huge barges +appeared with orders to embark on them at 10! Not only that, but +although there are scores of straw-roofed barges about, these two were +as open as row boats, and in fact exactly like giant row boats. To +complete the first situation, the S. and S. had not been apprised of +the postponement, and so there was no food for the men on board. +Consequently they had to load kits, etc., and embark on empty +stomachs. + +Well, hungry but punctual, we embarked at 10 a.m. It was 102° in my +cabin, so you can imagine what the heat and glare of 150 men in an +open barge was. Having got us into this enviable receptacle, they +proceeded to think of all the delaying little trifles which might have +been thought of any time that morning. One way and another they +managed to waste three-quarters of an hour before we started. The +journey took six minutes or so. Getting alongside this ship took +another half hour, the delay mainly due to Arab incompetence this +time. Then came disembarking, unloading kits and all the odd jobs of +moving units--which all had to be done in a furnace-like heat by men +who had had no food for twenty hours. To crown it all, the people on +board here had assumed we should breakfast before starting and not a +scrap of food was ready. The poor men finally got some food at 2 p.m. +after a twenty-two hours fast and three hours herded or working in a +temperature of about 140°. Nobody could complain of such an ordeal if +we'd been defending Lucknow or attacking Shaiba, but to put such a +strain on the men's health--newly arrived and with no pads or glasses +or shades--gratuitously and merely by dint of sheer hard muddling--is +infuriating to me and criminal in the authorities--a series of +scatter-brained nincompoops about fit to look after a cocker-spaniel +between them. + +Considering what they went through, I think our draft came off lightly +with three cases of heat-stroke. Luckily the object lesson in the train +and my sermons thereon have borne fruit, and the men acted promptly +and sensibly as soon as the patients got bad. Two began to feel ill on +the barge and the third became delirious quite suddenly a few minutes +after we got on board here. When I arrived on the scene they had +already got him stripped and soused, though in the stuffy 'tween +decks. I got him up on deck (it was stuffy enough there) and we got +ice, and thanks to their promptness, he was only violent for about a +quarter of an hour and by the time my kit was reachable and I could +get my thermometer, an hour or so later, he was normal. There was no +M.O. on board, except a grotesque fat old Turk physician to the +Turkish prisoners, whose diagnosis was in Arabic and whose sole idea +of treatment was to continue feeling the patient's pulse (which he did +by holding his left foot) till we made him stop. + +The other two were gradual cases and being watered and iced in time +never became delirious; so we may get off without any permanent +casualties; but they have taken a most useful corporal and one private +to hospital, which almost certainly means leaving them behind on +Sunday. + +The other men were all pretty tired out and I think it does credit to +their constitutions they stood it so well. + +I, having my private spine-pad and glasses, was comparatively +comfortable, also I had had breakfast and didn't have to shift kits or +even my own luggage. I don't dislike even extreme heat nearly as much +as quite moderate cold. + +I gather it doesn't get so cold here as I thought. 37° is the lowest +temperature I've heard vouched for. + +I haven't time nowadays to write many letters, so I'm afraid you must +ask kind aunts, etc., to be content with parts of this; I hope +_they'll_ go on writing to _me_ though. + + * * * * * + + +"P.S.S. KARA DEUIZ," +BASRA, + +To N.B. +_August 29, 1915._ + +I hope you will be indulgent if I write less regularly now: and by +indulgent I mean that you will go on writing to me, as I do enjoy your +letters so much. I expect I shall have slack times when there will be +plenty of leisure to write: but at others we are likely to be busy, +and you never can be sure of having the necessary facilities. And +personally I find my epistolary faculties collapse at about 100° in +the shade. I wrote quite happily this morning till it got hot; and +only now (4.45) have I found it possible to resume. We get it 102 to +104° every day from about noon to four, and it oppresses one much more +than at Agra as there is no escaping from it and flies are plentiful: +but about now a nice breeze springs up, and the evenings are fairly +pleasant. I thought we were leaving for Amarah to-day, so I told Mama +my letter to her would have to do all-round duty, which is mean, I +admit, but I had no day off till to-day. + +Not that I've been really busy, but I've been out a lot, partly +getting things and partly seeing the place. + +I've just heard I must go ashore with another sick man immediately +after evening service (the Bishop of Lahore is coming on board), so I +shall have to cut this measly screed very short. We load kits on our +river-boat at 7 a.m. to-morrow and start sometime afterwards for +Amarah. My letter to Mama will give you such news as there is. Since +writing it I've seen Basra city, which is disappointing, less +picturesque than Ashar: also the Base Hospital, which strikes me very +favourably, the first military hospital that has: Dum Dum wasn't bad. + +We have a lot of Turkish prisoners on board here, and the Government +is trying the experiment of letting them out on parole and paying them +Rs 10/- a week so long as they report themselves. It is a question +whether the result will be to cause the whole Turkish army to +surrender, or whether their desire to prolong the war will make the +released ones keep their parole a secret. I daresay it will end in a +compromise, half the army to surrender and the other half to receive +Rs 5/- a week from the surrendered ones to fight on to the bitter end. + +I must go and dress for Church parade. + + * * * * * + + +To P.C., _September, 1915._ + +"I believe that if I could choose a day of heavy fighting of any kind +I liked for my draft, I should choose to spend a day in trenches, +under heavy fire without being able to return it. The fine things of +war spring from your chance of being killed: the ugly things from your +chance of killing." + + * * * * * + + +_September, 1915._ + +TO THE SAME. + +"I wonder how long H---- 's 'delirious joy' at going to the front will +last. Those who have seen a campaign here are all thoroughly +converted to my view of fronts. I can't imagine a keener soldier than +F----, and even he says he doesn't care if he never sees another Turk, +and as to France, you might as well say, 'Hurrah, I'm off to Hell.' +Pat M---- goes as far as to say that no sane fellow ever has been +bucked at going to the front, as distinguished from being anxious to +do his duty by going there. But I don't agree with him. Did you see +about the case of a Captain in the Sikhs, who deserted from Peshawar, +went to England, enlisted as a private under an assumed name, and was +killed in Flanders? The psychology of that man would be very +interesting to analyse. It can't have been sense of duty, because he +knew he was flagrantly violating his duty. Nor can you explain it by +some higher call of duty than his duty as a Sikh Officer, like the +duty which makes martyrs disobey emperors. It must have been just the +primitive passion for a fight. But if it _was_ that, to indulge it was +a bad, weak and vicious thing to do. Yet it clearly wasn't a selfish +thing to do: on the contrary, it was heroic. He deliberately +sacrificed his rank, pay, and prospects and exposed himself to great +danger. Still, as far as I can see, he only did it because his passion +for fighting was stronger than every other consideration, and +therefore he seems to me to be morally in the same class as the man +who runs away with his neighbour's wife, or any other victim of strong +(and largely noble) passions. And I believe that the people who say +they are longing to be at the front can be divided into three classes +(1) those who merely say so because it is the right thing to say, and +have never thought or wished about it on their own. (2) Those who +deliberately desire to drink the bitterest cup that they can find in +these times of trouble. These men _are_ heroes, and are the men who in +peace choose a mission to lepers. (3) The savages, who want to indulge +their primitive passions. Perhaps one ought to add as the largest +class (4) those who don't imagine what it is like, who think it will +be exciting, seeing life, an experience, and so on, and don't think of +its reality or meaning at all." + + * * * * * + + +AMARA. +_Thursday, September 2nd, 1915._ + +TO HIS MOTHER. + +I only had time to scrawl a short note last night before the mail +went. But I wrote to Papa the day before we left Basra. + +Our embarkation was much more sensibly managed this time, a Captain +Forrest of the Oxfords being O.C. troops, and having some sense, +though the brass hats again fixed 10 a.m. as the hour. However he got +all our kits on the barge at 7 and then let the men rest on the big +ship till the time came. Moreover the barge was covered. We embarked +on it at 9.30 and were towed along to the river steamer "Malamir," to +which we transferred our stuff without difficulty as its lower deck +was nearly level with the barge. The only floater was that my new +bearer (who is, I fear, an idiot) succeeded in dropping my heavy kit +bag into the river, where it vanished like a stone. Fortunately that +kind of thing doesn't worry me much; but while I was looking for an +Arab diver to fish for it it suddenly re-appeared the other side of +the boat, and was retrieved. + +These river boats are flat-bottomed and only draw six feet. They have +two decks and an awning, and there was just room for our 200 men to +lie about. Altogether there were on board--in the order of the amount +of room they took up--two brass hats, 220 men (four Hants drafts and +some odds and ends), a dozen officers, four horses and a dozen native +servants and a crew. + +Altogether I had to leave four sick men at Basra, all due more or less +to that barge episode, and I have still two sickish on my hands, while +two have recovered. + +There was a strong head-wind and current so we only made about four or +five knots an hour. The river is full of mud banks, and the channel +winds to and fro in an unexpected manner, so that one can only move by +daylight and then often only by constant sounding. Consequently, +starting at noon on Monday, it took us till 5 p.m. Wednesday to do the +130 miles. It is much less for a crow, but the river winds so, that +one can quite believe Herodotus's yarn of the place where you pass the +same village on three consecutive days. Up to Kurna, which we reached +at 7 a.m. Tuesday, the river is about 500 yards to 300 yards broad, +and the country mainly poor, bare, flat pasture; the date fringe +diminishing and in places altogether disappearing for miles together. +At the water's edge, as it recedes, patches of millet had been and +were being planted. The river is falling rapidly and navigation +becomes more difficult every week. + +Kurna is aesthetically disappointing. The junction of the rivers is +unimpressive, and the place itself a mere quayside and row of mud +houses among thin and measly palms. It is of course the traditional +site of Eden. + +Above Kurna the river is not only halved in width, as one would +expect, but narrows rapidly. Most of the day it was only a hundred +yards wide and by evening only 60; and of the sixty only a narrow +channel is navigable and that has a deep strong current which makes +the handling of the boat very difficult. + +In the afternoon we passed Ezra's Tomb, which has a beautiful dome of +blue tiles, which in India one would date Seventeenth Century. +Otherwise it looked rather "kachcha" and out of repair, but it makes +an extremely picturesque group, having two clumps of palms on either +side of an otherwise open stretch of river. + +Soon afterwards we came to a large Bedouin Village, or rather camp, +running up a little creek and covering quite fifteen acres. They can't +have been there long, as the whole area was under water two months +ago. Their dwellings are made of reeds, a framework of stiff and +pliant reeds and a covering of reed-matting; the whole being like the +cover of a van stuck into the ground and one end closed; but smaller, +about 5ft. × 4ft. × 7ft. There were about 100 of these and I should +put the population at 700. + +A whole crowd of boys and some men came out and ran along with us, and +dived in for anything we threw overboard. They swam like ducks of +course. All the boys and most of the men were quite naked, which is a +thing you never see in India. Any boy over twelve there has a +loin-cloth. There seemed to be very few men about: a lot of women +came to the doors of their huts. They made no attempt to veil their +faces, which even the beggar women in Basra did. Only one girl and one +woman ran with the boat; the girl dived with the best; the woman was +dressed and her function was to carry the spoils. Incidentally our men +discovered a better use for their ration biscuits than attempting to +eat them. They made excellent ducks and drakes on the water and the +swimmers were quite keen on them. I must say they tasted rather musty +besides being very hard, but I think the men chiefly objected to a +very small brown beetle which was abundant in them. + +When the sun got low we tied up to the bank for twenty minutes and a +good many of the men had a bathe; but owing to the current we had to +make them keep within a yard or two of the bank. + +Next morning, Wednesday, a half-gale was blowing against us and +progress was slower than ever. The river got wider again, nearly 200 +yards in places, and the wind lashed it into waves. It was a great +bore, because you couldn't put anything down for a second. Also three +days confined to a minute deck-space made me rather bilious. + +In the afternoon the wind blew us ashore when we were in sight of +Amara, and it took nearly half an hour to get us off again. Finally, +we arrived here about 5 p.m. + +This is a town of about 10,000 inhabitants, on the left bank of the +Tigris. On the river front is a quay about a mile long, and an equally +long row of continental-looking houses. It almost reminds one of +Dieppe at moments. The river is about 150 yards wide, and on the other +side there are hardly any houses, just a narrow fringe of dates and +some fields. All the inhabitants of the river-front have been turned +out and it is occupied with offices, stores, hospitals and billets. We +occupy a block of four houses, which have a common courtyard behind +them, a great cloistered yard, which makes an admirable billet for the +men. + +We officers live in two of the houses, the third is Orderly Room, +etc., and the fourth is used by some Native Regiment Officers. There +is no furniture whatever, so it is like camping with a house for a +tent. We sleep on the roof and live on the verandahs of the little +inner courts. It is decidedly cooler than Basra, and last night I +wanted a blanket before dawn for the first time since April (excluding +the Hills, of course). In my room now (2.45 p.m.) it is 96° but there +is plenty of breeze about. + +It seems to be just a chance when the mail goes out: I hope to write +to Papa later on in the week and give him the news of this place and +the regiment. If I spell names of places without a capital letter it +will be for an obvious reason. Also note that the place which is +marked on the map Kut-al-Amara is always referred to here as Kut. + +_P.S_.--In regard to what you say about the ducks, I'm told that teal +are common in Turkey and snipe in Arabia, but not so common as mallard +in England or pintail in India. The bitterns here boom just like guns. + + * * * * * + + +ATT. 1/4 HANTS, +I.E.F. "D," +C/o INDIA OFFICE, S.W. + +AMARAH, _September 4th_,1915. + +To R.K. + +Yours from Albemarle Street reached me just before we left Basra. It +gave me the first news of Charles Lister's second wound. We get almost +no news here. Potted _Reuter_ is circulated most days, but each unit +may only keep it half an hour, so its two to one against one's seeing +it. My only resource is the _Times_ which laboriously dogs my steps +from England: but it has already been pinched en route four times, so +I can't rely on seeing even that: therefore in the matter of +casualties, please be as informative as you can, regardless of +originality. + +As I told you in my last letter that I was going to Nasiriyah, it +won't surprise you to find I've got here instead. We reached Basra (it +would be much nicer to spell it Bassorah, but I can't be bothered to) +on the feast of St. Bartholomew, which the Military call 24/8/15. +Considering what places are like out here, B. is wonderfully +attractive and picturesque. At least Ashar is, which is the port; +Beroea: Corinth:: Ashar: Basra. To begin with it stands between six +and eight feet above the river level, an almost unique eminence. Then +lots of major and minor creeks branch out from the river and from the +main streets. All round and in every unbuilt on space are endless +groves of date palms, with masses of yellow dates. The creeks are +embanked with brick and lined with popular café's where incredible +numbers of Arabs squat and eat or drink huggas and hacshish and the +like. The creeks and river swarm with bhellums and mahilas. A bhellum +is a cross between a gondola and a Canada canoe: and a mahila is a +barge like the ones used by King Arthur, Elaine or the Lady of +Shallott: and its course and destination are generally equally vague. + +We stayed six days at B. mainly on a captured Turkish pilgrim ship. I +suggest a Turkish pilgrimage as a suitable outlet for the ascetic +tendencies of your more earnest spikelets. It was hot, but nothing +fabulous. My faithful thermometer never got beyond 104 in my cabin. The +disadvantage of any temperature over 100 indoors is that the fan makes +you hotter instead of cooler. There are only two ways of dealing with +this difficulty. One is to drink assiduously and keep an evaporation +bath automatically going: but on this ship the drinks used to give out +about 4 p.m. and when it comes to neat Tigris-cum-Euphrates, I prefer it +applied externally. So I used to undress at intervals and sponge all +over and then stand in front of the fan. While you're wet it's +deliciously cool: as soon as you feel the draught getting warm, you +dress again and carry on. This plan can't be done here as there are no +fans. I suppose you realised that Austen Chamberlain was only indulging +his irrepressible sense of humour when he announced in the H. of C. that +in Mesopotamia "The health of troops has on the whole been good. Ice and +fans are installed wherever possible," _i.e._ nowhere beyond Basra. The +hot weather sickness casualties have been just over 30% of the total +force: but as they were nearly all heat-stroke and malaria, it ought to +be much better now. Already the nights are cool enough for a blanket to +be needed just before dawn. Of course they run up the sick list by +insane folly. When we moved to our Turkish ship there was every hour of +the day or night to choose from to do it in, and plenty of covered +barges to do it in. So they selected 10 a.m., put 150 men into an open +barge, gave them no breakfast, and left them in the barge two hours to +move them 600 yards, and an hour unloading baggage afterwards! Result, +out of my forty-nine, three heat-strokes on the spot, and four more sick +the next day. + +We left Basra on the 30th. It took us two-and-a-half days to do the +130 miles up here, against a strong wind and current. The Regiment has +moved here from Nasiriyah. This place is 130 miles North of Basra and +120 South of Kut-el-Amarah (always known as Kut). As to our movements, +the only kind of information I can give you would be something like +this. There are fifteen thousand blanks, according to trustworthy +reports, at blank. We have blank brigades and our troops are blanking +at blank which is two-thirds of the way from here to blank; and I +think our intention is to blank with all our three blanks as soon as +possible, but this blank is remaining on lines of communications here +for the present. Not very interesting is it? So I won't reel off any +more. + +From the little scraps of news that have come through, it looks as if +the Balkans were going to be the centre of excitement. If Bulgaria has +agreed to let the Germans through as I suspect she has, I'd bet on +both Greece and Roumania joining the Allies. + + * * * * * + + +AMARAH. + +_September 4th_, 1915. + +TO HIS FATHER. + +We get hardly any news up here, so please kindly continue your +function of war correspondent whenever you have time, and especially +mention any casualties which affect me. + +One of the few bits of news which have reached us is a report of a +speech of yours in which you mention that Milner's Committee +recommended the Government to guarantee 45s. a year for four years, +but the Government wouldn't. Reuter deduces from this that we have +found a way of keeping the whip hand of submarines: but it looks to me +much more like Free Trade shibboleths + the fact that there has +already been a 30% increase in the area under wheat. I hope you will +have written me something about this. + +Now for the military news. This battalion, when we arrived here, was +nominally nearly 300 strong, but actually it could hardly have paraded +100. This reduction is nearly all due to sickness. The deaths from all +causes only total between forty and fifty, out of the original 800: +and of these about twenty-five, I think, were killed in action. But +there has been an enormous amount of sickness during the hot weather, +four-fifths of which has been heat-stroke and malaria. There have been +a few cases of enteric and a certain number of dysentery; but next to +heat and malaria more men have been knocked out by sores and boils +than by any disease. It takes ages for the smallest sore to heal. + +Of the original thirty officers, eight are left here, Major Stillwell, +who is C.O., one Captain, Page-Roberts, a particularly nice fellow, +and five subalterns, named Harris, Forbes, Burrell, Bucknill and +Chitty: (Chitty is in hospital): and Jones, the M.O., also a very nice +man and a pretty good M.O. too. The new Adjutant is a Captain from 2nd +Norfolks named Floyd: he is also nice and seems good: was on +Willingdon's staff and knows Jimmy. + +In honour of our arrival, they have adopted Double Company system. I +am posted to "A" Double Company, of which the Company Commander and +only other officer is Harris, aet. 19. So I am second in command and +four platoon commanders at once, besides having charge of the +machine-guns (not that I am ever to parade with them) while Chitty is +sick. It sounds a lot, but with next to no men about, the work is +lessened. On paper, "A" D.C was seventy-two strong, which, with my +fifty, makes 122: but in fact, of these 122, twenty-five are sick and +sixteen detached permanently for duties at headquarters and so on, +leaving eighty-one. And these eighty-one are being daily more and more +absorbed into fatigues of various kinds and less and less available +for parade. In a day or two we shall be the only English battalion +remaining here, so that all the duties which can't be entrusted to +Indian troops will fall on us. + +I haven't had time to observe the birds here very much yet, but they +seem interesting, especially the water-birds. With regard to what I +wrote to Mamma about the teal, people who have been up the river say +they saw a very big flock of them at Kut. There were a lot of snipe +with them and about twenty bitterns, which surprises me. And about +eighty miles north of here there is a mud flat where great numbers of +mallards are assembling for migration northwards: and there are more +bitterns there than there are higher up even. These flocks about the +equinoxes are very curious. I expect the mallards will migrate +northwards, and the teal soon afterwards will become very scarce, but +I hope the bitterns will stay where they are. The snipe are less +interesting: they move about all over the place, wherever they can +pick up most food. These people put the size of the flock of teal at a +hundred and fifty and the mallards at five hundred, but you should, I +think, multiply the first by a hundred and the second only by ten. + +I got Mamma's letter via the India Office just after we got here. I +quite agree with her view of war, though I must admit the officers of +1/4 Hants seem to me improved by it. While sitting on that court +martial at Agra I expressed my view in a sonnet which I append, for +you to show to Mamma: + + How long, O Lord, how long, before the flood + Of crimson-welling carnage shall abate? + From sodden plains in West and East the blood + Of kindly men streams up in mists of hate + Polluting Thy clear air: and nations great + In reputation of the arts that bind + The world with hopes of Heaven, sink to the state + Of brute barbarians, whose ferocious mind + Gloats o'er the bloody havoc of their kind, + Not knowing love or mercy. Lord, how long + Shall Satan in high places lead the blind + To battle for the passions of the strong? + Oh, touch thy children's hearts, that they may know + Hate their most hateful, pride their deadliest foe. + +I must stop now, as a mail is going out and one never knows when the +next will be. + + * * * * * + + +NORFOLK HOUSE. +AMARAH, _September 13th_, 1915. + +TO HIS FATHER. + +As I have written the news to Mamma this week I will tell you what I +gather of the campaign and country generally. + +There's no doubt that old Townshend, the G.O.C., means to push on to +Baghdad "ekdum"; and if the Foreign Office stops him there will be +huge indignâ. It seems to me that the F.O. should have made itself +quite explicit on the point, one way or the other months ago: to pull +up your general in full career is exasperating to him and very +wasteful, as he has accumulated six months' supplies for an army of +16,000 up here, which will have to be mostly shipped back if he is +pulled up at Kut. The soldiers all say the F.O. played the same trick +on Barratt in the cold weather. They let him get to Qurnah, and he +wanted and prepared to push on here and to Nasiryah, which were then +the Turkish bases. But the F.O. stopped him and consequently the Turks +could resume the offensive, and nearly beat us at Shaibah. The +_political_ people say that the soldiers had only themselves to thank +they were nearly beaten at Shaibah. They were warned in December that +the whole area between Sh. and Basrah would be flooded later on, and +were urged either to dig a canal or build a causeway; but they +pooh-poohed it: and consequently all supplies and ammunition at +Shaibah had to be carried across 8 miles of marsh, 4ft. to 1in. deep. + +As for the country, it is said to be very fertile wherever properly +irrigated. At present the water is distributed about as badly as it +could be. The annual rise of the river makes vast feverish swamps, +and the rest of the country is waterless. Any stray Bedouin tribe that +feels like growing a crop can go and cut a hole in the bank and +irrigate a patch for one season and then leave it; and these cuts form +new channels which as often as not lose themselves in a swamp. +Meanwhile this haphazard draining off of the water is seriously +impairing the main streams, especially that of the Euphrates, which is +now almost unnavigable in the low water season. To develop the country +therefore means (1) a comprehensive irrigation and drainage scheme. +Willcock's scheme I believe is only for irrigation. I don't know how +much the extreme flatness of the country would hamper such a scheme. +Here we are 200 miles by river from the sea and only 28ft. above +sea-level. It follows (2) that we must control the country and the +nomad tribes from the highest _barrage_ continuously down to the sea. +(3) We must have security that the Turks don't interfere with the +rivers above our barrage, or even neglect the river banks. + +All this seems to me to point to a repetition of our Egyptian +experience. We shall be drawn, whether we like it or not, into a +virtual protectorate at least as far up as the line Kut-Nasiryah, +along the Shatt-al-Hai, and that will have to extend laterally on the +east to the Persian frontier and on the west to the Arabian tableland. +I don't see how we can hope to get off with less: and that being so, I +believe it would be better to take on the whole at once. North of the +Shatt-al-Hai line (_i.e_. Kut-Nasiryah) it would be very exhausting to +go, and very awkward politically, as you soon get among the holy +places of the Shiahs, especially Karbala, which is their Mecca. But +it's no use blinking the fact that a river is a continuous whole, and +experience shows that the power which controls the mouth is sooner or +later forced to climb to its source, especially when its up-stream +neighbours are hostile and not civilised. And what power of +Government will be left to Turkey after the war? It looks as if she +will be as bankrupt, both financially and politically, as Persia; and +I see no real hope of avoiding a partition à la Persia into British +and Russian spheres of interest. In that case it seems to me the +British sphere should go to the Shatt-al-Hai, and the Russian begin +where the plain ends, or at any rate north of Mosul. Are you at +liberty to tell me whether there is already an understanding with +Russia about this country, and if so how far it goes? + +As for the climate, I don't think it is any worse than the plains of +India. When it is properly drained the fever will be much less: and +under peace conditions the water can be properly purified and the heat +dealt with. The obvious port is Basra; it is said that the bar outside +Fao could easily be dredged to 26ft. The only other really good +harbour is Koweit, I gather: but our game is to support the +independence of K.: make it the railway terminus, but by using Basra +you make your rail-freight as low as possible and have your commercial +port where you can directly control matters. + +I wish they would get a move on in the Dardanelles. It seems to me +Germany is running a fearful risk by committing herself so deeply into +the interior of Russia at this time of year. The only explanation I +can find is that at each rush she has been much nearer to cutting off +a Russian army than has transpired and so is tempted on: nearer +perhaps than the Russians ever intended, which may be the reason of +the Grand Duke's removal to the Caucasus. + + * * * * * + + +AMARAH. + +_September 11th_. + +TO HIS MOTHER. + +For the men, newspapers would be as welcome as anything. I think Papa +might divert those weekly papers from Agra here, as they get a large +supply in the Regimental Reading Room at Agra. + +What strikes me about the 1/4th is that they are played out. They've +no vitality left in them. Out of about 300 men there are seventy sick, +mostly with trifling stomach or feverish attacks or sores, which a +robust man would get over in two days; but it takes them a fortnight, +and then a week or two afterwards they crock up again. One notices the +same in their manner. They are listless and when off duty just lie +about. When I see men bathing or larking it is generally some of our +drafts. I hope the cold weather will brace them up a bit. I do wish I +had more gifts in the entertaining line, though of course there are +very few men left to entertain when you've allowed for all our guards +and the men just off guard. + + * * * * * + +The house is two-storeyed, with thick brick walls, built round an open +well-like court. There is a broad verandah all round the court, on to +which every room opens. There is also a balcony on the W. side +overlooking the river. We sleep on the roof a.p.u. The sun sets right +opposite this balcony, behind a palm-grove, and the orange afterglows +are reflected all up the westward bend of the river, which is very +lovely: though personally I like the more thrilling cloud sunsets +better than these still rich glowings of the desert. + + * * * * * + +The men sleep in huts just behind. These are sensibly built of brick. +Only the S. side is walled up, and even there a space is left between +the wall and the ceiling. The rest is just fenced with reed trellis +work. The roofs are of reed matting, the floors brick with +floor-boards for sleeping on. Boards and bedding are put out in the +sun by day. The men are very contented in them. If I ask my men how +they like it compared to India, they all say they like it better. +"Why, you gets a decent dinner here, Sir." My experience quite +confirms that of Sir Redvers Buller and other great authorities. If +you feed T.A. well you can put him in slimy trenches and he'll be +perfectly happy: but he'd never be contented in Buckingham Palace on +Indian rations. Here we are of course on war rations, cheese, bacon +and jam, bully beef and quite decent mutton, and condensed milk. +Vegetables are scarce, so lime juice is an issue: and they are said +just to have made beer one, which would be the crown of bliss. Every +man gets (if he's there) five grains of quinine a day. There are, +however, far fewer mosquitoes than I expected. I've only seen one +myself. The only great pest is flies: but even of those there are far +fewer here than in Basra. + +When I hear what the 1/4th have been through, I think we are in +luxury. They had a very rough trek to Ahway and Illah in Persia in +May, and coming back much exhausted were stationed a month in Ashar +Barracks (Basra). Here for a fortnight it never went below 100° by +night and was 115° by day--damp heat: and the barracks (Turkish) were +in a state which precluded rest: the record bag for one man in one +morning was sixty fleas from his puttees alone. And of course what +Austen told the H. of C. about fans, ice and fruit was all eyewash. + + * * * * * + +A man in our Coy. died last night. I'd never seen him or knew he was +ill. I was rather shocked at the way nobody seemed to care a bit. The +Adjt. just looked in and said "who owns Pte. Taylor A." Harris said "I +do: is he dead?" Adjt. "Yes: you must bury him to-morrow." Harris: +"Right o." Exit Adjt. To do Harris justice, he doesn't know the man +and thought he was still at Nasiriyah. None of the man's old Coy. +officers are here. + + * * * * * + + +AMARAH. +_September_ 21, 1915. + +TO HIS MOTHER. + +The provision for the sick and wounded is on the whole fairly good +now. Six months ago it was very inadequate, too few doctors and not +enough hospital accommodation. My men who were in the Base Hospital at +Basra spoke very well of it: it had 500 men in it then, and is capable +of indefinite expansion. The serious cases are invalided to India by +the hospital ship _Madras_. It is said that 10,000 have gone back to +India in this way. It is a curious fact that the Indian troops +suffered from heat-stroke every bit as much as the British. + +There are now four hospitals here (1) a big one for native troops, (2) +one for British troops which has expanded till it occupies three large +houses, (3) one for British officers, which will be used for all ranks +if the casualties next Saturday are heavy, (4) one for civilians. +There seems to be no lack of drugs or dressings or invalid foods. + + * * * * * + + +AMARAH. +_September_ 24, 1915. + +TO N.B. + +Two letters from you rolled up together this mail, for both of which +many thanks. + +Like everyone else you write under the cloud of Warsaw and in the +expectation of the enemy forthwith dashing back on us in the West. But +the last two months have made it much harder for him to do that soon, +if at all: and I hope the month which will pass before you get this +will have made it harder still. I found it difficult weeks ago to +explain what induced the Germans to commit themselves so deeply into +the interior of Russia so late in the season, and I came to the +conclusion that with each forward movement they had been much nearer +to enveloping and smashing the Russians than the Reuters would have +led one to suppose: and so had been lured on. + +It now looks to me as if they are playing for one of two alternatives. +If Von Below can get round their right flank he will try a last +envelopment: if that flank falls back far enough to uncover Petrograd, +he will make a dash for P. But all that will mean locking up even +bigger forces in the East. Indeed it seems so reckless that I can only +account for it by supposing either that they are confident of rushing +Petrograd and paralysing Russia within a few weeks: or that they are +in a desperate plight and know it. + +As for the future, I think it would be a mistake to expect this war to +produce a revolution in human nature and equally wrong to think +nothing has been achieved if it doesn't. What I do hope is that it +will mark a distinct stage towards a more Christian conception of +international relations. I'm afraid that for a long time to come there +will be those who will want to wage war and will have to be crushed +with their own weapons. But I think this insane and devilish cult of +war will be a thing of the past. War will only remain as an unpleasant +means to an end. The next stage will be, one hopes, the gradual +realisation that the ends for which one wages war are generally +selfish: and anyway that law is preferable to force as a method of +settling disputes. As to whether National ideals can be Christian +ideals, in the strict sense they can't very well: because so large a +part of the Christian ideal lies in self-suppression and self-denial +which of course can only find its worth in individual conduct and its +meaning in the belief that this life is but a preparation for a future +life: whereas National life is a thing of this world and therefore the +law of its being must be self-development and self-interest. The +Prussians interpret this crudely as mere self-assertion and the will +to power. The Christianising of international relations will be +brought about by insisting on the contrary interpretation--that our +highest self-development and interest is to be attained by respecting +the interests and encouraging the development of others. The root +fallacy to be eradicated of course, is that one Power's gain is +another's loss; a fallacy which has dominated diplomacy and is the +negation of law. I think we are perceptibly breaking away from it: the +great obstacle to better thinking now is the existence of so many +backward peoples incapable (as we think) of seeking their own +salvation. Personally I don't see how we can expect the Christianising +process to make decisive headway until the incapables are partitioned +out among the capables. Meanwhile let us hope that each new war will +be more unpopular and less respectable than the last. + +I'm afraid I haven't even the excuse of a day's fishing without any +fish. + +Now for your letter of August 11th. I'm sorry you are discouraged +because the programme you propounded to Auntie's work-party in +February has not been followed. But comfort yourself with the +reflection that the programme which Kaiser Bill propounded to _his_ +work-party has not been followed either. + +Your Balkan programme, or rather Bob's, does not at present show much +more sign of fulfilment than the one you propounded to Auntie's +work-party, I'm afraid. + +As usual nothing whatever has happened here. Elaborate arrangements +have been made to have a battle to-morrow 120 miles up the river at +Kut. It ought to be quite a big show: the biggest yet out here. As the +floods are gone now it may be possible to walk right round them and +capture the lot. If we pull off a big success the G.O.C. is very keen +to push on to Baghdad, but it is a question whether the Cabinet will +allow it. It means another 200 miles added to the L. of c.: and could +only be risked if we were confident of the desert Arabs remaining +quiet. Personally I see no solid argument for our going to Baghdad, +and several against it (1) the advance would take us right through the +sacred Shiah country, quite close to Karbala itself (Karbala is to the +Shiah Mohammedans--and the vast majority of Indian Mahommedans are +Shiahs--what Mecca is to the Sunnis; and Baghdad itself is a holy +city). It would produce tremendous excitement in India and probably +open mutiny among the Moslem troops here if they were ordered up. (2) +Surely Russia wouldn't like it. (3) We can't expect to hold it +permanently. Everything, so far as I can see, points to portioning +this country into a British sphere and a Russian, with a neutral belt +in between, on the Persian model, except that the "spheres" may be +avowed protectorates. The British one must come up far enough to let +us control the irrigation and drainage of Lower Mesopotamia properly: +and stop short of the holy cities: say to the line Kut-el-Amarah +(commonly called Kut)--Nasiriyah, along the Shatt-al-Hai. The Russians +would, I suppose, come down to about Mosul. + +This campaign is being conducted on gentlemanly lines. When we took a +lot of prisoners at Nasiriyah we allowed the officers to send back for +their kits. In return, last week, when one of our aeroplanes came down +in the enemy's lines and the two airmen were captured, they sent a +flag of truce across to us to let us know that the prisoners were +unhurt and to fetch their kits. + +I just missed Sir Mark Sykes who cruised through here two days ago. I +have written to him in the hope of catching him on his way back. + + * * * * * + + +AMARAH. +_September_ 27, 1915. + +TO R.K. + +After censoring about 100 of my Company's letters I feel this will be +a very incorrect performance. What strikes one too is the great gain +in piquancy of style achieved by the omission of all punctuation. How +could I equal this for instance "The Bible says this is a land of milk +and honey there is plenty of water and dust about if thats what they +mean?" or "The sentry shot an Arab one night soon after we got here I +saw him soon afterwards caught him in the chest a treat it did." + +I'm so glad to hear that Foss is getting on well: let me know the +extent and nature of the damage. We hardly ever get a casualty list +here: and I can't take that to mean there have been none lately: so my +news of fractured friends hangs on the slender thread of the safe +arrival of my _Times_ every week--and on you and others who are not +given to explaining that Bloggs will have given me all the news, no +doubt. + +The War Office, fond as ever of its little joke, having written my +C.O. a solemn letter to say they couldn't entertain the idea of my +promotion seeing that under the Double Coy. system the establishment +of Captains is reduced to seven and so on, and having thereby induced +him to offer me the unique felicity of bringing a draft to this merry +land, has promptly gazetted my promotion, and antedated it to April +2nd, so that I find myself a Double Coy. Commander and no end of a +blood. My importance looks more substantial on paper than on parade: +for of the 258 men in "A" Double Coy. I can never muster more than +about thirty in the flesh. You see so many have overeaten themselves +on the ice and fresh vegetables which Austen dwelt upon in the H. of +C. or have caught chills from the supply of punkahs and fans (_ib._) +that 137 have been invalided to India and twenty-five more are sick +here. Then over fifty are on jobs which take them away from the Coy. +and from ten to twenty go on guards every day. However my dignity is +recognised by the grant of a horse and horse allowance. + +Unless it is postponed again, the great battle up-river should be +coming off to-day. I hope it is, as it is the coolest day we've had +since April. In fact it is a red-letter day, being the first on which +the temperature has failed to reach 100° in this room. You wouldn't +believe me how refreshing a degree 96° can be. + +We have also heard fairy-tale like rumours of an advance of Four +Thousand Yards in France, but I have not seen it in black and white +yet. + +Having so few men available there are not many parades, in fact from 7 +to 8 a.m. about four times a week is all that I've been putting in. +And as a tactful Turk sank the barge containing all my Company's +documents sometime in July there is an agreeable shortage of office +business. So I am left to pass a day of cultured leisure and to +meditate on the felicity of the Tennysonian "infinite torment of +flies." I read Gibbon and Tennyson and George Eliot and the _Times_ by +turns, with intervals of an entertaining work, the opening sentence of +which is "Birds are warm-blooded vertebrate animals oviparous and +covered with feathers, the anterior limbs modified into wings, the +skull articulating with the vertebral column by a single occipital +condyle" and so on. I also work spasmodically at Hindustani. I rather +fancy my handwriting in the Perso-Arabic script. Arabic proper I am +discouraged from by the perverse economy of its grammar and syntax. It +needs must have two plurals, one for under ten and one for over, +twenty-three conjugations, and yet be without the distinction of past +and future. Which is worse even than the Hindustani alphabet with no +vowels and four z's--so _unnecessary_, isn't it, as my Aunts would +say. + + * * * * * + + +AMARAH. + +_September_ 29, 1915. + +TO HIS FATHER. + +One's system has got so acclimatised to high temperatures that I find +it chilly and want my greatcoat to sit in at any temperature under +80°, under 100° is noticeably warm. + +The men are getting livelier already and the sick list will soon, I +hope, shrink. The chief troubles are dust and flies. About four days +per week a strong and often violent wind blows from the N.W., full of +dust from the desert, and this pervades everything. The moment the +wind stops the flies pester one. They all say that this place is +flyless compared to Nasiriyah, where they used to kill a pint and a +half a day by putting saucers of formalin and milk on the mess table +and still have to use one hand with a fan all the time while eating +with the other, to prevent getting them into their mouths. Here it is +only a matter of half a dozen round one's plate--we feed on the first +floor, which is a gain. In the men's bungalows I try to keep them down +by insisting on every scrap of food being either swept away or covered +up: and the presence or absence of flies is incidentally a good test +as to whether the tables and mugs, etc., have been properly cleaned. +They are worse in the early morning. When I ride through the town +before breakfast they settle all up the sunny side of me from boot to +topi, about two to the square inch, and nothing but hitting them will +make them budge. They are disgusting creatures. Of course the filthy +habits of the natives encourage them. The streets are littered with +every kind of food-scraps and dirt: and the Arab has only two +W.C.'s--the street and the river. Our chief tyranny in his eyes is +that we have posted sanitary police about who fine him 2_s_. if he +uses either: but like all reforms it is evaded on a large scale. The +theory that the sun sweetens everything is not quite true. Even after +several days' sun manure is very offensive and prolific: and many +parts of the streets are not reached by the sun at all: and in any +case the flies get to work much sooner than the sun. + +We have just had news from the front that a successful action has been +fought, the enemy's left flank turned and several hundred prisoners +taken--our own casualties under 500. So the show seems to have come off +up to time. We were afraid it might have to be postponed, as a raiding +party got round and cut our L. of C., but this does not appear to have +worried them. I hope they will be able to follow this success up and +capture all their guns and stores, if not a large proportion of their +forces. + +Two days ago we got the best news that we have had for a very long +time from both European fronts, an advance of from one to three miles +over nearly half the Western front, with about 14,000 prisoners: and +Russian reports of 8,000 dead in front of one position and captures +totalling something like 20,000. Since then no news has come through, +which is very tantalising, as one longs to know whether the forward +move has been continued. I am afraid even if it has there will be more +enormous casualty lists than ever. + +The most boring thing about this place is that there are no amusing +ways of taking exercise, which is necessary to keep one fit. As a +double Coy. Commander I have a horse, a quiet old mare which does +nothing worse than shy and give an occasional little buck on starting +to canter. But the rides are very dull. There are only three which one +may call A, B and C, thus: + +[Illustration] + +A is the flooded area, and when it is dry it is caked as hard as +brick, and not a vegetable to vary the landscape. + +B takes one through the little ground, the four cemeteries, and the +deserted brick-kilns: by the time one is through these it is generally +time to go home: and even beyond it is market gardens and one can only +ride on foot-paths: and there are only two foot-paths through the +barbed wire defences. + +C is good soft-surfaced desert, much the best riding ground though its +virtues are negative. But to reach it one has to cross the Tigris by +the boat-bridge, and this is apt to be cut at any moment for the +passage of boats, which means a delay of half an hour, not to be +lightly risked before breakfast: and in the afternoons the interval +between excessive sun and darkness is very brief. It is too hot to +ride with pleasure before 4.30 and the sun sets at 5.30: and the dusty +wind is at its worst till about 5. + + * * * * * + + +AMARAH. + +_October_ 7, 1915. + +TO HIS BROTHER. + +Thanks awfully for your letter. It was one of the best I've had for a +long time. And many congratulations on the birth of a daughter. I'm +delighted it went off so well, and only hope she and Grace are both +flourishing. + +I am sorry to hear about Benison. I suppose he was in some unit or +other. You saw of course that Stolley was killed some time ago. + +At present, at any rate, we're a very comfortable distance behind the +firing line. This has been the advanced base for the Kut show. By river +we are 130 miles above Basra and about the same below Kut. The action +there on the 27th and 28th was a great success, but the pursuit was +unfortunately hung up and prevented our reaping quite the full fruits. +This was partly due to a raid on our L. of C. scuppering some +barge-loads of fuel, but chiefly to the boats getting stuck on mud +banks. This river is devilish hard to navigate just now. It winds like a +corkscrew, and though it looks 150 yards wide, the navigable channel is +quite narrow, and only 4ft. to 6ft. deep at that. So all the river boats +have to be flat bottomed, and the strong current and violent N.W. wind +keeps pushing them on the mud banks at every bend. + +[Illustration] + +The Turks had, they think, 15,000 men and 32 guns. Their position was +twelve miles long and most elaborately entrenched and wired with all +the German devices, and rested on a marsh at either end. + +We had about 10,000 men of all arms and 25 or 27 guns, seven of them +on river boats, I think. Townshend's attack was as follows. He made +all his reconnaissances and preparations as for an attack on their +right flank, and on Monday, 27th he deployed a brigade, A. on that +side of the river, leaving only two battalions, B. on the right bank, +and keeping two battalions in reserve, C. For various reasons this +attack had made very little progress by sunset and was last seen +digging itself in. Then as soon as it got dark almost the whole of A. +together with the reserve C. was ordered to march round to the enemy's +left flank and attack Fort E. at dawn. So they moved off, intending to +go between Marsh 1 and Marsh 2; but in the dark they went round +outside Marsh 2, and at dawn after a twelve mile march found +themselves at G. They completely surprised and quickly captured Fort +E. and the section E. and F., their casualties here being mainly from +our own artillery, as was inevitable: but they were enfiladed from F. +and had to reform and dig themselves in on a front parallel with the +river, and send for artillery support. + +Meanwhile the skeleton left on our left flank and the force B. were +pressing a frontal attack, supported by the guns: and by the afternoon +the outflanking force A. was able to resume its advance, which it was +keen to finish as the men were very tired and had run out of water. +But just then the whole Turkish reserve turned up on their right front +and flank, having been hurried back from the right flank to which our +feint had drawn them, across the bridge D. whence they deployed in +crescent formation. Apparently this new danger had a very bracing +effect on the thirsty ones; it is a rash man that stands between T.A. +and his drink. They went straight for the centre of the crescent, as +far as I can make out, with the Turkish reserves on their front and +flanks and the Turkish firing line in their rear. This was where most +of the casualties occurred, but after a stiff fight the Turks broke +and ran: and there was a tremendous crush at the bridge D. where they +started shooting each other freely. + +Meanwhile, the Turkish Commander announced that he had received a +telegram from the Sultan requiring the immediate presence of himself +and army at Constantinople: so the firing line took the hint and +started for the new alignment by the shortest route. However, as +everybody's great idea was to put the river between himself and the +enemy he'd been facing, two streams met at the bridge D. and there +were further scenes. By this time it was dark, and our troops were +utterly exhausted, so nothing more was done for the moment. + +Our casualties were 85 killed and 1,158 wounded, an extraordinary +proportion. We haven't had any reliable information of the enemy's +losses yet: but we took about 1,300 prisoners. + +I must stop now. I am very fit and a Capt., 3rd Senior Officer out +here for the moment (excluding Adjutant O.M.O.) and am commanding "A" +double Coy. + + * * * * * + + +AMARAH. + +_October_8, 1915 + +TO N.B. + +Two lots of letters arrived this mail, including yours of August 30th +and September 6th, for which many thanks. + +If I said that this war means the denying of Christianity I ought to +have explained myself more. That phrase is so often used loosely that +people don't stop to think exactly what they mean. If the Germans +deliberately brought about the war to aggrandise themselves, as I +believe they did, that was a denial of Christianity, _i.e._ a +deliberate rejection of Christian principles and disobedience to +Christ's teaching: and it makes no difference in that case that it was +a national and not an individual act. But once the initiating evil was +done, it involved the consequence, as evil always does, of leaving +other nations only a choice of evils. In this case the choice for +England was between seeing Belgium and France crushed, and war. In +choosing war I can't admit there was any denial of Christianity, and I +don't think you can point to any text, however literally you press the +interpretation, which will bear a contrary construction. Take "Resist +not him that doeth evil" as literally as you like, in its context. It +obviously refers to an individual resisting a wrong committed against +himself, and the moral basis of the doctrine seems to me twofold: (1) +As regards yourself, self-denial, loving your enemies, etc., is the +divine law for the soul; (2) as regards the wronger nothing is so +likely to better him as your unselfish behaviour. The doctrine plainly +does not refer to wrongs committed in your presence against others. +Our Lord Himself overthrew the tables of the money-changers. And the +moral basis of His resistance to evil here is equally clear if you +tolerate evils committed against others: (1) your own morale and +courage is lowered: it is shirking; (2) the wronger is merely +encouraged. If I take A.'s coat and A. gives me his cloak also, I may +be touched. But B.'s acquiescence in the proceeding cannot possibly +touch me and only encourages me. Now the Government of a country is +nearly always in the position of B. not A., because a country is not +an individual. In our case we were emphatically in the position of B.: +but I would justify the resistance of Belgium on the same grounds. + +Of course as I said last week, national standards can't be as +self-sacrificing as individual standards: and never can be until all +the individuals in a nation are so Christian as to choose unanimously +the self-sacrificing course. + +I agree that the Dardanelles outlook is very serious, and it now looks +as if Germany had got Bulgaria to come in against us. We ought to +concentrate on a decision there as vigorously as the Germans did in +Poland, and let us hope with more success. + +The big offensive in France came off and seems to have done remarkably +well for a few days: but we have heard nothing more of it for over a +week. I'm afraid that means we exhausted ourselves and lost heavily. + +The outstanding fact here is that the hot weather is over. It is now +only unpleasant to be out from 10 till 4, and then only in the sun. +The transition is going on rapidly and by the end of this month I +expect to see cold weather conditions established. I have played +football twice and been out shooting twice. There is a large black +partridge to be shot here which is very good to eat. + +I can give you no details about the Kut fight. In fact you probably +know more than we do: I must stop now. + + * * * * * + + +AMARAH. + +_October_ 11, 1915. + +TO L.R. + +The weather has got cooler so rapidly that I have been shooting and +playing football quite happily. The chief things to shoot are a big +black partridge (which will soon be extinct) and a little brown dove, +later on there are snipe, and already there are duck, but these are +unapproachable. Many thanks for your letters of August 27th, and +September 8th, which arrived together this mail. + +I think Mrs. Ricketts takes an unduly optimistic view when she says +the Germans mean the war to be decided out here. Nothing would suit us +better. Meanwhile, we certainly seem to mean to go to Baghdad, and +that will mean at least one other big fight: but so far they show no +sign of moving us up to the firing line. This last show was a big +success and nearly was a much bigger, only our men having fought for +two days and marched twelve miles in the intervening night and having +run out of water, were not able to press the pursuit very vigorously. +I take it the next show will come off in about three weeks' time, +sooner if possible. + +I have heard a good deal vaguely about the Angels at Mons. It is very +interesting. I gather that A. Machen wrote a magazine story and that +this has got embodied with the real stories and is therefore supposed +to have originated them. If Begbie's forthcoming book on them is good, +do send it to me. We have had no such stories out here, so far as I +know. + +As to being pessimistic about the future, I think our mistake was to +underestimate Germany's striking force. You must always keep the +German calculations in mind as well as our hopes, and you will see +that the former have been falsified quite as much as the latter--in +fact much more. They calculated--and not without having worked it all +out thoroughly--that their superior armaments and mobility would +enable them (1) to smash France within a few weeks, (2) to manoeuvre +round the Russians and defeat their armies in detail till they sued +for peace, (3) to dominate the continent and organise it for the +settlement with England. We ought to be devoutly thankful that (1) +failed: but Instead we assumed that the worst was over and that (2) +would fail as signally. As a matter of fact (2) looks like failing +after all; but it has been near success for much longer than (1) was +and consequently has achieved more. But if you remember, both Papa and +K. said at the outset it would be a three years' war: which clearly +meant that they expected us to get the worst of it the first year, +equalise matters the second year and not be decisively victorious till +the third year. + +Luly has plenty of friends at Agra and is really very happy there, so +you may be at ease about him. + +Many thanks for your offer to send us things for the cold. But the +danger is overlapping, so I will refer you to Mamma, to whom I wrote +about it some time back: and I hope _she_ is combining with Mrs. +Bowker of Winchester (wife of 1/4th Colonel) who is organising the +sending of things to the battalion as a whole. You might mention to +Mamma that, in addition to the articles I've told her of, newspapers +and magazines would be very acceptable. + + * * * * * + + +AMARAH. + +_October_ 17, 1915. + +TO N.B. + +Many thanks for your little letter wishing me Godspeed out here, it +has only just followed me on, and reached me soon after your letter of +September 12th in which you ask me about Persia. I assure you I know +less of what is happening in Persia--though we can see the Persian +hills from here--than you do. Your letter was my first news of the +Consul General's death, which I have seen since in _The Times_ as +well. All I know is that German gold working on the chronic +lawlessness has made the whole country intolerably disturbed. The +Government is powerless. The disorder is mainly miscellaneous robbery: +in the north there is a good deal of hostility to Russia, but nothing +approaching organised war or a national rising. In May Arab raiders +threatened Ahwaz where the Anglo-Persian Oil Company's pipe-line runs; +and at the Persian Government's request a force, including 1/4 Hants, +went up there and dispersed them. Then in August the unrest in Bushire +got acute, and two officers were killed in an ambush. So they sent a +force to occupy it. I don't know how large it was; I imagine two +battalions or so and a few guns. Since then I've heard nothing. Mark +Sykes, whom I saw about October 6th, said he thought things were +quieter there now. + +For the Persian situation generally, up to last year, the best account +I've seen is in Gilbert Murray's pamphlet on "The Foreign Policy of +Sir E. Grey." There's no doubt these weak corrupt semi-civilised +States are a standing temptation to intriguers like the Germans and so +a standing danger to peace. That is going to be the crux here too, +after the war. If I make up my mind and have the energy, I will write +my views more fully on the subject in a week or two. + +There is a lull here and no news. But there seems no doubt that we are +going to push up to Baghdad. The enemy are now in their last and +strongest position, only twenty miles from B.: and we are +concentrating against it. Undoubtedly large reinforcements are on +their way up, but we don't know how many. I expect you may look for +news from these parts about November 7th. + +It is getting quite cold. Yesterday the wind began again and we all +had to take to our overcoats, which seems absurd as it was over 80°. +To-day it was only 74° indoors all the morning and we sat about in +"British warms." And the nights seem Arctic. To get warm last night I +had to get into my flea-bag and pile a sheet, a rug and a kaross on +top of that: it was 70° when I went to bed and went down to 62° at +dawn. As it goes down to 32° later on, I foresee we shall be smothered +in the piles of bed-clothes we shall have to accumulate. + +I continue to play football and ride intermittently. I believe I could +mount a middle-sized English horse without serious inconvenience now. +I have begun to try to pick up a little Arabic from the functionary +known as the Interpreter. + + * * * * * + + +AMARAH. + +_October_ 18, 1915. + +TO M.H. + +I'm so glad the saris are what you wanted. If you pay £5 into my a/c +at Childs, it will be simplest. + +Everyone--except I suppose the victims--seems to have regarded the +Zeppelin raid as a first-class entertainment. I think they do us +vastly more good than harm, but it would be a satisfaction to bag one. + +So poor Charles Lister was killed after all. He is a tremendous loss. +And ----, who could have been spared much better, has been under fire +in Gallipoli for months without being touched. + +I agree with Charlie's sentiments. What is so desperately trying about +the Army system is that mere efflux of time puts a man who may be, and +generally is, grossly stupid, in command of much more intelligent +people, whose lives are at his bungling mercy. If Napoleon, who won +his Italian campaign at 27, had been in the British Army he wouldn't +have become a Major till 1811. It is an insane system which no +business would dream of adopting. Yet it wouldn't do to abolish it, or +you destroy the careers of 4/5 of your Officers. The reform I should +like would be to make every third promotion in any regiment +compulsorily regardless of seniority. + +I am having a few lessons in Arabic now, but it is a much more +difficult language than Hindustani, and the only available "Munshi" is +the regimental interpreter who can't read and speaks very broken +English, and the only available book deals with classical Egyptian and +Syrian Arabic, which are to the Arabic of to-day as Latin, French and +Italian are to Spanish. So my acquirements are likely to be limited. + +There is absolutely no news here. Reinforcements are said to be coming +but have not arrived. The next show should come off about November +10th. + + * * * * * + + +AMARAH. + +_October_ 11, 1915. + +TO R.K. + +I have just seen in the _Times_ that Charles Lister died of his +wounds. It really is heart-breaking. All the men one had so fondly +hoped would make the world a little better to live in seem to be taken +away. And Charles was a spirit which no country can afford to lose. I +feel so sorry for you too: he must have been very dear to you +personally. How the world will hate war when it can pause to think +about it. + +I had quite a cheerful letter from Foss this mail. I wonder he wasn't +more damaged, as the bullet seems to have passed through some very +important parts of him. I am rather dreading the lists which are +bound to follow on our much-vaunted advance of three weeks ago. As for +the Dardanelles, it is an awful tragedy. And now with Bulgaria against +us and Greece obstructed by her King, success is farther off than +ever. + +No, Luly is not with me: I was the only officer with the draft. As for +impressions of our surroundings they are definite but not always +communicable. + +If this neighbourhood could certainly be identified with Eden, one +could supply an entirely new theory of the Fall of Adam. Here at +Amarah we are 200 miles by river from the sea and 28ft. above sea +level. Within reach of the water anything will grow: but as the Turks +levied a tax on trees the date is the only one which has survived. +There are little patches of corn and fodder-stuff along the banks, and +a few vegetable gardens round the town. Otherwise the whole place is a +desert and as flat as this paper: except that we can see the bare +brown Persian mountains about forty miles off to the N.N.E. + +The desert grows little tufts of prickly scrub here and there, +otherwise it is like a brick floor. In the spring it is flooded, and +as the flood recedes the mud cakes into a hard crust on which a +horse's hoof makes no impression; but naturally the surface is very +rough in detail, like a muddy lane after a frost. So it is vile for +either walking or riding. + +The atmosphere can find no mean between absolute stillness--which till +lately meant stifling heat--and violent commotion in the form of N.W. +gales which blow periodically, fogging the air with dust and making +life almost intolerable while they last. These gales have ceased to be +baking hot, and in another month or two they will be piercingly cold. + +The inhabitants are divided into Bedouins and town-Arabs. The former +are nomadic and naked, and live in hut-tents of reed matting. The +latter are just like the illustrations in family Bibles. + +What I _should_ be grateful for in the way of literature is if you +could find a portable and readable book on the history of these parts. +I know it's rather extensive, but if there are any such books on the +more interesting periods you might tell Blackwell to send them to me: +I've got an account there. My Gibbon sketches the doings of the first +four Caliphs: but what I should like most would be the subsequent +history, the Baghdad Caliphs, Tartar Invasion, Turkish Conquest, etc. +For the earlier epochs something not too erudite and very popular +would be most suitable. Mark Sykes tells me he is about to publish a +Little Absul's History of Islam, but as he is still diplomatising out +here I doubt if it will be ready for press soon. + +As for this campaign, you will probably know more about the Kut battle +than I do. Anyway the facts were briefly these. The Turks had a very +strongly entrenched position at Kut, with 15,000 men and 35 guns. We +feinted at their right and then outflanked their left by a night march +of twelve miles. (Two brigades did this, while one brigade held them +in front.) Then followed a day's hard fighting as the out-flankers had +to storm three redoubts successfully before they could properly +enfilade the position. Just as they had done it the whole Turkish +reserve turned up on their right and they had to turn on it and defeat +it, which they did. But by that time it was dark, the troops were +absolutely exhausted and had finished all their water. Nobody could +tell how far the river was, so the only thing to do was to bivouac and +wait for daylight. In the night the Turks cleared out and got away. If +we could have pressed on and seized their bridge, we should have +almost wiped them out: but it was really wonderful we did as much as +we did under the circumstances. Our casualties were 1243, but only 85 +killed. The Turkish losses are not known: we captured about 1400 and +12 of the guns: we buried over 400, but don't know how many the local +Arabs buried. Our pursuit was delayed by the mud-banks on the river, +and the enemy was able to get clear and reform in their next position, +about ninety miles further north. We are now concentrating against +them and it is authoritatively reported that large reinforcements have +been sent from India. This means they intend going for Baghdad. It +seems to me rash: but I suppose there is great need to assert our +prestige with the Moslem world, even at the expense of our popularity: +for B. is a fearfully sacred place. + +I should also like from Blackwell's a good and up-to-date map of these +parts, _i.e._ from the Troad to the Persian Gulf. + + * * * * * + + +AMARAH. + +_October_ 21, 1915. + +TO HIS MOTHER. + +It is hard from here to be patient with the Government for not taking +a bolder line all round and saying frankly what they want. They are +omnipotent if they would only lead. Now we hear that Carson has +resigned. I can't hitch that on to the conscription crisis, yet it +doesn't say it is from ill-health: it is a puzzle. + +Life is as uneventful as usual here. I have nearly finished _The Woman +in White_. It is really one of the best thrillers I've read, and Count +Fosco more than fulfils my expectations: I wonder if Haldane keeps +white mice. I have also finished Tennyson. I have read him right +through in the course of the year, which is much the best way to read +a poet, as you can follow the development of his thoughts. His mind, +to my thinking, was profound but not of very wide range, and strangely +abstract. His only pressing intellectual problems are those of +immortality and evil, and he reached his point of view on those before +he was forty. He never advances or recedes from the position +summarised in the preface to "In Memoriam," d. 1849. The result is +that his later work lacks the inspiration of restlessness and +discovery, and he tends to put more and more of his genius into the +technique of his verse and less into the meaning. The versification is +marvellous, but one gets tired of it, and he often has nothing to say +and has to spin out commonplaces in rich language. One feels this even +in the "Idylls of the King," which are the best of his later or middle +long efforts: they are artificial, not impulsive; Virgil, not Homer; +Meredith calls them 'dandiacal flutings,' which is an exaggeration. +But I can quite see how irritating Tennyson must be to ardent sceptics +like Meredith and the school which is now in the ascendant. To them a +poet is essentially a rebel, and Tennyson refused to be a rebel. That +is why they can't be fair to him and accuse him of being superficial. +I think that a very shallow criticism of him. He saw and states the +whole rebels' position--"In Memoriam" is largely a debate between the +Shelley-Swinburne point of view and the Christian. Only he states it +so abstractly that to people familiar with Browning's concrete and +humanised dialectic it seems cold and artificial. But it's really his +sincerest and deepest thought, and he deliberately rejects the rebel +position as intellectually and morally untenable: and adopts a +position of aquiescent agnosticism on the problem of evil subject to +an unshakeable faith in immortality and the Love of God. This is a +red rag to your Swinburnes. That is why I asked you to send me +Swinburne, as I want to get to the bottom of his position. Shelley's I +know, and it is, in my opinion a much more obvious, easier, and more +superficial one than Tennyson's: besides being based on a distorted +view of Christianity. Shelley in fact wanted to abolish Christianity +as the first step towards teaching men to be Christian. + +Of all the agnostics, Meredith is the one that appeals to me most: but +I've not read his poetry, which I believe has much more of his +philosophy in it than his novels have. + +_P.S._ I have just seen your appeal in the _Hampshire Herald_ for £500 +for a motor ambulance boat, in which you say the Red Cross have +already sent us two such boats. All I can say is that nobody in this +regiment has ever seen or heard of these boats: and they certainly +have not been used for transporting sick and wounded either from +Nasiriyah or from Kut. If they were in Mesopotamia at all, it is +incredible that we shouldn't have heard of them. + + * * * * * + + +AMARAH. + +_October_ 22, 1915. + +TO L.R. + +I don't think there is any likelihood of Luly's coming here. For one +thing our battalion 1/6th is too weak to afford another draft at +present; and even if it sent one there are many officers who would be +asked before Luly. As a matter of fact we have just heard we 1/4th are +getting large reinforcements from our proper resources, _viz._ 250 +from 2/4th at Quetta and 50 from those invalided in the hot weather. + +Your letter of September 5th arrived well after that of September +22nd. + +I'm glad the ---- are optimistic: if Belgians can be we should be able +to. But I can't help feeling the Government is lamentably weak and +wanting in leadership: the policy of keeping the nation in the dark +seems to me to be insane. + +There is no news to report here. We still do very little work, but the +weather is quite pleasant. I am very well. + +There is not much to do. The country is very dull for walking and +riding. + +The birds here are very few compared to those in India. On the river +there are pied Kingfishers. On the flooded land and especially on the +mud-flats round it there are large numbers of sandpipers, Kentish and +ringed plovers, stints and stilts, terns and gulls, ducks and teal, +egrets and cranes: but as there is not a blade of vegetation within a +mile of them there are no facilities for observation, still less for +shooting. + +There are several buzzards and falcons and a few kites, but vultures +are conspicuous by their absence. There are no snakes or crocodiles +either. Scavenging is left to dogs and jackals; and there is a hooded +crow, not very abundant, which is peculiar to this country, having +white where the European and Eastern Asiatic species have grey--a +handsome bird. In the river there are a few sharks and a great +abundance of a carp-like fish which runs up to a very large size. The +Quartermaster can buy two 70lb. fish every morning for the men's +breakfasts, and has been offered one of 120lb. + + * * * * * + + +AMARAH, + +_October_ 31, 1915. + +TO N.B. + +I do hope your "fifty submarines" is true. I shan't think much of you +if you can't get official confirmation from Cousin Arthur: but if he +is impenetrably discreet, you might at least get him to explain--or +pass it on to me if you know already--what conceivable harm it could +do if we published the bare numbers of submarines "accounted for" +without any particulars of when, where, or how. + +As for this campaign it is the old story of the Empire repeating +itself. When it began they only meant to secure the oil-pipe and +protect British interests at Basra. But they found to their great +surprise that you can't stay comfortably on the lower waters of a +great river with an enemy above you any more than you could live in a +flat with the lodger above continually threatening your life. A river +like the Tigris or Euphrates is a unit, and the power which occupies +its mouth will inevitably be drawn to its source unless it meets the +boundaries of a strong and civilised state on the way. Turkey will be +neither after the war. + +What has happened so far? + +[Sidenote: Dec.-Jan.] + +We occupied the Shattal-Arab as far as Kurnah. We sat still. The +Turks, based on Nasiriyah attacked us and nearly recaptured Basra. + +[Sidenote: April] + +We beat them at Shaiba, and for safety's sake had to push them from +their base. + +[Sidenote: May] + +Then the double advance to Amarah and Nasiriyah. + +[Sidenote: July] + +We pushed the Turks out, and they promptly reformed at Kut and +prepared to threaten us again. So we pushed forward again and beat +them at Kut. + +[Sidenote: September] + +Now they have reformed at a point, only twenty miles from ----, their +present base. We shall go for them there no doubt, and push them back +once more. But what does it all lead to? Imagine peace restored. What +will Turkey be like? She will be bankrupt, chaotic, totally incapable +of keeping order among these murderous Bedouins. The country would be +a second Persia under her. Persia is intolerable enough for the +Europeans who trade there at present: but the plight of this country +might easily be worse. We are bound to control the bit from Basra to +the sea to protect existing interests. The whole future of that +area--as of all Mesopotamia--depends on a scientific scheme of +drainage and irrigation. At present half the country is marsh and half +desert. Why? Because under Turkish rule the river is never dredged, +the banks are never repaired, stray Arabs can cut haphazard canals and +leave them to form marshes, and so on. Now an irrigation and drainage +scheme is vitally necessary, but (1) it involves a large outlay; (2) +to be effective it must start a long way up-stream; (3) there must be +security for the good government _not only_ of the area included in +the scheme, but of the whole course of the river above it. These +Asiatic rivers are tricky things: they run for hundreds of miles +through alluvial plains which are as flat as your hand. Here at +Amarah, 200 miles from the mouth of the Tigris, we are only 28ft. +above sea-level. Consequently the river's course is very easily +altered. Look at Stanford's map of this region and see how the +Euphrates has lost itself between Nasiriyah and Basra--"old channel," +"new channel," creeks, marshes, lakes, flood-areas and so on; the +place is a nightmare. That kind of thing is liable to happen anywhere +if the river is neglected. So that our schemes for Lower Mesopotamia +might be spoilt by the indolence of those in possession higher up the +river: let alone the security of the trade-routes which would be at +the mercy of wild Arabs if Turkey collapses. + +All this inclines me more and more to believe that we shall be forced, +sooner or later, to occupy the whole Mesopotamian plain as far as +Mosul or to whatever point is the southern limit of Russian control. +At first I favoured a "neutral zone" from Mosul to Kut, and I +shouldn't be surprised if that plan still finds favour at home. But +frankly I see no prospect of a strong enough Government to make the +neutral zone workable; on the contrary everything points to the +absorption of the Persian neutral zone by either us or Russia, +probably us. + +I am still a Captain, but no longer a Coy. Commander. A large draft +from India has arrived, 11 officers and 319 men from 1/4th and 2/4th, +invalids returned. I am now second in command of a Coy. of respectable +size. + + * * * * * + + +AMARAH. + +_October_ 10, 1915. + +TO HIS FATHER. + +I agree with most of your reflections about the moral justification of +war. War is an evil, because it is the product of sin and involves +more sin and much suffering. But that does not mean it is necessarily +wrong to fight. Once evil is at work, one of its chief results is to +leave good people only a choice of evils, wherein the lesser evil +becomes a duty. I'm not prepared to say we've been wholly guiltless in +the whole series of events which produced this war: but in the +situation of July, 1914, produced as it was by various sinful acts, I +am quite sure it was our duty to fight, and that it is our duty to +fight on till German militarism is crushed. And I certainly can't +believe we ought not to have made such a treaty with Belgium as we +did. You've got to face the fact that the spirit which produces war is +still dominant. Fight that spirit by all means: but while it exists +don't suppose your own duty is merely to keep out of wars. That seems +to me a very selfish and narrow view. As for our Lord in a bayonet +charge, one doesn't easily imagine it: but that is because it is +inconsistent with His mission, rather than His character. I can't +imagine a Christian _enjoying_ either a bayonet charge, or hanging a +criminal, or overthrowing the tables of a money-changer, or any other +form of violent retribution. + +Your sight of the Zeppelin must have been thrilling. You don't make it +clear whether it was by day or night. I am curious to see if my next +batch of _Times_ will mention it. Clearly it is very hard to damage +Zs. by gun-fire: but I don't understand quite why our aeroplanes can't +do more against them. Do they get right back to Germany before +daylight? + +I have been out shooting three times this week, with Patmore of 1/7th +Hants, and we got three partridges, six partridges and seven doves +respectively. The partridges are big black ones, as large as young +grouse, and very good to eat: but they will soon be extinct here as we +are operating much in the same way as "the officers" do at Blackmoor. +The doves were reported as sand-grouse, and certainly come flighting +in from the desert very much in the s.-g. manner: but they are very +like turtle doves when shot. + +On our way home after the first shoot, I saw a falcon catch a swallow +on the wing. It had missed one and we were watching it. It flew +straight and rather fast past us, just within shot, fairly high. A +swallow came sailing at full speed from the opposite direction and +would have passed above and to the right of the falcon, and about 6ft. +from it. The latter took no notice of it till the crucial moment, +when it swerved and darted upwards, exactly as a swallow itself does +after flies, and caught the swallow neatly in its talons. It then +proceeded on its way so calmly that if you had taken your eye off it +for 1/5th second you wouldn't have known it had deviated from its +course. It then planed down and settled about 400 yards away on the +ground. + +I have written to Top such details of the Kut battle as I could gather +from eye-witness: but I don't think it forms a reliable account, and +you will probably find the official version rather different, when it +comes out. Anyway it appears to be beyond doubt now that we mean to +push on to Baghdad, in spite of your _Beatus possidens_. It was only +lack of water and the exhaustion of the troops which prevented a much +larger haul this time: and now they are concentrating against the next +position, 90 miles further north. We hear again on good authority that +8,000 reinforcements are coming out. They will certainly be needed if +we are to hold Baghdad. It seems to me a very rash adventure: +especially as Bulgaria's intervention may enable the Turks to send an +Army Corps down to Baghdad, in which case we should certainly have to +retire. + + * * * * * + + +AMARAH. + +_All Saints_, 1915. + +TO R.K. + +Your letters have been so splendidly regular that I'm afraid a gap of +three weeks may mean you've been ill: but I can't be surprised at +anyone at home breaking down under the constant strain of nearness and +frequent news. Mesopotamia and a bi-weekly Reuter are certainly +efficient sedatives; and the most harrowing crisis of the Russian +armies is only rescued from the commonplace by its unintelligibility. +Even the heart-breaking casualties, reaching us five weeks old, have +nothing like the stab they have in England. + +Life here requires a Jane Austen to record it. Our interests are +focussed on the most ridiculous subjects. Recently they took an +ecclesiastical turn, which I think should be reported to you. The +station was left "spiritually" in charge of a Y.M.C.A. deacon for a +fortnight: and discussion waxed hot in the Mess as to what a Deacon +was. The prevailing opinion was that he "was in the Church," but not +"consecrated"; so far Lay instinct was sound, if a little vague. Then +our Scotch Quartermaster laid it down that a Deacon was as good as a +Parson in that he could wear a surplice, but inferior to a parson in +that he couldn't marry you. But the crux which had most practical +interest for us was whether he could bury us. It was finally decided +that he could: but fortunately in actual fact his functions were +confined to organising a football tournament and exhibiting a cinema +film. + +He was succeeded by a priest from the notorious diocese of Bombay: who +proceeded to shift the table which does duty for altar to the E. side +of the R.A.T.A. room and furnish the neighbourhood of it into a faint +resemblance to a Church. But what has roused most speculation is the +"green thing he wears over his surplice for the early service and +takes off before Parade service." I suggested that it was a precaution +against these chilly mornings. + +Gibbon has more to say about these parts than I thought: and I find he +alludes to them off and on right down to 1453, so if you haven't been +able to find a suitable book, I can carry on with that philosopher's +epitome. + +A large draft has just reached us from India, 11 officers and 319 +men. They are partly returned invalids, but mainly 2/4th from Quetta. +We shall now be a fairly respectable strength. + +Cold weather conditions are almost established now. It is only over +80° for a few hours each day, and between 8 p.m. and 9 a.m. I wear a +greatcoat. A senior captain having arrived with the draft has taken +over "A" Coy. and I remain as second in command. There is singularly +little to do at present--about one hour per day. + +I wonder if you know any of the officers in this push. There is Chitty +of Balliol, a contemporary of Luly's: and one Elton among the +newly-joined, said to be a double first. + +They have made me censor of civil telegrams. + +I see no prospect of peace for a year yet, and not much of our leaving +this country till well after peace. I used to think I wasn't easily +bored: but it is hard to keep a fresh and lively interest in this +flattest and emptiest of countries. + +_P.S. Tuesday_.--The mail is in for once before the outward mail goes, +and it brings yours of 1.10.15. What you report about Charles Lister +is exactly what I should have expected. It is an element in all the +best lives that their owners are reckless about throwing them away; +but it's a little consolation to know that he didn't succeed exactly. + +Most of my new letters are rather gloomy about the French offensive. +We used gas and we're held up: and we're being diddled all round by +kings in the Balkans. + +Elton, by the way, was up at Balliol, a scholar 1911--and knows you, +though whether individually or collectively I know not. + +Also one Pirie of Exeter has come with the draft. + + * * * * * + + +AMARAH. + +_November_ 4, 1915. + +TO L.R. + +I enclose an extract from a speech which might have been made by you, +but was made by--who do you think? Our modern St. David. + +I read Oliver's _Ordeal by Battle_ before I left Agra. Most of my +relations sent me a copy. So far only one has sent me A.J.B.'s _Theism +and Humanism_: books are always welcome: but as their ultimate fate is +very uncertain, it is wiser to stick to cheap ones. + +I think the idea of R---- on an Economy League is too delicious. I +should so like to hear the details of their economies. + +I hope you have noticed the correspondence in The _Times_ on Wild +Birds and Fruit Growers, and that the latter contemplate invoking the +aid of the Board of Agriculture in exterminating the former. + +The birds here increase as the weather gets colder. Geese, duck and +teal are to be seen flighting every day. We shot a pochard on Tuesday +and a plover yesterday. Large flocks of night-herons visit the +flood-lands and rooks have become common. White wagtails appeared in +great numbers a few weeks ago, and sand-grouse are reported in vast +numbers further north. + +As there is no news, perhaps it would interest you to know, how we +live in these billets. + +The house is very convenient on the whole, though cold, as there is no +glass in the large windows and the prevailing N.W. wind blows clean +through, and there are no fire-places. + +As to our mode of existence, my day is almost uniformly as follows: + +6.30 _a.m._ Am called and drink 1 cup cocoa and eat 4 biscuits. +7.15 _a.m._ Get up. +7.45 _a.m._ Finished toilet and read _Times_ till breakfast. +8.0 Breakfast. Porridge, scrambled eggs, bread and jam, tea. +8.30-9.15. Read _Times_. +9.15-10.15. Parade (or more often _not_, about twice a week 1 parade). +10.15-1.0 Read and write, unless interrupted by duties. +1.0 Lunch. Cold meat, pudding, cheese and bread, lemonade. +1.30-4.0. Read and write. +4.0. Tea, bread and jam. +4.30. Censor Civil Telegrams. +4.45-6.15. Take exercise, _e.g._, walk, ride, fish, shoot, or + play football. +6.15. Have a bath. +6.30-7.30. Play skat, or talk on verandah. +7.30. Mess. Soup, fish, meat, veg., pudding, savoury, beer + or whisky. +8.45-10.15 Bridge. +10.15. Go to bed. + +Such is the heroic existence of those who are bearing their country's +burden in this remote and trying corner of the globe! + + +_Enclosure_. + +"Meanwhile, let personal recrimination drop. It is the poison of all +good counsel. In every controversy there are mean little men who +assume that their own motives in taking up a line are of the most +exalted and noble character, but that those who dare differ from them +are animated by the basest personal aims. Such men are a small +faction, but they are the mischief-makers that have many a time +perverted discussion into dissension. Their aim seems to be to spread +distrust and disunion amongst men whose co-operation is essential to +national success. These creatures ought to be stamped out relentlessly +by all parties as soon as they are seen crawling along the floor." + + * * * * * + + +AMARAH. + +_November_ 18, 1915. + +TO L.R. + +As this week is Xmas mail, I have only time to wish you every blessing +and especially those of peace and goodwill which are so sadly needed +now. + +I am dreadfully sorry to hear that S.'s cancer is reappearing. We need +more of her sort just now. I pray that she may get over it, but there +is no disease which leaves less hope. + +I suppose everyone is struck by the weakness of a democracy in war +time as compared with an autocracy like the German. It is a complaint +as old as Demosthenes. But it does not shake my faith in democracy as +the best form of Government, because mere strength and efficiency is +not my ideal. If a magician were to offer to change us to-morrow into a +state on the German model, I shouldn't accept the offer, not even for +the sake of winning the war. + + * * * * * + + +AMARAH. + +_November_ 23, 1915. + +TO HIS MOTHER. + +I strained a muscle in my leg at football yesterday and consequently +can't put my foot to the ground at all to-day. It is a great nuisance +as I'm afraid it will prevent my going on our little trek into the +desert, which will probably come off next Monday. + +The news of the fight at Suliman Pak came through yesterday morning +and we had a holiday on spec, and a salute of twenty-one guns was +ordered to be fired. The first effort at 8 a.m. was a ludicrous +fiasco. The Volunteer Artillery, having no 'blank,' loaded the guns +with charges of plain cordite. The result was that as each round was +fired it made about as much noise as a shot-gun, and the packet of +cordite would hop out of the barrel and burn peacefully on the ground +ten yards away, like a Bengal match. Gorringe arrived in the middle in +a fine rage, and stopped the show. I took a snapshot of him doing so +which I hope will come out. He then ordered the salute to be fired at +noon with live shell. This was quite entertaining. They ranged on the +flood-land where we go after the geese, 3,700 yards: and it took the +shells about ten seconds to get there. There were some Arab shepherds +with their flocks between us and the water, and they didn't appear to +enjoy it. They "scorned the sandy Libyan plain as one who wants to +catch a train." + +_Thursday_. As luck would have it, orders came round at 1 p.m. +yesterday for half the Battalion (including A. Coy.) to move +up-stream at once: and after an afternoon and evening of many flusters +and changes of plan, they have just gone off this morning. My wretched +leg prevents my going with them: but it is much better to-day and I +hope to be able to go by the next boat. Destination is unknown but it +can only be Kut or Baghdad: and I infer the latter from the facts (1) +that Headquarters (C.O., Adjt. Q.M. etc.) have gone, which means that +the other half Battalion is likely to follow shortly: and (2) that +they won't want a whole Battalion at Kut. The scale of garrison out +here is about as follows. Towns under 5,000 one Coy. or nothing, +5,000-10,000 two Coys. Over 10,000 a (nominal) Battalion: bar Basra +where there are only three men and one boy. Baghdad being about +150,000 may reasonably require two Brigades or a Division. We haven't +heard yet whether we've got Baghdad. They may even have more fighting +to do, though most people don't think so. + +I will try to cable before I go up. + +The M.O. says I have slightly overstretched my calf-muscles. I jumped +rather high at a bouncing ball while I was running: and I came down +somehow with my left leg stuck out in such a way that the knee was +bent the wrong way: and so overstretched the muscles at the back of +the calf. But I can already walk with two sticks, and hope to be able +to get on a boat in two or three days time. A week on the boat will +give it a further rest. + + * * * * * + + +AMARAH. + +_December 1, 1915._ + +TO HIS MOTHER. + +Sophy's death affects me more than any since Goppa's. She was the most +intimate of all my aunts, as I have constant memories of her from the +earliest times I can remember till she went to live at Oxford. I was +always devoted to her, and she had an almost uncanny power of reading +my thoughts. I don't feel there can have been a shade of bitterness in +death for her, though she loved life; but there is something woefully +pathetic in its circumstances, the pain, the loneliness, the misery of +the war. + +I thought about her all yesterday. The sunset was the most wonderful I +have seen out here, and it seemed to say that though God could be very +terrible yet he was supremely tender and beautiful. How blank and +futile a sunset would be to a consistent materialist, as A.J.B. points +out in his lectures. + +The result of publishing what he called my "hymn" in the _Times_ of +October 15th has been an application from an earnest Socialist for +leave to print it on cards at 8_s._ 6_d._ a 1,000 to create a demand +for an early peace! But I couldn't help focussing my thoughts of Sophy +into these lines: + + Strong Son of God is Love; and she was strong, + For she loved much, and served; + Rejoiced in all things human, only wrong + Drew scorn as it deserved. + Fair gift of God is faith: 'twas hers, to move + The mountains, and ascend + The Paradise of saints: which faith and love + Made even Death her friend. + +My leg is much better but will still keep me here some days, as I am +not to go till fit to march. It is a great nuisance being unable to +take exercise. I was in such splendid condition, and now I shall be +quite soft again. However there are compensations. The others are only +at Kut, which is as dull as this and much less comfortable; and they +have only 60lb. kits, which means precious little. + +Swinburne I will begin when I feel stronger. The Golden Ass hasn't +come. I ordered it years ago, before the war, to be sent on +publication. It is a curious product of Latin decadence, about second +century; the first notable departure from the classical style. The +most celebrated thing in it is the story of Cupid and Psyche: didn't +Correggio paint it round the walls of a palace in Rome? I went to see +it with Sophy. + + * * * * * + + +AMARAH. + +_December 8, 1915._ + +TO HIS MOTHER. + +We are more cheerful now. In the first place we are less cold. The +wind has dropped and we have devised various schemes for mitigating +the excessive ventilation. I have hung two gaudy Arab rugs over my +window, with a layer of _Times_ between them and the bars. Some genius +had an inspiration, acting on which we have pitched an E.P. tent in +the mess room. It just fits and is the greatest success. Finally, I +sent my bearer to speculate in a charcoal brazier. This also is a +great success. Three penn'orth of charcoal burns for ages and gives +out any amount of heat; and there is no smell or smoke: far superior +to any stove I've ever struck. So we live largely like troglodytes in +darkness but comparative warmth. Between breakfast and tea one can sit +on the sunny side of the verandah round the inner court, though all +sunshine has still to be shared with the flies; but they're not the +flies they were, more like English October flies. + +Secondly, as far as we can see, the main troubles up stream are over. +My account to Papa last mail was not very accurate, but I will write +him the facts again, in the light of fuller information. Anyway +they're back at Kut now, and ought to be able to look after themselves +till our reinforcements come up. The first two boat-loads have arrived +here this morning, and are pushing on. But it was a serious reverse +and may have very bad effects here and in India and Persia unless it +is promptly revenged. + +Owing to the Salsette's grounding, there will be no mail this week. + +My leg remains much the same. I can walk quite well with a slight limp +but the doctor won't let me walk more than fifty yards. I am very +thankful I was stopped from going up to Kut. "A" Coy. has been working +at top pressure there, entrenching and putting up wire entanglements. +And now they will have to stand a siege, on forty days' rations, till +Younghusband and Gorringe can relieve them. So I should be very much +_de trop_ there. I always felt that my _entreé_ into the football +world should be pregnant with fate, and so it is proving. + +I have been reading some Swinburne. He disappoints me as a +mind-perverse, fantastic and involved. Obscure when he means +something, he is worse when he means nothing. As an imagination he is +wonderful. His poetry is really a series of vivid and crowding +pictures only held together by a few general and loose, though big +ideas. His style is marvellously musical but overweighted by his +classical long-windedness and difficult syntax. Such a contrast to +Tennyson where the idea shines out of the language which is so simple +as to seem inevitable, and yet wonderfully subtle as well as musical. + + * * * * * + + +AMARAH. + +_December_ 12, 1915. + +TO R.K. + +In the stress of the times I can't remember when I last wrote or what +I said, so please forgive repetitions and obscurities. + +Let me begin at November 24th, the day we heard of the victory at +Ctesiphon or Sulman Pak. That afternoon I crocked my leg at footer and +have been a hobbler ever since with first an elephantine calf and now +a watery knee, which however, like the Tigris, gets less watery daily. + +The very next day (November 25th) half the battalion, including my "A" +Coy., was ordered up stream and departed next morning, leaving me +fuming at the fancied missing of a promenade into Baghdad. But +providence, as you may point out in your next sermon, is often kinder +than it seems. Two days later I could just walk and tried to embark: +but the M.T.O. stopped me at the last moment. (I have stood him a +benedictine for this since.) + +Meanwhile, events were happening up-river. The Press Bureau's account, +I expect, compresses a great deal into "Subsequently our force took up +a position lower down the river" or some such _façon de parler_. What +happened was this. We attacked without reserves relying on the enemy +having none. We have done it several times successfully: indeed our +numbers imposed the necessity generally. This time there were +reinforcements en route, had we waited. But I anticipate. + +Well, we attacked, and carried their first line and half their second +before darkness pulled us up. A successful day, though expensive in +casualties. We bivouacked in their first line. Daybreak revealed the +unpleasant surprise of strong enemy reinforcements, who are said to +have diddled our spies by avoiding Baghdad: 5,000 of them. As we had +started the affair about 12,000 strong to their 15,000, this was +serious. They attacked and were driven off. In the afternoon they +attacked again, in close formation: our artillery mowed them, but they +came on and on, kept it up all night, with ever fresh reinforcements, +bringing them to 30,000 strong all told. By dawn our men were +exhausted and the position untenable. A retreat was ordered, that +meant ninety miles back to Kut over a baked billiard table. The enemy +pressed all the way. Once they surrounded our rear brigade. Two +officers broke through their front lines to recall the front lot. +Another evening we pitched a camp and left it empty to delay the +enemy. Daily rearguard actions were fought. Five feverish days got us +back to Kut, without disorder or great loss of men; but the loss in +material was enormous. All possible supplies had been brought close up +to the firing line to facilitate our pursuit: mainly in barges, the +rest in carts. The wounded filled all the carts, so those supplies had +to be abandoned. The Tigris is a cork-screwed maze of mud-banks, no +river for the hasty withdrawal of congested barges under fire. You can +imagine the scene. Accounts differ as to what we lost. _Certainly_, +two gunboats (destroyed), one monitor (disabled and captured), the +telegraph barge and supply barge, besides all supplies, dumped on the +bank. Most accounts add one barge of sick and wounded (400), the +aeroplane barge, and a varying number of supply barges. In men from +first to last we lost nearly 5,000: the Turks about 9,000--a guess of +course. + +The tale of woe is nearly complete. My "A" Coy. got as far as Kut and +was set to feverish entrenching and wiring. Now the whole force there, +some 8,000 in all, is cut off there and besieged. They have rations +(some say half rations) for six weeks or two months, and ammunition. +They are being bombarded, and have been attacked once, but repelled it +easily. We aren't worried about them; but I with my leg (like another +egoist) can't be sorry to be out of it. I should like to be there to +mother my men. Our Major is wounded and the other officers infants; +the Captain a Colonial one I'm glad to say. + +Meanwhile our reinforcements have turned up in great numbers and +expect to be able to relieve Kut by the end of the month. I mustn't +particularise too much. In fact I doubt whether this or any letters +will be allowed to go through this week. The men are warned only to +write postcards. The dear censor has more excuse where Indians are +concerned. I can walk short walks now. Life is rather slow, but I have +several books luckily. + + * * * * * + + +AMARAH. + +_December_ 20, 1915. + +TO N.B. + +There is a double mail to answer this week and only two days to do it +in, so this may be rather hurried. + +I do get the _Round Table_. I don't think it suggests a World State as +practical politics, but merely as the only ideal with which the mind +can be satisfied as an ultimate end. If you believe in a duty to all +humanity, logic won't stop short of a political brotherhood of the +world, since national loyalty implies in the last resort a denial of +your duty to everyone outside your nation. But in fact, of course, men +are influenced by sentiment and not logic: and I agree that, for ages +to come at least, a World State wouldn't inspire loyalty. I don't even +think the British Empire would for long, if it relied only on the +sentiment of the Mother Country as home. The loyalty of each Dominion +to the Empire in future generations will be largely rooted in its own +distinctive nationalism, paradoxical as that sounds: at least so I +believe. + +Please don't refrain from comments on passing events for fear they +will be stale. They aren't, because my _Times's_ are contemporary with +your letters: and the amount of news we get by Reuter's is negligible. +Indeed Reuter's chiefly enlighten us as to events in Mesopotamia. Last +night we heard that Chamberlain had announced in the House that the +Turks lost 2,000 and the Arabs 1,000 in the attack on Kut on December +12th: that was absolutely the first we'd heard of it, though Kut is +only ninety miles as the crow flies, and my Company is there! All we +hear is their casualties, thrice a week. They now total 2 killed and +11 wounded out of 180: nearly all my Company and 3 of my draft +wounded. + +I want to be there very much, to look after them, poor dears: but I +must say that T.A's view that a place like Kut is desirable to be in +_per se_ never fails to amaze me, familiar though it now is. I had +another instance of it last night. About twelve of my draft were left +behind on various duties when the Coy. went up-river in such a hurry. +Hearing that my knee was so much better they sent me a deputy to ask +me to make every effort to take them with me if I went up-river. I +agreed, of course, but what, as usual, struck me was that the motives +I can understand--that one's duty is with the Coy. when there's +trouble around, or even that it's nicer to be with one's pals at Kut +than lonely at Amarah--didn't appear at all. The two things he kept +harping on were (1) it's so dull to miss a "scrap" and (2) there may +be a special clasp given for Kut, and we don't want to miss it. They +evidently regard the Coy. at Kut as lucky dogs having a treat: the +"treat" when analysed (which they don't) consisting of 20lb. kits in +December, half-rations, more or less regular bombardment, no proper +billets, no shops, no letters, and very hard work! + +My leg is very decidedly better now. I can walk half-a-mile without +feeling any aches, and soon hope to do a mile. There is an obstinate +little puffy patch which won't disappear just beside the knee-cap: but +the M.O. says I may increase my walk each day up to the point where it +begins to ache. + +We have had no rain here for nearly a month; but there are light +clouds about which make the most gorgeous sunsets I ever saw. + + * * * * * + + +EXTRACT FROM LETTER TO HIS MOTHER. + +_December, 1915._ + +I am looking forward to this trek. Four months is a large enough slice +of one's time to spend in Amarah, and there will probably be more +interest and fewer battles on this trek than could be got on any other +front. The Censor has properly got the breeze up here, so I probably +shan't be able to tell you anything of our movements or to send you +any wires: but I will try and let you hear something each week; and if +we are away in the desert, we generally arrange--and I will try +to--for some officer who is within reach of the post to write you a +line saying I am all right (which he hears by wireless) but can't +write. That is what we have been doing for the people at Kut. But +there are bound to be gaps, and they will tend to get more frequent +and longer as we get further. + +No casualties from "A" Coy. for several days: so I hope its main +troubles are over. + + * * * * * + + +EXTRACT OF LETTER TO P.C. + +_Xmas Day_, 1915. + +... I'm so glad Gwalior was a success. I think a good native state is +the most satisfactory kind of Government for India in many ways; but +(a) so few are really good, if you go behind the scenes and think of +such fussy things as security of life and property, taxation and its +proportion to benefits received, justice and administration, +education, freedom of the subject, and so on. (b) It spells stagnation +and the abandonment of the hope of training the mass of the people to +responsibility; but I think that is an academic rather than practical +point at present. + +Christmas is almost unbearable in war-time: the pathos and the +reproach of it. I am thankful that my Company is at Kut on +half-rations. I don't of course mean that: but I'm thankful to be +spared eating roast beef and plum pudding heartily, as these dear +pachyderms are now doing with such relish. I'm glad they do, and I'd +do it too if my Company was here. I'm always thankful for my thin +skin, but I'm glad dear God made thick ones the rule in this wintry +world. + + * * * * * + + +AMARAH. + +EXTRACT FROM LETTER TO N.B. + +It seems odd to get just now your letter answering my arguments +_against_ the advance to Baghdad. They were twofold (1) Military, that +we should not have the force to hold it and our communications would +be too vulnerable. These objections have been largely met (_a_) by +large reinforcements, which will nearly double our forces when they +are all up, (_b_) by the monitors--the second is here now; they solve +the communication problem. I think now it will take a fresh Army Corps +from Constantinople to dislodge us: and I now hear that the +difficulties of _its_ communications would be very great. (2) +Politically. I thought the occupation of Baghdad would cause trouble +(_a_) with Russia, (_b_) with Indian soldiers, (_c_) with Moslems +generally. Here again (_a_) P. tells me Russia is giving us a free +hand, (_b_) trouble did occur with some Indian Regiments, but it took +the mild form of a strike, and the disaffected units have been +dispersed by Coys. over the lines of communication. (_c_) As regards +Moslems in India, I think I was wrong. The bold course, even to +bluffing, generally pays with Orientals. We have incurred their +resentment by fighting Turkey and on the whole we had better regain +their respect by beating her. Of course we shall respect their +religious feelings and prejudices in every practicable way. + + * * * * * + + +AMARAH. + +_December_ 26, 1915. + +TO M.H. + +I hope you safely received the MS. I sent you last mail. + +Orders to move have interrupted my literary activities, and I shall +have to spend the few days before we start chiefly in testing the +fitness of my leg for marching. I went shooting on Friday and walked +about six miles quite successfully, bar a slight limp; and I mean to +extend progressively up to twelve. + +The weather has suddenly turned wet, introducing us to a new vileness +of the climate. I hope it won't last--it means unlimited slime. + +I shan't be able to write much or often for some time, I expect, as we +shall be marching pretty continuously, I reckon. I shall try and write +to Ma and Pa at each opportunity, and to you if there's time and paper +available. Your little writing-block may come in handy. + +One of my draft has been killed and five wounded at Kut. Our +casualties there are 21 out of 180. I shall look forward to seeing my +men again: I hope about the second Sunday after Epiphany. We shall +then march with a force equal to the King of France's on his +celebrated and abortive expedition of ascent. Our destination is a +profound secret, but you may give Nissit three guesses and make her +write me her answers on a Valentine. + +Christmas passed off quietly and cheerfully. T.A. is so profoundly +insensible of incongruities that he saw nothing to worry him in the +legend A MERRY CHRISTMAS and the latest casualty list on the +same wall of the R.A.T.A. room: and he sang "Peace on earth and mercy +mild" and "Confound their politics" with equal gusto. And his temper +is infectious while you're with him. + +The most perplexing Reuter's come through from the Balkans. + + * * * * * + + +AMARAH. + +_Christmas Day_, 1915. + +TO R.K. + +I hope you got my last letter safely. I enclosed it in my home one to +be forwarded. + +There is little news from this theatre, and what there is we mayn't +write, for the most part. + +My Coy. is being bombarded at Kut still. They have had 21 casualties +out of 180. One of my draft is killed and five wounded and here +everyone is parroting about a Merry Christmas. Truly the military man +is a pachyderm. + +This is likely to be the last you will hear of me for some time, +though I hope to be able to dob out a post-card here and there, +perhaps letters now and then. In a word, we're moving next week and +are not likely to see billets again till we lodge with the +descendants, either of the Caliphs or of Abraham's early neighbours. + +My leg is so far recovered that I take it as almost certain I shall +march too when we go. I am testing it to make sure first. Yesterday it +did six miles without damage, though the gait remains Hephaestian. + +The weather is still cold, and fine and dry. The sunsets are +glorious. + + * * * * * + + +AMARAH. + +_December_ 26, 1915. + +TO N.B. + +Christmas and submarines have made the mails very late and we have +again been nearly a fortnight without any. + +We have got our orders to move and so I look forward to a fairly +prolonged period of trekking, during which it will hardly be possible +to do more than write odd postcards and occasional short letters; but +I will write when I can. We start in two or three days time. + +I expect my leg will be all right for marching. When I heard we were +moving, I went to the hospital to consult the chief M.O. there about +it. He examined _both_ my legs gravely and then firmly grasping the +sound one pronounced that it had still an excess of fluid in it: which +I take to be a sincere though indirect tribute to the subsidence of +the fluid in the crocked one. He proceeded to prescribe an exactly +reverse treatment to that recommended by the other M.O., which had the +advantage of giving me official sanction for pretty well anything I +chose to do or not do. The upshot of it was that I decided to test the +old leg for myself to determine whether it was fit for marching or +not. So I began with a six mile walk on Friday, shooting: and found +that my graceful limb did not impede my progress nor develop into any +graver symptoms. I was more tired than I should have been a month ago, +but that was natural. Yesterday was monopolised by Christmas +functions; to-day I mean to try eight or nine miles, and ten or twelve +to-morrow. If the thing is going to crock it had better do it before +I start: but it shows no sign of it. + +The latest way of indicating latitude and longitude is like a date, +_e.g._ 32.25/44/10: you can take the N. and E. for granted. + +It has most tactlessly begun to rain again to-day, and with an E. wind +it may continue, which will mean a vile slime for marching. + +The Christmas sports were really great fun: one of them--one-minute +impromptu speeches--would make quite a good house-party game. + +_P.S._--You must think me brutal not to have mentioned my poor men. I +have written so many letters this morning, I didn't notice it in this +one. They are still being bombarded and have had 21 casualties out of +180: 5 killed, one of my draft, 2 officers slightly wounded. I hope to +see them about Twelfth Night--no, say second Sunday after Epiphany! + + * * * * * + + +CAMP. + +_January 3_, 1916. + +TO P.C. + +... That afternoon the new draft arrived, headed by Jack Stillwell and +Lester Garland. They arrived only 45 strong, having reached Basra over +100. Basra is a nest of military harpies who seize men for obscure +duties and make them local sergts. Only 68 escaped from it; and of +these 23 fell out on the march--another specimen of R.A.M.C. +efficiency. The M.O. at Quetta had merely passed down the line asking +each man "Are you fit?" and taking his answer. + +In this letter A. stands for Amarah, C. for Kut, B. for Ali Gherbi. + + * * * * * + + +B. + +_Sunday_, January 2, 1916. + +TO HIS FATHER. + +As I shan't be able to mention places in connection with our +movements, I shall call the station we left on December 31st A., this +place B. and so on; and I think you ought to be able to follow, as I +will make the lettering consistent. + +We left A. at 2 p.m. on Friday. The men were on barges slung on either +side of the river-boat, on which various details, our officers and the +General and his staff were. + +I brought my gun and 150 cartridges, and was unexpectedly soon +rewarded: for one of the A.C.C's staff came along after lunch and +asked for someone to come with him in the motor-boat and shoot +partridges. As I was the only one with a gun handy I went. We raced +ahead in the motor-boat for half-an-hour and then landed on the right +bank and walked up the river for two-and-a-half hours, not deviating +even to follow up coveys. There were a lot of birds, but it was windy +and they were wild and difficult. Also with only two guns and three +sepoys we walked over as many as we put up. Craik (the A.D.C's name, +he is an Australian parson in peace-time) was a poor performer and +only accounted for three. I got thirteen, a quail, a plover and a +hare. I missed three or four sitters and lost two runners, but on the +whole shot quite decently, as the extreme roughness of the hard-baked +ploughed (or rather mattocked) land is almost more of an obstacle to +good shooting than the behaviour of the birds. Craik was a stayer, and +as the wind dropped at sunset and the birds grew tamer he persevered +till it was dark. Then we had to walk three-quarters-of-a-mile before +we could find a place where the boat could get in near the bank: so we +had a longer and colder chase to catch up the ship than I had +bargained for, especially as I had foolishly forgotten to bring a +coat. However, when I got too cold I snuggled up against the engine +and so kept parts of me warm. Luckily the ship had to halt at the camp +of a marching column, so we caught her up in one-and-a-quarter hours. + +I pitched my bed on deck up against the boiler, and so was as warm as +toast all night. + +Yesterday morning we steamed steadily along through absolutely bare +country. The chief feature was the extraordinary abundance of +sand-grouse. I told Mamma of the astonishing clouds of them which +passed over A. Here they were in small parties or in flocks up to 200: +but the whole landscape is dotted with them from 8 a.m. till 11 and +again from 3 to 4: so that any random spot would give one much the +same shooting as we had at the Kimberley dams. An officer on board +told me that when he was here two months ago, a brother officer had +killed fifty to his own gun: and a Punjabi subaltern got twenty-one +with five shots. + +We reached here about 2 p.m. This place is only about forty-five miles +from A. as the crow flies, but by river it takes sixteen hours, and +with various halts and delays it took us just twenty-four. We only ran +on to one mud-bank. The effect was curious. The ship and the port +barge stopped dead though without any shock. The starboard barge +missed the mud and went on, snapping the hawsers and iron cables +uniting us. The only visible sign of the bank was an eddying of the +current over it: it was right in midstream. + +This is a most desolate place. Apart from the village with its few +palms and gardens there seems not to be a blade of vegetation within +sight. To the N.E. the Persian hills are only fifteen miles away. They +have still a little snow (did I mention that the storm which gave us +rain at A. had capped these hills with a fine snow mantle?) + +Here we found "D" Co., which got stranded here when "A" Co. got stuck +in C. We are about forty-five or fifty miles from C. as the crow +flies, and the guns can be heard quite plainly: but things have been +very quiet the last few days. There is an enemy force of 2,000 about +ten miles from here, but how long they and the ones at C. will wait +remains to be seen. + +We know nothing of our own movements yet and I couldn't mention them +if we did. We have been put into a different brigade, but the +brigadier has not been appointed yet. The number of the brigade equals +that of the ungrateful lepers or the bean-rows which Yeats intended +to plant at Innisfree. We are independent of any division. + +A mysterious Reuter has come through about conscription. As it quotes +the _Westminster_ as saying Asquith has decided on it, I'm inclined to +believe it: but it goes on to talk obscurely of possible resignations +and a general election. + +This may catch the same mail as my letter to Mamma from A. + +_P.S._ Please tell Mamma that just as we were embarking, the S. and T. +delivered me two packages, which turned out to be the long-lost blue +jerseys. So there is hope for the fishing rods yet. + + * * * * * + + +_Monday_, January 10, 1915. + +TO HIS MOTHER. + +I will use a spare hour to begin an account of our doings since I last +wrote, but I don't know when I shall be able to finish it, still less +when post it. + +We left B. last Thursday morning and were told we should march sixteen +miles: we marched up the right bank, so our left flank was exposed to +the desert, and "D" Company did flank guard. My platoon formed the +outer screen and we marched strung out in single file. There were +cavalry patrols beyond us again, and anyway no Arab could come within +five miles without our seeing him, so our guarding was a sinecure. + +We paraded as soon as it was light, at 7.15 a.m., but owing to the +transport delays, the column did not start till after 9.0. The +transport consists of: (a) ships and barges; (b) carts, mules and +camels. Each has its limitations. Ships tie you to the river-bank, so +every column must have some land transport. Camels can hardly move +after rain: they slip and split themselves. The carts are fearfully +held up by the innumerable ditches which are for draining the floods +back to the river. There are not nearly enough mules to go round and +they only carry 160lbs. each. So you can imagine our transport +difficulties. The country supplies neither food, fodder nor fuel. Our +firewood comes from India. If you leave the river you must carry every +drop of drinking water. So the transport line was three times as long +as the column itself, and moved more slowly. + +Our new Brigadier turned up and proved to be a pleasant, sensible kind +of man, looking rather like Lord Derby. Having just come from France, +he keeps quite cool whatever we encounter. (P.S. We have had a new +Brigadier since this one, I haven't yet seen the present one.) + +The march was slow and rough, as most of the ground was hard-baked +plough. The country was as level and bare as a table, bar the ditches, +and we hardly saw a human being all day. It took us till after 4 p.m. +to do our sixteen miles. About 2 p.m. we began to hear firing and see +shrapnel in the distance, and it soon became clear that we were +approaching a big battle. Consequently we had to push on beyond our +sixteen miles, and went on till Sunset. By this time we were all very +footsore and exhausted. The men had had no food since the night +before, the ration-cart having stuck in a ditch; and many of the +inexperienced ones had brought nothing with them. My leg held out +wonderfully well, and in fact has given me no trouble worth speaking +of. + +We had to wait an hour for orders, the Brigadier knowing nothing of +the General's intentions. By six it was quite dark, and the firing had +ceased: and we got orders to retrace our steps to a certain camping +place (marked _I_ on sketch). This meant an extra mile, and immense +trouble and confusion in finding our way over ditches and then sorting +kits in the dark: but finally we did it, ate a meal, and turned in +about 9.30 p.m. pretty well tired out, as we had been on the move +fourteen hours and had marched about twenty-one miles. To put the lid +on it, a sharp shower of exceedingly frigid rain surprised us all in +our beauty sleep, about 11 p.m. and soaked the men's blankets and +clothes. Luckily I had everything covered up, and I spread my overcoat +over my head and slept on, breathing through the pocket-holes. + +(I will continue this in diary form and post it if and when I get a +chance.) + +_Friday 7th._ Started at 8.30 and marched quietly about five miles. +This brought us within view of the large village of D., which is +roughly half-way between B. and C. Between us and it the battle was in +full swing. We halted by a pontoon bridge (2 on sketch), just out of +range of the enemy's guns, and watched it for several hours. Owing to +the utter flatness of the ground, we could see very little of the +infantry. It was hot and the mirage blurred everything. Our artillery +was clearly very superior to theirs, both in quantity (quite five to +one it seemed) and in the possession of high explosive shell, of which +the enemy had none: but we were cruelly handicapped (_a_) by the fact +that their men and guns were entrenched and ours exposed; and (_b_) by +the mirage, which made the location of their trenches and emplacements +almost impossible. + +I had better not say much about the battle yet, but I will give a +rough sketch and describe our own experiences. I will only say this, +that the two great difficulties our side had to contend with were: (1) +the inability of the artillery to locate anything with certainly in +the mists and mirage, and (2) the difficulty of finding and getting +round the enemy's flanks. Either they had a far larger force than we +expected, or they were very skilfully spread out--for they covered an +amazingly wide front, quite eight miles, I should say, or more. + +The battle was interesting to watch, but not exciting. The noise of +the shells from field guns is exactly like that of a rocket going up. +When the shell is coming towards you, there is a sharper hiss in it, +like a whip. It gives you a second or two to get under cover and then +crack-whizz as the shrapnel whizzes out. The heavy shells from the +monitors, etc., make a noise more like a landslide of pebbles down a +beach, only blurred as if echoed. Bobbety's "silk dress swishing +through the air" does his imagination credit, but is not quite +accurate, nor does it express the spirit of the things quite! + +About 3.30 we had orders to cross to the left bank. As we passed over +the bridge, we put up two duck, who had been swimming there peacefully +with the shells flying over their heads every half minute for hours. +When we reached the left bank we marched as if to reinforce our right +flank. Presently the Brigadier made us line out into echelon of +companies in line in single rank, so that from a distance we looked +like a brigade, instead of three companies. About 4 we came up to a +howitzer battery and lay down about 200 yards from it, thus: + +[Illustration] + +We had lain there about ten minutes when a hiss, crack, whizz, and +shells began to arrive, invariably in pairs, about where I've put the +1 and 2. We had a fine view. The first notice we had of each shell was +the sudden appearance of a white puff, about thirty feet above ground, +then a spatter of dust about thirty yards to the right, then the +hiss-crack-whizz. They were ranging on the battery, but after a minute +or two they spotted the ammunition column, and a pair of shells burst +at 3, then a pair at 4. So the column retreated in a hurry along the +dotted arrow, and the shells following them began to catch us in +enfilade. So Foster made us rise and move to the left in file. Just as +we were up, a pair burst right over my platoon. I can't conceive why +nobody was hit. I noticed six bullets strike the ground in a +semi-circle between me and the nearest man three paces away, and +everyone else noticed the same kind of thing, but nobody was touched. +I don't suppose the enemy saw us at all: anyway, the next pair pitched +100 yards beyond us, following the mules, and wounded three men in C. +Company: and the next got two men of B.--all flesh wounds and not +severe. They never touched the ammunition column. + +We lay down in a convenient ditch, and only one more pair came our +way, as the enemy was ranging back to the battery. Of this pair, one +hit the edge of the ditch and buried itself without exploding, and the +other missed with its bullets, while the case bounced along and hit a +sergeant on the backside, not even bruising it. + +Just before 5 we got orders to advance in artillery formation. My +platoon led, and we followed a course shown by the dotted line. We went +through the battery and about 300 yards beyond, and then had orders to +return to camp. On this trip (which was mere window-dressing) no shell +came nearer than fifty yards: in fact our own battery made us jump much +more. + +The whole episode was much more interesting than alarming. Fear is +seated in the imagination, I think, and vanishes once the mind can +assert itself. One feels very funky in the cold nights when nothing is +happening: but if one has to handle men under fire, one is braced up +and one's attention is occupied. I expect rifle fire is much more +trying: but the fact that shell-fire is more or less unaimed at one +individually, and also the warning swish, gives one a feeling of great +security. + +We got back to camp near the river (4 on sketch) about 6, and dug a +perimeter, hoping to settle down for the night. But at 7.30 orders +came to move at 9.30. We were told that an enemy force had worked +round our right flank, and that our brigade had to do a night march +eastward down the river and attack it at dawn. So at 10 p.m. we +marched with just a blanket apiece, leaving our kits in the camp. +After we had gone, the Q.M. made up a big fire and got in no fewer +than fifty-two wounded, who were trying to struggle back to the field +dressing station from the firing line four or five miles away. + +The fire attracted them and parties went out to help them in. I think +it is very unsatisfactory that beyond the regimental stretcher-bearers +there is no ambulance to bring the wounded back: and how can a dozen +stretchers convey 300 casualties five miles? It is a case of _sauve +qui peut_ for the wounded: and when they get to the dressing station +the congestion is very bad, thirty men in a tent, and only three or +four doctors to deal with 3,000 or 4,000 wounded. I mention this as +confirming my previous criticism of the medical service here. + +Well, we started out at 10 p.m. and marched slowly and silently till +nearly midnight. Then we bivouacked for four-and-a-half-hours (5 on +sketch,) and a more uncomfortable time I hope never to spend. We had +not dared bring rugs for fear of losing them in the subsequent attack, +so I had nothing but my Burberry, a muffler and a woollen helmet. The +ground was bare earth everywhere, very damp and cold. I lay in a ditch +and slept for three-quarters-of-an hour, and then woke with extremely +cold feet, so I walked about a little, and then, finding Foster in the +same case, we both took off our Burberrys and laid one under us and +one above and lay like babes in the wood. This expedient kept one +flank nicely warm, and soon I got North to make a pillow of my other +thigh, which kept _that_ warm: but from the knees downwards I was +incurably cold and never got to sleep again. The men were better off, +having each a blanket, and sleeping in packets of four. + +_Saturday._ At last 4.30 a.m. arrived and we started marching again. +It was a blessing to get one's feet warm but the pleasures of the +march were strictly comparative. We trekked on eastwards along the +river-bank till sunrise, 7 a.m., when we came on a camp of Arabs who +fled shrieking at our approach (6 on sketch.) At 7.30, we halted and +had breakfast. Our united efforts failed to find enough fuel to boil a +kettle. We waited till 9, when the cavalry patrols returned and +reported no sign of the enemy, so we marched back to the pontoon +bridge (7 on sketch). I suspect our re-entry _qua_ stage +reinforcements was the whole object of our expedition, and the +out-flankers were a myth from the beginning. The march back was the +most unpleasant we've had. It got hot and the ground was hard and +rough and we were all very tired and footsore. A sleepless night takes +the stamina out of one. There and back our trek was about twelve +miles. + +On arrival at the bridge we were only allowed half-an-hour's rest and +then got orders to march out to take up an 'observation post' on the +right flank. Being general reserve is no sinecure with bluffing +tactics prevailing. + +This last lap was extremely trying. We marched in artillery formation, +all very lame and stiff. We passed behind our yesterday's friend, the +howitzer battery, but at a more respectful distance from the enemy's +battery. This latter showed no sign of life till we were nearly two +miles from the river. Then it started its double deliveries and some +of them came fairly close to some of our platoon, but not to mine. + +It took us nearly two hours to drag ourselves three miles and the men +had hardly a kick in them when we reached the place assigned for our +post (8 on sketch). We were ordered to entrench in echelon of +companies facing North. I thought it would take till dark to get us +dug in (it was 2 p.m.); but luckily our men, lined up ready to begin +digging, caught the eye of the enemy as a fine enfilade target (or +else they saw our first line mules) and they started shelling us from +6,500 yards (Enemy's battery, 9 on sketch). The effect on the men was +magical. They woke up and dug so well that we had fair cover within +half an hour and quite adequate trenches by 3. This bombardment was +quite exciting. The first few pairs were exactly over "D" Company's +trench, but pitched about 100 yards beyond it. The next few were +exactly right in range, but about forty yards right, _i.e._ behind us. +Just as we were wondering where the third lot would be, our faithful +howitzer battery and some heavy guns behind them, which opened all +they knew on the enemy battery as soon as they opened on us, succeeded +in attracting its fire to themselves. This happened three or four +times. Just as they were getting on to us the artillery saved us: +there would be a sharp artillery duel and then the Turks would lie +quiet for ten minutes, then begin on us again. This went on until we +were too well dug in to be a tempting target, and they devoted +themselves to our battery. The curious part of it was that though we +could see the flash of their guns every time, the mirages made it +impossible to judge their ranges or even for our battery to observe +its own fire properly. Our howitzer battery unfortunately was not in a +mirage, and they had its range to a yard and plastered it with +shrapnel. If they had had high explosives they could have smashed it. + +About 4.30 the mirage cleared and our guns had a free go for the first +time that day: (in the morning mists last until the mirage begins). +I'm told the mirage had put our guns over 1,000 yards out in their +ranging, but I doubt this. Anyway it is the fact that those guns and +trenches which were sited in mirages were practically untouched in a +heavy two days' bombardment. + +In that last hour, however, between 4.20 and dark, our heavy guns got +into the enemy finely with their high explosives. They blew one of our +tormentors bodily into the air at 10,500 yards, and silenced the +others, and chased every Turk out of the landscape. + +All the same, we were rather gloomy that night. Our line had made no +progress that we could hear of; we had had heavy losses (none in our +battalion), and there seemed no prospect of dislodging the enemy. +Their front was so wide we could not get round them, and frontal +attacks on trenches are desperate affairs here if your artillery is +paralysed by mirages. The troops who have come from France say that in +this respect this action has been more trying than either Neuve +Chappelle or Ypres, because, as they say, it is like advancing over a +billiard-table all the way. + +To crown our troubles, we were three miles from the river, which meant +no water except for necessities--the men had no kits, and it was very +cold, and we could not show lights. And finally, after midnight, it +began to pour with rain! + +_Sunday._ At 5.30 we stood to arms. It rained harder than ever and +most of us hadn't a dry stitch. At last it got light, the rain +gradually stopped, and a thoroughly depressed battalion breakfasted in +a grey mist, expecting to be bombarded the moment it lifted. About +8.30 the mist cleared a little, and we looked in vain for our +tormentors. Our cavalry reconnoitred and, to our joy, we saw them ride +clean over the place where the enemy's line had been the evening +before. They had gone in the night. + +A cold but drying wind sprang up and the sun came out for a short +time, and we managed to get our things dry. At 1 o'clock we marched +back to the river and found the bridge gone. + +I think this makes a good place to stop, as it marks the end of our +first series of adventures and of the no doubt by now famous battle of +D. + +I enclose a sketch-map to explain our movements. For obvious reasons I +can't say much about the battle itself. + +(I will briefly bring this up to date, post it and try to get a cable +through to you.) + +When we reached the river (10 on sketch), it began to rain again and +we spent a very chill and damp afternoon on the bank awaiting orders. +About dusk B. and C. Companies were ordered to cross the river to +guard the hospital there, and D. stayed to guard the hospital on the +left bank. Mercifully our ship was handy, so we got our tents and +slept warm, though all our things were wettish. + +_Monday._ A quiet morning, no orders. A Scotch mist shrouded +everything till noon and kept our things damp, but the sun got through +at last. + +C. Company returned to left bank, as all wounded were being shipped +across. (N.B. They had to bring them across in our ship. There is +still no sign of the Red Cross motor boats up _here_, though I'm glad +to hear they've reached Basra.) We got orders to march to D. by night. +We started at 8 p.m., "B." Company marching parallel on the other +bank. It was seven or eight miles, but we went very slow, and did not +get in till 1.30 and our transport not till nearly 3, heavy guns +sticking in the ditches. (N.B. Once we got behind the evacuated +Turkish line, we found that the ditches had been filled in to allow +passage of guns, an expedient which had apparently not occurred to the +British Command, for no ditch had been filled in between B, and this +point!) + +_Tuesday._ When morning came we found ourselves camped just opposite +D. (11 on sketch), and we are still there. Two fine days (though it +freezes at night) and rest have restored us. A mail arrived this +morning, bringing letters to December 7th, and your medical parcels. + +I only returned you the quinine and bandages, of which people in Amara +have plenty. They will come in handy for you to send out again. _Here_ +everything medical can be used, but I couldn't have brought any more +than I did. As it is, I've left a lot at Amarah. + +I must close now. On these cold nights the little kitchener is +invaluable, so is the soup. Of the various brands you sent, Ivelcon is +the best. The chocolate is my mainstay on day marches. Also the Diet +Tablets are very good. Bivouac Cocoa is also good. The Kaross is +invaluable. + +Stanford's Map has arrived. + + * * * * * + + +ON THE E. CANAL. + +_Saturday, January 15th_, 1916. + +TO HIS MOTHER. + +I will continue my account of our doings in diary form. Last week we +had a kind of general introduction to war. The last few days we have +seen a few of its more gruesome details. + +_12th, Wednesday._ After posting your letter and one to Luly I read +some of the Mail's papers. We have had absolutely no outside news +since January 1st, and get very little even of the operations of our +own force. I then went to see Foster who has had to go sick and lives +on our supply ship. About 20 per cent. of our men are sick, mostly +diarrhoea and sore feet. The former is no doubt due to Tigris water. +They don't carry the chlorinating plant on trek, and men often have to +replenish water-bottles during short halts. Personally I have so far +avoided unboiled water. I have my bottle filled with tea before +leaving camp, and can make that last me forty-eight hours, and eke it +out with soup or cocoa in the Little Kitchener at bivouacs. + +In the evening "D." Company had to find a firing party to shoot three +Indians, two N.C.Os. and one sepoy, for cowardice in the face of the +enemy. I'm thankful that North and not I was detailed for the job. I +think there is nothing more horrible in all war than these executions. +Luckily they are rare. The men, however, didn't mind at all. I talked +to the corporal about it afterwards--a particularly nice and youthful +one, one of my draft--and remarked that it was a nasty job for him to +have to do. to which he replied gaily, "Well, sir, I 'ad a bit o' rust +in my barrel wanted shootin' out, so it came in handy like." T.A. is a +wonderful and attractive creature. + +_13th, Thursday._ Moved at 7 a.m., carrying food and water for two +days. The enemy had been located on the E. Canal, about eight miles +from D., and our people were going to attack them. The idea was to +hold them in front with a small force, while a much bigger force got +round their left flank (the Canal is on the left bank of the river). +Our brigade was to support the frontal containing force. + +We marched about four miles and then halted about 9 a.m. There was a +strong and cold S.E. wind blowing, which prevented our hearing any +firing, and we could see very little shelling. Our air plane first +reported that a certain fort, which stood about a mile in advance of +the enemy's left flank, was strongly held; but we seem to have shelled +them out of that pretty easily, for about 2 p.m. it reported again +that the enemy had left his trenches on the Canal. + +About 3.30 p.m. we advanced, and reached the aforesaid fort a little +before sunset. Here we heard various alarming and depressing reports, +the facts underlying which, as far as I can make out at present, were +these. The Turks, seeing their left flank being turned, quitted their +position and engaged the outflanking force, leaving only about 500 out +of their 9,000 to hold the canal. Our outflanking force, finding +itself heavily engaged, sent and asked the frontal force to advance, +to relieve the pressure. The frontal force, hearing at the same time +that the Turks had quitted their Canal trenches, advanced too rashly +and were surprised and heavily punished by the remnant left along the +Canal, losing half their force and being obliged to retire. So when +they met us they naturally gave us the impression that there was a +large force still holding the Canal, which we should have to tackle in +the morning. + +We dug ourselves in about 2,000 yards from the Canal. It was very cold +and windy, and we had not even a blanket, though I had luckily brought +both my greatcoat and Burberry. There was a small mud hut just behind +our trench, littered with Turkish rags. The signallers made a fire +inside, and two stray Sikhs had rolled themselves up in a corner. It +was not an inviting spot, but it was a choice between dirt and cold, +and I had no hesitation in choosing dirt. So after a chill dinner, at +which I drank neat lime-juice and neat brandy alternately (to save my +water-bottle intact), I turned into the hut. The other officers +(except North) at first disdained it with disgust, but as the night +wore on they dropped in one by one, till by midnight we were lying in +layers like sardines. The Colonel was the last to surrender. I have a +great admiration for him. He is too old for this kind of game, and +feels the cold and fatigue very much: but he not only never +complains, but is always quietly making the best of things for +everyone and taking less than his share of anything good that is +going. Nothing would induce him, on this occasion, to lie near the +fire. + +_14th, Friday._ The night having passed more pleasantly than could +have been expected, we stood to arms in the trenches at 5.30 a.m. This +is a singularly unpleasing process, especially when all you have to +look forward to is the prospect of attacking 9,000 Turks in trenches +behind a Canal! But one's attention is fully occupied in trying to +keep warm. + +As soon as it was light we got orders to advance and marched in +artillery formation to within 1,200 yards of the Canal, where we found +some hastily begun trenches of the day before, and proceeded to deepen +them. As there was no sign of the enemy, the conviction grew on us +that he must have gone in the night; and presently the order came to +stop entrenching and form a line to clear up the battlefield, _i.e._ +the space between us and the Canal. This included burying the dead and +picking up wounded, as the stretcher parties which had tried to bring +the wounded in during the night had been heavily fired on and unable +to get further than where we were. + +I had never seen a dead man and rather dreaded the effect on my queasy +stomach; but when it came to finding, searching and burying them one +by one, all sense of horror--though they were not pleasant to look +upon--was forgotten in an overmastering feeling of pity, such as one +feels at the tragic ending of a moving story, only so oppressive as to +make the whole scene like a sad and impersonal dream, on which and as +in a dream my mind kept recurring to a tableau which I must have seen +over fifteen years ago in Madame Tussaud's of Edith finding the body +of Harold after the battle of Hastings, and indeed the stiff corpses +were more like waxen models than anything that had lived. + +The wounded were by comparison a cheerful company, though their +sufferings during the eighteen hours they had lain there must have +been fearful: but the satisfaction of being able to bring them in was +our predominant feeling. + +In the middle of this work we were suddenly recalled and ordered to +march to the support of the outflanking force, of whose movements we +had heard absolutely nothing. But when we had fallen in, all they did +was to march us to the Canal, and thence along it back to the river, +where we encamped about 1 p.m. and still are. + +It was a great comfort to be within reach of water again, though the +wind and rain have made the river so muddy that a mug of water from it +looks exactly like a mug of tea with milk in it. + +The wind had continued unabated for two days and now blew almost a +gale. The dust was intolerable and made any attempts at washing +hopeless. Indeed one's eyes got so full of it the moment they were +opened that we sat blinking like owls or shut them altogether. So it +was a cheerless afternoon, with rain threatening. Our supply ship with +our tents had not come up, but the Major (Stillwell) had a bivouac +tent on the second line transport, which he invited me to share, an +offer which I gladly accepted. We made it as air-tight as possible, +and built a wall of lumps of hard-baked mud to protect us from +snipers, and slept quite reasonably warm. It came on to rain heavily +in the night, so I was lucky to be under shelter. + +_15th, Saturday._ This morning it rained on and off till nearly noon, +and the wind blew all day and the sun never got properly through: but +the rain had laid the dust. + +_N.B._--With regard to parcels, none are arriving now, just when +they're wanted. The fact is they have to economise their transport +most rigidly. A staff officer told me that our supply of river-boats +just enables one boat (with its pair of barges alongside) to reach us +every day; our food for one day fills one entire barge, so that you +can imagine there is not much room to spare after ammunition and other +war material has been put on board. The mahila convoys are extra, but +as they take several weeks to do the journey their help is limited. + +I have just seen the padre who has been working in the field dressing +station. In his station there were two doctors, two nursing orderlies +and two native sweepers; and these had to cope with 750 white wounded +for five days till they could ship them down the river. Altogether our +casualties in the two battles have been well over 5,000, so the Turk +has rather scored. + +This afternoon news is ([Greek: a]) that we have got a new Brigadier. +Our brigade manages its commanders on the principle of the caliph and +his wives, and has not yet found a Sherazade. ([Greek: b]) that we +have got a brigade M.O.O. ambulance. This is a luxury indeed. We are +only just over twenty miles from C. now, so we hope to get through +after one more battle. + +_16th, Sunday._ Still in camp. No sun. More rain. Friday's gale and +the rise in the river has scattered our only pontoon bridge, and +Heaven knows when another will be ready. All our skilled +bridge-builders are in C. The people here seem quite incapable of even +bridging the Canal, twenty feet wide. Typical, very. + +I want a new shaving brush--badger's hair, not too large. + +Mail just going. Best love. + +_P.S._--We had a Celebration on a boat this morning, which I was very +glad of, also a voluntary parade service. + + * * * * * + + +LAST LETTER FROM R.P. TO L. PALMER GIVING STORY +FROM JANUARY 12TH TO JANUARY 21ST. + +I wrote you last week a summary of our doings during the battle of D. +Now I will tell you what we have done since, though it is mostly +unpleasant. + +The evening after I posted last week's letter "D." Coy. had to find a +firing party to shoot a havildar, a lance-naik and a sepoy for +cowardice in face of the enemy. Thank goodness North and not I was +detailed for it. They helped dig their own graves and were very brave +about it. They lay down in the graves to be shot. Corp. Boughey was +one of the party and when I condoled with him afterwards on the +unpleasantness of the job, he replied, "Well, Sir, I 'ad a bit of rust +in my barrel wanted shootin' out so it come in handy like"! + +_Thursday, 13th._ We marched at 7 carrying food and water for two +days. We were in support of the frontal containing force. The enemy +were on the Canal, eight miles off. We marched about four miles and +then halted, and waited most of the day for orders. A strong S.E. wind +prevented us hearing anything of the battle but we could see a certain +amount of shelling. About 3 p.m. we got orders to go up in support of +the frontal force, which (we were told) had advanced, the enemy having +abandoned the Canal. We marched another three miles to a fort, which +stood about one and a quarter miles from the Canal, and from which we +had driven the enemy in the morning. Here we waited till after dark, +when we heard that the frontal force had blundered into a Turkish +rearguard holding the Canal, and had lost heavily and been obliged to +retire. It is these disconcerting surprises which try one's spirit +more than anything else. We ate a cold and cheerless supper just +beyond the fort, and then dug ourselves in, with other units of our +brigade on either side of us. It was windy and very cold. There was a +small and filthy hut with every mark of recent Turkish use, just +behind the trench, but sooner or later every officer (I among the +first) came to the conclusion that dirt was preferable to cold, and we +all packed in round a fire which our signallers had lit there. + +_Friday, 14th._ After a tolerable night we stood to arms at 5.30, a +wholly displeasing process. As soon as it was light, we advanced to +within 1,200 yds. of the Canal and started digging in. But it soon +became clear that the enemy had cleared out in the night, so we +stopped digging and started to clear up the battlefield, _i.e._, the +space between us and the Canal. The stretcher parties had been out +during the night, but they had been fired on so heavily that they +could not get beyond the 1,200 yd. line, so there were wounded to pick +up as well as dead to bury and equipment to collect. The dead were so +pitiable that one quite forgot their ghastliness; but it was a +gruesome job searching their pockets. The poor wounded had had a +fearful time too, lying out in the cold all night, but the +satisfaction of getting them in cheered one up. The ground was simply +littered with pointed bullets. + +In the middle of this job we were recalled and told to march to the +support of our outflanking force; but by the time we were collected +and fallen in the need for our assistance had apparently passed, for +we were merely marched to the Canal and then along it to where it +joins the river; where we have been ever since. We got into camp here +soon after noon, and were very glad to be within reach of water again. +The weather was the limit. It blew a gale all the afternoon, and the +dust was so bad one could hardly open one's eyes. We had no tents, but +the Major (Stilwell) had a bivouac and invited me in with him, which +was a blessing as it rained all night. + +_Saturday, 15th._ Rained all the morning on and off. Afternoon grey +and cold. Nothing doing and no news. Sniping at night. + +_Sunday, 16th._ Morning grey and cold. Rained all the afternoon and is +still at it (8 p.m.). Padre held a celebration on one of the boats, +and an open air voluntary parade service. Dug a bridge-head perimetre. +We are waiting for the bridge. The gale and the river bust it. + +_Monday, 17th._ Rained on and off all day. Grey, cold and windy. +Ordered to cross river as soon as bridge is ready. Bridge reported +ready 6 p.m. so we struck camp. We took only what blankets we could +carry. When we reached the bridge, we found it not finished, and +squatted till 8.15. Then the bridge was finished and immediately +broke. So we had to come back to camp and bivouac. Luckily the +officers tents were recoverable, but not the men's. + +_Tuesday, 18th._ Rain stopped at 8 a.m. Whole place a sea of mud ankle +deep, and slippery as butter. Nearly the whole bridge had been washed +away or sunk in the night. We got men's tents from the ship, cleared +spaces from mud and pitched camp again. Rain started again about 1 +p.m. and continued till 4. The Canal or "Wadi" had meanwhile come down +in heavy spate and broken that bridge, so we were doubly isolated. I +went out to post piquets. It took two hours to walk three miles. +Jubber Khan sick all day, so I had to manage for myself, helped by +North's bearer. Foster being sick North is O.C. "D." Coy. and I share +a 40lb. tent with him. He is 2/4th, son of the Duke of Wellington's +Agent at Strathfieldsaye, but has served three years in N. Rhodesia, +so is quite used to camp life. + +Desultory bombardment all day. + +_Wednesday 19th._ Sun at last; first fine day since Thursday last. +Orders to cross Wadi as soon as bridge repaired. Crossed at 4 p.m. and +camped in a dry place. + +_Thursday, 20th._ Fair, sun, heavy bombardment all day. Post going. + + * * * * * + + +ACCOUNT OF FIGHTING WHICH TOOK PLACE IN THE ATTACK ON +THE TURKISH POSITION OF UM EL HANNA, ON JANUARY 21ST, 1916. + +_By an Officer who was There._ + +The Turkish position, which is about ten miles up stream from Shaikh +Saad, is on the left bank of the Tigris. The position is a very strong +one, thoroughly entrenched, with the river protecting its right flank +and absolutely secured on its left flank by a very extensive marsh +which stretches for miles. + +Our camp was about five miles from the Turkish position (downstream) +but our forward trenches were within about 1,000 yards of it. + +On January 20th our guns bombarded the enemy's trenches at intervals +during the day, and on the following morning at 3 a.m. we moved out of +camp preparatory to the attack which was to commence about 6.30 a.m. + +The ---- Brigade was to push the main attack with the ---- Brigade +(ours) in support of it, whilst a third brigade was to make a holding +attack on our right. + +The leading brigade entrenched itself during the night within about +500 yards of the position, whilst our Regiment with one Indian +Regiment formed the first line of supports. We were in our trenches +about 1,000 yards from the enemy's position, ready to make the attack, +by 6 a.m. + +For some reason, which I do not know, the attack was delayed, and our +guns did not open fire till 7.45 a.m. instead of 6.30 as originally +intended. + +At 7.55 a.m. after our guns had bombarded the enemy's trenches for +only ten minutes the infantry were ordered to advance to the attack, +our support line advancing at the same time. + +Our Battalion, which consisted of three Companies (one Coy. being in +Kut-el-Amara) advanced in three lines, "B" Coy. forming the first line +under Lieut. Needham, "C" Coy. the second line under Capt. Page +Roberts, and "D" Coy. the third line under Capt. North with Capt. the +Hon. R. Palmer as his 2nd in command. Lt.-Col. Bowker was with the +third line. + +As soon as we left the trenches we were under a heavy rifle fire, and +as we advanced this became more and more intense, with machine gun and +shrapnel fire added. The ground was perfectly flat and open with no +form of cover to be obtained, and our casualties soon became very +heavy. We continued to advance till we got to within about 150 yards +of the enemy's trenches, but by this time our casualties were so heavy +that it was impossible to press home the attack without +reinforcements, though at the extreme left of our line, our troops +actually got into the first line of trenches, but were bombed out of +them again by the Turks. + +No reinforcements reached us, however, and we afterwards heard that +the Regiment which should have come up in support of us was enfiladed +from their right and was consequently drawn off in that direction. All +we could do now was to hold on where we were, making what cover we +could with our entrenching tools, and this we did until darkness came +on, when we withdrew. + +The weather had been terrible all that day and night, there being +heavy rain with a bitterly cold wind coming off the snow hills. The +ground became a sea of mud which made it most difficult to remove the +wounded, and many of these had to lie out till the armistice was +arranged the following day. + + * * * * * + + +FURTHER DESCRIPTIONS OF THE FIGHT AT UM EL HANNA, +BY EYE-WITNESSES. + +_By an Officer of the 4th Hants._ + +"The fighting on the 21st was a pure slaughter. It was too awful.... + +"The troops from France say that in all their experience there they +never suffered so much from weather conditions. + +"We were wet to the skin and there was a bitter wind coming off the +snow hills. Many poor fellows died from exposure that night, I am +afraid; and many of the wounded were lying out for more than +twenty-four hours until the armistice was arranged the following day." + + * * * * * + + +_Another written down from a Private's account._ + +"The three Companies of Hampshires were in support, with two native +Regiments, and a Battalion of Connaught Rangers. The Black Watch and +Seaforths were in the firing line. The Hants men were next the river. +The two native Regiments refused to leave their trenches when they +saw the fierce fire from the machine guns. The Connaughts were +fighting further off. So the Hampshire men were obliged to go on +alone. 'We never made a rush, and just walked slowly through the rain. +A slow march to our deaths, I call it.'" + +He then said they had got mixed up with the Black Watch and got into +the first Turkish trench, but had been driven out of it again. He saw +Capt. Palmer fall about 200 yards from the trench but did not see +whether he got up again, or where he was wounded. + + * * * * * + + +THORNFIELD, + +BITTERNE, + +SOUTHAMPTON, + +_10th August_, 1916. + +DEAR LADY SELBORNE, + +I have just received a letter from 2nd Lt. C.H. Vernon, 1/4 Hants +(really 2/7 Hants attached) recording his search for my son's body on +the 7th April, 1916, its discovery (as he believes) and its burial. He +also adds that "at the same time he looked for Capt. Palmer's, but +could not find him. It was afterwards that he heard of his death in +the Turkish Camp," and he adds, "Some stories have come through from +survivors as to how he lost his life. As far as we can gather, he was +the only Hants officer actually to penetrate the Turkish trenches with +a few men. That was on the extreme left close to the river. Our men, +however, had not been supplied by the Indian Government with bombs. +Consequently the Turks, being so provided, bombed them out, and only +one or two men escaped capture or death. It was here that Capt. Palmer +was mortally wounded while trying to rally his men to hold the +captured sector." + +I think you may like to have this extract about your gallant son. + +(_Signed_) J.T. BUCKNILL. + + * * * * * + + +42, PALL MALL, + +LONDON, S.W. + +_8th March_, 1916. + +The Hampshires were informed that another Battalion was in front of +them, and advanced without returning the hostile fire till they got to +1,000 yards from the Turkish trenches--they then found out that there +were no British troops in front, so opened fire and advanced. The +Connaught Rangers on their right remained behind when they found out +the mistake. Two native Battalions in reserve refused to budge, +although their officers threatened them with their revolvers. The +artillery preparation proved insufficient, but the Hampshires got into +shell holes and held on till dark. The medical arrangements broke +down, there were insufficient stretcher-bearers, and no chloroform or +sufficient bandages. No mention is made of the Arabs, however. + +There were seventy-five rank and file returned as missing after the +fight, and a subaltern, Lieut. Lester Garland, took over the command +of the Battalion when my brother collapsed. + +The Turks claimed to have captured five officers in one action, but +there is so much "fog of war" in those parts that it is difficult to +identify their claims. + +(_Signed_) G.H. STILWELL. + + * * * * * + + +42, PALL MALL. + +LONDON, S.W. + +_1st May_, 1916. + +At the armistice to collect the wounded it was agreed that all +officers and men that fell within 200 yards of the Turkish trenches +should be picked up and retained by the Turks as prisoners, while all +beyond that zone should be removed by us. Your son was seen within 100 +yards of the Turkish trench when he fell, and it was reported that +four of his men actually got inside the trench, but were driven out by +bombs. My son was with the next platoon to yours, and Bucknill was a +little further on. They were obviously well in front, and fell in the +enemy's zone. + +(_Signed_) G.H. STILWELL. + + * * * * * + + +1/4TH HAMPSHIRE REGIMENT, + +I.E.F. "D," + +C/O INDIA OFFICE, S.W. + +_20th February_, 1916. + +I received your cable enquiring about your son to-day, and have wired +to the Adjutant General at the base at Basra enquiring whether he has +any information not known to the Regiment, as I very much regret to +say we have none whatever. All we know is that he started in the +attack on the Turkish trenches on the 21st January and has not been +seen since. I write to-day as the mail is leaving, but will cable as +soon as I get a reply from the base. Out of 310 who went into the +attack we had 288 casualties. Bucknill and a good many men are missing +as well. There was great difficulty in getting the wounded back as it +had to be done at night and the rain and mud were appalling. + +There was an armistice next day, but we were not allowed to go within +a certain distance of the Turkish trenches, so all wounded within that +area are probably prisoners. + +One other officer of ours was captured and we only found that out +incidentally. There has been no official list of prisoners and I don't +think the Army Headquarters here know who was taken. I don't know +whether you would have the means of getting this from the Turks +through the War Office. I believe attempts are being made here. I +think there is a chance of his being a prisoner as the Regiment got +pretty near the trenches, but I can get no information from any of our +men. I will cable at once if I hear anything. + +I saw yesterday a copy of the _Pioneer_ (Allahabad) for January 30th, +and that reported your son wounded. I hoped, therefore, that he had +been sent to India and the medical people in this country had omitted +to make any record of it, but I imagine in that case he would surely +have cabled to you himself, and I fear the only hope is that he may be +a prisoner of war. + +Your son was attached to my Company latterly and besides being very +keen and capable was a great favourite with the men, and we all miss +him very much indeed. I hope your Lordship will accept my deepest +sympathy in your anxiety, and I sincerely hope that your son may be +safe. + +(_Signed_) H.M. FOSTER, + +_Capt. 1/4th Hants Regt._ + + * * * * * + + +H.M.S. "MANTIS," + +_May_, 1916. + +DEAR LORD SELBORNE. + +I am more grieved than I can say to have given you the news which I +telegraphed yesterday. I know how cruel the anxiety of doubt is, and +telegraphed to you when I had the evidence which I and my friends here +considered reliable. + +About six days ago I went out to the Turks to discuss terms for the +surrender of Kut. I spent the night in their camp and have been with +them several times since then. I asked them for information about +three names. About two of the names I could get little information. On +the third day I received a message from Ali Jenab Bey, telling me that +your son had died in hospital, and that all that could be done for him +had been done, and asking me to tell you how deeply he sympathised +with you. The next day Ali Jenab and two other Turks came into our +camp. One of them, Mohammed Riza, a relation of Jenab Pashas, told me +that your son had been brought in after the fight on the 21st, +slightly wounded in the shoulder and badly wounded in the chest. He +had been well looked after by the Doctors and the Colonel of the +Regiment (I could not find out which Regiment) had visited him, and at +the Doctor's wish sent him some brandy. He did not suffer and the end +came after four hours. + +It is useless to try to tell you how sorry I feel for you and all of +yours. In this campaign, which in my mind has been the most heroic of +all, many of our men who have given their lives have suffered very +long and very terribly, and when one hears of a friend who has gone, +one is glad in this place, to know that he has been spared that +sacrifice. + +I am, + +Yours very sincerely, + +(_Signed_) AUBREY HERBERT. + + * * * * * + + +APPENDIX I. + +THE OFFICIAL ACCOUNT OF THE BATTLE TAKEN FROM SIR PERCY +LAKE'S DESPATCH TO THE WAR OFFICE, PUBLISHED +OCTOBER, 1916. + +_It will be noticed that it differs from the private accounts in one or +two particulars._ + +_1st phase--January 19--23._ + +After the battle of Wadi River General Aylmer's leading troops had +followed the retreating Turks to the Umm-el-Hannah position, and +entrenched themselves at the mouth of the defile, so as to shut the +enemy in and limit his power of taking the offensive. + +The weather at this period was extraordinarily unfavourable. Heavy +rains caused the river to come down in flood and overflow its banks, +and converted the ground on either bank into a veritable bog. + +Our bridge across the Wadi was washed away several times, while the +boisterous winds greatly interfered with the construction of a bridge +across the Tigris, here some 400 yards in width. + +It was essential to establish Artillery on the right bank of the +Tigris, so as to support, by enfilading fire, the attack of our +Infantry against the Hannah position. + +Guns and troops were ferried across, with difficulty, owing to the +high wind and heavy squalls of rain, but by the 19th all troops +allotted to the right bank had crossed over and were established in +the positions from which they were required to co-operate with the +main force on the left bank. + +Meanwhile, the leading Infantry Brigades on the left bank had pushed +nearer the enemy. January 20th was devoted to a systematic bombardment +of his position, and during the night the Infantry pushed forward +their advanced line to within 200 yards of the enemy's trenches. + +On the morning of the 21st, under cover of an intensive Artillery +bombardment, our Infantry moved to the attack. On our right the troops +got to within 100 yards of the enemy's line, but were unable to +advance further. Our left column, consisting of the Black Watch, 6th +Jats, and 41st Dogras, penetrated the front line with a rush, +capturing trenches, which they held for about an hour and a half. +Supports were sent forward, but, losing direction and coming under +heavy fire, failed to reach them. Thus, left unsupported, our +previously successful troops, when Turkish counter-attacks developed, +were overwhelmed by numbers and forced to retire. + +Heavy rain now began to fall and continued throughout the day. +Telephone communication broke down, and communication by orderly +became slow and uncertain. + +After further artillery bombardment the attack was renewed at 1 p.m., +but by this time the heavy rain had converted the ground into a sea of +mud, rendering rapid movement impossible. The enemy's fire was heavy +and effective, inflicting severe losses, and though every effort was +made, the assault failed. + +Our troops maintained their position until dark and then slowly +withdrew to the main trenches which had been previously occupied, some +1,300 yards from those of the enemy. + +As far as possible all the wounded were brought in during the +withdrawal, but their sufferings and hardships were acute under the +existing climatic conditions, when vehicles and stretcher-bearers +could scarcely move in the deep mud. + +To renew the attack on the 22nd was not practicable. The losses on the +21st had been heavy, the ground was still a quagmire and the troops +exhausted. A six hours' armistice was arranged in order to bury the +dead and remove the wounded to shelter. + +I cannot sufficiently express my admiration for the courage and dogged +determination of the force engaged. For days they bivouacked in +driving rain on soaked and sodden ground. Three times they were called +upon to advance over a perfectly flat country, deep in mud, and +absolutely devoid of cover, against well-constructed and well-planned +trenches, manned by a brave and stubborn enemy approximately their +equal in numbers. They showed a spirit of endurance and self-sacrifice +of which their country may well be proud. + + * * * * * + + +APPENDIX II. + +EXTRACTS FROM LETTERS FROM OFFICERS AND MEN OF THE 6TH HANTS. + +Your son was universally liked and respected by all ranks in this +Battalion, and one and all will regret his death and loss as much as I +do, who knew his sterling worth. His memory will be ever cherished by +his brother officers with whom he was so popular. + +(_Signed_) F.H. PLAYFAIR, _Col_. + + +I was indeed sorry to receive your letter which my brother sent on to +me, giving the news of your son's death from his wounds in the Turkish +trenches. I had great hopes that his wound might have been a slight +one. + +May I offer Lady Selborne and yourself the most sincere sympathy both +of the Regiment and myself in this most sad loss which has come to +you. I can assure you both officers and men of the Regiment will miss +him tremendously as he was so popular with all. + +(_Signed_) W. B. STILWELL, _Major_. + + +---- shewed me the wire about Robert yesterday morning. I can't tell +you how sorry I feel for you all. I know I have never lost anyone who +meant anything like so much to me, and I am sure that his friendship +was one of the greatest blessings for me, in every way, that God could +have given me. + +When a fellow not only has such ideals but actually lives up to them +with the determination and consistency with which Robert did, I think +there is something very triumphant about his life. Anyway I know that +his influence will live on, not in his friends alone, but in everyone +with whom he came in contact. I wish you could know what a tremendous +lot people thought of him in the Regiment, both officers and men, some +of whom had little in common with him. + +With deepest sympathy for you all. + +Yours very sincerely, +(_Signed_) PUREFOY CAUSTON. + + +FROM A PRIVATE SOLDIER. + +I had only seen that Robert Palmer had been wounded; the issue giving +the subsequent and very terrible report had escaped me. I am more +sorry than I can well express. Though I didn't know him personally yet +it didn't take long to recognise him as one of the great strengths in +the Battalion, it was noticeable from the very first, from the way he +handled his Company and went about working for them--on the "Ultonia" +it struck me. + + +EXTRACTS FROM LETTERS FROM SCHOOL AND COLLEGE FRIENDS. + +Accept my most grateful thanks for your kind words of sympathy. As you +say, this war, with all its terrible consequences, "had to be," and it +is some comfort to us to know that our sons, meant for other things +than violence, took their part in it serenely and cheerfully, with no +misgivings. + +I often think of your dear boy and of what he said about the war in +that sonnet. But what I most often think of him, as I can of my own +son, is "Blessed are the pure in heart." + +(_Signed_) A.K. COOK. + + +I had looked forward myself to a great career for him: he had so many +qualities to ensure success: a sharp, keen mind, which proved its +literary quality also at Oxford, an unfailing earnestness and high +purpose and a white character: no one could deny the brilliance and +the steadiness of his gifts. + +(_Signed_) M.J. RENDALL. + + +I have just received the "Wykehamist War Roll" and _The Wykehamist_ +and in it find the sad news of your boy. I did not know definite news +had been received and was still hoping. May I add my letter of +sympathy to the many you will have had from all his friends, for +though sympathy does not do much good it does sometimes help a little +I believe, and say how very, very much I feel for you and Lady +Selborne in your loss. He was my senior prefect my first year at +"Cook's," and there never was a kinder, fairer and more liked prefect +by the small boys all the time I was there, and indeed I think I have +never met a better fellow anywhere. + +(_Signed_) F. LUTTMAN-JOHNSON. + + +I have only just learned from the announcement in to-day's papers that +you have no longer any ground for hoping against hope. I did not mean +to write to you, but the sense of the loss and of how England will +miss him in the years to come has been so strongly in my mind all day +that I thought perhaps you would not mind my trying to put it into +words. I did not see very much of him, but I have never forgotten the +first impression of him that I got as external examiner at Winchester, +when he was in Sixth Book and how I felt he was marked out for big +work, and I had always looked forward to getting to know him better. +It makes one feel very, very old when those on whom one relied to +carry on one's work and ideas are taken. But it is a happiness--or at +least a sort of shining consolation--to think that one will always +remember him as radiantly young. I have lost so many pupils who will +never grow up and always be just pupils. + +Please do not think of replying and pardon this intrusion. + +(_Signed_) A. ZIMMERN. + + +Bobby was gold all through--for head and heart one in a million. Of +all the undergraduates I have known at Oxford during my twenty years +of work there, he struck me as most certain by reason of his breadth +and sobriety of judgment, intellectual force and sweetness of +disposition to exercise a commanding influence for good in the public +affairs of the country. Everyone admired and liked him and I know that +his influence among his contemporaries, an influence exercised very +quietly and unobtrusively, was quite exceptional from the very first. + +(_Signed_) HERBERT FISHER. + + +Those of us who knew Bobby at Univ. and saw him afterwards in London +knew that one way or another he would give his life to the country. +The war has only determined the manner of his giving and made the life +much shorter, but his memory the more abiding. + +(_Signed_) ALEC PATERSON, _2nd Lieut_. + + +[Illustration] + +[Illustration: MAP ENCLOSED IN LETTER OF JAN. 10.] + + + + + +End of Project Gutenberg's Letters from Mesopotamia, by Robert Palmer + +*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK LETTERS FROM MESOPOTAMIA *** + +***** This file should be named 17584-8.txt or 17584-8.zip ***** +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: + http://www.gutenberg.org/1/7/5/8/17584/ + +Produced by David Clarke, Sankar Viswanathan, and the +Online Distributed Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net +(This file was produced from images generously made +available by The Internet Archive/Canadian Libraries) + + +Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions +will be renamed. + +Creating the works from public domain print editions means that no +one owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation +(and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without +permission and without paying copyright royalties. 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You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + + +Title: Letters from Mesopotamia + +Author: Robert Palmer + +Release Date: January 23, 2006 [EBook #17584] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1 + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK LETTERS FROM MESOPOTAMIA *** + + + + +Produced by David Clarke, Sankar Viswanathan, and the +Online Distributed Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net +(This file was produced from images generously made +available by The Internet Archive/Canadian Libraries) + + + + + + +</pre> + + + + + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_1" id="Page_1">[1]</a></span></p> + + +<div class="tr"><p class="center">Transcribers Note:</p> + +The two illustrations at the end of the printed book are inserted with the relevant letters in the html version.</div> + + + + +<h2>LETTERS FROM MESOPOTAMIA</h2> +<p> </p> +<p> </p> + +<h3>IN 1915 AND JANUARY, 1916,<br /> +FROM ROBERT PALMER, WHO<br /> +WAS KILLED IN THE BATTLE OF<br /> +UM EL HANNAH, JUNE 21, 1916<br /> +AGED 27 YEARS</h3> +<p> </p> +<p> </p> + +<p class="center"><i>PRINTED FOR PRIVATE CIRCULATION ONLY</i> +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_2" id="Page_2">[2]</a></span></p> + +<p> </p> +<p> </p> +<p> </p> +<hr style='width: 45%;' /> + + +<div style="margin-left:15em;" ><b><i>He went with a draft from the 6th Hants <br />to reinforce the +4th Hants. The 6th Hants <br />had been in India since November, +1914.</i></b></div> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_3" id="Page_3">[3]</a></span></p> + +<hr style='width: 45%;' /> +<p> </p> +<p> </p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">War deemed he hateful, for therein he saw<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Passions unloosed in licence, which in man<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Are the most evil, a false witness to<br /></span> +<span class="i0">The faith of Christ. For when by settled plan,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">To gratify the lustings of the few,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">The peoples march to battle, then, the law<br /></span> +</div><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">Of love forgotten, men come out to kill<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Their brothers in a hateless strife, nor know<br /></span> +<span class="i0">The cause wherefor they fight, except that they<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Whom they as rulers own, do bid them so.<br /></span> +<span class="i0">And thus his heart was heavy on the day<br /></span> +<span class="i0">That war burst forth. He felt that men could ill<br /></span> +</div><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">Afford to travel back along the years<br /></span> +<span class="i0">That they had mounted, toiling, stage by stage—<br /></span> +<span class="i0">—A year he was to India's plains assigned<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Nor heard the spite of rifles, nor the rage<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Of guns; yet pondered oft on what the mind<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Experiences in war; what are the fears,<br /></span> +</div><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">And what those joys unknown that men do feel<br /></span> +<span class="i0">In stress of fight. He saw how great a test<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Of manhood is a stubborn war, which draws<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Out all that's worst in men or all that's best:<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Their fiercest brutal passions from all laws<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Set free, men burn and plunder, rape and steal;<br /></span> +</div><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">Or all their human strength of love cries out<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Against such suffering. And so he came<br /></span> +<span class="i0">In time to wish that he might thus be tried,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Partly to know himself, partly from shame<br /></span> +<span class="i0">That others with less faith had gladly died,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">While he in peace and ease had cast a doubt,<br /></span> +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_4" id="Page_4">[4]</a></span></div><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">Not on his faith, but on his strength to bear<br /></span> +<span class="i0">So great a trial. Soon it was his fate<br /></span> +<span class="i0">To test himself; and with the facts of war<br /></span> +<span class="i0">So clear before him he could feel no hate,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">No passion was aroused by what he saw,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">But only pity. And he put all fear<br /></span> +</div><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">Away from him, terming it the offspring<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Of an unruly mind. Like some strong man<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Whom pygmies in his sleep have bound with threads<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Of twisted cobweb, and he to their plan<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Is captive while he sleeps, but quickly shreds<br /></span> +<span class="i0">His bonds when he awakes and sees the thing<br /></span> +</div><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">That they have bound him with. His faith and will<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Purged all evil passions from his mind,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">And left there one great overmastering love<br /></span> +<span class="i0">For all his fellows. War taught him to find<br /></span> +<span class="i0">That peace, for which at other times he strove<br /></span> +<span class="i0">In vain, and new-found friendship did fulfil<br /></span> +</div><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">His thoughts with happiness. Such was the soul<br /></span> +<span class="i0">That he perfected, ready for the call<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Of his dear Master (should it to him come),<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Scornful of death's terrors, yet withal<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Loath to leave this life, while still was some<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Part of the work he dreamed undone, his goal<br /></span> +</div><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">As yet unreached. There was for such an one<br /></span> +<span class="i0">A different work among those given,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Who've crossed the border of eternity<br /></span> +<span class="i0">In youthful heedlessness,—as unshriven<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Naked souls joined the great fraternity<br /></span> +<span class="i0">O' the dead, while yet their life was just begun ...<br /></span> +</div><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">And so he went from us unto his task,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">For all our life is as it were a mask<br /></span> +<span class="i0">That lifteth at our death, and death is birth<br /></span> +<span class="i0">To higher things than are upon this earth.<br /></span> +</div></div><p class="quotsig">L. P.</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_5" id="Page_5">[5]</a></span></p> + +<hr style='width: 45%;' /> + +<p class="quotsig"> +<span class="smcap">Flashman's Hotel</span>,<br /> +<span class="smcap">Rawal Pindi</span>.</p> +<p class="quotdate"> +<i>April 25th, 1915.</i></p> +<p class="center"> +<span class="smcap">To his Mother</span>.</p> + +<p><br /> + They are calling for volunteers from Territorial battalions to fill +gaps in the Persian Gulf—one subaltern, one sergeant, and thirty men +from each battalion. So far they have asked the Devons, Cornwalls, +Dorsets, Somersets and East Surreys, but not the Hampshires. So I +suppose they are going to reserve us for feeding the 4th Hants in case +they want casualties replaced later on. Even if they come to us, I +don't think they are likely to take me or Luly, because in every case +they are taking the senior subaltern: and that is a position which I +am skipping by being promoted along with the three others: and Luly is +a long way down the list. But of course I shall volunteer, as there is +no adequate reason not to; so I thought you would like to know, only +you mustn't worry, as the chance of my going is exceedingly remote: +but I like to tell you everything that happens.</p> + +<hr style='width: 45%;' /> + +<p>Four months after he wrote this, in August, 1915, Robert was on leave +at Naini Tal, with Purefoy Causton, a brother officer.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_6" id="Page_6">[6]</a></span></p> + + +<hr style='width: 45%;' /> + + +<p class="quotsig"> +<span class="smcap">Métropole Hotel</span>,<br /> +<span class="smcap">Naini Tal</span>. +</p><p class="quotdate"> +<i>August 3rd</i>, 1915. +</p><p class="center"> +<span class="smcap">To his Mother</span>. + +</p> + +<p><br /> + It has been extremely wet since I last wrote. On Saturday we could do +nothing except laze indoors and play billiards and Friday was the +same, with a dull dinner-party at the end of it. It was very nice and +cool though, and I enjoyed those two days as much as any.</p> + +<p>On Sunday we left Government House in order to be with Guy Coles +during his three days' leave.</p> + +<p>It rained all the morning: we went to Church at a spikey little chapel +just outside Government House gate. It cleared about noon and we +walked down to the Brewery, about three miles to meet Guy. When he +arrived we had lunch there and then got ponies.</p> + +<p>We had arranged to take Guy straight to a picnic with a nice Mrs. +Willmott of Agra, who comes here for the hot weather. So we rode up +past the lake and to the very top of Agarpatta, one of the humps on +the rim of hills. It took us over two hours, and the mist settled in +just as we arrived, about 5, so we picnicked chillily on a misty +mountain-top; but Mrs. Willmott and her sister are exceptionally nice +people, so we all enjoyed it. They have two small children and a lady +nurse for them. I never met one before, but it is quite a sensible +plan out here.</p> + +<p>We only got back to this Hotel just before dinner, and there I found a +wire from Major Wyatt asking me if I would command a draft and take it +to the 4th Hants in the Persian<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_7" id="Page_7">[7]</a></span> Gulf. This is the exact fulfilment of +the calculation I wrote to you in April, but it came as a surprise at +the moment. I was more excited than either pleased or depressed. I +don't hanker after fighting, and I would, of course, have preferred to +go with the regiment and not as a draft. But now that I'm in for it, +the interest of doing something after all these months of hanging +about, and in particular the responsibility of looking after the draft +on the way, seems likely to absorb all other feelings. What appeals to +me most is the purely unmilitary prospect of being able to protect the +men, to some extent, from the, I'm sure, largely preventible sickness +there has been in the P.G. The only remark that ever made me feel a +sudden desire to go to any front was when O'Connor at Lahore told me +(quite untruly as it turned out) that "the Hampshires are dying like +flies at Basra." As a matter of fact, they only had ten deaths, but a +great deal of sickness, and I do enjoy the prospect of trying to be +efficient about that. As for fighting, it doesn't look as if there +would be much, whereon Purefoy greatly commiserates me; but if that is +the only privation I shan't complain!</p> + +<p>I'm afraid your lively imagination will conjure up every kind of +horror, and that is the only thing that distresses me about going: but +clearly a tropical climate suits me better than most people, and I +will be very careful to avoid all unnecessary risks! both for your +peace of mind and also to keep the men up to the mark, to say nothing +of less exalted motives.</p> + +<p>I know no details at all yet. I am to return to Agra on Saturday, so I +shall only lose forty-eight hours of my most heavenly fortnight here.</p> + +<p>I got this wire Sunday evening and Purefoy sat up talking on my bed +till quite late as we had a lot to say to each other.</p> + +<p><i>August 4th.</i> On Monday morning it was pouring harder<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_8" id="Page_8">[8]</a></span> than ever, +quite an inch to the hour. I walked across to the Telegraph Office and +answered the Major's wire, and got wet through. After breakfast I +chartered a dandy and waded through the deluge to the station +hospital, where the M.O. passed me as sound, without a spark of +interest in any of my minor ailments. I then proceeded to the local +chemist and had my medicine-case filled up, and secured an extra +supply of perchloride. There is no Poisons Act here and you can buy +perchloride as freely as pepper. My next visit was to the dentist. He +found two more decayed teeth and stopped them with incredible +rapidity. The climate is so mild that though I was pretty wet through +I never felt like catching a cold from being operated on. He was an +American with a lady assistant to hold one's mouth open! I never feel +sure that these dentists don't just drill a hole and then stop it: but +no doubt teeth decay extremely quickly out here.</p> + +<p>Then I went back to the Telegraph Office and cabled to Papa and got +back in time for lunch after the moistest morning I ever remember +being out in.</p> + +<p>This hotel is about the worst in the world, I should say, though there +are two in Naini reputed to be worse still. It takes in no newspaper, +has no writing-paper, only one apology for a sitting-room, and can't +supply one with fuel even for a fire. However, Moni Lal is resourceful +and we have survived three days of it. Luckily there is an excellent +custom here by which visitors belonging to another club, <i>e.g.,</i> the +Agra Club can join the Naini Club temporarily for 1s. per day. So we +spent the afternoon and evening at the Club and I spiflicated both +Purefoy (giving him forty and two turns to my one) and Guy at +Billiards.</p> + +<p>On Tuesday (yesterday) we got up at 7.0 and went for a sail on the +lake. Guy is an expert at this difficult art and we circumnavigated +the place twice before breakfast with<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_9" id="Page_9">[9]</a></span> complete success and I learned +enough semi-nautical terms to justify the purchase of a yachting cap +should occasion arise.</p> + +<p>After breakfast we were even more strenuous and climbed up to +Government House to play golf. It came on to rain violently just as we +arrived, so we waited in the guard-room till it cleared, and then +played a particularly long but very agreeable 3-ball, in which I lost +to Guy on the last green but beat Purefoy three and one. We got back +to lunch at about 3.15.</p> + +<p>As if this wasn't enough I sallied out again at 4.0 to play tennis at +the Willmotts, quite successfully, with a borrowed racquet, my own +having burst on introduction to the climate of this place. Mrs. W. +told me that there was a Chaplain, one Kirwan, here just back from the +Persian Gulf, so I resolved to pursue him.</p> + +<p>I finished up the day by dining P. and G. at the Club, and after +dinner Purefoy, by a succession of the most hirsute flukes, succeeded +in beating me by ten to his great delight.</p> + +<p>I went to bed quite tired, but this morning it was so lovely that I +revived and mounted a horse at 7.0 leaving the other two snoring. I +rode up the mountain. I was rewarded by a most glorious view of the +snows, one of the finest I have ever seen. Between me and them were +four or five ranges of lower hills, the deepest richest blue +conceivable, and many of their valleys were filled with shining seas +of rolling sunlit cloud. Against this foreground rose a quarter-circle +sweep of the snows, wreathed and garlanded with cloud wracks here and +there, but for the most part silhouetted sharply in the morning sun. +The grandest mass was in the centre: Nanda Devi, 25,600, which is the +highest mountain in the Empire, and Trisoul, over 22,000. There were +six or eight other peaks of over 20,000 ft.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_10" id="Page_10">[10]</a></span></p> + +<p>I got back to the Hotel for breakfast, and from 9.30 to 10.45 we +played tennis, and then changed hastily and went to Church for the War +Anniversary Service. The station turned out for this in unprecedented +numbers—churchgoing is not an Anglo-Indian habit—and there was no +seat to be had, so I sat on the floor. The Bishop of Lucknow, Foss's +uncle, preached.</p> + +<p>After the service I waylaid the Revd. Kirwan and found he was staying +with the Bishop, who immediately asked us to lunch. So Purefoy and I +went to lunch—Guy preferring to sail—and I extracted quite a lot of +useful information from K. Incidentally the Bishop showed me a letter +from Foss, who wrote from the apex of the Ypres salient. He isn't +enjoying it much, I'm afraid, but was quite well.</p> + +<p>When we left the Bishop, it was coming out so fine that we decided to +ride up and try again to see the snows. So up we rode, and the cloud +effects were lovely, both over the plains and among the mountains; but +they hid more than half the snows.</p> + +<p>We rode down again to Valino's, the nutty tea-shop here, where we had +reserved a table on the balcony. Guy was there before us and we sat +there till nearly seven listening to the band. We got back to dinner +where Purefoy had secured one of his innumerable lightning friends to +dine with us, and adjourned to the Club for billiards afterwards: +quite a full day.</p> + +<p><i>Thursday: Government House.</i>—Another busy day. It was fine again +this morning, so we all three rode up to Snow View and got an +absolutely perfect view: the really big snows were clear and +cloudless, while the lower slopes and hills and valleys were flooded +with broken seas of dazzling cloud. I put it second only to the +Darjeeling view.</p> + +<p>After breakfast Purefoy and I came up and played golf. Guy took fright +at the chance of being asked in to lunch here<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_11" id="Page_11">[11]</a></span> and went sailing again. +A shower made us late in starting, and we only got through twelve +holes, after many misfortunes. I ended dormy five.</p> + +<p>Lady M. had been in bed ever since we left, but is up to-day, looking +rather ill still.</p> + +<p>To-night there is a dinner party.</p> + +<p><i>Friday.</i>—The dinner party was uneventful. I sat next a Mrs. ——, +one of the silliest females I ever struck. Her only noteworthy remark +was that of course the Germans were well equipped for the War as they +had been preparing for it for arcades and arcades.</p> + +<p>It is wet again to-day. No mail has arrived. I start for Agra after +lunch. I have had a delicious holiday. My address now will be:</p> + +<p class="quotsig1"> +"Attached 1/4 Hants Regt.,<br /> +I.E.F. 'D,' c/o India Office, S.W."</p> + +<p>and post a day early.</p> + + +<hr style='width: 45%;' /> + + +<p class="quotsig"> +<span class="smcap">Naini Tal Club</span>.</p><p class="quotdate"> + +<i>August 4th, 1915.</i> +</p> + +<p class="center">To N.B.</p> + +<p><br /> + I got a telegram on Sunday asking me to take out a draft to the 4th +Hants, in the Persian Gulf, so my address till further notice will be +"I.E.F. 'D,' c/o India Office, S.W." I thought I should hate the idea +of going to the P.G., but now that it's come along I'm getting rather +keen on going. We have been kicking our heels so long while everyone +else has been slaving away at the front, that one longs to be doing +something tangible and active. The P.G. is not exactly the spot one +would select for a pleasure trip:<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_12" id="Page_12">[12]</a></span> but on the other hand there is +likely to be more to do there that is more in my line than the purely +military side of the business. The main trouble there is sickness and +I'm sure a lot of it is preventible: and though in a battle I should +be sure to take the wrong turn and land my detachment in some +impossible place, I don't feel it so beyond me to remind them to boil +their water and wear their helmets.</p> + +<p>I don't know when I'm off, having heard nothing but the bare telegram. +They don't want me back in Agra till Saturday, so I shall almost +finish my full fortnight's leave. It has been heavenly here and the +memory of it will be a joy for months to come. The forests are +lovelier than ever: the ferns which clothe the trees are now full +grown, and pale purple orchids spangle the undergrowth. Wild dahlias +run riot in every open bank, and the gardens are brilliant with lilies +and cannas.</p> + +<p>It rained with drenching persistence for three days, but the last two +have been lovely. I got up early this morning, rode up a mountain and +saw the most superb view of the snows. The brown hills between me and +the snows had their valleys full of rolling white clouds, and the +result was a study in deepest blue and purest white, more wonderful I +think than anything I've seen.</p> + +<p>The whole station turned out to the Anniversary Service to-day. It is +dreadful to think that we've all been denying our Christianity for a +whole year and are likely to go on doing so for another. How our +Lord's heart must bleed for us! It appals me to think of it.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_13" id="Page_13">[13]</a></span></p> + + +<hr style='width: 45%;' /> + + +<p class="quotsig"> +<span class="smcap">Government House</span>,<br /> +<span class="smcap">Naini Tal</span>.</p><p class="quotdate"> +<i>August 5th, 1915.</i></p><p class="center"> +<span class="smcap">To his Father</span>. +</p> + +<p><br /> + I have written all the news to Mamma this week. The chief item from my +point of view is that, as I cabled to you, I am to take a draft from +our two Agra Double Coys. to reinforce the 4th Hants, who are now at +Nasiriya on the Euphrates. I got the wire asking me to do this on +Sunday, but have heard no details since (this is Thursday night), so I +presume they know nothing more at Agra or the Major or Luly would +surely have written.</p> + +<p>On the other hand the Major wants me back in Agra by Saturday, so I +suppose I shall be starting some time next week, but unless I hear +before posting this I can tell you nothing of the strength or +composition of the draft or the date of sailing.</p> + +<p>Everyone insists on (α) congratulating me for going to +a front and (β) condoling that it is the P.G. I don't +really agree with either sentiment. I'm afraid I regard all war jobs +as nasty, and the more warlike the nastier, but I do think one ought +to taste the same cup as all one's friends are drinking, and if I am +to go to any front I would as soon go to the P.G. as anywhere. It will +be a new part of the world to me and very interesting. The only bore +is being separated from the regiment.</p> + +<p><i>Friday.</i>—I had a talk on Wednesday with a Chaplain just returned +from Basra, and he told me we're likely to stand fast now holding the +line Nasiriya-Awaz (or some<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_14" id="Page_14">[14]</a></span> such place on the Tigris). An advance on +Baghdad is impossible without two more divisions, because of the +length of communications. There is nothing to be gained by advancing +to any intermediate point. The only reason we went as far as Nasiriya +was that it was the base of the army we beat at Shaiba, and they had +reformed there in sufficient strength to be worth attacking. This is +not thought likely to happen again, as the Dardanelles will +increasingly absorb all Turkey's resources.</p> + +<p>It seems to me that what is wanted here pre-eminently is thinking +ahead. The moment the war stops unprecedented clamours will begin, and +only a Government which knows its aim and has thought out its method +can deal with them. It seems to me, though my judgment is fearfully +hampered by my inability to get at any comprehensive statement of most +of the relevant facts, that the aim may be fairly simply defined, as +the training of India to self-government within the Empire, combined +with its good administration in trust meanwhile. That gives you a +clear criterion—India's welfare, not British interests, and fixes the +limit of the employment of Indians as the maximum consistent with good +government.</p> + +<p>The <i>method</i> is of course far more difficult and requires far more +knowledge of the facts than I possess. But I should set to work at it +on these lines:—</p> + +<p>1. Certain qualities need to be developed, responsibility, public +spirit, self-respect and so on. This should be aimed at (i) by our own +example and teaching, (ii) by a drastic reform of higher education.</p> + +<p>2. The barbarisms of the masses must be attacked. This can only be +done by a scheme of universal education.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_15" id="Page_15">[15]</a></span></p> + +<p>3. The material level of civilisation should be raised. This means +agricultural and industrial development, in which technical education +would play a large part.</p> + +<p>Therefore, your method may be summed up in two words, sympathy and +education. The first is mainly, of course, a personal question. +Therefore, preserve at all costs a high standard of <i>personnel</i> for +I.C.S. Try to get imaginative men at the top. Let all ranks understand +from the outset the aim they have to work for, and let Indians know +it. Above all let every official act prove it, confidence is a plant +of slow and tender growth here. Beware of phrases and western formulæ; +probably the benevolent autocrat, whether English or Indian, will +always govern better than a committee or an assembly.</p> + +<p>The second—education—is a question of <i>£ s. d.</i> The aim should be a +far-sighted and comprehensive scheme. A great effort to get the +adequate funds should be made and a scheme capable of ready expansion +started. Reform of higher education will be very unpopular, but should +be firmly and thoroughly carried out; it ought not to cost much. The +bulk of the money at first should go to technical education and the +encouragement of agriculture and industry. This will be remunerative, +by increasing the country's wealth. Elementary education would have to +begin by supplying schools where asked for, at a certain rate. From +this they would aim at making it gradually universal, then free, then +compulsory. But that will be many years hence inevitably.</p> + +<p>I should work at a policy on these lines: announce it, invite Indian +co-operation, and meanwhile deal very firmly with all forms of +disorder.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_16" id="Page_16">[16]</a></span></p> + + +<hr style='width: 45%;' /> + + +<p class="quotsig"> +<span class="smcap">Agra</span>.</p><p class="quotdate"> +<i>August 12th, 1915.</i></p><p class="center"> +To R.K. + +</p> + +<p><br /> + This last list is almost more than I can bear. It is hardly possible +to think of poor dear Gilbert as killed. Do let me know how Foss is +and how he gets on. Your letters are such a joy, and they give me news +I get from nobody else.</p> + +<p>I'm afraid my share in the correspondence may become even less than +before, as I shall henceforth be on more than nominally active service +and under the eye of the censor.</p> + +<p>Luly is clamouring for lunch, which we eat at 11, and I shall have no +peace afterwards till the ship reaches a landlocked bit of Gulf: so +goodbye for the present.</p> + + +<hr style='width: 45%;' /> + + +<p class="quotsig"> +"<span class="smcap">S.S. Varsova</span>,"<br /> +<span class="smcap">Bombay</span>.</p><p class="quotdate"> +<i>August 16th, 1915.</i></p> +<p class="center"> +<span class="smcap">To his Mother</span>.</p> + +<p><br /> + I shall just have time to write you a line about our journey so far, +and may be able to write to Papa later.</p> + +<p>They gave me a very nice farewell dinner on Friday at Agra. Raju came +and sat next me and it all went off very well. Almost the whole +station turned up. After dinner we sat outside, playing the +gramophone, etc. Swift, seconded by Luly and Purefoy, made a +determined effort<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_17" id="Page_17">[17]</a></span> to make me tight by standing me drinks and secretly +instructing the Khitmagar to make them extra strong; but I was not +quite green enough for that and always managed to exchange drinks at +the last moment with the result that Swift got pretty tight and I +didn't.</p> + +<p>I sat in the bungalow talking to Purefoy till 2, and was up again at +6. From 6 till 11 I was busy with seeing to things and hardly had a +moment's peace. We paraded at 10.45 and marched to the station, with +the Punjabis band leading us. It was excessively warm for marching +orders—96° in the shade—and the mile to the station was quite +enough. There was a great crowd on the platform and everyone was very +nice and gave us a splendid send-off. I was too busy all the time to +feel at all depressed at leaving Luly and Purefoy, which I had rather +feared I should. Partings are, I think, much more trying in the +prospect than at the actual moment, because beforehand the parting +fills one's imagination, whereas at the moment one's hopes of meeting +again come into active play. Anyway, I hadn't time to think much about +it then, and I was already very sleepy. We started at 12.5.</p> + +<p>At 1.30 Sergt. Pragnell came running along to say that L/C. Burgess +was taken very bad; so I went along, with the Eurasian +Assistant-Surgeon, who was travelling with us to Bombay. (These +Eurasian A.-S.'s are far more competent than the British R.A.M.C. +officers, in my experience.) We found Burgess with all the symptoms of +heat-stroke, delirium and red face and hot dry skin. A thermometer +under his armpit, after half a minute, showed a temperature of 106°. +So the A.S. had all his clothes removed and laid him on a bench in the +draught and dabbled him gently with water all over from the +water-bottles. Apparently in these cases there are two dangers, either +of which proves fatal if not counteracted: (1) the excessive +temperature of the body.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_18" id="Page_18">[18]</a></span> This rises very rapidly. In another half an +hour it would have been 109°, and 110° is generally fatal. This he +reduced, by the sponging and evaporation, to about 100° in the course +of an hour. But the delirium continued, because (2) the original +irritation sends a rush of blood to the head, causing acute +congestion, which if it continues produces apoplexy. To prevent this +we wanted ice, and I had wired on to Gwalior for some, but that was +three hours ahead. Luckily at about 3 we halted to let the mail pass, +and a railway official suggested stopping it. This we did, I got some +ice which soon relieved the situation. But of course we couldn't take +poor Burgess with us, so we wired for an ambulance to meet us at +Jhansi, and put him ashore.</p> + +<p>Meanwhile at Gwalior a pleasant surprise was in store. We had "train +rations" on the usual measly Indian scale, but for tea on Saturday we +were to rely on tea provided by Scindia at Gwalior. Happily a +Maharajah's ideas of tea are superior to a Quartermaster's, and this +is what we had for fifty men! Unlimited tea, with sugar, twenty-five +tinned cheeses, fifty tins of sausages and twenty-five 2lb. tins of +Marie biscuits! This feed tinted the rest of the journey rose-colour.</p> + +<p>The only other incident was the loss by one of the men of his +haversack, which he dropped out of window.</p> + +<p>Yesterday, Sunday, was much cooler. When I woke at Bhopal it was only +76° and it only got even as high as 89° for about half-an-hour. We ran +into rain in the afternoon.</p> + +<p>We reached Bhusawal at 7 p.m. and had to wait four hours to be picked +up by the Nagpur mail. In the refreshment room I met a Terrier gunner +officer who was P.M.C. of the Mess at Barrackpore when we messed there +in December. He was just back from a course at Mhow and had been +positively told by the Staff Officers there that his and most other T. +batteries were to be sent back to Europe<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_19" id="Page_19">[19]</a></span> in a month's time: and +moreover that a whole division of Ts. was going to the Persian Gulf +and another to E. Africa.</p> + +<p>The air is full of such rumours. Here the Embarkation N.C.O. says +78,000 K's have already sailed to relieve us. But the mere number of +the rumours rather discredits them. And the fact of their using us for +drafts to P.G. seems to show they don't intend moving the units.</p> + +<p>We left Bhusawal at midnight and arrived here at 9.15 without +incident. Bombay is its usual mild and steamy self, an unchanging 86°, +which seemed hot in November, but quite decently cool now.</p> + +<p>This boat is, from the officers' point of view, far more attractive +than the "Ultonia." Being a B.I. boat it is properly equipped for the +tropics and has good 1st class accommodation. She is about 6,000 tons. +The men are, I'm afraid, rather crowded. There will be 1,000 on board +when complete. We pick up some at Karachi. We sail to-morrow morning. +If not too sea-sick I will write to Papa and post it at Karachi.</p> + +<p>I am going out now to do a little shopping and get my hair cut, and I +shall post this in the town.</p> + +<p>P.S.—The whole country is deliciously green now, not a brown patch +except the freshest ploughed pieces, and the rivers no longer beggarly +trickles in a waste of rubble, but pretty pastoral streams with +luxuriant banks.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_20" id="Page_20">[20]</a></span></p> + + +<hr style='width: 45%;' /> + + + +<p class="quotsig"> +"<span class="smcap">S.S. Varsova</span>,"</p> +<p class="quotdate"> +<i>August 21st</i>,1915.</p> +<p class="center"> +To N.B.</p> + +<p><br /> + I don't know when I shall next get one of your letters. It will have +to follow me painfully round <i>via</i> Agra. And if I post this at Basra, +it will have to go back to Bombay before starting for England; though +people here are already talking of the time when we shall have +finished the Baghdad Railway and letters come by rail from England to +Basra in about 5 days.</p> + +<p>Meanwhile as I have no letters of your's to answer and no news to +discuss, I will try and give you an account of myself and my fifty +veterans since I last wrote.</p> + +<p>The fifty just form a platoon. You see, my retromotion goes on apace. +A Company Commander from August to April, a Company Second in Command +from May to August, and now a platoon Commander. I shall find the +stage of Sergeant harder still to live up to if it comes to that.</p> + +<p>Twenty-five are from 'D' Double Company; but only seven of these are +from my own original lambs of 'F': because they wouldn't take anyone +under twenty-three, and as I have mentioned before, I think, very few +of 'F' have qualified for pensions. As it is, two of the seven gave +false ages. The other twenty-five are from a Portsmouth +Company—townees mostly, and to me less attractive than the village +genius: but I daresay we shall get on all right.</p> + +<p>Our start wasn't altogether auspicious—in fact taking a draft across +the middle East is nearly as difficult to accomplish without loss as +taking luggage across Scotland.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_21" id="Page_21">[21]</a></span> We had a very good send-off, and all +that—concert, dinner, band, crowd on the platform and all the moral +alcohol appropriate to such occasions. It was a week ago, to-day, when +we left Agra, and Agra climate was in its top form, 96° in the shade +and stuffy at that. So you can imagine that it was not only our +spirits that were ardent after a mile's march to the station in +marching order at noon. An hour after the train had started one of my +lance-corporals collapsed with heat-stroke. The first-aid treatment by +the Eurasian M.O. travelling with us was a most instructive object +lesson. The great thing is to be in time. We were summoned within ten +minutes of the man's being taken ill. His temperature was already +106°: the M.O. said that in another half-hour it would have been 109° +and in an hour he would probably have been dead. We stripped him +stark, laid him in the full draught, and sponged him so as to produce +constant evaporation: held up the Punjab mail and got 22lbs. of ice to +put under his head: and so pulled him round in less than two hours. We +had to leave him at Jhansi though, and proceeded to Bombay forty-nine +strong.</p> + +<p>The ten-little-nigger-boy process continued at Bombay. We arrived on +board on Monday morning: and though orders were formally issued that +nobody was to leave the docks without a pass, no attempt was made to +prevent the men spending the day in the town, which they all did.</p> + +<p>On the Tuesday morning the crew told the men we should not be sailing +till Wednesday: and accordingly a lot of them went shopping again. But +for once in a way the ship actually sailed at the appointed time, 11 +a.m. on Tuesday, and five of my gallant band were left behind. However +they were collected by the Embarkation Authorities, and together with +their fellow-victims of nautical inaccuracy from the other drafts were +sent up by special train to Karachi, where they rejoined us: the C.O.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_22" id="Page_22">[22]</a></span> +according them a most unsympathetic reception, and sentencing them all +(rather superfluously) to Confinement to Barracks for the remainder of +the voyage.</p> + +<p>There are no fewer than forty-one units on board this ship. They +include drafts from almost every Territorial Battalion in India, +convalescents rejoining the regular battalions already in Mesopotamia, +and various engineers and gunners. The ship is grossly +overcrowded—1,200 on board an ordinary 6,000 ton liner. The officers +are very well off, though. She is a bran-new boat, built for this very +run (in anticipation of the Baghdad Railway), with big airy cabins and +all the latest improvements in lights, fans and punkahs. There is +nobody I know on board and though they are quite a pleasant lot they +don't call for special comment. The C.O. is a genial major of the +Norfolks. He did some star turns the first two days. There was a heavy +monsoon swell on, and the boat rolled so, you could hardly stand up. +However the Major, undaunted, paraded about a score of men who had +squeaked on to the ship after the roll-call at Bombay. These were +solemnly drawn up in a line as defaulters and magisterially called to +attention to receive judgment. On coming to attention they +over-balanced with the regularity of ninepins in a row: and after +three attempts the major had to harangue them standing (nominally) at +ease. Even so, his admonition was rather impaired by his suddenly +sitting down on the deck, and having to leave rather hurriedly for his +cabin before the peroration was complete.</p> + +<p>We are just going through the Straits of Ormuz now: we saw the coast +of Persia on and off all to-day. We spent Thursday, by the bye, at +Karachi, an awful hole it looks—treeless and waterless and very much +the modern port. It reminds one strongly of Port Said, though not +<i>quite</i> so repulsive: and there is a touch of Suez thrown in.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_23" id="Page_23">[23]</a></span></p> + +<p>So far it has been quite cool, 84 to 86°: but we shall be beyond the +cloud-zone to-morrow and right inside the Gulf, so I expect it will +get hot now.</p> + +<p>We expect to reach Basra on Tuesday evening. After that our movements +are wholly unknown to us.</p> + +<p>The casualty lists just before we left were so dreadful that I am +rather dreading the moment when we see the next batch.</p> + + +<hr style='width: 45%;' /> + + +<p class="quotsig"> +"H.M.S. <span class="smcap">Varsova,"<br /> +Off Fars Is</span>.</p><p class="quotdate"> +<i>August</i> 22, 1915.</p> +<p class="center"> +To R.K.</p> + +<p><br /> + It is too warm to be facetious, and I have no letter of yours to +answer: so you will have to put up with a bald narrative of our doings +since I last wrote.</p> + +<p>They gave us various binges at Agra before we left. A concerted effort +to make me tight failed completely: in fact of the plotters it could +be said that in the same bet that they made privily were their feet +taken.</p> + +<p>We left on Saturday, 15th: fifty rank and file and myself. One had a +heat-stroke almost as soon as the train had started (result of +marching to the station at noon in marching order and a temperature of +96°) and we had an exciting hour in keeping his temperature below 109° +till we met the mail and could get some ice. We succeeded all right +and sent him safely to hospital at Jhansi. The rest of the journey was +cooler and uneventful.</p> + +<p>We reached Bombay at 9.15 a.m. on Monday, and<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_24" id="Page_24">[24]</a></span> went straight on board. +The ship did not sail till next day and when it did they contrived to +leave thirty-two men behind, including five of mine.</p> + +<p>This is a new and pleasant boat, almost 6,000 tons and fitted up with +every contrivance for mitigating heat. But there are far too many +persons on board: nearly 1,200: and as they simply can't breathe +between decks, the decks are as crowded as a pilgrim ship's. There are +over forty units represented: including drafts from about twenty-eight +T.F. battalions.</p> + +<p>We had the devil of a swell the first two days, though luckily we hit +off a break in the monsoon. Anyway, Mothersibb preserved me from +sea-sickness: but in every other respect I felt extremely unwell. We +reached Karachi on the Thursday morning and stayed there all day. It +is a vile spot, combining the architectural features of a dock with +the natural amenities of a desert. The only decent spot was a Zoo and +even that had a generally super-heated air.</p> + +<p>The thirty-two lost sheep turned up at Karachi, having been forwarded +by special train from Bombay. No fatted calf was killed for them: in +fact they all got fourteen days C.B. and three days pay forfeited; +though, as Dr. Johnson observed, the sea renders the C.B. part rather +otiose.</p> + +<p>All Friday we coasted along Baluchistan and Persia. It is surprising +how big a country Persia is: it began on Friday and goes right up into +Europe. On Saturday we reached the Straits of Ormuz and to-day +(Sunday) we are well inside the Gulf, as the mention of Fars doubtless +conveyed to you.</p> + +<p>It is getting pronouncedly hotter every hour. It was a quarter to one +when I began this letter and is now half-past twelve, which is the +kind of thing that is continually happening. Anyway the bugle for +lunch has just gone, and it is 96° in my cabin. I have spent the +morning in alternate<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_25" id="Page_25">[25]</a></span> bouts of bridge and Illingworth on Divine +Immanence: I won Rs three at the former: but I feel my brain is hardly +capable of further coherent composition until nourishment has been +taken. So goodbye for the present. It will take ages for this to reach +you.</p> + + +<hr style='width: 45%;' /> + + +<p class="quotsig"> +"P.S.S. <span class="smcap">Karadeniz,"<br /> +Basra</span>.</p><p class="quotdate"> +<i>Friday, August 27th</i>, 1915.</p> +<p class="center"> +<span class="smcap">To his Mother</span>.</p> + +<p><br /> + I wrote to Papa from just outside the bar, which is a mud-bank across +the head of the Gulf, about seventeen miles outside Fao. We anchored +there to await high tide, and crossed on Tuesday morning.</p> + +<p>Fao is about as unimpressive a place as I've seen. The river is over a +mile wide there, but the place is absolutely featureless. In fact all +the way up it is the same. The surrounding country is as flush with +the river as if it had been planed down to it. On either side runs a +belt of date palms about half a mile wide, but these are seldom worth +looking at, being mostly low and shrubby, like an overgrown market +garden.</p> + +<p>Beyond that was howling desert, not even picturesquely sandy, but a +dried up marsh overblown with dust, like the foreshore of a third-rate +port. The only relief to the landscape was when we passed tributaries +and creeks, each palm-fringed like the river. Otherwise the only +notable sights were the Anglo Persian Oil Works, which cover over a +hundred acres and raised an interesting question of comparative +ugliness with man and nature in competition,<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_26" id="Page_26">[26]</a></span> and a large steamer sunk +by the Turks to block the channel and, needless to add, not blocking +it.</p> + +<p>There was a stiff, warm wind off the desert, hazing the air with dust +and my cabin temperature was 100°. Altogether it was rather a +depressing entrée, since amply atoned for so far as Nature is +concerned.</p> + +<p>We reached Basra about 2 p.m. and anchored in midstream, the river +being eight hundred yards or so wide here. The city of Basra is about +three miles away, up a creek, but on the river there is a port and +native town called Ashar.</p> + +<p>The scene on the river is most attractive, especially at sunrise and +sunset. The banks rise about ten feet from the water: the date palms +are large and columnar; and since there is a whole series of creeks, +parallel and intersecting—they are the highways and byeways of the +place—the whole area is afforested and the wharves and bazaars are +embowered in date groves. The river front and the main creeks are +crowded with picturesque craft, the two main types being a large high +prowed barge, just what I picture to have taken King Arthur at his +Passing, but here put to the prosaic uses of heavy transport and +called a mahila; and a long darting craft which can be paddled or +punted and combines the speed of a canoe with the grace of a gondola +and is called, though why I can't conceive, a bhellum. Some of the +barges are masted and carry a huge and lovely sail, but the ones in +use for I.E.F.D. are propelled by little tugs attached to their sides +and quite invisible from beyond, so that the speeding barges seem +magically self-moving.</p> + +<p>Ashore one wanders along raised dykes through a seemingly endless +forest of pillared date palms, among which pools and creeks add +greatly to the beauty, though an eyesore to the hygienist. The date +crop is just ripe and ripening, and the golden clusters are immense +and must yield a great many hundred dates to the tree. When one<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_27" id="Page_27">[27]</a></span> +reaches the native city the streets are unmistakably un-Indian, and +strongly reminiscent of the bazaar scene in Kismet. This is especially +true of the main bazaar, which is a winding arcade half a mile long, +roofed and lined with shops, thronged with men. One sees far fewer +women than in India, and those mostly veiled and in black, while the +men wear long robes and cloakes and scarves on their heads bound with +coils of wool worn garland-wise, as one sees in Biblical pictures. +They seem friendly, or rather wholly indifferent to one, and I felt at +times I might be invisible and watching an Arabian Nights' story for +all the notice they took of me. By the way, I want you to send me a +portable edition of the Arabian Nights as my next book, please.</p> + +<p>But the most fascinating sight of all is Ashar Creek, the main +thoroughfare, as crowded with boats as Henley at a regatta. The creek +runs between brick embankments, on which stand a series of Arabian +cafes, thronged with conversational slow moving men who sit there +smoking and drinking coffee by the thousand.</p> + +<p>It is a wonderful picture from the wooden bridge with the minaret of a +mosque and the tops of the tallest date palms for a background.</p> + +<p>So much for Ashar: I've not seen Basra city yet. We're here till +Sunday probably, awaiting our river boats. There were not enough +available to take us all up on Wednesday, so those who are for the +front line went first. They have gone to a spot beyond Amara, +two-thirds of the way to Kut-al-Amara, which is where the Shatt-al-Hai +joins the Tigris. The Shatt-al-Hai is a stream running from the Tigris +at K-al-A to the Euphrates at Nasria, and that line is our objective. +There is likely to be a stiff fight for the K-al-A, they say, rather +to my surprise. But the 4th Hants has been moved to Amara and put on +line of communication<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_28" id="Page_28">[28]</a></span> for the present; so our thirst for bloodshed is +not likely to be gratified.</p> + +<p>We have moved across to this ship while awaiting our river boat. They +use ships here as barracks and hotels, very sensibly seeing that there +are none fit for habitation on land; while being about 400 yards from +either bank we are practically free from mosquitoes. But this +particular ship is decidedly less desirable for residential purposes +than the Varsova. It was originally a German boat and was sold to the +Turks to be used for a pilgrim ship to Mecca; and I can only conclude +either that the Turkish ideas of comfort are very different to ours or +that the pilgrimage has a marked element of asceticism.</p> + +<p>But I am quite ready to put up with the amenities of a Turkish pilgrim +ship. What does try me is the murderous folly of military authorities. +They wouldn't let us take our spine-pads from Agra, because we should +be issued with them here. They have none here and have no idea when +they will get any. Incidentally, no one was expecting our arrival +here, least of all the 4th Hants. Everyone says a spine-pad is a +necessary precaution here, so I am having fifty made and shall try and +make the Colonel pay for them. Every sensible Colonel made his draft +stick to theirs; but our's wouldn't let us take them, because Noah +never wore one.</p> + +<p>To continue the chapter of incredible muddles; the 780 who went off on +Wednesday were embarked on their river-boat—packed like herrings—at +9 a.m. and never got started till 4 p.m. A bright performance, but +nothing to our little move. This boat is 600 yards from the Varsova, +and they had every hour in the twenty-four to choose from for the +move. First they selected 2 p.m. Wednesday as an appropriate hour! It +was 100° in the shade by 1 p.m., so the prospect was not alluring. At +1.30 the order was washed<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_29" id="Page_29">[29]</a></span> out and for the rest of the day no further +orders could be got for love or money.</p> + +<p>We were still in suspense yesterday morning, till at 8.30—just about +the latest time for completing a morning movement—two huge barges +appeared with orders to embark on them at 10! Not only that, but +although there are scores of straw-roofed barges about, these two were +as open as row boats, and in fact exactly like giant row boats. To +complete the first situation, the S. and S. had not been apprised of +the postponement, and so there was no food for the men on board. +Consequently they had to load kits, etc., and embark on empty +stomachs.</p> + +<p>Well, hungry but punctual, we embarked at 10 a.m. It was 102° in my +cabin, so you can imagine what the heat and glare of 150 men in an +open barge was. Having got us into this enviable receptacle, they +proceeded to think of all the delaying little trifles which might have +been thought of any time that morning. One way and another they +managed to waste three-quarters of an hour before we started. The +journey took six minutes or so. Getting alongside this ship took +another half hour, the delay mainly due to Arab incompetence this +time. Then came disembarking, unloading kits and all the odd jobs of +moving units—which all had to be done in a furnace-like heat by men +who had had no food for twenty hours. To crown it all, the people on +board here had assumed we should breakfast before starting and not a +scrap of food was ready. The poor men finally got some food at 2 p.m. +after a twenty-two hours fast and three hours herded or working in a +temperature of about 140°. Nobody could complain of such an ordeal if +we'd been defending Lucknow or attacking Shaiba, but to put such a +strain on the men's health—newly arrived and with no pads or glasses +or shades—gratuitously and merely by dint of sheer hard muddling—is +infuriating to me and<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_30" id="Page_30">[30]</a></span> criminal in the authorities—a series of +scatter-brained nincompoops about fit to look after a cocker-spaniel +between them.</p> + +<p>Considering what they went through, I think our draft came off lightly +with three cases of heat-stroke. Luckily the object lesson in the train +and my sermons thereon have borne fruit, and the men acted promptly +and sensibly as soon as the patients got bad. Two began to feel ill on +the barge and the third became delirious quite suddenly a few minutes +after we got on board here. When I arrived on the scene they had +already got him stripped and soused, though in the stuffy 'tween +decks. I got him up on deck (it was stuffy enough there) and we got +ice, and thanks to their promptness, he was only violent for about a +quarter of an hour and by the time my kit was reachable and I could +get my thermometer, an hour or so later, he was normal. There was no +M.O. on board, except a grotesque fat old Turk physician to the +Turkish prisoners, whose diagnosis was in Arabic and whose sole idea +of treatment was to continue feeling the patient's pulse (which he did +by holding his left foot) till we made him stop.</p> + +<p>The other two were gradual cases and being watered and iced in time +never became delirious; so we may get off without any permanent +casualties; but they have taken a most useful corporal and one private +to hospital, which almost certainly means leaving them behind on +Sunday.</p> + +<p>The other men were all pretty tired out and I think it does credit to +their constitutions they stood it so well.</p> + +<p>I, having my private spine-pad and glasses, was comparatively +comfortable, also I had had breakfast and didn't have to shift kits or +even my own luggage. I don't dislike even extreme heat nearly as much +as quite moderate cold.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_31" id="Page_31">[31]</a></span></p> + +<p>I gather it doesn't get so cold here as I thought. 37° is the lowest +temperature I've heard vouched for.</p> + +<p>I haven't time nowadays to write many letters, so I'm afraid you must +ask kind aunts, etc., to be content with parts of this; I hope +<i>they'll</i> go on writing to <i>me</i> though.</p> + + +<hr style='width: 45%;' /> + + +<p class="quotsig"> +"<span class="smcap">P.S.S. Kara Deuiz</span>,"<br /> +<span class="smcap">Basra</span>,</p> +<p class="quotdate"> <i>August 29, 1915.</i><br /> +</p> +<p class="center"> +To N.B.</p> + +<p><br /> + I hope you will be indulgent if I write less regularly now: and by +indulgent I mean that you will go on writing to me, as I do enjoy your +letters so much. I expect I shall have slack times when there will be +plenty of leisure to write: but at others we are likely to be busy, +and you never can be sure of having the necessary facilities. And +personally I find my epistolary faculties collapse at about 100° in +the shade. I wrote quite happily this morning till it got hot; and +only now (4.45) have I found it possible to resume. We get it 102 to +104° every day from about noon to four, and it oppresses one much more +than at Agra as there is no escaping from it and flies are plentiful: +but about now a nice breeze springs up, and the evenings are fairly +pleasant. I thought we were leaving for Amarah to-day, so I told Mama +my letter to her would have to do all-round duty, which is mean, I +admit, but I had no day off till to-day.</p> + +<p>Not that I've been really busy, but I've been out a lot, partly +getting things and partly seeing the place.</p> + +<p>I've just heard I must go ashore with another sick man immediately +after evening service (the Bishop of Lahore is<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_32" id="Page_32">[32]</a></span> coming on board), so I +shall have to cut this measly screed very short. We load kits on our +river-boat at 7 a.m. to-morrow and start sometime afterwards for +Amarah. My letter to Mama will give you such news as there is. Since +writing it I've seen Basra city, which is disappointing, less +picturesque than Ashar: also the Base Hospital, which strikes me very +favourably, the first military hospital that has: Dum Dum wasn't bad.</p> + +<p>We have a lot of Turkish prisoners on board here, and the Government +is trying the experiment of letting them out on parole and paying them +Rs 10/- a week so long as they report themselves. It is a question +whether the result will be to cause the whole Turkish army to +surrender, or whether their desire to prolong the war will make the +released ones keep their parole a secret. I daresay it will end in a +compromise, half the army to surrender and the other half to receive +Rs 5/- a week from the surrendered ones to fight on to the bitter end.</p> + +<p>I must go and dress for Church parade.</p> + +<hr style='width: 45%;' /> + +<p class="center">To P.C., <i>September, 1915.</i></p> + +<p>"I believe that if I could choose a day of heavy fighting of any kind +I liked for my draft, I should choose to spend a day in trenches, +under heavy fire without being able to return it. The fine things of +war spring from your chance of being killed: the ugly things from your +chance of killing."</p> + + +<hr style='width: 45%;' /> + + +<p class="quotdate"> +<i>September, 1915.</i></p> +<p class="center"> +<span class="smcap">To the Same</span>.</p> + +<p><br /> + "I wonder how long H—— 's 'delirious joy' at going to the front will +last. Those who have seen a campaign here<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_33" id="Page_33">[33]</a></span> are all thoroughly +converted to my view of fronts. I can't imagine a keener soldier than +F——, and even he says he doesn't care if he never sees another Turk, +and as to France, you might as well say, 'Hurrah, I'm off to Hell.' +Pat M—— goes as far as to say that no sane fellow ever has been +bucked at going to the front, as distinguished from being anxious to +do his duty by going there. But I don't agree with him. Did you see +about the case of a Captain in the Sikhs, who deserted from Peshawar, +went to England, enlisted as a private under an assumed name, and was +killed in Flanders? The psychology of that man would be very +interesting to analyse. It can't have been sense of duty, because he +knew he was flagrantly violating his duty. Nor can you explain it by +some higher call of duty than his duty as a Sikh Officer, like the +duty which makes martyrs disobey emperors. It must have been just the +primitive passion for a fight. But if it <i>was</i> that, to indulge it was +a bad, weak and vicious thing to do. Yet it clearly wasn't a selfish +thing to do: on the contrary, it was heroic. He deliberately +sacrificed his rank, pay, and prospects and exposed himself to great +danger. Still, as far as I can see, he only did it because his passion +for fighting was stronger than every other consideration, and +therefore he seems to me to be morally in the same class as the man +who runs away with his neighbour's wife, or any other victim of strong +(and largely noble) passions. And I believe that the people who say +they are longing to be at the front can be divided into three classes +(1) those who merely say so because it is the right thing to say, and +have never thought or wished about it on their own. (2) Those who +deliberately desire to drink the bitterest cup that they can find in +these times of trouble. These men <i>are</i> heroes, and are the men who in +peace choose a mission to lepers. (3) The savages, who want to indulge +their primitive passions. Perhaps one ought<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_34" id="Page_34">[34]</a></span> to add as the largest +class (4) those who don't imagine what it is like, who think it will +be exciting, seeing life, an experience, and so on, and don't think of +its reality or meaning at all."</p> + + +<hr style='width: 45%;' /> + + +<p class="quotsig"> +<span class="smcap">Amara</span>.</p><p class="quotdate"> +<i>Thursday, September 2nd, 1915.</i></p><p class="center"><span class="smcap">To his Mother.</span></p> + +<p><br /> + I only had time to scrawl a short note last night before the mail +went. But I wrote to Papa the day before we left Basra.</p> + +<p>Our embarkation was much more sensibly managed this time, a Captain +Forrest of the Oxfords being O.C. troops, and having some sense, +though the brass hats again fixed 10 a.m. as the hour. However he got +all our kits on the barge at 7 and then let the men rest on the big +ship till the time came. Moreover the barge was covered. We embarked +on it at 9.30 and were towed along to the river steamer "Malamir," to +which we transferred our stuff without difficulty as its lower deck +was nearly level with the barge. The only floater was that my new +bearer (who is, I fear, an idiot) succeeded in dropping my heavy kit +bag into the river, where it vanished like a stone. Fortunately that +kind of thing doesn't worry me much; but while I was looking for an +Arab diver to fish for it it suddenly re-appeared the other side of +the boat, and was retrieved.</p> + +<p>These river boats are flat-bottomed and only draw six feet. They have +two decks and an awning, and there was just room for our 200 men to +lie about. Altogether there were on board—in the order of the amount +of room they took up—two brass hats, 220 men (four Hants drafts and +some odds<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_35" id="Page_35">[35]</a></span> and ends), a dozen officers, four horses and a dozen native +servants and a crew.</p> + +<p>Altogether I had to leave four sick men at Basra, all due more or less +to that barge episode, and I have still two sickish on my hands, while +two have recovered.</p> + +<p>There was a strong head-wind and current so we only made about four or +five knots an hour. The river is full of mud banks, and the channel +winds to and fro in an unexpected manner, so that one can only move by +daylight and then often only by constant sounding. Consequently, +starting at noon on Monday, it took us till 5 p.m. Wednesday to do the +130 miles. It is much less for a crow, but the river winds so, that +one can quite believe Herodotus's yarn of the place where you pass the +same village on three consecutive days. Up to Kurna, which we reached +at 7 a.m. Tuesday, the river is about 500 yards to 300 yards broad, +and the country mainly poor, bare, flat pasture; the date fringe +diminishing and in places altogether disappearing for miles together. +At the water's edge, as it recedes, patches of millet had been and +were being planted. The river is falling rapidly and navigation +becomes more difficult every week.</p> + +<p>Kurna is aesthetically disappointing. The junction of the rivers is +unimpressive, and the place itself a mere quayside and row of mud +houses among thin and measly palms. It is of course the traditional +site of Eden.</p> + +<p>Above Kurna the river is not only halved in width, as one would +expect, but narrows rapidly. Most of the day it was only a hundred +yards wide and by evening only 60; and of the sixty only a narrow +channel is navigable and that has a deep strong current which makes +the handling of the boat very difficult.</p> + +<p>In the afternoon we passed Ezra's Tomb, which has a beautiful dome of +blue tiles, which in India one would<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_36" id="Page_36">[36]</a></span> date Seventeenth Century. +Otherwise it looked rather "kachcha" and out of repair, but it makes +an extremely picturesque group, having two clumps of palms on either +side of an otherwise open stretch of river.</p> + +<p>Soon afterwards we came to a large Bedouin Village, or rather camp, +running up a little creek and covering quite fifteen acres. They can't +have been there long, as the whole area was under water two months +ago. Their dwellings are made of reeds, a framework of stiff and +pliant reeds and a covering of reed-matting; the whole being like the +cover of a van stuck into the ground and one end closed; but smaller, +about 5ft. × 4ft. × 7ft. There were about 100 of these and I should +put the population at 700.</p> + +<p>A whole crowd of boys and some men came out and ran along with us, and +dived in for anything we threw overboard. They swam like ducks of +course. All the boys and most of the men were quite naked, which is a +thing you never see in India. Any boy over twelve there has a +loin-cloth. There seemed to be very few men about: a lot of women +came to the doors of their huts. They made no attempt to veil their +faces, which even the beggar women in Basra did. Only one girl and one +woman ran with the boat; the girl dived with the best; the woman was +dressed and her function was to carry the spoils. Incidentally our men +discovered a better use for their ration biscuits than attempting to +eat them. They made excellent ducks and drakes on the water and the +swimmers were quite keen on them. I must say they tasted rather musty +besides being very hard, but I think the men chiefly objected to a +very small brown beetle which was abundant in them.</p> + +<p>When the sun got low we tied up to the bank for twenty minutes and a +good many of the men had a bathe; but owing to the current we had to +make them keep within a yard or two of the bank.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_37" id="Page_37">[37]</a></span></p> + +<p>Next morning, Wednesday, a half-gale was blowing against us and +progress was slower than ever. The river got wider again, nearly 200 +yards in places, and the wind lashed it into waves. It was a great +bore, because you couldn't put anything down for a second. Also three +days confined to a minute deck-space made me rather bilious.</p> + +<p>In the afternoon the wind blew us ashore when we were in sight of +Amara, and it took nearly half an hour to get us off again. Finally, +we arrived here about 5 p.m.</p> + +<p>This is a town of about 10,000 inhabitants, on the left bank of the +Tigris. On the river front is a quay about a mile long, and an equally +long row of continental-looking houses. It almost reminds one of +Dieppe at moments. The river is about 150 yards wide, and on the other +side there are hardly any houses, just a narrow fringe of dates and +some fields. All the inhabitants of the river-front have been turned +out and it is occupied with offices, stores, hospitals and billets. We +occupy a block of four houses, which have a common courtyard behind +them, a great cloistered yard, which makes an admirable billet for the +men.</p> + +<p>We officers live in two of the houses, the third is Orderly Room, +etc., and the fourth is used by some Native Regiment Officers. There +is no furniture whatever, so it is like camping with a house for a +tent. We sleep on the roof and live on the verandahs of the little +inner courts. It is decidedly cooler than Basra, and last night I +wanted a blanket before dawn for the first time since April (excluding +the Hills, of course). In my room now (2.45 p.m.) it is 96° but there +is plenty of breeze about.</p> + +<p>It seems to be just a chance when the mail goes out: I hope to write +to Papa later on in the week and give him the news of this place and +the regiment. If I spell names of places without a capital letter it +will be for an obvious<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_38" id="Page_38">[38]</a></span> reason. Also note that the place which is +marked on the map Kut-al-Amara is always referred to here as Kut.</p> + +<p><i>P.S</i>.—In regard to what you say about the ducks, I'm told that teal +are common in Turkey and snipe in Arabia, but not so common as mallard +in England or pintail in India. The bitterns here boom just like guns.</p> + + +<hr style='width: 45%;' /> + + +<p class="quotsig2"> +<span class="smcap">Att</span>. 1/4 <span class="smcap">Hants</span>,<br /> +I.E.F. "D,"<br /> +C/o <span class="smcap">India Office</span>, S.W.</p><p class="quotdate"> +<span class="smcap">Amarah</span>, <i>September 4th</i>,1915.</p><p class="center"> +To R.K. +</p> + +<p><br /> + Yours from Albemarle Street reached me just before we left Basra. It +gave me the first news of Charles Lister's second wound. We get almost +no news here. Potted <i>Reuter</i> is circulated most days, but each unit +may only keep it half an hour, so its two to one against one's seeing +it. My only resource is the <i>Times</i> which laboriously dogs my steps +from England: but it has already been pinched en route four times, so +I can't rely on seeing even that: therefore in the matter of +casualties, please be as informative as you can, regardless of +originality.</p> + +<p>As I told you in my last letter that I was going to Nasiriyah, it +won't surprise you to find I've got here instead. We reached Basra (it +would be much nicer to spell it Bassorah, but I can't be bothered to) +on the feast of St. Bartholomew, which the Military call 24/8/15. +Considering what places are like out here, B. is wonderfully +attractive and picturesque. At least Ashar is, which is the port; +Beroea: Corinth:: Ashar: Basra. To begin with it stands<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_39" id="Page_39">[39]</a></span> between six +and eight feet above the river level, an almost unique eminence. Then +lots of major and minor creeks branch out from the river and from the +main streets. All round and in every unbuilt on space are endless +groves of date palms, with masses of yellow dates. The creeks are +embanked with brick and lined with popular café's where incredible +numbers of Arabs squat and eat or drink huggas and hacshish and the +like. The creeks and river swarm with bhellums and mahilas. A bhellum +is a cross between a gondola and a Canada canoe: and a mahila is a +barge like the ones used by King Arthur, Elaine or the Lady of +Shallott: and its course and destination are generally equally vague.</p> + +<p>We stayed six days at B. mainly on a captured Turkish pilgrim ship. I +suggest a Turkish pilgrimage as a suitable outlet for the ascetic +tendencies of your more earnest spikelets. It was hot, but nothing +fabulous. My faithful thermometer never got beyond 104 in my cabin. +The disadvantage of any temperature over 100 indoors is that the fan +makes you hotter instead of cooler. There are only two ways of dealing +with this difficulty. One is to drink assiduously and keep an +evaporation bath automatically going: but on this ship the drinks used +to give out about 4 p.m. and when it comes to neat +Tigris-cum-Euphrates, I prefer it applied externally. So I used to +undress at intervals and sponge all over and then stand in front of +the fan. While you're wet it's deliciously cool: as soon as you feel +the draught getting warm, you dress again and carry on. This plan +can't be done here as there are no fans. I suppose you realised that +Austen Chamberlain was only indulging his irrepressible sense of +humour when he announced in the H. of C. that in Mesopotamia "The +health of troops has on the whole been good. Ice and fans are +installed wherever possible," <i>i.e.</i> nowhere beyond Basra. The hot +weather sickness casualties have been just over<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_40" id="Page_40">[40]</a></span> 30% of the total +force: but as they were nearly all heat-stroke and malaria, it ought +to be much better now. Already the nights are cool enough for a +blanket to be needed just before dawn. Of course they run up the sick +list by insane folly. When we moved to our Turkish ship there was +every hour of the day or night to choose from to do it in, and plenty +of covered barges to do it in. So they selected 10 a.m., put 150 men +into an open barge, gave them no breakfast, and left them in the barge +two hours to move them 600 yards, and an hour unloading baggage +afterwards! Result, out of my forty-nine, three heat-strokes on the +spot, and four more sick the next day.</p> + +<p>We left Basra on the 30th. It took us two-and-a-half days to do the +130 miles up here, against a strong wind and current. The Regiment has +moved here from Nasiriyah. This place is 130 miles North of Basra and +120 South of Kut-el-Amarah (always known as Kut). As to our movements, +the only kind of information I can give you would be something like +this. There are fifteen thousand blanks, according to trustworthy +reports, at blank. We have blank brigades and our troops are blanking +at blank which is two-thirds of the way from here to blank; and I +think our intention is to blank with all our three blanks as soon as +possible, but this blank is remaining on lines of communications here +for the present. Not very interesting is it? So I won't reel off any +more.</p> + +<p>From the little scraps of news that have come through, it looks as if +the Balkans were going to be the centre of excitement. If Bulgaria has +agreed to let the Germans through as I suspect she has, I'd bet on +both Greece and Roumania joining the Allies.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_41" id="Page_41">[41]</a></span></p> + + +<hr style='width: 45%;' /> + + +<p class="quotsig"> +<span class="smcap">Amarah</span>.</p> +<p class="quotdate"> +<i>September 4th</i>, 1915.</p> +<p class="center"> +<span class="smcap">To his Father.</span></p> + + +<p><br /> + We get hardly any news up here, so please kindly continue your +function of war correspondent whenever you have time, and especially +mention any casualties which affect me.</p> + +<p>One of the few bits of news which have reached us is a report of a +speech of yours in which you mention that Milner's Committee +recommended the Government to guarantee 45s. a year for four years, +but the Government wouldn't. Reuter deduces from this that we have +found a way of keeping the whip hand of submarines: but it looks to me +much more like Free Trade shibboleths + the fact that there has +already been a 30% increase in the area under wheat. I hope you will +have written me something about this.</p> + +<p>Now for the military news. This battalion, when we arrived here, was +nominally nearly 300 strong, but actually it could hardly have paraded +100. This reduction is nearly all due to sickness. The deaths from all +causes only total between forty and fifty, out of the original 800: +and of these about twenty-five, I think, were killed in action. But +there has been an enormous amount of sickness during the hot weather, +four-fifths of which has been heat-stroke and malaria. There have been +a few cases of enteric and a certain number of dysentery; but next to +heat and malaria more men have been knocked out by sores and boils +than by any disease. It takes ages for the smallest sore to heal.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_42" id="Page_42">[42]</a></span></p> + +<p>Of the original thirty officers, eight are left here, Major Stillwell, +who is C.O., one Captain, Page-Roberts, a particularly nice fellow, +and five subalterns, named Harris, Forbes, Burrell, Bucknill and +Chitty: (Chitty is in hospital): and Jones, the M.O., also a very nice +man and a pretty good M.O. too. The new Adjutant is a Captain from 2nd +Norfolks named Floyd: he is also nice and seems good: was on +Willingdon's staff and knows Jimmy.</p> + +<p>In honour of our arrival, they have adopted Double Company system. I +am posted to "A" Double Company, of which the Company Commander and +only other officer is Harris, aet. 19. So I am second in command and +four platoon commanders at once, besides having charge of the +machine-guns (not that I am ever to parade with them) while Chitty is +sick. It sounds a lot, but with next to no men about, the work is +lessened. On paper, "A" D.C was seventy-two strong, which, with my +fifty, makes 122: but in fact, of these 122, twenty-five are sick and +sixteen detached permanently for duties at headquarters and so on, +leaving eighty-one. And these eighty-one are being daily more and more +absorbed into fatigues of various kinds and less and less available +for parade. In a day or two we shall be the only English battalion +remaining here, so that all the duties which can't be entrusted to +Indian troops will fall on us.</p> + +<p>I haven't had time to observe the birds here very much yet, but they +seem interesting, especially the water-birds. With regard to what I +wrote to Mamma about the teal, people who have been up the river say +they saw a very big flock of them at Kut. There were a lot of snipe +with them and about twenty bitterns, which surprises me. And about +eighty miles north of here there is a mud flat where great numbers of +mallards are assembling for migration northwards: and there are more +bitterns there than there are higher up even. These flocks about the +equinoxes are<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_43" id="Page_43">[43]</a></span> very curious. I expect the mallards will migrate +northwards, and the teal soon afterwards will become very scarce, but +I hope the bitterns will stay where they are. The snipe are less +interesting: they move about all over the place, wherever they can +pick up most food. These people put the size of the flock of teal at a +hundred and fifty and the mallards at five hundred, but you should, I +think, multiply the first by a hundred and the second only by ten.</p> + +<p>I got Mamma's letter via the India Office just after we got here. I +quite agree with her view of war, though I must admit the officers of +1/4 Hants seem to me improved by it. While sitting on that court +martial at Agra I expressed my view in a sonnet which I append, for +you to show to Mamma:</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">How long, O Lord, how long, before the flood<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Of crimson-welling carnage shall abate?<br /></span> +<span class="i0">From sodden plains in West and East the blood<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Of kindly men streams up in mists of hate<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Polluting Thy clear air: and nations great<br /></span> +<span class="i0">In reputation of the arts that bind<br /></span> +<span class="i0">The world with hopes of Heaven, sink to the state<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Of brute barbarians, whose ferocious mind<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Gloats o'er the bloody havoc of their kind,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Not knowing love or mercy. Lord, how long<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Shall Satan in high places lead the blind<br /></span> +<span class="i0">To battle for the passions of the strong?<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Oh, touch thy children's hearts, that they may know<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Hate their most hateful, pride their deadliest foe.<br /></span> +</div></div> + +<p>I must stop now, as a mail is going out and one never knows when the +next will be.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_44" id="Page_44">[44]</a></span></p> + + +<hr style='width: 45%;' /> + + +<p class="quotsig"> +<span class="smcap">Norfolk House.</span><br /> +</p> +<p class="quotdate"><span class="smcap">Amarah</span>, <i>September 13th</i>, 1915.</p> +<p class="center"> +<span class="smcap">To his Father</span>.</p> + +<p><br /> + As I have written the news to Mamma this week I will tell you what I +gather of the campaign and country generally.</p> + +<p>There's no doubt that old Townshend, the G.O.C., means to push on to +Baghdad "ekdum"; and if the Foreign Office stops him there will be +huge indignâ. It seems to me that the F.O. should have made itself +quite explicit on the point, one way or the other months ago: to pull +up your general in full career is exasperating to him and very +wasteful, as he has accumulated six months' supplies for an army of +16,000 up here, which will have to be mostly shipped back if he is +pulled up at Kut. The soldiers all say the F.O. played the same trick +on Barratt in the cold weather. They let him get to Qurnah, and he +wanted and prepared to push on here and to Nasiryah, which were then +the Turkish bases. But the F.O. stopped him and consequently the Turks +could resume the offensive, and nearly beat us at Shaibah. The +<i>political</i> people say that the soldiers had only themselves to thank +they were nearly beaten at Shaibah. They were warned in December that +the whole area between Sh. and Basrah would be flooded later on, and +were urged either to dig a canal or build a causeway; but they +pooh-poohed it: and consequently all supplies and ammunition at +Shaibah had to be carried across 8 miles of marsh, 4ft. to 1in. deep.</p> + +<p>As for the country, it is said to be very fertile wherever properly +irrigated. At present the water is distributed about as badly as it +could be. The annual rise of the river<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_45" id="Page_45">[45]</a></span> makes vast feverish swamps, +and the rest of the country is waterless. Any stray Bedouin tribe that +feels like growing a crop can go and cut a hole in the bank and +irrigate a patch for one season and then leave it; and these cuts form +new channels which as often as not lose themselves in a swamp. +Meanwhile this haphazard draining off of the water is seriously +impairing the main streams, especially that of the Euphrates, which is +now almost unnavigable in the low water season. To develop the country +therefore means (1) a comprehensive irrigation and drainage scheme. +Willcock's scheme I believe is only for irrigation. I don't know how +much the extreme flatness of the country would hamper such a scheme. +Here we are 200 miles by river from the sea and only 28ft. above +sea-level. It follows (2) that we must control the country and the +nomad tribes from the highest <i>barrage</i> continuously down to the sea. +(3) We must have security that the Turks don't interfere with the +rivers above our barrage, or even neglect the river banks.</p> + +<p>All this seems to me to point to a repetition of our Egyptian +experience. We shall be drawn, whether we like it or not, into a +virtual protectorate at least as far up as the line Kut-Nasiryah, +along the Shatt-al-Hai, and that will have to extend laterally on the +east to the Persian frontier and on the west to the Arabian tableland. +I don't see how we can hope to get off with less: and that being so, I +believe it would be better to take on the whole at once. North of the +Shatt-al-Hai line (<i>i.e</i>. Kut-Nasiryah) it would be very exhausting to +go, and very awkward politically, as you soon get among the holy +places of the Shiahs, especially Karbala, which is their Mecca. But +it's no use blinking the fact that a river is a continuous whole, and +experience shows that the power which controls the mouth is sooner or +later forced to climb to its source, especially when its up-stream +neighbours are hostile and not civilised. And what power<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_46" id="Page_46">[46]</a></span> of +Government will be left to Turkey after the war? It looks as if she +will be as bankrupt, both financially and politically, as Persia; and +I see no real hope of avoiding a partition à la Persia into British +and Russian spheres of interest. In that case it seems to me the +British sphere should go to the Shatt-al-Hai, and the Russian begin +where the plain ends, or at any rate north of Mosul. Are you at +liberty to tell me whether there is already an understanding with +Russia about this country, and if so how far it goes?</p> + +<p>As for the climate, I don't think it is any worse than the plains of +India. When it is properly drained the fever will be much less: and +under peace conditions the water can be properly purified and the heat +dealt with. The obvious port is Basra; it is said that the bar outside +Fao could easily be dredged to 26ft. The only other really good +harbour is Koweit, I gather: but our game is to support the +independence of K.: make it the railway terminus, but by using Basra +you make your rail-freight as low as possible and have your commercial +port where you can directly control matters.</p> + +<p>I wish they would get a move on in the Dardanelles. It seems to me +Germany is running a fearful risk by committing herself so deeply into +the interior of Russia at this time of year. The only explanation I +can find is that at each rush she has been much nearer to cutting off +a Russian army than has transpired and so is tempted on: nearer +perhaps than the Russians ever intended, which may be the reason of +the Grand Duke's removal to the Caucasus.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_47" id="Page_47">[47]</a></span></p> + + +<hr style='width: 45%;' /> + + +<p class="quotsig"> +<span class="smcap">Amarah</span>.</p> +<p class="quotdate"> +<i>September 11th</i>.</p> +<p class="center"> +<span class="smcap">To his Mother</span>.</p> + +<p><br /> + For the men, newspapers would be as welcome as anything. I think Papa +might divert those weekly papers from Agra here, as they get a large +supply in the Regimental Reading Room at Agra.</p> + +<p>What strikes me about the 1/4th is that they are played out. They've +no vitality left in them. Out of about 300 men there are seventy sick, +mostly with trifling stomach or feverish attacks or sores, which a +robust man would get over in two days; but it takes them a fortnight, +and then a week or two afterwards they crock up again. One notices the +same in their manner. They are listless and when off duty just lie +about. When I see men bathing or larking it is generally some of our +drafts. I hope the cold weather will brace them up a bit. I do wish I +had more gifts in the entertaining line, though of course there are +very few men left to entertain when you've allowed for all our guards +and the men just off guard.</p> + +<hr style='width: 45%;' /> + +<p>The house is two-storeyed, with thick brick walls, built round an open +well-like court. There is a broad verandah all round the court, on to +which every room opens. There is also a balcony on the W. side +overlooking the river. We sleep on the roof a.p.u. The sun sets right +opposite this balcony, behind a palm-grove, and the orange afterglows +are reflected all up the westward bend of the river, which is very +lovely: though personally I like the more thrilling<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_48" id="Page_48">[48]</a></span> cloud sunsets +better than these still rich glowings of the desert.</p> + +<hr style='width: 45%;' /> + +<p>The men sleep in huts just behind. These are sensibly built of brick. +Only the S. side is walled up, and even there a space is left between +the wall and the ceiling. The rest is just fenced with reed trellis +work. The roofs are of reed matting, the floors brick with +floor-boards for sleeping on. Boards and bedding are put out in the +sun by day. The men are very contented in them. If I ask my men how +they like it compared to India, they all say they like it better. +"Why, you gets a decent dinner here, Sir." My experience quite +confirms that of Sir Redvers Buller and other great authorities. If +you feed T.A. well you can put him in slimy trenches and he'll be +perfectly happy: but he'd never be contented in Buckingham Palace on +Indian rations. Here we are of course on war rations, cheese, bacon +and jam, bully beef and quite decent mutton, and condensed milk. +Vegetables are scarce, so lime juice is an issue: and they are said +just to have made beer one, which would be the crown of bliss. Every +man gets (if he's there) five grains of quinine a day. There are, +however, far fewer mosquitoes than I expected. I've only seen one +myself. The only great pest is flies: but even of those there are far +fewer here than in Basra.</p> + +<p>When I hear what the 1/4th have been through, I think we are in +luxury. They had a very rough trek to Ahway and Illah in Persia in +May, and coming back much exhausted were stationed a month in Ashar +Barracks (Basra). Here for a fortnight it never went below 100° by +night and was 115° by day—damp heat: and the barracks (Turkish) were +in a state which precluded rest: the record bag for one man in one +morning was sixty fleas from his<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_49" id="Page_49">[49]</a></span> puttees alone. And of course what +Austen told the H. of C. about fans, ice and fruit was all eyewash.</p> + +<hr style='width: 45%;' /> + +<p>A man in our Coy. died last night. I'd never seen him or knew he was +ill. I was rather shocked at the way nobody seemed to care a bit. The +Adjt. just looked in and said "who owns Pte. Taylor A." Harris said "I +do: is he dead?" Adjt. "Yes: you must bury him to-morrow." Harris: +"Right o." Exit Adjt. To do Harris justice, he doesn't know the man +and thought he was still at Nasiriyah. None of the man's old Coy. +officers are here.</p> + + +<hr style='width: 45%;' /> + + +<p class="quotsig"> +<span class="smcap">Amarah</span>.</p> +<p class="quotdate"> <i>September</i> 21, 1915.</p> +<p class="center"> +<span class="smcap">To his Mother</span>.</p> + +<p><br /> + The provision for the sick and wounded is on the whole fairly good +now. Six months ago it was very inadequate, too few doctors and not +enough hospital accommodation. My men who were in the Base Hospital at +Basra spoke very well of it: it had 500 men in it then, and is capable +of indefinite expansion. The serious cases are invalided to India by +the hospital ship <i>Madras</i>. It is said that 10,000 have gone back to +India in this way. It is a curious fact that the Indian troops +suffered from heat-stroke every bit as much as the British.</p> + +<p>There are now four hospitals here (1) a big one for native troops, (2) +one for British troops which has expanded till it occupies three large +houses, (3) one for British officers, which will be used for all ranks +if the casualties next Saturday are heavy, (4) one for civilians. +There seems to be no lack of drugs or dressings or invalid foods.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_50" id="Page_50">[50]</a></span></p> + + +<hr style='width: 45%;' /> + + +<p class="quotsig"> +<span class="smcap">Amarah</span>.</p> +<p class="quotdate"> <i>September</i> 24, 1915.</p> +<p class="center"> +<span class="smcap">To N.B.</span></p> + +<p><br /> + Two letters from you rolled up together this mail, for both of which +many thanks.</p> + +<p>Like everyone else you write under the cloud of Warsaw and in the +expectation of the enemy forthwith dashing back on us in the West. But +the last two months have made it much harder for him to do that soon, +if at all: and I hope the month which will pass before you get this +will have made it harder still. I found it difficult weeks ago to +explain what induced the Germans to commit themselves so deeply into +the interior of Russia so late in the season, and I came to the +conclusion that with each forward movement they had been much nearer +to enveloping and smashing the Russians than the Reuters would have +led one to suppose: and so had been lured on.</p> + +<p>It now looks to me as if they are playing for one of two alternatives. +If Von Below can get round their right flank he will try a last +envelopment: if that flank falls back far enough to uncover Petrograd, +he will make a dash for P. But all that will mean locking up even +bigger forces in the East. Indeed it seems so reckless that I can only +account for it by supposing either that they are confident of rushing +Petrograd and paralysing Russia within a few weeks: or that they are +in a desperate plight and know it.</p> + +<p>As for the future, I think it would be a mistake to expect this war to +produce a revolution in human nature<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_51" id="Page_51">[51]</a></span> and equally wrong to think +nothing has been achieved if it doesn't. What I do hope is that it +will mark a distinct stage towards a more Christian conception of +international relations. I'm afraid that for a long time to come there +will be those who will want to wage war and will have to be crushed +with their own weapons. But I think this insane and devilish cult of +war will be a thing of the past. War will only remain as an unpleasant +means to an end. The next stage will be, one hopes, the gradual +realisation that the ends for which one wages war are generally +selfish: and anyway that law is preferable to force as a method of +settling disputes. As to whether National ideals can be Christian +ideals, in the strict sense they can't very well: because so large a +part of the Christian ideal lies in self-suppression and self-denial +which of course can only find its worth in individual conduct and its +meaning in the belief that this life is but a preparation for a future +life: whereas National life is a thing of this world and therefore the +law of its being must be self-development and self-interest. The +Prussians interpret this crudely as mere self-assertion and the will +to power. The Christianising of international relations will be +brought about by insisting on the contrary interpretation—that our +highest self-development and interest is to be attained by respecting +the interests and encouraging the development of others. The root +fallacy to be eradicated of course, is that one Power's gain is +another's loss; a fallacy which has dominated diplomacy and is the +negation of law. I think we are perceptibly breaking away from it: the +great obstacle to better thinking now is the existence of so many +backward peoples incapable (as we think) of seeking their own +salvation. Personally I don't see how we can expect the Christianising +process to make decisive headway until the incapables are partitioned +out among the capables. Meanwhile let us hope that each<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_52" id="Page_52">[52]</a></span> new war will +be more unpopular and less respectable than the last.</p> + +<p>I'm afraid I haven't even the excuse of a day's fishing without any +fish.</p> + +<p>Now for your letter of August 11th. I'm sorry you are discouraged +because the programme you propounded to Auntie's work-party in +February has not been followed. But comfort yourself with the +reflection that the programme which Kaiser Bill propounded to <i>his</i> +work-party has not been followed either.</p> + +<p>Your Balkan programme, or rather Bob's, does not at present show much +more sign of fulfilment than the one you propounded to Auntie's +work-party, I'm afraid.</p> + +<p>As usual nothing whatever has happened here. Elaborate arrangements +have been made to have a battle to-morrow 120 miles up the river at +Kut. It ought to be quite a big show: the biggest yet out here. As the +floods are gone now it may be possible to walk right round them and +capture the lot. If we pull off a big success the G.O.C. is very keen +to push on to Baghdad, but it is a question whether the Cabinet will +allow it. It means another 200 miles added to the L. of c.: and could +only be risked if we were confident of the desert Arabs remaining +quiet. Personally I see no solid argument for our going to Baghdad, +and several against it (1) the advance would take us right through the +sacred Shiah country, quite close to Karbala itself (Karbala is to the +Shiah Mohammedans—and the vast majority of Indian Mahommedans are +Shiahs—what Mecca is to the Sunnis; and Baghdad itself is a holy +city). It would produce tremendous excitement in India and probably +open mutiny among the Moslem troops here if they were ordered up. (2) +Surely Russia wouldn't like it. (3) We can't expect to hold it +permanently. Everything, so far as I can see, points to portioning +this country into a<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_53" id="Page_53">[53]</a></span> British sphere and a Russian, with a neutral belt +in between, on the Persian model, except that the "spheres" may be +avowed protectorates. The British one must come up far enough to let +us control the irrigation and drainage of Lower Mesopotamia properly: +and stop short of the holy cities: say to the line Kut-el-Amarah +(commonly called Kut)—Nasiriyah, along the Shatt-al-Hai. The Russians +would, I suppose, come down to about Mosul.</p> + +<p>This campaign is being conducted on gentlemanly lines. When we took a +lot of prisoners at Nasiriyah we allowed the officers to send back for +their kits. In return, last week, when one of our aeroplanes came down +in the enemy's lines and the two airmen were captured, they sent a +flag of truce across to us to let us know that the prisoners were +unhurt and to fetch their kits.</p> + +<p>I just missed Sir Mark Sykes who cruised through here two days ago. I +have written to him in the hope of catching him on his way back.</p> + + +<hr style='width: 45%;' /> + + +<p class="quotsig"> +<span class="smcap">Amarah</span>.</p> +<p class="quotdate"> <i>September</i> 27, 1915.</p> +<p class="center"> +<span class="smcap">To R.K.</span></p> + +<p><br /> + After censoring about 100 of my Company's letters I feel this will be +a very incorrect performance. What strikes one too is the great gain +in piquancy of style achieved by the omission of all punctuation. How +could I equal this for instance "The Bible says this is a land of milk +and honey there is plenty of water and dust about if thats what they +mean?" or "The sentry shot an Arab one night soon<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_54" id="Page_54">[54]</a></span> after we got here I +saw him soon afterwards caught him in the chest a treat it did."</p> + +<p>I'm so glad to hear that Foss is getting on well: let me know the +extent and nature of the damage. We hardly ever get a casualty list +here: and I can't take that to mean there have been none lately: so my +news of fractured friends hangs on the slender thread of the safe +arrival of my <i>Times</i> every week—and on you and others who are not +given to explaining that Bloggs will have given me all the news, no +doubt.</p> + +<p>The War Office, fond as ever of its little joke, having written my +C.O. a solemn letter to say they couldn't entertain the idea of my +promotion seeing that under the Double Coy. system the establishment +of Captains is reduced to seven and so on, and having thereby induced +him to offer me the unique felicity of bringing a draft to this merry +land, has promptly gazetted my promotion, and antedated it to April +2nd, so that I find myself a Double Coy. Commander and no end of a +blood. My importance looks more substantial on paper than on parade: +for of the 258 men in "A" Double Coy. I can never muster more than +about thirty in the flesh. You see so many have overeaten themselves +on the ice and fresh vegetables which Austen dwelt upon in the H. of +C. or have caught chills from the supply of punkahs and fans (<i>ib.</i>) +that 137 have been invalided to India and twenty-five more are sick +here. Then over fifty are on jobs which take them away from the Coy. +and from ten to twenty go on guards every day. However my dignity is +recognised by the grant of a horse and horse allowance.</p> + +<p>Unless it is postponed again, the great battle up-river should be +coming off to-day. I hope it is, as it is the coolest day we've had +since April. In fact it is a red-letter day, being the first on which +the temperature has failed to<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_55" id="Page_55">[55]</a></span> reach 100° in this room. You wouldn't +believe me how refreshing a degree 96° can be.</p> + +<p>We have also heard fairy-tale like rumours of an advance of Four +Thousand Yards in France, but I have not seen it in black and white +yet.</p> + +<p>Having so few men available there are not many parades, in fact from 7 +to 8 a.m. about four times a week is all that I've been putting in. +And as a tactful Turk sank the barge containing all my Company's +documents sometime in July there is an agreeable shortage of office +business. So I am left to pass a day of cultured leisure and to +meditate on the felicity of the Tennysonian "infinite torment of +flies." I read Gibbon and Tennyson and George Eliot and the <i>Times</i> by +turns, with intervals of an entertaining work, the opening sentence of +which is "Birds are warm-blooded vertebrate animals oviparous and +covered with feathers, the anterior limbs modified into wings, the +skull articulating with the vertebral column by a single occipital +condyle" and so on. I also work spasmodically at Hindustani. I rather +fancy my handwriting in the Perso-Arabic script. Arabic proper I am +discouraged from by the perverse economy of its grammar and syntax. It +needs must have two plurals, one for under ten and one for over, +twenty-three conjugations, and yet be without the distinction of past +and future. Which is worse even than the Hindustani alphabet with no +vowels and four z's—so <i>unnecessary</i>, isn't it, as my Aunts would +say.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_56" id="Page_56">[56]</a></span></p> + + +<hr style='width: 45%;' /> + + +<p class="quotsig"> +<span class="smcap">Amarah</span>.</p> +<p class="quotdate"> +<i>September</i> 29, 1915.</p> +<p class="center"> +<span class="smcap">To his Father</span>.</p> + +<p><br /> + One's system has got so acclimatised to high temperatures that I find +it chilly and want my greatcoat to sit in at any temperature under +80°, under 100° is noticeably warm.</p> + +<p>The men are getting livelier already and the sick list will soon, I +hope, shrink. The chief troubles are dust and flies. About four days +per week a strong and often violent wind blows from the N.W., full of +dust from the desert, and this pervades everything. The moment the +wind stops the flies pester one. They all say that this place is +flyless compared to Nasiriyah, where they used to kill a pint and a +half a day by putting saucers of formalin and milk on the mess table +and still have to use one hand with a fan all the time while eating +with the other, to prevent getting them into their mouths. Here it is +only a matter of half a dozen round one's plate—we feed on the first +floor, which is a gain. In the men's bungalows I try to keep them down +by insisting on every scrap of food being either swept away or covered +up: and the presence or absence of flies is incidentally a good test +as to whether the tables and mugs, etc., have been properly cleaned. +They are worse in the early morning. When I ride through the town +before breakfast they settle all up the sunny side of me from boot to +topi, about two to the square inch, and nothing but hitting them will +make them budge. They are disgusting creatures. Of course the filthy +habits of the natives encourage them. The streets are littered with +every kind of food-scraps and dirt: and the Arab has only two +W.C.'s—the street and the river.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_57" id="Page_57">[57]</a></span> Our chief tyranny in his eyes is +that we have posted sanitary police about who fine him 2<i>s</i>. if he +uses either: but like all reforms it is evaded on a large scale. The +theory that the sun sweetens everything is not quite true. Even after +several days' sun manure is very offensive and prolific: and many +parts of the streets are not reached by the sun at all: and in any +case the flies get to work much sooner than the sun.</p> + +<p>We have just had news from the front that a successful action has been +fought, the enemy's left flank turned and several hundred prisoners +taken—our own casualties under 500. So the show seems to have come +off up to time. We were afraid it might have to be postponed, as a +raiding party got round and cut our <span class="smcap">L</span>. of <span class="smcap">C</span>., but +this does not appear to have worried them. I hope they will be able to +follow this success up and capture all their guns and stores, if not a +large proportion of their forces.</p> + +<p>Two days ago we got the best news that we have had for a very long +time from both European fronts, an advance of from one to three miles +over nearly half the Western front, with about 14,000 prisoners: and +Russian reports of 8,000 dead in front of one position and captures +totalling something like 20,000. Since then no news has come through, +which is very tantalising, as one longs to know whether the forward +move has been continued. I am afraid even if it has there will be more +enormous casualty lists than ever.</p> + +<p>The most boring thing about this place is that there are no amusing +ways of taking exercise, which is necessary to keep one fit. As a +double Coy. Commander I have a horse, a quiet old mare which does +nothing worse than shy and give an occasional little buck on starting +to canter. But the rides are very dull. There are only three which one +may call A, B and C, thus:<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_58" id="Page_58">[58]</a></span></p> + +<p class="center"><img src="images/image_058.jpg" alt="Map" width="300" height="155" /></p> + +<p>A is the flooded area, and when it is dry it is caked as hard as +brick, and not a vegetable to vary the landscape.</p> + +<p>B takes one through the little ground, the four cemeteries, and the +deserted brick-kilns: by the time one is through these it is generally +time to go home: and even beyond it is market gardens and one can only +ride on foot-paths: and there are only two foot-paths through the +barbed wire defences.</p> + +<p>C is good soft-surfaced desert, much the best riding ground though its +virtues are negative. But to reach it one has to cross the Tigris by +the boat-bridge, and this is apt to be cut at any moment for the +passage of boats, which means a delay of half an hour, not to be +lightly risked before breakfast: and in the afternoons the interval +between excessive sun and darkness is very brief. It is too hot to +ride with pleasure before 4.30 and the sun sets at 5.30: and the dusty +wind is at its worst till about 5.</p> + + +<hr style='width: 45%;' /> + + +<p class="quotsig"> +<span class="smcap">Amarah</span>.</p> +<p class="quotdate"> +<i>October</i> 7, 1915.</p> +<p class="center"> +<span class="smcap">To his Brother</span>.</p> + +<p><br /> + Thanks awfully for your letter. It was one of the best I've had for a +long time. And many congratulations on the birth of a daughter. I'm +delighted it went off so well, and only hope she and Grace are both +flourishing.</p> + +<p>I am sorry to hear about Benison. I suppose he was <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_59" id="Page_59">[59]</a></span> in some unit or +other. You saw of course that Stolley was killed some time ago.</p> + +<p>At present, at any rate, we're a very comfortable distance behind the +firing line. This has been the advanced base for the Kut show. By +river we are 130 miles above Basra and about the same below Kut. The +action there on the 27th and 28th was a great success, but the pursuit +was unfortunately hung up and prevented our reaping quite the full +fruits. This was partly due to a raid on our <span class="smcap">L</span>. of +<span class="smcap">C</span>. scuppering some barge-loads of fuel, but chiefly to the +boats getting stuck on mud banks. This river is devilish hard to +navigate just now. It winds like a corkscrew, and though it looks 150 +yards wide, the navigable channel is quite narrow, and only 4ft. to +6ft. deep at that. So all the river boats have to be flat bottomed, +and the strong current and violent N.W. wind keeps pushing them on the +mud banks at every bend.</p> + +<p class="center"><img src="images/image_059.jpg" alt="Map" width="700" height="495" /></p> +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_60" id="Page_60">[60]</a></span></p> + +<p>The Turks had, they think, 15,000 men and 32 guns. Their position was +twelve miles long and most elaborately entrenched and wired with all +the German devices, and rested on a marsh at either end.</p> + +<p>We had about 10,000 men of all arms and 25 or 27 guns, seven of them +on river boats, I think. Townshend's attack was as follows. He made +all his reconnaissances and preparations as for an attack on their +right flank, and on Monday, 27th he deployed a brigade, A. on that +side of the river, leaving only two battalions, B. on the right bank, +and keeping two battalions in reserve, C. For various reasons this +attack had made very little progress by sunset and was last seen +digging itself in. Then as soon as it got dark almost the whole of A. +together with the reserve C. was ordered to march round to the enemy's +left flank and attack Fort E. at dawn. So they moved off, intending to +go between Marsh 1 and Marsh 2; but in the dark they went round +outside Marsh 2, and at dawn after a twelve mile march found +themselves at G. They completely surprised and quickly captured Fort +E. and the section E. and F., their casualties here being mainly from +our own artillery, as was inevitable: but they were enfiladed from F. +and had to reform and dig themselves in on a front parallel with the +river, and send for artillery support.</p> + +<p>Meanwhile the skeleton left on our left flank and the force B. were +pressing a frontal attack, supported by the guns: and by the afternoon +the outflanking force A. was able to resume its advance, which it was +keen to finish as the men were very tired and had run out of water. +But just then the whole Turkish reserve turned up on their right front +and flank, having been hurried back from the right flank to which our +feint had drawn them, across the bridge D. whence they deployed in +crescent formation. Apparently this new danger had a very bracing +effect on the thirsty<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_61" id="Page_61">[61]</a></span> ones; it is a rash man that stands between T.A. +and his drink. They went straight for the centre of the crescent, as +far as I can make out, with the Turkish reserves on their front and +flanks and the Turkish firing line in their rear. This was where most +of the casualties occurred, but after a stiff fight the Turks broke +and ran: and there was a tremendous crush at the bridge D. where they +started shooting each other freely.</p> + +<p>Meanwhile, the Turkish Commander announced that he had received a +telegram from the Sultan requiring the immediate presence of himself +and army at Constantinople: so the firing line took the hint and +started for the new alignment by the shortest route. However, as +everybody's great idea was to put the river between himself and the +enemy he'd been facing, two streams met at the bridge D. and there +were further scenes. By this time it was dark, and our troops were +utterly exhausted, so nothing more was done for the moment.</p> + +<p>Our casualties were 85 killed and 1,158 wounded, an extraordinary +proportion. We haven't had any reliable information of the enemy's +losses yet: but we took about 1,300 prisoners.</p> + +<p>I must stop now. I am very fit and a Capt., 3rd Senior Officer out +here for the moment (excluding Adjutant O.M.O.) and am commanding "A" +double Coy.</p> + + +<hr style='width: 45%;' /> + +<p class="quotsig"> +<span class="smcap">Amarah.</span></p> +<p class="quotdate"> +<i>October </i>8, 1915</p> +<p class="center"> +<span class="smcap">To N.B.</span></p> + +<p><br /> + Two lots of letters arrived this mail, including yours of August 30th +and September 6th, for which many thanks.</p> + +<p>If I said that this war means the denying of Christianity I ought to +have explained myself more. That phrase is so<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_62" id="Page_62">[62]</a></span> often used loosely that +people don't stop to think exactly what they mean. If the Germans +deliberately brought about the war to aggrandise themselves, as I +believe they did, that was a denial of Christianity, <i>i.e.</i> a +deliberate rejection of Christian principles and disobedience to +Christ's teaching: and it makes no difference in that case that it was +a national and not an individual act. But once the initiating evil was +done, it involved the consequence, as evil always does, of leaving +other nations only a choice of evils. In this case the choice for +England was between seeing Belgium and France crushed, and war. In +choosing war I can't admit there was any denial of Christianity, and I +don't think you can point to any text, however literally you press the +interpretation, which will bear a contrary construction. Take "Resist +not him that doeth evil" as literally as you like, in its context. It +obviously refers to an individual resisting a wrong committed against +himself, and the moral basis of the doctrine seems to me twofold: (1) +As regards yourself, self-denial, loving your enemies, etc., is the +divine law for the soul; (2) as regards the wronger nothing is so +likely to better him as your unselfish behaviour. The doctrine plainly +does not refer to wrongs committed in your presence against others. +Our Lord Himself overthrew the tables of the money-changers. And the +moral basis of His resistance to evil here is equally clear if you +tolerate evils committed against others: (1) your own morale and +courage is lowered: it is shirking; (2) the wronger is merely +encouraged. If I take A.'s coat and A. gives me his cloak also, I may +be touched. But B.'s acquiescence in the proceeding cannot possibly +touch me and only encourages me. Now the Government of a country is +nearly always in the position of B. not A., because a country is not +an individual. In our case we were emphatically in the position of B.: +but I would justify the resistance of Belgium on the same grounds.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_63" id="Page_63">[63]</a></span></p> + +<p>Of course as I said last week, national standards can't be as +self-sacrificing as individual standards: and never can be until all +the individuals in a nation are so Christian as to choose unanimously +the self-sacrificing course.</p> + +<p>I agree that the Dardanelles outlook is very serious, and it now looks +as if Germany had got Bulgaria to come in against us. We ought to +concentrate on a decision there as vigorously as the Germans did in +Poland, and let us hope with more success.</p> + +<p>The big offensive in France came off and seems to have done remarkably +well for a few days: but we have heard nothing more of it for over a +week. I'm afraid that means we exhausted ourselves and lost heavily.</p> + +<p>The outstanding fact here is that the hot weather is over. It is now +only unpleasant to be out from 10 till 4, and then only in the sun. +The transition is going on rapidly and by the end of this month I +expect to see cold weather conditions established. I have played +football twice and been out shooting twice. There is a large black +partridge to be shot here which is very good to eat.</p> + +<p>I can give you no details about the Kut fight. In fact you probably +know more than we do: I must stop now.</p> + + +<hr style='width: 45%;' /> + + +<p class="quotsig"> +<span class="smcap">Amarah.</span></p> +<p class="quotdate"> +<i>October</i> 11, 1915.</p> +<p class="center"> +<span class="smcap">To L.R.</span></p> + +<p><br /> + The weather has got cooler so rapidly that I have been shooting and +playing football quite happily. The chief things to shoot are a big +black partridge (which will soon be extinct) and a little brown dove, +later on there are snipe,<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_64" id="Page_64">[64]</a></span> and already there are duck, but these are +unapproachable. Many thanks for your letters of August 27th, and +September 8th, which arrived together this mail.</p> + +<p>I think Mrs. Ricketts takes an unduly optimistic view when she says +the Germans mean the war to be decided out here. Nothing would suit us +better. Meanwhile, we certainly seem to mean to go to Baghdad, and +that will mean at least one other big fight: but so far they show no +sign of moving us up to the firing line. This last show was a big +success and nearly was a much bigger, only our men having fought for +two days and marched twelve miles in the intervening night and having +run out of water, were not able to press the pursuit very vigorously. +I take it the next show will come off in about three weeks' time, +sooner if possible.</p> + +<p>I have heard a good deal vaguely about the Angels at Mons. It is very +interesting. I gather that A. Machen wrote a magazine story and that +this has got embodied with the real stories and is therefore supposed +to have originated them. If Begbie's forthcoming book on them is good, +do send it to me. We have had no such stories out here, so far as I +know.</p> + +<p>As to being pessimistic about the future, I think our mistake was to +underestimate Germany's striking force. You must always keep the +German calculations in mind as well as our hopes, and you will see +that the former have been falsified quite as much as the latter—in +fact much more. They calculated—and not without having worked it all +out thoroughly—that their superior armaments and mobility would +enable them (1) to smash France within a few weeks, (2) to manœuvre +round the Russians and defeat their armies in detail till they sued +for peace, (3) to dominate the continent and organise it for the +settlement with England. We ought to be devoutly thankful that (1) +failed: but<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_65" id="Page_65">[65]</a></span> Instead we assumed that the worst was over and that (2) +would fail as signally. As a matter of fact (2) looks like failing +after all; but it has been near success for much longer than (1) was +and consequently has achieved more. But if you remember, both Papa and +K. said at the outset it would be a three years' war: which clearly +meant that they expected us to get the worst of it the first year, +equalise matters the second year and not be decisively victorious till +the third year.</p> + +<p>Luly has plenty of friends at Agra and is really very happy there, so +you may be at ease about him.</p> + +<p>Many thanks for your offer to send us things for the cold. But the +danger is overlapping, so I will refer you to Mamma, to whom I wrote +about it some time back: and I hope <i>she</i> is combining with Mrs. +Bowker of Winchester (wife of 1/4th Colonel) who is organising the +sending of things to the battalion as a whole. You might mention to +Mamma that, in addition to the articles I've told her of, newspapers +and magazines would be very acceptable.</p> + + +<hr style='width: 45%;' /> + + +<p class="quotsig"> +<span class="smcap">Amarah.</span></p> +<p class="quotdate"> +<i>October</i> 17, 1915.</p> +<p class="center"> +<span class="smcap">To N.B.</span></p> + +<p><br /> + Many thanks for your little letter wishing me Godspeed out here, it +has only just followed me on, and reached me soon after your letter of +September 12th in which you ask me about Persia. I assure you I know +less of what is happening in Persia—though we can see the Persian +hills from here—than you do. Your letter was my first news of the +Consul General's death, which I have seen since in <i>The Times</i> as +well. All I know is that German gold working on<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_66" id="Page_66">[66]</a></span> the chronic +lawlessness has made the whole country intolerably disturbed. The +Government is powerless. The disorder is mainly miscellaneous robbery: +in the north there is a good deal of hostility to Russia, but nothing +approaching organised war or a national rising. In May Arab raiders +threatened Ahwaz where the Anglo-Persian Oil Company's pipe-line runs; +and at the Persian Government's request a force, including 1/4 Hants, +went up there and dispersed them. Then in August the unrest in Bushire +got acute, and two officers were killed in an ambush. So they sent a +force to occupy it. I don't know how large it was; I imagine two +battalions or so and a few guns. Since then I've heard nothing. Mark +Sykes, whom I saw about October 6th, said he thought things were +quieter there now.</p> + +<p>For the Persian situation generally, up to last year, the best account +I've seen is in Gilbert Murray's pamphlet on "The Foreign Policy of +Sir E. Grey." There's no doubt these weak corrupt semi-civilised +States are a standing temptation to intriguers like the Germans and so +a standing danger to peace. That is going to be the crux here too, +after the war. If I make up my mind and have the energy, I will write +my views more fully on the subject in a week or two.</p> + +<p>There is a lull here and no news. But there seems no doubt that we are +going to push up to Baghdad. The enemy are now in their last and +strongest position, only twenty miles from B.: and we are +concentrating against it. Undoubtedly large reinforcements are on +their way up, but we don't know how many. I expect you may look for +news from these parts about November 7th.</p> + +<p>It is getting quite cold. Yesterday the wind began again and we all +had to take to our overcoats, which seems absurd as it was over 80°. +To-day it was only 74° indoors all the morning and we sat about in +"British warms."<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_67" id="Page_67">[67]</a></span> And the nights seem Arctic. To get warm last night I +had to get into my flea-bag and pile a sheet, a rug and a kaross on +top of that: it was 70° when I went to bed and went down to 62° at +dawn. As it goes down to 32° later on, I foresee we shall be smothered +in the piles of bed-clothes we shall have to accumulate.</p> + +<p>I continue to play football and ride intermittently. I believe I could +mount a middle-sized English horse without serious inconvenience now. +I have begun to try to pick up a little Arabic from the functionary +known as the Interpreter.</p> + + +<hr style='width: 45%;' /> + + +<p class="quotsig"> +<span class="smcap">Amarah.</span></p> +<p class="quotdate"> +<i>October</i> 18, 1915.</p> +<p class="center"> +<span class="smcap">To M.H.</span></p> + +<p><br /> + I'm so glad the saris are what you wanted. If you pay £5 into my a/c +at Childs, it will be simplest.</p> + +<p>Everyone—except I suppose the victims—seems to have regarded the +Zeppelin raid as a first-class entertainment. I think they do us +vastly more good than harm, but it would be a satisfaction to bag one.</p> + +<p>So poor Charles Lister was killed after all. He is a tremendous loss. +And ——, who could have been spared much better, has been under fire +in Gallipoli for months without being touched.</p> + +<p>I agree with Charlie's sentiments. What is so desperately trying about +the Army system is that mere efflux of time puts a man who may be, and +generally is, grossly stupid, in command of much more intelligent +people, whose lives are at his bungling mercy. If Napoleon, who won +his Italian campaign at 27, had been in the British Army he wouldn't +have become a Major till 1811. It is an<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_68" id="Page_68">[68]</a></span> insane system which no +business would dream of adopting. Yet it wouldn't do to abolish it, or +you destroy the careers of 4/5 of your Officers. The reform I should +like would be to make every third promotion in any regiment +compulsorily regardless of seniority.</p> + +<p>I am having a few lessons in Arabic now, but it is a much more +difficult language than Hindustani, and the only available "Munshi" is +the regimental interpreter who can't read and speaks very broken +English, and the only available book deals with classical Egyptian and +Syrian Arabic, which are to the Arabic of to-day as Latin, French and +Italian are to Spanish. So my acquirements are likely to be limited.</p> + +<p>There is absolutely no news here. Reinforcements are said to be coming +but have not arrived. The next show should come off about November +10th.</p> + + +<hr style='width: 45%;' /> + + +<p class="quotsig"> +<span class="smcap">Amarah.</span></p> +<p class="quotdate"> +<i>October</i> 11, 1915.</p> +<p class="center"> +<span class="smcap">To R.K.</span></p> + +<p><br /> + I have just seen in the <i>Times</i> that Charles Lister died of his +wounds. It really is heart-breaking. All the men one had so fondly +hoped would make the world a little better to live in seem to be taken +away. And Charles was a spirit which no country can afford to lose. I +feel so sorry for you too: he must have been very dear to you +personally. How the world will hate war when it can pause to think +about it.</p> + +<p>I had quite a cheerful letter from Foss this mail. I wonder he wasn't +more damaged, as the bullet seems to have passed through some very +important parts of him. I<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_69" id="Page_69">[69]</a></span> am rather dreading the lists which are +bound to follow on our much-vaunted advance of three weeks ago. As for +the Dardanelles, it is an awful tragedy. And now with Bulgaria against +us and Greece obstructed by her King, success is farther off than +ever.</p> + +<p>No, Luly is not with me: I was the only officer with the draft. As for +impressions of our surroundings they are definite but not always +communicable.</p> + +<p>If this neighbourhood could certainly be identified with Eden, one +could supply an entirely new theory of the Fall of Adam. Here at +Amarah we are 200 miles by river from the sea and 28ft. above sea +level. Within reach of the water anything will grow: but as the Turks +levied a tax on trees the date is the only one which has survived. +There are little patches of corn and fodder-stuff along the banks, and +a few vegetable gardens round the town. Otherwise the whole place is a +desert and as flat as this paper: except that we can see the bare +brown Persian mountains about forty miles off to the N.N.E.</p> + +<p>The desert grows little tufts of prickly scrub here and there, +otherwise it is like a brick floor. In the spring it is flooded, and +as the flood recedes the mud cakes into a hard crust on which a +horse's hoof makes no impression; but naturally the surface is very +rough in detail, like a muddy lane after a frost. So it is vile for +either walking or riding.</p> + +<p>The atmosphere can find no mean between absolute stillness—which till +lately meant stifling heat—and violent commotion in the form of N.W. +gales which blow periodically, fogging the air with dust and making +life almost intolerable while they last. These gales have ceased to be +baking hot, and in another month or two they will be piercingly cold.</p> + +<p>The inhabitants are divided into Bedouins and town-Arabs. The former +are nomadic and naked, and live in<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_70" id="Page_70">[70]</a></span> hut-tents of reed matting. The +latter are just like the illustrations in family Bibles.</p> + +<p>What I <i>should</i> be grateful for in the way of literature is if you +could find a portable and readable book on the history of these parts. +I know it's rather extensive, but if there are any such books on the +more interesting periods you might tell Blackwell to send them to me: +I've got an account there. My Gibbon sketches the doings of the first +four Caliphs: but what I should like most would be the subsequent +history, the Baghdad Caliphs, Tartar Invasion, Turkish Conquest, etc. +For the earlier epochs something not too erudite and very popular +would be most suitable. Mark Sykes tells me he is about to publish a +Little Absul's History of Islam, but as he is still diplomatising out +here I doubt if it will be ready for press soon.</p> + +<p>As for this campaign, you will probably know more about the Kut battle +than I do. Anyway the facts were briefly these. The Turks had a very +strongly entrenched position at Kut, with 15,000 men and 35 guns. We +feinted at their right and then outflanked their left by a night march +of twelve miles. (Two brigades did this, while one brigade held them +in front.) Then followed a day's hard fighting as the out-flankers had +to storm three redoubts successfully before they could properly +enfilade the position. Just as they had done it the whole Turkish +reserve turned up on their right and they had to turn on it and defeat +it, which they did. But by that time it was dark, the troops were +absolutely exhausted and had finished all their water. Nobody could +tell how far the river was, so the only thing to do was to bivouac and +wait for daylight. In the night the Turks cleared out and got away. If +we could have pressed on and seized their bridge, we should have +almost wiped them out: but it was really wonderful we did as much as +we did under the circumstances. Our<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_71" id="Page_71">[71]</a></span> casualties were 1243, but only 85 +killed. The Turkish losses are not known: we captured about 1400 and +12 of the guns: we buried over 400, but don't know how many the local +Arabs buried. Our pursuit was delayed by the mud-banks on the river, +and the enemy was able to get clear and reform in their next position, +about ninety miles further north. We are now concentrating against +them and it is authoritatively reported that large reinforcements have +been sent from India. This means they intend going for Baghdad. It +seems to me rash: but I suppose there is great need to assert our +prestige with the Moslem world, even at the expense of our popularity: +for B. is a fearfully sacred place.</p> + +<p>I should also like from Blackwell's a good and up-to-date map of these +parts, <i>i.e.</i> from the Troad to the Persian Gulf.</p> + + +<hr style='width: 45%;' /> + + +<p class="quotsig"> +<span class="smcap">Amarah.</span></p> +<p class="quotdate"> +<i>October</i> 21, 1915.</p> +<p class="center"> +<span class="smcap">To his Mother.</span> +</p> + +<p><br /> + It is hard from here to be patient with the Government for not taking +a bolder line all round and saying frankly what they want. They are +omnipotent if they would only lead. Now we hear that Carson has +resigned. I can't hitch that on to the conscription crisis, yet it +doesn't say it is from ill-health: it is a puzzle.</p> + +<p>Life is as uneventful as usual here. I have nearly finished <i>The Woman +in White</i>. It is really one of the best thrillers I've read, and Count +Fosco more than fulfils my expectations: I wonder if Haldane keeps +white mice. I<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_72" id="Page_72">[72]</a></span> have also finished Tennyson. I have read him right +through in the course of the year, which is much the best way to read +a poet, as you can follow the development of his thoughts. His mind, +to my thinking, was profound but not of very wide range, and strangely +abstract. His only pressing intellectual problems are those of +immortality and evil, and he reached his point of view on those before +he was forty. He never advances or recedes from the position +summarised in the preface to "In Memoriam," d. 1849. The result is +that his later work lacks the inspiration of restlessness and +discovery, and he tends to put more and more of his genius into the +technique of his verse and less into the meaning. The versification is +marvellous, but one gets tired of it, and he often has nothing to say +and has to spin out commonplaces in rich language. One feels this even +in the "Idylls of the King," which are the best of his later or middle +long efforts: they are artificial, not impulsive; Virgil, not Homer; +Meredith calls them 'dandiacal flutings,' which is an exaggeration. +But I can quite see how irritating Tennyson must be to ardent sceptics +like Meredith and the school which is now in the ascendant. To them a +poet is essentially a rebel, and Tennyson refused to be a rebel. That +is why they can't be fair to him and accuse him of being superficial. +I think that a very shallow criticism of him. He saw and states the +whole rebels' position—"In Memoriam" is largely a debate between the +Shelley-Swinburne point of view and the Christian. Only he states it +so abstractly that to people familiar with Browning's concrete and +humanised dialectic it seems cold and artificial. But it's really his +sincerest and deepest thought, and he deliberately rejects the rebel +position as intellectually and morally untenable: and adopts a +position of aquiescent agnosticism on the problem of evil subject to +an unshakeable faith in immortality and the Love of God. This is a +red<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_73" id="Page_73">[73]</a></span> rag to your Swinburnes. That is why I asked you to send me +Swinburne, as I want to get to the bottom of his position. Shelley's I +know, and it is, in my opinion a much more obvious, easier, and more +superficial one than Tennyson's: besides being based on a distorted +view of Christianity. Shelley in fact wanted to abolish Christianity +as the first step towards teaching men to be Christian.</p> + +<p>Of all the agnostics, Meredith is the one that appeals to me most: but +I've not read his poetry, which I believe has much more of his +philosophy in it than his novels have.</p> + +<p><i>P.S</i>. I have just seen your appeal in the <i>Hampshire Herald</i> for £500 +for a motor ambulance boat, in which you say the Red Cross have +already sent us two such boats. All I can say is that nobody in this +regiment has ever seen or heard of these boats: and they certainly +have not been used for transporting sick and wounded either from +Nasiriyah or from Kut. If they were in Mesopotamia at all, it is +incredible that we shouldn't have heard of them.</p> + + +<hr style='width: 45%;' /> + + +<p class="quotsig"> +<span class="smcap">Amarah.</span></p> +<p class="quotdate"> +<i>October</i> 22, 1915.</p> +<p class="center"> +<span class="smcap">To L.R.</span></p> + +<p><br /> + I don't think there is any likelihood of Luly's coming here. For one +thing our battalion 1/6th is too weak to afford another draft at +present; and even if it sent one there are many officers who would be +asked before Luly. As a matter of fact we have just heard we 1/4th are +getting large reinforcements from our proper resources, <i>viz</i>. 250 +from 2/4th at Quetta and 50 from those invalided in the hot weather.</p> + +<p>Your letter of September 5th arrived well after that of September +22nd.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_74" id="Page_74">[74]</a></span></p> + +<p>I'm glad the —— are optimistic: if Belgians can be we should be able +to. But I can't help feeling the Government is lamentably weak and +wanting in leadership: the policy of keeping the nation in the dark +seems to me to be insane.</p> + +<p>There is no news to report here. We still do very little work, but the +weather is quite pleasant. I am very well.</p> + +<p>There is not much to do. The country is very dull for walking and +riding.</p> + +<p>The birds here are very few compared to those in India. On the river +there are pied Kingfishers. On the flooded land and especially on the +mud-flats round it there are large numbers of sandpipers, Kentish and +ringed plovers, stints and stilts, terns and gulls, ducks and teal, +egrets and cranes: but as there is not a blade of vegetation within a +mile of them there are no facilities for observation, still less for +shooting.</p> + +<p>There are several buzzards and falcons and a few kites, but vultures +are conspicuous by their absence. There are no snakes or crocodiles +either. Scavenging is left to dogs and jackals; and there is a hooded +crow, not very abundant, which is peculiar to this country, having +white where the European and Eastern Asiatic species have grey—a +handsome bird. In the river there are a few sharks and a great +abundance of a carp-like fish which runs up to a very large size. The +Quartermaster can buy two 70lb. fish every morning for the men's +breakfasts, and has been offered one of 120lb.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_75" id="Page_75">[75]</a></span></p> + + +<hr style='width: 45%;' /> + + +<p class="quotsig"> +<span class="smcap">Amarah,</span></p> +<p class="quotdate"> +<i>October</i> 31, 1915.</p> +<p class="center"> +<span class="smcap">To N.B.</span></p> + +<p><br /> + I do hope your "fifty submarines" is true. I shan't think much of you +if you can't get official confirmation from Cousin Arthur: but if he +is impenetrably discreet, you might at least get him to explain—or +pass it on to me if you know already—what conceivable harm it could +do if we published the bare numbers of submarines "accounted for" +without any particulars of when, where, or how.</p> + +<p>As for this campaign it is the old story of the Empire repeating +itself. When it began they only meant to secure the oil-pipe and +protect British interests at Basra. But they found to their great +surprise that you can't stay comfortably on the lower waters of a +great river with an enemy above you any more than you could live in a +flat with the lodger above continually threatening your life. A river +like the Tigris or Euphrates is a unit, and the power which occupies +its mouth will inevitably be drawn to its source unless it meets the +boundaries of a strong and civilised state on the way. Turkey will be +neither after the war.</p> + +<p>What has happened so far?</p> + +<div class="sidenote">Dec.-Jan.</div> + +<p>We occupied the Shattal-Arab as far as Kurnah. We sat still. The +Turks, based on Nasiriyah attacked us and nearly recaptured Basra.</p> + +<div class="sidenote">April</div> + +<p><br />We beat them at Shaiba, and for safety's sake had to push them from +their base.</p> + +<div class="sidenote">May</div> + +<p><br />Then the double advance to Amarah and Nasiriyah.</p> + +<div class="sidenote">July</div> + +<p>We pushed the Turks out, and they promptly reformed at Kut and +prepared to threaten us again. So we pushed forward again and beat +them at Kut. </p> +<div class="sidenote">September</div> +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_76" id="Page_76">[76]</a></span></p> + +<p>Now they have reformed at a point, only twenty miles from ——, their +present base. We shall go for them there no doubt, and push them back +once more. But what does it all lead to? Imagine peace restored. What +will Turkey be like? She will be bankrupt, chaotic, totally incapable +of keeping order among these murderous Bedouins. The country would be +a second Persia under her. Persia is intolerable enough for the +Europeans who trade there at present: but the plight of this country +might easily be worse. We are bound to control the bit from Basra to +the sea to protect existing interests. The whole future of that +area—as of all Mesopotamia—depends on a scientific scheme of +drainage and irrigation. At present half the country is marsh and half +desert. Why? Because under Turkish rule the river is never dredged, +the banks are never repaired, stray Arabs can cut haphazard canals and +leave them to form marshes, and so on. Now an irrigation and drainage +scheme is vitally necessary, but (1) it involves a large outlay; (2) +to be effective it must start a long way up-stream; (3) there must be +security for the good government <i>not only</i> of the area included in +the scheme, but of the whole course of the river above it. These +Asiatic rivers are tricky things: they run for hundreds of miles +through alluvial plains which are as flat as your hand. Here at +Amarah, 200 miles from the mouth of the Tigris, we are only 28ft. +above sea-level. Consequently the river's course is very easily +altered. Look at Stanford's map of this region and see how the +Euphrates has lost itself between Nasiriyah and Basra—"old channel," +"new channel," creeks, marshes, lakes, flood-areas and so on; the +place is a nightmare. That kind of thing is liable to happen anywhere +if the river is neglected. So that our schemes for Lower Mesopotamia +might be spoilt by the indolence of those in possession higher up the +river: let alone the security of the<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_77" id="Page_77">[77]</a></span> trade-routes which would be at +the mercy of wild Arabs if Turkey collapses.</p> + +<p>All this inclines me more and more to believe that we shall be forced, +sooner or later, to occupy the whole Mesopotamian plain as far as +Mosul or to whatever point is the southern limit of Russian control. +At first I favoured a "neutral zone" from Mosul to Kut, and I +shouldn't be surprised if that plan still finds favour at home. But +frankly I see no prospect of a strong enough Government to make the +neutral zone workable; on the contrary everything points to the +absorption of the Persian neutral zone by either us or Russia, +probably us.</p> + +<p>I am still a Captain, but no longer a Coy. Commander. A large draft +from India has arrived, 11 officers and 319 men from 1/4th and 2/4th, +invalids returned. I am now second in command of a Coy. of respectable +size.</p> + + +<hr style='width: 45%;' /> + + +<p class="quotsig"> +<span class="smcap">Amarah.</span></p> +<p class="quotdate"> +<i>October</i> 10, 1915.</p> +<p class="center"> +<span class="smcap">To his Father.</span></p> + +<p><br /> + I agree with most of your reflections about the moral justification of +war. War is an evil, because it is the product of sin and involves +more sin and much suffering. But that does not mean it is necessarily +wrong to fight. Once evil is at work, one of its chief results is to +leave good people only a choice of evils, wherein the lesser evil +becomes a duty. I'm not prepared to say we've been wholly guiltless in +the whole series of events which produced this war: but in the +situation of July, 1914, produced as it was by various sinful acts, I +am quite sure it was our duty to fight, and that it is our duty to +fight on till German militarism is crushed.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_78" id="Page_78">[78]</a></span> And I certainly can't +believe we ought not to have made such a treaty with Belgium as we +did. You've got to face the fact that the spirit which produces war is +still dominant. Fight that spirit by all means: but while it exists +don't suppose your own duty is merely to keep out of wars. That seems +to me a very selfish and narrow view. As for our Lord in a bayonet +charge, one doesn't easily imagine it: but that is because it is +inconsistent with His mission, rather than His character. I can't +imagine a Christian <i>enjoying</i> either a bayonet charge, or hanging a +criminal, or overthrowing the tables of a money-changer, or any other +form of violent retribution.</p> + +<p>Your sight of the Zeppelin must have been thrilling. You don't make it +clear whether it was by day or night. I am curious to see if my next +batch of <i>Times</i> will mention it. Clearly it is very hard to damage +Zs. by gun-fire: but I don't understand quite why our aeroplanes can't +do more against them. Do they get right back to Germany before +daylight?</p> + +<p>I have been out shooting three times this week, with Patmore of 1/7th +Hants, and we got three partridges, six partridges and seven doves +respectively. The partridges are big black ones, as large as young +grouse, and very good to eat: but they will soon be extinct here as we +are operating much in the same way as "the officers" do at Blackmoor. +The doves were reported as sand-grouse, and certainly come flighting +in from the desert very much in the s.-g. manner: but they are very +like turtle doves when shot.</p> + +<p>On our way home after the first shoot, I saw a falcon catch a swallow +on the wing. It had missed one and we were watching it. It flew +straight and rather fast past us, just within shot, fairly high. A +swallow came sailing at full speed from the opposite direction and +would have passed above and to the right of the falcon, and about 6ft. +from it.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_79" id="Page_79">[79]</a></span> The latter took no notice of it till the crucial moment, +when it swerved and darted upwards, exactly as a swallow itself does +after flies, and caught the swallow neatly in its talons. It then +proceeded on its way so calmly that if you had taken your eye off it +for 1/5th second you wouldn't have known it had deviated from its +course. It then planed down and settled about 400 yards away on the +ground.</p> + +<p>I have written to Top such details of the Kut battle as I could gather +from eye-witness: but I don't think it forms a reliable account, and +you will probably find the official version rather different, when it +comes out. Anyway it appears to be beyond doubt now that we mean to +push on to Baghdad, in spite of your <i>Beatus possidens</i>. It was only +lack of water and the exhaustion of the troops which prevented a much +larger haul this time: and now they are concentrating against the next +position, 90 miles further north. We hear again on good authority that +8,000 reinforcements are coming out. They will certainly be needed if +we are to hold Baghdad. It seems to me a very rash adventure: +especially as Bulgaria's intervention may enable the Turks to send an +Army Corps down to Baghdad, in which case we should certainly have to +retire.</p> + + +<hr style='width: 45%;' /> + + +<p class="quotsig"> +<span class="smcap">Amarah.</span></p> +<p class="quotdate"> +<i>All Saints</i>, 1915.</p> +<p class="center"> +<span class="smcap">To R.K.</span></p> + +<p><br /> + Your letters have been so splendidly regular that I'm afraid a gap of +three weeks may mean you've been ill: but I can't be surprised at +anyone at home breaking down under the constant strain of nearness and +frequent news. Mesopotamia and a bi-weekly Reuter are certainly +efficient<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_80" id="Page_80">[80]</a></span> sedatives; and the most harrowing crisis of the Russian +armies is only rescued from the commonplace by its unintelligibility. +Even the heart-breaking casualties, reaching us five weeks old, have +nothing like the stab they have in England.</p> + +<p>Life here requires a Jane Austen to record it. Our interests are +focussed on the most ridiculous subjects. Recently they took an +ecclesiastical turn, which I think should be reported to you. The +station was left "spiritually" in charge of a Y.M.C.A. deacon for a +fortnight: and discussion waxed hot in the Mess as to what a Deacon +was. The prevailing opinion was that he "was in the Church," but not +"consecrated"; so far Lay instinct was sound, if a little vague. Then +our Scotch Quartermaster laid it down that a Deacon was as good as a +Parson in that he could wear a surplice, but inferior to a parson in +that he couldn't marry you. But the crux which had most practical +interest for us was whether he could bury us. It was finally decided +that he could: but fortunately in actual fact his functions were +confined to organising a football tournament and exhibiting a cinema +film.</p> + +<p>He was succeeded by a priest from the notorious diocese of Bombay: who +proceeded to shift the table which does duty for altar to the E. side +of the R.A.T.A. room and furnish the neighbourhood of it into a faint +resemblance to a Church. But what has roused most speculation is the +"green thing he wears over his surplice for the early service and +takes off before Parade service." I suggested that it was a precaution +against these chilly mornings.</p> + +<p>Gibbon has more to say about these parts than I thought: and I find he +alludes to them off and on right down to 1453, so if you haven't been +able to find a suitable book, I can carry on with that philosopher's +epitome.</p> + +<p>A large draft has just reached us from India, 11 officers<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_81" id="Page_81">[81]</a></span> and 319 +men. They are partly returned invalids, but mainly 2/4th from Quetta. +We shall now be a fairly respectable strength.</p> + +<p>Cold weather conditions are almost established now. It is only over +80° for a few hours each day, and between 8 p.m. and 9 a.m. I wear a +greatcoat. A senior captain having arrived with the draft has taken +over "A" Coy. and I remain as second in command. There is singularly +little to do at present—about one hour per day.</p> + +<p>I wonder if you know any of the officers in this push. There is Chitty +of Balliol, a contemporary of Luly's: and one Elton among the +newly-joined, said to be a double first.</p> + +<p>They have made me censor of civil telegrams.</p> + +<p>I see no prospect of peace for a year yet, and not much of our leaving +this country till well after peace. I used to think I wasn't easily +bored: but it is hard to keep a fresh and lively interest in this +flattest and emptiest of countries.</p> + +<hr style='width: 45%;' /> + +<p><i>P.S. Tuesday</i>.—The mail is in for once before the outward mail goes, +and it brings yours of 1.10.15. What you report about Charles Lister +is exactly what I should have expected. It is an element in all the +best lives that their owners are reckless about throwing them away; +but it's a little consolation to know that he didn't succeed exactly.</p> + +<p>Most of my new letters are rather gloomy about the French offensive. +We used gas and we're held up: and we're being diddled all round by +kings in the Balkans.</p> + +<p>Elton, by the way, was up at Balliol, a scholar 1911—and knows you, +though whether individually or collectively I know not.</p> + +<p>Also one Pirie of Exeter has come with the draft.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_82" id="Page_82">[82]</a></span></p> + + +<hr style='width: 45%;' /> + + +<p class="quotsig"> +<span class="smcap">Amarah.</span></p> +<p class="quotdate"> +<i>November</i> 4, 1915.</p> +<p class="center"> +<span class="smcap">To L.R.</span></p> + +<p><br /> + I enclose an extract from a speech which might have been made by you, +but was made by—who do you think? Our modern St. David.</p> + +<p>I read Oliver's <i>Ordeal by Battle</i> before I left Agra. Most of my +relations sent me a copy. So far only one has sent me A.J.B.'s <i>Theism +and Humanism</i>: books are always welcome: but as their ultimate fate is +very uncertain, it is wiser to stick to cheap ones.</p> + +<p>I think the idea of R—— on an Economy League is too delicious. I +should so like to hear the details of their economies.</p> + +<p>I hope you have noticed the correspondence in The <i>Times</i> on Wild +Birds and Fruit Growers, and that the latter contemplate invoking the +aid of the Board of Agriculture in exterminating the former.</p> + +<p>The birds here increase as the weather gets colder. Geese, duck and +teal are to be seen flighting every day. We shot a pochard on Tuesday +and a plover yesterday. Large flocks of night-herons visit the +flood-lands and rooks have become common. White wagtails appeared in +great numbers a few weeks ago, and sand-grouse are reported in vast +numbers further north.</p> + +<p>As there is no news, perhaps it would interest you to know, how we +live in these billets.</p> + +<p>The house is very convenient on the whole, though cold, as there is no +glass in the large windows and the prevailing N.W. wind blows clean +through, and there are no fire-places.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_83" id="Page_83">[83]</a></span></p> + +<p>As to our mode of existence, my day is almost uniformly as follows:</p> + + + + +<table summary="Schedule"> +<tr><td >6.30 <i>a.m</i>.</td> + <td > </td> + <td >Am called and drink 1 cup cocoa and eat 4 biscuits.</td></tr> +<tr><td >7.15 <i>a.m</i>.</td> + <td > </td> + <td >Get up.</td></tr> +<tr><td >7.45 <i>a.m</i>.</td> + <td > </td> + <td >Finished toilet and read <i>Times</i> till breakfast.</td></tr> +<tr><td >8.0</td> + <td > </td> + <td >Breakfast. Porridge, scrambled eggs, bread and jam, tea.</td></tr> +<tr><td >8.30-9.15.</td> + <td > </td> + <td >Read <i>Times</i>.</td></tr> +<tr><td >9.15-10.15.</td> + <td > </td> + <td >Parade (or more often <i>not</i>, about twice a week 1 parade).</td></tr> +<tr><td >10.15-1.0</td> + <td > </td> + <td >Read and write, unless interrupted by duties.</td></tr> +<tr><td >1.0</td> + <td > </td> + <td >Lunch. Cold meat, pudding, cheese and bread, lemonade.</td></tr> +<tr><td >1.30-4.0.</td> + <td > </td> + <td >Read and write.</td></tr> +<tr><td >4.0.</td> + <td > </td> + <td >Tea, bread and jam.</td></tr> +<tr><td >4.30.</td> + <td > </td> + <td >Censor Civil Telegrams.</td></tr> +<tr><td >4.45-6.15.</td> + <td > </td> + <td >Take exercise, <i>e.g.</i>, walk, ride, fish, shoot, or play football.</td></tr> +<tr><td >6.15.</td> + <td > </td> + <td >Have a bath.</td></tr> +<tr><td >6.30-7.30.</td> + <td > </td> + <td >Play skat, or talk on verandah.</td></tr> +<tr><td >7.30.</td> + <td > </td> + <td >Mess. Soup, fish, meat, veg., pudding, savoury, beer or whisky.</td></tr> +<tr><td >8.45-10.15</td> + <td > </td> + <td >Bridge.</td></tr> +<tr><td >10.15.</td> + <td > </td> + <td >Go to bed.</td></tr> +</table> + + +<p>Such is the heroic existence of those who are bearing their country's +burden in this remote and trying corner of the globe!</p> + + +<p class="center"><i>Enclosure</i>.</p> + +<p>"Meanwhile, let personal recrimination drop. It is the poison of all +good counsel. In every controversy there are mean little men who +assume that their own motives in taking up a line are of the most +exalted and noble character, but that those who dare differ from them +are animated by the basest personal aims. Such men are a small +faction, but they<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_84" id="Page_84">[84]</a></span> are the mischief-makers that have many a time +perverted discussion into dissension. Their aim seems to be to spread +distrust and disunion amongst men whose co-operation is essential to +national success. These creatures ought to be stamped out relentlessly +by all parties as soon as they are seen crawling along the floor."</p> + + +<hr style='width: 45%;' /> + + +<p class="quotsig"> +<span class="smcap">Amarah.</span></p> +<p class="quotdate"> +<i>November</i> 18, 1915.</p> +<p class="center"> +<span class="smcap">To L.R.</span></p> + +<p><br /> + As this week is Xmas mail, I have only time to wish you every blessing +and especially those of peace and goodwill which are so sadly needed +now.</p> + +<p>I am dreadfully sorry to hear that S.'s cancer is reappearing. We need +more of her sort just now. I pray that she may get over it, but there +is no disease which leaves less hope.</p> + +<p>I suppose everyone is struck by the weakness of a democracy in war +time as compared with an autocracy like the German. It is a complaint +as old as Demosthenes. But it does not shake my faith in democracy as +the best form of Government, because mere strength and efficiency is +not my ideal. If a magician were to offer to change us to-morrow into a +state on the German model, I shouldn't accept the offer, not even for +the sake of winning the war.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_85" id="Page_85">[85]</a></span></p> + + +<hr style='width: 45%;' /> + + +<p class="quotsig"> +<span class="smcap">Amarah.</span></p> +<p class="quotdate"> +<i>November</i> 23, 1915.</p> +<p class="center"> +<span class="smcap">To his Mother.</span></p> + +<p><br /> + I strained a muscle in my leg at football yesterday and consequently +can't put my foot to the ground at all to-day. It is a great nuisance +as I'm afraid it will prevent my going on our little trek into the +desert, which will probably come off next Monday.</p> + +<p>The news of the fight at Suliman Pak came through yesterday morning +and we had a holiday on spec, and a salute of twenty-one guns was +ordered to be fired. The first effort at 8 a.m. was a ludicrous +fiasco. The Volunteer Artillery, having no 'blank,' loaded the guns +with charges of plain cordite. The result was that as each round was +fired it made about as much noise as a shot-gun, and the packet of +cordite would hop out of the barrel and burn peacefully on the ground +ten yards away, like a Bengal match. Gorringe arrived in the middle in +a fine rage, and stopped the show. I took a snapshot of him doing so +which I hope will come out. He then ordered the salute to be fired at +noon with live shell. This was quite entertaining. They ranged on the +flood-land where we go after the geese, 3,700 yards: and it took the +shells about ten seconds to get there. There were some Arab shepherds +with their flocks between us and the water, and they didn't appear to +enjoy it. They "scorned the sandy Libyan plain as one who wants to +catch a train."</p> + +<p><i>Thursday</i>. As luck would have it, orders came round at 1 p.m. +yesterday for half the Battalion (including A.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_86" id="Page_86">[86]</a></span> Coy.) to move +up-stream at once: and after an afternoon and evening of many flusters +and changes of plan, they have just gone off this morning. My wretched +leg prevents my going with them: but it is much better to-day and I +hope to be able to go by the next boat. Destination is unknown but it +can only be Kut or Baghdad: and I infer the latter from the facts (1) +that Headquarters (C.O., Adjt. Q.M. etc.) have gone, which means that +the other half Battalion is likely to follow shortly: and (2) that +they won't want a whole Battalion at Kut. The scale of garrison out +here is about as follows. Towns under 5,000 one Coy. or nothing, +5,000-10,000 two Coys. Over 10,000 a (nominal) Battalion: bar Basra +where there are only three men and one boy. Baghdad being about +150,000 may reasonably require two Brigades or a Division. We haven't +heard yet whether we've got Baghdad. They may even have more fighting +to do, though most people don't think so.</p> + +<p>I will try to cable before I go up.</p> + +<p>The M.O. says I have slightly overstretched my calf-muscles. I jumped +rather high at a bouncing ball while I was running: and I came down +somehow with my left leg stuck out in such a way that the knee was +bent the wrong way: and so overstretched the muscles at the back of +the calf. But I can already walk with two sticks, and hope to be able +to get on a boat in two or three days time. A week on the boat will +give it a further rest.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_87" id="Page_87">[87]</a></span></p> + + +<hr style='width: 45%;' /> + +<p class="quotsig"> +<span class="smcap">Amarah.</span></p> +<p class="quotdate"> <i>December 1, 1915.</i></p> +<p class="center"> +<span class="smcap">To his Mother.</span></p> + +<p><br /> + Sophy's death affects me more than any since Goppa's. She was the most +intimate of all my aunts, as I have constant memories of her from the +earliest times I can remember till she went to live at Oxford. I was +always devoted to her, and she had an almost uncanny power of reading +my thoughts. I don't feel there can have been a shade of bitterness in +death for her, though she loved life; but there is something woefully +pathetic in its circumstances, the pain, the loneliness, the misery of +the war.</p> + +<p>I thought about her all yesterday. The sunset was the most wonderful I +have seen out here, and it seemed to say that though God could be very +terrible yet he was supremely tender and beautiful. How blank and +futile a sunset would be to a consistent materialist, as A.J.B. points +out in his lectures.</p> + +<p>The result of publishing what he called my "hymn" in the <i>Times</i> of +October 15th has been an application from an earnest Socialist for +leave to print it on cards at 8<i>s</i>. 6<i>d.</i> a 1,000 to create a demand +for an early peace! But I couldn't help focussing my thoughts of Sophy +into these lines:</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">Strong Son of God is Love; and she was strong,<br /></span> +<span class="i1">For she loved much, and served;<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Rejoiced in all things human, only wrong<br /></span> +<span class="i1">Drew scorn as it deserved.<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Fair gift of God is faith: 'twas hers, to move<br /></span> +<span class="i1">The mountains, and ascend<br /></span> +<span class="i0">The Paradise of saints: which faith and love<br /></span> +<span class="i1">Made even Death her friend.<br /></span> +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_88" id="Page_88">[88]</a></span></div></div> + +<p>My leg is much better but will still keep me here some days, as I am +not to go till fit to march. It is a great nuisance being unable to +take exercise. I was in such splendid condition, and now I shall be +quite soft again. However there are compensations. The others are only +at Kut, which is as dull as this and much less comfortable; and they +have only 60lb. kits, which means precious little.</p> + +<p>Swinburne I will begin when I feel stronger. The Golden Ass hasn't +come. I ordered it years ago, before the war, to be sent on +publication. It is a curious product of Latin decadence, about second +century; the first notable departure from the classical style. The +most celebrated thing in it is the story of Cupid and Psyche: didn't +Correggio paint it round the walls of a palace in Rome? I went to see +it with Sophy.</p> + + +<hr style='width: 45%;' /> + + +<p class="quotsig"> +<span class="smcap">Amarah.</span></p> +<p class="quotdate"> <i>December 8, 1915.</i></p> +<p class="center"> +<span class="smcap">To his Mother.</span></p> + +<p><br /> + We are more cheerful now. In the first place we are less cold. The +wind has dropped and we have devised various schemes for mitigating +the excessive ventilation. I have hung two gaudy Arab rugs over my +window, with a layer of <i>Times</i> between them and the bars. Some genius +had an inspiration, acting on which we have pitched an E.P. tent in +the mess room. It just fits and is the greatest success. Finally, I +sent my bearer to speculate in a charcoal brazier. This also is a +great success. Three penn'orth of charcoal burns for ages and gives +out any amount of heat; and there is no smell or smoke: far superior +to any stove I've ever struck. So we live largely like troglodytes in<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_89" id="Page_89">[89]</a></span> +darkness but comparative warmth. Between breakfast and tea one can sit +on the sunny side of the verandah round the inner court, though all +sunshine has still to be shared with the flies; but they're not the +flies they were, more like English October flies.</p> + +<p>Secondly, as far as we can see, the main troubles up stream are over. +My account to Papa last mail was not very accurate, but I will write +him the facts again, in the light of fuller information. Anyway +they're back at Kut now, and ought to be able to look after themselves +till our reinforcements come up. The first two boat-loads have arrived +here this morning, and are pushing on. But it was a serious reverse +and may have very bad effects here and in India and Persia unless it +is promptly revenged.</p> + +<p>Owing to the Salsette's grounding, there will be no mail this week.</p> + +<p>My leg remains much the same. I can walk quite well with a slight limp +but the doctor won't let me walk more than fifty yards. I am very +thankful I was stopped from going up to Kut. "A" Coy. has been working +at top pressure there, entrenching and putting up wire entanglements. +And now they will have to stand a siege, on forty days' rations, till +Younghusband and Gorringe can relieve them. So I should be very much +<i>de trop</i> there. I always felt that my <i>entreé</i> into the football +world should be pregnant with fate, and so it is proving.</p> + +<p>I have been reading some Swinburne. He disappoints me as a +mind-perverse, fantastic and involved. Obscure when he means +something, he is worse when he means nothing. As an imagination he is +wonderful. His poetry is really a series of vivid and crowding +pictures only held together by a few general and loose, though big +ideas. His style is marvellously musical but overweighted by his +classical long-windedness and difficult syntax. Such a<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_90" id="Page_90">[90]</a></span> contrast to +Tennyson where the idea shines out of the language which is so simple +as to seem inevitable, and yet wonderfully subtle as well as musical.</p> + + +<hr style='width: 45%;' /> + + +<p class="quotsig"> +<span class="smcap">Amarah.</span></p> +<p class="quotdate"> <i>December</i> 12, 1915.</p> +<p class="center"> +<span class="smcap">To R.K.</span></p> + +<p><br /> + In the stress of the times I can't remember when I last wrote or what +I said, so please forgive repetitions and obscurities.</p> + +<p>Let me begin at November 24th, the day we heard of the victory at +Ctesiphon or Sulman Pak. That afternoon I crocked my leg at footer and +have been a hobbler ever since with first an elephantine calf and now +a watery knee, which however, like the Tigris, gets less watery daily.</p> + +<p>The very next day (November 25th) half the battalion, including my "A" +Coy., was ordered up stream and departed next morning, leaving me +fuming at the fancied missing of a promenade into Baghdad. But +providence, as you may point out in your next sermon, is often kinder +than it seems. Two days later I could just walk and tried to embark: +but the M.T.O. stopped me at the last moment. (I have stood him a +benedictine for this since.)</p> + +<p>Meanwhile, events were happening up-river. The Press Bureau's account, +I expect, compresses a great deal into "Subsequently our force took up +a position lower down the river" or some such <i>façon de parler</i>. What +happened was this. We attacked without reserves relying on the enemy +having none. We have done it several times successfully: indeed our +numbers imposed the necessity generally. This<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_91" id="Page_91">[91]</a></span> time there were +reinforcements en route, had we waited. But I anticipate.</p> + +<p>Well, we attacked, and carried their first line and half their second +before darkness pulled us up. A successful day, though expensive in +casualties. We bivouacked in their first line. Daybreak revealed the +unpleasant surprise of strong enemy reinforcements, who are said to +have diddled our spies by avoiding Baghdad: 5,000 of them. As we had +started the affair about 12,000 strong to their 15,000, this was +serious. They attacked and were driven off. In the afternoon they +attacked again, in close formation: our artillery mowed them, but they +came on and on, kept it up all night, with ever fresh reinforcements, +bringing them to 30,000 strong all told. By dawn our men were +exhausted and the position untenable. A retreat was ordered, that +meant ninety miles back to Kut over a baked billiard table. The enemy +pressed all the way. Once they surrounded our rear brigade. Two +officers broke through their front lines to recall the front lot. +Another evening we pitched a camp and left it empty to delay the +enemy. Daily rearguard actions were fought. Five feverish days got us +back to Kut, without disorder or great loss of men; but the loss in +material was enormous. All possible supplies had been brought close up +to the firing line to facilitate our pursuit: mainly in barges, the +rest in carts. The wounded filled all the carts, so those supplies had +to be abandoned. The Tigris is a cork-screwed maze of mud-banks, no +river for the hasty withdrawal of congested barges under fire. You can +imagine the scene. Accounts differ as to what we lost. <i>Certainly</i>, +two gunboats (destroyed), one monitor (disabled and captured), the +telegraph barge and supply barge, besides all supplies, dumped on the +bank. Most accounts add one barge of sick and wounded (400), the +aeroplane barge, and a varying number of supply barges. In men from +first to last<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_92" id="Page_92">[92]</a></span> we lost nearly 5,000: the Turks about 9,000—a guess of +course.</p> + +<p>The tale of woe is nearly complete. My "A" Coy. got as far as Kut and +was set to feverish entrenching and wiring. Now the whole force there, +some 8,000 in all, is cut off there and besieged. They have rations +(some say half rations) for six weeks or two months, and ammunition. +They are being bombarded, and have been attacked once, but repelled it +easily. We aren't worried about them; but I with my leg (like another +egoist) can't be sorry to be out of it. I should like to be there to +mother my men. Our Major is wounded and the other officers infants; +the Captain a Colonial one I'm glad to say.</p> + +<p>Meanwhile our reinforcements have turned up in great numbers and +expect to be able to relieve Kut by the end of the month. I mustn't +particularise too much. In fact I doubt whether this or any letters +will be allowed to go through this week. The men are warned only to +write postcards. The dear censor has more excuse where Indians are +concerned. I can walk short walks now. Life is rather slow, but I have +several books luckily.</p> + + +<hr style='width: 45%;' /> + + +<p class="quotsig"> +<span class="smcap">Amarah.</span></p> +<p class="quotdate"> +<i>December</i> 20, 1915.</p> +<p class="center"> +<span class="smcap">To N.B.</span></p> + +<p><br /> + There is a double mail to answer this week and only two days to do it +in, so this may be rather hurried.</p> + +<p>I do get the <i>Round Table</i>. I don't think it suggests a World State as +practical politics, but merely as the only ideal with which the mind +can be satisfied as an ultimate end. If you believe in a duty to all +humanity, logic won't<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_93" id="Page_93">[93]</a></span> stop short of a political brotherhood of the +world, since national loyalty implies in the last resort a denial of +your duty to everyone outside your nation. But in fact, of course, men +are influenced by sentiment and not logic: and I agree that, for ages +to come at least, a World State wouldn't inspire loyalty. I don't even +think the British Empire would for long, if it relied only on the +sentiment of the Mother Country as home. The loyalty of each Dominion +to the Empire in future generations will be largely rooted in its own +distinctive nationalism, paradoxical as that sounds: at least so I +believe.</p> + +<p>Please don't refrain from comments on passing events for fear they +will be stale. They aren't, because my <i>Times's</i> are contemporary with +your letters: and the amount of news we get by Reuter's is negligible. +Indeed Reuter's chiefly enlighten us as to events in Mesopotamia. Last +night we heard that Chamberlain had announced in the House that the +Turks lost 2,000 and the Arabs 1,000 in the attack on Kut on December +12th: that was absolutely the first we'd heard of it, though Kut is +only ninety miles as the crow flies, and my Company is there! All we +hear is their casualties, thrice a week. They now total 2 killed and +11 wounded out of 180: nearly all my Company and 3 of my draft +wounded.</p> + +<p>I want to be there very much, to look after them, poor dears: but I +must say that T.A's view that a place like Kut is desirable to be in +<i>per se</i> never fails to amaze me, familiar though it now is. I had +another instance of it last night. About twelve of my draft were left +behind on various duties when the Coy. went up-river in such a hurry. +Hearing that my knee was so much better they sent me a deputy to ask +me to make every effort to take them with me if I went up-river. I +agreed, of course, but what, as usual, struck me was that the motives +I can understand—that one's duty is<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_94" id="Page_94">[94]</a></span> with the Coy. when there's +trouble around, or even that it's nicer to be with one's pals at Kut +than lonely at Amarah—didn't appear at all. The two things he kept +harping on were (1) it's so dull to miss a "scrap" and (2) there may +be a special clasp given for Kut, and we don't want to miss it. They +evidently regard the Coy. at Kut as lucky dogs having a treat: the +"treat" when analysed (which they don't) consisting of 20lb. kits in +December, half-rations, more or less regular bombardment, no proper +billets, no shops, no letters, and very hard work!</p> + +<p>My leg is very decidedly better now. I can walk half-a-mile without +feeling any aches, and soon hope to do a mile. There is an obstinate +little puffy patch which won't disappear just beside the knee-cap: but +the M.O. says I may increase my walk each day up to the point where it +begins to ache.</p> + +<p>We have had no rain here for nearly a month; but there are light +clouds about which make the most gorgeous sunsets I ever saw.</p> + + +<hr style='width: 45%;' /> + + +<p class="center"> +<span class="smcap">Extract from Letter to his Mother.</span></p> +<p class="quotdate"> +<i>December, 1915.</i><br /> +</p> + +<p>I am looking forward to this trek. Four months is a large enough slice +of one's time to spend in Amarah, and there will probably be more +interest and fewer battles on this trek than could be got on any other +front. The Censor has properly got the breeze up here, so I probably +shan't be able to tell you anything of our movements or to send you +any wires: but I will try and let you hear something each week; and if +we are away in the desert, we generally arrange—and I will try +to—for some officer who is within<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_95" id="Page_95">[95]</a></span> reach of the post to write you a +line saying I am all right (which he hears by wireless) but can't +write. That is what we have been doing for the people at Kut. But +there are bound to be gaps, and they will tend to get more frequent +and longer as we get further.</p> + +<p>No casualties from "A" Coy. for several days: so I hope its main +troubles are over.</p> + + +<hr style='width: 45%;' /> + + +<p class="center"> +<span class="smcap">Extract of Letter to P.C.</span></p> +<p class="quotdate"> +<i>Xmas Day</i>, 1915.<br /> +</p> + +<p>... I'm so glad Gwalior was a success. I think a good native state is +the most satisfactory kind of Government for India in many ways; but +(a) so few are really good, if you go behind the scenes and think of +such fussy things as security of life and property, taxation and its +proportion to benefits received, justice and administration, +education, freedom of the subject, and so on. (b) It spells stagnation +and the abandonment of the hope of training the mass of the people to +responsibility; but I think that is an academic rather than practical +point at present.</p> + +<p>Christmas is almost unbearable in war-time: the pathos and the +reproach of it. I am thankful that my Company is at Kut on +half-rations. I don't of course mean that: but I'm thankful to be +spared eating roast beef and plum pudding heartily, as these dear +pachyderms are now doing with such relish. I'm glad they do, and I'd +do it too if my Company was here. I'm always thankful for my thin +skin, but I'm glad dear God made thick ones the rule in this wintry +world.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_96" id="Page_96">[96]</a></span></p> + + +<hr style='width: 45%;' /> + + +<p class="quotsig"> +<span class="smcap">Amarah.</span></p> +<p class="center"> +<span class="smcap">Extract from letter to N.B.</span></p> + +<p><br /> + It seems odd to get just now your letter answering my arguments +<i>against</i> the advance to Baghdad. They were twofold (1) Military, that +we should not have the force to hold it and our communications would +be too vulnerable. These objections have been largely met (<i>a</i>) by +large reinforcements, which will nearly double our forces when they +are all up, (<i>b</i>) by the monitors—the second is here now; they solve +the communication problem. I think now it will take a fresh Army Corps +from Constantinople to dislodge us: and I now hear that the +difficulties of <i>its</i> communications would be very great. (2) +Politically. I thought the occupation of Baghdad would cause trouble +(<i>a</i>) with Russia, (<i>b</i>) with Indian soldiers, (<i>c</i>) with Moslems +generally. Here again (<i>a</i>) P. tells me Russia is giving us a free +hand, (<i>b</i>) trouble did occur with some Indian Regiments, but it took +the mild form of a strike, and the disaffected units have been +dispersed by Coys. over the lines of communication. (<i>c</i>) As regards +Moslems in India, I think I was wrong. The bold course, even to +bluffing, generally pays with Orientals. We have incurred their +resentment by fighting Turkey and on the whole we had better regain +their respect by beating her. Of course we shall respect their +religious feelings and prejudices in every practicable way.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_97" id="Page_97">[97]</a></span></p> + + +<hr style='width: 45%;' /> + + +<p class="quotsig"> +<span class="smcap">Amarah.</span></p> +<p class="quotdate"> +<i>December</i> 26, 1915.</p> +<p class="center"> +<span class="smcap">To M.H.</span></p> + +<p><br /> +I hope you safely received the MS. I sent you last mail.</p> + +<p>Orders to move have interrupted my literary activities, and I shall +have to spend the few days before we start chiefly in testing the +fitness of my leg for marching. I went shooting on Friday and walked +about six miles quite successfully, bar a slight limp; and I mean to +extend progressively up to twelve.</p> + +<p>The weather has suddenly turned wet, introducing us to a new vileness +of the climate. I hope it won't last—it means unlimited slime.</p> + +<p>I shan't be able to write much or often for some time, I expect, as we +shall be marching pretty continuously, I reckon. I shall try and write +to Ma and Pa at each opportunity, and to you if there's time and paper +available. Your little writing-block may come in handy.</p> + +<p>One of my draft has been killed and five wounded at Kut. Our +casualties there are 21 out of 180. I shall look forward to seeing my +men again: I hope about the second Sunday after Epiphany. We shall +then march with a force equal to the King of France's on his +celebrated and abortive expedition of ascent. Our destination is a +profound secret, but you may give Nissit three guesses and make her +write me her answers on a Valentine.</p> + +<p>Christmas passed off quietly and cheerfully. T.A. is so profoundly +insensible of incongruities that he saw nothing to worry him in the +legend <span class="smcap">A Merry Christmas</span> and the latest casualty list on the +same wall of the R.A.T.A. room:<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_98" id="Page_98">[98]</a></span> and he sang "Peace on earth and mercy +mild" and "Confound their politics" with equal gusto. And his temper +is infectious while you're with him.</p> + +<p>The most perplexing Reuter's come through from the Balkans.</p> + + +<hr style='width: 45%;' /> + + +<p class="quotsig"> +<span class="smcap">Amarah.</span></p> +<p class="quotdate"> +<i>Christmas Day</i>, 1915.</p> +<p class="center"> +<span class="smcap">To R.K.</span></p> + +<p><br /> + I hope you got my last letter safely. I enclosed it in my home one to +be forwarded.</p> + +<p>There is little news from this theatre, and what there is we mayn't +write, for the most part.</p> + +<p>My Coy. is being bombarded at Kut still. They have had 21 casualties +out of 180. One of my draft is killed and five wounded and here +everyone is parroting about a Merry Christmas. Truly the military man +is a pachyderm.</p> + +<p>This is likely to be the last you will hear of me for some time, +though I hope to be able to dob out a post-card here and there, +perhaps letters now and then. In a word, we're moving next week and +are not likely to see billets again till we lodge with the +descendants, either of the Caliphs or of Abraham's early neighbours.</p> + +<p>My leg is so far recovered that I take it as almost certain I shall +march too when we go. I am testing it to make sure first. Yesterday it +did six miles without damage, though the gait remains Hephaestian.</p> + +<p>The weather is still cold, and fine and dry. The sunsets are +glorious.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_99" id="Page_99">[99]</a></span></p> + + +<hr style='width: 45%;' /> + + +<p class="quotsig"> +<span class="smcap">Amarah.</span></p> +<p class="quotdate"> +<i>December</i> 26, 1915.</p> +<p class="center"> +<span class="smcap">To N.B.</span></p> + +<p><br /> + Christmas and submarines have made the mails very late and we have +again been nearly a fortnight without any.</p> + +<p>We have got our orders to move and so I look forward to a fairly +prolonged period of trekking, during which it will hardly be possible +to do more than write odd postcards and occasional short letters; but +I will write when I can. We start in two or three days time.</p> + +<p>I expect my leg will be all right for marching. When I heard we were +moving, I went to the hospital to consult the chief M.O. there about +it. He examined <i>both</i> my legs gravely and then firmly grasping the +sound one pronounced that it had still an excess of fluid in it: which +I take to be a sincere though indirect tribute to the subsidence of +the fluid in the crocked one. He proceeded to prescribe an exactly +reverse treatment to that recommended by the other M.O., which had the +advantage of giving me official sanction for pretty well anything I +chose to do or not do. The upshot of it was that I decided to test the +old leg for myself to determine whether it was fit for marching or +not. So I began with a six mile walk on Friday, shooting: and found +that my graceful limb did not impede my progress nor develop into any +graver symptoms. I was more tired than I should have been a month ago, +but that was natural. Yesterday was monopolised by Christmas +functions; to-day I mean to try eight or nine miles, and ten or twelve +to-morrow. If the thing is going to crock it had better do it before +I start: but it shows no sign of it.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_100" id="Page_100">[100]</a></span></p> + +<p>The latest way of indicating latitude and longitude is like a date, +<i>e.g.</i> 32.25/44/10: you can take the N. and E. for granted.</p> + +<p>It has most tactlessly begun to rain again to-day, and with an E. wind +it may continue, which will mean a vile slime for marching.</p> + +<p>The Christmas sports were really great fun: one of them—one-minute +impromptu speeches—would make quite a good house-party game.</p> + +<p><i>P.S.</i>—You must think me brutal not to have mentioned my poor men. I +have written so many letters this morning, I didn't notice it in this +one. They are still being bombarded and have had 21 casualties out of +180: 5 killed, one of my draft, 2 officers slightly wounded. I hope to +see them about Twelfth Night—no, say second Sunday after Epiphany!</p> + + +<p class="center"><img src="images/image_136.jpg" alt="Map" width="700" height="645" /></p> +<hr style='width: 45%;' /> + + +<p class="quotsig"> +<span class="smcap">Camp.</span></p> +<p class="quotdate"> +<i>January 3</i>, 1916.</p> +<p class="center"> +<span class="smcap">To P.C.</span></p> + +<p><br /> + ... That afternoon the new draft arrived, headed by Jack Stillwell and +Lester Garland. They arrived only 45 strong, having reached Basra over +100. Basra is a nest of military harpies who seize men for obscure +duties and make them local sergts. Only 68 escaped from it; and of +these 23 fell out on the march—another specimen of R.A.M.C. +efficiency. The M.O. at Quetta had merely passed down the line asking +each man "Are you fit?" and taking his answer.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_101" id="Page_101">[101]</a></span></p> + +<p>In this letter A. stands for Amarah, C. for Kut, B. for Ali Gherbi.</p> + + +<hr style='width: 45%;' /> + + +<p class="quotsig"> +<span class="smcap">B.</span></p> +<p class="quotdate"> +<i>Sunday</i>, January 2, 1916.</p> +<p class="center"> +<span class="smcap">To his Father.</span></p> + +<p><br /> + As I shan't be able to mention places in connection with our +movements, I shall call the station we left on December 31st A., this +place B. and so on; and I think you ought to be able to follow, as I +will make the lettering consistent.</p> + +<p>We left A. at 2 p.m. on Friday. The men were on barges slung on either +side of the river-boat, on which various details, our officers and the +General and his staff were.</p> + +<p>I brought my gun and 150 cartridges, and was unexpectedly soon +rewarded: for one of the A.C.C's staff came along after lunch and +asked for someone to come with him in the motor-boat and shoot +partridges. As I was the only one with a gun handy I went. We raced +ahead in the motor-boat for half-an-hour and then landed on the right +bank and walked up the river for two-and-a-half hours, not deviating +even to follow up coveys. There were a lot of birds, but it was windy +and they were wild and difficult. Also with only two guns and three +sepoys we walked over as many as we put up. Craik (the A.D.C's name, +he is an Australian parson in peace-time) was a poor performer and +only accounted for three. I got thirteen, a quail, a plover and a +hare. I missed three or four sitters and lost two runners, but on the +whole shot quite decently, as the<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_102" id="Page_102">[102]</a></span> extreme roughness of the hard-baked +ploughed (or rather mattocked) land is almost more of an obstacle to +good shooting than the behaviour of the birds. Craik was a stayer, and +as the wind dropped at sunset and the birds grew tamer he persevered +till it was dark. Then we had to walk three-quarters-of-a-mile before +we could find a place where the boat could get in near the bank: so we +had a longer and colder chase to catch up the ship than I had +bargained for, especially as I had foolishly forgotten to bring a +coat. However, when I got too cold I snuggled up against the engine +and so kept parts of me warm. Luckily the ship had to halt at the camp +of a marching column, so we caught her up in one-and-a-quarter hours.</p> + +<p>I pitched my bed on deck up against the boiler, and so was as warm as +toast all night.</p> + +<p>Yesterday morning we steamed steadily along through absolutely bare +country. The chief feature was the extraordinary abundance of +sand-grouse. I told Mamma of the astonishing clouds of them which +passed over A. Here they were in small parties or in flocks up to 200: +but the whole landscape is dotted with them from 8 a.m. till 11 and +again from 3 to 4: so that any random spot would give one much the +same shooting as we had at the Kimberley dams. An officer on board +told me that when he was here two months ago, a brother officer had +killed fifty to his own gun: and a Punjabi subaltern got twenty-one +with five shots.</p> + +<p>We reached here about 2 p.m. This place is only about forty-five miles +from A. as the crow flies, but by river it takes sixteen hours, and +with various halts and delays it took us just twenty-four. We only ran +on to one mud-bank. The effect was curious. The ship and the port +barge stopped dead though without any shock. The starboard barge +missed the mud and went on, snapping the hawsers and iron cables +uniting us. The only visible sign of the bank was an<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_103" id="Page_103">[103]</a></span> eddying of the +current over it: it was right in midstream.</p> + +<p>This is a most desolate place. Apart from the village with its few +palms and gardens there seems not to be a blade of vegetation within +sight. To the N.E. the Persian hills are only fifteen miles away. They +have still a little snow (did I mention that the storm which gave us +rain at A. had capped these hills with a fine snow mantle?)</p> + +<p>Here we found "D" Co., which got stranded here when "A" Co. got stuck +in C. We are about forty-five or fifty miles from C. as the crow +flies, and the guns can be heard quite plainly: but things have been +very quiet the last few days. There is an enemy force of 2,000 about +ten miles from here, but how long they and the ones at C. will wait +remains to be seen.</p> + +<p>We know nothing of our own movements yet and I couldn't mention them +if we did. We have been put into a different brigade, but the +brigadier has not been appointed yet. The number of the brigade equals +that of the ungrateful lepers or the bean-rows which Yeats intended +to plant at Innisfree. We are independent of any division.</p> + +<p>A mysterious Reuter has come through about conscription. As it quotes +the <i>Westminster</i> as saying Asquith has decided on it, I'm inclined to +believe it: but it goes on to talk obscurely of possible resignations +and a general election.</p> + +<p>This may catch the same mail as my letter to Mamma from A.</p> + +<p><i>P.S.</i> Please tell Mamma that just as we were embarking, the S. and T. +delivered me two packages, which turned out to be the long-lost blue +jerseys. So there is hope for the fishing rods yet.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_104" id="Page_104">[104]</a></span></p> + + +<hr style='width: 45%;' /> + + +<p class="quotdate"> +<i>Monday</i>, January 10, 1915.</p> +<p class="center"> +<span class="smcap">To his Mother</span>.</p> + +<p><br /> + I will use a spare hour to begin an account of our doings since I last +wrote, but I don't know when I shall be able to finish it, still less +when post it.</p> + +<p>We left B. last Thursday morning and were told we should march sixteen +miles: we marched up the right bank, so our left flank was exposed to +the desert, and "D" Company did flank guard. My platoon formed the +outer screen and we marched strung out in single file. There were +cavalry patrols beyond us again, and anyway no Arab could come within +five miles without our seeing him, so our guarding was a sinecure.</p> + +<p>We paraded as soon as it was light, at 7.15 a.m., but owing to the +transport delays, the column did not start till after 9.0. The +transport consists of: (a) ships and barges; (b) carts, mules and +camels. Each has its limitations. Ships tie you to the river-bank, so +every column must have some land transport. Camels can hardly move +after rain: they slip and split themselves. The carts are fearfully +held up by the innumerable ditches which are for draining the floods +back to the river. There are not nearly enough mules to go round and +they only carry 160lbs. each. So you can imagine our transport +difficulties. The country supplies neither food, fodder nor fuel. Our +firewood comes from India. If you leave the river you must carry every +drop of drinking water. So the transport line was three times as long +as the column itself, and moved more slowly.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_105" id="Page_105">[105]</a></span></p> + +<p>Our new Brigadier turned up and proved to be a pleasant, sensible kind +of man, looking rather like Lord Derby. Having just come from France, +he keeps quite cool whatever we encounter. (P.S. We have had a new +Brigadier since this one, I haven't yet seen the present one.)</p> + +<p>The march was slow and rough, as most of the ground was hard-baked +plough. The country was as level and bare as a table, bar the ditches, +and we hardly saw a human being all day. It took us till after 4 p.m. +to do our sixteen miles. About 2 p.m. we began to hear firing and see +shrapnel in the distance, and it soon became clear that we were +approaching a big battle. Consequently we had to push on beyond our +sixteen miles, and went on till Sunset. By this time we were all very +footsore and exhausted. The men had had no food since the night +before, the ration-cart having stuck in a ditch; and many of the +inexperienced ones had brought nothing with them. My leg held out +wonderfully well, and in fact has given me no trouble worth speaking +of.</p> + +<p>We had to wait an hour for orders, the Brigadier knowing nothing of +the General's intentions. By six it was quite dark, and the firing had +ceased: and we got orders to retrace our steps to a certain camping +place (marked <i>I</i> on sketch). This meant an extra mile, and immense +trouble and confusion in finding our way over ditches and then sorting +kits in the dark: but finally we did it, ate a meal, and turned in +about 9.30 p.m. pretty well tired out, as we had been on the move +fourteen hours and had marched about twenty-one miles. To put the lid +on it, a sharp shower of exceedingly frigid rain surprised us all in +our beauty sleep, about 11 p.m. and soaked the men's blankets and +clothes. Luckily I had everything covered up, and I spread my overcoat +over my head and slept on, breathing through the pocket-holes.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_106" id="Page_106">[106]</a></span></p> + +<p>(I will continue this in diary form and post it if and when I get a +chance.)</p> + +<p><i>Friday 7th.</i> Started at 8.30 and marched quietly about five miles. +This brought us within view of the large village of D., which is +roughly half-way between B. and C. Between us and it the battle was in +full swing. We halted by a pontoon bridge (2 on sketch), just out of +range of the enemy's guns, and watched it for several hours. Owing to +the utter flatness of the ground, we could see very little of the +infantry. It was hot and the mirage blurred everything. Our artillery +was clearly very superior to theirs, both in quantity (quite five to +one it seemed) and in the possession of high explosive shell, of which +the enemy had none: but we were cruelly handicapped (<i>a</i>) by the fact +that their men and guns were entrenched and ours exposed; and (<i>b</i>) by +the mirage, which made the location of their trenches and emplacements +almost impossible.</p> + +<p>I had better not say much about the battle yet, but I will give a +rough sketch and describe our own experiences. I will only say this, +that the two great difficulties our side had to contend with were: (1) +the inability of the artillery to locate anything with certainly in +the mists and mirage, and (2) the difficulty of finding and getting +round the enemy's flanks. Either they had a far larger force than we +expected, or they were very skilfully spread out—for they covered an +amazingly wide front, quite eight miles, I should say, or more.</p> + +<p>The battle was interesting to watch, but not exciting. The noise of +the shells from field guns is exactly like that of a rocket going up. +When the shell is coming towards you, there is a sharper hiss in it, +like a whip. It gives you a second or two to get under cover and then +crack-whizz as the shrapnel whizzes out. The heavy shells from the +monitors, etc., make a noise more like a landslide<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_107" id="Page_107">[107]</a></span> of pebbles down a +beach, only blurred as if echoed. Bobbety's "silk dress swishing +through the air" does his imagination credit, but is not quite +accurate, nor does it express the spirit of the things quite!</p> + +<p>About 3.30 we had orders to cross to the left bank. As we passed over +the bridge, we put up two duck, who had been swimming there peacefully +with the shells flying over their heads every half minute for hours. +When we reached the left bank we marched as if to reinforce our right +flank. Presently the Brigadier made us line out into echelon of +companies in line in single rank, so that from a distance we looked +like a brigade, instead of three companies. About 4 we came up to a +howitzer battery and lay down about 200 yards from it, thus:</p> + +<p class="center"><img src="images/image_107.jpg" alt="Map" width="700" height="254" /></p> + +<p>We had lain there about ten minutes when a hiss, crack, whizz, and +shells began to arrive, invariably in pairs, about where I've put the +1 and 2. We had a fine view. The first notice we had of each shell was +the sudden appearance of a white puff, about thirty feet above ground, +then a spatter of dust about thirty yards to the right, then the +hiss-crack-whizz. They were ranging on the battery, but after a minute +or two they spotted the ammunition column, and a pair of shells burst +at 3, then a pair at 4. So the column retreated in a hurry along the +dotted arrow, and<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_108" id="Page_108">[108]</a></span> the shells following them began to catch us in +enfilade. So Foster made us rise and move to the left in file. Just as +we were up, a pair burst right over my platoon. I can't conceive why +nobody was hit. I noticed six bullets strike the ground in a +semi-circle between me and the nearest man three paces away, and +everyone else noticed the same kind of thing, but nobody was touched. +I don't suppose the enemy saw us at all: anyway, the next pair pitched +100 yards beyond us, following the mules, and wounded three men in C. +Company: and the next got two men of B.—all flesh wounds and not +severe. They never touched the ammunition column.</p> + +<p>We lay down in a convenient ditch, and only one more pair came our +way, as the enemy was ranging back to the battery. Of this pair, one +hit the edge of the ditch and buried itself without exploding, and the +other missed with its bullets, while the case bounced along and hit a +sergeant on the backside, not even bruising it.</p> + +<p>Just before 5 we got orders to advance in artillery formation. My +platoon led, and we followed a course shown by the dotted line. We +went through the battery and about 300 yards beyond, and then had +orders to return to camp. On this trip (which was mere +window-dressing) no shell came nearer than fifty yards: in fact our +own battery made us jump much more.</p> + +<p>The whole episode was much more interesting than alarming. Fear is +seated in the imagination, I think, and vanishes once the mind can +assert itself. One feels very funky in the cold nights when nothing is +happening: but if one has to handle men under fire, one is braced up +and one's attention is occupied. I expect rifle fire is much more +trying: but the fact that shell-fire is more or less unaimed at one +individually, and also the warning swish, gives one a feeling of great +security.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_109" id="Page_109">[109]</a></span></p> + +<p>We got back to camp near the river (4 on sketch) about 6, and dug a +perimeter, hoping to settle down for the night. But at 7.30 orders +came to move at 9.30. We were told that an enemy force had worked +round our right flank, and that our brigade had to do a night march +eastward down the river and attack it at dawn. So at 10 p.m. we +marched with just a blanket apiece, leaving our kits in the camp. +After we had gone, the Q.M. made up a big fire and got in no fewer +than fifty-two wounded, who were trying to struggle back to the field +dressing station from the firing line four or five miles away.</p> + +<p>The fire attracted them and parties went out to help them in. I think +it is very unsatisfactory that beyond the regimental stretcher-bearers +there is no ambulance to bring the wounded back: and how can a dozen +stretchers convey 300 casualties five miles? It is a case of <i>sauve +qui peut</i> for the wounded: and when they get to the dressing station +the congestion is very bad, thirty men in a tent, and only three or +four doctors to deal with 3,000 or 4,000 wounded. I mention this as +confirming my previous criticism of the medical service here.</p> + +<p>Well, we started out at 10 p.m. and marched slowly and silently till +nearly midnight. Then we bivouacked for four-and-a-half-hours (5 on +sketch,) and a more uncomfortable time I hope never to spend. We had +not dared bring rugs for fear of losing them in the subsequent attack, +so I had nothing but my Burberry, a muffler and a woollen helmet. The +ground was bare earth everywhere, very damp and cold. I lay in a ditch +and slept for three-quarters-of-an hour, and then woke with extremely +cold feet, so I walked about a little, and then, finding Foster in the +same case, we both took off our Burberrys and laid one under us and +one above and lay like babes in the wood. This expedient kept one +flank nicely warm, and soon I got North to make a<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_110" id="Page_110">[110]</a></span> pillow of my other +thigh, which kept <i>that</i> warm: but from the knees downwards I was +incurably cold and never got to sleep again. The men were better off, +having each a blanket, and sleeping in packets of four.</p> + +<p><i>Saturday.</i> At last 4.30 a.m. arrived and we started marching again. +It was a blessing to get one's feet warm but the pleasures of the +march were strictly comparative. We trekked on eastwards along the +river-bank till sunrise, 7 a.m., when we came on a camp of Arabs who +fled shrieking at our approach (6 on sketch.) At 7.30, we halted and +had breakfast. Our united efforts failed to find enough fuel to boil a +kettle. We waited till 9, when the cavalry patrols returned and +reported no sign of the enemy, so we marched back to the pontoon +bridge (7 on sketch). I suspect our re-entry <i>qua</i> stage +reinforcements was the whole object of our expedition, and the +out-flankers were a myth from the beginning. The march back was the +most unpleasant we've had. It got hot and the ground was hard and +rough and we were all very tired and footsore. A sleepless night takes +the stamina out of one. There and back our trek was about twelve +miles.</p> + +<p>On arrival at the bridge we were only allowed half-an-hour's rest and +then got orders to march out to take up an 'observation post' on the +right flank. Being general reserve is no sinecure with bluffing +tactics prevailing.</p> + +<p>This last lap was extremely trying. We marched in artillery formation, +all very lame and stiff. We passed behind our yesterday's friend, the +howitzer battery, but at a more respectful distance from the enemy's +battery. This latter showed no sign of life till we were nearly two +miles from the river. Then it started its double deliveries and some +of them came fairly close to some of our platoon, but not to mine.</p> + +<p>It took us nearly two hours to drag ourselves three<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_111" id="Page_111">[111]</a></span> miles and the men +had hardly a kick in them when we reached the place assigned for our +post (8 on sketch). We were ordered to entrench in echelon of +companies facing North. I thought it would take till dark to get us +dug in (it was 2 p.m.); but luckily our men, lined up ready to begin +digging, caught the eye of the enemy as a fine enfilade target (or +else they saw our first line mules) and they started shelling us from +6,500 yards (Enemy's battery, 9 on sketch). The effect on the men was +magical. They woke up and dug so well that we had fair cover within +half an hour and quite adequate trenches by 3. This bombardment was +quite exciting. The first few pairs were exactly over "D" Company's +trench, but pitched about 100 yards beyond it. The next few were +exactly right in range, but about forty yards right, <i>i.e.</i> behind us. +Just as we were wondering where the third lot would be, our faithful +howitzer battery and some heavy guns behind them, which opened all +they knew on the enemy battery as soon as they opened on us, succeeded +in attracting its fire to themselves. This happened three or four +times. Just as they were getting on to us the artillery saved us: +there would be a sharp artillery duel and then the Turks would lie +quiet for ten minutes, then begin on us again. This went on until we +were too well dug in to be a tempting target, and they devoted +themselves to our battery. The curious part of it was that though we +could see the flash of their guns every time, the mirages made it +impossible to judge their ranges or even for our battery to observe +its own fire properly. Our howitzer battery unfortunately was not in a +mirage, and they had its range to a yard and plastered it with +shrapnel. If they had had high explosives they could have smashed it.</p> + +<p>About 4.30 the mirage cleared and our guns had a free go for the first +time that day: (in the morning mists last until the mirage begins). +I'm told the mirage had put our<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_112" id="Page_112">[112]</a></span> guns over 1,000 yards out in their +ranging, but I doubt this. Anyway it is the fact that those guns and +trenches which were sited in mirages were practically untouched in a +heavy two days' bombardment.</p> + +<p>In that last hour, however, between 4.20 and dark, our heavy guns got +into the enemy finely with their high explosives. They blew one of our +tormentors bodily into the air at 10,500 yards, and silenced the +others, and chased every Turk out of the landscape.</p> + +<p>All the same, we were rather gloomy that night. Our line had made no +progress that we could hear of; we had had heavy losses (none in our +battalion), and there seemed no prospect of dislodging the enemy. +Their front was so wide we could not get round them, and frontal +attacks on trenches are desperate affairs here if your artillery is +paralysed by mirages. The troops who have come from France say that in +this respect this action has been more trying than either Neuve +Chappelle or Ypres, because, as they say, it is like advancing over a +billiard-table all the way.</p> + +<p>To crown our troubles, we were three miles from the river, which meant +no water except for necessities—the men had no kits, and it was very +cold, and we could not show lights. And finally, after midnight, it +began to pour with rain!</p> + +<p><i>Sunday.</i> At 5.30 we stood to arms. It rained harder than ever and +most of us hadn't a dry stitch. At last it got light, the rain +gradually stopped, and a thoroughly depressed battalion breakfasted in +a grey mist, expecting to be bombarded the moment it lifted. About +8.30 the mist cleared a little, and we looked in vain for our +tormentors. Our cavalry reconnoitred and, to our joy, we saw them ride +clean over the place where the enemy's line had been the evening +before. They had gone in the night.</p> + +<p>A cold but drying wind sprang up and the sun came<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_113" id="Page_113">[113]</a></span> out for a short +time, and we managed to get our things dry. At 1 o'clock we marched +back to the river and found the bridge gone.</p> + +<p>I think this makes a good place to stop, as it marks the end of our +first series of adventures and of the no doubt by now famous battle of +D.</p> + +<p>I enclose a sketch-map to explain our movements. For obvious reasons I +can't say much about the battle itself.</p> + +<p>(I will briefly bring this up to date, post it and try to get a cable +through to you.)</p> + +<p>When we reached the river (10 on sketch), it began to rain again and +we spent a very chill and damp afternoon on the bank awaiting orders. +About dusk B. and C. Companies were ordered to cross the river to +guard the hospital there, and D. stayed to guard the hospital on the +left bank. Mercifully our ship was handy, so we got our tents and +slept warm, though all our things were wettish.</p> + +<p><i>Monday.</i> A quiet morning, no orders. A Scotch mist shrouded +everything till noon and kept our things damp, but the sun got through +at last.</p> + +<p>C. Company returned to left bank, as all wounded were being shipped +across. (N.B. They had to bring them across in our ship. There is +still no sign of the Red Cross motor boats up <i>here</i>, though I'm glad +to hear they've reached Basra.) We got orders to march to D. by night. +We started at 8 p.m., "B." Company marching parallel on the other +bank. It was seven or eight miles, but we went very slow, and did not +get in till 1.30 and our transport not till nearly 3, heavy guns +sticking in the ditches. (N.B. Once we got behind the evacuated +Turkish line, we found that the ditches had been filled in to allow +passage of guns, an expedient which had apparently not occurred to the +British Command, for no ditch had been filled in between B, and this +point!)<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_114" id="Page_114">[114]</a></span></p> + +<p><i>Tuesday.</i> When morning came we found ourselves camped just opposite +D. (11 on sketch), and we are still there. Two fine days (though it +freezes at night) and rest have restored us. A mail arrived this +morning, bringing letters to December 7th, and your medical parcels.</p> + +<p>I only returned you the quinine and bandages, of which people in Amara +have plenty. They will come in handy for you to send out again. <i>Here</i> +everything medical can be used, but I couldn't have brought any more +than I did. As it is, I've left a lot at Amarah.</p> + +<p>I must close now. On these cold nights the little kitchener is +invaluable, so is the soup. Of the various brands you sent, Ivelcon is +the best. The chocolate is my mainstay on day marches. Also the Diet +Tablets are very good. Bivouac Cocoa is also good. The Kaross is +invaluable.</p> + +<p>Stanford's Map has arrived.</p> +<p class="center"><img src="images/image_137.jpg" alt="Map" width="700" height="556" /></p> +<hr style='width: 45%;' /> + + +<p class="quotsig"> +<span class="smcap">On the E. Canal.</span></p> +<p class="quotdate"> +<i>Saturday, January 15th</i>, 1916.</p> +<p class="center"> +<span class="smcap">To his Mother.</span></p> + +<p><br /> + I will continue my account of our doings in diary form. Last week we +had a kind of general introduction to war. The last few days we have +seen a few of its more gruesome details.</p> + +<p><i>12th, Wednesday.</i> After posting your letter and one to Luly I read +some of the Mail's papers. We have had absolutely no outside news +since January 1st, and get very little even of the operations of our +own force. I then went to see Foster who has had to go sick and lives +on our<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_115" id="Page_115">[115]</a></span> supply ship. About 20 per cent. of our men are sick, mostly +diarrhœa and sore feet. The former is no doubt due to Tigris water. +They don't carry the chlorinating plant on trek, and men often have to +replenish water-bottles during short halts. Personally I have so far +avoided unboiled water. I have my bottle filled with tea before +leaving camp, and can make that last me forty-eight hours, and eke it +out with soup or cocoa in the Little Kitchener at bivouacs.</p> + +<p>In the evening "D." Company had to find a firing party to shoot three +Indians, two N.C.Os. and one sepoy, for cowardice in the face of the +enemy. I'm thankful that North and not I was detailed for the job. I +think there is nothing more horrible in all war than these executions. +Luckily they are rare. The men, however, didn't mind at all. I talked +to the corporal about it afterwards—a particularly nice and youthful +one, one of my draft—and remarked that it was a nasty job for him to +have to do. to which he replied gaily, "Well, sir, I 'ad a bit o' rust +in my barrel wanted shootin' out, so it came in handy like." T.A. is a +wonderful and attractive creature.</p> + +<p><i>13th, Thursday.</i> Moved at 7 a.m., carrying food and water for two +days. The enemy had been located on the E. Canal, about eight miles +from D., and our people were going to attack them. The idea was to +hold them in front with a small force, while a much bigger force got +round their left flank (the Canal is on the left bank of the river). +Our brigade was to support the frontal containing force.</p> + +<p>We marched about four miles and then halted about 9 a.m. There was a +strong and cold S.E. wind blowing, which prevented our hearing any +firing, and we could see very little shelling. Our air plane first +reported that a certain fort, which stood about a mile in advance of +the enemy's left flank, was strongly held; but we seem to have shelled +them out of that pretty easily, for about 2 p.m. it<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_116" id="Page_116">[116]</a></span> reported again +that the enemy had left his trenches on the Canal.</p> + +<p>About 3.30 p.m. we advanced, and reached the aforesaid fort a little +before sunset. Here we heard various alarming and depressing reports, +the facts underlying which, as far as I can make out at present, were +these. The Turks, seeing their left flank being turned, quitted their +position and engaged the outflanking force, leaving only about 500 out +of their 9,000 to hold the canal. Our outflanking force, finding +itself heavily engaged, sent and asked the frontal force to advance, +to relieve the pressure. The frontal force, hearing at the same time +that the Turks had quitted their Canal trenches, advanced too rashly +and were surprised and heavily punished by the remnant left along the +Canal, losing half their force and being obliged to retire. So when +they met us they naturally gave us the impression that there was a +large force still holding the Canal, which we should have to tackle in +the morning.</p> + +<p>We dug ourselves in about 2,000 yards from the Canal. It was very cold +and windy, and we had not even a blanket, though I had luckily brought +both my greatcoat and Burberry. There was a small mud hut just behind +our trench, littered with Turkish rags. The signallers made a fire +inside, and two stray Sikhs had rolled themselves up in a corner. It +was not an inviting spot, but it was a choice between dirt and cold, +and I had no hesitation in choosing dirt. So after a chill dinner, at +which I drank neat lime-juice and neat brandy alternately (to save my +water-bottle intact), I turned into the hut. The other officers +(except North) at first disdained it with disgust, but as the night +wore on they dropped in one by one, till by midnight we were lying in +layers like sardines. The Colonel was the last to surrender. I have a +great admiration for him. He is too old for this kind of game, and +feels the cold and fatigue<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_117" id="Page_117">[117]</a></span> very much: but he not only never +complains, but is always quietly making the best of things for +everyone and taking less than his share of anything good that is +going. Nothing would induce him, on this occasion, to lie near the +fire.</p> + +<p><i>14th, Friday.</i> The night having passed more pleasantly than could +have been expected, we stood to arms in the trenches at 5.30 a.m. This +is a singularly unpleasing process, especially when all you have to +look forward to is the prospect of attacking 9,000 Turks in trenches +behind a Canal! But one's attention is fully occupied in trying to +keep warm.</p> + +<p>As soon as it was light we got orders to advance and marched in +artillery formation to within 1,200 yards of the Canal, where we found +some hastily begun trenches of the day before, and proceeded to deepen +them. As there was no sign of the enemy, the conviction grew on us +that he must have gone in the night; and presently the order came to +stop entrenching and form a line to clear up the battlefield, <i>i.e.</i> +the space between us and the Canal. This included burying the dead and +picking up wounded, as the stretcher parties which had tried to bring +the wounded in during the night had been heavily fired on and unable +to get further than where we were.</p> + +<p>I had never seen a dead man and rather dreaded the effect on my queasy +stomach; but when it came to finding, searching and burying them one +by one, all sense of horror—though they were not pleasant to look +upon—was forgotten in an overmastering feeling of pity, such as one +feels at the tragic ending of a moving story, only so oppressive as to +make the whole scene like a sad and impersonal dream, on which and as +in a dream my mind kept recurring to a tableau which I must have seen +over fifteen years ago in Madame Tussaud's of Edith finding the body +of Harold after the battle of Hastings, and indeed the<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_118" id="Page_118">[118]</a></span> stiff corpses +were more like waxen models than anything that had lived.</p> + +<p>The wounded were by comparison a cheerful company, though their +sufferings during the eighteen hours they had lain there must have +been fearful: but the satisfaction of being able to bring them in was +our predominant feeling.</p> + +<p>In the middle of this work we were suddenly recalled and ordered to +march to the support of the outflanking force, of whose movements we +had heard absolutely nothing. But when we had fallen in, all they did +was to march us to the Canal, and thence along it back to the river, +where we encamped about 1 p.m. and still are.</p> + +<p>It was a great comfort to be within reach of water again, though the +wind and rain have made the river so muddy that a mug of water from it +looks exactly like a mug of tea with milk in it.</p> + +<p>The wind had continued unabated for two days and now blew almost a +gale. The dust was intolerable and made any attempts at washing +hopeless. Indeed one's eyes got so full of it the moment they were +opened that we sat blinking like owls or shut them altogether. So it +was a cheerless afternoon, with rain threatening. Our supply ship with +our tents had not come up, but the Major (Stillwell) had a bivouac +tent on the second line transport, which he invited me to share, an +offer which I gladly accepted. We made it as air-tight as possible, +and built a wall of lumps of hard-baked mud to protect us from +snipers, and slept quite reasonably warm. It came on to rain heavily +in the night, so I was lucky to be under shelter.</p> + +<p><i>15th, Saturday.</i> This morning it rained on and off till nearly noon, +and the wind blew all day and the sun never got properly through: but +the rain had laid the dust.</p> + +<p><i>N.B.</i>—With regard to parcels, none are arriving now, just when +they're wanted. The fact is they have to<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_119" id="Page_119">[119]</a></span> economise their transport +most rigidly. A staff officer told me that our supply of river-boats +just enables one boat (with its pair of barges alongside) to reach us +every day; our food for one day fills one entire barge, so that you +can imagine there is not much room to spare after ammunition and other +war material has been put on board. The mahila convoys are extra, but +as they take several weeks to do the journey their help is limited.</p> + +<p>I have just seen the padre who has been working in the field dressing +station. In his station there were two doctors, two nursing orderlies +and two native sweepers; and these had to cope with 750 white wounded +for five days till they could ship them down the river. Altogether our +casualties in the two battles have been well over 5,000, so the Turk +has rather scored.</p> + +<p>This afternoon news is ([Greek: a]) that we have got a new Brigadier. +Our brigade manages its commanders on the principle of the caliph and +his wives, and has not yet found a Sherazade. ([Greek: b]) that we +have got a brigade M.O.O. ambulance. This is a luxury indeed. We are +only just over twenty miles from C. now, so we hope to get through +after one more battle.</p> + +<p><i>16th, Sunday.</i> Still in camp. No sun. More rain. Friday's gale and +the rise in the river has scattered our only pontoon bridge, and +Heaven knows when another will be ready. All our skilled +bridge-builders are in C. The people here seem quite incapable of even +bridging the Canal, twenty feet wide. Typical, very.</p> + +<p>I want a new shaving brush—badger's hair, not too large.</p> + +<p>Mail just going. Best love.</p> + +<p><i>P.S.</i>—We had a Celebration on a boat this morning, which I was very +glad of, also a voluntary parade service.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_120" id="Page_120">[120]</a></span></p> + + +<hr style='width: 45%;' /> + + +<p class="center"> +<span class="smcap">Last letter from R.P. to L. Palmer giving story<br /> +from January 12th to January 21st.</span><br /> +</p> + +<p><br /> + I wrote you last week a summary of our doings during the battle of D. +Now I will tell you what we have done since, though it is mostly +unpleasant.</p> + +<p>The evening after I posted last week's letter "D." Coy. had to find a +firing party to shoot a havildar, a lance-naik and a sepoy for +cowardice in face of the enemy. Thank goodness North and not I was +detailed for it. They helped dig their own graves and were very brave +about it. They lay down in the graves to be shot. Corp. Boughey was +one of the party and when I condoled with him afterwards on the +unpleasantness of the job, he replied, "Well, Sir, I 'ad a bit of rust +in my barrel wanted shootin' out so it come in handy like"!</p> + +<p><i>Thursday, 13th.</i> We marched at 7 carrying food and water for two +days. We were in support of the frontal containing force. The enemy +were on the Canal, eight miles off. We marched about four miles and +then halted, and waited most of the day for orders. A strong S.E. wind +prevented us hearing anything of the battle but we could see a certain +amount of shelling. About 3 p.m. we got orders to go up in support of +the frontal force, which (we were told) had advanced, the enemy having +abandoned the Canal. We marched another three miles to a fort, which +stood about one and a quarter miles from the Canal, and from which we +had driven the enemy in the morning. Here we waited till after dark, +when we heard that the frontal force had blundered into a Turkish +rearguard holding the Canal, and had lost heavily and been obliged to +retire. It is these disconcerting surprises which try one's spirit +more<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_121" id="Page_121">[121]</a></span> than anything else. We ate a cold and cheerless supper just +beyond the fort, and then dug ourselves in, with other units of our +brigade on either side of us. It was windy and very cold. There was a +small and filthy hut with every mark of recent Turkish use, just +behind the trench, but sooner or later every officer (I among the +first) came to the conclusion that dirt was preferable to cold, and we +all packed in round a fire which our signallers had lit there.</p> + +<p><i>Friday, 14th.</i> After a tolerable night we stood to arms at 5.30, a +wholly displeasing process. As soon as it was light, we advanced to +within 1,200 yds. of the Canal and started digging in. But it soon +became clear that the enemy had cleared out in the night, so we +stopped digging and started to clear up the battlefield, <i>i.e.</i>, the +space between us and the Canal. The stretcher parties had been out +during the night, but they had been fired on so heavily that they +could not get beyond the 1,200 yd. line, so there were wounded to pick +up as well as dead to bury and equipment to collect. The dead were so +pitiable that one quite forgot their ghastliness; but it was a +gruesome job searching their pockets. The poor wounded had had a +fearful time too, lying out in the cold all night, but the +satisfaction of getting them in cheered one up. The ground was simply +littered with pointed bullets.</p> + +<p>In the middle of this job we were recalled and told to march to the +support of our outflanking force; but by the time we were collected +and fallen in the need for our assistance had apparently passed, for +we were merely marched to the Canal and then along it to where it +joins the river; where we have been ever since. We got into camp here +soon after noon, and were very glad to be within reach of water again. +The weather was the limit. It blew a gale all the afternoon, and the +dust was so bad one could hardly open one's eyes. We had no tents, but +the Major (Stilwell)<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_122" id="Page_122">[122]</a></span> had a bivouac and invited me in with him, which +was a blessing as it rained all night.</p> + +<p><i>Saturday, 15th.</i> Rained all the morning on and off. Afternoon grey +and cold. Nothing doing and no news. Sniping at night.</p> + +<p><i>Sunday, 16th.</i> Morning grey and cold. Rained all the afternoon and is +still at it (8 p.m.). Padre held a celebration on one of the boats, +and an open air voluntary parade service. Dug a bridge-head perimetre. +We are waiting for the bridge. The gale and the river bust it.</p> + +<p><i>Monday, 17th.</i> Rained on and off all day. Grey, cold and windy. +Ordered to cross river as soon as bridge is ready. Bridge reported +ready 6 p.m. so we struck camp. We took only what blankets we could +carry. When we reached the bridge, we found it not finished, and +squatted till 8.15. Then the bridge was finished and immediately +broke. So we had to come back to camp and bivouac. Luckily the +officers tents were recoverable, but not the men's.</p> + +<p><i>Tuesday, 18th.</i> Rain stopped at 8 a.m. Whole place a sea of mud ankle +deep, and slippery as butter. Nearly the whole bridge had been washed +away or sunk in the night. We got men's tents from the ship, cleared +spaces from mud and pitched camp again. Rain started again about 1 +p.m. and continued till 4. The Canal or "Wadi" had meanwhile come down +in heavy spate and broken that bridge, so we were doubly isolated. I +went out to post piquets. It took two hours to walk three miles. +Jubber Khan sick all day, so I had to manage for myself, helped by +North's bearer. Foster being sick North is O.C. "D." Coy. and I share +a 40lb. tent with him. He is 2/4th, son of the Duke of Wellington's +Agent at Strathfieldsaye, but has served three years in N. Rhodesia, +so is quite used to camp life.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_123" id="Page_123">[123]</a></span></p> + +<p>Desultory bombardment all day.</p> + +<p><i>Wednesday 19th.</i> Sun at last; first fine day since Thursday last. +Orders to cross Wadi as soon as bridge repaired. Crossed at 4 p.m. and +camped in a dry place.</p> + +<p><i>Thursday, 20th.</i> Fair, sun, heavy bombardment all day. Post going.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_124" id="Page_124">[124]</a></span></p> + + +<hr style='width: 85%;' /> + + +<p class="center"> +<span class="smcap">Account of Fighting which took Place in the Attack on<br /> +the Turkish Position of Um el Hanna, on January 21st, 1916.</span></p><p class="center"> +<i>By an Officer who was There.</i><br /> +</p> + +<p><br /> + The Turkish position, which is about ten miles up stream from Shaikh +Saad, is on the left bank of the Tigris. The position is a very strong +one, thoroughly entrenched, with the river protecting its right flank +and absolutely secured on its left flank by a very extensive marsh +which stretches for miles.</p> + +<p>Our camp was about five miles from the Turkish position (downstream) +but our forward trenches were within about 1,000 yards of it.</p> + +<p>On January 20th our guns bombarded the enemy's trenches at intervals +during the day, and on the following morning at 3 a.m. we moved out of +camp preparatory to the attack which was to commence about 6.30 a.m.</p> + +<p>The —— Brigade was to push the main attack with the —— Brigade +(ours) in support of it, whilst a third brigade was to make a holding +attack on our right.</p> + +<p>The leading brigade entrenched itself during the night within about +500 yards of the position, whilst our Regiment with one Indian +Regiment formed the first line of supports. We were in our trenches +about 1,000 yards from the enemy's position, ready to make the attack, +by 6 a.m.</p> + +<p>For some reason, which I do not know, the attack was delayed, and our +guns did not open fire till 7.45 a.m. instead of 6.30 as originally +intended.</p> + +<p>At 7.55 a.m. after our guns had bombarded the enemy's trenches for +only ten minutes the infantry were ordered to advance to the attack, +our support line advancing at the same time.</p> + +<p>Our Battalion, which consisted of three Companies (one Coy. being in +Kut-el-Amara) advanced in three lines, "B" Coy. forming the first line +under Lieut. Needham, "C" Coy. the second line under Capt. Page +Roberts, and "D" Coy. the third line under Capt. North with Capt. the +Hon. R. Palmer as his 2nd in command. Lt.-Col. Bowker was with the +third line.</p> + +<p>As soon as we left the trenches we were under a heavy rifle fire, and +as we advanced this became more and more intense, with machine gun and +shrapnel fire added. The ground was perfectly flat and open with no<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_125" id="Page_125">[125]</a></span> +form of cover to be obtained, and our casualties soon became very +heavy. We continued to advance till we got to within about 150 yards +of the enemy's trenches, but by this time our casualties were so heavy +that it was impossible to press home the attack without +reinforcements, though at the extreme left of our line, our troops +actually got into the first line of trenches, but were bombed out of +them again by the Turks.</p> + +<p>No reinforcements reached us, however, and we afterwards heard that +the Regiment which should have come up in support of us was enfiladed +from their right and was consequently drawn off in that direction. All +we could do now was to hold on where we were, making what cover we +could with our entrenching tools, and this we did until darkness came +on, when we withdrew.</p> + +<p>The weather had been terrible all that day and night, there being +heavy rain with a bitterly cold wind coming off the snow hills. The +ground became a sea of mud which made it most difficult to remove the +wounded, and many of these had to lie out till the armistice was +arranged the following day.</p> + + +<hr style='width: 45%;' /> + + +<p class="center"> +<span class="smcap">Further Descriptions of the Fight at Um el Hanna,<br /> +By Eye-Witnesses.</span></p><p class="center"> +<i>By an Officer of the 4th Hants.</i><br /> +</p> + +<p><br /> +"The fighting on the 21st was a pure slaughter. It was too awful....</p> + +<p>"The troops from France say that in all their experience there they +never suffered so much from weather conditions.</p> + +<p>"We were wet to the skin and there was a bitter wind coming off the +snow hills. Many poor fellows died from exposure that night, I am +afraid; and many of the wounded were lying out for more than +twenty-four hours until the armistice was arranged the following day."</p> + + +<hr style='width: 45%;' /> + + +<p class="center"> +<i>Another written down from a Private's account.</i><br /> +</p> + +<p><br /> + "The three Companies of Hampshires were in support, with two native +Regiments, and a Battalion of Connaught Rangers. The Black Watch and +Seaforths were in the firing line. The Hants men were next the river. +The two native Regiments refused to leave their trenches<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_126" id="Page_126">[126]</a></span> when they +saw the fierce fire from the machine guns. The Connaughts were +fighting further off. So the Hampshire men were obliged to go on +alone. 'We never made a rush, and just walked slowly through the rain. +A slow march to our deaths, I call it.'"</p> + +<p>He then said they had got mixed up with the Black Watch and got into +the first Turkish trench, but had been driven out of it again. He saw +Capt. Palmer fall about 200 yards from the trench but did not see +whether he got up again, or where he was wounded.</p> + + +<hr style='width: 45%;' /> + + +<p class="quotsig3"> +<span class="smcap">Thornfield</span>,<br /> + +<span class="smcap">Bitterne</span>,<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em; "><span class="smcap">Southampton</span>,</span></p> +<p class="quotdate"> +<i>10th August</i>, 1916.</p> +<p> +<span style="margin-left:2em; "><span class="smcap">Dear Lady Selborne</span>,</span><br /> +</p> + +<p>I have just received a letter from 2nd Lt. C.H. Vernon, 1/4 Hants +(really 2/7 Hants attached) recording his search for my son's body on +the 7th April, 1916, its discovery (as he believes) and its burial. He +also adds that "at the same time he looked for Capt. Palmer's, but +could not find him. It was afterwards that he heard of his death in +the Turkish Camp," and he adds, "Some stories have come through from +survivors as to how he lost his life. As far as we can gather, he was +the only Hants officer actually to penetrate the Turkish trenches with +a few men. That was on the extreme left close to the river. Our men, +however, had not been supplied by the Indian Government with bombs. +Consequently the Turks, being so provided, bombed them out, and only +one or two men escaped capture or death. It was here that Capt. Palmer +was mortally wounded while trying to rally his men to hold the +captured sector."</p> + +<p>I think you may like to have this extract about your gallant son.</p> + +<p class="quotsig5"> +(<i>Signed</i>) <span class="smcap">J.T. Bucknill.</span><br /> +</p> + + +<hr style='width: 45%;' /> + + +<p class="quotsig"> +42, <span class="smcap">Pall Mall</span>,<br /> +<span class="smcap">London, S.W.</span></p> +<p class="quotdate"> +<i>8th March</i>, 1916.<br /> +</p> + +<p>The Hampshires were informed that another Battalion was in front of +them, and advanced without returning the hostile fire till they got to +1,000 yards from the Turkish trenches—they then found out that there<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_127" id="Page_127">[127]</a></span> +were no British troops in front, so opened fire and advanced. The +Connaught Rangers on their right remained behind when they found out +the mistake. Two native Battalions in reserve refused to budge, +although their officers threatened them with their revolvers. The +artillery preparation proved insufficient, but the Hampshires got into +shell holes and held on till dark. The medical arrangements broke +down, there were insufficient stretcher-bearers, and no chloroform or +sufficient bandages. No mention is made of the Arabs, however.</p> + +<p>There were seventy-five rank and file returned as missing after the +fight, and a subaltern, Lieut. Lester Garland, took over the command +of the Battalion when my brother collapsed.</p> + +<p>The Turks claimed to have captured five officers in one action, but +there is so much "fog of war" in those parts that it is difficult to +identify their claims.</p> + +<p class="quotsig5"> +(<i>Signed</i>) <span class="smcap">G.H. Stilwell</span>.<br /> +</p> + + +<hr style='width: 45%;' /> + + +<p class="quotsig"> +42, <span class="smcap">Pall Mall.<br /> +</span><span class="smcap">London, S.W.</span></p> +<p class="quotdate"> +<i>1st May</i>, 1916.<br /> +</p> + +<p>At the armistice to collect the wounded it was agreed that all +officers and men that fell within 200 yards of the Turkish trenches +should be picked up and retained by the Turks as prisoners, while all +beyond that zone should be removed by us. Your son was seen within 100 +yards of the Turkish trench when he fell, and it was reported that +four of his men actually got inside the trench, but were driven out by +bombs. My son was with the next platoon to yours, and Bucknill was a +little further on. They were obviously well in front, and fell in the +enemy's zone.</p> + +<p class="quotsig5"> +(<i>Signed</i>) <span class="smcap">G.H. Stilwell.</span><br /> +</p> + + +<hr style='width: 45%;' /> + + +<p class="quotsig2"> +<span class="smcap">1/4th Hampshire Regiment, +</span><br />I.E.F. "D,"<br /> +<span class="smcap">C/o India Office, S.W.</span></p> +<p class="quotdate"> +<i>20th February</i>, 1916.<br /> +</p> + +<p>I received your cable enquiring about your son to-day, and have wired +to the Adjutant General at the base at Basra enquiring whether he has +any information not known to the Regiment, as I very much regret to +say we have none whatever. All we know is that he started in the<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_128" id="Page_128">[128]</a></span> +attack on the Turkish trenches on the 21st January and has not been +seen since. I write to-day as the mail is leaving, but will cable as +soon as I get a reply from the base. Out of 310 who went into the +attack we had 288 casualties. Bucknill and a good many men are missing +as well. There was great difficulty in getting the wounded back as it +had to be done at night and the rain and mud were appalling.</p> + +<p>There was an armistice next day, but we were not allowed to go within +a certain distance of the Turkish trenches, so all wounded within that +area are probably prisoners.</p> + +<p>One other officer of ours was captured and we only found that out +incidentally. There has been no official list of prisoners and I don't +think the Army Headquarters here know who was taken. I don't know +whether you would have the means of getting this from the Turks +through the War Office. I believe attempts are being made here. I +think there is a chance of his being a prisoner as the Regiment got +pretty near the trenches, but I can get no information from any of our +men. I will cable at once if I hear anything.</p> + +<p>I saw yesterday a copy of the <i>Pioneer</i> (Allahabad) for January 30th, +and that reported your son wounded. I hoped, therefore, that he had +been sent to India and the medical people in this country had omitted +to make any record of it, but I imagine in that case he would surely +have cabled to you himself, and I fear the only hope is that he may be +a prisoner of war.</p> + +<p>Your son was attached to my Company latterly and besides being very +keen and capable was a great favourite with the men, and we all miss +him very much indeed. I hope your Lordship will accept my deepest +sympathy in your anxiety, and I sincerely hope that your son may be +safe.</p> + +<p class="quotsig4"> +(<i>Signed</i>) <span class="smcap">H.M. Foster</span>,<br /> +<i>Capt. 1/4th Hants Regt.</i><br /> +</p> + + +<hr style='width: 45%;' /> + + +<p class="quotsig"> +<span class="smcap">H.M.S. "Mantis,"</span></p> +<p class="quotdate"> +<i>May</i>, 1916.</p> +<p> +<span style="margin-left:2em; "><span class="smcap">Dear Lord Selborne</span>.</span><br /> +</p> + +<p>I am more grieved than I can say to have given you the news which I +telegraphed yesterday. I know how cruel the anxiety of doubt is, and +telegraphed to you when I had the evidence which I and my friends here +considered reliable.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_129" id="Page_129">[129]</a></span></p> + +<p>About six days ago I went out to the Turks to discuss terms for the +surrender of Kut. I spent the night in their camp and have been with +them several times since then. I asked them for information about +three names. About two of the names I could get little information. On +the third day I received a message from Ali Jenab Bey, telling me that +your son had died in hospital, and that all that could be done for him +had been done, and asking me to tell you how deeply he sympathised +with you. The next day Ali Jenab and two other Turks came into our +camp. One of them, Mohammed Riza, a relation of Jenab Pashas, told me +that your son had been brought in after the fight on the 21st, +slightly wounded in the shoulder and badly wounded in the chest. He +had been well looked after by the Doctors and the Colonel of the +Regiment (I could not find out which Regiment) had visited him, and at +the Doctor's wish sent him some brandy. He did not suffer and the end +came after four hours.</p> + +<p>It is useless to try to tell you how sorry I feel for you and all of +yours. In this campaign, which in my mind has been the most heroic of +all, many of our men who have given their lives have suffered very +long and very terribly, and when one hears of a friend who has gone, +one is glad in this place, to know that he has been spared that +sacrifice.</p> + +<p class="quotsig2"> +I am,<br /> +Yours very sincerely,</p><p class="quotsig5"> +(<i>Signed</i>) <span class="smcap">Aubrey Herbert.</span><br /> +</p> +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_130" id="Page_130">[130]</a></span></p> + + +<hr style='width: 45%;' /> + + +<p class="center">APPENDIX I.</p> + +<p class="center"> +<span class="smcap">The Official Account of the Battle taken from Sir Percy<br /> +Lake's Despatch to the War Office, published<br /> +October</span>, 1916.</p><p class="center"> +<i>It will be noticed that it differs from the private accounts in one or<br /> +two particulars.</i></p><p class="quotdate"><br /> +<i>1st phase—January 19—23.</i> +</p> + +<p>After the battle of Wadi River General Aylmer's leading troops had +followed the retreating Turks to the Umm-el-Hannah position, and +entrenched themselves at the mouth of the defile, so as to shut the +enemy in and limit his power of taking the offensive.</p> + +<p>The weather at this period was extraordinarily unfavourable. Heavy +rains caused the river to come down in flood and overflow its banks, +and converted the ground on either bank into a veritable bog.</p> + +<p>Our bridge across the Wadi was washed away several times, while the +boisterous winds greatly interfered with the construction of a bridge +across the Tigris, here some 400 yards in width.</p> + +<p>It was essential to establish Artillery on the right bank of the +Tigris, so as to support, by enfilading fire, the attack of our +Infantry against the Hannah position.</p> + +<p>Guns and troops were ferried across, with difficulty, owing to the +high wind and heavy squalls of rain, but by the 19th all troops +allotted to the right bank had crossed over and were established in +the positions from which they were required to co-operate with the +main force on the left bank.</p> + +<p>Meanwhile, the leading Infantry Brigades on the left bank had pushed +nearer the enemy. January 20th was devoted to a systematic bombardment +of his position, and during the night the Infantry pushed forward +their advanced line to within 200 yards of the enemy's trenches.</p> + +<p>On the morning of the 21st, under cover of an intensive Artillery<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_131" id="Page_131">[131]</a></span> +bombardment, our Infantry moved to the attack. On our right the troops +got to within 100 yards of the enemy's line, but were unable to +advance further. Our left column, consisting of the Black Watch, 6th +Jats, and 41st Dogras, penetrated the front line with a rush, +capturing trenches, which they held for about an hour and a half. +Supports were sent forward, but, losing direction and coming under +heavy fire, failed to reach them. Thus, left unsupported, our +previously successful troops, when Turkish counter-attacks developed, +were overwhelmed by numbers and forced to retire.</p> + +<p>Heavy rain now began to fall and continued throughout the day. +Telephone communication broke down, and communication by orderly +became slow and uncertain.</p> + +<p>After further artillery bombardment the attack was renewed at 1 p.m., +but by this time the heavy rain had converted the ground into a sea of +mud, rendering rapid movement impossible. The enemy's fire was heavy +and effective, inflicting severe losses, and though every effort was +made, the assault failed.</p> + +<p>Our troops maintained their position until dark and then slowly +withdrew to the main trenches which had been previously occupied, some +1,300 yards from those of the enemy.</p> + +<p>As far as possible all the wounded were brought in during the +withdrawal, but their sufferings and hardships were acute under the +existing climatic conditions, when vehicles and stretcher-bearers +could scarcely move in the deep mud.</p> + +<p>To renew the attack on the 22nd was not practicable. The losses on the +21st had been heavy, the ground was still a quagmire and the troops +exhausted. A six hours' armistice was arranged in order to bury the +dead and remove the wounded to shelter.</p> + +<p>I cannot sufficiently express my admiration for the courage and dogged +determination of the force engaged. For days they bivouacked in +driving rain on soaked and sodden ground. Three times they were called +upon to advance over a perfectly flat country, deep in mud, and +absolutely devoid of cover, against well-constructed and well-planned +trenches, manned by a brave and stubborn enemy approximately their +equal in numbers. They showed a spirit of endurance and self-sacrifice +of which their country may well be proud.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_132" id="Page_132">[132]</a></span></p> + + +<hr style='width: 45%;' /> + + +<p class="center">APPENDIX II.</p> + +<p class="center"><span class="smcap">Extracts from Letters from Officers and Men of the 6th Hants.</span></p> + +<p><br />Your son was universally liked and respected by all ranks in this +Battalion, and one and all will regret his death and loss as much as I +do, who knew his sterling worth. His memory will be ever cherished by +his brother officers with whom he was so popular.</p> + +<p class="quotsig5">(<i>Signed</i>) <span class="smcap">F.H. Playfair</span>, <i>Col</i>.</p> + + +<p>I was indeed sorry to receive your letter which my brother sent on to +me, giving the news of your son's death from his wounds in the Turkish +trenches. I had great hopes that his wound might have been a slight +one.</p> + +<p>May I offer Lady Selborne and yourself the most sincere sympathy both +of the Regiment and myself in this most sad loss which has come to +you. I can assure you both officers and men of the Regiment will miss +him tremendously as he was so popular with all.</p> + +<p class="quotsig5">(<i>Signed</i>) <span class="smcap">W. B. Stilwell</span>, <i>Major</i>.</p> + + +<p>---- shewed me the wire about Robert yesterday morning. I can't tell +you how sorry I feel for you all. I know I have never lost anyone who +meant anything like so much to me, and I am sure that his friendship +was one of the greatest blessings for me, in every way, that God could +have given me.</p> + +<p>When a fellow not only has such ideals but actually lives up to them +with the determination and consistency with which Robert did, I think +there is something very triumphant about his life. Anyway I know that +his influence will live on, not in his friends alone, but in everyone +with whom he came in contact. I wish you could know what a tremendous +lot people thought of him in the Regiment, both officers and men, some +of whom had little in common with him.</p> + +<p><span style="margin-left: 3em; "> +With deepest sympathy for you all.</span></p><p class="quotsig2"> +Yours very sincerely,<br /> +(<i>Signed</i>) <span class="smcap">Purefoy Causton</span>.<br /> +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_133" id="Page_133">[133]</a></span></p> + + +<p class="center"><span class="smcap"><br /> +From a Private Soldier.</span></p> + +<p><br /> + I had only seen that Robert Palmer had been wounded; the issue giving +the subsequent and very terrible report had escaped me. I am more +sorry than I can well express. Though I didn't know him personally yet +it didn't take long to recognise him as one of the great strengths in +the Battalion, it was noticeable from the very first, from the way he +handled his Company and went about working for them—on the "Ultonia" +it struck me.</p> + + +<p class="center"><span class="smcap"><br /> +Extracts from Letters from School and College Friends.</span></p> + +<p><br /> + Accept my most grateful thanks for your kind words of sympathy. As you +say, this war, with all its terrible consequences, "had to be," and it +is some comfort to us to know that our sons, meant for other things +than violence, took their part in it serenely and cheerfully, with no +misgivings.</p> + +<p>I often think of your dear boy and of what he said about the war in +that sonnet. But what I most often think of him, as I can of my own +son, is "Blessed are the pure in heart."</p> + +<p class="quotsig5"> +(<i>Signed</i>) <span class="smcap">A.K. Cook</span>.<br /> +</p> + + +<p>I had looked forward myself to a great career for him: he had so many +qualities to ensure success: a sharp, keen mind, which proved its +literary quality also at Oxford, an unfailing earnestness and high +purpose and a white character: no one could deny the brilliance and +the steadiness of his gifts.</p> + +<p class="quotsig5"> +(<i>Signed</i>) <span class="smcap">M.J. Rendall</span>.<br /> +</p> + + +<p>I have just received the "Wykehamist War Roll" and <i>The Wykehamist</i> +and in it find the sad news of your boy. I did not know definite news +had been received and was still hoping. May I add my letter of +sympathy to the many you will have had from all his friends, for +though sympathy does not do much good it does sometimes help a little +I believe, and say how very, very much I feel for you and Lady +Selborne in your loss. He was my senior prefect my first year at +"Cook's," and there never was a kinder, fairer and more liked prefect +by the small boys all the time I was there, and indeed I think I have +never met a better fellow anywhere.</p> + +<p class="quotsig5"> +(<i>Signed</i>) <span class="smcap">F. Luttman-Johnson</span>.<br /> +</p> +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_134" id="Page_134">[134]</a></span></p> + + +<p>I have only just learned from the announcement in to-day's papers that +you have no longer any ground for hoping against hope. I did not mean +to write to you, but the sense of the loss and of how England will +miss him in the years to come has been so strongly in my mind all day +that I thought perhaps you would not mind my trying to put it into +words. I did not see very much of him, but I have never forgotten the +first impression of him that I got as external examiner at Winchester, +when he was in Sixth Book and how I felt he was marked out for big +work, and I had always looked forward to getting to know him better. +It makes one feel very, very old when those on whom one relied to +carry on one's work and ideas are taken. But it is a happiness—or at +least a sort of shining consolation—to think that one will always +remember him as radiantly young. I have lost so many pupils who will +never grow up and always be just pupils.</p> + +<p>Please do not think of replying and pardon this intrusion.</p> + +<p class="quotsig5"> +(<i>Signed</i>) <span class="smcap">A. Zimmern</span>.<br /> +</p> + + +<p>Bobby was gold all through—for head and heart one in a million. Of +all the undergraduates I have known at Oxford during my twenty years +of work there, he struck me as most certain by reason of his breadth +and sobriety of judgment, intellectual force and sweetness of +disposition to exercise a commanding influence for good in the public +affairs of the country. Everyone admired and liked him and I know that +his influence among his contemporaries, an influence exercised very +quietly and unobtrusively, was quite exceptional from the very first.</p> + +<p class="quotsig5"> +(<i>Signed</i>) <span class="smcap">Herbert Fisher</span>.<br /> +</p> + + +<p>Those of us who knew Bobby at Univ. and saw him afterwards in London +knew that one way or another he would give his life to the country. +The war has only determined the manner of his giving and made the life +much shorter, but his memory the more abiding.</p> + +<p class="quotsig5"> +(<i>Signed</i>) <span class="smcap">Alec Paterson</span>, <i>2nd Lieut</i>.<br /> +</p> + + + + + + <hr style='width: 60%;' /> + + + + + + + +<pre> + + + + + +End of Project Gutenberg's Letters from Mesopotamia, by Robert Palmer + +*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK LETTERS FROM MESOPOTAMIA *** + +***** This file should be named 17584-h.htm or 17584-h.zip ***** +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: + http://www.gutenberg.org/1/7/5/8/17584/ + +Produced by David Clarke, Sankar Viswanathan, and the +Online Distributed Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net +(This file was produced from images generously made +available by The Internet Archive/Canadian Libraries) + + +Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions +will be renamed. + +Creating the works from public domain print editions means that no +one owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation +(and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without +permission and without paying copyright royalties. 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You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + + +Title: Letters from Mesopotamia + +Author: Robert Palmer + +Release Date: January 23, 2006 [EBook #17584] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ASCII + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK LETTERS FROM MESOPOTAMIA *** + + + + +Produced by David Clarke, Sankar Viswanathan, and the +Online Distributed Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net +(This file was produced from images generously made +available by The Internet Archive/Canadian Libraries) + + + + + + + + + + LETTERS FROM MESOPOTAMIA + + + IN 1915 AND JANUARY, 1916, + FROM ROBERT PALMER, WHO + WAS KILLED IN THE BATTLE OF + UM EL HANNAH, JUNE 21, 1916 + AGED 27 YEARS + + + + _PRINTED FOR PRIVATE CIRCULATION ONLY_ + + * * * * * + + _He went with a draft from the 6th Hants to reinforce the + 4th Hants. The 6th Hants had been in India since November, + 1914._ + + * * * * * + + + War deemed he hateful, for therein he saw + Passions unloosed in licence, which in man + Are the most evil, a false witness to + The faith of Christ. For when by settled plan, + To gratify the lustings of the few, + The peoples march to battle, then, the law + + Of love forgotten, men come out to kill + Their brothers in a hateless strife, nor know + The cause wherefor they fight, except that they + Whom they as rulers own, do bid them so. + And thus his heart was heavy on the day + That war burst forth. He felt that men could ill + + Afford to travel back along the years + That they had mounted, toiling, stage by stage-- + --A year he was to India's plains assigned + Nor heard the spite of rifles, nor the rage + Of guns; yet pondered oft on what the mind + Experiences in war; what are the fears, + + And what those joys unknown that men do feel + In stress of fight. He saw how great a test + Of manhood is a stubborn war, which draws + Out all that's worst in men or all that's best: + Their fiercest brutal passions from all laws + Set free, men burn and plunder, rape and steal; + + Or all their human strength of love cries out + Against such suffering. And so he came + In time to wish that he might thus be tried, + Partly to know himself, partly from shame + That others with less faith had gladly died, + While he in peace and ease had cast a doubt, + + Not on his faith, but on his strength to bear + So great a trial. Soon it was his fate + To test himself; and with the facts of war + So clear before him he could feel no hate, + No passion was aroused by what he saw, + But only pity. And he put all fear + + Away from him, terming it the offspring + Of an unruly mind. Like some strong man + Whom pygmies in his sleep have bound with threads + Of twisted cobweb, and he to their plan + Is captive while he sleeps, but quickly shreds + His bonds when he awakes and sees the thing + + That they have bound him with. His faith and will + Purged all evil passions from his mind, + And left there one great overmastering love + For all his fellows. War taught him to find + That peace, for which at other times he strove + In vain, and new-found friendship did fulfil + + His thoughts with happiness. Such was the soul + That he perfected, ready for the call + Of his dear Master (should it to him come), + Scornful of death's terrors, yet withal + Loath to leave this life, while still was some + Part of the work he dreamed undone, his goal + + As yet unreached. There was for such an one + A different work among those given, + Who've crossed the border of eternity + In youthful heedlessness,--as unshriven + Naked souls joined the great fraternity + O' the dead, while yet their life was just begun ... + + And so he went from us unto his task, + For all our life is as it were a mask + That lifteth at our death, and death is birth + To higher things than are upon this earth. + + L.P. + + * * * * * + + +FLASHMAN'S HOTEL, +RAWAL PINDI. +_April 25th, 1915._ + +TO HIS MOTHER. + +They are calling for volunteers from Territorial battalions to fill +gaps in the Persian Gulf--one subaltern, one sergeant, and thirty men +from each battalion. So far they have asked the Devons, Cornwalls, +Dorsets, Somersets and East Surreys, but not the Hampshires. So I +suppose they are going to reserve us for feeding the 4th Hants in case +they want casualties replaced later on. Even if they come to us, I +don't think they are likely to take me or Luly, because in every case +they are taking the senior subaltern: and that is a position which I +am skipping by being promoted along with the three others: and Luly is +a long way down the list. But of course I shall volunteer, as there is +no adequate reason not to; so I thought you would like to know, only +you mustn't worry, as the chance of my going is exceedingly remote: +but I like to tell you everything that happens. + + * * * * * + +Four months after he wrote this, in August, 1915, Robert was on leave +at Naini Tal, with Purefoy Causton, a brother officer. + + * * * * * + + +METROPOLE HOTEL, +NAINI TAL. + +_August 3rd_, 1915. + +TO HIS MOTHER. + +It has been extremely wet since I last wrote. On Saturday we could do +nothing except laze indoors and play billiards and Friday was the +same, with a dull dinner-party at the end of it. It was very nice and +cool though, and I enjoyed those two days as much as any. + +On Sunday we left Government House in order to be with Guy Coles +during his three days' leave. + +It rained all the morning: we went to Church at a spikey little chapel +just outside Government House gate. It cleared about noon and we +walked down to the Brewery, about three miles to meet Guy. When he +arrived we had lunch there and then got ponies. + +We had arranged to take Guy straight to a picnic with a nice Mrs. +Willmott of Agra, who comes here for the hot weather. So we rode up +past the lake and to the very top of Agarpatta, one of the humps on +the rim of hills. It took us over two hours, and the mist settled in +just as we arrived, about 5, so we picnicked chillily on a misty +mountain-top; but Mrs. Willmott and her sister are exceptionally nice +people, so we all enjoyed it. They have two small children and a lady +nurse for them. I never met one before, but it is quite a sensible +plan out here. + +We only got back to this Hotel just before dinner, and there I found a +wire from Major Wyatt asking me if I would command a draft and take it +to the 4th Hants in the Persian Gulf. This is the exact fulfilment of +the calculation I wrote to you in April, but it came as a surprise at +the moment. I was more excited than either pleased or depressed. I +don't hanker after fighting, and I would, of course, have preferred to +go with the regiment and not as a draft. But now that I'm in for it, +the interest of doing something after all these months of hanging +about, and in particular the responsibility of looking after the draft +on the way, seems likely to absorb all other feelings. What appeals to +me most is the purely unmilitary prospect of being able to protect the +men, to some extent, from the, I'm sure, largely preventible sickness +there has been in the P.G. The only remark that ever made me feel a +sudden desire to go to any front was when O'Connor at Lahore told me +(quite untruly as it turned out) that "the Hampshires are dying like +flies at Basra." As a matter of fact, they only had ten deaths, but a +great deal of sickness, and I do enjoy the prospect of trying to be +efficient about that. As for fighting, it doesn't look as if there +would be much, whereon Purefoy greatly commiserates me; but if that is +the only privation I shan't complain! + +I'm afraid your lively imagination will conjure up every kind of +horror, and that is the only thing that distresses me about going: but +clearly a tropical climate suits me better than most people, and I +will be very careful to avoid all unnecessary risks! both for your +peace of mind and also to keep the men up to the mark, to say nothing +of less exalted motives. + +I know no details at all yet. I am to return to Agra on Saturday, so I +shall only lose forty-eight hours of my most heavenly fortnight here. + +I got this wire Sunday evening and Purefoy sat up talking on my bed +till quite late as we had a lot to say to each other. + +_August 4th._ On Monday morning it was pouring harder than ever, +quite an inch to the hour. I walked across to the Telegraph Office and +answered the Major's wire, and got wet through. After breakfast I +chartered a dandy and waded through the deluge to the station +hospital, where the M.O. passed me as sound, without a spark of +interest in any of my minor ailments. I then proceeded to the local +chemist and had my medicine-case filled up, and secured an extra +supply of perchloride. There is no Poisons Act here and you can buy +perchloride as freely as pepper. My next visit was to the dentist. He +found two more decayed teeth and stopped them with incredible +rapidity. The climate is so mild that though I was pretty wet through +I never felt like catching a cold from being operated on. He was an +American with a lady assistant to hold one's mouth open! I never feel +sure that these dentists don't just drill a hole and then stop it: but +no doubt teeth decay extremely quickly out here. + +Then I went back to the Telegraph Office and cabled to Papa and got +back in time for lunch after the moistest morning I ever remember +being out in. + +This hotel is about the worst in the world, I should say, though there +are two in Naini reputed to be worse still. It takes in no newspaper, +has no writing-paper, only one apology for a sitting-room, and can't +supply one with fuel even for a fire. However, Moni Lal is resourceful +and we have survived three days of it. Luckily there is an excellent +custom here by which visitors belonging to another club, _e.g._, the +Agra Club can join the Naini Club temporarily for 1s. per day. So we +spent the afternoon and evening at the Club and I spiflicated both +Purefoy (giving him forty and two turns to my one) and Guy at +Billiards. + +On Tuesday (yesterday) we got up at 7.0 and went for a sail on the +lake. Guy is an expert at this difficult art and we circumnavigated +the place twice before breakfast with complete success and I learned +enough semi-nautical terms to justify the purchase of a yachting cap +should occasion arise. + +After breakfast we were even more strenuous and climbed up to +Government House to play golf. It came on to rain violently just as we +arrived, so we waited in the guard-room till it cleared, and then +played a particularly long but very agreeable 3-ball, in which I lost +to Guy on the last green but beat Purefoy three and one. We got back +to lunch at about 3.15. + +As if this wasn't enough I sallied out again at 4.0 to play tennis at +the Willmotts, quite successfully, with a borrowed racquet, my own +having burst on introduction to the climate of this place. Mrs. W. +told me that there was a Chaplain, one Kirwan, here just back from the +Persian Gulf, so I resolved to pursue him. + +I finished up the day by dining P. and G. at the Club, and after +dinner Purefoy, by a succession of the most hirsute flukes, succeeded +in beating me by ten to his great delight. + +I went to bed quite tired, but this morning it was so lovely that I +revived and mounted a horse at 7.0 leaving the other two snoring. I +rode up the mountain. I was rewarded by a most glorious view of the +snows, one of the finest I have ever seen. Between me and them were +four or five ranges of lower hills, the deepest richest blue +conceivable, and many of their valleys were filled with shining seas +of rolling sunlit cloud. Against this foreground rose a quarter-circle +sweep of the snows, wreathed and garlanded with cloud wracks here and +there, but for the most part silhouetted sharply in the morning sun. +The grandest mass was in the centre: Nanda Devi, 25,600, which is the +highest mountain in the Empire, and Trisoul, over 22,000. There were +six or eight other peaks of over 20,000 ft. + +I got back to the Hotel for breakfast, and from 9.30 to 10.45 we +played tennis, and then changed hastily and went to Church for the War +Anniversary Service. The station turned out for this in unprecedented +numbers--churchgoing is not an Anglo-Indian habit--and there was no +seat to be had, so I sat on the floor. The Bishop of Lucknow, Foss's +uncle, preached. + +After the service I waylaid the Revd. Kirwan and found he was staying +with the Bishop, who immediately asked us to lunch. So Purefoy and I +went to lunch--Guy preferring to sail--and I extracted quite a lot of +useful information from K. Incidentally the Bishop showed me a letter +from Foss, who wrote from the apex of the Ypres salient. He isn't +enjoying it much, I'm afraid, but was quite well. + +When we left the Bishop, it was coming out so fine that we decided to +ride up and try again to see the snows. So up we rode, and the cloud +effects were lovely, both over the plains and among the mountains; but +they hid more than half the snows. + +We rode down again to Valino's, the nutty tea-shop here, where we had +reserved a table on the balcony. Guy was there before us and we sat +there till nearly seven listening to the band. We got back to dinner +where Purefoy had secured one of his innumerable lightning friends to +dine with us, and adjourned to the Club for billiards afterwards: +quite a full day. + +_Thursday: Government House._--Another busy day. It was fine again +this morning, so we all three rode up to Snow View and got an +absolutely perfect view: the really big snows were clear and +cloudless, while the lower slopes and hills and valleys were flooded +with broken seas of dazzling cloud. I put it second only to the +Darjeeling view. + +After breakfast Purefoy and I came up and played golf. Guy took fright +at the chance of being asked in to lunch here and went sailing again. +A shower made us late in starting, and we only got through twelve +holes, after many misfortunes. I ended dormy five. + +Lady M. had been in bed ever since we left, but is up to-day, looking +rather ill still. + +To-night there is a dinner party. + +_Friday._--The dinner party was uneventful. I sat next a Mrs. ----, +one of the silliest females I ever struck. Her only noteworthy remark +was that of course the Germans were well equipped for the War as they +had been preparing for it for arcades and arcades. + +It is wet again to-day. No mail has arrived. I start for Agra after +lunch. I have had a delicious holiday. My address now will be: + +"Attached 1/4 Hants Regt., +I.E.F. 'D,' c/o India Office, S.W." + +and post a day early. + + * * * * * + + +NAINI TAL CLUB. + +_August 4th, 1915._ + +To N.B. + +I got a telegram on Sunday asking me to take out a draft to the 4th +Hants, in the Persian Gulf, so my address till further notice will be +"I.E.F. 'D,' c/o India Office, S.W." I thought I should hate the idea +of going to the P.G., but now that it's come along I'm getting rather +keen on going. We have been kicking our heels so long while everyone +else has been slaving away at the front, that one longs to be doing +something tangible and active. The P.G. is not exactly the spot one +would select for a pleasure trip: but on the other hand there is +likely to be more to do there that is more in my line than the purely +military side of the business. The main trouble there is sickness and +I'm sure a lot of it is preventible: and though in a battle I should +be sure to take the wrong turn and land my detachment in some +impossible place, I don't feel it so beyond me to remind them to boil +their water and wear their helmets. + +I don't know when I'm off, having heard nothing but the bare telegram. +They don't want me back in Agra till Saturday, so I shall almost +finish my full fortnight's leave. It has been heavenly here and the +memory of it will be a joy for months to come. The forests are +lovelier than ever: the ferns which clothe the trees are now full +grown, and pale purple orchids spangle the undergrowth. Wild dahlias +run riot in every open bank, and the gardens are brilliant with lilies +and cannas. + +It rained with drenching persistence for three days, but the last two +have been lovely. I got up early this morning, rode up a mountain and +saw the most superb view of the snows. The brown hills between me and +the snows had their valleys full of rolling white clouds, and the +result was a study in deepest blue and purest white, more wonderful I +think than anything I've seen. + +The whole station turned out to the Anniversary Service to-day. It is +dreadful to think that we've all been denying our Christianity for a +whole year and are likely to go on doing so for another. How our +Lord's heart must bleed for us! It appals me to think of it. + + * * * * * + + +GOVERNMENT HOUSE, + +NAINI TAL. + +_August 5th, 1915._ + +TO HIS FATHER. + +I have written all the news to Mamma this week. The chief item from my +point of view is that, as I cabled to you, I am to take a draft from +our two Agra Double Coys. to reinforce the 4th Hants, who are now at +Nasiriya on the Euphrates. I got the wire asking me to do this on +Sunday, but have heard no details since (this is Thursday night), so I +presume they know nothing more at Agra or the Major or Luly would +surely have written. + +On the other hand the Major wants me back in Agra by Saturday, so I +suppose I shall be starting some time next week, but unless I hear +before posting this I can tell you nothing of the strength or +composition of the draft or the date of sailing. + +Everyone insists on ([Greek: alpha]) congratulating me for going to +a front and ([Greek: beta]) condoling that it is the P.G. I don't +really agree with either sentiment. I'm afraid I regard all war jobs +as nasty, and the more warlike the nastier, but I do think one ought +to taste the same cup as all one's friends are drinking, and if I am +to go to any front I would as soon go to the P.G. as anywhere. It will +be a new part of the world to me and very interesting. The only bore +is being separated from the regiment. + +_Friday._--I had a talk on Wednesday with a Chaplain just returned +from Basra, and he told me we're likely to stand fast now holding the +line Nasiriya-Awaz (or some such place on the Tigris). An advance on +Baghdad is impossible without two more divisions, because of the +length of communications. There is nothing to be gained by advancing +to any intermediate point. The only reason we went as far as Nasiriya +was that it was the base of the army we beat at Shaiba, and they had +reformed there in sufficient strength to be worth attacking. This is +not thought likely to happen again, as the Dardanelles will +increasingly absorb all Turkey's resources. + +It seems to me that what is wanted here pre-eminently is thinking +ahead. The moment the war stops unprecedented clamours will begin, and +only a Government which knows its aim and has thought out its method +can deal with them. It seems to me, though my judgment is fearfully +hampered by my inability to get at any comprehensive statement of most +of the relevant facts, that the aim may be fairly simply defined, as +the training of India to self-government within the Empire, combined +with its good administration in trust meanwhile. That gives you a +clear criterion--India's welfare, not British interests, and fixes the +limit of the employment of Indians as the maximum consistent with good +government. + +The _method_ is of course far more difficult and requires far more +knowledge of the facts than I possess. But I should set to work at it +on these lines:-- + +1. Certain qualities need to be developed, responsibility, public +spirit, self-respect and so on. This should be aimed at (i) by our own +example and teaching, (ii) by a drastic reform of higher education. + +2. The barbarisms of the masses must be attacked. This can only be +done by a scheme of universal education. + +3. The material level of civilisation should be raised. This means +agricultural and industrial development, in which technical education +would play a large part. + +Therefore, your method may be summed up in two words, sympathy and +education. The first is mainly, of course, a personal question. +Therefore, preserve at all costs a high standard of _personnel_ for +I.C.S. Try to get imaginative men at the top. Let all ranks understand +from the outset the aim they have to work for, and let Indians know +it. Above all let every official act prove it, confidence is a plant +of slow and tender growth here. Beware of phrases and western formulae; +probably the benevolent autocrat, whether English or Indian, will +always govern better than a committee or an assembly. + +The second--education--is a question of _L s. d._ The aim should be a +far-sighted and comprehensive scheme. A great effort to get the +adequate funds should be made and a scheme capable of ready expansion +started. Reform of higher education will be very unpopular, but should +be firmly and thoroughly carried out; it ought not to cost much. The +bulk of the money at first should go to technical education and the +encouragement of agriculture and industry. This will be remunerative, +by increasing the country's wealth. Elementary education would have to +begin by supplying schools where asked for, at a certain rate. From +this they would aim at making it gradually universal, then free, then +compulsory. But that will be many years hence inevitably. + +I should work at a policy on these lines: announce it, invite Indian +co-operation, and meanwhile deal very firmly with all forms of +disorder. + + * * * * * + + +AGRA. + +_August 12th, 1915._ + +To R.K. + +This last list is almost more than I can bear. It is hardly possible +to think of poor dear Gilbert as killed. Do let me know how Foss is +and how he gets on. Your letters are such a joy, and they give me news +I get from nobody else. + +I'm afraid my share in the correspondence may become even less than +before, as I shall henceforth be on more than nominally active service +and under the eye of the censor. + +Luly is clamouring for lunch, which we eat at 11, and I shall have no +peace afterwards till the ship reaches a landlocked bit of Gulf: so +goodbye for the present. + + * * * * * + + +"S.S. VARSOVA," + +BOMBAY. + +_August 16th, 1915._ + +TO HIS MOTHER. + +I shall just have time to write you a line about our journey so far, +and may be able to write to Papa later. + +They gave me a very nice farewell dinner on Friday at Agra. Raju came +and sat next me and it all went off very well. Almost the whole +station turned up. After dinner we sat outside, playing the +gramophone, etc. Swift, seconded by Luly and Purefoy, made a +determined effort to make me tight by standing me drinks and secretly +instructing the Khitmagar to make them extra strong; but I was not +quite green enough for that and always managed to exchange drinks at +the last moment with the result that Swift got pretty tight and I +didn't. + +I sat in the bungalow talking to Purefoy till 2, and was up again at +6. From 6 till 11 I was busy with seeing to things and hardly had a +moment's peace. We paraded at 10.45 and marched to the station, with +the Punjabis band leading us. It was excessively warm for marching +orders--96 deg. in the shade--and the mile to the station was quite +enough. There was a great crowd on the platform and everyone was very +nice and gave us a splendid send-off. I was too busy all the time to +feel at all depressed at leaving Luly and Purefoy, which I had rather +feared I should. Partings are, I think, much more trying in the +prospect than at the actual moment, because beforehand the parting +fills one's imagination, whereas at the moment one's hopes of meeting +again come into active play. Anyway, I hadn't time to think much about +it then, and I was already very sleepy. We started at 12.5. + +At 1.30 Sergt. Pragnell came running along to say that L/C. Burgess was +taken very bad; so I went along, with the Eurasian Assistant-Surgeon, +who was travelling with us to Bombay. (These Eurasian A.-S.'s are far +more competent than the British R.A.M.C. officers, in my experience.) We +found Burgess with all the symptoms of heat-stroke, delirium and red +face and hot dry skin. A thermometer under his armpit, after half a +minute, showed a temperature of 106 deg.. So the A.S. had all his clothes +removed and laid him on a bench in the draught and dabbled him gently +with water all over from the water-bottles. Apparently in these cases +there are two dangers, either of which proves fatal if not counteracted: +(1) the excessive temperature of the body. This rises very rapidly. In +another half an hour it would have been 109 deg., and 110 deg. is generally +fatal. This he reduced, by the sponging and evaporation, to about 100 deg. +in the course of an hour. But the delirium continued, because (2) the +original irritation sends a rush of blood to the head, causing acute +congestion, which if it continues produces apoplexy. To prevent this we +wanted ice, and I had wired on to Gwalior for some, but that was three +hours ahead. Luckily at about 3 we halted to let the mail pass, and a +railway official suggested stopping it. This we did, I got some ice +which soon relieved the situation. But of course we couldn't take poor +Burgess with us, so we wired for an ambulance to meet us at Jhansi, and +put him ashore. + +Meanwhile at Gwalior a pleasant surprise was in store. We had "train +rations" on the usual measly Indian scale, but for tea on Saturday we +were to rely on tea provided by Scindia at Gwalior. Happily a +Maharajah's ideas of tea are superior to a Quartermaster's, and this +is what we had for fifty men! Unlimited tea, with sugar, twenty-five +tinned cheeses, fifty tins of sausages and twenty-five 2lb. tins of +Marie biscuits! This feed tinted the rest of the journey rose-colour. + +The only other incident was the loss by one of the men of his +haversack, which he dropped out of window. + +Yesterday, Sunday, was much cooler. When I woke at Bhopal it was only +76 deg. and it only got even as high as 89 deg. for about half-an-hour. We ran +into rain in the afternoon. + +We reached Bhusawal at 7 p.m. and had to wait four hours to be picked +up by the Nagpur mail. In the refreshment room I met a Terrier gunner +officer who was P.M.C. of the Mess at Barrackpore when we messed there +in December. He was just back from a course at Mhow and had been +positively told by the Staff Officers there that his and most other T. +batteries were to be sent back to Europe in a month's time: and +moreover that a whole division of Ts. was going to the Persian Gulf +and another to E. Africa. + +The air is full of such rumours. Here the Embarkation N.C.O. says +78,000 K's have already sailed to relieve us. But the mere number of +the rumours rather discredits them. And the fact of their using us for +drafts to P.G. seems to show they don't intend moving the units. + +We left Bhusawal at midnight and arrived here at 9.15 without +incident. Bombay is its usual mild and steamy self, an unchanging 86 deg., +which seemed hot in November, but quite decently cool now. + +This boat is, from the officers' point of view, far more attractive +than the "Ultonia." Being a B.I. boat it is properly equipped for the +tropics and has good 1st class accommodation. She is about 6,000 tons. +The men are, I'm afraid, rather crowded. There will be 1,000 on board +when complete. We pick up some at Karachi. We sail to-morrow morning. +If not too sea-sick I will write to Papa and post it at Karachi. + +I am going out now to do a little shopping and get my hair cut, and I +shall post this in the town. + +P.S.--The whole country is deliciously green now, not a brown patch +except the freshest ploughed pieces, and the rivers no longer beggarly +trickles in a waste of rubble, but pretty pastoral streams with +luxuriant banks. + + * * * * * + + +"S.S. VARSOVA," + +_August 21st_,1915. + +To N.B. + +I don't know when I shall next get one of your letters. It will have +to follow me painfully round _via_ Agra. And if I post this at Basra, +it will have to go back to Bombay before starting for England; though +people here are already talking of the time when we shall have +finished the Baghdad Railway and letters come by rail from England to +Basra in about 5 days. + +Meanwhile as I have no letters of your's to answer and no news to +discuss, I will try and give you an account of myself and my fifty +veterans since I last wrote. + +The fifty just form a platoon. You see, my retromotion goes on apace. +A Company Commander from August to April, a Company Second in Command +from May to August, and now a platoon Commander. I shall find the +stage of Sergeant harder still to live up to if it comes to that. + +Twenty-five are from 'D' Double Company; but only seven of these are +from my own original lambs of 'F': because they wouldn't take anyone +under twenty-three, and as I have mentioned before, I think, very few +of 'F' have qualified for pensions. As it is, two of the seven gave +false ages. The other twenty-five are from a Portsmouth +Company--townees mostly, and to me less attractive than the village +genius: but I daresay we shall get on all right. + +Our start wasn't altogether auspicious--in fact taking a draft across +the middle East is nearly as difficult to accomplish without loss as +taking luggage across Scotland. We had a very good send-off, and all +that--concert, dinner, band, crowd on the platform and all the moral +alcohol appropriate to such occasions. It was a week ago, to-day, when +we left Agra, and Agra climate was in its top form, 96 deg. in the shade +and stuffy at that. So you can imagine that it was not only our +spirits that were ardent after a mile's march to the station in +marching order at noon. An hour after the train had started one of my +lance-corporals collapsed with heat-stroke. The first-aid treatment by +the Eurasian M.O. travelling with us was a most instructive object +lesson. The great thing is to be in time. We were summoned within ten +minutes of the man's being taken ill. His temperature was already +106 deg.: the M.O. said that in another half-hour it would have been 109 deg. +and in an hour he would probably have been dead. We stripped him +stark, laid him in the full draught, and sponged him so as to produce +constant evaporation: held up the Punjab mail and got 22lbs. of ice to +put under his head: and so pulled him round in less than two hours. We +had to leave him at Jhansi though, and proceeded to Bombay forty-nine +strong. + +The ten-little-nigger-boy process continued at Bombay. We arrived on +board on Monday morning: and though orders were formally issued that +nobody was to leave the docks without a pass, no attempt was made to +prevent the men spending the day in the town, which they all did. + +On the Tuesday morning the crew told the men we should not be sailing +till Wednesday: and accordingly a lot of them went shopping again. But +for once in a way the ship actually sailed at the appointed time, 11 +a.m. on Tuesday, and five of my gallant band were left behind. However +they were collected by the Embarkation Authorities, and together with +their fellow-victims of nautical inaccuracy from the other drafts were +sent up by special train to Karachi, where they rejoined us: the C.O. +according them a most unsympathetic reception, and sentencing them all +(rather superfluously) to Confinement to Barracks for the remainder of +the voyage. + +There are no fewer than forty-one units on board this ship. They include +drafts from almost every Territorial Battalion in India, convalescents +rejoining the regular battalions already in Mesopotamia, and various +engineers and gunners. The ship is grossly overcrowded--1,200 on board +an ordinary 6,000 ton liner. The officers are very well off, though. She +is a bran-new boat, built for this very run (in anticipation of the +Baghdad Railway), with big airy cabins and all the latest improvements +in lights, fans and punkahs. There is nobody I know on board and though +they are quite a pleasant lot they don't call for special comment. The +C.O. is a genial major of the Norfolks. He did some star turns the first +two days. There was a heavy monsoon swell on, and the boat rolled so, +you could hardly stand up. However the Major, undaunted, paraded about a +score of men who had squeaked on to the ship after the roll-call at +Bombay. These were solemnly drawn up in a line as defaulters and +magisterially called to attention to receive judgment. On coming to +attention they over-balanced with the regularity of ninepins in a row: +and after three attempts the major had to harangue them standing +(nominally) at ease. Even so, his admonition was rather impaired by his +suddenly sitting down on the deck, and having to leave rather hurriedly +for his cabin before the peroration was complete. + +We are just going through the Straits of Ormuz now: we saw the coast +of Persia on and off all to-day. We spent Thursday, by the bye, at +Karachi, an awful hole it looks--treeless and waterless and very much +the modern port. It reminds one strongly of Port Said, though not +_quite_ so repulsive: and there is a touch of Suez thrown in. + +So far it has been quite cool, 84 to 86 deg.: but we shall be beyond the +cloud-zone to-morrow and right inside the Gulf, so I expect it will +get hot now. + +We expect to reach Basra on Tuesday evening. After that our movements +are wholly unknown to us. + +The casualty lists just before we left were so dreadful that I am +rather dreading the moment when we see the next batch. + + * * * * * + + +"H.M.S. VARSOVA," +OFF FARS IS. + +_August_ 22, 1915. + +To R.K. + +It is too warm to be facetious, and I have no letter of yours to +answer: so you will have to put up with a bald narrative of our doings +since I last wrote. + +They gave us various binges at Agra before we left. A concerted effort +to make me tight failed completely: in fact of the plotters it could +be said that in the same bet that they made privily were their feet +taken. + +We left on Saturday, 15th: fifty rank and file and myself. One had a +heat-stroke almost as soon as the train had started (result of +marching to the station at noon in marching order and a temperature of +96 deg.) and we had an exciting hour in keeping his temperature below 109 deg. +till we met the mail and could get some ice. We succeeded all right +and sent him safely to hospital at Jhansi. The rest of the journey was +cooler and uneventful. + +We reached Bombay at 9.15 a.m. on Monday, and went straight on board. +The ship did not sail till next day and when it did they contrived to +leave thirty-two men behind, including five of mine. + +This is a new and pleasant boat, almost 6,000 tons and fitted up with +every contrivance for mitigating heat. But there are far too many +persons on board: nearly 1,200: and as they simply can't breathe +between decks, the decks are as crowded as a pilgrim ship's. There are +over forty units represented: including drafts from about twenty-eight +T.F. battalions. + +We had the devil of a swell the first two days, though luckily we hit +off a break in the monsoon. Anyway, Mothersibb preserved me from +sea-sickness: but in every other respect I felt extremely unwell. We +reached Karachi on the Thursday morning and stayed there all day. It +is a vile spot, combining the architectural features of a dock with +the natural amenities of a desert. The only decent spot was a Zoo and +even that had a generally super-heated air. + +The thirty-two lost sheep turned up at Karachi, having been forwarded +by special train from Bombay. No fatted calf was killed for them: in +fact they all got fourteen days C.B. and three days pay forfeited; +though, as Dr. Johnson observed, the sea renders the C.B. part rather +otiose. + +All Friday we coasted along Baluchistan and Persia. It is surprising +how big a country Persia is: it began on Friday and goes right up into +Europe. On Saturday we reached the Straits of Ormuz and to-day +(Sunday) we are well inside the Gulf, as the mention of Fars doubtless +conveyed to you. + +It is getting pronouncedly hotter every hour. It was a quarter to one +when I began this letter and is now half-past twelve, which is the +kind of thing that is continually happening. Anyway the bugle for +lunch has just gone, and it is 96 deg. in my cabin. I have spent the +morning in alternate bouts of bridge and Illingworth on Divine +Immanence: I won Rs three at the former: but I feel my brain is hardly +capable of further coherent composition until nourishment has been +taken. So goodbye for the present. It will take ages for this to reach +you. + + * * * * * + + +"P.S.S. KARADENIZ," +BASRA. + +_Friday, August 27th_, 1915. + +TO HIS MOTHER. + +I wrote to Papa from just outside the bar, which is a mud-bank across +the head of the Gulf, about seventeen miles outside Fao. We anchored +there to await high tide, and crossed on Tuesday morning. + +Fao is about as unimpressive a place as I've seen. The river is over a +mile wide there, but the place is absolutely featureless. In fact all +the way up it is the same. The surrounding country is as flush with +the river as if it had been planed down to it. On either side runs a +belt of date palms about half a mile wide, but these are seldom worth +looking at, being mostly low and shrubby, like an overgrown market +garden. + +Beyond that was howling desert, not even picturesquely sandy, but a +dried up marsh overblown with dust, like the foreshore of a third-rate +port. The only relief to the landscape was when we passed tributaries +and creeks, each palm-fringed like the river. Otherwise the only +notable sights were the Anglo Persian Oil Works, which cover over a +hundred acres and raised an interesting question of comparative +ugliness with man and nature in competition, and a large steamer sunk +by the Turks to block the channel and, needless to add, not blocking +it. + +There was a stiff, warm wind off the desert, hazing the air with dust +and my cabin temperature was 100 deg.. Altogether it was rather a +depressing entree, since amply atoned for so far as Nature is +concerned. + +We reached Basra about 2 p.m. and anchored in midstream, the river +being eight hundred yards or so wide here. The city of Basra is about +three miles away, up a creek, but on the river there is a port and +native town called Ashar. + +The scene on the river is most attractive, especially at sunrise and +sunset. The banks rise about ten feet from the water: the date palms +are large and columnar; and since there is a whole series of creeks, +parallel and intersecting--they are the highways and byeways of the +place--the whole area is afforested and the wharves and bazaars are +embowered in date groves. The river front and the main creeks are +crowded with picturesque craft, the two main types being a large high +prowed barge, just what I picture to have taken King Arthur at his +Passing, but here put to the prosaic uses of heavy transport and +called a mahila; and a long darting craft which can be paddled or +punted and combines the speed of a canoe with the grace of a gondola +and is called, though why I can't conceive, a bhellum. Some of the +barges are masted and carry a huge and lovely sail, but the ones in +use for I.E.F.D. are propelled by little tugs attached to their sides +and quite invisible from beyond, so that the speeding barges seem +magically self-moving. + +Ashore one wanders along raised dykes through a seemingly endless +forest of pillared date palms, among which pools and creeks add +greatly to the beauty, though an eyesore to the hygienist. The date +crop is just ripe and ripening, and the golden clusters are immense +and must yield a great many hundred dates to the tree. When one +reaches the native city the streets are unmistakably un-Indian, and +strongly reminiscent of the bazaar scene in Kismet. This is especially +true of the main bazaar, which is a winding arcade half a mile long, +roofed and lined with shops, thronged with men. One sees far fewer +women than in India, and those mostly veiled and in black, while the +men wear long robes and cloakes and scarves on their heads bound with +coils of wool worn garland-wise, as one sees in Biblical pictures. +They seem friendly, or rather wholly indifferent to one, and I felt at +times I might be invisible and watching an Arabian Nights' story for +all the notice they took of me. By the way, I want you to send me a +portable edition of the Arabian Nights as my next book, please. + +But the most fascinating sight of all is Ashar Creek, the main +thoroughfare, as crowded with boats as Henley at a regatta. The creek +runs between brick embankments, on which stand a series of Arabian +cafes, thronged with conversational slow moving men who sit there +smoking and drinking coffee by the thousand. + +It is a wonderful picture from the wooden bridge with the minaret of a +mosque and the tops of the tallest date palms for a background. + +So much for Ashar: I've not seen Basra city yet. We're here till +Sunday probably, awaiting our river boats. There were not enough +available to take us all up on Wednesday, so those who are for the +front line went first. They have gone to a spot beyond Amara, +two-thirds of the way to Kut-al-Amara, which is where the Shatt-al-Hai +joins the Tigris. The Shatt-al-Hai is a stream running from the Tigris +at K-al-A to the Euphrates at Nasria, and that line is our objective. +There is likely to be a stiff fight for the K-al-A, they say, rather +to my surprise. But the 4th Hants has been moved to Amara and put on +line of communication for the present; so our thirst for bloodshed is +not likely to be gratified. + +We have moved across to this ship while awaiting our river boat. They +use ships here as barracks and hotels, very sensibly seeing that there +are none fit for habitation on land; while being about 400 yards from +either bank we are practically free from mosquitoes. But this +particular ship is decidedly less desirable for residential purposes +than the Varsova. It was originally a German boat and was sold to the +Turks to be used for a pilgrim ship to Mecca; and I can only conclude +either that the Turkish ideas of comfort are very different to ours or +that the pilgrimage has a marked element of asceticism. + +But I am quite ready to put up with the amenities of a Turkish pilgrim +ship. What does try me is the murderous folly of military authorities. +They wouldn't let us take our spine-pads from Agra, because we should +be issued with them here. They have none here and have no idea when +they will get any. Incidentally, no one was expecting our arrival +here, least of all the 4th Hants. Everyone says a spine-pad is a +necessary precaution here, so I am having fifty made and shall try and +make the Colonel pay for them. Every sensible Colonel made his draft +stick to theirs; but our's wouldn't let us take them, because Noah +never wore one. + +To continue the chapter of incredible muddles; the 780 who went off on +Wednesday were embarked on their river-boat--packed like herrings--at +9 a.m. and never got started till 4 p.m. A bright performance, but +nothing to our little move. This boat is 600 yards from the Varsova, +and they had every hour in the twenty-four to choose from for the +move. First they selected 2 p.m. Wednesday as an appropriate hour! It +was 100 deg. in the shade by 1 p.m., so the prospect was not alluring. At +1.30 the order was washed out and for the rest of the day no further +orders could be got for love or money. + +We were still in suspense yesterday morning, till at 8.30--just about +the latest time for completing a morning movement--two huge barges +appeared with orders to embark on them at 10! Not only that, but +although there are scores of straw-roofed barges about, these two were +as open as row boats, and in fact exactly like giant row boats. To +complete the first situation, the S. and S. had not been apprised of +the postponement, and so there was no food for the men on board. +Consequently they had to load kits, etc., and embark on empty +stomachs. + +Well, hungry but punctual, we embarked at 10 a.m. It was 102 deg. in my +cabin, so you can imagine what the heat and glare of 150 men in an +open barge was. Having got us into this enviable receptacle, they +proceeded to think of all the delaying little trifles which might have +been thought of any time that morning. One way and another they +managed to waste three-quarters of an hour before we started. The +journey took six minutes or so. Getting alongside this ship took +another half hour, the delay mainly due to Arab incompetence this +time. Then came disembarking, unloading kits and all the odd jobs of +moving units--which all had to be done in a furnace-like heat by men +who had had no food for twenty hours. To crown it all, the people on +board here had assumed we should breakfast before starting and not a +scrap of food was ready. The poor men finally got some food at 2 p.m. +after a twenty-two hours fast and three hours herded or working in a +temperature of about 140 deg.. Nobody could complain of such an ordeal if +we'd been defending Lucknow or attacking Shaiba, but to put such a +strain on the men's health--newly arrived and with no pads or glasses +or shades--gratuitously and merely by dint of sheer hard muddling--is +infuriating to me and criminal in the authorities--a series of +scatter-brained nincompoops about fit to look after a cocker-spaniel +between them. + +Considering what they went through, I think our draft came off lightly +with three cases of heat-stroke. Luckily the object lesson in the train +and my sermons thereon have borne fruit, and the men acted promptly +and sensibly as soon as the patients got bad. Two began to feel ill on +the barge and the third became delirious quite suddenly a few minutes +after we got on board here. When I arrived on the scene they had +already got him stripped and soused, though in the stuffy 'tween +decks. I got him up on deck (it was stuffy enough there) and we got +ice, and thanks to their promptness, he was only violent for about a +quarter of an hour and by the time my kit was reachable and I could +get my thermometer, an hour or so later, he was normal. There was no +M.O. on board, except a grotesque fat old Turk physician to the +Turkish prisoners, whose diagnosis was in Arabic and whose sole idea +of treatment was to continue feeling the patient's pulse (which he did +by holding his left foot) till we made him stop. + +The other two were gradual cases and being watered and iced in time +never became delirious; so we may get off without any permanent +casualties; but they have taken a most useful corporal and one private +to hospital, which almost certainly means leaving them behind on +Sunday. + +The other men were all pretty tired out and I think it does credit to +their constitutions they stood it so well. + +I, having my private spine-pad and glasses, was comparatively +comfortable, also I had had breakfast and didn't have to shift kits or +even my own luggage. I don't dislike even extreme heat nearly as much +as quite moderate cold. + +I gather it doesn't get so cold here as I thought. 37 deg. is the lowest +temperature I've heard vouched for. + +I haven't time nowadays to write many letters, so I'm afraid you must +ask kind aunts, etc., to be content with parts of this; I hope +_they'll_ go on writing to _me_ though. + + * * * * * + + +"P.S.S. KARA DEUIZ," +BASRA, + +To N.B. +_August 29, 1915._ + +I hope you will be indulgent if I write less regularly now: and by +indulgent I mean that you will go on writing to me, as I do enjoy your +letters so much. I expect I shall have slack times when there will be +plenty of leisure to write: but at others we are likely to be busy, +and you never can be sure of having the necessary facilities. And +personally I find my epistolary faculties collapse at about 100 deg. in +the shade. I wrote quite happily this morning till it got hot; and +only now (4.45) have I found it possible to resume. We get it 102 to +104 deg. every day from about noon to four, and it oppresses one much more +than at Agra as there is no escaping from it and flies are plentiful: +but about now a nice breeze springs up, and the evenings are fairly +pleasant. I thought we were leaving for Amarah to-day, so I told Mama +my letter to her would have to do all-round duty, which is mean, I +admit, but I had no day off till to-day. + +Not that I've been really busy, but I've been out a lot, partly +getting things and partly seeing the place. + +I've just heard I must go ashore with another sick man immediately +after evening service (the Bishop of Lahore is coming on board), so I +shall have to cut this measly screed very short. We load kits on our +river-boat at 7 a.m. to-morrow and start sometime afterwards for +Amarah. My letter to Mama will give you such news as there is. Since +writing it I've seen Basra city, which is disappointing, less +picturesque than Ashar: also the Base Hospital, which strikes me very +favourably, the first military hospital that has: Dum Dum wasn't bad. + +We have a lot of Turkish prisoners on board here, and the Government +is trying the experiment of letting them out on parole and paying them +Rs 10/- a week so long as they report themselves. It is a question +whether the result will be to cause the whole Turkish army to +surrender, or whether their desire to prolong the war will make the +released ones keep their parole a secret. I daresay it will end in a +compromise, half the army to surrender and the other half to receive +Rs 5/- a week from the surrendered ones to fight on to the bitter end. + +I must go and dress for Church parade. + + * * * * * + + +To P.C., _September, 1915._ + +"I believe that if I could choose a day of heavy fighting of any kind +I liked for my draft, I should choose to spend a day in trenches, +under heavy fire without being able to return it. The fine things of +war spring from your chance of being killed: the ugly things from your +chance of killing." + + * * * * * + + +_September, 1915._ + +TO THE SAME. + +"I wonder how long H---- 's 'delirious joy' at going to the front will +last. Those who have seen a campaign here are all thoroughly +converted to my view of fronts. I can't imagine a keener soldier than +F----, and even he says he doesn't care if he never sees another Turk, +and as to France, you might as well say, 'Hurrah, I'm off to Hell.' +Pat M---- goes as far as to say that no sane fellow ever has been +bucked at going to the front, as distinguished from being anxious to +do his duty by going there. But I don't agree with him. Did you see +about the case of a Captain in the Sikhs, who deserted from Peshawar, +went to England, enlisted as a private under an assumed name, and was +killed in Flanders? The psychology of that man would be very +interesting to analyse. It can't have been sense of duty, because he +knew he was flagrantly violating his duty. Nor can you explain it by +some higher call of duty than his duty as a Sikh Officer, like the +duty which makes martyrs disobey emperors. It must have been just the +primitive passion for a fight. But if it _was_ that, to indulge it was +a bad, weak and vicious thing to do. Yet it clearly wasn't a selfish +thing to do: on the contrary, it was heroic. He deliberately +sacrificed his rank, pay, and prospects and exposed himself to great +danger. Still, as far as I can see, he only did it because his passion +for fighting was stronger than every other consideration, and +therefore he seems to me to be morally in the same class as the man +who runs away with his neighbour's wife, or any other victim of strong +(and largely noble) passions. And I believe that the people who say +they are longing to be at the front can be divided into three classes +(1) those who merely say so because it is the right thing to say, and +have never thought or wished about it on their own. (2) Those who +deliberately desire to drink the bitterest cup that they can find in +these times of trouble. These men _are_ heroes, and are the men who in +peace choose a mission to lepers. (3) The savages, who want to indulge +their primitive passions. Perhaps one ought to add as the largest +class (4) those who don't imagine what it is like, who think it will +be exciting, seeing life, an experience, and so on, and don't think of +its reality or meaning at all." + + * * * * * + + +AMARA. +_Thursday, September 2nd, 1915._ + +TO HIS MOTHER. + +I only had time to scrawl a short note last night before the mail +went. But I wrote to Papa the day before we left Basra. + +Our embarkation was much more sensibly managed this time, a Captain +Forrest of the Oxfords being O.C. troops, and having some sense, +though the brass hats again fixed 10 a.m. as the hour. However he got +all our kits on the barge at 7 and then let the men rest on the big +ship till the time came. Moreover the barge was covered. We embarked +on it at 9.30 and were towed along to the river steamer "Malamir," to +which we transferred our stuff without difficulty as its lower deck +was nearly level with the barge. The only floater was that my new +bearer (who is, I fear, an idiot) succeeded in dropping my heavy kit +bag into the river, where it vanished like a stone. Fortunately that +kind of thing doesn't worry me much; but while I was looking for an +Arab diver to fish for it it suddenly re-appeared the other side of +the boat, and was retrieved. + +These river boats are flat-bottomed and only draw six feet. They have +two decks and an awning, and there was just room for our 200 men to +lie about. Altogether there were on board--in the order of the amount +of room they took up--two brass hats, 220 men (four Hants drafts and +some odds and ends), a dozen officers, four horses and a dozen native +servants and a crew. + +Altogether I had to leave four sick men at Basra, all due more or less +to that barge episode, and I have still two sickish on my hands, while +two have recovered. + +There was a strong head-wind and current so we only made about four or +five knots an hour. The river is full of mud banks, and the channel +winds to and fro in an unexpected manner, so that one can only move by +daylight and then often only by constant sounding. Consequently, +starting at noon on Monday, it took us till 5 p.m. Wednesday to do the +130 miles. It is much less for a crow, but the river winds so, that +one can quite believe Herodotus's yarn of the place where you pass the +same village on three consecutive days. Up to Kurna, which we reached +at 7 a.m. Tuesday, the river is about 500 yards to 300 yards broad, +and the country mainly poor, bare, flat pasture; the date fringe +diminishing and in places altogether disappearing for miles together. +At the water's edge, as it recedes, patches of millet had been and +were being planted. The river is falling rapidly and navigation +becomes more difficult every week. + +Kurna is aesthetically disappointing. The junction of the rivers is +unimpressive, and the place itself a mere quayside and row of mud +houses among thin and measly palms. It is of course the traditional +site of Eden. + +Above Kurna the river is not only halved in width, as one would +expect, but narrows rapidly. Most of the day it was only a hundred +yards wide and by evening only 60; and of the sixty only a narrow +channel is navigable and that has a deep strong current which makes +the handling of the boat very difficult. + +In the afternoon we passed Ezra's Tomb, which has a beautiful dome of +blue tiles, which in India one would date Seventeenth Century. +Otherwise it looked rather "kachcha" and out of repair, but it makes +an extremely picturesque group, having two clumps of palms on either +side of an otherwise open stretch of river. + +Soon afterwards we came to a large Bedouin Village, or rather camp, +running up a little creek and covering quite fifteen acres. They can't +have been there long, as the whole area was under water two months +ago. Their dwellings are made of reeds, a framework of stiff and +pliant reeds and a covering of reed-matting; the whole being like the +cover of a van stuck into the ground and one end closed; but smaller, +about 5ft. x 4ft. x 7ft. There were about 100 of these and I should +put the population at 700. + +A whole crowd of boys and some men came out and ran along with us, and +dived in for anything we threw overboard. They swam like ducks of +course. All the boys and most of the men were quite naked, which is a +thing you never see in India. Any boy over twelve there has a +loin-cloth. There seemed to be very few men about: a lot of women +came to the doors of their huts. They made no attempt to veil their +faces, which even the beggar women in Basra did. Only one girl and one +woman ran with the boat; the girl dived with the best; the woman was +dressed and her function was to carry the spoils. Incidentally our men +discovered a better use for their ration biscuits than attempting to +eat them. They made excellent ducks and drakes on the water and the +swimmers were quite keen on them. I must say they tasted rather musty +besides being very hard, but I think the men chiefly objected to a +very small brown beetle which was abundant in them. + +When the sun got low we tied up to the bank for twenty minutes and a +good many of the men had a bathe; but owing to the current we had to +make them keep within a yard or two of the bank. + +Next morning, Wednesday, a half-gale was blowing against us and +progress was slower than ever. The river got wider again, nearly 200 +yards in places, and the wind lashed it into waves. It was a great +bore, because you couldn't put anything down for a second. Also three +days confined to a minute deck-space made me rather bilious. + +In the afternoon the wind blew us ashore when we were in sight of +Amara, and it took nearly half an hour to get us off again. Finally, +we arrived here about 5 p.m. + +This is a town of about 10,000 inhabitants, on the left bank of the +Tigris. On the river front is a quay about a mile long, and an equally +long row of continental-looking houses. It almost reminds one of +Dieppe at moments. The river is about 150 yards wide, and on the other +side there are hardly any houses, just a narrow fringe of dates and +some fields. All the inhabitants of the river-front have been turned +out and it is occupied with offices, stores, hospitals and billets. We +occupy a block of four houses, which have a common courtyard behind +them, a great cloistered yard, which makes an admirable billet for the +men. + +We officers live in two of the houses, the third is Orderly Room, +etc., and the fourth is used by some Native Regiment Officers. There +is no furniture whatever, so it is like camping with a house for a +tent. We sleep on the roof and live on the verandahs of the little +inner courts. It is decidedly cooler than Basra, and last night I +wanted a blanket before dawn for the first time since April (excluding +the Hills, of course). In my room now (2.45 p.m.) it is 96 deg. but there +is plenty of breeze about. + +It seems to be just a chance when the mail goes out: I hope to write +to Papa later on in the week and give him the news of this place and +the regiment. If I spell names of places without a capital letter it +will be for an obvious reason. Also note that the place which is +marked on the map Kut-al-Amara is always referred to here as Kut. + +_P.S_.--In regard to what you say about the ducks, I'm told that teal +are common in Turkey and snipe in Arabia, but not so common as mallard +in England or pintail in India. The bitterns here boom just like guns. + + * * * * * + + +ATT. 1/4 HANTS, +I.E.F. "D," +C/o INDIA OFFICE, S.W. + +AMARAH, _September 4th_,1915. + +To R.K. + +Yours from Albemarle Street reached me just before we left Basra. It +gave me the first news of Charles Lister's second wound. We get almost +no news here. Potted _Reuter_ is circulated most days, but each unit +may only keep it half an hour, so its two to one against one's seeing +it. My only resource is the _Times_ which laboriously dogs my steps +from England: but it has already been pinched en route four times, so +I can't rely on seeing even that: therefore in the matter of +casualties, please be as informative as you can, regardless of +originality. + +As I told you in my last letter that I was going to Nasiriyah, it +won't surprise you to find I've got here instead. We reached Basra (it +would be much nicer to spell it Bassorah, but I can't be bothered to) +on the feast of St. Bartholomew, which the Military call 24/8/15. +Considering what places are like out here, B. is wonderfully +attractive and picturesque. At least Ashar is, which is the port; +Beroea: Corinth:: Ashar: Basra. To begin with it stands between six +and eight feet above the river level, an almost unique eminence. Then +lots of major and minor creeks branch out from the river and from the +main streets. All round and in every unbuilt on space are endless +groves of date palms, with masses of yellow dates. The creeks are +embanked with brick and lined with popular cafe's where incredible +numbers of Arabs squat and eat or drink huggas and hacshish and the +like. The creeks and river swarm with bhellums and mahilas. A bhellum +is a cross between a gondola and a Canada canoe: and a mahila is a +barge like the ones used by King Arthur, Elaine or the Lady of +Shallott: and its course and destination are generally equally vague. + +We stayed six days at B. mainly on a captured Turkish pilgrim ship. I +suggest a Turkish pilgrimage as a suitable outlet for the ascetic +tendencies of your more earnest spikelets. It was hot, but nothing +fabulous. My faithful thermometer never got beyond 104 in my cabin. The +disadvantage of any temperature over 100 indoors is that the fan makes +you hotter instead of cooler. There are only two ways of dealing with +this difficulty. One is to drink assiduously and keep an evaporation +bath automatically going: but on this ship the drinks used to give out +about 4 p.m. and when it comes to neat Tigris-cum-Euphrates, I prefer it +applied externally. So I used to undress at intervals and sponge all +over and then stand in front of the fan. While you're wet it's +deliciously cool: as soon as you feel the draught getting warm, you +dress again and carry on. This plan can't be done here as there are no +fans. I suppose you realised that Austen Chamberlain was only indulging +his irrepressible sense of humour when he announced in the H. of C. that +in Mesopotamia "The health of troops has on the whole been good. Ice and +fans are installed wherever possible," _i.e._ nowhere beyond Basra. The +hot weather sickness casualties have been just over 30% of the total +force: but as they were nearly all heat-stroke and malaria, it ought to +be much better now. Already the nights are cool enough for a blanket to +be needed just before dawn. Of course they run up the sick list by +insane folly. When we moved to our Turkish ship there was every hour of +the day or night to choose from to do it in, and plenty of covered +barges to do it in. So they selected 10 a.m., put 150 men into an open +barge, gave them no breakfast, and left them in the barge two hours to +move them 600 yards, and an hour unloading baggage afterwards! Result, +out of my forty-nine, three heat-strokes on the spot, and four more sick +the next day. + +We left Basra on the 30th. It took us two-and-a-half days to do the +130 miles up here, against a strong wind and current. The Regiment has +moved here from Nasiriyah. This place is 130 miles North of Basra and +120 South of Kut-el-Amarah (always known as Kut). As to our movements, +the only kind of information I can give you would be something like +this. There are fifteen thousand blanks, according to trustworthy +reports, at blank. We have blank brigades and our troops are blanking +at blank which is two-thirds of the way from here to blank; and I +think our intention is to blank with all our three blanks as soon as +possible, but this blank is remaining on lines of communications here +for the present. Not very interesting is it? So I won't reel off any +more. + +From the little scraps of news that have come through, it looks as if +the Balkans were going to be the centre of excitement. If Bulgaria has +agreed to let the Germans through as I suspect she has, I'd bet on +both Greece and Roumania joining the Allies. + + * * * * * + + +AMARAH. + +_September 4th_, 1915. + +TO HIS FATHER. + +We get hardly any news up here, so please kindly continue your +function of war correspondent whenever you have time, and especially +mention any casualties which affect me. + +One of the few bits of news which have reached us is a report of a +speech of yours in which you mention that Milner's Committee +recommended the Government to guarantee 45s. a year for four years, +but the Government wouldn't. Reuter deduces from this that we have +found a way of keeping the whip hand of submarines: but it looks to me +much more like Free Trade shibboleths + the fact that there has +already been a 30% increase in the area under wheat. I hope you will +have written me something about this. + +Now for the military news. This battalion, when we arrived here, was +nominally nearly 300 strong, but actually it could hardly have paraded +100. This reduction is nearly all due to sickness. The deaths from all +causes only total between forty and fifty, out of the original 800: +and of these about twenty-five, I think, were killed in action. But +there has been an enormous amount of sickness during the hot weather, +four-fifths of which has been heat-stroke and malaria. There have been +a few cases of enteric and a certain number of dysentery; but next to +heat and malaria more men have been knocked out by sores and boils +than by any disease. It takes ages for the smallest sore to heal. + +Of the original thirty officers, eight are left here, Major Stillwell, +who is C.O., one Captain, Page-Roberts, a particularly nice fellow, +and five subalterns, named Harris, Forbes, Burrell, Bucknill and +Chitty: (Chitty is in hospital): and Jones, the M.O., also a very nice +man and a pretty good M.O. too. The new Adjutant is a Captain from 2nd +Norfolks named Floyd: he is also nice and seems good: was on +Willingdon's staff and knows Jimmy. + +In honour of our arrival, they have adopted Double Company system. I +am posted to "A" Double Company, of which the Company Commander and +only other officer is Harris, aet. 19. So I am second in command and +four platoon commanders at once, besides having charge of the +machine-guns (not that I am ever to parade with them) while Chitty is +sick. It sounds a lot, but with next to no men about, the work is +lessened. On paper, "A" D.C was seventy-two strong, which, with my +fifty, makes 122: but in fact, of these 122, twenty-five are sick and +sixteen detached permanently for duties at headquarters and so on, +leaving eighty-one. And these eighty-one are being daily more and more +absorbed into fatigues of various kinds and less and less available +for parade. In a day or two we shall be the only English battalion +remaining here, so that all the duties which can't be entrusted to +Indian troops will fall on us. + +I haven't had time to observe the birds here very much yet, but they +seem interesting, especially the water-birds. With regard to what I +wrote to Mamma about the teal, people who have been up the river say +they saw a very big flock of them at Kut. There were a lot of snipe +with them and about twenty bitterns, which surprises me. And about +eighty miles north of here there is a mud flat where great numbers of +mallards are assembling for migration northwards: and there are more +bitterns there than there are higher up even. These flocks about the +equinoxes are very curious. I expect the mallards will migrate +northwards, and the teal soon afterwards will become very scarce, but +I hope the bitterns will stay where they are. The snipe are less +interesting: they move about all over the place, wherever they can +pick up most food. These people put the size of the flock of teal at a +hundred and fifty and the mallards at five hundred, but you should, I +think, multiply the first by a hundred and the second only by ten. + +I got Mamma's letter via the India Office just after we got here. I +quite agree with her view of war, though I must admit the officers of +1/4 Hants seem to me improved by it. While sitting on that court +martial at Agra I expressed my view in a sonnet which I append, for +you to show to Mamma: + + How long, O Lord, how long, before the flood + Of crimson-welling carnage shall abate? + From sodden plains in West and East the blood + Of kindly men streams up in mists of hate + Polluting Thy clear air: and nations great + In reputation of the arts that bind + The world with hopes of Heaven, sink to the state + Of brute barbarians, whose ferocious mind + Gloats o'er the bloody havoc of their kind, + Not knowing love or mercy. Lord, how long + Shall Satan in high places lead the blind + To battle for the passions of the strong? + Oh, touch thy children's hearts, that they may know + Hate their most hateful, pride their deadliest foe. + +I must stop now, as a mail is going out and one never knows when the +next will be. + + * * * * * + + +NORFOLK HOUSE. +AMARAH, _September 13th_, 1915. + +TO HIS FATHER. + +As I have written the news to Mamma this week I will tell you what I +gather of the campaign and country generally. + +There's no doubt that old Townshend, the G.O.C., means to push on to +Baghdad "ekdum"; and if the Foreign Office stops him there will be +huge indigna. It seems to me that the F.O. should have made itself +quite explicit on the point, one way or the other months ago: to pull +up your general in full career is exasperating to him and very +wasteful, as he has accumulated six months' supplies for an army of +16,000 up here, which will have to be mostly shipped back if he is +pulled up at Kut. The soldiers all say the F.O. played the same trick +on Barratt in the cold weather. They let him get to Qurnah, and he +wanted and prepared to push on here and to Nasiryah, which were then +the Turkish bases. But the F.O. stopped him and consequently the Turks +could resume the offensive, and nearly beat us at Shaibah. The +_political_ people say that the soldiers had only themselves to thank +they were nearly beaten at Shaibah. They were warned in December that +the whole area between Sh. and Basrah would be flooded later on, and +were urged either to dig a canal or build a causeway; but they +pooh-poohed it: and consequently all supplies and ammunition at +Shaibah had to be carried across 8 miles of marsh, 4ft. to 1in. deep. + +As for the country, it is said to be very fertile wherever properly +irrigated. At present the water is distributed about as badly as it +could be. The annual rise of the river makes vast feverish swamps, +and the rest of the country is waterless. Any stray Bedouin tribe that +feels like growing a crop can go and cut a hole in the bank and +irrigate a patch for one season and then leave it; and these cuts form +new channels which as often as not lose themselves in a swamp. +Meanwhile this haphazard draining off of the water is seriously +impairing the main streams, especially that of the Euphrates, which is +now almost unnavigable in the low water season. To develop the country +therefore means (1) a comprehensive irrigation and drainage scheme. +Willcock's scheme I believe is only for irrigation. I don't know how +much the extreme flatness of the country would hamper such a scheme. +Here we are 200 miles by river from the sea and only 28ft. above +sea-level. It follows (2) that we must control the country and the +nomad tribes from the highest _barrage_ continuously down to the sea. +(3) We must have security that the Turks don't interfere with the +rivers above our barrage, or even neglect the river banks. + +All this seems to me to point to a repetition of our Egyptian +experience. We shall be drawn, whether we like it or not, into a +virtual protectorate at least as far up as the line Kut-Nasiryah, +along the Shatt-al-Hai, and that will have to extend laterally on the +east to the Persian frontier and on the west to the Arabian tableland. +I don't see how we can hope to get off with less: and that being so, I +believe it would be better to take on the whole at once. North of the +Shatt-al-Hai line (_i.e_. Kut-Nasiryah) it would be very exhausting to +go, and very awkward politically, as you soon get among the holy +places of the Shiahs, especially Karbala, which is their Mecca. But +it's no use blinking the fact that a river is a continuous whole, and +experience shows that the power which controls the mouth is sooner or +later forced to climb to its source, especially when its up-stream +neighbours are hostile and not civilised. And what power of +Government will be left to Turkey after the war? It looks as if she +will be as bankrupt, both financially and politically, as Persia; and +I see no real hope of avoiding a partition a la Persia into British +and Russian spheres of interest. In that case it seems to me the +British sphere should go to the Shatt-al-Hai, and the Russian begin +where the plain ends, or at any rate north of Mosul. Are you at +liberty to tell me whether there is already an understanding with +Russia about this country, and if so how far it goes? + +As for the climate, I don't think it is any worse than the plains of +India. When it is properly drained the fever will be much less: and +under peace conditions the water can be properly purified and the heat +dealt with. The obvious port is Basra; it is said that the bar outside +Fao could easily be dredged to 26ft. The only other really good +harbour is Koweit, I gather: but our game is to support the +independence of K.: make it the railway terminus, but by using Basra +you make your rail-freight as low as possible and have your commercial +port where you can directly control matters. + +I wish they would get a move on in the Dardanelles. It seems to me +Germany is running a fearful risk by committing herself so deeply into +the interior of Russia at this time of year. The only explanation I +can find is that at each rush she has been much nearer to cutting off +a Russian army than has transpired and so is tempted on: nearer +perhaps than the Russians ever intended, which may be the reason of +the Grand Duke's removal to the Caucasus. + + * * * * * + + +AMARAH. + +_September 11th_. + +TO HIS MOTHER. + +For the men, newspapers would be as welcome as anything. I think Papa +might divert those weekly papers from Agra here, as they get a large +supply in the Regimental Reading Room at Agra. + +What strikes me about the 1/4th is that they are played out. They've +no vitality left in them. Out of about 300 men there are seventy sick, +mostly with trifling stomach or feverish attacks or sores, which a +robust man would get over in two days; but it takes them a fortnight, +and then a week or two afterwards they crock up again. One notices the +same in their manner. They are listless and when off duty just lie +about. When I see men bathing or larking it is generally some of our +drafts. I hope the cold weather will brace them up a bit. I do wish I +had more gifts in the entertaining line, though of course there are +very few men left to entertain when you've allowed for all our guards +and the men just off guard. + + * * * * * + +The house is two-storeyed, with thick brick walls, built round an open +well-like court. There is a broad verandah all round the court, on to +which every room opens. There is also a balcony on the W. side +overlooking the river. We sleep on the roof a.p.u. The sun sets right +opposite this balcony, behind a palm-grove, and the orange afterglows +are reflected all up the westward bend of the river, which is very +lovely: though personally I like the more thrilling cloud sunsets +better than these still rich glowings of the desert. + + * * * * * + +The men sleep in huts just behind. These are sensibly built of brick. +Only the S. side is walled up, and even there a space is left between +the wall and the ceiling. The rest is just fenced with reed trellis +work. The roofs are of reed matting, the floors brick with +floor-boards for sleeping on. Boards and bedding are put out in the +sun by day. The men are very contented in them. If I ask my men how +they like it compared to India, they all say they like it better. +"Why, you gets a decent dinner here, Sir." My experience quite +confirms that of Sir Redvers Buller and other great authorities. If +you feed T.A. well you can put him in slimy trenches and he'll be +perfectly happy: but he'd never be contented in Buckingham Palace on +Indian rations. Here we are of course on war rations, cheese, bacon +and jam, bully beef and quite decent mutton, and condensed milk. +Vegetables are scarce, so lime juice is an issue: and they are said +just to have made beer one, which would be the crown of bliss. Every +man gets (if he's there) five grains of quinine a day. There are, +however, far fewer mosquitoes than I expected. I've only seen one +myself. The only great pest is flies: but even of those there are far +fewer here than in Basra. + +When I hear what the 1/4th have been through, I think we are in +luxury. They had a very rough trek to Ahway and Illah in Persia in +May, and coming back much exhausted were stationed a month in Ashar +Barracks (Basra). Here for a fortnight it never went below 100 deg. by +night and was 115 deg. by day--damp heat: and the barracks (Turkish) were +in a state which precluded rest: the record bag for one man in one +morning was sixty fleas from his puttees alone. And of course what +Austen told the H. of C. about fans, ice and fruit was all eyewash. + + * * * * * + +A man in our Coy. died last night. I'd never seen him or knew he was +ill. I was rather shocked at the way nobody seemed to care a bit. The +Adjt. just looked in and said "who owns Pte. Taylor A." Harris said "I +do: is he dead?" Adjt. "Yes: you must bury him to-morrow." Harris: +"Right o." Exit Adjt. To do Harris justice, he doesn't know the man +and thought he was still at Nasiriyah. None of the man's old Coy. +officers are here. + + * * * * * + + +AMARAH. +_September_ 21, 1915. + +TO HIS MOTHER. + +The provision for the sick and wounded is on the whole fairly good +now. Six months ago it was very inadequate, too few doctors and not +enough hospital accommodation. My men who were in the Base Hospital at +Basra spoke very well of it: it had 500 men in it then, and is capable +of indefinite expansion. The serious cases are invalided to India by +the hospital ship _Madras_. It is said that 10,000 have gone back to +India in this way. It is a curious fact that the Indian troops +suffered from heat-stroke every bit as much as the British. + +There are now four hospitals here (1) a big one for native troops, (2) +one for British troops which has expanded till it occupies three large +houses, (3) one for British officers, which will be used for all ranks +if the casualties next Saturday are heavy, (4) one for civilians. +There seems to be no lack of drugs or dressings or invalid foods. + + * * * * * + + +AMARAH. +_September_ 24, 1915. + +TO N.B. + +Two letters from you rolled up together this mail, for both of which +many thanks. + +Like everyone else you write under the cloud of Warsaw and in the +expectation of the enemy forthwith dashing back on us in the West. But +the last two months have made it much harder for him to do that soon, +if at all: and I hope the month which will pass before you get this +will have made it harder still. I found it difficult weeks ago to +explain what induced the Germans to commit themselves so deeply into +the interior of Russia so late in the season, and I came to the +conclusion that with each forward movement they had been much nearer +to enveloping and smashing the Russians than the Reuters would have +led one to suppose: and so had been lured on. + +It now looks to me as if they are playing for one of two alternatives. +If Von Below can get round their right flank he will try a last +envelopment: if that flank falls back far enough to uncover Petrograd, +he will make a dash for P. But all that will mean locking up even +bigger forces in the East. Indeed it seems so reckless that I can only +account for it by supposing either that they are confident of rushing +Petrograd and paralysing Russia within a few weeks: or that they are +in a desperate plight and know it. + +As for the future, I think it would be a mistake to expect this war to +produce a revolution in human nature and equally wrong to think +nothing has been achieved if it doesn't. What I do hope is that it +will mark a distinct stage towards a more Christian conception of +international relations. I'm afraid that for a long time to come there +will be those who will want to wage war and will have to be crushed +with their own weapons. But I think this insane and devilish cult of +war will be a thing of the past. War will only remain as an unpleasant +means to an end. The next stage will be, one hopes, the gradual +realisation that the ends for which one wages war are generally +selfish: and anyway that law is preferable to force as a method of +settling disputes. As to whether National ideals can be Christian +ideals, in the strict sense they can't very well: because so large a +part of the Christian ideal lies in self-suppression and self-denial +which of course can only find its worth in individual conduct and its +meaning in the belief that this life is but a preparation for a future +life: whereas National life is a thing of this world and therefore the +law of its being must be self-development and self-interest. The +Prussians interpret this crudely as mere self-assertion and the will +to power. The Christianising of international relations will be +brought about by insisting on the contrary interpretation--that our +highest self-development and interest is to be attained by respecting +the interests and encouraging the development of others. The root +fallacy to be eradicated of course, is that one Power's gain is +another's loss; a fallacy which has dominated diplomacy and is the +negation of law. I think we are perceptibly breaking away from it: the +great obstacle to better thinking now is the existence of so many +backward peoples incapable (as we think) of seeking their own +salvation. Personally I don't see how we can expect the Christianising +process to make decisive headway until the incapables are partitioned +out among the capables. Meanwhile let us hope that each new war will +be more unpopular and less respectable than the last. + +I'm afraid I haven't even the excuse of a day's fishing without any +fish. + +Now for your letter of August 11th. I'm sorry you are discouraged +because the programme you propounded to Auntie's work-party in +February has not been followed. But comfort yourself with the +reflection that the programme which Kaiser Bill propounded to _his_ +work-party has not been followed either. + +Your Balkan programme, or rather Bob's, does not at present show much +more sign of fulfilment than the one you propounded to Auntie's +work-party, I'm afraid. + +As usual nothing whatever has happened here. Elaborate arrangements +have been made to have a battle to-morrow 120 miles up the river at +Kut. It ought to be quite a big show: the biggest yet out here. As the +floods are gone now it may be possible to walk right round them and +capture the lot. If we pull off a big success the G.O.C. is very keen +to push on to Baghdad, but it is a question whether the Cabinet will +allow it. It means another 200 miles added to the L. of c.: and could +only be risked if we were confident of the desert Arabs remaining +quiet. Personally I see no solid argument for our going to Baghdad, +and several against it (1) the advance would take us right through the +sacred Shiah country, quite close to Karbala itself (Karbala is to the +Shiah Mohammedans--and the vast majority of Indian Mahommedans are +Shiahs--what Mecca is to the Sunnis; and Baghdad itself is a holy +city). It would produce tremendous excitement in India and probably +open mutiny among the Moslem troops here if they were ordered up. (2) +Surely Russia wouldn't like it. (3) We can't expect to hold it +permanently. Everything, so far as I can see, points to portioning +this country into a British sphere and a Russian, with a neutral belt +in between, on the Persian model, except that the "spheres" may be +avowed protectorates. The British one must come up far enough to let +us control the irrigation and drainage of Lower Mesopotamia properly: +and stop short of the holy cities: say to the line Kut-el-Amarah +(commonly called Kut)--Nasiriyah, along the Shatt-al-Hai. The Russians +would, I suppose, come down to about Mosul. + +This campaign is being conducted on gentlemanly lines. When we took a +lot of prisoners at Nasiriyah we allowed the officers to send back for +their kits. In return, last week, when one of our aeroplanes came down +in the enemy's lines and the two airmen were captured, they sent a +flag of truce across to us to let us know that the prisoners were +unhurt and to fetch their kits. + +I just missed Sir Mark Sykes who cruised through here two days ago. I +have written to him in the hope of catching him on his way back. + + * * * * * + + +AMARAH. +_September_ 27, 1915. + +TO R.K. + +After censoring about 100 of my Company's letters I feel this will be +a very incorrect performance. What strikes one too is the great gain +in piquancy of style achieved by the omission of all punctuation. How +could I equal this for instance "The Bible says this is a land of milk +and honey there is plenty of water and dust about if thats what they +mean?" or "The sentry shot an Arab one night soon after we got here I +saw him soon afterwards caught him in the chest a treat it did." + +I'm so glad to hear that Foss is getting on well: let me know the +extent and nature of the damage. We hardly ever get a casualty list +here: and I can't take that to mean there have been none lately: so my +news of fractured friends hangs on the slender thread of the safe +arrival of my _Times_ every week--and on you and others who are not +given to explaining that Bloggs will have given me all the news, no +doubt. + +The War Office, fond as ever of its little joke, having written my +C.O. a solemn letter to say they couldn't entertain the idea of my +promotion seeing that under the Double Coy. system the establishment +of Captains is reduced to seven and so on, and having thereby induced +him to offer me the unique felicity of bringing a draft to this merry +land, has promptly gazetted my promotion, and antedated it to April +2nd, so that I find myself a Double Coy. Commander and no end of a +blood. My importance looks more substantial on paper than on parade: +for of the 258 men in "A" Double Coy. I can never muster more than +about thirty in the flesh. You see so many have overeaten themselves +on the ice and fresh vegetables which Austen dwelt upon in the H. of +C. or have caught chills from the supply of punkahs and fans (_ib._) +that 137 have been invalided to India and twenty-five more are sick +here. Then over fifty are on jobs which take them away from the Coy. +and from ten to twenty go on guards every day. However my dignity is +recognised by the grant of a horse and horse allowance. + +Unless it is postponed again, the great battle up-river should be +coming off to-day. I hope it is, as it is the coolest day we've had +since April. In fact it is a red-letter day, being the first on which +the temperature has failed to reach 100 deg. in this room. You wouldn't +believe me how refreshing a degree 96 deg. can be. + +We have also heard fairy-tale like rumours of an advance of Four +Thousand Yards in France, but I have not seen it in black and white +yet. + +Having so few men available there are not many parades, in fact from 7 +to 8 a.m. about four times a week is all that I've been putting in. +And as a tactful Turk sank the barge containing all my Company's +documents sometime in July there is an agreeable shortage of office +business. So I am left to pass a day of cultured leisure and to +meditate on the felicity of the Tennysonian "infinite torment of +flies." I read Gibbon and Tennyson and George Eliot and the _Times_ by +turns, with intervals of an entertaining work, the opening sentence of +which is "Birds are warm-blooded vertebrate animals oviparous and +covered with feathers, the anterior limbs modified into wings, the +skull articulating with the vertebral column by a single occipital +condyle" and so on. I also work spasmodically at Hindustani. I rather +fancy my handwriting in the Perso-Arabic script. Arabic proper I am +discouraged from by the perverse economy of its grammar and syntax. It +needs must have two plurals, one for under ten and one for over, +twenty-three conjugations, and yet be without the distinction of past +and future. Which is worse even than the Hindustani alphabet with no +vowels and four z's--so _unnecessary_, isn't it, as my Aunts would +say. + + * * * * * + + +AMARAH. + +_September_ 29, 1915. + +TO HIS FATHER. + +One's system has got so acclimatised to high temperatures that I find +it chilly and want my greatcoat to sit in at any temperature under +80 deg., under 100 deg. is noticeably warm. + +The men are getting livelier already and the sick list will soon, I +hope, shrink. The chief troubles are dust and flies. About four days +per week a strong and often violent wind blows from the N.W., full of +dust from the desert, and this pervades everything. The moment the +wind stops the flies pester one. They all say that this place is +flyless compared to Nasiriyah, where they used to kill a pint and a +half a day by putting saucers of formalin and milk on the mess table +and still have to use one hand with a fan all the time while eating +with the other, to prevent getting them into their mouths. Here it is +only a matter of half a dozen round one's plate--we feed on the first +floor, which is a gain. In the men's bungalows I try to keep them down +by insisting on every scrap of food being either swept away or covered +up: and the presence or absence of flies is incidentally a good test +as to whether the tables and mugs, etc., have been properly cleaned. +They are worse in the early morning. When I ride through the town +before breakfast they settle all up the sunny side of me from boot to +topi, about two to the square inch, and nothing but hitting them will +make them budge. They are disgusting creatures. Of course the filthy +habits of the natives encourage them. The streets are littered with +every kind of food-scraps and dirt: and the Arab has only two +W.C.'s--the street and the river. Our chief tyranny in his eyes is +that we have posted sanitary police about who fine him 2_s_. if he +uses either: but like all reforms it is evaded on a large scale. The +theory that the sun sweetens everything is not quite true. Even after +several days' sun manure is very offensive and prolific: and many +parts of the streets are not reached by the sun at all: and in any +case the flies get to work much sooner than the sun. + +We have just had news from the front that a successful action has been +fought, the enemy's left flank turned and several hundred prisoners +taken--our own casualties under 500. So the show seems to have come off +up to time. We were afraid it might have to be postponed, as a raiding +party got round and cut our L. of C., but this does not appear to have +worried them. I hope they will be able to follow this success up and +capture all their guns and stores, if not a large proportion of their +forces. + +Two days ago we got the best news that we have had for a very long +time from both European fronts, an advance of from one to three miles +over nearly half the Western front, with about 14,000 prisoners: and +Russian reports of 8,000 dead in front of one position and captures +totalling something like 20,000. Since then no news has come through, +which is very tantalising, as one longs to know whether the forward +move has been continued. I am afraid even if it has there will be more +enormous casualty lists than ever. + +The most boring thing about this place is that there are no amusing +ways of taking exercise, which is necessary to keep one fit. As a +double Coy. Commander I have a horse, a quiet old mare which does +nothing worse than shy and give an occasional little buck on starting +to canter. But the rides are very dull. There are only three which one +may call A, B and C, thus: + +[Illustration] + +A is the flooded area, and when it is dry it is caked as hard as +brick, and not a vegetable to vary the landscape. + +B takes one through the little ground, the four cemeteries, and the +deserted brick-kilns: by the time one is through these it is generally +time to go home: and even beyond it is market gardens and one can only +ride on foot-paths: and there are only two foot-paths through the +barbed wire defences. + +C is good soft-surfaced desert, much the best riding ground though its +virtues are negative. But to reach it one has to cross the Tigris by +the boat-bridge, and this is apt to be cut at any moment for the +passage of boats, which means a delay of half an hour, not to be +lightly risked before breakfast: and in the afternoons the interval +between excessive sun and darkness is very brief. It is too hot to +ride with pleasure before 4.30 and the sun sets at 5.30: and the dusty +wind is at its worst till about 5. + + * * * * * + + +AMARAH. + +_October_ 7, 1915. + +TO HIS BROTHER. + +Thanks awfully for your letter. It was one of the best I've had for a +long time. And many congratulations on the birth of a daughter. I'm +delighted it went off so well, and only hope she and Grace are both +flourishing. + +I am sorry to hear about Benison. I suppose he was in some unit or +other. You saw of course that Stolley was killed some time ago. + +At present, at any rate, we're a very comfortable distance behind the +firing line. This has been the advanced base for the Kut show. By river +we are 130 miles above Basra and about the same below Kut. The action +there on the 27th and 28th was a great success, but the pursuit was +unfortunately hung up and prevented our reaping quite the full fruits. +This was partly due to a raid on our L. of C. scuppering some +barge-loads of fuel, but chiefly to the boats getting stuck on mud +banks. This river is devilish hard to navigate just now. It winds like a +corkscrew, and though it looks 150 yards wide, the navigable channel is +quite narrow, and only 4ft. to 6ft. deep at that. So all the river boats +have to be flat bottomed, and the strong current and violent N.W. wind +keeps pushing them on the mud banks at every bend. + +[Illustration] + +The Turks had, they think, 15,000 men and 32 guns. Their position was +twelve miles long and most elaborately entrenched and wired with all +the German devices, and rested on a marsh at either end. + +We had about 10,000 men of all arms and 25 or 27 guns, seven of them +on river boats, I think. Townshend's attack was as follows. He made +all his reconnaissances and preparations as for an attack on their +right flank, and on Monday, 27th he deployed a brigade, A. on that +side of the river, leaving only two battalions, B. on the right bank, +and keeping two battalions in reserve, C. For various reasons this +attack had made very little progress by sunset and was last seen +digging itself in. Then as soon as it got dark almost the whole of A. +together with the reserve C. was ordered to march round to the enemy's +left flank and attack Fort E. at dawn. So they moved off, intending to +go between Marsh 1 and Marsh 2; but in the dark they went round +outside Marsh 2, and at dawn after a twelve mile march found +themselves at G. They completely surprised and quickly captured Fort +E. and the section E. and F., their casualties here being mainly from +our own artillery, as was inevitable: but they were enfiladed from F. +and had to reform and dig themselves in on a front parallel with the +river, and send for artillery support. + +Meanwhile the skeleton left on our left flank and the force B. were +pressing a frontal attack, supported by the guns: and by the afternoon +the outflanking force A. was able to resume its advance, which it was +keen to finish as the men were very tired and had run out of water. +But just then the whole Turkish reserve turned up on their right front +and flank, having been hurried back from the right flank to which our +feint had drawn them, across the bridge D. whence they deployed in +crescent formation. Apparently this new danger had a very bracing +effect on the thirsty ones; it is a rash man that stands between T.A. +and his drink. They went straight for the centre of the crescent, as +far as I can make out, with the Turkish reserves on their front and +flanks and the Turkish firing line in their rear. This was where most +of the casualties occurred, but after a stiff fight the Turks broke +and ran: and there was a tremendous crush at the bridge D. where they +started shooting each other freely. + +Meanwhile, the Turkish Commander announced that he had received a +telegram from the Sultan requiring the immediate presence of himself +and army at Constantinople: so the firing line took the hint and +started for the new alignment by the shortest route. However, as +everybody's great idea was to put the river between himself and the +enemy he'd been facing, two streams met at the bridge D. and there +were further scenes. By this time it was dark, and our troops were +utterly exhausted, so nothing more was done for the moment. + +Our casualties were 85 killed and 1,158 wounded, an extraordinary +proportion. We haven't had any reliable information of the enemy's +losses yet: but we took about 1,300 prisoners. + +I must stop now. I am very fit and a Capt., 3rd Senior Officer out +here for the moment (excluding Adjutant O.M.O.) and am commanding "A" +double Coy. + + * * * * * + + +AMARAH. + +_October_8, 1915 + +TO N.B. + +Two lots of letters arrived this mail, including yours of August 30th +and September 6th, for which many thanks. + +If I said that this war means the denying of Christianity I ought to +have explained myself more. That phrase is so often used loosely that +people don't stop to think exactly what they mean. If the Germans +deliberately brought about the war to aggrandise themselves, as I +believe they did, that was a denial of Christianity, _i.e._ a +deliberate rejection of Christian principles and disobedience to +Christ's teaching: and it makes no difference in that case that it was +a national and not an individual act. But once the initiating evil was +done, it involved the consequence, as evil always does, of leaving +other nations only a choice of evils. In this case the choice for +England was between seeing Belgium and France crushed, and war. In +choosing war I can't admit there was any denial of Christianity, and I +don't think you can point to any text, however literally you press the +interpretation, which will bear a contrary construction. Take "Resist +not him that doeth evil" as literally as you like, in its context. It +obviously refers to an individual resisting a wrong committed against +himself, and the moral basis of the doctrine seems to me twofold: (1) +As regards yourself, self-denial, loving your enemies, etc., is the +divine law for the soul; (2) as regards the wronger nothing is so +likely to better him as your unselfish behaviour. The doctrine plainly +does not refer to wrongs committed in your presence against others. +Our Lord Himself overthrew the tables of the money-changers. And the +moral basis of His resistance to evil here is equally clear if you +tolerate evils committed against others: (1) your own morale and +courage is lowered: it is shirking; (2) the wronger is merely +encouraged. If I take A.'s coat and A. gives me his cloak also, I may +be touched. But B.'s acquiescence in the proceeding cannot possibly +touch me and only encourages me. Now the Government of a country is +nearly always in the position of B. not A., because a country is not +an individual. In our case we were emphatically in the position of B.: +but I would justify the resistance of Belgium on the same grounds. + +Of course as I said last week, national standards can't be as +self-sacrificing as individual standards: and never can be until all +the individuals in a nation are so Christian as to choose unanimously +the self-sacrificing course. + +I agree that the Dardanelles outlook is very serious, and it now looks +as if Germany had got Bulgaria to come in against us. We ought to +concentrate on a decision there as vigorously as the Germans did in +Poland, and let us hope with more success. + +The big offensive in France came off and seems to have done remarkably +well for a few days: but we have heard nothing more of it for over a +week. I'm afraid that means we exhausted ourselves and lost heavily. + +The outstanding fact here is that the hot weather is over. It is now +only unpleasant to be out from 10 till 4, and then only in the sun. +The transition is going on rapidly and by the end of this month I +expect to see cold weather conditions established. I have played +football twice and been out shooting twice. There is a large black +partridge to be shot here which is very good to eat. + +I can give you no details about the Kut fight. In fact you probably +know more than we do: I must stop now. + + * * * * * + + +AMARAH. + +_October_ 11, 1915. + +TO L.R. + +The weather has got cooler so rapidly that I have been shooting and +playing football quite happily. The chief things to shoot are a big +black partridge (which will soon be extinct) and a little brown dove, +later on there are snipe, and already there are duck, but these are +unapproachable. Many thanks for your letters of August 27th, and +September 8th, which arrived together this mail. + +I think Mrs. Ricketts takes an unduly optimistic view when she says +the Germans mean the war to be decided out here. Nothing would suit us +better. Meanwhile, we certainly seem to mean to go to Baghdad, and +that will mean at least one other big fight: but so far they show no +sign of moving us up to the firing line. This last show was a big +success and nearly was a much bigger, only our men having fought for +two days and marched twelve miles in the intervening night and having +run out of water, were not able to press the pursuit very vigorously. +I take it the next show will come off in about three weeks' time, +sooner if possible. + +I have heard a good deal vaguely about the Angels at Mons. It is very +interesting. I gather that A. Machen wrote a magazine story and that +this has got embodied with the real stories and is therefore supposed +to have originated them. If Begbie's forthcoming book on them is good, +do send it to me. We have had no such stories out here, so far as I +know. + +As to being pessimistic about the future, I think our mistake was to +underestimate Germany's striking force. You must always keep the +German calculations in mind as well as our hopes, and you will see +that the former have been falsified quite as much as the latter--in +fact much more. They calculated--and not without having worked it all +out thoroughly--that their superior armaments and mobility would +enable them (1) to smash France within a few weeks, (2) to manoeuvre +round the Russians and defeat their armies in detail till they sued +for peace, (3) to dominate the continent and organise it for the +settlement with England. We ought to be devoutly thankful that (1) +failed: but Instead we assumed that the worst was over and that (2) +would fail as signally. As a matter of fact (2) looks like failing +after all; but it has been near success for much longer than (1) was +and consequently has achieved more. But if you remember, both Papa and +K. said at the outset it would be a three years' war: which clearly +meant that they expected us to get the worst of it the first year, +equalise matters the second year and not be decisively victorious till +the third year. + +Luly has plenty of friends at Agra and is really very happy there, so +you may be at ease about him. + +Many thanks for your offer to send us things for the cold. But the +danger is overlapping, so I will refer you to Mamma, to whom I wrote +about it some time back: and I hope _she_ is combining with Mrs. +Bowker of Winchester (wife of 1/4th Colonel) who is organising the +sending of things to the battalion as a whole. You might mention to +Mamma that, in addition to the articles I've told her of, newspapers +and magazines would be very acceptable. + + * * * * * + + +AMARAH. + +_October_ 17, 1915. + +TO N.B. + +Many thanks for your little letter wishing me Godspeed out here, it +has only just followed me on, and reached me soon after your letter of +September 12th in which you ask me about Persia. I assure you I know +less of what is happening in Persia--though we can see the Persian +hills from here--than you do. Your letter was my first news of the +Consul General's death, which I have seen since in _The Times_ as +well. All I know is that German gold working on the chronic +lawlessness has made the whole country intolerably disturbed. The +Government is powerless. The disorder is mainly miscellaneous robbery: +in the north there is a good deal of hostility to Russia, but nothing +approaching organised war or a national rising. In May Arab raiders +threatened Ahwaz where the Anglo-Persian Oil Company's pipe-line runs; +and at the Persian Government's request a force, including 1/4 Hants, +went up there and dispersed them. Then in August the unrest in Bushire +got acute, and two officers were killed in an ambush. So they sent a +force to occupy it. I don't know how large it was; I imagine two +battalions or so and a few guns. Since then I've heard nothing. Mark +Sykes, whom I saw about October 6th, said he thought things were +quieter there now. + +For the Persian situation generally, up to last year, the best account +I've seen is in Gilbert Murray's pamphlet on "The Foreign Policy of +Sir E. Grey." There's no doubt these weak corrupt semi-civilised +States are a standing temptation to intriguers like the Germans and so +a standing danger to peace. That is going to be the crux here too, +after the war. If I make up my mind and have the energy, I will write +my views more fully on the subject in a week or two. + +There is a lull here and no news. But there seems no doubt that we are +going to push up to Baghdad. The enemy are now in their last and +strongest position, only twenty miles from B.: and we are +concentrating against it. Undoubtedly large reinforcements are on +their way up, but we don't know how many. I expect you may look for +news from these parts about November 7th. + +It is getting quite cold. Yesterday the wind began again and we all +had to take to our overcoats, which seems absurd as it was over 80 deg.. +To-day it was only 74 deg. indoors all the morning and we sat about in +"British warms." And the nights seem Arctic. To get warm last night I +had to get into my flea-bag and pile a sheet, a rug and a kaross on +top of that: it was 70 deg. when I went to bed and went down to 62 deg. at +dawn. As it goes down to 32 deg. later on, I foresee we shall be smothered +in the piles of bed-clothes we shall have to accumulate. + +I continue to play football and ride intermittently. I believe I could +mount a middle-sized English horse without serious inconvenience now. +I have begun to try to pick up a little Arabic from the functionary +known as the Interpreter. + + * * * * * + + +AMARAH. + +_October_ 18, 1915. + +TO M.H. + +I'm so glad the saris are what you wanted. If you pay L5 into my a/c +at Childs, it will be simplest. + +Everyone--except I suppose the victims--seems to have regarded the +Zeppelin raid as a first-class entertainment. I think they do us +vastly more good than harm, but it would be a satisfaction to bag one. + +So poor Charles Lister was killed after all. He is a tremendous loss. +And ----, who could have been spared much better, has been under fire +in Gallipoli for months without being touched. + +I agree with Charlie's sentiments. What is so desperately trying about +the Army system is that mere efflux of time puts a man who may be, and +generally is, grossly stupid, in command of much more intelligent +people, whose lives are at his bungling mercy. If Napoleon, who won +his Italian campaign at 27, had been in the British Army he wouldn't +have become a Major till 1811. It is an insane system which no +business would dream of adopting. Yet it wouldn't do to abolish it, or +you destroy the careers of 4/5 of your Officers. The reform I should +like would be to make every third promotion in any regiment +compulsorily regardless of seniority. + +I am having a few lessons in Arabic now, but it is a much more +difficult language than Hindustani, and the only available "Munshi" is +the regimental interpreter who can't read and speaks very broken +English, and the only available book deals with classical Egyptian and +Syrian Arabic, which are to the Arabic of to-day as Latin, French and +Italian are to Spanish. So my acquirements are likely to be limited. + +There is absolutely no news here. Reinforcements are said to be coming +but have not arrived. The next show should come off about November +10th. + + * * * * * + + +AMARAH. + +_October_ 11, 1915. + +TO R.K. + +I have just seen in the _Times_ that Charles Lister died of his +wounds. It really is heart-breaking. All the men one had so fondly +hoped would make the world a little better to live in seem to be taken +away. And Charles was a spirit which no country can afford to lose. I +feel so sorry for you too: he must have been very dear to you +personally. How the world will hate war when it can pause to think +about it. + +I had quite a cheerful letter from Foss this mail. I wonder he wasn't +more damaged, as the bullet seems to have passed through some very +important parts of him. I am rather dreading the lists which are +bound to follow on our much-vaunted advance of three weeks ago. As for +the Dardanelles, it is an awful tragedy. And now with Bulgaria against +us and Greece obstructed by her King, success is farther off than +ever. + +No, Luly is not with me: I was the only officer with the draft. As for +impressions of our surroundings they are definite but not always +communicable. + +If this neighbourhood could certainly be identified with Eden, one +could supply an entirely new theory of the Fall of Adam. Here at +Amarah we are 200 miles by river from the sea and 28ft. above sea +level. Within reach of the water anything will grow: but as the Turks +levied a tax on trees the date is the only one which has survived. +There are little patches of corn and fodder-stuff along the banks, and +a few vegetable gardens round the town. Otherwise the whole place is a +desert and as flat as this paper: except that we can see the bare +brown Persian mountains about forty miles off to the N.N.E. + +The desert grows little tufts of prickly scrub here and there, +otherwise it is like a brick floor. In the spring it is flooded, and +as the flood recedes the mud cakes into a hard crust on which a +horse's hoof makes no impression; but naturally the surface is very +rough in detail, like a muddy lane after a frost. So it is vile for +either walking or riding. + +The atmosphere can find no mean between absolute stillness--which till +lately meant stifling heat--and violent commotion in the form of N.W. +gales which blow periodically, fogging the air with dust and making +life almost intolerable while they last. These gales have ceased to be +baking hot, and in another month or two they will be piercingly cold. + +The inhabitants are divided into Bedouins and town-Arabs. The former +are nomadic and naked, and live in hut-tents of reed matting. The +latter are just like the illustrations in family Bibles. + +What I _should_ be grateful for in the way of literature is if you +could find a portable and readable book on the history of these parts. +I know it's rather extensive, but if there are any such books on the +more interesting periods you might tell Blackwell to send them to me: +I've got an account there. My Gibbon sketches the doings of the first +four Caliphs: but what I should like most would be the subsequent +history, the Baghdad Caliphs, Tartar Invasion, Turkish Conquest, etc. +For the earlier epochs something not too erudite and very popular +would be most suitable. Mark Sykes tells me he is about to publish a +Little Absul's History of Islam, but as he is still diplomatising out +here I doubt if it will be ready for press soon. + +As for this campaign, you will probably know more about the Kut battle +than I do. Anyway the facts were briefly these. The Turks had a very +strongly entrenched position at Kut, with 15,000 men and 35 guns. We +feinted at their right and then outflanked their left by a night march +of twelve miles. (Two brigades did this, while one brigade held them +in front.) Then followed a day's hard fighting as the out-flankers had +to storm three redoubts successfully before they could properly +enfilade the position. Just as they had done it the whole Turkish +reserve turned up on their right and they had to turn on it and defeat +it, which they did. But by that time it was dark, the troops were +absolutely exhausted and had finished all their water. Nobody could +tell how far the river was, so the only thing to do was to bivouac and +wait for daylight. In the night the Turks cleared out and got away. If +we could have pressed on and seized their bridge, we should have +almost wiped them out: but it was really wonderful we did as much as +we did under the circumstances. Our casualties were 1243, but only 85 +killed. The Turkish losses are not known: we captured about 1400 and +12 of the guns: we buried over 400, but don't know how many the local +Arabs buried. Our pursuit was delayed by the mud-banks on the river, +and the enemy was able to get clear and reform in their next position, +about ninety miles further north. We are now concentrating against +them and it is authoritatively reported that large reinforcements have +been sent from India. This means they intend going for Baghdad. It +seems to me rash: but I suppose there is great need to assert our +prestige with the Moslem world, even at the expense of our popularity: +for B. is a fearfully sacred place. + +I should also like from Blackwell's a good and up-to-date map of these +parts, _i.e._ from the Troad to the Persian Gulf. + + * * * * * + + +AMARAH. + +_October_ 21, 1915. + +TO HIS MOTHER. + +It is hard from here to be patient with the Government for not taking +a bolder line all round and saying frankly what they want. They are +omnipotent if they would only lead. Now we hear that Carson has +resigned. I can't hitch that on to the conscription crisis, yet it +doesn't say it is from ill-health: it is a puzzle. + +Life is as uneventful as usual here. I have nearly finished _The Woman +in White_. It is really one of the best thrillers I've read, and Count +Fosco more than fulfils my expectations: I wonder if Haldane keeps +white mice. I have also finished Tennyson. I have read him right +through in the course of the year, which is much the best way to read +a poet, as you can follow the development of his thoughts. His mind, +to my thinking, was profound but not of very wide range, and strangely +abstract. His only pressing intellectual problems are those of +immortality and evil, and he reached his point of view on those before +he was forty. He never advances or recedes from the position +summarised in the preface to "In Memoriam," d. 1849. The result is +that his later work lacks the inspiration of restlessness and +discovery, and he tends to put more and more of his genius into the +technique of his verse and less into the meaning. The versification is +marvellous, but one gets tired of it, and he often has nothing to say +and has to spin out commonplaces in rich language. One feels this even +in the "Idylls of the King," which are the best of his later or middle +long efforts: they are artificial, not impulsive; Virgil, not Homer; +Meredith calls them 'dandiacal flutings,' which is an exaggeration. +But I can quite see how irritating Tennyson must be to ardent sceptics +like Meredith and the school which is now in the ascendant. To them a +poet is essentially a rebel, and Tennyson refused to be a rebel. That +is why they can't be fair to him and accuse him of being superficial. +I think that a very shallow criticism of him. He saw and states the +whole rebels' position--"In Memoriam" is largely a debate between the +Shelley-Swinburne point of view and the Christian. Only he states it +so abstractly that to people familiar with Browning's concrete and +humanised dialectic it seems cold and artificial. But it's really his +sincerest and deepest thought, and he deliberately rejects the rebel +position as intellectually and morally untenable: and adopts a +position of aquiescent agnosticism on the problem of evil subject to +an unshakeable faith in immortality and the Love of God. This is a +red rag to your Swinburnes. That is why I asked you to send me +Swinburne, as I want to get to the bottom of his position. Shelley's I +know, and it is, in my opinion a much more obvious, easier, and more +superficial one than Tennyson's: besides being based on a distorted +view of Christianity. Shelley in fact wanted to abolish Christianity +as the first step towards teaching men to be Christian. + +Of all the agnostics, Meredith is the one that appeals to me most: but +I've not read his poetry, which I believe has much more of his +philosophy in it than his novels have. + +_P.S._ I have just seen your appeal in the _Hampshire Herald_ for L500 +for a motor ambulance boat, in which you say the Red Cross have +already sent us two such boats. All I can say is that nobody in this +regiment has ever seen or heard of these boats: and they certainly +have not been used for transporting sick and wounded either from +Nasiriyah or from Kut. If they were in Mesopotamia at all, it is +incredible that we shouldn't have heard of them. + + * * * * * + + +AMARAH. + +_October_ 22, 1915. + +TO L.R. + +I don't think there is any likelihood of Luly's coming here. For one +thing our battalion 1/6th is too weak to afford another draft at +present; and even if it sent one there are many officers who would be +asked before Luly. As a matter of fact we have just heard we 1/4th are +getting large reinforcements from our proper resources, _viz._ 250 +from 2/4th at Quetta and 50 from those invalided in the hot weather. + +Your letter of September 5th arrived well after that of September +22nd. + +I'm glad the ---- are optimistic: if Belgians can be we should be able +to. But I can't help feeling the Government is lamentably weak and +wanting in leadership: the policy of keeping the nation in the dark +seems to me to be insane. + +There is no news to report here. We still do very little work, but the +weather is quite pleasant. I am very well. + +There is not much to do. The country is very dull for walking and +riding. + +The birds here are very few compared to those in India. On the river +there are pied Kingfishers. On the flooded land and especially on the +mud-flats round it there are large numbers of sandpipers, Kentish and +ringed plovers, stints and stilts, terns and gulls, ducks and teal, +egrets and cranes: but as there is not a blade of vegetation within a +mile of them there are no facilities for observation, still less for +shooting. + +There are several buzzards and falcons and a few kites, but vultures +are conspicuous by their absence. There are no snakes or crocodiles +either. Scavenging is left to dogs and jackals; and there is a hooded +crow, not very abundant, which is peculiar to this country, having +white where the European and Eastern Asiatic species have grey--a +handsome bird. In the river there are a few sharks and a great +abundance of a carp-like fish which runs up to a very large size. The +Quartermaster can buy two 70lb. fish every morning for the men's +breakfasts, and has been offered one of 120lb. + + * * * * * + + +AMARAH, + +_October_ 31, 1915. + +TO N.B. + +I do hope your "fifty submarines" is true. I shan't think much of you +if you can't get official confirmation from Cousin Arthur: but if he +is impenetrably discreet, you might at least get him to explain--or +pass it on to me if you know already--what conceivable harm it could +do if we published the bare numbers of submarines "accounted for" +without any particulars of when, where, or how. + +As for this campaign it is the old story of the Empire repeating +itself. When it began they only meant to secure the oil-pipe and +protect British interests at Basra. But they found to their great +surprise that you can't stay comfortably on the lower waters of a +great river with an enemy above you any more than you could live in a +flat with the lodger above continually threatening your life. A river +like the Tigris or Euphrates is a unit, and the power which occupies +its mouth will inevitably be drawn to its source unless it meets the +boundaries of a strong and civilised state on the way. Turkey will be +neither after the war. + +What has happened so far? + +[Sidenote: Dec.-Jan.] + +We occupied the Shattal-Arab as far as Kurnah. We sat still. The +Turks, based on Nasiriyah attacked us and nearly recaptured Basra. + +[Sidenote: April] + +We beat them at Shaiba, and for safety's sake had to push them from +their base. + +[Sidenote: May] + +Then the double advance to Amarah and Nasiriyah. + +[Sidenote: July] + +We pushed the Turks out, and they promptly reformed at Kut and +prepared to threaten us again. So we pushed forward again and beat +them at Kut. + +[Sidenote: September] + +Now they have reformed at a point, only twenty miles from ----, their +present base. We shall go for them there no doubt, and push them back +once more. But what does it all lead to? Imagine peace restored. What +will Turkey be like? She will be bankrupt, chaotic, totally incapable +of keeping order among these murderous Bedouins. The country would be +a second Persia under her. Persia is intolerable enough for the +Europeans who trade there at present: but the plight of this country +might easily be worse. We are bound to control the bit from Basra to +the sea to protect existing interests. The whole future of that +area--as of all Mesopotamia--depends on a scientific scheme of +drainage and irrigation. At present half the country is marsh and half +desert. Why? Because under Turkish rule the river is never dredged, +the banks are never repaired, stray Arabs can cut haphazard canals and +leave them to form marshes, and so on. Now an irrigation and drainage +scheme is vitally necessary, but (1) it involves a large outlay; (2) +to be effective it must start a long way up-stream; (3) there must be +security for the good government _not only_ of the area included in +the scheme, but of the whole course of the river above it. These +Asiatic rivers are tricky things: they run for hundreds of miles +through alluvial plains which are as flat as your hand. Here at +Amarah, 200 miles from the mouth of the Tigris, we are only 28ft. +above sea-level. Consequently the river's course is very easily +altered. Look at Stanford's map of this region and see how the +Euphrates has lost itself between Nasiriyah and Basra--"old channel," +"new channel," creeks, marshes, lakes, flood-areas and so on; the +place is a nightmare. That kind of thing is liable to happen anywhere +if the river is neglected. So that our schemes for Lower Mesopotamia +might be spoilt by the indolence of those in possession higher up the +river: let alone the security of the trade-routes which would be at +the mercy of wild Arabs if Turkey collapses. + +All this inclines me more and more to believe that we shall be forced, +sooner or later, to occupy the whole Mesopotamian plain as far as +Mosul or to whatever point is the southern limit of Russian control. +At first I favoured a "neutral zone" from Mosul to Kut, and I +shouldn't be surprised if that plan still finds favour at home. But +frankly I see no prospect of a strong enough Government to make the +neutral zone workable; on the contrary everything points to the +absorption of the Persian neutral zone by either us or Russia, +probably us. + +I am still a Captain, but no longer a Coy. Commander. A large draft +from India has arrived, 11 officers and 319 men from 1/4th and 2/4th, +invalids returned. I am now second in command of a Coy. of respectable +size. + + * * * * * + + +AMARAH. + +_October_ 10, 1915. + +TO HIS FATHER. + +I agree with most of your reflections about the moral justification of +war. War is an evil, because it is the product of sin and involves +more sin and much suffering. But that does not mean it is necessarily +wrong to fight. Once evil is at work, one of its chief results is to +leave good people only a choice of evils, wherein the lesser evil +becomes a duty. I'm not prepared to say we've been wholly guiltless in +the whole series of events which produced this war: but in the +situation of July, 1914, produced as it was by various sinful acts, I +am quite sure it was our duty to fight, and that it is our duty to +fight on till German militarism is crushed. And I certainly can't +believe we ought not to have made such a treaty with Belgium as we +did. You've got to face the fact that the spirit which produces war is +still dominant. Fight that spirit by all means: but while it exists +don't suppose your own duty is merely to keep out of wars. That seems +to me a very selfish and narrow view. As for our Lord in a bayonet +charge, one doesn't easily imagine it: but that is because it is +inconsistent with His mission, rather than His character. I can't +imagine a Christian _enjoying_ either a bayonet charge, or hanging a +criminal, or overthrowing the tables of a money-changer, or any other +form of violent retribution. + +Your sight of the Zeppelin must have been thrilling. You don't make it +clear whether it was by day or night. I am curious to see if my next +batch of _Times_ will mention it. Clearly it is very hard to damage +Zs. by gun-fire: but I don't understand quite why our aeroplanes can't +do more against them. Do they get right back to Germany before +daylight? + +I have been out shooting three times this week, with Patmore of 1/7th +Hants, and we got three partridges, six partridges and seven doves +respectively. The partridges are big black ones, as large as young +grouse, and very good to eat: but they will soon be extinct here as we +are operating much in the same way as "the officers" do at Blackmoor. +The doves were reported as sand-grouse, and certainly come flighting +in from the desert very much in the s.-g. manner: but they are very +like turtle doves when shot. + +On our way home after the first shoot, I saw a falcon catch a swallow +on the wing. It had missed one and we were watching it. It flew +straight and rather fast past us, just within shot, fairly high. A +swallow came sailing at full speed from the opposite direction and +would have passed above and to the right of the falcon, and about 6ft. +from it. The latter took no notice of it till the crucial moment, +when it swerved and darted upwards, exactly as a swallow itself does +after flies, and caught the swallow neatly in its talons. It then +proceeded on its way so calmly that if you had taken your eye off it +for 1/5th second you wouldn't have known it had deviated from its +course. It then planed down and settled about 400 yards away on the +ground. + +I have written to Top such details of the Kut battle as I could gather +from eye-witness: but I don't think it forms a reliable account, and +you will probably find the official version rather different, when it +comes out. Anyway it appears to be beyond doubt now that we mean to +push on to Baghdad, in spite of your _Beatus possidens_. It was only +lack of water and the exhaustion of the troops which prevented a much +larger haul this time: and now they are concentrating against the next +position, 90 miles further north. We hear again on good authority that +8,000 reinforcements are coming out. They will certainly be needed if +we are to hold Baghdad. It seems to me a very rash adventure: +especially as Bulgaria's intervention may enable the Turks to send an +Army Corps down to Baghdad, in which case we should certainly have to +retire. + + * * * * * + + +AMARAH. + +_All Saints_, 1915. + +TO R.K. + +Your letters have been so splendidly regular that I'm afraid a gap of +three weeks may mean you've been ill: but I can't be surprised at +anyone at home breaking down under the constant strain of nearness and +frequent news. Mesopotamia and a bi-weekly Reuter are certainly +efficient sedatives; and the most harrowing crisis of the Russian +armies is only rescued from the commonplace by its unintelligibility. +Even the heart-breaking casualties, reaching us five weeks old, have +nothing like the stab they have in England. + +Life here requires a Jane Austen to record it. Our interests are +focussed on the most ridiculous subjects. Recently they took an +ecclesiastical turn, which I think should be reported to you. The +station was left "spiritually" in charge of a Y.M.C.A. deacon for a +fortnight: and discussion waxed hot in the Mess as to what a Deacon +was. The prevailing opinion was that he "was in the Church," but not +"consecrated"; so far Lay instinct was sound, if a little vague. Then +our Scotch Quartermaster laid it down that a Deacon was as good as a +Parson in that he could wear a surplice, but inferior to a parson in +that he couldn't marry you. But the crux which had most practical +interest for us was whether he could bury us. It was finally decided +that he could: but fortunately in actual fact his functions were +confined to organising a football tournament and exhibiting a cinema +film. + +He was succeeded by a priest from the notorious diocese of Bombay: who +proceeded to shift the table which does duty for altar to the E. side +of the R.A.T.A. room and furnish the neighbourhood of it into a faint +resemblance to a Church. But what has roused most speculation is the +"green thing he wears over his surplice for the early service and +takes off before Parade service." I suggested that it was a precaution +against these chilly mornings. + +Gibbon has more to say about these parts than I thought: and I find he +alludes to them off and on right down to 1453, so if you haven't been +able to find a suitable book, I can carry on with that philosopher's +epitome. + +A large draft has just reached us from India, 11 officers and 319 +men. They are partly returned invalids, but mainly 2/4th from Quetta. +We shall now be a fairly respectable strength. + +Cold weather conditions are almost established now. It is only over +80 deg. for a few hours each day, and between 8 p.m. and 9 a.m. I wear a +greatcoat. A senior captain having arrived with the draft has taken +over "A" Coy. and I remain as second in command. There is singularly +little to do at present--about one hour per day. + +I wonder if you know any of the officers in this push. There is Chitty +of Balliol, a contemporary of Luly's: and one Elton among the +newly-joined, said to be a double first. + +They have made me censor of civil telegrams. + +I see no prospect of peace for a year yet, and not much of our leaving +this country till well after peace. I used to think I wasn't easily +bored: but it is hard to keep a fresh and lively interest in this +flattest and emptiest of countries. + +_P.S. Tuesday_.--The mail is in for once before the outward mail goes, +and it brings yours of 1.10.15. What you report about Charles Lister +is exactly what I should have expected. It is an element in all the +best lives that their owners are reckless about throwing them away; +but it's a little consolation to know that he didn't succeed exactly. + +Most of my new letters are rather gloomy about the French offensive. +We used gas and we're held up: and we're being diddled all round by +kings in the Balkans. + +Elton, by the way, was up at Balliol, a scholar 1911--and knows you, +though whether individually or collectively I know not. + +Also one Pirie of Exeter has come with the draft. + + * * * * * + + +AMARAH. + +_November_ 4, 1915. + +TO L.R. + +I enclose an extract from a speech which might have been made by you, +but was made by--who do you think? Our modern St. David. + +I read Oliver's _Ordeal by Battle_ before I left Agra. Most of my +relations sent me a copy. So far only one has sent me A.J.B.'s _Theism +and Humanism_: books are always welcome: but as their ultimate fate is +very uncertain, it is wiser to stick to cheap ones. + +I think the idea of R---- on an Economy League is too delicious. I +should so like to hear the details of their economies. + +I hope you have noticed the correspondence in The _Times_ on Wild +Birds and Fruit Growers, and that the latter contemplate invoking the +aid of the Board of Agriculture in exterminating the former. + +The birds here increase as the weather gets colder. Geese, duck and +teal are to be seen flighting every day. We shot a pochard on Tuesday +and a plover yesterday. Large flocks of night-herons visit the +flood-lands and rooks have become common. White wagtails appeared in +great numbers a few weeks ago, and sand-grouse are reported in vast +numbers further north. + +As there is no news, perhaps it would interest you to know, how we +live in these billets. + +The house is very convenient on the whole, though cold, as there is no +glass in the large windows and the prevailing N.W. wind blows clean +through, and there are no fire-places. + +As to our mode of existence, my day is almost uniformly as follows: + +6.30 _a.m._ Am called and drink 1 cup cocoa and eat 4 biscuits. +7.15 _a.m._ Get up. +7.45 _a.m._ Finished toilet and read _Times_ till breakfast. +8.0 Breakfast. Porridge, scrambled eggs, bread and jam, tea. +8.30-9.15. Read _Times_. +9.15-10.15. Parade (or more often _not_, about twice a week 1 parade). +10.15-1.0 Read and write, unless interrupted by duties. +1.0 Lunch. Cold meat, pudding, cheese and bread, lemonade. +1.30-4.0. Read and write. +4.0. Tea, bread and jam. +4.30. Censor Civil Telegrams. +4.45-6.15. Take exercise, _e.g._, walk, ride, fish, shoot, or + play football. +6.15. Have a bath. +6.30-7.30. Play skat, or talk on verandah. +7.30. Mess. Soup, fish, meat, veg., pudding, savoury, beer + or whisky. +8.45-10.15 Bridge. +10.15. Go to bed. + +Such is the heroic existence of those who are bearing their country's +burden in this remote and trying corner of the globe! + + +_Enclosure_. + +"Meanwhile, let personal recrimination drop. It is the poison of all +good counsel. In every controversy there are mean little men who +assume that their own motives in taking up a line are of the most +exalted and noble character, but that those who dare differ from them +are animated by the basest personal aims. Such men are a small +faction, but they are the mischief-makers that have many a time +perverted discussion into dissension. Their aim seems to be to spread +distrust and disunion amongst men whose co-operation is essential to +national success. These creatures ought to be stamped out relentlessly +by all parties as soon as they are seen crawling along the floor." + + * * * * * + + +AMARAH. + +_November_ 18, 1915. + +TO L.R. + +As this week is Xmas mail, I have only time to wish you every blessing +and especially those of peace and goodwill which are so sadly needed +now. + +I am dreadfully sorry to hear that S.'s cancer is reappearing. We need +more of her sort just now. I pray that she may get over it, but there +is no disease which leaves less hope. + +I suppose everyone is struck by the weakness of a democracy in war +time as compared with an autocracy like the German. It is a complaint +as old as Demosthenes. But it does not shake my faith in democracy as +the best form of Government, because mere strength and efficiency is +not my ideal. If a magician were to offer to change us to-morrow into a +state on the German model, I shouldn't accept the offer, not even for +the sake of winning the war. + + * * * * * + + +AMARAH. + +_November_ 23, 1915. + +TO HIS MOTHER. + +I strained a muscle in my leg at football yesterday and consequently +can't put my foot to the ground at all to-day. It is a great nuisance +as I'm afraid it will prevent my going on our little trek into the +desert, which will probably come off next Monday. + +The news of the fight at Suliman Pak came through yesterday morning +and we had a holiday on spec, and a salute of twenty-one guns was +ordered to be fired. The first effort at 8 a.m. was a ludicrous +fiasco. The Volunteer Artillery, having no 'blank,' loaded the guns +with charges of plain cordite. The result was that as each round was +fired it made about as much noise as a shot-gun, and the packet of +cordite would hop out of the barrel and burn peacefully on the ground +ten yards away, like a Bengal match. Gorringe arrived in the middle in +a fine rage, and stopped the show. I took a snapshot of him doing so +which I hope will come out. He then ordered the salute to be fired at +noon with live shell. This was quite entertaining. They ranged on the +flood-land where we go after the geese, 3,700 yards: and it took the +shells about ten seconds to get there. There were some Arab shepherds +with their flocks between us and the water, and they didn't appear to +enjoy it. They "scorned the sandy Libyan plain as one who wants to +catch a train." + +_Thursday_. As luck would have it, orders came round at 1 p.m. +yesterday for half the Battalion (including A. Coy.) to move +up-stream at once: and after an afternoon and evening of many flusters +and changes of plan, they have just gone off this morning. My wretched +leg prevents my going with them: but it is much better to-day and I +hope to be able to go by the next boat. Destination is unknown but it +can only be Kut or Baghdad: and I infer the latter from the facts (1) +that Headquarters (C.O., Adjt. Q.M. etc.) have gone, which means that +the other half Battalion is likely to follow shortly: and (2) that +they won't want a whole Battalion at Kut. The scale of garrison out +here is about as follows. Towns under 5,000 one Coy. or nothing, +5,000-10,000 two Coys. Over 10,000 a (nominal) Battalion: bar Basra +where there are only three men and one boy. Baghdad being about +150,000 may reasonably require two Brigades or a Division. We haven't +heard yet whether we've got Baghdad. They may even have more fighting +to do, though most people don't think so. + +I will try to cable before I go up. + +The M.O. says I have slightly overstretched my calf-muscles. I jumped +rather high at a bouncing ball while I was running: and I came down +somehow with my left leg stuck out in such a way that the knee was +bent the wrong way: and so overstretched the muscles at the back of +the calf. But I can already walk with two sticks, and hope to be able +to get on a boat in two or three days time. A week on the boat will +give it a further rest. + + * * * * * + + +AMARAH. + +_December 1, 1915._ + +TO HIS MOTHER. + +Sophy's death affects me more than any since Goppa's. She was the most +intimate of all my aunts, as I have constant memories of her from the +earliest times I can remember till she went to live at Oxford. I was +always devoted to her, and she had an almost uncanny power of reading +my thoughts. I don't feel there can have been a shade of bitterness in +death for her, though she loved life; but there is something woefully +pathetic in its circumstances, the pain, the loneliness, the misery of +the war. + +I thought about her all yesterday. The sunset was the most wonderful I +have seen out here, and it seemed to say that though God could be very +terrible yet he was supremely tender and beautiful. How blank and +futile a sunset would be to a consistent materialist, as A.J.B. points +out in his lectures. + +The result of publishing what he called my "hymn" in the _Times_ of +October 15th has been an application from an earnest Socialist for +leave to print it on cards at 8_s._ 6_d._ a 1,000 to create a demand +for an early peace! But I couldn't help focussing my thoughts of Sophy +into these lines: + + Strong Son of God is Love; and she was strong, + For she loved much, and served; + Rejoiced in all things human, only wrong + Drew scorn as it deserved. + Fair gift of God is faith: 'twas hers, to move + The mountains, and ascend + The Paradise of saints: which faith and love + Made even Death her friend. + +My leg is much better but will still keep me here some days, as I am +not to go till fit to march. It is a great nuisance being unable to +take exercise. I was in such splendid condition, and now I shall be +quite soft again. However there are compensations. The others are only +at Kut, which is as dull as this and much less comfortable; and they +have only 60lb. kits, which means precious little. + +Swinburne I will begin when I feel stronger. The Golden Ass hasn't +come. I ordered it years ago, before the war, to be sent on +publication. It is a curious product of Latin decadence, about second +century; the first notable departure from the classical style. The +most celebrated thing in it is the story of Cupid and Psyche: didn't +Correggio paint it round the walls of a palace in Rome? I went to see +it with Sophy. + + * * * * * + + +AMARAH. + +_December 8, 1915._ + +TO HIS MOTHER. + +We are more cheerful now. In the first place we are less cold. The +wind has dropped and we have devised various schemes for mitigating +the excessive ventilation. I have hung two gaudy Arab rugs over my +window, with a layer of _Times_ between them and the bars. Some genius +had an inspiration, acting on which we have pitched an E.P. tent in +the mess room. It just fits and is the greatest success. Finally, I +sent my bearer to speculate in a charcoal brazier. This also is a +great success. Three penn'orth of charcoal burns for ages and gives +out any amount of heat; and there is no smell or smoke: far superior +to any stove I've ever struck. So we live largely like troglodytes in +darkness but comparative warmth. Between breakfast and tea one can sit +on the sunny side of the verandah round the inner court, though all +sunshine has still to be shared with the flies; but they're not the +flies they were, more like English October flies. + +Secondly, as far as we can see, the main troubles up stream are over. +My account to Papa last mail was not very accurate, but I will write +him the facts again, in the light of fuller information. Anyway +they're back at Kut now, and ought to be able to look after themselves +till our reinforcements come up. The first two boat-loads have arrived +here this morning, and are pushing on. But it was a serious reverse +and may have very bad effects here and in India and Persia unless it +is promptly revenged. + +Owing to the Salsette's grounding, there will be no mail this week. + +My leg remains much the same. I can walk quite well with a slight limp +but the doctor won't let me walk more than fifty yards. I am very +thankful I was stopped from going up to Kut. "A" Coy. has been working +at top pressure there, entrenching and putting up wire entanglements. +And now they will have to stand a siege, on forty days' rations, till +Younghusband and Gorringe can relieve them. So I should be very much +_de trop_ there. I always felt that my _entree_ into the football +world should be pregnant with fate, and so it is proving. + +I have been reading some Swinburne. He disappoints me as a +mind-perverse, fantastic and involved. Obscure when he means +something, he is worse when he means nothing. As an imagination he is +wonderful. His poetry is really a series of vivid and crowding +pictures only held together by a few general and loose, though big +ideas. His style is marvellously musical but overweighted by his +classical long-windedness and difficult syntax. Such a contrast to +Tennyson where the idea shines out of the language which is so simple +as to seem inevitable, and yet wonderfully subtle as well as musical. + + * * * * * + + +AMARAH. + +_December_ 12, 1915. + +TO R.K. + +In the stress of the times I can't remember when I last wrote or what +I said, so please forgive repetitions and obscurities. + +Let me begin at November 24th, the day we heard of the victory at +Ctesiphon or Sulman Pak. That afternoon I crocked my leg at footer and +have been a hobbler ever since with first an elephantine calf and now +a watery knee, which however, like the Tigris, gets less watery daily. + +The very next day (November 25th) half the battalion, including my "A" +Coy., was ordered up stream and departed next morning, leaving me +fuming at the fancied missing of a promenade into Baghdad. But +providence, as you may point out in your next sermon, is often kinder +than it seems. Two days later I could just walk and tried to embark: +but the M.T.O. stopped me at the last moment. (I have stood him a +benedictine for this since.) + +Meanwhile, events were happening up-river. The Press Bureau's account, +I expect, compresses a great deal into "Subsequently our force took up +a position lower down the river" or some such _facon de parler_. What +happened was this. We attacked without reserves relying on the enemy +having none. We have done it several times successfully: indeed our +numbers imposed the necessity generally. This time there were +reinforcements en route, had we waited. But I anticipate. + +Well, we attacked, and carried their first line and half their second +before darkness pulled us up. A successful day, though expensive in +casualties. We bivouacked in their first line. Daybreak revealed the +unpleasant surprise of strong enemy reinforcements, who are said to +have diddled our spies by avoiding Baghdad: 5,000 of them. As we had +started the affair about 12,000 strong to their 15,000, this was +serious. They attacked and were driven off. In the afternoon they +attacked again, in close formation: our artillery mowed them, but they +came on and on, kept it up all night, with ever fresh reinforcements, +bringing them to 30,000 strong all told. By dawn our men were +exhausted and the position untenable. A retreat was ordered, that +meant ninety miles back to Kut over a baked billiard table. The enemy +pressed all the way. Once they surrounded our rear brigade. Two +officers broke through their front lines to recall the front lot. +Another evening we pitched a camp and left it empty to delay the +enemy. Daily rearguard actions were fought. Five feverish days got us +back to Kut, without disorder or great loss of men; but the loss in +material was enormous. All possible supplies had been brought close up +to the firing line to facilitate our pursuit: mainly in barges, the +rest in carts. The wounded filled all the carts, so those supplies had +to be abandoned. The Tigris is a cork-screwed maze of mud-banks, no +river for the hasty withdrawal of congested barges under fire. You can +imagine the scene. Accounts differ as to what we lost. _Certainly_, +two gunboats (destroyed), one monitor (disabled and captured), the +telegraph barge and supply barge, besides all supplies, dumped on the +bank. Most accounts add one barge of sick and wounded (400), the +aeroplane barge, and a varying number of supply barges. In men from +first to last we lost nearly 5,000: the Turks about 9,000--a guess of +course. + +The tale of woe is nearly complete. My "A" Coy. got as far as Kut and +was set to feverish entrenching and wiring. Now the whole force there, +some 8,000 in all, is cut off there and besieged. They have rations +(some say half rations) for six weeks or two months, and ammunition. +They are being bombarded, and have been attacked once, but repelled it +easily. We aren't worried about them; but I with my leg (like another +egoist) can't be sorry to be out of it. I should like to be there to +mother my men. Our Major is wounded and the other officers infants; +the Captain a Colonial one I'm glad to say. + +Meanwhile our reinforcements have turned up in great numbers and +expect to be able to relieve Kut by the end of the month. I mustn't +particularise too much. In fact I doubt whether this or any letters +will be allowed to go through this week. The men are warned only to +write postcards. The dear censor has more excuse where Indians are +concerned. I can walk short walks now. Life is rather slow, but I have +several books luckily. + + * * * * * + + +AMARAH. + +_December_ 20, 1915. + +TO N.B. + +There is a double mail to answer this week and only two days to do it +in, so this may be rather hurried. + +I do get the _Round Table_. I don't think it suggests a World State as +practical politics, but merely as the only ideal with which the mind +can be satisfied as an ultimate end. If you believe in a duty to all +humanity, logic won't stop short of a political brotherhood of the +world, since national loyalty implies in the last resort a denial of +your duty to everyone outside your nation. But in fact, of course, men +are influenced by sentiment and not logic: and I agree that, for ages +to come at least, a World State wouldn't inspire loyalty. I don't even +think the British Empire would for long, if it relied only on the +sentiment of the Mother Country as home. The loyalty of each Dominion +to the Empire in future generations will be largely rooted in its own +distinctive nationalism, paradoxical as that sounds: at least so I +believe. + +Please don't refrain from comments on passing events for fear they +will be stale. They aren't, because my _Times's_ are contemporary with +your letters: and the amount of news we get by Reuter's is negligible. +Indeed Reuter's chiefly enlighten us as to events in Mesopotamia. Last +night we heard that Chamberlain had announced in the House that the +Turks lost 2,000 and the Arabs 1,000 in the attack on Kut on December +12th: that was absolutely the first we'd heard of it, though Kut is +only ninety miles as the crow flies, and my Company is there! All we +hear is their casualties, thrice a week. They now total 2 killed and +11 wounded out of 180: nearly all my Company and 3 of my draft +wounded. + +I want to be there very much, to look after them, poor dears: but I +must say that T.A's view that a place like Kut is desirable to be in +_per se_ never fails to amaze me, familiar though it now is. I had +another instance of it last night. About twelve of my draft were left +behind on various duties when the Coy. went up-river in such a hurry. +Hearing that my knee was so much better they sent me a deputy to ask +me to make every effort to take them with me if I went up-river. I +agreed, of course, but what, as usual, struck me was that the motives +I can understand--that one's duty is with the Coy. when there's +trouble around, or even that it's nicer to be with one's pals at Kut +than lonely at Amarah--didn't appear at all. The two things he kept +harping on were (1) it's so dull to miss a "scrap" and (2) there may +be a special clasp given for Kut, and we don't want to miss it. They +evidently regard the Coy. at Kut as lucky dogs having a treat: the +"treat" when analysed (which they don't) consisting of 20lb. kits in +December, half-rations, more or less regular bombardment, no proper +billets, no shops, no letters, and very hard work! + +My leg is very decidedly better now. I can walk half-a-mile without +feeling any aches, and soon hope to do a mile. There is an obstinate +little puffy patch which won't disappear just beside the knee-cap: but +the M.O. says I may increase my walk each day up to the point where it +begins to ache. + +We have had no rain here for nearly a month; but there are light +clouds about which make the most gorgeous sunsets I ever saw. + + * * * * * + + +EXTRACT FROM LETTER TO HIS MOTHER. + +_December, 1915._ + +I am looking forward to this trek. Four months is a large enough slice +of one's time to spend in Amarah, and there will probably be more +interest and fewer battles on this trek than could be got on any other +front. The Censor has properly got the breeze up here, so I probably +shan't be able to tell you anything of our movements or to send you +any wires: but I will try and let you hear something each week; and if +we are away in the desert, we generally arrange--and I will try +to--for some officer who is within reach of the post to write you a +line saying I am all right (which he hears by wireless) but can't +write. That is what we have been doing for the people at Kut. But +there are bound to be gaps, and they will tend to get more frequent +and longer as we get further. + +No casualties from "A" Coy. for several days: so I hope its main +troubles are over. + + * * * * * + + +EXTRACT OF LETTER TO P.C. + +_Xmas Day_, 1915. + +... I'm so glad Gwalior was a success. I think a good native state is +the most satisfactory kind of Government for India in many ways; but +(a) so few are really good, if you go behind the scenes and think of +such fussy things as security of life and property, taxation and its +proportion to benefits received, justice and administration, +education, freedom of the subject, and so on. (b) It spells stagnation +and the abandonment of the hope of training the mass of the people to +responsibility; but I think that is an academic rather than practical +point at present. + +Christmas is almost unbearable in war-time: the pathos and the +reproach of it. I am thankful that my Company is at Kut on +half-rations. I don't of course mean that: but I'm thankful to be +spared eating roast beef and plum pudding heartily, as these dear +pachyderms are now doing with such relish. I'm glad they do, and I'd +do it too if my Company was here. I'm always thankful for my thin +skin, but I'm glad dear God made thick ones the rule in this wintry +world. + + * * * * * + + +AMARAH. + +EXTRACT FROM LETTER TO N.B. + +It seems odd to get just now your letter answering my arguments +_against_ the advance to Baghdad. They were twofold (1) Military, that +we should not have the force to hold it and our communications would +be too vulnerable. These objections have been largely met (_a_) by +large reinforcements, which will nearly double our forces when they +are all up, (_b_) by the monitors--the second is here now; they solve +the communication problem. I think now it will take a fresh Army Corps +from Constantinople to dislodge us: and I now hear that the +difficulties of _its_ communications would be very great. (2) +Politically. I thought the occupation of Baghdad would cause trouble +(_a_) with Russia, (_b_) with Indian soldiers, (_c_) with Moslems +generally. Here again (_a_) P. tells me Russia is giving us a free +hand, (_b_) trouble did occur with some Indian Regiments, but it took +the mild form of a strike, and the disaffected units have been +dispersed by Coys. over the lines of communication. (_c_) As regards +Moslems in India, I think I was wrong. The bold course, even to +bluffing, generally pays with Orientals. We have incurred their +resentment by fighting Turkey and on the whole we had better regain +their respect by beating her. Of course we shall respect their +religious feelings and prejudices in every practicable way. + + * * * * * + + +AMARAH. + +_December_ 26, 1915. + +TO M.H. + +I hope you safely received the MS. I sent you last mail. + +Orders to move have interrupted my literary activities, and I shall +have to spend the few days before we start chiefly in testing the +fitness of my leg for marching. I went shooting on Friday and walked +about six miles quite successfully, bar a slight limp; and I mean to +extend progressively up to twelve. + +The weather has suddenly turned wet, introducing us to a new vileness +of the climate. I hope it won't last--it means unlimited slime. + +I shan't be able to write much or often for some time, I expect, as we +shall be marching pretty continuously, I reckon. I shall try and write +to Ma and Pa at each opportunity, and to you if there's time and paper +available. Your little writing-block may come in handy. + +One of my draft has been killed and five wounded at Kut. Our +casualties there are 21 out of 180. I shall look forward to seeing my +men again: I hope about the second Sunday after Epiphany. We shall +then march with a force equal to the King of France's on his +celebrated and abortive expedition of ascent. Our destination is a +profound secret, but you may give Nissit three guesses and make her +write me her answers on a Valentine. + +Christmas passed off quietly and cheerfully. T.A. is so profoundly +insensible of incongruities that he saw nothing to worry him in the +legend A MERRY CHRISTMAS and the latest casualty list on the +same wall of the R.A.T.A. room: and he sang "Peace on earth and mercy +mild" and "Confound their politics" with equal gusto. And his temper +is infectious while you're with him. + +The most perplexing Reuter's come through from the Balkans. + + * * * * * + + +AMARAH. + +_Christmas Day_, 1915. + +TO R.K. + +I hope you got my last letter safely. I enclosed it in my home one to +be forwarded. + +There is little news from this theatre, and what there is we mayn't +write, for the most part. + +My Coy. is being bombarded at Kut still. They have had 21 casualties +out of 180. One of my draft is killed and five wounded and here +everyone is parroting about a Merry Christmas. Truly the military man +is a pachyderm. + +This is likely to be the last you will hear of me for some time, +though I hope to be able to dob out a post-card here and there, +perhaps letters now and then. In a word, we're moving next week and +are not likely to see billets again till we lodge with the +descendants, either of the Caliphs or of Abraham's early neighbours. + +My leg is so far recovered that I take it as almost certain I shall +march too when we go. I am testing it to make sure first. Yesterday it +did six miles without damage, though the gait remains Hephaestian. + +The weather is still cold, and fine and dry. The sunsets are +glorious. + + * * * * * + + +AMARAH. + +_December_ 26, 1915. + +TO N.B. + +Christmas and submarines have made the mails very late and we have +again been nearly a fortnight without any. + +We have got our orders to move and so I look forward to a fairly +prolonged period of trekking, during which it will hardly be possible +to do more than write odd postcards and occasional short letters; but +I will write when I can. We start in two or three days time. + +I expect my leg will be all right for marching. When I heard we were +moving, I went to the hospital to consult the chief M.O. there about +it. He examined _both_ my legs gravely and then firmly grasping the +sound one pronounced that it had still an excess of fluid in it: which +I take to be a sincere though indirect tribute to the subsidence of +the fluid in the crocked one. He proceeded to prescribe an exactly +reverse treatment to that recommended by the other M.O., which had the +advantage of giving me official sanction for pretty well anything I +chose to do or not do. The upshot of it was that I decided to test the +old leg for myself to determine whether it was fit for marching or +not. So I began with a six mile walk on Friday, shooting: and found +that my graceful limb did not impede my progress nor develop into any +graver symptoms. I was more tired than I should have been a month ago, +but that was natural. Yesterday was monopolised by Christmas +functions; to-day I mean to try eight or nine miles, and ten or twelve +to-morrow. If the thing is going to crock it had better do it before +I start: but it shows no sign of it. + +The latest way of indicating latitude and longitude is like a date, +_e.g._ 32.25/44/10: you can take the N. and E. for granted. + +It has most tactlessly begun to rain again to-day, and with an E. wind +it may continue, which will mean a vile slime for marching. + +The Christmas sports were really great fun: one of them--one-minute +impromptu speeches--would make quite a good house-party game. + +_P.S._--You must think me brutal not to have mentioned my poor men. I +have written so many letters this morning, I didn't notice it in this +one. They are still being bombarded and have had 21 casualties out of +180: 5 killed, one of my draft, 2 officers slightly wounded. I hope to +see them about Twelfth Night--no, say second Sunday after Epiphany! + + * * * * * + + +CAMP. + +_January 3_, 1916. + +TO P.C. + +... That afternoon the new draft arrived, headed by Jack Stillwell and +Lester Garland. They arrived only 45 strong, having reached Basra over +100. Basra is a nest of military harpies who seize men for obscure +duties and make them local sergts. Only 68 escaped from it; and of +these 23 fell out on the march--another specimen of R.A.M.C. +efficiency. The M.O. at Quetta had merely passed down the line asking +each man "Are you fit?" and taking his answer. + +In this letter A. stands for Amarah, C. for Kut, B. for Ali Gherbi. + + * * * * * + + +B. + +_Sunday_, January 2, 1916. + +TO HIS FATHER. + +As I shan't be able to mention places in connection with our +movements, I shall call the station we left on December 31st A., this +place B. and so on; and I think you ought to be able to follow, as I +will make the lettering consistent. + +We left A. at 2 p.m. on Friday. The men were on barges slung on either +side of the river-boat, on which various details, our officers and the +General and his staff were. + +I brought my gun and 150 cartridges, and was unexpectedly soon +rewarded: for one of the A.C.C's staff came along after lunch and +asked for someone to come with him in the motor-boat and shoot +partridges. As I was the only one with a gun handy I went. We raced +ahead in the motor-boat for half-an-hour and then landed on the right +bank and walked up the river for two-and-a-half hours, not deviating +even to follow up coveys. There were a lot of birds, but it was windy +and they were wild and difficult. Also with only two guns and three +sepoys we walked over as many as we put up. Craik (the A.D.C's name, +he is an Australian parson in peace-time) was a poor performer and +only accounted for three. I got thirteen, a quail, a plover and a +hare. I missed three or four sitters and lost two runners, but on the +whole shot quite decently, as the extreme roughness of the hard-baked +ploughed (or rather mattocked) land is almost more of an obstacle to +good shooting than the behaviour of the birds. Craik was a stayer, and +as the wind dropped at sunset and the birds grew tamer he persevered +till it was dark. Then we had to walk three-quarters-of-a-mile before +we could find a place where the boat could get in near the bank: so we +had a longer and colder chase to catch up the ship than I had +bargained for, especially as I had foolishly forgotten to bring a +coat. However, when I got too cold I snuggled up against the engine +and so kept parts of me warm. Luckily the ship had to halt at the camp +of a marching column, so we caught her up in one-and-a-quarter hours. + +I pitched my bed on deck up against the boiler, and so was as warm as +toast all night. + +Yesterday morning we steamed steadily along through absolutely bare +country. The chief feature was the extraordinary abundance of +sand-grouse. I told Mamma of the astonishing clouds of them which +passed over A. Here they were in small parties or in flocks up to 200: +but the whole landscape is dotted with them from 8 a.m. till 11 and +again from 3 to 4: so that any random spot would give one much the +same shooting as we had at the Kimberley dams. An officer on board +told me that when he was here two months ago, a brother officer had +killed fifty to his own gun: and a Punjabi subaltern got twenty-one +with five shots. + +We reached here about 2 p.m. This place is only about forty-five miles +from A. as the crow flies, but by river it takes sixteen hours, and +with various halts and delays it took us just twenty-four. We only ran +on to one mud-bank. The effect was curious. The ship and the port +barge stopped dead though without any shock. The starboard barge +missed the mud and went on, snapping the hawsers and iron cables +uniting us. The only visible sign of the bank was an eddying of the +current over it: it was right in midstream. + +This is a most desolate place. Apart from the village with its few +palms and gardens there seems not to be a blade of vegetation within +sight. To the N.E. the Persian hills are only fifteen miles away. They +have still a little snow (did I mention that the storm which gave us +rain at A. had capped these hills with a fine snow mantle?) + +Here we found "D" Co., which got stranded here when "A" Co. got stuck +in C. We are about forty-five or fifty miles from C. as the crow +flies, and the guns can be heard quite plainly: but things have been +very quiet the last few days. There is an enemy force of 2,000 about +ten miles from here, but how long they and the ones at C. will wait +remains to be seen. + +We know nothing of our own movements yet and I couldn't mention them +if we did. We have been put into a different brigade, but the +brigadier has not been appointed yet. The number of the brigade equals +that of the ungrateful lepers or the bean-rows which Yeats intended +to plant at Innisfree. We are independent of any division. + +A mysterious Reuter has come through about conscription. As it quotes +the _Westminster_ as saying Asquith has decided on it, I'm inclined to +believe it: but it goes on to talk obscurely of possible resignations +and a general election. + +This may catch the same mail as my letter to Mamma from A. + +_P.S._ Please tell Mamma that just as we were embarking, the S. and T. +delivered me two packages, which turned out to be the long-lost blue +jerseys. So there is hope for the fishing rods yet. + + * * * * * + + +_Monday_, January 10, 1915. + +TO HIS MOTHER. + +I will use a spare hour to begin an account of our doings since I last +wrote, but I don't know when I shall be able to finish it, still less +when post it. + +We left B. last Thursday morning and were told we should march sixteen +miles: we marched up the right bank, so our left flank was exposed to +the desert, and "D" Company did flank guard. My platoon formed the +outer screen and we marched strung out in single file. There were +cavalry patrols beyond us again, and anyway no Arab could come within +five miles without our seeing him, so our guarding was a sinecure. + +We paraded as soon as it was light, at 7.15 a.m., but owing to the +transport delays, the column did not start till after 9.0. The +transport consists of: (a) ships and barges; (b) carts, mules and +camels. Each has its limitations. Ships tie you to the river-bank, so +every column must have some land transport. Camels can hardly move +after rain: they slip and split themselves. The carts are fearfully +held up by the innumerable ditches which are for draining the floods +back to the river. There are not nearly enough mules to go round and +they only carry 160lbs. each. So you can imagine our transport +difficulties. The country supplies neither food, fodder nor fuel. Our +firewood comes from India. If you leave the river you must carry every +drop of drinking water. So the transport line was three times as long +as the column itself, and moved more slowly. + +Our new Brigadier turned up and proved to be a pleasant, sensible kind +of man, looking rather like Lord Derby. Having just come from France, +he keeps quite cool whatever we encounter. (P.S. We have had a new +Brigadier since this one, I haven't yet seen the present one.) + +The march was slow and rough, as most of the ground was hard-baked +plough. The country was as level and bare as a table, bar the ditches, +and we hardly saw a human being all day. It took us till after 4 p.m. +to do our sixteen miles. About 2 p.m. we began to hear firing and see +shrapnel in the distance, and it soon became clear that we were +approaching a big battle. Consequently we had to push on beyond our +sixteen miles, and went on till Sunset. By this time we were all very +footsore and exhausted. The men had had no food since the night +before, the ration-cart having stuck in a ditch; and many of the +inexperienced ones had brought nothing with them. My leg held out +wonderfully well, and in fact has given me no trouble worth speaking +of. + +We had to wait an hour for orders, the Brigadier knowing nothing of +the General's intentions. By six it was quite dark, and the firing had +ceased: and we got orders to retrace our steps to a certain camping +place (marked _I_ on sketch). This meant an extra mile, and immense +trouble and confusion in finding our way over ditches and then sorting +kits in the dark: but finally we did it, ate a meal, and turned in +about 9.30 p.m. pretty well tired out, as we had been on the move +fourteen hours and had marched about twenty-one miles. To put the lid +on it, a sharp shower of exceedingly frigid rain surprised us all in +our beauty sleep, about 11 p.m. and soaked the men's blankets and +clothes. Luckily I had everything covered up, and I spread my overcoat +over my head and slept on, breathing through the pocket-holes. + +(I will continue this in diary form and post it if and when I get a +chance.) + +_Friday 7th._ Started at 8.30 and marched quietly about five miles. +This brought us within view of the large village of D., which is +roughly half-way between B. and C. Between us and it the battle was in +full swing. We halted by a pontoon bridge (2 on sketch), just out of +range of the enemy's guns, and watched it for several hours. Owing to +the utter flatness of the ground, we could see very little of the +infantry. It was hot and the mirage blurred everything. Our artillery +was clearly very superior to theirs, both in quantity (quite five to +one it seemed) and in the possession of high explosive shell, of which +the enemy had none: but we were cruelly handicapped (_a_) by the fact +that their men and guns were entrenched and ours exposed; and (_b_) by +the mirage, which made the location of their trenches and emplacements +almost impossible. + +I had better not say much about the battle yet, but I will give a +rough sketch and describe our own experiences. I will only say this, +that the two great difficulties our side had to contend with were: (1) +the inability of the artillery to locate anything with certainly in +the mists and mirage, and (2) the difficulty of finding and getting +round the enemy's flanks. Either they had a far larger force than we +expected, or they were very skilfully spread out--for they covered an +amazingly wide front, quite eight miles, I should say, or more. + +The battle was interesting to watch, but not exciting. The noise of +the shells from field guns is exactly like that of a rocket going up. +When the shell is coming towards you, there is a sharper hiss in it, +like a whip. It gives you a second or two to get under cover and then +crack-whizz as the shrapnel whizzes out. The heavy shells from the +monitors, etc., make a noise more like a landslide of pebbles down a +beach, only blurred as if echoed. Bobbety's "silk dress swishing +through the air" does his imagination credit, but is not quite +accurate, nor does it express the spirit of the things quite! + +About 3.30 we had orders to cross to the left bank. As we passed over +the bridge, we put up two duck, who had been swimming there peacefully +with the shells flying over their heads every half minute for hours. +When we reached the left bank we marched as if to reinforce our right +flank. Presently the Brigadier made us line out into echelon of +companies in line in single rank, so that from a distance we looked +like a brigade, instead of three companies. About 4 we came up to a +howitzer battery and lay down about 200 yards from it, thus: + +[Illustration] + +We had lain there about ten minutes when a hiss, crack, whizz, and +shells began to arrive, invariably in pairs, about where I've put the +1 and 2. We had a fine view. The first notice we had of each shell was +the sudden appearance of a white puff, about thirty feet above ground, +then a spatter of dust about thirty yards to the right, then the +hiss-crack-whizz. They were ranging on the battery, but after a minute +or two they spotted the ammunition column, and a pair of shells burst +at 3, then a pair at 4. So the column retreated in a hurry along the +dotted arrow, and the shells following them began to catch us in +enfilade. So Foster made us rise and move to the left in file. Just as +we were up, a pair burst right over my platoon. I can't conceive why +nobody was hit. I noticed six bullets strike the ground in a +semi-circle between me and the nearest man three paces away, and +everyone else noticed the same kind of thing, but nobody was touched. +I don't suppose the enemy saw us at all: anyway, the next pair pitched +100 yards beyond us, following the mules, and wounded three men in C. +Company: and the next got two men of B.--all flesh wounds and not +severe. They never touched the ammunition column. + +We lay down in a convenient ditch, and only one more pair came our +way, as the enemy was ranging back to the battery. Of this pair, one +hit the edge of the ditch and buried itself without exploding, and the +other missed with its bullets, while the case bounced along and hit a +sergeant on the backside, not even bruising it. + +Just before 5 we got orders to advance in artillery formation. My +platoon led, and we followed a course shown by the dotted line. We went +through the battery and about 300 yards beyond, and then had orders to +return to camp. On this trip (which was mere window-dressing) no shell +came nearer than fifty yards: in fact our own battery made us jump much +more. + +The whole episode was much more interesting than alarming. Fear is +seated in the imagination, I think, and vanishes once the mind can +assert itself. One feels very funky in the cold nights when nothing is +happening: but if one has to handle men under fire, one is braced up +and one's attention is occupied. I expect rifle fire is much more +trying: but the fact that shell-fire is more or less unaimed at one +individually, and also the warning swish, gives one a feeling of great +security. + +We got back to camp near the river (4 on sketch) about 6, and dug a +perimeter, hoping to settle down for the night. But at 7.30 orders +came to move at 9.30. We were told that an enemy force had worked +round our right flank, and that our brigade had to do a night march +eastward down the river and attack it at dawn. So at 10 p.m. we +marched with just a blanket apiece, leaving our kits in the camp. +After we had gone, the Q.M. made up a big fire and got in no fewer +than fifty-two wounded, who were trying to struggle back to the field +dressing station from the firing line four or five miles away. + +The fire attracted them and parties went out to help them in. I think +it is very unsatisfactory that beyond the regimental stretcher-bearers +there is no ambulance to bring the wounded back: and how can a dozen +stretchers convey 300 casualties five miles? It is a case of _sauve +qui peut_ for the wounded: and when they get to the dressing station +the congestion is very bad, thirty men in a tent, and only three or +four doctors to deal with 3,000 or 4,000 wounded. I mention this as +confirming my previous criticism of the medical service here. + +Well, we started out at 10 p.m. and marched slowly and silently till +nearly midnight. Then we bivouacked for four-and-a-half-hours (5 on +sketch,) and a more uncomfortable time I hope never to spend. We had +not dared bring rugs for fear of losing them in the subsequent attack, +so I had nothing but my Burberry, a muffler and a woollen helmet. The +ground was bare earth everywhere, very damp and cold. I lay in a ditch +and slept for three-quarters-of-an hour, and then woke with extremely +cold feet, so I walked about a little, and then, finding Foster in the +same case, we both took off our Burberrys and laid one under us and +one above and lay like babes in the wood. This expedient kept one +flank nicely warm, and soon I got North to make a pillow of my other +thigh, which kept _that_ warm: but from the knees downwards I was +incurably cold and never got to sleep again. The men were better off, +having each a blanket, and sleeping in packets of four. + +_Saturday._ At last 4.30 a.m. arrived and we started marching again. +It was a blessing to get one's feet warm but the pleasures of the +march were strictly comparative. We trekked on eastwards along the +river-bank till sunrise, 7 a.m., when we came on a camp of Arabs who +fled shrieking at our approach (6 on sketch.) At 7.30, we halted and +had breakfast. Our united efforts failed to find enough fuel to boil a +kettle. We waited till 9, when the cavalry patrols returned and +reported no sign of the enemy, so we marched back to the pontoon +bridge (7 on sketch). I suspect our re-entry _qua_ stage +reinforcements was the whole object of our expedition, and the +out-flankers were a myth from the beginning. The march back was the +most unpleasant we've had. It got hot and the ground was hard and +rough and we were all very tired and footsore. A sleepless night takes +the stamina out of one. There and back our trek was about twelve +miles. + +On arrival at the bridge we were only allowed half-an-hour's rest and +then got orders to march out to take up an 'observation post' on the +right flank. Being general reserve is no sinecure with bluffing +tactics prevailing. + +This last lap was extremely trying. We marched in artillery formation, +all very lame and stiff. We passed behind our yesterday's friend, the +howitzer battery, but at a more respectful distance from the enemy's +battery. This latter showed no sign of life till we were nearly two +miles from the river. Then it started its double deliveries and some +of them came fairly close to some of our platoon, but not to mine. + +It took us nearly two hours to drag ourselves three miles and the men +had hardly a kick in them when we reached the place assigned for our +post (8 on sketch). We were ordered to entrench in echelon of +companies facing North. I thought it would take till dark to get us +dug in (it was 2 p.m.); but luckily our men, lined up ready to begin +digging, caught the eye of the enemy as a fine enfilade target (or +else they saw our first line mules) and they started shelling us from +6,500 yards (Enemy's battery, 9 on sketch). The effect on the men was +magical. They woke up and dug so well that we had fair cover within +half an hour and quite adequate trenches by 3. This bombardment was +quite exciting. The first few pairs were exactly over "D" Company's +trench, but pitched about 100 yards beyond it. The next few were +exactly right in range, but about forty yards right, _i.e._ behind us. +Just as we were wondering where the third lot would be, our faithful +howitzer battery and some heavy guns behind them, which opened all +they knew on the enemy battery as soon as they opened on us, succeeded +in attracting its fire to themselves. This happened three or four +times. Just as they were getting on to us the artillery saved us: +there would be a sharp artillery duel and then the Turks would lie +quiet for ten minutes, then begin on us again. This went on until we +were too well dug in to be a tempting target, and they devoted +themselves to our battery. The curious part of it was that though we +could see the flash of their guns every time, the mirages made it +impossible to judge their ranges or even for our battery to observe +its own fire properly. Our howitzer battery unfortunately was not in a +mirage, and they had its range to a yard and plastered it with +shrapnel. If they had had high explosives they could have smashed it. + +About 4.30 the mirage cleared and our guns had a free go for the first +time that day: (in the morning mists last until the mirage begins). +I'm told the mirage had put our guns over 1,000 yards out in their +ranging, but I doubt this. Anyway it is the fact that those guns and +trenches which were sited in mirages were practically untouched in a +heavy two days' bombardment. + +In that last hour, however, between 4.20 and dark, our heavy guns got +into the enemy finely with their high explosives. They blew one of our +tormentors bodily into the air at 10,500 yards, and silenced the +others, and chased every Turk out of the landscape. + +All the same, we were rather gloomy that night. Our line had made no +progress that we could hear of; we had had heavy losses (none in our +battalion), and there seemed no prospect of dislodging the enemy. +Their front was so wide we could not get round them, and frontal +attacks on trenches are desperate affairs here if your artillery is +paralysed by mirages. The troops who have come from France say that in +this respect this action has been more trying than either Neuve +Chappelle or Ypres, because, as they say, it is like advancing over a +billiard-table all the way. + +To crown our troubles, we were three miles from the river, which meant +no water except for necessities--the men had no kits, and it was very +cold, and we could not show lights. And finally, after midnight, it +began to pour with rain! + +_Sunday._ At 5.30 we stood to arms. It rained harder than ever and +most of us hadn't a dry stitch. At last it got light, the rain +gradually stopped, and a thoroughly depressed battalion breakfasted in +a grey mist, expecting to be bombarded the moment it lifted. About +8.30 the mist cleared a little, and we looked in vain for our +tormentors. Our cavalry reconnoitred and, to our joy, we saw them ride +clean over the place where the enemy's line had been the evening +before. They had gone in the night. + +A cold but drying wind sprang up and the sun came out for a short +time, and we managed to get our things dry. At 1 o'clock we marched +back to the river and found the bridge gone. + +I think this makes a good place to stop, as it marks the end of our +first series of adventures and of the no doubt by now famous battle of +D. + +I enclose a sketch-map to explain our movements. For obvious reasons I +can't say much about the battle itself. + +(I will briefly bring this up to date, post it and try to get a cable +through to you.) + +When we reached the river (10 on sketch), it began to rain again and +we spent a very chill and damp afternoon on the bank awaiting orders. +About dusk B. and C. Companies were ordered to cross the river to +guard the hospital there, and D. stayed to guard the hospital on the +left bank. Mercifully our ship was handy, so we got our tents and +slept warm, though all our things were wettish. + +_Monday._ A quiet morning, no orders. A Scotch mist shrouded +everything till noon and kept our things damp, but the sun got through +at last. + +C. Company returned to left bank, as all wounded were being shipped +across. (N.B. They had to bring them across in our ship. There is +still no sign of the Red Cross motor boats up _here_, though I'm glad +to hear they've reached Basra.) We got orders to march to D. by night. +We started at 8 p.m., "B." Company marching parallel on the other +bank. It was seven or eight miles, but we went very slow, and did not +get in till 1.30 and our transport not till nearly 3, heavy guns +sticking in the ditches. (N.B. Once we got behind the evacuated +Turkish line, we found that the ditches had been filled in to allow +passage of guns, an expedient which had apparently not occurred to the +British Command, for no ditch had been filled in between B, and this +point!) + +_Tuesday._ When morning came we found ourselves camped just opposite +D. (11 on sketch), and we are still there. Two fine days (though it +freezes at night) and rest have restored us. A mail arrived this +morning, bringing letters to December 7th, and your medical parcels. + +I only returned you the quinine and bandages, of which people in Amara +have plenty. They will come in handy for you to send out again. _Here_ +everything medical can be used, but I couldn't have brought any more +than I did. As it is, I've left a lot at Amarah. + +I must close now. On these cold nights the little kitchener is +invaluable, so is the soup. Of the various brands you sent, Ivelcon is +the best. The chocolate is my mainstay on day marches. Also the Diet +Tablets are very good. Bivouac Cocoa is also good. The Kaross is +invaluable. + +Stanford's Map has arrived. + + * * * * * + + +ON THE E. CANAL. + +_Saturday, January 15th_, 1916. + +TO HIS MOTHER. + +I will continue my account of our doings in diary form. Last week we +had a kind of general introduction to war. The last few days we have +seen a few of its more gruesome details. + +_12th, Wednesday._ After posting your letter and one to Luly I read +some of the Mail's papers. We have had absolutely no outside news +since January 1st, and get very little even of the operations of our +own force. I then went to see Foster who has had to go sick and lives +on our supply ship. About 20 per cent. of our men are sick, mostly +diarrhoea and sore feet. The former is no doubt due to Tigris water. +They don't carry the chlorinating plant on trek, and men often have to +replenish water-bottles during short halts. Personally I have so far +avoided unboiled water. I have my bottle filled with tea before +leaving camp, and can make that last me forty-eight hours, and eke it +out with soup or cocoa in the Little Kitchener at bivouacs. + +In the evening "D." Company had to find a firing party to shoot three +Indians, two N.C.Os. and one sepoy, for cowardice in the face of the +enemy. I'm thankful that North and not I was detailed for the job. I +think there is nothing more horrible in all war than these executions. +Luckily they are rare. The men, however, didn't mind at all. I talked +to the corporal about it afterwards--a particularly nice and youthful +one, one of my draft--and remarked that it was a nasty job for him to +have to do. to which he replied gaily, "Well, sir, I 'ad a bit o' rust +in my barrel wanted shootin' out, so it came in handy like." T.A. is a +wonderful and attractive creature. + +_13th, Thursday._ Moved at 7 a.m., carrying food and water for two +days. The enemy had been located on the E. Canal, about eight miles +from D., and our people were going to attack them. The idea was to +hold them in front with a small force, while a much bigger force got +round their left flank (the Canal is on the left bank of the river). +Our brigade was to support the frontal containing force. + +We marched about four miles and then halted about 9 a.m. There was a +strong and cold S.E. wind blowing, which prevented our hearing any +firing, and we could see very little shelling. Our air plane first +reported that a certain fort, which stood about a mile in advance of +the enemy's left flank, was strongly held; but we seem to have shelled +them out of that pretty easily, for about 2 p.m. it reported again +that the enemy had left his trenches on the Canal. + +About 3.30 p.m. we advanced, and reached the aforesaid fort a little +before sunset. Here we heard various alarming and depressing reports, +the facts underlying which, as far as I can make out at present, were +these. The Turks, seeing their left flank being turned, quitted their +position and engaged the outflanking force, leaving only about 500 out +of their 9,000 to hold the canal. Our outflanking force, finding +itself heavily engaged, sent and asked the frontal force to advance, +to relieve the pressure. The frontal force, hearing at the same time +that the Turks had quitted their Canal trenches, advanced too rashly +and were surprised and heavily punished by the remnant left along the +Canal, losing half their force and being obliged to retire. So when +they met us they naturally gave us the impression that there was a +large force still holding the Canal, which we should have to tackle in +the morning. + +We dug ourselves in about 2,000 yards from the Canal. It was very cold +and windy, and we had not even a blanket, though I had luckily brought +both my greatcoat and Burberry. There was a small mud hut just behind +our trench, littered with Turkish rags. The signallers made a fire +inside, and two stray Sikhs had rolled themselves up in a corner. It +was not an inviting spot, but it was a choice between dirt and cold, +and I had no hesitation in choosing dirt. So after a chill dinner, at +which I drank neat lime-juice and neat brandy alternately (to save my +water-bottle intact), I turned into the hut. The other officers +(except North) at first disdained it with disgust, but as the night +wore on they dropped in one by one, till by midnight we were lying in +layers like sardines. The Colonel was the last to surrender. I have a +great admiration for him. He is too old for this kind of game, and +feels the cold and fatigue very much: but he not only never +complains, but is always quietly making the best of things for +everyone and taking less than his share of anything good that is +going. Nothing would induce him, on this occasion, to lie near the +fire. + +_14th, Friday._ The night having passed more pleasantly than could +have been expected, we stood to arms in the trenches at 5.30 a.m. This +is a singularly unpleasing process, especially when all you have to +look forward to is the prospect of attacking 9,000 Turks in trenches +behind a Canal! But one's attention is fully occupied in trying to +keep warm. + +As soon as it was light we got orders to advance and marched in +artillery formation to within 1,200 yards of the Canal, where we found +some hastily begun trenches of the day before, and proceeded to deepen +them. As there was no sign of the enemy, the conviction grew on us +that he must have gone in the night; and presently the order came to +stop entrenching and form a line to clear up the battlefield, _i.e._ +the space between us and the Canal. This included burying the dead and +picking up wounded, as the stretcher parties which had tried to bring +the wounded in during the night had been heavily fired on and unable +to get further than where we were. + +I had never seen a dead man and rather dreaded the effect on my queasy +stomach; but when it came to finding, searching and burying them one +by one, all sense of horror--though they were not pleasant to look +upon--was forgotten in an overmastering feeling of pity, such as one +feels at the tragic ending of a moving story, only so oppressive as to +make the whole scene like a sad and impersonal dream, on which and as +in a dream my mind kept recurring to a tableau which I must have seen +over fifteen years ago in Madame Tussaud's of Edith finding the body +of Harold after the battle of Hastings, and indeed the stiff corpses +were more like waxen models than anything that had lived. + +The wounded were by comparison a cheerful company, though their +sufferings during the eighteen hours they had lain there must have +been fearful: but the satisfaction of being able to bring them in was +our predominant feeling. + +In the middle of this work we were suddenly recalled and ordered to +march to the support of the outflanking force, of whose movements we +had heard absolutely nothing. But when we had fallen in, all they did +was to march us to the Canal, and thence along it back to the river, +where we encamped about 1 p.m. and still are. + +It was a great comfort to be within reach of water again, though the +wind and rain have made the river so muddy that a mug of water from it +looks exactly like a mug of tea with milk in it. + +The wind had continued unabated for two days and now blew almost a +gale. The dust was intolerable and made any attempts at washing +hopeless. Indeed one's eyes got so full of it the moment they were +opened that we sat blinking like owls or shut them altogether. So it +was a cheerless afternoon, with rain threatening. Our supply ship with +our tents had not come up, but the Major (Stillwell) had a bivouac +tent on the second line transport, which he invited me to share, an +offer which I gladly accepted. We made it as air-tight as possible, +and built a wall of lumps of hard-baked mud to protect us from +snipers, and slept quite reasonably warm. It came on to rain heavily +in the night, so I was lucky to be under shelter. + +_15th, Saturday._ This morning it rained on and off till nearly noon, +and the wind blew all day and the sun never got properly through: but +the rain had laid the dust. + +_N.B._--With regard to parcels, none are arriving now, just when +they're wanted. The fact is they have to economise their transport +most rigidly. A staff officer told me that our supply of river-boats +just enables one boat (with its pair of barges alongside) to reach us +every day; our food for one day fills one entire barge, so that you +can imagine there is not much room to spare after ammunition and other +war material has been put on board. The mahila convoys are extra, but +as they take several weeks to do the journey their help is limited. + +I have just seen the padre who has been working in the field dressing +station. In his station there were two doctors, two nursing orderlies +and two native sweepers; and these had to cope with 750 white wounded +for five days till they could ship them down the river. Altogether our +casualties in the two battles have been well over 5,000, so the Turk +has rather scored. + +This afternoon news is ([Greek: a]) that we have got a new Brigadier. +Our brigade manages its commanders on the principle of the caliph and +his wives, and has not yet found a Sherazade. ([Greek: b]) that we +have got a brigade M.O.O. ambulance. This is a luxury indeed. We are +only just over twenty miles from C. now, so we hope to get through +after one more battle. + +_16th, Sunday._ Still in camp. No sun. More rain. Friday's gale and +the rise in the river has scattered our only pontoon bridge, and +Heaven knows when another will be ready. All our skilled +bridge-builders are in C. The people here seem quite incapable of even +bridging the Canal, twenty feet wide. Typical, very. + +I want a new shaving brush--badger's hair, not too large. + +Mail just going. Best love. + +_P.S._--We had a Celebration on a boat this morning, which I was very +glad of, also a voluntary parade service. + + * * * * * + + +LAST LETTER FROM R.P. TO L. PALMER GIVING STORY +FROM JANUARY 12TH TO JANUARY 21ST. + +I wrote you last week a summary of our doings during the battle of D. +Now I will tell you what we have done since, though it is mostly +unpleasant. + +The evening after I posted last week's letter "D." Coy. had to find a +firing party to shoot a havildar, a lance-naik and a sepoy for +cowardice in face of the enemy. Thank goodness North and not I was +detailed for it. They helped dig their own graves and were very brave +about it. They lay down in the graves to be shot. Corp. Boughey was +one of the party and when I condoled with him afterwards on the +unpleasantness of the job, he replied, "Well, Sir, I 'ad a bit of rust +in my barrel wanted shootin' out so it come in handy like"! + +_Thursday, 13th._ We marched at 7 carrying food and water for two +days. We were in support of the frontal containing force. The enemy +were on the Canal, eight miles off. We marched about four miles and +then halted, and waited most of the day for orders. A strong S.E. wind +prevented us hearing anything of the battle but we could see a certain +amount of shelling. About 3 p.m. we got orders to go up in support of +the frontal force, which (we were told) had advanced, the enemy having +abandoned the Canal. We marched another three miles to a fort, which +stood about one and a quarter miles from the Canal, and from which we +had driven the enemy in the morning. Here we waited till after dark, +when we heard that the frontal force had blundered into a Turkish +rearguard holding the Canal, and had lost heavily and been obliged to +retire. It is these disconcerting surprises which try one's spirit +more than anything else. We ate a cold and cheerless supper just +beyond the fort, and then dug ourselves in, with other units of our +brigade on either side of us. It was windy and very cold. There was a +small and filthy hut with every mark of recent Turkish use, just +behind the trench, but sooner or later every officer (I among the +first) came to the conclusion that dirt was preferable to cold, and we +all packed in round a fire which our signallers had lit there. + +_Friday, 14th._ After a tolerable night we stood to arms at 5.30, a +wholly displeasing process. As soon as it was light, we advanced to +within 1,200 yds. of the Canal and started digging in. But it soon +became clear that the enemy had cleared out in the night, so we +stopped digging and started to clear up the battlefield, _i.e._, the +space between us and the Canal. The stretcher parties had been out +during the night, but they had been fired on so heavily that they +could not get beyond the 1,200 yd. line, so there were wounded to pick +up as well as dead to bury and equipment to collect. The dead were so +pitiable that one quite forgot their ghastliness; but it was a +gruesome job searching their pockets. The poor wounded had had a +fearful time too, lying out in the cold all night, but the +satisfaction of getting them in cheered one up. The ground was simply +littered with pointed bullets. + +In the middle of this job we were recalled and told to march to the +support of our outflanking force; but by the time we were collected +and fallen in the need for our assistance had apparently passed, for +we were merely marched to the Canal and then along it to where it +joins the river; where we have been ever since. We got into camp here +soon after noon, and were very glad to be within reach of water again. +The weather was the limit. It blew a gale all the afternoon, and the +dust was so bad one could hardly open one's eyes. We had no tents, but +the Major (Stilwell) had a bivouac and invited me in with him, which +was a blessing as it rained all night. + +_Saturday, 15th._ Rained all the morning on and off. Afternoon grey +and cold. Nothing doing and no news. Sniping at night. + +_Sunday, 16th._ Morning grey and cold. Rained all the afternoon and is +still at it (8 p.m.). Padre held a celebration on one of the boats, +and an open air voluntary parade service. Dug a bridge-head perimetre. +We are waiting for the bridge. The gale and the river bust it. + +_Monday, 17th._ Rained on and off all day. Grey, cold and windy. +Ordered to cross river as soon as bridge is ready. Bridge reported +ready 6 p.m. so we struck camp. We took only what blankets we could +carry. When we reached the bridge, we found it not finished, and +squatted till 8.15. Then the bridge was finished and immediately +broke. So we had to come back to camp and bivouac. Luckily the +officers tents were recoverable, but not the men's. + +_Tuesday, 18th._ Rain stopped at 8 a.m. Whole place a sea of mud ankle +deep, and slippery as butter. Nearly the whole bridge had been washed +away or sunk in the night. We got men's tents from the ship, cleared +spaces from mud and pitched camp again. Rain started again about 1 +p.m. and continued till 4. The Canal or "Wadi" had meanwhile come down +in heavy spate and broken that bridge, so we were doubly isolated. I +went out to post piquets. It took two hours to walk three miles. +Jubber Khan sick all day, so I had to manage for myself, helped by +North's bearer. Foster being sick North is O.C. "D." Coy. and I share +a 40lb. tent with him. He is 2/4th, son of the Duke of Wellington's +Agent at Strathfieldsaye, but has served three years in N. Rhodesia, +so is quite used to camp life. + +Desultory bombardment all day. + +_Wednesday 19th._ Sun at last; first fine day since Thursday last. +Orders to cross Wadi as soon as bridge repaired. Crossed at 4 p.m. and +camped in a dry place. + +_Thursday, 20th._ Fair, sun, heavy bombardment all day. Post going. + + * * * * * + + +ACCOUNT OF FIGHTING WHICH TOOK PLACE IN THE ATTACK ON +THE TURKISH POSITION OF UM EL HANNA, ON JANUARY 21ST, 1916. + +_By an Officer who was There._ + +The Turkish position, which is about ten miles up stream from Shaikh +Saad, is on the left bank of the Tigris. The position is a very strong +one, thoroughly entrenched, with the river protecting its right flank +and absolutely secured on its left flank by a very extensive marsh +which stretches for miles. + +Our camp was about five miles from the Turkish position (downstream) +but our forward trenches were within about 1,000 yards of it. + +On January 20th our guns bombarded the enemy's trenches at intervals +during the day, and on the following morning at 3 a.m. we moved out of +camp preparatory to the attack which was to commence about 6.30 a.m. + +The ---- Brigade was to push the main attack with the ---- Brigade +(ours) in support of it, whilst a third brigade was to make a holding +attack on our right. + +The leading brigade entrenched itself during the night within about +500 yards of the position, whilst our Regiment with one Indian +Regiment formed the first line of supports. We were in our trenches +about 1,000 yards from the enemy's position, ready to make the attack, +by 6 a.m. + +For some reason, which I do not know, the attack was delayed, and our +guns did not open fire till 7.45 a.m. instead of 6.30 as originally +intended. + +At 7.55 a.m. after our guns had bombarded the enemy's trenches for +only ten minutes the infantry were ordered to advance to the attack, +our support line advancing at the same time. + +Our Battalion, which consisted of three Companies (one Coy. being in +Kut-el-Amara) advanced in three lines, "B" Coy. forming the first line +under Lieut. Needham, "C" Coy. the second line under Capt. Page +Roberts, and "D" Coy. the third line under Capt. North with Capt. the +Hon. R. Palmer as his 2nd in command. Lt.-Col. Bowker was with the +third line. + +As soon as we left the trenches we were under a heavy rifle fire, and +as we advanced this became more and more intense, with machine gun and +shrapnel fire added. The ground was perfectly flat and open with no +form of cover to be obtained, and our casualties soon became very +heavy. We continued to advance till we got to within about 150 yards +of the enemy's trenches, but by this time our casualties were so heavy +that it was impossible to press home the attack without +reinforcements, though at the extreme left of our line, our troops +actually got into the first line of trenches, but were bombed out of +them again by the Turks. + +No reinforcements reached us, however, and we afterwards heard that +the Regiment which should have come up in support of us was enfiladed +from their right and was consequently drawn off in that direction. All +we could do now was to hold on where we were, making what cover we +could with our entrenching tools, and this we did until darkness came +on, when we withdrew. + +The weather had been terrible all that day and night, there being +heavy rain with a bitterly cold wind coming off the snow hills. The +ground became a sea of mud which made it most difficult to remove the +wounded, and many of these had to lie out till the armistice was +arranged the following day. + + * * * * * + + +FURTHER DESCRIPTIONS OF THE FIGHT AT UM EL HANNA, +BY EYE-WITNESSES. + +_By an Officer of the 4th Hants._ + +"The fighting on the 21st was a pure slaughter. It was too awful.... + +"The troops from France say that in all their experience there they +never suffered so much from weather conditions. + +"We were wet to the skin and there was a bitter wind coming off the +snow hills. Many poor fellows died from exposure that night, I am +afraid; and many of the wounded were lying out for more than +twenty-four hours until the armistice was arranged the following day." + + * * * * * + + +_Another written down from a Private's account._ + +"The three Companies of Hampshires were in support, with two native +Regiments, and a Battalion of Connaught Rangers. The Black Watch and +Seaforths were in the firing line. The Hants men were next the river. +The two native Regiments refused to leave their trenches when they +saw the fierce fire from the machine guns. The Connaughts were +fighting further off. So the Hampshire men were obliged to go on +alone. 'We never made a rush, and just walked slowly through the rain. +A slow march to our deaths, I call it.'" + +He then said they had got mixed up with the Black Watch and got into +the first Turkish trench, but had been driven out of it again. He saw +Capt. Palmer fall about 200 yards from the trench but did not see +whether he got up again, or where he was wounded. + + * * * * * + + +THORNFIELD, + +BITTERNE, + +SOUTHAMPTON, + +_10th August_, 1916. + +DEAR LADY SELBORNE, + +I have just received a letter from 2nd Lt. C.H. Vernon, 1/4 Hants +(really 2/7 Hants attached) recording his search for my son's body on +the 7th April, 1916, its discovery (as he believes) and its burial. He +also adds that "at the same time he looked for Capt. Palmer's, but +could not find him. It was afterwards that he heard of his death in +the Turkish Camp," and he adds, "Some stories have come through from +survivors as to how he lost his life. As far as we can gather, he was +the only Hants officer actually to penetrate the Turkish trenches with +a few men. That was on the extreme left close to the river. Our men, +however, had not been supplied by the Indian Government with bombs. +Consequently the Turks, being so provided, bombed them out, and only +one or two men escaped capture or death. It was here that Capt. Palmer +was mortally wounded while trying to rally his men to hold the +captured sector." + +I think you may like to have this extract about your gallant son. + +(_Signed_) J.T. BUCKNILL. + + * * * * * + + +42, PALL MALL, + +LONDON, S.W. + +_8th March_, 1916. + +The Hampshires were informed that another Battalion was in front of +them, and advanced without returning the hostile fire till they got to +1,000 yards from the Turkish trenches--they then found out that there +were no British troops in front, so opened fire and advanced. The +Connaught Rangers on their right remained behind when they found out +the mistake. Two native Battalions in reserve refused to budge, +although their officers threatened them with their revolvers. The +artillery preparation proved insufficient, but the Hampshires got into +shell holes and held on till dark. The medical arrangements broke +down, there were insufficient stretcher-bearers, and no chloroform or +sufficient bandages. No mention is made of the Arabs, however. + +There were seventy-five rank and file returned as missing after the +fight, and a subaltern, Lieut. Lester Garland, took over the command +of the Battalion when my brother collapsed. + +The Turks claimed to have captured five officers in one action, but +there is so much "fog of war" in those parts that it is difficult to +identify their claims. + +(_Signed_) G.H. STILWELL. + + * * * * * + + +42, PALL MALL. + +LONDON, S.W. + +_1st May_, 1916. + +At the armistice to collect the wounded it was agreed that all +officers and men that fell within 200 yards of the Turkish trenches +should be picked up and retained by the Turks as prisoners, while all +beyond that zone should be removed by us. Your son was seen within 100 +yards of the Turkish trench when he fell, and it was reported that +four of his men actually got inside the trench, but were driven out by +bombs. My son was with the next platoon to yours, and Bucknill was a +little further on. They were obviously well in front, and fell in the +enemy's zone. + +(_Signed_) G.H. STILWELL. + + * * * * * + + +1/4TH HAMPSHIRE REGIMENT, + +I.E.F. "D," + +C/O INDIA OFFICE, S.W. + +_20th February_, 1916. + +I received your cable enquiring about your son to-day, and have wired +to the Adjutant General at the base at Basra enquiring whether he has +any information not known to the Regiment, as I very much regret to +say we have none whatever. All we know is that he started in the +attack on the Turkish trenches on the 21st January and has not been +seen since. I write to-day as the mail is leaving, but will cable as +soon as I get a reply from the base. Out of 310 who went into the +attack we had 288 casualties. Bucknill and a good many men are missing +as well. There was great difficulty in getting the wounded back as it +had to be done at night and the rain and mud were appalling. + +There was an armistice next day, but we were not allowed to go within +a certain distance of the Turkish trenches, so all wounded within that +area are probably prisoners. + +One other officer of ours was captured and we only found that out +incidentally. There has been no official list of prisoners and I don't +think the Army Headquarters here know who was taken. I don't know +whether you would have the means of getting this from the Turks +through the War Office. I believe attempts are being made here. I +think there is a chance of his being a prisoner as the Regiment got +pretty near the trenches, but I can get no information from any of our +men. I will cable at once if I hear anything. + +I saw yesterday a copy of the _Pioneer_ (Allahabad) for January 30th, +and that reported your son wounded. I hoped, therefore, that he had +been sent to India and the medical people in this country had omitted +to make any record of it, but I imagine in that case he would surely +have cabled to you himself, and I fear the only hope is that he may be +a prisoner of war. + +Your son was attached to my Company latterly and besides being very +keen and capable was a great favourite with the men, and we all miss +him very much indeed. I hope your Lordship will accept my deepest +sympathy in your anxiety, and I sincerely hope that your son may be +safe. + +(_Signed_) H.M. FOSTER, + +_Capt. 1/4th Hants Regt._ + + * * * * * + + +H.M.S. "MANTIS," + +_May_, 1916. + +DEAR LORD SELBORNE. + +I am more grieved than I can say to have given you the news which I +telegraphed yesterday. I know how cruel the anxiety of doubt is, and +telegraphed to you when I had the evidence which I and my friends here +considered reliable. + +About six days ago I went out to the Turks to discuss terms for the +surrender of Kut. I spent the night in their camp and have been with +them several times since then. I asked them for information about +three names. About two of the names I could get little information. On +the third day I received a message from Ali Jenab Bey, telling me that +your son had died in hospital, and that all that could be done for him +had been done, and asking me to tell you how deeply he sympathised +with you. The next day Ali Jenab and two other Turks came into our +camp. One of them, Mohammed Riza, a relation of Jenab Pashas, told me +that your son had been brought in after the fight on the 21st, +slightly wounded in the shoulder and badly wounded in the chest. He +had been well looked after by the Doctors and the Colonel of the +Regiment (I could not find out which Regiment) had visited him, and at +the Doctor's wish sent him some brandy. He did not suffer and the end +came after four hours. + +It is useless to try to tell you how sorry I feel for you and all of +yours. In this campaign, which in my mind has been the most heroic of +all, many of our men who have given their lives have suffered very +long and very terribly, and when one hears of a friend who has gone, +one is glad in this place, to know that he has been spared that +sacrifice. + +I am, + +Yours very sincerely, + +(_Signed_) AUBREY HERBERT. + + * * * * * + + +APPENDIX I. + +THE OFFICIAL ACCOUNT OF THE BATTLE TAKEN FROM SIR PERCY +LAKE'S DESPATCH TO THE WAR OFFICE, PUBLISHED +OCTOBER, 1916. + +_It will be noticed that it differs from the private accounts in one or +two particulars._ + +_1st phase--January 19--23._ + +After the battle of Wadi River General Aylmer's leading troops had +followed the retreating Turks to the Umm-el-Hannah position, and +entrenched themselves at the mouth of the defile, so as to shut the +enemy in and limit his power of taking the offensive. + +The weather at this period was extraordinarily unfavourable. Heavy +rains caused the river to come down in flood and overflow its banks, +and converted the ground on either bank into a veritable bog. + +Our bridge across the Wadi was washed away several times, while the +boisterous winds greatly interfered with the construction of a bridge +across the Tigris, here some 400 yards in width. + +It was essential to establish Artillery on the right bank of the +Tigris, so as to support, by enfilading fire, the attack of our +Infantry against the Hannah position. + +Guns and troops were ferried across, with difficulty, owing to the +high wind and heavy squalls of rain, but by the 19th all troops +allotted to the right bank had crossed over and were established in +the positions from which they were required to co-operate with the +main force on the left bank. + +Meanwhile, the leading Infantry Brigades on the left bank had pushed +nearer the enemy. January 20th was devoted to a systematic bombardment +of his position, and during the night the Infantry pushed forward +their advanced line to within 200 yards of the enemy's trenches. + +On the morning of the 21st, under cover of an intensive Artillery +bombardment, our Infantry moved to the attack. On our right the troops +got to within 100 yards of the enemy's line, but were unable to +advance further. Our left column, consisting of the Black Watch, 6th +Jats, and 41st Dogras, penetrated the front line with a rush, +capturing trenches, which they held for about an hour and a half. +Supports were sent forward, but, losing direction and coming under +heavy fire, failed to reach them. Thus, left unsupported, our +previously successful troops, when Turkish counter-attacks developed, +were overwhelmed by numbers and forced to retire. + +Heavy rain now began to fall and continued throughout the day. +Telephone communication broke down, and communication by orderly +became slow and uncertain. + +After further artillery bombardment the attack was renewed at 1 p.m., +but by this time the heavy rain had converted the ground into a sea of +mud, rendering rapid movement impossible. The enemy's fire was heavy +and effective, inflicting severe losses, and though every effort was +made, the assault failed. + +Our troops maintained their position until dark and then slowly +withdrew to the main trenches which had been previously occupied, some +1,300 yards from those of the enemy. + +As far as possible all the wounded were brought in during the +withdrawal, but their sufferings and hardships were acute under the +existing climatic conditions, when vehicles and stretcher-bearers +could scarcely move in the deep mud. + +To renew the attack on the 22nd was not practicable. The losses on the +21st had been heavy, the ground was still a quagmire and the troops +exhausted. A six hours' armistice was arranged in order to bury the +dead and remove the wounded to shelter. + +I cannot sufficiently express my admiration for the courage and dogged +determination of the force engaged. For days they bivouacked in +driving rain on soaked and sodden ground. Three times they were called +upon to advance over a perfectly flat country, deep in mud, and +absolutely devoid of cover, against well-constructed and well-planned +trenches, manned by a brave and stubborn enemy approximately their +equal in numbers. They showed a spirit of endurance and self-sacrifice +of which their country may well be proud. + + * * * * * + + +APPENDIX II. + +EXTRACTS FROM LETTERS FROM OFFICERS AND MEN OF THE 6TH HANTS. + +Your son was universally liked and respected by all ranks in this +Battalion, and one and all will regret his death and loss as much as I +do, who knew his sterling worth. His memory will be ever cherished by +his brother officers with whom he was so popular. + +(_Signed_) F.H. PLAYFAIR, _Col_. + + +I was indeed sorry to receive your letter which my brother sent on to +me, giving the news of your son's death from his wounds in the Turkish +trenches. I had great hopes that his wound might have been a slight +one. + +May I offer Lady Selborne and yourself the most sincere sympathy both +of the Regiment and myself in this most sad loss which has come to +you. I can assure you both officers and men of the Regiment will miss +him tremendously as he was so popular with all. + +(_Signed_) W. B. STILWELL, _Major_. + + +---- shewed me the wire about Robert yesterday morning. I can't tell +you how sorry I feel for you all. I know I have never lost anyone who +meant anything like so much to me, and I am sure that his friendship +was one of the greatest blessings for me, in every way, that God could +have given me. + +When a fellow not only has such ideals but actually lives up to them +with the determination and consistency with which Robert did, I think +there is something very triumphant about his life. Anyway I know that +his influence will live on, not in his friends alone, but in everyone +with whom he came in contact. I wish you could know what a tremendous +lot people thought of him in the Regiment, both officers and men, some +of whom had little in common with him. + +With deepest sympathy for you all. + +Yours very sincerely, +(_Signed_) PUREFOY CAUSTON. + + +FROM A PRIVATE SOLDIER. + +I had only seen that Robert Palmer had been wounded; the issue giving +the subsequent and very terrible report had escaped me. I am more +sorry than I can well express. Though I didn't know him personally yet +it didn't take long to recognise him as one of the great strengths in +the Battalion, it was noticeable from the very first, from the way he +handled his Company and went about working for them--on the "Ultonia" +it struck me. + + +EXTRACTS FROM LETTERS FROM SCHOOL AND COLLEGE FRIENDS. + +Accept my most grateful thanks for your kind words of sympathy. As you +say, this war, with all its terrible consequences, "had to be," and it +is some comfort to us to know that our sons, meant for other things +than violence, took their part in it serenely and cheerfully, with no +misgivings. + +I often think of your dear boy and of what he said about the war in +that sonnet. But what I most often think of him, as I can of my own +son, is "Blessed are the pure in heart." + +(_Signed_) A.K. COOK. + + +I had looked forward myself to a great career for him: he had so many +qualities to ensure success: a sharp, keen mind, which proved its +literary quality also at Oxford, an unfailing earnestness and high +purpose and a white character: no one could deny the brilliance and +the steadiness of his gifts. + +(_Signed_) M.J. RENDALL. + + +I have just received the "Wykehamist War Roll" and _The Wykehamist_ +and in it find the sad news of your boy. I did not know definite news +had been received and was still hoping. May I add my letter of +sympathy to the many you will have had from all his friends, for +though sympathy does not do much good it does sometimes help a little +I believe, and say how very, very much I feel for you and Lady +Selborne in your loss. He was my senior prefect my first year at +"Cook's," and there never was a kinder, fairer and more liked prefect +by the small boys all the time I was there, and indeed I think I have +never met a better fellow anywhere. + +(_Signed_) F. LUTTMAN-JOHNSON. + + +I have only just learned from the announcement in to-day's papers that +you have no longer any ground for hoping against hope. I did not mean +to write to you, but the sense of the loss and of how England will +miss him in the years to come has been so strongly in my mind all day +that I thought perhaps you would not mind my trying to put it into +words. I did not see very much of him, but I have never forgotten the +first impression of him that I got as external examiner at Winchester, +when he was in Sixth Book and how I felt he was marked out for big +work, and I had always looked forward to getting to know him better. +It makes one feel very, very old when those on whom one relied to +carry on one's work and ideas are taken. But it is a happiness--or at +least a sort of shining consolation--to think that one will always +remember him as radiantly young. I have lost so many pupils who will +never grow up and always be just pupils. + +Please do not think of replying and pardon this intrusion. + +(_Signed_) A. ZIMMERN. + + +Bobby was gold all through--for head and heart one in a million. Of +all the undergraduates I have known at Oxford during my twenty years +of work there, he struck me as most certain by reason of his breadth +and sobriety of judgment, intellectual force and sweetness of +disposition to exercise a commanding influence for good in the public +affairs of the country. Everyone admired and liked him and I know that +his influence among his contemporaries, an influence exercised very +quietly and unobtrusively, was quite exceptional from the very first. + +(_Signed_) HERBERT FISHER. + + +Those of us who knew Bobby at Univ. and saw him afterwards in London +knew that one way or another he would give his life to the country. +The war has only determined the manner of his giving and made the life +much shorter, but his memory the more abiding. + +(_Signed_) ALEC PATERSON, _2nd Lieut_. + + +[Illustration] + +[Illustration: MAP ENCLOSED IN LETTER OF JAN. 10.] + + + + + +End of Project Gutenberg's Letters from Mesopotamia, by Robert Palmer + +*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK LETTERS FROM MESOPOTAMIA *** + +***** This file should be named 17584.txt or 17584.zip ***** +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: + http://www.gutenberg.org/1/7/5/8/17584/ + +Produced by David Clarke, Sankar Viswanathan, and the +Online Distributed Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net +(This file was produced from images generously made +available by The Internet Archive/Canadian Libraries) + + +Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions +will be renamed. + +Creating the works from public domain print editions means that no +one owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation +(and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without +permission and without paying copyright royalties. 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