IN THE CLOUDS ABOVE BAGHDAD
* tt
*••.
IN THE CLOUDS
ABOVE BAGHDAD
BEING THE RECORDS OF AN
AIR COMMANDER
BY
LT.-COL. J. E. TENNANT, D.S.O., M.C.
The Moving Finger writes ; and, having writ,
Moves on ; nor all Thy Piety and Wit
Shall lure it back to cancel half a Line,
Nor^all thy Tears wash out a Word of It.
— OMAR.
CECIL PALMER
OAKLEY HOUSE, BLOOMSBURY STREET
LONDON, W.C.i. 1920
FIRST
EDITION
ig20
COPY-
RIGHT
TO MARK, MY BROTHER
CONTENTS
CHAPTER PAGE
FOREWORD .... xi
I EASTWARDS 3
II A LAND OF SAND, SUN AND SORROW 21
III THE BATTLES THAT WON BAGHDAD 55
IV BAGHDAD AND BEYOND . . . 109
V DAYS GRAVE AND GAY . . . 161
VI ON THREE FRONTS , . rs 207
VII A LAST CROWDED HOUR . . 255
LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS
ON PATROL . . . Frontispiece
MESOPOTAMIA ..... i
IN THE MEDITERRANEAN . . . . 4
SHEIKH SAAD . . . . ' . . 17
BRITISH POSITION ON THE TIGRIS FROM
MAY TO DECEMBER 13™, 1916 . . 32
A FLY-BOAT ...... 44
TRANSPORTING TROOPS UP THE TIGRIS . 44
SKETCH SHOWING : KHADAIRI BEND, DAHRA
BEND, HAI SALIENT, AND SHUMRAN . 69
SUNSET ON THE TIGRIS . . . . 72
OUR MULE TRANSPORT .... 72
AN AERODROME IN THE RAINS . . . 72
LOOKING UP THE TIGRIS FROM AP.AB
VILLAGE ...... 77
THE LINES AT SANNAYAT . . ., 77
GERMAN AIRMEN ON THE TIGRIS . ^7 82
MAUDE'S MASTER-STROKE .... 82
CTE SIPHON ...... 104
GUNBOATS APPROACHING BAGHDAD . . 104
JEBEL HAMRIN, MARCH 25™, 1917 . . 125
SKETCH SHOWING BATTLE OF ISTABULAT . 148
SAMARRA . . . . . . . 151
BATTLE OF BAND-I-ADHAIM . . . 154
GENERAL MAUDE WITH BRITISH AND
RUSSIAN STAFF OFFICERS . . . 157
R.F.C. HEADQUARTER STAFF, BAGHDAD . 157
SKETCH SHOWING ACTION AT RAMADI . . 201
BATTLE OF TEKRIT ..... 223
X LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS
Facing
Page
SIR STANLEY MAUDE 228
NEJEF 230
TOWER OF BABEL 230
OPERATIONS IN JEBEL HAMRIN, DECEMBER,
1917 - .... 235
KHAZIMAIN ...... 240
IN THE WAKE OF A STORM .... 240
HUN AVIATORS 248
BROWNING'S ARRIVAL AT TEHERAN . . 258
KITE BALLOON AND ANTI-AIRCRAFT GUN IN
THE DESERT 266
HIT 266
FIRST RACE MEETING AT BAGHDAD . . 268
ACTION AT KHAN BAGHDADI . . . 285
COMPARING NOTES ON CAPTIVITY WITH
TURKISH COMMANDER . . . 287
THE WADI WHERE WE WERE SHOT DOWN 287
Foreword
As I write 'this it is almost two years to a day
since: the date-palms of Fao slipped under the
horizon and 'the steamer steadied on her course
down the Gulf. The white torment of the desert
is replaced by the view of a London square in
Spring; life is respectable and comfortable —
and safe. The majority of us who have survived
the war are no doubt doomed to die in our beds;
when that moment arrives how we shall envy that
gay company who went before, sword in hand and
faces to the enemy, flower of a generation who with
Time are gradually forgotten. Meanwhile we,
their old companions, will not forget; we work,
play, and make new friends, but we do not forget
those gentlemen of England.
It seems a long time since we fought for very
existence, so long that to perpetuate my recollec-
tions of the campaign in Mesopotamia I have
woven these few records together for my own
interest; it is neither Military Work nor Literary
Aspiration, but perhaps will bring back memories
of stirring times to those who served with me. If
any other reader peruse these pages, the honour I
esteem; for the penmanship I apologise.
J. E. T.
LONDON,
April, 1930.
Chapter L
EASTWARDS.
Ah, my Beloved, fill the Cup that clears
To-day of past Regrets and future Fears
To-morrow ? Why, To-morrow I may be
Myself with Yesterday's Sev'n Thousand Years.
— OMAR.
CHAPTER I.
IT was the last day of June in 1916 when the shore
folk thronged their windows and house-tops to
wave us farewell, and the roar of cheering and
hoots of sirens from 'the ships in harbour echoed
across 'the water and faded away as we gradually
drew out to sea. A destroyer slipped into station
<5h either bow, a throb in the ship told of increased
speed, and we were out in the silence and evening
mist of 'the Channel. That night the wireless
droned of the storm-burst on 'the Somme; of the
waves of great Englishmen going over the top
kicking a football in front of them; of the British
pack pressing forward to the sound of a hunting
horn — of Hell let loose.
We? Destiny had beckoned us East to fight in
a remote land far from the mad swirl of the
Western Front, and to those of us who had drunk
deep of the wet, cold, squalor, and desolation
between the Sea and the Somme, this new venture
was a relief. Roving is part of the heritage of our
race.
A zigzag course was steered all the way to Port
Said, for the Mediterranean was a thickly-infested
3
4 IN THE CLOUDS ABOVE BAGHDAD
sea, and many of our predecessors had gone to the
bottom. The sea was calm, and they were hot, idle
days; the wonderful nights, with sickle moon and
lamp-like stars, were fitter background for Love
than lurking Tragedy. The old " Jupiter," shade
of a former Channel Fleet, and ' Espiegle,"
reminder of training days at Dartmouth, lay
anchored at Port Said; the war had resurrected
many a good old ship. It was odd, after previous
acquaintance wi'th this hot, dusty town, to see flying
machines come swooping over the ship into the
harbour. Forty miles away, at El-Arish, sat the
Turkish Army in sullen immobility, having failed
in their attempt to invade Egypt; the British line
lay along the Canal, on which thousands of troops
were encamped, from Suez to Port Said. A great
General remarked that during this period the
Canal was defending the troops, instead of the
troops defending the Canal.
All that stifling July night we were passing
British encampments; many of the Tommies were
floating about in the Canal, trying to get cool, even
at i a.m. All night a fusillade of questions passed
between ship and shore; the details aboard were
anxious to find out if any battalions of their own
units were ashore. In answer 'to their questions
"Any Welshmen?" "Any Leicesters?" from
the dimness of the banks would come a weary
attempt at cheerfulness, " Any beer ? " The men
on shore seemed 'to feel forgotten in the desert,
and weary of waiting for the action that never
came their way. Far on in the night, in the silence
the Mediterrannean
EASTWARDS 5
of the " wee sma' hoors," a voice rang out from the
desert in accents unmistakable, " Is there
onybody there fra' Broomielaw? " a breath from
home. The next morning we passed the last
British soldier on the bank, a solitary figure in
helmet, shorts, and shirt-sleeves, surrounded by
the shimmering white plain. A friendly soul on
board cried out: " Stick it ! " a fitting farewell
with the thermometer at 100 deg. Fahr., but his
reply to us was : " You'll never come back."
Steaming down the Gulf of Suez, the sun set
in a fiery glow behind the Egyptian hills, and the
night came as a benediction with the moon nearly
full. I sat smoking on deck under the stars, and
thought of the little shikari Fetich ibn Sabeah and
the ibex we had hunted together four years before
among the high tops of Sinai, just visible on the
port bow. The days of peace and sport seemed
so many years ago.
The Red Sea proved no disappointment; the
' Briton " had not been built for these climates ; the
saloon at meals was like an Inferno, and it was too
hot to sleep. The stokers were white men, and
unable to carry on unsupported, so forty volunteers
were called for, and the Welsh Fusilier ex-miners
responded. The temperature of the sea rose to
92 deg. Fahr., and the atmosphere was soaking.
The second afternoon the ship's doctor died of
heat-stroke; we buried him over the poop next
morning in a thick haze of heat. The human
frame could stand little more; the perspiration ran
from head on to deck and down legs into boots.
B
6 IN THE CLOUDS ABOVE BAGHDAD
No sooner had we buried the doctor than one of
the crew went down outside my cabin; his clothes
were taken off, and we put him close to the side of
the ship to get any air there might be, but despite
all efforts he was gone in two hours. Such is the
Red Sea in July.
We steamed through Hell's Gate on the fifth
morning, and by nightfall were off Aden and
cooling down. The South- West monsoon, with a
tumbling sea and rain squalls, blew fresh life into
the ship and bucketed us into Bombay harbour
twenty-two days out from Plymouth.
Bombay is unpleasant at the height of the
monsoon. The rain lashes down on to the pave-
ment and rises up in steam ; an electric fan at night
just keeps one dry. The drafts on board dis-
embarked for Poona and Kirkee, there to acclimatise
before going up the Gulf. The place at this time
was a busy base for the forces up the Persian Gulf
and in East Africa, and was not lacking in lurid
details of either. There seemed to be little
encouraging about Force D. General Gorringe
had gone home for an enquiry; 60 per cent, of the
force were sick and 15,000 invalided out of the
country in June; half rations at the front due to
insufficient transport; and new river transport
despatched from Calcutta by sea, instead of being
shipped in sections, had either gone to the bottom
in the monsoon or been forced to return for
repairs; no fresh food; our cheerful friends gave
us a month in the country.
On Tuesday, July 25th, in company with 1,600
EASTWARDS 7
Indian troops and their goats and 40 Indian Army
officers, we set sail in the B.I. steamer " Ellenga "
for this promised land. We called at Muscat, a
god-forsaken looking spot on the south-east coast
of Arabia, and an old headquarters of piracy,
slave traffic, and gun-running. It was an important
Portuguese naval station early in the seventeenth
century, but attained its greatest prosperity under
Arab rule two hundred years later. Abdul Rezak
left on record here in 1442 that " the heat was so
intense that it burned the marrow in 'the bones, the
sword in its scabbard melted like wax, and the
gems which adorned the hilt of the dagger were
reduced to coal. In the plains the chase became
a matter of perfect ease, for the desert was filled
with roasted gazelles ! ' Muscat is picturesque
and mediaeval, with its watch towers and large
fort commanding the bay, but, as usual, no shade
or vegetation to be seen anywhere. Here we left
a de'tachment of the io8th Native Infantry, as,
although nominally independent, the Sultan had
appealed to the British for protection against the
Turk and hos'tile tribes, to whom his Hinterland
was exposed. There had been fighting here in
1915, the Indian garrison having defeated and
driven off three thousand Arabs. Little did the
British public, more immediately affected by the
greater wars, realise how forgotten British officers
were dying in nameless fights, or rotting with fever
in distant outposts, " unknown, uncared-for, and
unsung."
The heat of the Persian Gulf was as the heat
8 IN THE CLOUDS ABOVE BAGHDAD
of the Red Sea : the temperature :>f the water
reached 100 deg. Fahr., and one grew weary for
want of sleep. At Bushire, a Persian town on the
edge of low-lying desert, lay H.M.S. " Juno," with
forty cases of heat-stroke on board; existence in
a small cruiser surrounded by steel plating in this
climate would seem a test even for the British tar.
All the way to Busrah we had passed a string
of hospital ships bound for India, a testimony to
the truth of what they had told us in Bombay. On
the evening of July 3Oth we arrived at the Shatt-
el-Arab lightship, and anchored outside the bar
for the night. The sea here is very shallow, being
only 'three fathoms in depth, and the land at the
mouth so low-lying as to be practically out of sight
from the bar. Here in 1914 General Delamain,
with a brigade of troops, made his landing at Fao,
and captured the fort after its guns had been
silenced by our warships. The Shatt-el-Arab
(Arab river) is the estuary formed by the junction
of the Tigris and Euphrates about a hundred miles
from the sea. Next morning we crossed the bar
and entered the river; it reminds one of the Nile
with the date palms on either hand and white
desert beyond. The " Shamal," a red-hot wind
with driving sand, made one seek protection; it
blows for six weeks, and is regarded as a welcome
relief in the long monotony of the hot weather,
sometimes a questionable point ; the still heat of an
oven or a fiery blast and driving sand !
Abadan, once a considerable port on the sea
coast, now about forty miles up river, was almost
EASTWARDS 9
invisible in the fog of sand and scorching wind.
Here were 'the dockyard for the river gunboats and
the terminus of the hundred-mile pipe line between
the oilfields and the refineries of the Anglo-Persian
Oil Company. Just above Abadan the channel
was blocked by three vessels sunk in the fairway
by the Turks, leaving, however, a narrow channel
close in to the right bank. At three o'clock that
afternoon we came to the end of our voyage,
Busrah, the base and G.H.Q. of Indian
Expeditionary Force " D."
After 'the Moslem invasion in the seventh
century, a new city called Al-Busrah, said to mean
" the black pebbles," was built some miles inland
from the Sassanian city Ubullah on the feverish
estuary; the former, however, has passed with the
ages, and the modern Busrah occupies the site of
the ancient Ubullah.
As soon as war broke out in Europe the
authorities in Constantinople sent secret tele-
grams to the Nationalist faction in Busrah to enlist
feeling against the Allies. On the arrival of 'the
British expedition in November, 1914, many of the
Arabs joined the Turks in the natural desire to
defend their homes and incited further by lure of
loot and other Ottoman promises. Fortunately
the British advance was rapid, or the whole country
might have been enlisted against us. Busrah was
captured on November 22nd, after some hard
fighting.
The place is famous at least for its climate ; the
humid heat hangs heavy on the lungs, everything
IO IN THE CLOUDS ABOVE BAGHDAD
is saturated, ink runs on the paper, and matches
will barely strike. Endure the day, but "the night
brings no relief. There is no freshness in a
Busrah summer, and the ravages of prickly heat,
mosquito, and sand-fly combine 'to shrivel all
impulse and desire. The town and its surroundings
are intersected by canals and lagoons, and densely
sown with date palms, their " feet in water and
their heads in Hell," as the Arab saying goes.
Busrah city itself is some way up a creek,
its suburb on the banks being called Ashar.
The inhabitants are a cosmopolitan crowd :
Baghdadi Jews, Greeks, Swahilis, Lurs,
Bakhtiaris, Abyssinians, Chaldeans, Zanzibaris,
Armenians, Persians, Kurds, Indians, and Arabs,
jostle each other in the bazaars. In the stream
were rows of dhows from Indian, African, Persian
and Arabian ports; a great date trade has been
carried on for centuries. Time does not seem to
have changed either the 'trade or the ships and
their crews. There they lay as of old, with their
graceful lines and carved woodwork; the Arab
captain and his friends decorously drinking coffee
in the stern, and the negro crew, sons of the slave
trade, bickering in the bow; Vasco da Gama would
have seen no change. In utter contrast to this
were the six huge masts of 'the high-powered
wireless station crackling out forty words a minute
to the other side of the world.
As at Venice, the means of progression at
Busrah is by water; instead of the gondola there is
the " bellum," a long canoe strongly made and
EASTWARDS 1 1
easily capsized. One goes to the bazaar up the
Ashar Creek, past rows of Arab cafes and dancing
saloons. On the west side of the harbour were the
merchants' warehouses, stores, offices, and landing
stages. Many of these buildings had been appro-
priated for the accommodation of G.H.Q. and
hospitals. On the other side were the old Turkish
barracks, flying the White Ensign, used as a depot
by the Royal Navy, but soon evacuated except for
storage purposes on account of disease. The
harbour was busy with small craft such as motor-
launches, dhows, smart Navy boats, tugs, bellums,
and " gufas," the latter circular coracles made of
tarred mud and matting, and unchanged since the
days of the Bible. A curious medley of all ages
and all races !
On either bank, as far as the eye could see, the
long, lean palm trees swayed in the hot wind;
outside the white desert blazed to the horizon.
My first day on shore I had an interview with
General Sir Percy Lake, and was generally busy
learning the situation. The staff at G.H.Q. looked
tired and washed out, the result of long office hours
in the Busrah hot weather.
The strength of the R.F.C. at this time in
Mesopotamia was one skeleton squadron at the
Front, and an Aircraft Park at the base. There
was also a Kite Balloon section of the R.N.A.S.
under Commander Wrottesly, R.N.
As will be remembered, Kut had fallen on April
23rd of this year, in spite of the indescribable
valour and devotion of the relieving force, wEo,
12 IN THE CLOUDS ABOVE BAGHDAD
in the face of overwhelming difficulties, had again
and again striven to break through. There had
been no 'time to lose, and brigades straight off the
sea from France were rushed in and decimated as
soon as they arrived. The enemy still held the
same pqsition at Sannayat on the left bank in which
he had withstood our attacks in April. His line
was 'flanked on the one side by the Suwaikieh
Marsh, and on the other by the river, whose bank
from Sannayat to Kut was also entrenched. On
the right bank of the Tigris it extended from a
point three miles N.E. of Kut in a S.W. direction
to the river Hai, two miles below its junction with
the Tigris, and thence across the Hai to the N.W.*
The line of the Hai was occupied for several miles
with posts and mounted Arab auxiliaries. On the
left bank of the Tigris our trenches were within a
hundred and twenty yards of the Turkish front
line ; on the right bank our troops were established
eleven miles up-stream of Sannayat, with outposts
about two miles from those of the Turk. In these
positions desultory warfare, with intermittent
artillery and aerial activity, was carried on. An
Indian Division occupied Nasiriyeh on the
Euphrates, where the surrounding tribesmen were
mostly hostile ; further up that river, where Turkish
influence was rife, there was a small enemy force.
Railway construction had already been commenced
towards Nasiriyeh.
The Aircraft Park, at Tanooma, on 'the other
side of Busrah harbour, was a collection of palm-
leaf huts with a few iron-roofed brick sheds,
* See sketch map.
EASTWARDS 13
surrounded by desert. Here such arrears of work
had accumulated that it was hard to know where
to begin, and the men who were left had little life
in them. It was only possible to work in the hours
of dawn, for by nine o'clock the sun was getting up,
and any remaining energy was necessary for bare
existence. A large percentage of our staff were
sick, the hospitals were overflowing, and very few
reinforcements arriving in the country ever reached
their units, but went sick at Busrah, taking up
valuable room in hospital that was needed for men
evacuated from 'the front. Lack of labour was
seriously holding up the unlading of stores
urgently required by the force up river; coolies
were few and difficult, and troops were not to be
spared from drafts for the fighting forces, fifty
per cent, of whom had gone sick. The congestion
of shipping in Busrah harbour, as a result of this,
was serious at a time when all the Empire's
resources in tonnage were necessary to fight the
submarine menace. Some ships had been lying in
harbour for months, and it was said that others
had returned to India, having only cleared a por-
tion of their cargo in order not to waste time when
'there was any space available. Nine new aero-
planes which had been waiting a month to
be unloaded were not got ashore till several weeks
later. The base at Busrah seemed to be congested
with stores of every description, yet owing 'to lack
of labour and shallow draft river transport, the
fighting force were hard pressed to maintain
themselves.
14 IN THE CLOUDS ABOVE BAGHDAD
Next morning, August 4th, we started up river
in 'the steamer T3, attached to the Royal Flying
Corps; 'the landscape consists of grass and scrub
dotted with Arab villages, dead flat to the horizon,
and rather like the White Nile.
The waters of the Euphrates flow into the Tigris
at 'two places. The swamps and lakes away to the
West, in which various channels of the Euphrates
lose themselves, drain into a common stream which
empties itself at Gurmat AH, about five miles above
Busrah. Kurnah, ano'ther forty miles on, is the
junction of the Tigris and the only navigable
Euphrates channel. On the spit of land formed
by the two rivers is the reputed site of the Garden
of Eden; the stranger is still shown the Tree of
Knowledge by the Arabs. The two streams flowing
along side by side are quite distinct before they
merge, the muddy white of the Tigris on the one
hand and the clear blue of the Euphrates on 'the
other. In the Middle Ages the Tigris, after reach-
ing Kut, changed from its original and modern
course, and flowed south down what is now the
Shatt-el-Hai, losing itself as that river does in 'the
swamps. It is uncertain when the river changed
back into its present course, but Ralph Fitch and
John Newberie, two Englishmen who had come to
Baghdad down the Euphrates in 1583, reached
Busrah by boat, passing Kurnah, " a castle which
standeth upon the point where the river Furro
(Euphrates) and the river of Bagdet (Tigris) doe
meet/' These Englishmen eventually reached the
court of Akbar, the Great Moghul, where they
EASTWARDS 15
separated; Newberie was murdered in the Punjab,
Fitch, after many vicissitudes, returned up the
Tigris in 1588, and succeeded in regaining
England. It is impossible to imagine the hardships
which these early pioneers must have endured.
There are no crocodiles in 'these rivers, but their
place is taken by sharks, and tortoises are to be
seen swimming in hundreds; the bird life of the
whole country is wonderful.
In the evening we passed Ezra's tomb : a blue-
domed building and haunt of pilgrims in time of
peace. Records as far back as the tenth century
A.D. speak of this place as renowned through the
country as a spot where prayers were answered.
We anchored for the night in mid-stream, for
in those days it was unsafe to tie up to 'the bank.
Jackals howled one to sleep. The following after-
noon we crawled into Amara against a Shamal gale
that burnt the eyes in their sockets. Lieut. Kelly,
in charge of the R.F.C. advanced store depot, met
us here, and we groped ashore to have a look at
the place and inspect the mule transport fitting
out for the front; the wheels of the carts had
all shrunk away from their tyres.
Amara is a large town, consisting of the regu-
lation Arab houses of mud bricks, which reach to
the river on either side; the two banks were
connected by a bridge of boats left behind by the
Turks. The bazaar is famed for its silver-work
from Damascus to Peshawur, and is thronged by
Jews, Chaldeans, Arabs, Persians, Kurds, and
Indians. The place must have been infested with
1 6 IN THE CLOUDS ABOVE BAGHDAD
spies. There were two miles of hospital camps,
and most of the available buildings had been
converted into hospitals; hospital 'tents even
surrounded the gallows in the square. One of the
Arab houses on the river had been turned into an
officers' club, and here it was possible to get a cool
whiskey-and-soda on the verandah of an evening.
Amara had been captured on June 3rd, 1915, by
twenty-two sailors and soldiers who sailed up the
river in a shallow- draught gunboat and demanded
the surrender of the town with its garrison of seven
hundred Turks. An audacious stroke of successful
bluff, as the Norfolk Regiment did not arrive till
the next day.
The day after leaving Amara we grounded on a
mud bank at 6 a.m. The Arab crew and pilot were
useless, but we managed to kedge her off ourselves
after 'three hours, only to go aground again an hour
later. In spite of many more arduous hours spent
in the heat and wind, we failed to find a channel,
merely moving from one shoal to another; but at
last, after dark, another steamer came down-stream
and hauled us into deeper water by a heavy wire.
She had been on the mud herself for ten hours.
The river was at its lowest and the channels con-
tinually altering; we were told that with our 4ft. 3in.
draught it was doubtful whether we should get
above Ali-Gharbi, twenty-five miles short of our
destination, Sheikh Saad. The heat during the
whole of the journey up-stream had been terrific;
the two batmen who had started with us were both
down, one with dysentery, the other with heat-
Boat bridge, Sheikh Saad
•
Sheikh Saad
EASTWARDS 17
stroke. One's apparel consisted of shorts, shirt
sleeves and a " topi," without shoes or stockings.
In the evening one was glad to hang over the side
of the ship on a rope and be towed slowly through
the water, which, though thick and nasty 'to taste,
was at least cool.
Ali-Gharbi proved a mere collection of Arab
shelters and the tents of a small British post ; not a
tree to be seen. Here we left T3, as she would
only have blown on the shoals in the shallow and
tortuous channels above. I shall never forget going
ashore that morning in this god-forgotten spot;
bending low against the gale, I searched for a
British officer. Eventually 'there appeared a ragged
individual in pyjamas and helmet; he had been
there all summer and had long since lost all interest
in life. The arrival of fresh blood from England,
however, cheered him, and talk of London over a
bottle of warm beer seemed to awaken further
desire to live.
Our intention of crossing the desert to Sheikh
Saad in a motor was not advised on account of
possible attack by Arabs, so a telegram was sent to
squadron H.Q. for their motor-boat. Captain
Murray, commanding at 'the time, met us, and we
ran up to Sheikh Saad in four hours in spite of
taking several shoals at twelve knots.
The tents of a squadron of Flying Corps and a
few other troops were the sole means of distinguish-
ing Sheikh Saad from Ali-Gharbi; otherwise, as
spake the British Tommy, " there was miles and
miles and miles of sweet damn all ! "
Chapter IL
A LAND OF SAND, SUN AND SORROW.
And that Inverted Bowl we call The Sky,
Whereunder crawling coop't we live and die,
Lift not thy hand to IT for help — for IT
Rolls impotently on as Thou or I.
— OMAR.
CHAPTER II.
THE enemy's aerodrome was at Shumran, a few
miles above Kut, his flying unit being manned by
Germans and equipped with Fokker and Albatross
machines. Hitherto their sky had been clear;
with only an occasional old B.E., Henry Farman,
or Voisin to hinder them, their morale was excel-
lent. To quote Sir Percy Lake's despatch : " As
regards aviation, the superiority of certain of the
enemy planes over any of our machines in the
matter of speed, combined with a large reduction
in the number of our pilots (due to sickness partly
attributable to overwork), enabled the enemy in
May and June to establish what was very nearly a
mastery of the air."
It was essential 'to destroy that morale, as in
order to fulfil the role of close co-operation with
cavalry, artillery, and infantry, and carry on the
photography and mapping of any area in the hands
of the enemy, an Air Service must be in moral
supremacy. The personnel of the squadron were
severity under strength and most of them sick
men, unable to leave their tents many days of the
week. More machines were, however, got into
21
22 IN THE CLOUDS ABOVE BAGHDAD
commission, and would go out in the early "hours
of the morning hunting for Huns. The effort was
not in vain, and within a week Lieu'ts. Lander and
Barr shot down a Fokker that had come up from
the Shumran aerodrome, and been previously
engaged by another B.E., in which action Lieut.
Hon. J. Rodney was wounded. After this, aerial
combats were intermittent, and the enemy seemed
to lose appetite for close action.
There was yet another way to shake his morale ;
and with bombing raids he was harried in his lair
by day or night.
On the night of the i4th three of us opened the
ball : time was allowed for the Turk to have his
supper and get to sleep ; he had never been bombed
by night before, and we hoped that the surprise of
this little jaunt might further its effect. Just after
eleven Captain de Havilland left the ground with
a cheery wave and was gone in the darkness; a
few minutes later came " Contact, sir!'* from my
mechanic, and I was away. Our course took us
over the desert west of the river, which shone like
quicksilver in the moonlight far to starboard. A
strong head-wind made progress slow, but it was
pleasant to be up in the cool vastness of the night
above that strange country. It seemed ever so long
ago that I had left England. A series of flashes in
the distance ahead dispelled reverie; D. H. was
attacking. Gliding slowly with engine off, I arrived
short of the aerodrome at a height of 400 feet, when
suddenly there burst a storm of heavy and concen-
A LAND OF SAND, SUN AND SORROW 23
trated rifle fire from what must have been at least
a thousand rifles under well-directed control. It had
been my lot during the war 'to come under fusillades
of varying intensity, but this reception was
perhaps the warmest up 'to date : the sound was like
the tearing of a piece of calico. After dropping the
bombs on the hangars my speed down wind gave
the Turks small chance. Captain Herring, who had
followed me, came in for a similar reception, but
D. H. had surprised them as had been expected.
The results were unknown in the uncertain light
and dust of the explosions; 'time would tell.
The evening's airing finished with a cheery
supper by the Tigris at 2 a.m. off sardines and
coffee with the lads who could not sleep for sand
flies. The sand flies at Sheikh Saad defied
description, and mosquito nets were of no avail, the
net specially designed against these pests entailing
a mesh so small as 'to make ventilation impossible ;
the expedient of emptying 'the kerosene from one's
" butti " (lamp) over bed and body gave relief for
perhaps an hour till it had dried off, and the torture
started again. In those days men sold their souls
for kerosene. There is a place called Bor, a
thousand miles up the White Nile; those who have
been 'there and sampled its mosquitoes will realise
what were the sand flies at Sheikh Saad. They came
with a roar at sun-down, sleep was out of the ques-
tion. During the night desperate humans would be
seen walking about the camp smoking cigarettes;
to help the night 'through, " chota pegs " and
24 IN THE CLOUDS ABOVE BAGHDAD
sandwiches would be laid out under the moon. In
spite of all this we were a cheery crowd.
There was " Bert " — sometime cavalry officer
— planter in Burma — artillery brigade com-
mander in South Africa; now hawk-like
observer — mess president — and cocktail-mixer-
in-chief; there was little that " Bert " did
not know or could not do; his joy and the youth-
fulness of his heart were those of a boy, his manner
that of a courtier. " Bert " became famous through
the land.
Then " D. H.," otherwise " Mark 2," being
the youngest of a famous pair. Life was not serious
for " D. H." The ground hardly knew him, but
when it did it smiled; he feared neither God nor
Man. His mate was "Oo-Er," a vermilion machine
and the terror of the Turk. When by chance on
the ground, he would play golf round the aero-
drome, a palpitating tyke following in his train.
In the dog days came " Chocolo," which is short
for "Chocololovitch" (after a soldier comedian who
sang a song of that name), a broth of a boy with a
brogue of Fermanagh. He presented himself from
his Indian unit at a time when there was no vacancy
for embryo observers; however, as a result of 'the
difficulties of transport for his return and a deter-
mination not 'to budge, " Chocolo " remained for
two years.
Then there was " Bobby," an imperturbable
representative from Caledonia. Bobby was stolid;
when threatened with expulsion after appalling
crashes, he would remain quite stoically undisturbed
A LAND OF SAND, SUN AND SOPROW 2 5
with a grin on his face. He said little. The only
times that Bobby blossomed to the outside world
were on such occasions as New Year's Eve or St.
Andrew's Night, when our friend would become
suddenly brilliant, the central figure of the evening;
after which he would retire into his quiet canny
shell until another Festival came round on which he
thought it fit to blossom forth once more. Later on
he distinguished himself by shooting down a Hun in
aerial combat and received the Military Cross.
Questioned by the G.O.C. as to how many he had
crashed, Bobby replied : " Sixteen ; fifteen English
and one German, sir." His next crash, alas ! was
his las't.
" Anzac," transferred to us from the Remounts ;
his youth had been spent astride of a horse in the
back-blocks of Queensland; the early days of the
war saw him a trooper in the Bombay Light Horse.
He would amuse us with yarns of his charging troop
on the sands at Colaba, and how, when they had
run away, he wheeled them into the sea. A great-
hearted Australian, Anzac had never been to
Europe. We shall meet more of this gallant
company later; 'to describe them all would require
a separate volume.
This period of the campaign was stagnant as
regards the land force ; sullen trench warfare on the
left bank and an affair of outposts on the right.
The Arabs were a continual source of worry; in
fact 'the war was one of British against Turk, the
whole surrounded by Arabs. They were like jackals
hanging about both camps, and woe betide the
26 IN THE CLOUDS ABOVE BAGHDAD
Englishman or Turk who was caught alone. All
our camps had to be fortified, wired in, and
defended, for the marauders were out on a foray
every night. The cunning and skill of the Pathan
on the North- West Frontier were nothing compared
with that of the Bedouin. Somehow he would get
through the wire and sentries and make away with
a rifle from under a sleeper's pillow without
awakening him; it seemed supernatural. The wire
was thickened, grenades ready 'to detonate were
hung upon it, and yet these Arab thieves would be
in the camp by bright moonlight carrying off arms
and ammunition. If alarmed they would not
hesitate to plunge in 'their long knives, and several
good lives were lost in this fashion. Most of us
slept with loaded revolvers in our hands; this
made movement about the camp somewhat
precarious by night, and walking down a row of
tents one would hear " click, click, click," the
wakeful sleepers cocking their guns ! Occasionally
someone would blaze off a!t a shadow in the middle
of the stillness ; one night a poor donkey who had
strayed too far took two holes in his belly as a
result.
The Arabs on the Hai river, a thickly populated
district, were in sympathy with the Turks and a
nasty thorn on our left flank. Not far from Sheikh
Saad was Gussab's Fort, a hotbed of these
marauders. We bombed it most mornings, and
after several direct hits its occupants retired into
the various villages of the district. These Bedouins
were all armed and well mounted, and when
A LAND OF SAND, SUN AND SORROW 27
organised proved a formidable foe. A savage,
cunning folk, they would dig up the dead to get the
blankets; torture and mutilation were regular
practices, withal they were brave men.
It was my fortune once to witness from the air a
battle of one 'tribe against another to the north of
the Suwaikieh Marsh, a sideshow quite apart from
the Turks or British. But it was an Englishman
who led one side, one Englishman alone leading a
wild savage tribe into fierce battle against Turkish
friendlies on our right flank. The career of this
Englishman may never be written, yet in the history
of the world there is probably no romance that can
equal it; most people have heard, and much has
worthily been sung, of Colonel Lawrence, of Syrian
and Hedjaz fame; 'the story of Colonel Leachman
is perhaps even stranger. Before the war Leachman
spent his time wandering over large tracts of Arabia,
and when British forces went to Mesopotamia he
was employed politically in the desert. His
prestige was amazing, and his name known to every
Bedouin from Aden to Mosul. He lived in that
desert from January to December dressed as an
Arab, and with his boy Hussein wandered about
amongst the tribes, perhaps even behind the Turks,
organising, compelling, acquiring priceless informa-
tion. There was a price on his head, and he lived
with his life in his hands, but he could shoot a tribes-
man dead for misdeeds in front of the tribe and no
hand would be lifted against him. Occasional
visits to G.H.Q., and he would be gone, riding out
to the horizon on his little Arab pony with his long
28 IN THE CLOUDS ABOVE BAGHDAD
legs dangling nearly to the ground. Eventually
he would return wizened and thin, with probably a
severe dose of fever after months in the desert in
the heat of the summer, living on Arab food and
water. Throughout Eastern Arabia the people
were under the impression that it was Leachman
who commanded the British forces, and even that
he was the King of England. On special cards
that were printed for flying officers, to produce in
the event of coming down in the desert, was written
his name in large Arabic letters. Such was the
magic of his personality. When I left Mesopotamia
two years later, I had not seen Leachman for several
months ; he was still in the desert.
The days at Sheikh Saad were a heavy strain on
bo'th health and nerves, the former, I suppose, being
the cause of the latter. Our camp was situated on
the river bank between two hospitals, the one down-
stream being the cholera hospital; a mournful
procession of funerals at nightfall does not
tend 'to elevate the spirits of a fever-eaten com-
munity. There was no fresh food, and a scale of
only half rations; the bully-beef was liquid in its
tin, and had to be poured out. The only cool
drink in the 24 hours was the water in a " chatti,"
hung up to a tent rope overnight and drunk before
the sun got up. The porous earthenware jar causes
evaporation, thereby cooling the contents, providing
there is no sun. In the day all liquid was hot, the
glasses got almost too hot to hold. Tinned fruit
was issued in an effort to combat 'the scurvy, but was
found of little avail; scurvy and jaundice were very
A LAND OF SAND, SUN AND SORROW 29
rife. As usual, the British troops withstood the
climate and trying conditions far better than the
Indians, who went down like flies. The war was
one of blockade, and the resultant inactivity of an
army employed only in fighting sand and sun was a
factor to increase sickness. When " Turk " was
added to these adversaries the effect was contrary,
spirits improved and with them health. Inactivity
induces disease.
The R.F.C. were lucky in being under " double-
fly " tents ; most of the army had to sit in 'their
helmets under single-fly 8o-lb. shelters through
which the sun's rays streamed, making the tempera-
ture intolerable. Even within our own 'tents the
thermometer sometimes stood well over 130 deg.
Fahr. during the day. With the ceasing of the
jackals' howls the dawn would come and reveal
for a few minutes the Pusht-i-Kuh away to the
East in Persia; to the rest of the horizon 'there was
limitless desert. How we used to hate watching
the sun's rays shoot up from behind these hills,
then the old red ball would top the summits and all
animal life would seek cover.
Horizons vanished, the sky became steel
coloured, another day had started to take its toll.
About nine o'clock, with a few heralding puffs and
" sand devils," the Shamal would be down,
driving the sand five or six thousand feet high till
nightfall; then the imagination would stray to
green fields of England or soft Highland rain.
We at least thanked our stars that our lot did not
take us to 'the trenches at Sannayat; as usual
30 IN THE CLOUDS ABOVE BAGHDAD
'throughout the war the " enduring " was done by
the infantry.
The sand-grouse were a great feature at Sheikh
Saad; they were there during the summer in tens
of thousands. What might be taken for a distant
black cloud in the early morning would be a flock
of these birds congregating at the river to drink.
One soon learnt their regular flights, and three
guns and two loaders would have been welcome,
for they streamed over unceasingly. Most of us
had guns, but cartridges were at a premium. When
there were enough one could take the sporting
shots, /ocke'ters at any angle; but if, as often
happened, only a dozen cartridges remained in the
camp they would be handed over to an expert in
order that he might secure the only available form
of fresh meat for the mess by fair means or foul.
On such occasions Paddy Maguire would be sent
out and watched intently from a distance stalking
the unsuspecting birds with artful cunning. He
would wait till he got three or four in line on the
ground, and then, with an ancient " bundook "
that he had brought from Co. Clare, rake them
with deadly effect. With a fresh consignment of
cartridges three or four guns would go out and
have splendid shooting, bringing back enough to
feed the whole squadron, a welcome change for
the men from the everlasting tinned food. In
winter the sand-grouse disappeared.
We had both land and water transport at this
stage of the campaign. On the river there were
loo-ft. barges divided into the workshops, dark-
A LAND OF SAND, SUN AND SORROW 31
rooms, stores, etc., essential to a flying unit. These
barges remained or moved with their flights, for it
was a river war, and the Tigris being the only
artery of supply and communication the force
could not move far from it. Plying between
Busrah and the front we had further barges 'towed
by two allotted steamers, the T3, a river boat from
India, and the " Bahmanshir," once the yacht of
the Sheikh of Mohammerah. The T3 drew too
much water, and she spent many weary hours
aground ; later on this stopped her working entirely
in the higher reaches during the low water season.
The " Bahmanshir * was early Victorian, and her
bed-plate in the engine-room being cracked she
could never steam more than half speed; the
engine was held in place by the main steam pipe !
Despite this the " Bahmanshir," with her enter-
prising Arab skipper and Dago engineer, did
many a rapid scramble over the shoals 'twix't base
and front, making up in navigation for what she
lacked in power.
At Sheikh Saad there was also a " mahala," a
craft similar to the dahabeah of the Nile, used for
the storage of petrol and bombs. The Arab skipper
of this mahala came one day to my office tent. I
heard someone hovering about outside, arid calling
out to ask who it was received the reply, " I the
mahala-walla-captain-sahib, my lighter is sinking "
(he always referred to his craft as his " lighter "),
and there was the ruffian beaming from ear to ear
very pleased with his effort at English. He was a
genial, friendly soul and full of the high office he
32 IN THE CLOUDS ABOVE BAGHDAD
held with the British Army. Having evidently
become tired of Sheikh Saad, and desiring to
return 'to his wives and the flesh pots of Busrah, he
had made a hole in the bottom of his vessel, which
was leaking badly and afforded good excuse to
retire to dock; he also asked for his wages; the
inference was obvious. However, his " lighter "
was an unnecessary luxury, so I made no demur,
and after great ceremonial and assurances of
immediate return to help us win the war,- he and
his chattering crew sailed away.
For land transport we possessed three light
lorries, a Hupmobile car, and fifty-six Australian
mules to haul six specially-constructed waggons.
This mule transport was the great pride of the
R.F.C., the personnel were Australians assisted by
Madrassi boys, and " Anzac " was in charge. It
was a well-trained unit; eight i6-hand mules would
move a waggon across country at rattling speed.
For exercise in the evenings we would harness ten
or twelve pair to a waggon and manoeuvre about at
a canter.
It must be remembered that there were no roads,
so that the motor transport had 'to rely on picking
its way across the desert. A narrow-gauge railway
was built from Sheikh Saad out to Sinn, the
divisional H.Q. on the right bank, all the material
having been shipped from India to Busrah and up
'the Tigris in barges. This railway, twenty miles in
length, was protected along its southern and
exposed side by a chain of blockhouses connected
by barbed wire; to the North flowed the river.
A LAND OF SAND, SUN AND SORROW 33
Sheikh Saad became the advanced base for the
force.
In August the Sannayat position was garrisoned
by the yth and the right bank by -the 3rd Indian
Divisions. Tigris Corps H.Q. were close behind
Sannayat, but on the opposite side of the river; in
fact, Corps H.Q. were only 4,000 yards from the
Turkish front line. The Turks might have shelled
the camp any day, but they apparently were
anxious to " let sleeping dogs lie."
The 1 3th Division, the only British Division in
the Force, came back to Sheikh Saad and marched
on south to Amara to train and reduce the ration
strength at the front. Earlier in the year this
Division, from Gallipoli, and the 3rd and yth
Indian Divisions, from France, had arrived to be
plunged straight into the desperate fighting for
the relief of Kut. Nasiriyeh, on the Euphrates,
and its L. of C. were garrisoned by the i5th
Indian Division.
The dispositions at the end of August were
thus :-
Tigris Corps — Lieut. -General A. S. Cobbe,
V.C.
3rd Division — Major-General H. D'U. Keary.
7th Division — Brig. -General C. E. Norie.
1 3th Division — Major-General W. Cayley, at
Amara.
1 4th Division — Major-General R. G. Egerton.
1 5th Division — Major-General H. T. Brooking,
at Nasiriyeh.
34 IN THE CLOUDS ABOVE BAGHDAD
Lieiit.-General F. S. Maude succeeded Lieut-
General Sir Percy Lake as G.O.C.-in-C. on the
latter being invalided.
Forward landing grounds were made at Corps
H.Q. at Dujailah (i4th Division), and at Arab
Village (7th Division) to aid co-operation. The
strategic situation was a curious one, and to our
advantage ; the enemy's communications on 'the left
bank were prolonged and exposed to our force
situated on the right bank. The Suwaikieh Marsh
protected the northern flank of our Sannayat
position, and our troops were so disposed on the
right bank to prevent any attempt on our left flank,
a movement which would have meant long and
hazardous marches for the enemy. During August
a flight of two Voisins and two Henry Farman
machines was sent to Arab Village to co-operate
with the artillery of the 7th Division. It was not
practicable to detail a flight for Dujailah for
co-operation with the I4th Division, as Corps H.Q.
pointed out to me the difficulty of feeding the force
already there without being further burdened.
Dujailah was a two days' journey across the desert.
Wireless gear was fitted in all machines, and
artillery co-operation practised and developed. By
the end of August the work of registration of the
enemy positions was in full swing. Great diffi-
culties had been experienced by the force due to
the complete lack of reliable maps. The only
method of mapping a hostile country is by
photography, and an extensive programme in this
respect was carried out each morning, commencing
A LAND OF SAND, SUN AND SORROW 35
with an area of forty square miles round Kut. A
close reconnaissance of the whole front was
maintained daily, and distant reconnaissances were
frequently sent to Hai-Town (Kut-el-Hai),
Azizieh, and Mendali, 'the latter being an under-
taking of two hundred miles across waterless desert
with a complete lack of landmarks, no mean
performance with the old B.E. aeroplane.
We did not know what Simla or the War Office
intended as regards the Mesopotamian campaign;
some thought that we should merely hold the
enemy's forces where we were, but the most
prevalent idea was that we should capture Kut in
the cold weather and wipe out the stain of its loss ;
some even thought that we might evacuate our
present positions and take up a defensive line
somewhere down river. How lit'tle we guessed the
great events that were in store !
A system of Emergency calls from all wireless
stations and " Clear line " telephone calls was
established to signal the locality of enemy aircraft
as soon as sighted. While the weather was still hot
aerial work during the day was limited to the early
hours, for the late afternoon was as hot as midday
'till the sun went down; then it was dark. Cooler
air was not to be found under an altitude of 3,000
feet, and little difference could be felt much under
5,000 feet. Flying in the night one would start in
fairly cool atmosphere, but on reaching 500 feet
one entered the hot air of the day. It was a curious
phenomenon; the belt of hot air on the ground
during the day rose up at night, being lighter than
36 IN THE CLOUDS ABOVE BAGHDAD
the air cooled by the radiation of the earth. Flying
in the hot weather was a great strain, and, after
service in France, it was odd to see a pilot going off
for a long flight dressed only in shorts, stockings,
and shirt, with a helmet bound down on to his head,
for at 5,000 feet the sun's rays are as fierce as on
the ground.
An attack of fever s'tretched me out at the end of
August, and I was laid up in hospital in an Arab
house on the banks of the river at Amara. It was
in the days before fans and when the supply of ice
was limited ; the wards were crowded and the sand-
flies at night intolerable; however, it was active
service in an uncivilised land, and the nurses were
all Florence Nightingales. We lay and sweated
and shivered, drank tinned milk and water, cursed
the orderly because the soda-water was hot and
Fate had sent us to Mesopotamia. Then we
staggered out on to the verandah of the officers'
club and built up strength to go down river to
India or back to the front. A large percentage
were wont to get clear of the country if 'they could ;
it was only human nature, and others like myself, in
fat jobs or on the gilded staff, could hardly blame
the point of view of the poor infantry subaltern
who, shaken by fever and dysentery after a
miserable existence through the summer, was
tempted by the thought of embarking in a nice white
hospital ship for other climes and seeing the last
of this fire country. For the Great Cause, however,
it was necessary to stop the tremendous wastage
caused by the wholesale evacuation of personnel.
A LAND OF SAND, SUN AND SORROW 37
Once sick, there was little difficulty for those who
meant to, in getting out of the country, and it had
become rather a disease. General Maude took the
matter seriously in hand; convalescent camps were
developed, and any case of evacuation had to be
approved by high authority. The effect was satis-
factory, and many more patients were brought back
to health and duty without leaving the country.
A large Sheikh's palace, named Beit Naama,
situated on the banks of the river about five miles
down stream from Busrah, served well as an
officers' convalescent hospital. It was splendidly
fitted up, and became a popular institution under
its sporting O.C., Major Munro. He added
attractions to the place till it rivalled Harroga'te or
Strathpeffer : fishing, boating on the river, a small
desert golf course, concerts in the evening, and
comfortable quarters were all inducements to
health.
By September the nights were cooler, and the
day 'temperature seldom went above no Fahr.
With this change scope expanded and style was
less cramped. Aeroplane reconnaissance showed
considerable work being carried out by the Turks
on two jetties at the mouth of the Hai River. It
was thought that the enemy might possibly be
building these jetties as a means of diverting some
of the water of the Tigris down the Shatt-el-Hai.
At 'the time there was only just sufficient water in
the Tigris to bring the rivercraft up, and had the
Turk succeeded in such an operation the effect
might have been disastrous. We kept a careful
D
38 IN THE CLOUDS ABOVE BAGHDAD
watch on the place, which was examined and photo-
graphed daily. Fortunately our fears were
groundless, and later inspection of the site proved
the enormous difficulties in the way of such an
undertaking.
In the first week of September, Brigadier-
General W. Salmond, R.F.C., arrived in the
country and spent three days at Sheikh Saad
inspecting and advising. For the supply of
personnel, special stores, and certain administrative
purposes, the R.F.C in Mesopotamia had come
under and formed part of 'the new Middle East
Brigade, commanded by General Salmond, which
included the units in Egypt, Salonika, Palestine
(later), Mesopotamia, and East Africa. Major
MacEwen, at the base with the title of Assistant-
Director of Aeronautics, was in direct touch by
cable with H.Q. Middle East in Cairo, the Air
Board in London, and the Port Detachment
in Bombay. The spoke of communication led
direct to the hub, there was no need to delay or
refer to others, we could act at once; 'the
process was invaluable. Throughout September,
reconnaissance, photography, and artillery
co-operation kept all available machines busy each
day. A web of intelligence was being woven and
added to that gathered by other means at Tigris
Corps H.Q. In a desert country with efficient
aerial observation it is impossible for an enemy to
alter his dispositions without discovery; the
movement of a few tents or shelters can be spotted
A LAND OF SAND, SUN AND SORROW 39
at once, and there are no woods or buildings in
which to fyide his men.
The following specimen of a reconnaissance
report as telegraphed daily to Corps H.Q. may
be of interest : —
23/9/1916.
Reconnaissance 6.30 to 8 a.m. reports : At
Shumran aerodrome two machines on ground.
One hangar damaged. Jetties opposite Hai
mouth are joined completely into continuous
dam from Tigris right bank to sand bank in
mid-stream. No sign of work on channel North
of sand bank. Suwada camp area unchanged,
camps being similar in pitching and number of
tents to these pribr to yesterday. Shumran
camp area left bank unchanged. Kut camp
area 40 'tents at 356 7/7 reduced to 10 and 50
at 36 C 2/8 reduced to 25. Narwhan area
unchanged. Shumran right bank area 30 tents
at 35 C 0/4. Hai bridge area camps as follows :
40 tents at 36 B 3/2, 10 at 36 C 2/3, 10 at 35 D
9/1, 40 and transport animals or horses at 46 B
3/5. Total, 100 tents; 50 empty pontoons along
right bank at 35 B 42; 6 laden pontoons floating
downs'tream just west of TC 41. Shipping — 3
steamers, 3 barges, 3 mahelas. At Narwhan
N.W. gun position is occupied. West position
is covered oven East position is empty. New
gun position at 16 A 5/6; 2 pits containing 'tents
and 2 empty; 2 or 3 pits occupied B 17. No
indication of any considerable withdrawal of
troops or alterations in dispositions.
40 IN THE CLOUDS ABOVE BAGHDAD
The Arabs on our flanks were also closely
watched, and any threatening concentration dealt
with by bomb and machine-gun fire. These attacks
had great moral effect, and often caused the tribes-
men to strike their tents and leave 'the district
altogether. Raids continued on the Shumran
aerodrome, and Turkish deserters reported that it
came as a great surprise >to them that machines
could fly by night, and that much consternation was
caused thereby. The enemy made " dug-out "
hangars for his machines, and placed dummy
aeroplanes on his aerodrome. He also organised a
system of flares along all routes of possible
approach by our aeroplanes. These flares would
be lit as we passed, and so give warning to the next
station ahead, till his aerodrome took up the tale
and could prepare accordingly. It was not
encouraging to the pilot to watch these flares as
he continued on his way, and wondered what sort
of reception was in store for him.
I think the most notable of these expeditions was
that by Lieut. Hon. J. S. Rodney and Second-
Lieut. J. S. Windsor, who arrived at the Turkish
aerodrome at dawn on September 23rd, and
dropped their bombs from a height of under 100
feet. Lieut. Rodney's attack was practically a
surprise, and he met with little opposition. Second-
Lieut. Windsor had drawn the second place and
started ten minutes later; the enemy were waiting
for him. With a splendid dash he went right down
from the mirk of the dawn into a tornado of rifle
and machine-gun fire, placed his bombs with
A LAND OF SAND, SUN AND SORROW 4!
accuracy, and got away. It was a glorious bit of
cutting-out work, and on the slow old B.E. the
odds against him were very great. As a result of
this raid, one enemy aeroplane was destroyed
and one badly damaged. Both these officers
received the Military Cross — it seems sad that this
decoration was so often given during the war for
mere clerical work far removed from the field of
battle, and entailing no danger whatever; after all,
there is little more the individual can do than offer
his life — the reward for those who do it should
surely be kept exclusive.
Co-operation with the artillery on both sides of
the Tigris entailed heavy work. Including the
registration of enemy positions, a systematic
programme for the destruction of enemy gun-pits
behind Sannayat was begun, and, as the outcome
of the keenness and friendly relations between the
Artillery and the Air, the results gradually became
somewhat destructive to the Turk. Ammunition
dumps were blown up, and Turkish guns received
direct hits more often than they could afford. On
the morning of the 23rd, while Captains Herring
and King-Harman were spotting for the guns, 'they
observed the " enemy aircraft " signal at one of
the ground stations; immediately shaping course
in their old " Voisin," they five minutes later picked
up a suspicious looking machine at about 6,000
feet. In 'turning to get between them and the sun
it showed up the black crosses clearly, and the
two machines passed left hand to left hand about
150 yards apart. The enemy could walk round the
42 IN THE CLOUDS ABOVE BAGHDAD
Voisin, and, with rudder control shot away, the
British machine went down in a spinning nose dive
amid a hail of bullets from the Hun. With great cool-
ness Herring pulled her out when near the ground,
and only crashed his under-carriage. Herring
and King-Harman got back to Arab Village,
took up a Henry Farman, and, directing the fire,
obliterated the target from which they had been
interrupted. Alas ! King-Harman met his end
in a crash with Lieut. Hayward a few weeks later.
At the end of September it was necessary for me
to journey to Nasiriyeh to arrange regarding the
despatch of an R.F.C. de'tachment. I started down
the river for Busrah in a steamer full of Indian
sick; there was even less depth in the thick grey
trickle than on the1 journey up, and many hours
were spent on the mud. On these journeys one had
to take one's own food, and my boy " Charlie r'
was almost a wizard in the way he would produce
a three-course dinner out of practically nothing at
all, at any 'time or place.
After a day at Busrah, and an interview with
General Maude, MacEwen and I left the ground
early one morning to fly to Nasiriyeh. The whole
way we were passing over swamps and lakes.
Above the Hamar Lake the water stretched to the
horizon and we seemed to be crossing the sea ; this
water coming from the Shatt-el-Hai and Euphrates
drains into the Tigris by the channels at Gurmat-
Ali and Kurnah. The land, as far as the eye can
see, is intersected by canals, covered with vegeta-
tion, and thickly populated; a very different
A LAND OF SAND, SUN AND SORROW 43
country from the Tigris. The Arabs were hostile,
and, apart from the impossibility of effecting a
landing anywhere, it would have been a sorry
affair to have had to come down. Some time before
two flying officers while crossing this country had
made a forced landing, and been murdered. We
spent the day wi'th General Brooking, and made
arrangements for a detachment of two machines,
with wireless and photography equipment, to join
him.
Nasiriyeh was like a garden after Sheikh Saad,
and the force stationed there lived on the fat of
the land, with fresh meat, vegetables, and fruit.
The fish supply also was abundant, being a regular
trade of the inhabitants of the town. The British
troops had just returned from battle, six miles to
the North- East, having routed five thousand
Arabs, whose losses were 436 killed and some 800
wounded.
It struck one on arriving at Nasiriyeh that the
place was in a state of siege; the town was
surrounded by defences, outside of which it was
dangerous to proceed unless with strong escort;
the means of egress and ingress with Busrah being
by river convoy. These convoys, after leaving
Kurnah, proceeded by the Euphrates channel as far
as the Hamar Lake ; here the water was only one or
two feet deep, and men, guns, baggage, and stores
were transferred into " bellums." Two or >three
days were then spent sitting cramped in these craft
under the fierce sun, poling and paddling along out
of sigh't of land. Eventually another Euphrates
44 IN THE CLOUDS ABOVE BAGHDAD
channel was reached where one of the two or three
small steamers which had got up to Nasiriyeh
during the flood would give them a tow. Among
this small Nasiriyeh fleet, cut off from the Tigris
till the next year's flood, was a river gunboat.
These flat-bottomed monitors were of two classes :
the smaller, known as " fly-boats," being of shallow
draught and mounting a four-inch gun in addition
to machine-guns ; the larger class were more power-
fully engined and armed with two six-inch guns.
The fleet consisted of five large and twenty small
boats, all manned by officers and bluejackets of the
Royal Navy. The material for the " fly-boats :)
was shipped from England and the vessels built
at Abadan. The larger class, which had been
optimistically designed for the Danube, were towed
out to the Gulf. It was possible only for the " fly '
class 'to get up to Nasiriyeh in the floods.
With a favourable wind we covered the hundred
miles back to Busrah in an hour and a quarter.
The next day I left Busrah by air at 2.50 p.m., and,
helped by a south wind, was at Sheikh Saad by
5.10 p.m., a somewhat different passage to my first
voyage up. This was the first of many a flight up
and down the Tigris. Aeroplanes had hitherto
been sent to the front packed in barges, thus
utilising valuable tonnage. This had been on
account of the authorities' fear of forced landings
and the probable loss of machines, and even pilots ;
practice showed that delivery by air was a safe
enough and more efficient method.
As soon as I had left Nasiriyeh the G.O.C. wired
A
Fly Boat ' '
Transporting troops up the Tigris
A LAND OF SAND, SUN AND SORROW 45
that he expected to be attacked on the 8th, and that
an aeroplane would be of the greatest assistance.
They had as yet no petrol or oil at Nasiriyeh, so
Lieut. Somers-Clarke left Aircraft Park at Busrah
with one light tender of supplies, a couple of men
and a machine-gun. He went by rail as far as
Gabashieh, the railhead sixty miles west of Busrah,
and thence by desert route south of the floods to
Nasiriyeh, arriving there without opposition, a
performance not unattended by risk. The first
week in October the squadron moved forward to
Arab Village, less one Flight at Sheikh Saad for
bombing work and the detachment en route for
Nasiriyeh. The supply of oil and stores for the
latter detachment continued to be limited on
account of the difficulties of the fifty-mile journey
across desert from the railhead, but improvement
was expected with the advance of the railway and
'the autumn floods in the Hamar Lake, which made
the channel navigable for river steamers.
On the 6th October the R.N.A.S. kite balloon
broke away in a strong squall with two officers in
the basket, and drifted into the desert. An aero-
plane went in search, located it, and remained flying
round as guard till cavalry arrived. On the same
night one of our machines did not return from
reconnaissance. Captain Herring, who was out
searching, located it by moonlight; his Very
light was answered by the pilot signalling up with
an electric lamp that all was " O.K." A guard of
six men and an officer went to the rescue by motor-
car.
46 IN 'THE CLOUDS ABOVE BAGHDAD
When the white man chooses to penetrate into
regions and climates which were made for a different
humanity, he will surely pay a toll. Heat and
sickness make the blood run thin, and for some of
us seven active days in the week were seldom
realised. After a short time in my tent at Arab
Village with fever and dysentery, I was carried
forth 'to a field ambulance, and later a jolty ride in
a cavalry ambulance took me to the river steamer,
for the medical men had decreed that I was for
" down river." One does not thrive on rice water,
and things were looking rather as if the sages at
Bombay had been correct, and my little sojourn
with Force " D " was over. We lay in rows on the
deck in various stages of adversity and weakness,
and counted the flies crawling up the awning as the
ship chugged downstream. It was mid-October,
and the breeze was cool. Four stalwart Gurkhas
carried me ashore at Sheikh Saad, where I was put
into a hospital tent, and lay faithfully attended by
a Hampshire orderly. Of that hospital tent in the
desert I seem to remember nothing but waking up
with a coating of sand all over my face. In spi'te
of breathing and swallowing it the brew of rice
water must have been good, for things began to
look up, and Horlick's Malted Milk and brandy
completed the cure, and I soon crawled forth. I
went no further down river, but back to the front.
The weather by the end of October became cold at
night; a hot day would be followed by an immediate
drop of 'twenty degrees, and one would shiver
within a few minutes of sweltering in the sun. At
A LAND OF SAND, SUtf AND SORROW 47
noon the temperature was 95 and at night only 40,
a difference of 55 degrees ! On the morning of
the 26th Captain King-Harman and Lieut.
Hay ward were killed while starting out on recon-
naissance in a Voisin ; it was one of those accidents
with no evidence to give any clue as to the cause.
These splendid fellows were a great loss to the
squadron. They lie in the desert close to the Tigris.
The hills far to the East, known as the Pusht-i-
Kuh, were the home of warlike Persian nomads,
governed by an independent potentate, the Wali
of Pusht-i-Kuh. His political tendencies were
uncertain , he loathed 'the Russians, but at the same
time found much profit in supplying the British
Army with sheep. His wife was ill, and he
employed a German nurse and an English doctor
in his winter camp among the foothills. Down the
ages Pusht-i-Kuh had never been conquered by
any monarchy : Assyrian, Achaemenian, Sassanian,
or Arab. There is little known about this wild,
mountainous region which lies away from all main
routes. It was necessary to maintain friendly
relations with the Wali, who was a source of supply
and also a possible threat on our right flank. To
impress him, six of us flew out one fine morning in
close formation to locate his camp, a row of
different coloured tents, and executed " stunts "
over the top. There was obviously great excite-
ment below; it was the first time 'these folk had
seen a flying machine.
The moral effect of our aeroplanes was gradually
growing ; it must have been with eyes searching the
48 IN THE CLOUDS ABOVE BAGHDAD
horizon that any Turk or Arab column moved out
into the desert. On the 25th October a machine
on reconnaissance observed a column of horsemen
and mule carts moving south along the Hai. The
pilot came down low and dispersed the convoy in
all directions. An agent later reported that nine
were killed, several wounded, and that the carts,
which were loaded with ammunition for Arab levies
on the Hai, turned back to Kut after the attack.
One morning a report was received from Sheikh
Saad that Arabs had raided and ridden off with
some of our camels towards the hills. Two
machines went in pursuit, and found the party
taking cover in the nullahs. They were driven out
by Lewis gunfire, and, abandoning the camels, rode
hard for the foothills. It was fine sport for our
men. A squadron of cavalry arriving on the scene
regained the camels.
Enemy aircraft were fairly active, and com-
menced a half-hearted campaign against our
aerodrome at Arab Village; they dropped their
bombs from a great height, their shooting was
inferior. Sometimes one dropping into the river
would provide fish for the camp. The old B.E.'s
gave chase, but there was small chance of
bringing them to action before they got down to
their aerodrome at Shumran. Any raid was
answered within a few hours by one of double the
magnitude. Six or seven of us would go off in
formation and, taking our time, bomb Shumran
scientifically. One bomb would be dropped on
each run up wind over their hangars and sights
A LAND OF SAND, SUN AND SORROW 49
corrected each time. Their anti-aircraft fire was
inaccurate, and they never attempted to come up
and engage. With all this practice the skill of the
pilots increased, and the shooting became remark-
ably accurate. The enemy became dismayed; on
the approach of our aeroplanes he would begin
:< taxying " his own round the aerodrome to make
our shooting difficult. It was an interesting
spectacle.
" D. H." took especial delight in this persecution
of the Hun; he spent hours hung up in the wind
on the top of Shumran, spreading " eggs " on the
aerodrome, eventually sending down a 20 Ib. bomb
from 6,000 feet clean through the fuselage of an
Albatross on the ground. This was no chance shot
but sheer skill, and the reward of long practice.
Irrefutable proof of this brilliant shot was gained
later in the advance when, captured among other
documents of the enemy air unit, was found a snap-
shot of the wrecked machine with German officers
standing round it. We learnt the names of some of
their pilots. Schutz was a fine fighter, and a
gentleman. Sometimes he would drop a note on
the aerodrome; he asked us to send over 'the
:e Sketch " and the " Bystander," and stated that
they were tired of the records captured with a
gramophone at Kut, would we send them some
new ones, especially " Tipperary " ; in return for
this they would drop us fresh vegetables from
Baghdad. Unlike the Hun, he seemed a sportsman
and possessed a sense of humour. To prisoners he
was kind and courteous.
50 IN THE CLOUDS ABOVE BAGHDAD
At this time there were many aerial combats, but
the Hun would never close, and with only B.E/s
it was impossible to press a decision. Propaganda
was also dropped by both sides ; the following is a
specimen : —
(Translation.)
WITHDRAWAL OF THE TURKS FROM
EL-ARISH.
On the i Qth December the Turkish troops
occupying El-Arish, on the Egyptian Frontier,
were driven out of El-Arish by the English, and
on the 23rd a decisive battle was fought at
Magdhaba, which is 35 kilometres S.E. of El-
Arish. The Turkish Force was routed and prac-
tically destroyed, and 1,350 prisoners, 7 guns, a
large number of rifles, 100,000 rounds of gun
ammunition, horses, camels, and a quantity of
telephones and warlike stores were captured.
Further South-West of this defeat British troops
moved through 'the Milta Pass and destroyed the
Turkish defences at the Eastern end and burnt
their camps at Sudral-Hoitan, about 60 kilometres
East of Suez.
Observe how the Germans are powerless to aid
their friends. They are asking for peace because
they are at the end of their resources ; on the other
hand, the English strength is now beginning to
reach its full development.
We learnt more of the enemy from exchanged
prisoners, as two armistices were arranged for the
A LAND OF SAND, SUN AND SORROW 51
latter purpose. Suspension of arms would take
place from 4 a.m. 'till 7 p.m., a flag of truce was
shown over the trenches at Sannayat, and a British
staff officer met a Turkish officer in " No Man's
Land." The Turkish and British officers would
board a river steamer full of Turkish prisoners,
which would then proceed pas't the lines as far as the
Magasis Bend, where the sick were exchanged,
either party being prevented from looking out by
side curtains round the ship. Though rigid
formality was observed on these occasions, con-
versation would be carried on in French, it was
a field day for the Intelligence Department.
Some jolly days were spent in the desert prac-
tising co-operation with other arms. The squadron
possessed several useful remounts, and " Anzac,"
" Bert," and others would ride out with me, fifteen
miles there and fifteen miles back in the clear, crisp
weather, to assist from the ground. Returning to
the camp in the late afternoon and sitting down to
a large meal gave one the same glorious feeling
that comes after a day's hunting.
On 7'th November there was a cloud in the sky,
the first we had seen since our arrival in the country-
three and a half months before. It was a fluffy
white blob of cumulus about 5,000 ft. up. I got
into my machine and climbed into it ; i't was good to
be in the mist again. Later in the day there was a
shower of rain.
I made one more visit to Nasiriyeh by air.
German aeroplanes had never been seen over the
place, but as I was starting off in a car to have a
52 IN THE CLOUDS ABOVE BAGHDAD
look at the ruins of Ur (of the Chaldees) the drone
of two Mercedes engines was unmistakable over-
head. I had come in a new Martinsyde, and
dashing back to the aerodrome got off and chased
up the Euphrates. But the Huns had gone back
to Kut by the Hai, where they apparently came
from. We had suspected them from Samawa. I
lost a good chance, for my machine had the legs
of them. Curiously enough, among papers captured
later was found a photograph taken from these
aeroplanes on this visit. On the back was the date,
and on the ground was my machine. I have that
photograph.
By the end of the month a stream of reinforce-
ments had arrived up the Tigris, and a large
concentration of stores and war material had been
accumulated at Sheikh Saad, the Advanced Base.
The 1 3th Division returned to the Front, and with
the i4th formed another corps under General
Marshall, who had arrived from Salonika. There
were now two corps, the is't and 3rd; by some trick
of officialdom there was no second corps. About
this time G.H.Q. moved from Busrah and came up
river to a standing camp at Arab Village, nick-
named " 'the White City." The weather was cool,
comparing favourably with a fine spring at home;
our health was good and spirits splendid, for it
looked as though further developments were
intended in Mesopotamia.
Chapter IIL
THE BATTLES THAT WON BAGHDAD.
'Tis all a Checquered-Board of Nights and Days
Where Destiny with Men for Pieces plays ;
Hither and thither moves, and mates, and slays,
And one by one back in the Closet lays.
— OMAR.
CHAPTER III.
ONE morning an orderly came to my office on the
barge bidding me to a conference at G.H.Q. I
remember the scene so well ; we went into a tent,
dark after the glare outside, and waited there
for General Maude, a strong sense of coming
events hanging over us. Here, gathered
together in the gloom, were the heads of
departments to be told the future plans for
an Army tried to its utmost by heat, disease,
inaction ; fretting against what it felt to be a stain,
the fall of Kut, and longing to be at the Turk
again. The ill effects of the hot weather had been
shaken off and the troops renewed by health and
reinforcements, and, spurred by the great deeds of
their brothers in France, were spoiling for a fight.
The facts were put clearly before us : the 3rd
Corps on the right bank was to move and secure
possession of the Hai river, whilst the ist Corps
bombarded the Turkish 'trenches on the left bank,
to give the impression that an attack on Sannayat
was intended. Bigger events vaguely hinted at
would doubtless follow; perhaps another patch of
red was to be added to 'the map. With the great
55
56 IN THE CLOUDS ABOVE BAGHDAD
secret we emerged into the sunlight; the die was
cast, and in two days* time the British Army would
move. Meanwhile no curiosity must be aroused
among 'the force or inevitably it would reach the
Turk. Both sides continued with their stagnant
blockade.
On the afternoon of the i2th December the Army
knew; after eight months' inaction the effect was
electrifying.
That evening the 3rd Corps marched and con-
centrated in the forward area on the right bank.
The movement was carried out under cover of
night; no tents were put up next morning, and the
troops were kept hidden away in nullahs. General
Headquarters moved out to Sinn, on the right bank,
leaving the " White City J: standing at Arab
Village. I flew Brig.-General Lewin low along the
Hai river 'to examine the banks for the crossing of
his 40th Brigade the next day. The Sannayat
position was heavily bombarded to give the
impression that an attack was intended, and the
sudden gunfire must have come as a surprise to the
Turk after 'the many long uneventful months.
The anti-aircraft system of observation posts,
wireless and telephone calls had been perfected,
for one Hun over our lines would have exposed our
movements; it was an anxious time, and
pilots sat in their machines ready to leave
at the word " Go ! ' An Aviatik that came
out to ascertain what was up, was chased back over
his lines by Paddy Maguire, who closed to a
hundred and fifty yards and let him have a drum
THE BATTLES THAT WON BAGHDAD 57
of ammunition; the Hun went down to his own
country in a steep dive. That was their only effort
during the day, and our concentration on the right
bank remained undetected.
The Cavalry Division, encamped opposite our
aerodrome on the other side of the river, were to
move that night. I went over in my motor-launch
to see some friends before they left and to make
any final aerial arrangements necessary. They
were in fine fettle and glorious spirits; the officers
packing their ki'ts and donning their equipment "as
happy as schoolboys off for the holidays. Life was
good. They marched after dark.
The enemy's bridge of boats spanned the Tigris
at Shumran ; if this could be cut he would be with-
out efficient means of reinforcing his troops on 'the
right bank when our move was discovered. That
night three of us attacked the bridge with heavy
bombs from 600 feet ; a pontoon bridge is a narrow
mark ; we hit a pontoon but did not cut it. There
was a bright moon, and to avoid detection we made
a detour round the Suwaikieh Marsh, approaching
Shumran from the North. I made for what seemed
the bend in the river which marks Shumran, but it
proved to be a similar bend twenty miles higher up ;
by the time I got back to the Turkish bridge it was
light in the East, and my attack was made under a
heavy fire. The beauty of the flight back was
ethereal; the morning clear and cold, the sky
cloudless. To the North shone the snows of the
Persian hills; ahead the Tigris wound into the
approaching day and 'then toppled over the horizon
58 IN THE CLOUDS ABOVE BAGHDAD
as if on the lip of some great waterfall ; to the right
lay the Hai river like a long wriggling snake ; and
behind was the gloom of 'the fast-vanishing night.
High up in that wonderful dawn it seemed that
the aeroplane was stationary, the movement so
smooth; one sang for the very joy of living, and
the song harmonised with the rhythmic hum of the
engine. Far below the nullahs and trenches
occupied by the enemy were disclosed by the char-
coal fires on which they cooked their coffee. The
situation was as plain as draughts on a board; it
all seemed so simple.
The Cavalry Division and part of the 3rd Corps
had crossed the Hai without opposition by 6 a.m.,
and were moving northwards up that river. The
enemy's advanced troops were surprised and driven
back on to a strongly-held entrenched position.
Two pontoon bridges which had been brought
across the desert from Arab Village were thrown
across the Hai at Atab and Basrugiyeh.
Our cavalry out on the flank reconnoitred almost
to the Tigris above Shumran, and Sannayat was
again bombarded to confuse the Turk. The
squadron spent the day in the air, maintaining
contact and communication with our far-flung line,
watching for an artillery opportunity, attacking
parties of the enemy, and on distant reconnaissance.
Mac, on his pony, met machines as they landed at
the advanced ground at Sinn, and after close
examination of the pilot and observer, galloped
back to deliver 'the reports direct to the Army Com-
mander. G.H.Q. were thus enabled to keep in
THE BATTLES THAT WON BAGHDAD 59
touch even to the furthest cavalry patrol, with a
situation which otherwise must have been obscure.
I spent the typical day of an Air Commander,
immersed in a sea of maps and MSS., glued to a
telephone receiver.
These records are no place for technical details,
but the lay reader may not know that an aero-engine
can only run a certain number of hours without
overhaul; in our case it was usually a hundred
hours. It was impossible 'to forecast for how long
this full power would be required by the Army;
economy in the use of machines was therefore
essential. The conditions on the Western Front
were different. There an aeroplane could be
replaced in a night ; a wire was sent and a new pilot
and machine would arrive next morning. A pilot
did six 'to nine months at the Front, after which,
if he survived, he returned to England for a spell
of other work. In Mesopotamia 'there were a few
reserve machines at Amara and Busrah which could
be flown up in, say, a couple of days by pilots sent
back from the front; outside 'these the nearest
source of supply was Egypt, three weeks away!
There was no certainty of any relief owing to high
demand elsewhere, and a fresh man from England
might take anything up to eight or ten weeks to
reach us. The Mediterranean route had been
closed, so troops and material came half-way round
the world, via the Cape, with perhaps long delays
at Durban and Bombay. It frequently happened
that reliefs went sick at one of these places, or even
after getting so far as Busrah, and never reached
60 IN THE CLOUDS ABOVE BAGHDAD
us at all. The overworked, feverish individual,
anxiously carrying on with visions of England,
Home and Beauty, would, after an extra whiskey-
and-soda, resign himself to his fate, and with the
sympathy of his fellows go off again on reconnais-
sance " for the millionth time," still praying that
his luck might hold till perhaps some day fresh
blood reached the Squadron. It can be understood
then how necessary it was to husband our resources,
and in these opening days of action there was the
greatest difficulty in restraining eager pilots. Work
— there was work for three squadrons, but in
December, 1916, the Western Front absorbed new
units ere they were hardly formed. We had to
manage as best we could.
It was common in the great deeds perpetrated in
France for the best part of a squadron to be put
out of action before nightfall. Here in this far
land, where, without aerial observation, shot might
as well not be fired ; where maps were insufficiently
accurate for 'troops to march by; and where,
unless guarded and forewarned by the Air unit,
men might walk into unknown and ambushed
nullahs; it would have been a sorry tale to tell
G.H.Q. that there could be no flying on the morrow
because of casualties to-day. The risks had to be
taken and we backed our luck; it never failed. A
feature of the country that considerably promoted
the efficiency of close co-operation was the fact
that a good pilot could generally land by the unit
itself, give them their accurate position and inform
THE BATTLES THAT WON BAGHDAD 6 1
the commander of the situation personally. It was
done on many occasions.
On this first day of fighting, enemy aircraft made
another attempt to come out, but was met over Kut
by D. H., who chased it down on to its own
aerodrome in a steep nose-dive ; whereupon, taking
steady aim, he dropped a bomb which dropped only
ten yards from its tail as soon as it had landed.
In the evening a message came through that
Lieuts. Chabot and Browning had been forced to
land in front of our cavalry with a main strut shot
away. For the benefit of the fresh air I flew out
with a spare in order to get them back. The sun
was setting as I arrived over the rearmost patrols,
retiring by troops to their positions for the night;
I could see Arab horsemen, showing up well in their
flowing garments, hovering about on the flanks; I
could also see the damaged aeroplane being
dragged back by the cavalry. The ground was
very broken, and it was necessary to land among
the rear party, who were retiring steadily in open
formation. As I came low one of the horses took
fright, threw its " sowar," and bolted, dragging the
rider over the stony ground; he mus't have been
killed. Events moved rapidly. It had been my
intention to land, hand them the strut to take back
to the machine, and clear off without stopping my
engine. But the engine unfortunately stopped as
I landed. A " sowar " galloped up and took the
strut while I endeavoured to start the engine single-
handed. The last few " sowars," thinking I was
about to start, were retiring past me to the right
62 IN THE CLOUDS ABOVE BAGHDAD
and left, occasionally turning round to fire back at
the " Buddoos " (Arabs), who were blazing off their
old " bundooks " and spitting up the sand all
round. It was rapidly growing dark, and the
situation was unpleasant; in a moment I should be
alone with these howling savages all round. As I
was exerting my best strength to start the propeller,
a British officer fortunately came galloping back.
Major Seeker, of the I4th Hussars; he had been
an aerial observer in France. I leapt into my seat
and he s'tarted me off, thereby saving an awkward
situation. The damaged aeroplane was never
recovered; the cavalry dragged it five miles, but
to do so had to hack off its wings ; the machine had
to be left outside protection on account of a deep
nullah filled with water; when the engine was
regained it had been damaged beyond repair by
Arabs.
That night of the 1 4th/ 1 5th December, Captain
Herring went out on a moonlight reconnaissance to
trace any move the enemy might contemplate under
cover of darkness. He discovered that the
Turkish pontoon bridge had been dismantled,
and was being towed in sections further up-stream
by a steamer. As a result of the continual bombing
the steamer repeatedly slipped her 'tow, and the
pontoons drifted down into the banks; the steamer
went ashore herself several times. The pilot twice
returned to Arab Village to replenish his bombs,
and the same 'thing happened again. As a result
the steamer accomplished nothing for six hours.
Captain Herring dropped twenty-four bombs
THE BATTLES THAT WON BAGHDAD 63
during the night from a height of from two to four
thousand feet, under continuous rifle fire. The day
broke to find the enemy without communication
between their forces on either bank, and the pon-
toons were not collected or the river bridged till
later in 'the day. It was an achievement of great
magnitude for one individual.
Up 'till the 1 8th, the 3rd Corps gradually
advanced north-west, keeping pressure on the
enemy's Hai position. Our aeroplanes, co-operat-
ing with the artillery, succeeded in destroying their
pontoon bridges over the Hai, besides engaging
many other targe'ts. The work went on with
vigour, and the enemy was harassed night and day.
From midnight till dawn of the i6th he was kept
awake; his camps were bombed and machine-
gunned, two bombs making direct hits on barges.
Lieut. Windsor, on the night of the i8th, hit a
steamer, the explosion loosened her moorings, and
the current swung her round on to a bank. It was
rumoured that Khalil Pasha, the G.O.C. of the
Turkish army, had been on board en route
down river from Bghailah. During the day any
column that was caught in the desert would almost
certainly be spotted and attacked from the sky, its
horses stampeded and casualties inflicted. Tents
hit by bombs were demolished, and in one camp a
bomb exploded in the centre of a crowd of 200
men. On the iS'th the Cavalry Division operating
westward, above Shumran, drove the enemy from
his trenches and shelled his shipping. Having
marched at night, owing to complete lack of
64 IN THE CI OUDS ABOVE BAGHDAD
landmarks great difficulty was experienced in
finding their way, and care was necessary to
prevent blundering on to the river at the wrong
place, or into a Turkish position. Our aeroplanes
would find them halted, and land to give them their
position, which was often a few miles different to
their calculation. A hundred feet up and every-
thing was obvious, but once on the ground even
the pilot who had just descended might lose his
bearings. The same day the 3rd Corps gained the
river bank opposite Kut, thus severing the Turkish
position on the right bank and isolating the garrison
in the Khadairi bend, who had the river behind
them and only a few pontoons for communication
with the other side. An Aviatik was out on the
ig'th, but he was chased by D. H., and after a
short running fight dived for his own aerodrome.
On the 20th the cavalry carried out another raid
to the Tigris above Shumran, and a column of all
arms endeavoured to bridge the river while the
Kut and Sannayat areas were heavily bombarded.
This column, after a long night march with the
bridging train, arrived to find the far bank strongly
entrenched; a gallant attempt was made to launch
the pontoons in the face of a heavy fire till they
were ordered to withdraw.
These raids were a constant threat to the enemy's
communications as far as thirty miles behind his
Sannayat position and must have been a con-
tinual source of anxiety to the higher command.
D. H. and I spent the afternoon bombing camps
and shipping at Bghailah, a small town 45 miles
THE BATTLES THAT WON BAGHDAD 65
by river above Kut. A 336 Ib. bomb rather spoilt
the appearance of the river-front, and the persecu-
tion of a tug under weigh caused her crew to run
her ashore and abandon her.
Over Shumran, Lieut. Merton sighted an
Albatross at about 800 yards range. The hostile
machine dived for his aerodrome, but Merton
gained, and closing to a range of fifty yards opened
fire ; the hostile observer was hit and collapsed over
his gun, and the machine went down in a vertical
dive. Merton held on, firing close behind; the
enemy hit the ground heavily, bounced up again,
then landed, apparently without being totally
wrecked. By this time Merton, who was at a height
of only 2,000 leet, came under heavy rifle and
machine-gun fire from the ground; his engine was
badly hit, and he only just managed to land inside
our advanced lines on the Hai. An agent reported
the enemy observer killed, the pilot wounded, and
the machine crashed. Later on, at Baghdad, we
found the fuselage of this aeroplane in the work-
shops; the observer's cock-pit was drenched with
blood.
Consolidation of our position on the Hai went
on; the Cavalry Division were ever on the move
harassing the Turkish communications and making
punitive raids on Arab encampments ; marching by
night and skirmishing by day sorely tried the horses.
It was a hard life for the Cavalry. But the enemy
would not move ; General Maude must have hoped
that his threat to their communications would
66 IN THE CLOUDS ABOVE BAGHDAD
cause Khalil Pasha to make some move from
Sannayat and give him an opening; Khalil Pasha
sat doggedly firm. The air offensive went on; a
ton of bombs was dropped on Bghailah on the 2ist,
and three machines again visited the place that
night; the work of registration from all the new
artillery positions allowed no respite. On
Christmas Eve the cavalry attacked and burnt
the Arab stronghold Gussabs Fort, and D. H.
reconnoitred the river as far as Baghdad; it was
the first time since the battle of Ctesiphon that a
British aeroplane had been over the city; we heard
later what consternation it caused. He came back
with wonderful tales of gardens and vegetation,
railway station, tram-lines, and buildings — it
sounded all very civilised to us in the desert.
Christmas Day, 1916, in Mesopotamia was I
expect much more cheerful than in England ; work
was reduced to a minimum, and a great feast had
been prepared, after which, heavily laden with good
food and drink, the squadron held athletic sports.
It was a day full of fun, officers from every unit
wandering round each other's camps and exchang-
ing greetings. The Force was a happy family; men
under these conditions get to know and understand
each other in a different fashion to normal times;
on active service there can be little convention or
artificiality; the soul is stripped, and the man
stands out in a genuine form for better or for
worse. Life-long friendships are founded in a
short space of time ; in the ordinary humdrum days
of peace and security we are apt to pass by some of
THE BATTLES THAT WON BAGHDAD 67
the greater bounties of Life. Bobby had invented
a special dope for the occasion, and the Mess was
packed with merry individuals. One could hardly
see across the tent in the thick fog of tobacco
smoke; song and chorus rang out. The cheer of
the day was kept up far into the night.
The weather broke at last; operations had been
purposely hurried on before the commencement of
the rains, for the terrible experiences of the pre-
vious year, when the country was flooded most of
the winter, and the wounded were even drowned
before it was possible to pick them up, were still
fresh to our minds. Rain converted the country
into a quagmire, and it was well known that any
operations would be stopped thereby. The weather
was a more difficult proposition to General Maude
than the Turk, and it must have been with sad
misgivings that the G.O.C. saw the clouds bank
up and heard the deluge splash down on his tent.
For many weeks we had been collecting from
down-river all the date-palm matting, known as
" Chittai," that could be squeezed on to the already
overladen barges, with the idea of spreading it over
the aerodrome to give the wheels of the machines
a grip when the wet weather came; unfortunately
our labours were useless, for the experiment proved
unsuccessful. High southerly winds and rain
during the last weeks in December and the first
week of the New Year flooded the country, but
flying took place whenever possible in order to
continue the work of mapping the country behind
the lines, for registration of targets and reconnais-
68 IN THE CLOUDS ABOVE BAGHDAD
sance. Two hangars were blown down, but the
machines saved. The river rose eight feet in a
fortnight, and all hands were turned on to the con-
struction of " bunds " to keep it from inundating
the entire country, which would have left the
British force in a sorry plight.
There are two periods of flood in the Tigris and
Euphrates; 'the first starts about the second week
in November, and is caused by 'the autumn rains in
the hills, the volume varying each year according
to the wetness of the season; the second comes
down in April as a result of the snows melting in
the Caucasus, and is the greatest, not subsiding
until June. Then the rivers course past in a yellow
spate, against which it is difficult for any craft to
make headway ; the waters drop until they are about
their lowest in August, September, and October.
It is hard for the persecuted white man, in the
furnace of a Mesopotamian June, to imagine the
thick flood racing past as the thaw off glaciers a
thousand miles away.
The period of bad weather was not altogether
unwelcome to the R.F.C., for it gave us a breathing
space in which to overhaul aeroplanes and engines,
relieve personnel due for England by drafts
arrived at Busrah, and allow pilots and observers
a rest from the intensive flying that had been
going on.
The enemy had taken up a strong position in 'the
Khadairi bend on the right bank of 'the Tigris,
where he meant to stay; it was important that we
should move him, as he could open the " bund/'
THE BATTLES THAT WON BAGHDAD 69
and in a high flood cut our communications to the
Hai, which were being linked by an extension of
the light railway from Sinn. The 3rd Division
had a slow and difficult task before them,* as, like
most fighting in Mesopotamia, it lay across open
country; there was no cover except a fringe of
scrub along the left flank. The rain had stopped
by the 6th January, and the British troops worked
hard sapping out to the Turkish position. On the
9th, after a sharp hand-to-hand figh't, Gurkhas and
Mahrattas reached the river, while on the right the
Manchesters and 59th Rifles succeeded, against
fog and counter-attack, in clearing the trenches and
nullahs, incurring heavy loss on the enemy. From
here an attempt made during the next two days to
drive the Turks out of their position failed owing
to our attacking parties being enfiladed from both
sides; but the Highland Light Infantry had forced
the enemy back, steel to steel and inch by inch, only
a remnant living to tell the tale of their glory in
the depot at Hamilton. A week was spent con-
structing covered approaches and assembly
trenches from which to launch the final assault.
The fighting for the enemy's advanced posts was
severe; redoubts were lost and won several times
over; by the i8th the last one had fallen. We got
ready for the supreme effort on the morrow, which
was to clear the enemy out of the Khadairi bend ;
a message dropped from the air asked him to
surrender, but during the night he retired across
the river, leaving us masters of the situation.
On account of the weather the co-operation of
* See sketch map.
70 IN THE CLOUDS ABOVE BAGHDAD
the R.F.C. in this fighting was of little help; gaps
in the mist afforded only occasional chances for
the artillery spotters. Three machines were held
up at the advanced ground at Sinn one stormy
night; the next morning, though clear at Sinn,
there was a thick fog at Arab Village, and it was
only just in time that a message got through
stopping them from attempting the passage. A
possible catastrophe narrowly averted.
The ist Corps now cleared the enemy from the
east bank of the Hai, and to 'the west the 3rd
Corps advanced another mile. Gradually we
were creeping forward towards his communications,
but the price was heavy.
A re-organisation of the R.F.C. took place.
MacEwen's appointment as Assistant-Director of
Aeronautics was abolished, and he unfortunately
left us. D. H. took command of the squadron,
and I set up my headquarters at Sinn.
The Hai salient was the next series of fortifica-
tions barring our progress against the enemy's
communications.* This salient was defended by the
most effective gun emplacements and a strong
trench system. From the 25th the fighting to clear
the Turk from the right bank was terrific; 'the
gallantry on both sides was great and the casualties
telling. By the 26th we had secured a firm foot-
hold in his first-line trenches. A Flight was
detached to Sinn to co-operate with the 3rd Corps
in this offensive. They had become artists in
artillery co-operation, and flew till their eyes hung
heavy in their heads. The enemy air force became
* See sketch map.
THE BATTLES THAT WON BAGHDAD 71
more active and much bolder; new blood seemed to
have arrived among them. Day after day Merton
and his men would go up with a long and difficult
artillery programme and the certainty of interrup-
tion ; yet neither Weather nor Boche interfered with
the achievement of this Flight, which accomplished
the work of a squadron.
On the 27th January, Lieut. Baldwin and
" Anzac," in a B.E., were attacked by a Fokker
and Albatross; their petrol tank was blown open
and engine hit, but " Anzac " drove off both Huns
with his rear gun, damaging one so that it dived for
home. Our machine managed to land the right
side of the line. On the 2Oth January, a raid of
three machines had gone to Baghdad and bombed
the citadel, completely wrecking a workshop and
some houses.
The Cavalry Division marched back to Arab
Village in order to operate against the enemy's rear
round the north of the Suwaikieh Marsh, via
Bedrah and Jessan, a surprise movement to
synchronise with the attack of the 3rd Corps on the
Hai. The scheme entailed long desert marching,
the man-handling of guns and waggons over rough
country, and difficulties of supply and communica-
tion. It was ambitious, but had it succeeded the
results might have been far-reaching, for the
enemy's position at Sannayat must have been
imperilled. General Maude explained the
operations to me personally; the Turk having, so
far, not moved an inch from Sannayat in spite of
our threats in his rear, we must try something fresh,
72 IN THE CLOUDS ABOVE BAGHDAD
perhaps this would shift him. Luck was against us.
The cavalry had got well out on their night march
when a heavy thunderstorm burst; the ground
became a marsh and the dry nullahs rushing tor-
rents; guns and limbers sank in to their axles;
horses floundered, and in the inky darkness
progress in either direction was impossible. The
attempt was abandoned; with the coming of the
dawn they extricated themselves, and, drenched to
the skin and worn out, regained Arab Village.
The struggle on the Hai continued. On
February ist the two armies swayed backwards
and forwards in fierce conflict. Just before the zero
hour " Bobby ''' and Lieut. Beevor-Potts were
directing 'the final storm of artillery fire before it
lifted for our men to go over, when a Fokker came
down like a thunderbolt on their tail. Bobby turned
sharp, and the German passed in front of him, so
seizing the opportunity he made his machine sit up
on its tail and got his forward gun to bear. The Hun
went down in one last long dive, turning over and
over like a leaf. A cloud of dust, smoke, and flame
marked his pyre just behind the Turkish front line.
Our army, crouching down below with rifle and
bayonet ready for the assault, had been watching
the duel. Bobby had chosen his moment well.
They went over with a yell of triumph, the
Cheshires on the east bank cleared the enemy from
their trenches and succeeded in stopping there.
On the west bank 'the battle was grim. The 36th
and 45th Sikhs charged across the open, raked by
machine-gun fire from their left flank, and cap-
Sunset on the Tigris
Our mule transport
An aerodrome in the rains
THE BATTLES THAT WON BAGHDAD 73
tured the Turkish trench. They met the counter-
attack in the open with a glorious charge; the
conflict was hand-to-hand. Forced back by sheer
weight of numbers, stabbing and clubbing the
enemy, these bearded warriors retired, but only a
small remnant of the two splendid battalions
regained their own trenches.
The 3rd Corps extended their line north-west,
and a renewal of the attack on the 3rd gained us
the first two lines of enemy trenches. On this
day Lieuts. Baldwin and Hannay forced an Aviatik
to land near Bghailah; it was reported later that
the pilot had been wounded. The last of the
enemy on the eas't of the Hai withdrew to the
west, and during the night of the 4th fell back to
the Liquorice Factory and a line across the Dahra
Bend in the Tigris.* They had lost heavily in dead
and prisoners, besides the arms, ammunition and
stores that we had captured. Their hold on the
right bank of the Tigris was being wrested from
them, and further possibilities were opening out;
our troops were in fine fettle. A parade of the
remnant of the 36th and 45th Sikhs was held, and
General Maude made a speech in English, which
was then translated and delivered in Hindustani.
Sinn was conveniently situated midway between
the two Corps in the Sannayat and Hai
areas. Here, in rows of little forty-pound tents,
lived the Headquarter Staff. A forty-pound tent
is an economical form of housing, and can be
packed up and carried away at a moment's notice;
yet it is a warm and comfortable domain when the
* See sketch map.
74 IN THE CLOUDS ABOVE BAGHDAD
interior has been dug down four feet to give head
room and keep out draught. There is just sufficient
space for a camp bed, and the double layer of
canvas keeps out sun and rain. It was character-
istic of General Maude that he should live under
the same conditions as the rest of the army; he
never considered his personal comfort, and refused
to allow himself extra luxury by reason of high
office. His thoughts were ever with the rank and
file and the arrangements for their welfare. There
might be a limited supply of oil stoves for the
winter, but General Maude and his staff would
shiver among their maps and papers till a
sufficient supply had first been provided for those
he considered more in need. There was no extra
provision for G.H.Q. in Mesopotamia.
It was a happy camp at Sinn; the weather was
bracing; the work hard and the life active and
healthy for all except those whose misfortune tied
them completely to an office. On a quiet evening
there were black partridge in the scrub, or sniping
the Turk across the river from behind sandbags in
Magasis Fort; or, after a long day's work, an
evening ride into 'the desert to restore the brain-
weary staff officer. The wire fencing and block-
house system south of the railway was carried on
to the Hai to keep the Arab raiders out of the
occupied area; but, in spite of every device, they
would get through and back between the
blockhouses with even camels and 'tents.
The Flight at Sinn were a few minutes' gallop
from my own headquarters, so that within twenty
THE BATTLES THAT WON BAGHDAD 75
minutes I could be at any point by air, and a wire-
less station rigged at the office tent enabled me to
listen to the machines working on the line.
Hertzian waves were as food and drink to
" Huxley," my wireless officer, a most progressive
individual.
The Turkish Force on the right bank of the
Tigris were now confined entirely to the Liquorice
Factory and Dahra Bend. The initiative remained
in the hands of General Maude, and he never gave
them a chance to wrest it away.
Carrying straight forward after the victory on
the Hai, the Liquorice Factory was fiercely
bombarded, and on the gth February the whole line
was attacked. The Worcesters and King's
Own both captured the enemy's line at different
points, out of which the Turks failed to dislodge
them. The next day the Factory fell, and we
gradually closed in on the enemy, who had retired
to a second line across the bend. S'trong south-
easterly winds and heavy rain retarded progress
and made aerial reconnaissance difficult, but on the
loth, in spite of these conditions, an aeroplane
directing a sixty-pounder gun damaged the enemy
bridge over the Tigris at a range of 9,800 yards,
and sunk a barge more than five miles away. The
aerodrome at Sinn and Arab Village became a
marsh, but on only one day was flying actually
impossible. On this day the Corps H.Q.
rang up Merton's Flight and enquired if he was
sending anything up ; Captain Merton replied that
his present difficulty in the raging gale was keeping
76 IN THE CLOUDS ABOVE BAGHDAD
his machines on the ground. The state of the
ground further hindered the supply of rations and
ammunition along our ever-lengthening line of
communication.
For three days all our guns were concentrated
against the enemy's left, and on the i5th a feint
attack brought down his barrage on our right, thus
disclosing the massing of his artillery, as we had
desired, on that point of the line. Then the 3rd
Corps, launching their main attack against the
centre, carried all before it. The Turks tried to
reinforce the centre from their left, where the main
body was collected, but our barrage made this
impossible. For three days the plan had been
elaborated; its success was complete.
The enemy attempted to escape across the river,
but few reached the other side. The R.F.C. were
waiting in the sky, and the artillery had the range
of every ferry point. Bomb and shell tore the
pontoons, and the flood did the rest. By the i6th
February the Dahra Bend was cleared and 2,000
prisoners had been captured. It was a night of
great rejoicing. D. H. celebrated the occasion by
obtaining a direct hit on a steamer at Bghailah.
What would be our next move and how far were
we to be allowed to go? Force " D " awaited the
word of its chief like hounds straining at the leash.
Torrential rain on 'the i6th and i?th did its best
to damp their ardour; camps, trenches, bivouacs,
and aerodromes were flooded, canvas hangars could
not keep it out and aeroplanes became saturated.
The British Force, after two months' hard
Looking up the Tigris from Arab Villag;
The lines at Sannayat between marsh and river from the
British side
THE BATTLES THAT WON BAGHDAD 77
fighting, had swept the Turk entirely off the righ't
bank of the Tigris. To close with him again we
must either cross the river or come to grips frontally
against his lines at Sannayat. He had worked for
a year making this position into a maze of
successive lines of trenches on a narrow front,
firmly secured by river and marsh on the flanks.
The way seemed effectively barred on the left
bank; but for forty miles from Sannayat to
Shumran our force was a constant threat on his
flank, and the 3rd Corps, opposite Shumran, were
very near his communications. Yet Khalil showed
no sign of stirring. Perhaps he relied on the
impregnability of Sannayat or the sodden condition
of the country and further rain to immobilise the
rest of the British Army? The experience of the
previous year would almost justify his reasoning.
Perhaps he considered a surprise crossing in
strength an impossible contingency. The river
was sweeping down in full spate, it would be a
long and hazardous operation to bridge it; mean-
while sufficient force could be concentrated at the
threatened point. So Khalil waited.
General Maude intended to cross the river as far
west as possible; it was therefore important to
keep the enemy's attention about Sannayat, and
orders were issued to 'the ist Corps to attack on
the 1 7th February. It was a year since Sannayat
had been attacked ; the same troops who had thrown
themselves at the enemy in vain endeavour to
break through to Ku't, had held the same ground
for eleven months, sweated through the hot
78 IN THE CLOUDS ABOVE BAGHDAD
weather, and were now in the trenches waiting for
the signal to attack. To ensure surprise there was
no artillery preparation; a short tornado on their
wire, and the guns would lift for the assault. I
remember waiting in suspense outside my office
tent for the opening crash. The two aeroplanes
for locating active enemy guns were humming
high above, having made a detour preparatory to
turning down wind over Sannayat on time, no
earlier. Suspicion must not be aroused. It was
a peaceful afternoon, the desert green with recent
rain and heavy banks of cloud threatening further
downpour. One thought of the men fixing their
bayonets in the trenches and their hearts hammer-
ing off the last few minutes. Suddenly great
spurts of desert began flying in 'the air, and the
booming of cannon rolled across the intervening
plain to where I was watching ; Hell had descended
on Sannayat.
I was glued to my telephone when General
Maude, standing close outside, came in to talk to
the ist Corps H.Q. The Gurkhas and Punjabis
had captured the first two lines on a narrow frontage
with little loss, but were being heavily counter-
attacked. The men from India and Nepal were
unable to withstand the onslaught, and most of
their British officers had been killed. The General
urged that a British battalion should be sent in at
once. The Black Watch, ordered to support, were
baulked in getting out of their trenches by the rush
of native troops tumbling back in. The enemy
regained his lost line, except for a small party of
THE BATTLES THAT WON BAGHDAD 79
Gurkhas on the river bank, who stuck there till
dusk. At least these operations had turned the
enemy's attention to Sannayat.
The next day D. H., while at his customary
occupation of bombing the enemy aerodrome, was
interfered with by a Fokker which had ascended
to try conclusions with him. The Martinsyde
scout out-manoeuvred the German, who, spattered
by bullets, went down vertically like a stone, one
wing carried away and the rest buried itself in the
ground 7,000 feet below. The German aviators
watched the duel from their aerodrome, but no
other candidate accepted 'the challenge.
Daily artillery barrages were put down on
Sannayat in order to keep confusing Khalil and
induce him to accept 'these, unaccompanied by
infantry attacks, as part of our usual routine.
When all seemed quiet and peaceful, these intense
bombardments would suddenly rend the air at any
'time of the day. The long six-inch guns of the
Naval flotilla in the river would chime in as double
bass to the general racket, and Sannayat would be
obliterated in a fog of flying sand, debris and
smoke. The behaviour of the Turkish gunners on
these occasions was remarkable. From the air we
could see them continue fighting their guns in the
most gallant fashion, keeping up a rapid fire in
spite of their pits being blown up all round them.
All the time, secretly, quietly, methodically,
General Maude prepared for the passage of the
Tigris about Shumran, twenty miles away. The
river was in highest flood, and the country water-
80 IN THE CLOUDS ABOVE BAGHDAD
logged, but drying. All movement and work was
carried out under cover of night. Pontoon rowers
were selected and trained, men of Norfolk and
Hampshire; Gurkhas and Norfolks were to be
landed; the tiny Gurkhas, too small to row the
pontoons, had "to be rowed; their heads barely
appeared above the gunwale.
Again, on the 22nd, Sannayat was assaulted after
a terrific bombardment. The Seaforths and 92nd
Punjabis, with few casualties, found themselves in
possession of a wrecked front line. The aero-
artillery co-operation blew the Turkish counter-
attacks to bits as fast as they formed. The
Leicesters, 5ist and 53rd Sikhs supported and
extended to the right. By nightfall our men had
dug themselves in opposite the enemy's fourth line
and consolidated the position. A hundred and 'ten
miles away at Baghdad they heard it on the wire,
and the German population started packing their
baggage. That night the British Army, flushed
with their taste of success, learnt of the plans for
the morrow ; after a year a decision was to be forced.
While the battle had been raging at Sannayat
the 3rd Corps were apparently engaged in bridging
operations opposite Kut under cover of a heavy
bombardment of the town. After dark a party of
Punjabis and Sappers pulled across the river at
Magasis, raided the Turkish trenches, and returned
with a trench mortar as a souvenir. A picquet had
been driven in and given the alarm; one can
imagine the chaos caused throughout the enemy
camps by this sudden appearance of British troops
THE BATTLES THAT WON BAGHDAD 8 1
on their side of the river in the middle of the night.
This daring bluff by a handful of men across a
rushing torrent half a mile wide in inky darkness
served its purpose well, and they returned with
trifling casualties. Fifteen miles higher up,
opposite Shumran, Sappers, Norfolks, Gurkhas,
and Gunners looked for the dawn.
Owing to the high flood and consequent
difficulties of bridging, it had been decided that the
operation by night was impracticable. The
" forlorn hope " were to lead over as the darkness
turned to grey.
Our barges were loaded ; the steamers lay along-
side ; aeroplanes stood out in readiness to leave the
ground; the army awaited the word to trek. We
slept lightly that night.
An aerial barrage had been up all day to
frustrate any curiosity displayed by the Hun; one
had evaded us and learnt all about the activity
opposite Kut ; special food that had been designed
for their consumption; it was well. Orders had
been given me by General Maude 'that no German
must leave the ground on the 23rd; co-operation
was also essential with all arms, and there was only
our one little squadron for the task, but officers and
men were told, and were pleased there was no
other, for the responsibility remained in their
keeping.
Just before the day of the 23rd February the
first aeroplanes left the ground; at the same time
pontoons, loaded with Norfolks and Gurkhas,
pushed out into the flood at three separate points
82 IN THE CLOUDS ABOVE BAGHDAD
in the Shumran Bend. The first batch of Norfolks
using the up-stream ferry were practically across in
the half-light before 'the enemy on the other side
realised that anything unusual was happening.
The two lower ferries, Gurkhas rowed by
Hampshires, were met by a hail of bullets and
suffered heavily. Some of them, however,
succeeded in forcing their way ashore, where they
met the Turks hand o hand. An incessant barrage
from the British artillery and machine-guns across
the river made the enemy keep their heads under
cover, and enabled our storming parties to land
and assault a loop-holed bund. The casualties
became so severe at these two lower ferries, and
left so few of the Hampshire rowers alive, 'that
they were both abandoned and the passage confined
to the top ferry, which the bend in the river better
protected from enfilade. By 7.30 about 700
Norfolks and Gurkhas had established 'themselves
on the far bank; every inch had been fiercely
contested at the point of the bayonet; the footing
gained enabled the Sappers to launch the first
pontoon of the bridge. Under peaceful conditions
this would have been no small undertaking; there
were four hundred yards of a deep five-knot flood
to span; in the face of the enemy the task was
colossal. The Sappers worked like men possessed.
The site had been well chosen, the Turkish
gunners had no means of locating it, and a
Martinsyde scout kept flying round and round their
aerodrome to force to the ground any Hun who
attempted to leave. This watch on the aerodrome
i »,";'; :.*:»'%:.'
German Airmen on the Tigris
This photograph was captured during the advance to Baghdad
Maude's master-stroke. The bridge at Shumran
THE BATTLES THAT WON BAGHDAD 83
was maintained all day, machines relieving each
other on the scene of action. There were only
sufficient aeroplanes for one to work at a time, yet
our sovereignty of the air was complete till 5 p.m.,
when one German escaped ; but it was 'too late, the
bridge and half a division were across. These
pilots, knowing well of the gallant souls dying at
the crossing, maintained their lonely beat cease-
lessly, unerringly, over the enemy aerodrome.
Whenever any activity was displayed away would
go a bomb with a whistling sigh and a crash ; a dive
and a s'tammering machine-gun finished the work,
and the sentry above resumed his beat alone and
applauded only by the patter of shrapnel and
high explosive. About n a.m. an ammunition
dump shot up in a cloud of black smoke somewhere
opposite Magasis; it was evident that the day was
going in our favour, and that the Turk meant
to evacuate Sannayat. Here patrols of the 7th
Division entered the enemy's third line, but were
prevented from advancing further by a strong
counter-attack. The enemy evacuated during the
night, and the ist Corps pushed forward, occupying
the battered trenches, which were choked with
corpses, the ground a shambles of dead and crying
wounded. The night was spent in bridging the
'trenches and clearing a way for the guns and
waggons to advance on the morrow.
The bridge at Shumran was completed at 4.30
p.m., and three infantry brigades were across before
dark. All night the 3rd Corps poured over a stream
of guns, waggons, horses, men, and mules without
84 IN THE CLOUDS ABOVE BAGHDAD
end. The Cavalry Division bivouacked close by
and looked to their sabres.
The excitement was intense, and all night long
G.H.Q. camp buzzed with the subdued sound of
work at high pressure. The task of the Supply and
Transport service appeared almost insuperable.
General Maude, imperturbable as ever, crouching
over his maps by the light of a little electric lamp,
in the pit of his 4olb. tent, discussed the plans for
next day, and gave me carte blanche. An army
on the run over flat desert and the complete mastery
of the air, one's wildest dream had come true. The
weary pilots got in to snatch a few hours' sleep,
while the mechanics spent the night loading
machines with bombs and overhauling engines.
The crossing had been a masterpiece, a clever
conception brilliantly carried out. The Turk never
knew where the main blow was to fall till 'too late.
By sheer generalship the enemy was outwitted.
First the hammer blow at Sannayat induced him to
march his reserves in that direction from the Kut
area; after marching all night the peril at Shumran
became apparent. Khalil ordered them to counter-
march, but too late. Maude's tactics kept these
reserves marching and counter-marching out of the
battle on either front. They were only able to drag
themselves clear with the general retreat.
The next day, the 24'th February, our troops on
the Shumran Peninsula resumed the attack; the
enemy fought stubbornly. By nightfall, after
severe casualties, we had gained a thousand
yards, and the cavalry and practically the
THE BATTLES THAT WON BAGHDAD 85
whole 3rd Corps were on the other side.
The main Turkish Army was in full retreat
covered by this tenacious rearguard, who
frustrated an attempt by the cavalry to break
through and enabled the Sannayat troops to cross
our front and get away. In the evening I could see
the Horse Artillery of the Cavalry Division in
action against the enemy rearguard, which had
withdrawn north-west, and sent down a message
to the Divisional H.Q., giving the dispositions. If
the cavalry had only worked further to 'the north
the rearguard would have been outflanked. It was
a wonderful sight from the air, the retreat orderly
and well controlled, and low-flying aeroplanes came
under heavy fire. Flying home over Kut just
before dark I met the Gunboat Flotilla coming up
full speed from Sannayat, their decks cleared for
action, and White Ensigns spread out by the breeze
made a proud and inspiring picture against the last
glow of the Arabian sunset, the battle-line of
England surging forward.
Sixteen hundred prisoners, four field guns, and
a large number of rifles, ammunition, and stores
had been captured. The Turkish rearguard with-
drew out of the Shumran Peninsula during the night
of the 24th, having effectively covered the
westward passage of their army. On the morning
of the 25th early reconnaissances located the mam
body at Bghailah, their rear party with about twenty
guns occupying a long nullah extending north
from 'the river near Imam Mahdi ; to us in the air
it seemed inconceivable that the cavalry did not
G
36 IN THE CLOUDS ABOVE BAGHDAD
make round the enemy's northern flank; but there
they were, immobile down below, held up and being
shelled by the Turks. The vanguard of the I3th
Division in their stiff fight to eject the enemy from
this position nearer the river were helped by the
long guns of the Navy. The exhausted cavalry,
who had hardly been out of their saddles for forty-
eight hours, rode back to water and bivouac; the
Turk had given them the slip. General Maude's
instructions necessitated reporting every hour by
wireless ; a field wireless station takes some time 'to
erect and dismantle; perhaps this cramped their
Commander's movement, but some would have
risked incurring displeasure for this chance of a
thousand years. After the crossing of the river
the ghost of every cavalry leader down the ages
must have looked longingly beyond Shumran. For
had they ridden hard to the flank they could have
gained the river behind the Turks ; it seemed even
worth the risk of losing their horses, for what has
ever been achieved without risk? And the com-
plete obliteration of the Turkish Army was worth
more than the cavalry horses. At the end of the
day, instead of being behind the Turkish Army the
Cavalry Division were five miles behind their own
infantry.
Ninety-four bombs were dropped that day on
fleeing Turks and enemy shipping; sixty-five
pounders exploding among retreating masses make
a grim trail for a pursuing army. D. H. and I
found a tug towing sections of the enemy's pontoon
bridge. It was a fine target, and the captain of the
THE BATTLES THAT WON BAGHDAD 8^
tug considered it advisable to part with his pon-
toons, which went drifting down-stream while the
vessel ran for shore and the crew for cover.
The Turkish retreat was rapid ; they threw their
guns and heavy encumbrances into 'the river and
ran for all they were worth. On the 26th they
outstripped our infantry, who made a forced march
across eighteen miles of waterless plain; but
Captain Nunn, R.N., with his river flotilla, were
racing after them. His orders also had been to
report to G.H.Q. hourly by wireless, but Nunn and
his men, Commanders Sherbrooke, Buxton, and
Cartwright in the " Tarantula," " Mantis," and
" Moth," did the Nelson touch, and crashed on
up-stream through a hail of Turkish bullets from
the banks. At the sharp Nahr Kellak bend they
were raked on either side by Turkish
batteries and machine-guns, and returned the
fire with six-inch guns and Maxims at point-
blank range. The quarter-master and Arab
pilot of the " Mantis " were both shot
dead, and Buxton rushed into the conning-
tower just in time to save his ship from taking the
bank at fifteen knots. The river here ran alongside
the road where the Turkish force was retreating;
the guns of 'the flotilla turned the retreat into a
rout, it became sauve qui peut.
The flotilla held on, and gradually drawing into
range with the flying Turkish river boats brought
their bow six-inch guns into action. The rear ship
was sunk, and the " Busrah," with seven hundred
wounded and other Turks and Germans on board,
88 IN THE CLOUDS ABOVE BAGHDAD
was run ashore by a captured and badly-wounded
British officer, Lieut. Cowie, of the Black Watch.
Another, the " Pioneer," burning fiercely but still
fighting her guns, ran aground. On went Nunn
after the " Firefly/' a British gunboat captured in
the retreat from Ctesiphon. The Navy were intent
on getting her back ; after a long fight her captain
ran her ashore, and she was recaptured. It was a
great day for the Senior Service; they suffered
heavy casualties and were riddled by shell and
machine-gun fire, but by wonderful fortune
none were sunk. Three ships and a thousand
prisoners had been captured ; one enemy ship sunk ;
the army routed ; and, above all, the lost " Firefly,"
or, as the Turks had re-christened her, " Sulman
Pak," recaptured. All that morning General Maude
walked up and down wondering what the gunboats
were doing, and " why the devil they didn't report
as instructed? ' That night the Navy reported.
The G.O.C. and his staff embarked on board the
paddle-boat 53; she had been partitioned off by
canvas into the various offices necessary to an
advancing and mobile G.H.Q., and arrived at
Shumran in the afternoon of the 26th. The
squadron occupied the enemy aerodrome. At Kut
the Union Jack was flying, having been run up by
the bluejackets of the " Mantis " the day before;
the town was badly knocked about by shell fire, the
result of our recent bombardment and that of the
enemy when Townshena was besieged; within it
there was no living soul save innumerable cats
THE BATTLES THAT WON BAGHDAD 89
prowling about among the dead bodies ; the stench
was nauseating and the silence uncanny.
It was interesting to walk about 'the enemy aero-
drome, which we had known so well from the air,
and examine his dug-outs and the holes made by
our bombs. The place was littered with fragments,
and it was easy to trace 'the results of one's own
shooting on the different occasions. The next
morning I witnessed for myself what the gunboats
had achieved.
Flying towards Azizieh the, spectacle was
amazing and horrible; dead bodies and mules,
abandoned guns, waggons and stores littered the
road, many of the waggons had hoisted the white
flag, men and animals exhausted and starving lay
prone on the ground. Few of 'these, if any, survived
the attentions of the Arab tribesmen, hanging
round like wolves on their trail. Further on I
came up with the rear party on the march. Flying
along about ten feet from the road I mowed down
seven with one burst of machine-gun fire; it was
sickening ; they hardly had 'the strength to run into
the nullahs and fire back; those hit just crumpled
up under their packs and lay still ; others waved in
token of surrender and supplication for rescue. All
along the road they staggered in twos and threes.
Could 'this have been the fine army to which a
British force of seven thousand had surrendered,
and which had held us in check for a year? No
scene can be so terrible as a routed army in a desert
country. I turned home sickened.
The gunboats had hauled in close to the stranded
90 IN THE CLOUDS ABOVE BAGHDAD
' Busrah," which was seething with prisoners and
flying a large white sheet from 'the mast. Coming
down low I could make out my sailor friends, and
dropped them a greeting. It was all perhaps as
strange a spectacle as one will ever see in the course
of a morning.
In the evening the " Moth," en route to the base
for repairs, ran down-stream and anchored for the
night at Shumran. I dined on board with Cartwright
and heard his story over a bottle of champagne.
He had buried two of his crew, but the rest were in
magnificent form; he himself and his officers were
all wounded, and on the set'tee lay Gowie of the
Black Watch, shot in five places, including the
stomach; nevertheless he insisted on toasting the
;c Moth " : the cupful of champagne almost caused
his decease. He however survived to 'tell the tale
of being blown up by a bomb at Sannayat during
a raid the day before the attack, and subsequent
nightmare periods of consciousness with the routed
Turks; the chase in the " Busrah," and the British
shells through his cabin, the panic aboard, and his
assistance in running her ashore though he could
barely crawl. We celebrated the glory of the
British Navy far into the night, and I can see now
the little smoke-filled ward-room, the bandaged
Naval officers in front of the stove listening to the
gramophone; the bullet-holes through the plating
and the Highland officer lying on the couch looking
mighty pleased with everything. It was life with
a big L.
The " Busrah " came down river, the white flag
THE BATTLES THAT WON LAGHDAD 91
at the fore. One could almost scent her coming.
She was packed with wounded Turks, and almost
to a man their wounds had turned to gangrene.
On the ist of March the cavalry reached Azizieh,
where 'the pursuit was broken off. The 3rd Corps
and the gunboats concentrated here while the ist
Corps cleared the battlefields and protected the line
of march from the Arab hordes who appeared
like vultures out of the " blue." The captures
since the crossing included : 4,000 prisoners, 39
guns, 32 'trench mortars, u machine-guns, H.M.S.
" Firefly," the river boats " Sumana," " Pioneer/'
and * Busrah," many barges, and an immense
quantity of rifles, ammunition, and stores. Much
more material of war lay scattered over the eighty
miles of desert, or had been thrown into the river.
The enemy streamed on towards Baghdad.
General Maude and his H.Q. on board the
P.S. 53 were at Azizieh soon after the cavalry;
he towed one of the Flying Corps barges along
with him, and the others were pushed up by tugs.
The tortuous course of the Tigris and the slow
progress against the strong current made it
impossible for 'the squadron transport to keep up
with the machines; two fast motoi -boats and three
light lorries, however, usually managed to fetch up
at the forward landing ground at night to supply
the squadron with fuel. The General had his nose
to the trail and pressed forward relentlessly. The
supply services were tried to the breaking point but
never broke ; it was a marvellous feat of genius in
organisation. The base was three hundred and
92 IN THE CLOUDS ABOVE BAGHDAD
fifty miles away by river, and the return to Sheikh
Saad of the stores and ammunition accumulated in
the Hai area employed men urgently required at
the front. River craft were limited and could only
move a certain distance before returning for or
awaiting the arrival of fuel. Yet by the 3rd of
March one cavalry and 'three infantry divisions were
into Azizieh. If you have seen the fodder
necessary for the horses of a Cavalry Division in
one day alone, and realise that every wisp of hay
had to be brought from India, it will afford a guide
to the colossal achievements of the Quartermaster-
General and Inspector- General of Communica-
tions.
It seemed doubtful whether 'the enemy had any
aerial force left until Lieut. Lloyd, on reconnais-
sance over Baghdad, forced a Fokker down on the
aerodrome. On the way up river the old R.F.C.
store barge that had been captured at Kut was
recaptured. It was laden with German flying
stores, engines, and bombs. Fourteen of our
machines landed at Azizieh ; all hangars and heavy
material had been left behind ; pilots slept under
their planes and carried their food in their pockets.
There was an R.F.C. office on board the G.H.Q.
ship, where " Chocolo " presided, producing food
and drink surreptitiously from the messes of
Generals for our famished men, who, after long
hours in the air, might wait in vain for 'the uncertain
arrival of tins of bully-beef. cc Chocolo " became
a demi-god, for they were hungry days, and the
THE BATTLES THAT WON BAGHDAD 93
most friendly units would not trust one another
where the acquisition of food was concerned.
The Turkish telegraph wire from Kut to
Baghdad had been torn down in their retreat, and
lay in festoons on the ground. But the posts were
still standing. When no authority was looking the
hungry Tommy would cut one down to chop into
firewood for his evening meal, the only possible
fuel to be found. It became a serious offence, for
they were supporting a fresh line behind us. Yet
hunger was the matter of the moment, and the
marching soldier cared little for the communications
in rear when his eyes were on Baghdad. They
had to be strictly guarded, else they disappeared
uncannily.
The concentration of supplies went on for three
days at Azizieh. Even 'then General Maude
had no word from England as to whether he was
to advance still further. The pent-up feelings and
enthusiasm of the force were boiling over. The
men were hard, lean, and fit with the long marching
and fighting, and Baghdad shone like an El Dorado
in the north with only a routed army between. The
name Baghdad was in every mouth, it was the sole
topic of conversation, and the army was ready to
endure, starve, and die; anything but be 'told to
retire. The brains in Whitehall meanwhile
balanced our fate against the memory of
Townshend's advance to the walls of the city and
his subsequent finale at Kut.
The eagerly awaited orders were issued on the
night of the 4th : the British army was to push on.
94 IN THE CLOUDS ABOVE BAGHDAD
The ist Corps had come up, and on the morning
of the 5th March, with a swinging step, the expedi-
tion went forward. I reconnoitred early as far as
the Diala in a gale of wind, which, wiping the dust
in dense masses off the ground, obscured
observation of the intricate maze of nullahs. The
cavalry were passing Zeur when I landed in the
desert on their flank to await the arrival of the
remainder of the squadron from Azizieh. About
ii a.m. the I3th Hussars, near Lajj, suddenly
sighted the enemy through the thick mist at close
range; in the buffeting wind it was difficult to see
or hear, but Colonel Richardson led his regiment
in at a gallop and got home with the sabre. The
Hussars, however, encountered a devastating fire
from a second line, and being unable to locate the
flank of 'the position, held a nullah all day under
heavy shell and machine-gun fire, at the cost of
nine officers and eighty-five men. Both Colonel
Richardson and his second in command, Major
Twist, were wounded. The Turks evacuated the
position during the night.
Two Martinsydes had been caught by a squall
and crashed on landing at Zeur. It was unfor-
'tunate, as the nearest spare machine was far away
at Amara, and we were some distance from the river,
without mechanics or protective troops. Before
nightfall we had man-handled the aeroplanes
across rough country to within the outpost lines by
the river. The storm blew throughout the next day.
The road was particularly sandy, and the army
marched enveloped and choked by solid clouds of
THE BATTLES THAT WON BAGHDAD 95
sand. It was a following wind, and as it became
stirred up the dust floated forward with troops and
waggons. To keep in touch with the troops I
accompanied the 3rd Corps in my Hupmobile car;
the G.H.Q. ship would be out of touch 'till nightfall
owing to the extraordinarily tortuous course of the
river. I shall never forget that ride forward with
the column. The ground was intersected by
nullahs and cut up by the columns in front.
Jammed in by guns and transport, it was impossible
to move forward at more than five miles an hour;
it was almost dark with the intensity of the driving
sand, and one could see only a few yards in front
when occasionally one opened one's eyes for
fleeting glances. Native troops could not be
distinguished from British, the grey dust made all
men alike. Spread out in marching echelons, with
heads muffled up as if in 'the Arctic regions, the
army stumbled on in the gale. The enemy in
Baghdad must have watched with misgiving the
vast cloud rolling on. The rapidity of the advance
prevented his making a stand in a carefully pre-
pared position and fighting another battle at
Ctesiphon, for the cavalry were hard on his heels
and reconnoitred to within three miles of the Diala
during 'the day. One pilot carried out a useful
reconnaissance in the gale, and reported to
Cavalry and I3th Division Headquarters. I
managed to get across the river with this report
and intercept the G.H.Q. ship, which hauled into
the bank.
The 3rd Corps and Cavalry Division bivouacked
96 IN THE CLOUDS ABOVE BAGHDAD
for the nigh't of the 6th March about Bustan,
having marched 17 miles. P.S. 53, with General
Headquarters, also arrived. General Maude was
giving his troops a lead in the front line, and no
tired unit felt inclined to lie down when they saw
the mast and funnel of the vessel steaming up river
ahead of 'them.
We were close to the ruins of Ctesiphon. This
gigantic work of ancient man was the only land-
mark in the flat treeless waste. From within its
arch the Parthian Kings had ruled over their
dominions two thousand years ago. Since then,
Romans, Arabs, Turks, and British had fought and
fallen outside its walls over man's everlasting lust
for sovereignty.
The squadron, protected by a company of
infantry, remained at Zeur over the 6th and 7th
March, repairing one of the crashed Martinsydes
and dismantling the other for despatch down river
to Busrah.
General Maude put forward 'the proposition that
as no doubt the enemy were evacuating their heavy
stores and guns from Baghdad to Samarra by the
railway, the interruption of that line might have
far-reaching results. So on 'the 7th two specially
selected Engineer officers, Captains Cave-Brown
and Farley, with charges of dynamite, left the
ground piloted by Lieuts. Windsor and Morris.
They managed to land within 200 yards of a railway
culvert and kept their engines running. An Arab
village lay about 800 yards away, and as soon as
the R.E. officers got out of the machines Arab
THE BATTLES THAT WON BAGHDAD 97
horsemen came galloping down on them. They
bolted half-way to gain the culvert, but seeing that
the game was obviously impossible, and also
realising that their charges were insufficient to
wreck the structure, they turned and ran back to
the aeroplanes under fire from the Arabs. Both
pilots, with their Lewis guns firing, took off straight
into the enemy and got away. It was a near shave
to losing the lot.
I went on with G.H.Q. in the P.S. 53 up river
to Bawi, and we tied up to the bank on the after-
noon of the 7th. The gunboats were just ahead
and the 3rd Corps streaming past. Soon after we
arrived there .was a 'terrific explosion, and the ship
was showered with debris. An ammunition limber
had exploded in the middle of a column, and bits
of mules and men lay scattered on the bank. We
had just succeeded in pulling many live men clear
of the shambles, and were cutting some mules
adrift, when a bombardier, seeing another limber
smouldering, called out 'to get clear. Hardly a
moment elapsed before there was another ear-
splitting crash, and some more mules were blown
sky-high. It was a sorry job going round with a
revolver and shooting these poor mutilated animals.
Our artillery and gunboats were engaging the
enemy guns on 'the other side of the Diala, so I
ran on in my motor-launch to the " Mantis," and
joined Buxton in action. His bow six-inch was
firing at long range, and we sat on " monkey
island " spotting the bursts through our glasses.
The Turkish guns were ranging inaccurately, their
9 IN THE CLOUDS ABOVE BAGHDAD
shells merely sending up great columns of water
in the river some way ahead. It was a pleasant
spring evening's entertainment, and hard to realise
that we were in action, and that the Turkish shells
were not part of a " show." Unfortunately a stray
enemy shell burst in the midst of a party watering
their horses on the bank ; a few more would mourn
in distant homes.
The squadron landed at Bawi and Bustan, their
barges " chugging " on up-stream after them. An
enemy aeroplane, the first we had seen for many
days, hummed round to take note of our disposi-
tions.
That night of the 7th, the King's Own, rowed
by volunteers from the rest of 'the Lancashire
Brigade, made an attempt to cross the Diala.
Before the first pontoon had been launched every
man was shot down; the second got out into the
stream, when all its fifteen occupants were killed
and the pontoon drifted down the Tigris ; the third
was blown up by a bomb and sank with all hands ;
a similar fate attended the fourth and the fifth
from a withering machine-gun fire. Next morning
the pontoons floating down past us with their
cargoes of dead spoke of the deeds of the night.
The Lancashire men had not abandoned the
attempt till all their five pontoons had gone and
'their glorious comrades with them.
On the 8th the aeroplanes were busy fixing the
exact enemy dispositions in front of Baghdad.
The Diala seemed well defended, and on the right
bank of the Tigris they were in position some six
THE BATTLES THAT WON BAGHDAD 99
miles S.S.W. of the city. A pontoon bridge was
therefore thrown across the river just south of Bawi
and the is't Corps and cavalry crossed. Some
of the 3rd Corps were ferried over higher up to
enfilade the Diala position. On the night of the
8/9th, after an intense bombardment, the Loyal
North Lancashires dashed for the Diala, and while
the smoke of the barrage had yet to clear they
gained a footing on the other side; but the party
who launched out to support them after the air had
cleared, were blown to bits by machine-guns, and
the seventy men of Lancashire were left isolated
on the north side of 'the river. With their backs
to the Diala they occupied a loop in 'the recently
dug river bund and resisted attack after attack for
two nights and a day. Intermittent artillery fire
was maintained to support the grand resistance of
this gallant band.
Although within shouting distance of our troops
on the south side, an attempt by rocket failed to
get a cable across for ferrying ammunition. The
next night a swimmer half-way over with a line
was forced to return, the officer paying out the
in-shore end being killed. They fought at 'the point
of the bayonet all 'through the second night, and
forty survivors, exhausted and reduced almost to
their last cartridge, kept the Turks at bay till
rescued at daylight on the loth. More than a
hundred enemy dead were counted lying round the
parapet. The story of the passage of the Diala will
go down to posterity with the landing at Gallipoli,
for the shores at both places are hallowed by the
100 IN THE CLOUDS ABOVE BAGHDAD
blood of Lancashire. A crossing higher up the
river was effected during the night of the Qth by
the Wiltshires and East Lancashires. Enfiladed
from 'the opposite bank of the Tigris, and with his
left flank turned, the enemy fell back.
Two motor barges loaded with infantry had also
gone up river during the night in order to make a
landing above 'the Diala and take the enemy in the
rear; but 'they ran on a shoal, and never reached
their destination. I was lying asleep on the deck
of P.S. 53 when this disconcerting news came in.
Staff officers were routed out, and General Maude
awakened from his short sleep. The Navy took
the situation in hand, and Sherbrooke, of the
" Tarantula," went up river full speed 'to the
rescue. They were towed off just before the: dawn
which would have put them at the mercy of the
Turkish guns.
During the Qth aeroplanes dropped forty-seven
bombs on the railway station, aerodrome, and
hostile troops. D. H. blew the roof off the station
and destroyed a train at Khazimain with a sixty-
five pound bomb. The ist Corps and cavalry
engaged 'the enemy S.W. of Baghdad, and drove
him out of his first position ; the cavalry advancing
again were saved from walking into an unsuspected
second. line by a timely report from the air. The
Turks held this second position till nightfall, and
caused heavy casualties to our troops by enfilade
fire from the other side of the river ; his right flank
extended far into the desert, and the cavalry were
unable to turn it owing to exhaustion and the
THE BATTLES THAT WON BAGHDAD IOI
necessity of returning 'to the river to water their
horses. The high wind and dust storm still
prevailed, and the " sea " running in reaches of
the Tigris made the " Fly " boats roll heavily and
small boat work exciting even in a high-powered
Thornycroft launch.
There was no doubt that 'the enemy had given
up all hope of saving Baghdad, and that the strong
resistances on the gth and loth were merely delaying
actions in order to get as many of his stores away as
possible. Three weeks before it had never entered
'the thoughts of men that the British Army would
advance so far. Yet here we were hammering at
the gates of the City of the Arabian Nights, which
for 'two years had been a mere dream to the expe-
dition on the Tigris. In the history of wars there
can never have been an army whose morale was
at a higher pitch. Though tired and hungry with
the long marches, short rations and incessant
fighting, units vied with each other in feats of
endurance in their relentless pursuit of the Turk.
Commanders were sorely tried to keep their men in
check ; they would not wait for their rations to come
up; they would not sleep; the date-groves and
minarets of Baghdad were in sight; they begged
to go slap in with the bayonet, and for ever add to
the annals of their regiment the honour of being
the first British troops to arrive.
On the loth the dust storm, which had lasted for
five days, reached its height. Flying in the gale
was exciting, but we maintained aerial co-operation
throughout the day ; the enthusiasm of the men in
H
102 IN THE CLOUDS ABOVE BAGHDAD
the air rivalled that of the army on the ground.
On the right bank the enemy had evacuated his
position and occupied a line of trenches in front
of the iron bridge which carried a light railway
over a canal two miles south of Baghdad. In the
blinding dust it was impossible to see what was
taking place or for the artillery to observe targets.
The yth Division suffered heavily through the day;
the enemy had the ground well registered and
blazed away his ammunition regardless of cost, for
they could no't take it away with them. On the left
bank of the Tigris the 3rd Corps crossed the Diala,
which had been bridged by the afternoon. Two
miles further north they came up against the
enemy's last position in front of Baghdad, the Tel
Muhammed ridge. One brigade made a wide
flanking movement, and two brigades held him
frontally, but he evacuated after dark, and touch
was lost in the storm.
The red glow over the city told of flames fanned
by the gale ; one wondered what was happening in
the bazaars that night. At the last conquest of
Baghdad, in 1638, the Sultan Murad IV. had put
the Persians to the sword, and the conquering army
indulged in murder, robbery, and rape ; the present
inhabitants no doubt expected a similar fate. '
By 2 a.m. patrols on the right bank found the
Iron Bridge position evacuated. The Black Watch
skirmished forward, and with few casualties
the 73rd, lean wi'th hunger, fighting, and lack
of sleep, went like the wind for Baghdad
Railway S'tation, which they seized at 5.45 a.m.,
THE BATTLES THAT WON BAGHDAD 103
nth March. On the other bank the Herts
Yeomanry and 32nd Lancers rode into the town
very soon afterwards.
The Turks, under cover of the darkness and dust
storm, had gone hard during the night. At day-
break 'the aeroplanes were keeping touch with our
troops on either bank and reporting by message
bag. During the morning two machines landed on
the German aerodrome. The gunboat flotilla at
Bawi weighed early and proceeded up stream
sweeping for mines. The recaptured " Firefly,"
with the White Ensign over the Star and Crescent,
steamed in the van, again under the command of
Lieut. Eddis, R.N., who had lost her in the retreat
from Ctesiphon fifteen months previously. Eddis
was under orders for the North Sea, but there was
time for him to carry out this last service in
Mesopotamia, perhaps the proudest moment of his
life and probably unique in the annals of the Royal
Navy. I accompanied Lieut. Webster in the
" Snakefly." The P.S. 53 with General Maude
followed the flotilla. The morning was fine, the
dust storm had subsided, and steaming past the
palm groves and gardens seemed like entering
another world after the long months of strife in the
desert. The enemy had endeavoured to bar our
passage by placing a heavy chain across the river,
but had apparently been too hard pressed to com-
plete the operation, for only one end was made fast.
As we neared the city I went on board the
P.S. 53; an aeroplane came gliding down evidently
to drop a message on the bank close by, The
104 IN THE CLOUDS ABOVE BAGHDAD
General Staff had had no reports since weighing
anchor, and much importance was attached to the
approach of the machine; Chocolo and I stood by
betting on the accuracy of 'the pilot with his message
bag. It went into the river and sank like a stone !
A wild dash in my motor-boat failed to save it.
The breathless staff as 'the machine approached;
the almost exaggerated importance attached
thereto ; the urgency of picking up the bag at once ;
the hopeless shot by the 2nd Lieut, in the air, now
speeding away unknowing to his aerodrome; it
would have been indecorous to laugh.
We gathered on deck with General Maude as the
P.S. 53 rounded the bend into the straight reach
of the river that divides the city of Baghdad. The
banks were crowded with inhabitants, who had
come out in their gala dresses and were waving or
solemnly holding white flags. One wondered what
General Maude was feeling in this great hour of
his success, and felt glad to be there at his side.
It had been the achievement of 'the individual; a
student of his profession ; a man of iron character
and determination; and, above all, of a gentle
human being with the love of his troops behind him.
We tied up alongside the old British Residency,
now used as a Turkish hospital. Close by
was the neutral American Consulate, with the
" Stars and Stripes " floating over the roof. I
went ashore with O'Riordan, the doctor; we could
hardly enter the hospital, the stench was so strong.
We walked from bed to bed and looked at the
occupants; some were dead and some were alive;
Ctcsiphon
Gunboats approaching Baghdad, March nth, 191?
THE BATTLES THAT WON BAGHDAD 1 05
some were crawling about on the floor unable to
walk. Of sanitary arrangements there were none.
For the last few days no attention could have been
paid to these wounded and diseased men; most of
the wounds had gone to gangrene. One little
Armenian girl, about fourteen years old, was
bringing them water; this gallant little soul had
been a godmother to the wretched men since the
Turkish medical staff had packed up and left 'them
'to their fate. It was good to get out into the
sunshine and take a breath of God's fresh air again.
I crossed the river 'to the aerodrome situated
between the railway station and the German
wireless station. This high-powered wireless
station had only just been completed a few days
as a link in the chain of communication between
Berlin and Dar-es-Salaam in German East Africa.
They had wrecked it utterly • the roof was blown
off the main building; the plant within was
destroyed; sticks of dynamite were found every-
where. The masts and aerials were buckled up on
the ground. Pictures of Zeppelins bombing
London and U-boats sinking battleships were
splashed with paint on the walls, notably one of the
sinking of the " Lusitania," with 'the name written
large underneath it.
The railway shed was not so completely damaged,
but the locomotives were mostly wrecked, having
had their cylinders, etc., blown off by dynamite. The
turn-table outside the engine-house had been neatly
put out of action by one of our bombing aeroplanes.
Everything was German ; a vast amount of money
106 IN THE CLOUDS ABOVE BAGHDAD
must have been spent on the place, for it was
necessary to import each steel member from Europe
and ship 'them up the Tigris in barges ; one realised
the death-blow we had dealt to Prussian plans in
the Middle East.
On the aerodrome lay the remains of an
Albatross, a legacy from the German pilots ; on one
wing was painted, " With kind regards to our
British comrades ; the German airmen " ; on the
fuselage they had written " God Save 'the King."
A party of Arabs sat nonchalantly squatting in
a corner surrounded by Tommies with fixed
bayonets; they had been caught sniping some
troopers watering at the river. Strong guards were
posted on all approaches to the city, and the main
thoroughfares were picketed for the night. The
Kurds and Arabs had looted and set fire to the
bazaars, and terror reigned in the city after the
departure of the Turkish Army. Fortunately 'the
British Force arrived in time to restore order and
prevent these freebooters massacring or sacking the
town completely.
Aerial reconnaissance located 'the enemy
entrenched fourteen miles north on the right bank
of 'the river; another column had retreated in the
direction of Baqubah. The cavalry were at
Khazimain, beyond Baghdad, but out of touch with
the Turk, and the rest of the army bivouacked
about Baghdad.
We thought of the newsboys shouting the news
down the Strand and the excitement of our folk far
away in England.
Chapter
BAGHDAD AND BEYOND.
Think, in this batter'd Caravanserai
Whose Doorways are alternate Night and Day,
How Sultan after Sultan with his Pomp
Abode his Hour or two, and went his way.
— OMAK.
CHAPTER IV.
THE original Baghdad was a round city on the
west bank of the river, built about 762 A.D. by the
Caliph Mansur when under the new Abbasid
dynasty the Caliphate was moved from Damascus.
Haroun al-Raschid, a grandson of Mansur, built
his palace on the east bank, round which East
Baghdad sprang up. Then known as the Camp of
the Mahdi, it was surrounded by a semicircular
wall, with its extremities on the river. Traversing
Baghdad ran the great Khurasan road; it started
from the Khurasan Gate of the Round City and
crossed the bridge of boats to East Baghdad, which
it left by the second Khurasan Gate. This caravan
road went East through Persia, uniting the capital
of the Moslem Empire with its frontier towns on
the borders of China. Another road started from
'the bridge and went North, through the Baradan
Gate of East Baghdad, to Samarra and the towns
of Northern Mesopotamia. From the Kufa Gate of
the Round City started two roads ; one West to the
towns up the Euphrates, and the other South, the
Pilgrim Road to Kufa and Mecca.
With the death of Haroun al-Raschid civil war
109
HO IN THE CLOUDS ABOVE BAGHDAD
broke out, and in 836 the seat of 'the Caliphate was
moved to Samarra, returning in 892 to East
Baghdad. The next five centuries saw the ruin G
the Round City. The plan of Baghdad altered
considerably : the new palaces of 'the Caliphs werei
built down-stream from those occupied by Haroun
al-Raschid, and the 'town extended further to the
south; in 1095 another wall was built round the
city, the northern portion of which had fallen into
ruin. This wall failed to withstand the attack of
Hulaku and his Mongol hordes when the Caliphate
was wiped out in 1258, but its ruins still encircle
modern Baghdad. Timur, a Prince from Tur-
kestan, took 'the city in 1393, and a Turcoman
dynasty reigned over Mesopotamia until the i6th
century, when they were rejected by the Persians
under Shah Ismail. In 1638, after a long siege,
Baghdad fell to the Sultan Murad IV., and
Mesopotamia has ever since remained under
Ottoman rule.
There are no traces left of the glories of the
Round Ci'ty from which the Caliphs Mansur and
Haroun al-Raschid ruled an Empire 'that extended
from China in the East to Spain in the West. It
was built entirely of tiles and mud, there being no
wood or stone in 'the country. The modern
Baghdad, situated within the ruins of the wall built
in 1095, extends also on the west side of the river
where the Round City once stood. Beyond 'the
present wall only shapeless mounds and loose
bricks indicate the site of ancient buildings. The
two sects of Mahommedans of the Modern
BAGHDAD AND BEYOND 111
Baghdad live in separate quarters of the city. The
Shiahs form the entire population of West Bagh-
id, where they worship at and jealously guard
.Chazimain, the burial place of two of their recog-
aised descendants of the Prophet, and one of 'the
most important Shiah shrines. The spot is so
sacred that no Christian is allowed to set foot
therein.
The Sunnis, in 'the Eastern town, have another
almost equally important shrine, but from the point
of view of beauty much inferior to the magnificence
of Khazimain. Thus the Mahommedan sepoy, be
he Shiah or Sunni, besides winning the admiration
of his kin had also performed a sacred pilgrimage
by the capture of Baghdad. Most of 'the public
buildings are quite modern. The Custom House is
built, however, on the same spot as the Medresh
of Mostansir, an old college of which only a
minaiet and a portion of the outer wall, dating from
the thirteenth century, remain. The oldest and
most picturesque building is the tomb of Zobaida,
grand-daughter of the Caliph Mansur and wife of
Haroun al-Raschid. One of the four great Jewish
shrines is Nabi Yusha, the grave of Joshua on the
west side of the river; here the Jews bury their
high priests.
There were those who, imbued with visions of
the days of the Arabian Nights, professed them-
selves disappointed in the realisation of their
expectations. But after a journey through
hundreds of miles of desert, the sight of this remote
city seemed to me a sufficient fulfilment. Blue-
112 IN THE CLOUDS ABOVE BAGHDAD
tiled mosques and tall minarets rising above a mass
of mud-brick houses, in the distance the golden
dome of Khazimain flashing like a flame out of the
green of the date groves, and the river winding-
through all : surely a picture of Romance in its
setting of limitless desert.
Few Englishmen had been to Baghdad before
the war. The Ottoman Government offered no
facilities, and the arrival of strangers was discoun-
tenanced; any foreign inquisitors or attempts to
develop the trade and resources of the country were
jealously guarded against. For the two hundred
and eighty years since the Persians had been
expelled the district had been governed by intrigue.
History has yet to show us that the Asiatic races
can hold responsibility without becoming corrupt.
It would seem that the day of Democracy East of
Europe is still, in spite of President Wilson and
our class agitators, far distant. The germ of
unrest fostered in the West since the upheaval of
nations has sown disease in the East; there it
becomes the code of every man for himself; the
benefits of a fair administration by English
gentlemen are forgotten and spurned. Agitators
rise up and preach sedition to uneducated masses,
of whom only a few can read or write. The loyal
English official carries on bravely in his endeavour
to stem a tide ever accelerated by the sayings at
Westminster; opinions and rulings of Empire
decreed by the votes of inexperienced boys, women
or men whose horizon is too frequently bounded
by the chimney-pots of their constituencies.
BAGHDAD AND BEYOND 113
The arrival of the British Army was welcomed
by the majority of the population of Baghdad. The
only class who resented the invasion were those who
held positions of civic importance under the Turk
and who bled the poor man white before fulfilling
their duties. The chain of corruption started in
Stamboul and ended with 'the Arab beggar in the
bazaar. The Departmental head in Stamboul would
expect an annuity from his lieutenant in Baghdad.
If the latter would retain his position he must raise
the necessary amount and as much surplus as
possible from his juniors, who, in their turn, exacted
it from 'the poor, who as a result for ever remained
starving and downtrodden.
The educated Armenian and Jewish classes
hailed us with delight. They knew that the arrival
of Englishmen meant fair play, and that 'their
women-folk would be freed from an everlasting
peril. It had been dangerous for 'the Armenian
and Circassian women to walk abroad. A Turkish
officer might be attracted by the appearance of a
Christian woman in the street, and she, under pain
of being put in the public hospital by the health
officer as diseased, must needs surrender herself for
the satisfaction of the Turk. Within a few days of
our occupation they had cast off their veils and
sombre clothing and appeared in bright European
creations reminiscent of the accumulations in a
Whitechapel emporium. The Baghdad fashions
did not entail support for a lady's stockings,
generally of multi-coloured wool, they invariably
hung festooned about the wearer's ankles. .The
114 IN THE CLOUDS ABOVE BAGHDAD
women wore no headgear, but usually possessed a
finely-woven cloak of gorgeous colours, known as
an " abba."
Like all foreign towns the place smelt abomin-
ably; of sanitary or scavenging arrangements there
were none, save the hundreds of diseased and
hungry dogs that slunk about the streets in search
of offal. The outskirts of the town were a sea of
graveyards, and the Mahommedan only buries his
relatives beneath a few inches of sand. The sickly
smell of decaying humans reminded one of " No
Man's Land " in France. Dying animals were
taken outside the walls to expire and putrefy. I
rode round the outside of the town and felt very
sick; 'the carcases of dogs, mules, horses, donkeys
littered the ground. Hundreds of vultures hovered
overhead or waddled away too gorged to fly; living
dog lay in heavy slumber by the remains of dog
half-eaten. In the midst of this charnel-house
quadrupeds with ribs sticking through the skin
shambled about on their last legs, witnesses of the
horror that awaited them. The stench was terrible ;
my little Arab pony quivered with fright; and, over
all, the sun beat mercilessly down.
A group of Armenian girls, survivors of the
massacres in the North, were found huddled
together in a church. There were few Armenian
men in Baghdad, they had all been done to death,
and only a handful of girl survivors had drifted
South and been taken into Baghdad families or
appropriated by Bedouins in the desert. Their
tales of the Terror that had overtaken them a year
BAGHDAD AND BEYOND 115
before seemed hardly credible in this modern world.
One of these girls, whom I met later, gave me a
vivid description of how she had hidden in the
cupboard of her room while 'the Turkish soldiers
outside put her family and relations to the sword.
They belonged to the upper classes, and had only
been a short time in Asia Minor after many years
in Paris.
It must have been strange to many of the
inhabitants of the city that the conquering British
Army did not immediately engage itself in whole-
sale looting, massacre, and rape. Instead, the
Baghdadi gaped open-mouthed at the Trooper
from the Home Counties or the Jock from Dundee,
who, after many weeks' marching and fighting,
offered him his last cigarette and carried on strange
conversation with ihe dirty little Arab urchins
playing in the gutter. The heart of the British
Tommy ever shines as a pure bright spot in 'the
blackness of strife, for hatred has no place therein.
A feature that will not be forgotten by many a
British Tommy that first day in Baghdad were the
oranges ; for neither fresh fruit nor vegetables had
we tasted for many months. Generals or Privates
could bury their faces in cool, fresh oranges. I can
remember the delight of i't now.
For the first few days the inhabitants kept
mostly to their houses. The bazaars were shut'tered
and deserted ; many of the shops had been gutted
by fire and looted by Kurds. A house-to-house
search was instituted and a proclamation issued to
the inhabitants to deliver up all arms within a
Il6 IN THE CLOUDS ABOVE BAGHDAD
certain date under penalty of death. They were
ordered to be in their houses by o p.m., for there
were 200,000 people of various races to control,
and who could tell what might be maturing in the
byways of this strange city? The second
morning the head of a sepoy was found lying in the
gutter; those were days when one walked about
armed and in pairs, and kept only to the main
thoroughfares in Baghdad.
Rigid police regulations were instituted, a
military governor was appointed, and gradually
control became established in all quarters of the
city. A firm hand was placed over the lawless
elements, two gallows were erected in 'the square,
and quickly, quietly, in the early morning those
convicted would go to their doom in front of their
fellow citizens, who soon learnt the advisability of
paying heed 'to the law of the Englishman.
Except for Headquarter units, few of the army
had any opportunity of seeing Baghdad; on the
night of the nth March they bivouacked in its
precincts, but marched at dawn in pursuit of the
Turkish army, and those who died for their country
in the battles beyond, in spite of the consummation
of their desires, never saw it at all.
After the occupation of Baghdad the enemy
divided into three separate forces, retreating up
the Euphrates, Tigris, and Diala rivers. Owing
to these scattered dispositions and their distance
from Baghdad the General S'taff had to rely
entirely upon aeroplanes for obtaining quick and
accurate information. This entailed long-distance
BAGHDAD AND BEYOND I ij
flights over new country, with very inaccurate maps,
pilots frequently having to work on a map-scale of
1/2,000,000. The squadron headquarters was
500 miles by river from its base at Busrah, and the
ever-prevailing difficulties of transport were
doubled. The advanced store barge was moved up
from Amara to Sheikh Saad, in order to be half-
way between base and front, and the detachment
at Nasiriyeh was ordered up to Baghdad to
reinforce the somewhat depleted squadron.
Our position at Baghdad could not be secure
with the enemy in such close proximity; on any of
the three fronts he might be reinforced and descend
on the city. There was also the greater danger
that he might cut the bunds on the Tigris and
Euphrates, thus flood the country with the coming
heavy rise in the rivers, and isolate the British
Army. The Euphrates is only forty miles away,
and at a few feet higher level than the Tigris. If
its waters were freed by the Turk they would pour
across to the Tigris by Baghdad. It was also
important to capture the railhead at Samarra and
deny him the use of the railway with which to
threaten us from the North. It was therefore
urgent either to force a decision or to drive 'the
enemy beyond our sphere on these two lines. The
1 3th Turkish Corps was in Persia facing the
Russians endeavouring to advance down the
Kirmanshah-Karind road. It was also important
that 'these Turks should be prevented from joining
the column retreating up the Diala. As the hot
weather was approaching, only a few weeks
i
Il8 IN THE CLOUDS ABOVE BAGHDAD
remained in which active operations were prac-
ticable, and in order to deal with the above situation
the British force could be allowed no breathing
space.
On the 1 2th March aerial reconnaissance
discovered the Turkish rearguard in position on
the Baghdad-Samarra railway about Mushaidie.
On the Euphrates a small enemy force was at
Felujah, forty miles west of Baghdad, and on the
Diala they occupied Baqubah, thirty-five miles 'to
'the north-east. The 3rd Corps kept to the left
bank of the Tigris and the ist Corps to the right.
A brigade of 'the I3th Division marched up the left
bank to secure the bunds, while the ;th Division,
wi'th the 6th Cavalry Brigade, marched north up
the railway. On the I3th there was a ground mist
and rain, but reconnaissance was carried out. The
gunboats steamed north, and at midnight the
7th Division and 6th Cavalry Brigade advanced on
the Mushaidie position. This ran west from 'the
river to the railway, some seven miles inland. The
right flank rested among sandhills just west of
the line, while between the river and the railway
the position was dominated by two mounds and
linked by trenches and nullahs. Behind, the
undulating ground was to the advantage of the
enemy; in front we had to attack over bare plain.
The Turk must have expected us to advance up
the river, as it was here that his guns and men were
concentrated. General Cobbe decided to attack
the right flank on the railway and turn the position.
At about 4 p.m., after sixteen hours' marching,
BAGHDAD AND BEYOND 1 19
the Black Watch and 8th Gurkhas deployed and
skirmished forward. The enemy fell back on to his
second line among the sandhills, but caught our
men with a heavy enfilade fire from a mound known
as " Sugar Loaf Hill " on his extreme right. The
73rd lost half their officers and the Gurkhas all of
theirs but one. The cavalry, far out on the left,
co-operated with an enfilade fire, while gunboats
bombarded from 'the river. The right of the Black
Watch and the left of the 56th Rifles charged with
the bayonet and captured the advanced trenches
of the main position. The guns were brought up
and under a heavy barrage the Gurkhas and Black
Watch carried the second line at 6.30 p.m. At
midnight the enemy made a last stand at Mushaidie
station, but were rushed by Highlanders and
Gurkhas, and fled in a disorderly retreat.
Cobbe's column had fought and marched for two
nights and a day; the Turkish Army had been
routed wi'th heavy casualties, but the men and
horses of our column were dead beat, and the Black
Watch and Gurkhas sadly thinned out, with few
officers left. The aeroplane co-operation with the
artillery was difficult on account of the mobile
nature of the fight and continual movement of our
guns, but targets were sent down, and pilots could
land close to H.Q. throughout the action on the
" billiard-table " surface of the ground. Not an
enemy machine had been seen.
On the 1 5th March the Turks were in full
retreat towards Samarra in the midst of a gale and
dust storm. A column of two brigades of
I2O IN THE CLOUDS ABOVE BAGHDAD
the I4th Division, under -Major- General Keary,
had arrived on the right bank of the Diala opposite
Baqubah ; and a column, under General Davidson,
was ready 'to move out west to Felujah on the
Euphrates.
Our eyes were turned 'towards the Persian
mountains in the north-east. We knew that the
Russians were somewhere up among those snows,
a hundred and fifty miles away, we knew also that
the 1 3th Turkish Corps was between us and them.
There was a possibility that, with the Turkish army
facing the Russians, a force from Baghdad might
take them in rear before they could extricate 'them-
selves. On the night of the 1 7th/ 1 8th March,
Keary's column crossed the Diala and surprised
Baqubah, capturing some prisoners and stores.
Davidson's column commenced their thirty-five
mile desert march on Felujah to endeavour to
intercept the Turkish force retiring up 'the
Euphrates from the Nasiriyeh area. Our occupa-
tion of Baghdad and proximity to the Turkish
communications up the Euphrates had relieved
the 1 5th Division at Nasiriyeh of all threat from
the enemy, whose small force on that line would
have to march hard to save themselves.
The enemy was driven out of Felujah on the
I9'th, and retired up the Euphrates; air reconnais-
sance the next day reported several thousand
retreating up the river beyond Ramadi; it was
evident we had missed the party from down-
stream. The same morning air reconnaissance
spotted the first signs of the Turkish Corps at
BAGHDAD AND BEYOND 121
Shahroban, sixty miles north-east of Baghdad;
and further long-distance work discovered infantry,
guns, and cavalry marching south-west on that
place from Kizil Robat. The enemy apparently
meant to hold us up in order to allow their main
force coming down from the Pai Tak Pass 'to cross
the Diala. To facilitate co-operation with Keary's
column a Flight was despatched from Baghdad to
Baqubah.
It was a lovely spring day, and the oranges were
thick on the 'trees when I first saw Baqubah, and I
remember how intensely pleased I was with the
place; the greenest spot I had yet seen in this
arid land. One seemed to be almost out of
Mesopotamia. To get 'there it was necessary to
cross thirty-two miles of flat desert ; about half-way
was the village of Khan Beni Saad, consisting of
a few mud houses, a Khan (caravan resting house),
and the wells, but without tree or cultivation; it
was the only watering place between Baghdad and
Baqubah, and a halt for the caravans on the old
Khurasan road. The Arabs at Baqubah cultivated
vegetable and fruit gardens, and there was a forest
of date palms, past which ran the blue snow water
of the Diala; in summer a mere trickle, in winter
it can be a raging torrent, rising and falling
between its steep banks as much as twenty feet,
according to the rain or melting of snow in the
hills. We roamed about revelling in the relief of
vegetation.
Ano'ther Flight went up the Tigris to Kasirin to
be further forward and work direct under the orders
122 IN THE CLOUDS ABOVE BAGHDAD
of the 3rd Corps. The Flight of Martinsydes
remained at Baghdad for long-distance G.H.Q.
work in any direction.
Our aeroplanes by this time looked weather-
beaten and dilapidated; we had had no hangars
since 'the crossing of the Tigris, and the machines
had been continually exposed to hot sun, wind,
dust, or rain. Engine overhauls were few and far
be'tween; it reminded one of the early days in
France, when in the winter gales of 1914 it was
necessary to pierce the fabric of 'the planes to
empty out the water before embarking on the
doubtful undertaking of getting a sodden machine
off the muddy ground; when the three-ply wood
tore apart in one's hand, and when one gaily
staggered out over the German lines with a missing
engine in a bunch of 'tricks that would not climb
and barely steer.
The demands of each column for continual aerial
observation, regardless of the necessary limit to
the revolutions of an engine, became impossible
to meet. Under central control during the fighting
for Kut and the advance on Baghdad it had
been possible to co-ordinate work, avoid duplica-
tion, and in spite of 'the heavy demands keep engine
overhauls fairly up to date. Before, there had been
one front; now there were three. Machines were
now detached and decentralised under the
command of junior officers at the mercy of any staff
officer of the formation with which they were
working. Aeroplanes were a new toy to many of
the staffs, who sometimes possessed little idea of
BAGHDAD AND BEYOND 123
the first principles of their use or how to work them
efficiently, economically, or to full advantage. An
occasional remonstrance by a young flight-
commander would be squashed by elders and
'' betters/' who knew no more of flying than
watching the kites circling over their cantonments
in India. Such situations were murderous to
effectual co-operation, the efficiency of which hangs
on one thread alone, and that of perfect confidence,
understanding, and friendship between the two
arms. Once the seed of mistrust or enmity is sown
co-operation is over, and no staff bigotry or red
tape discipline, but only a resumption of harmony,
can ever restore its efficiency. To an air
commander such situations are ticklish ; fortunately
with Force D they seldom occurred. The
formation commanders were, above all, human,
broad-minded men, and with their help it was soon
possible to destroy discord ere it matured. I well
remember the only real instance of discord : a
Flight which had flown perhaps more than any
individual Flight in the war, whose men and
material were worn but who still worked at full
power with glorious enthusiasm, and who in my
opinion possessed the efficiency of veterans, had
fallen foul of a certain staff officer, who attempted
to dictate beyond his own sphere.
I was thirty miles away, but by telegraphic
reports knew that all was not well, and eventually
complaints arrived through official channels. Some
sort of immediate action was necessary, so I flew
out, and sitting on the ground with an unusually
124 IN THE CLOUDS ABOVE BAGHDAD
morose crowd we hammered the matter out from
A to Z. Inelegantly received by the officer in
question, little to improve matters was accom-
plished by arbitration, and to seek an interview and
the advice of General Maude was the only course
left open. The extraordinarily wide outlook and
sense of feeling of the G.O.C. for both sides of a
question helped us out of the dilemma, and action
was taken to restore what had been lost.
On the 22nd March information came through
that the Russians were expected near Khanikin in
two days' time, but a reconnaissance which went
beyond Kasr-i-Shirin found no 'trace of them.
Keary's column meanwhile pressed the Turks
towards Shahroban, which was occupied on the
23rd. Keary was now sixty miles from Baghdad.
The Cavalry Division advanced across the desert
from the east bank of the Tigris to co-operate
with Keary on 'the Diala. The country is
flat, but broken up by watercuts and nullahs;
Shahroban is surrounded by cultivation. To 'the
north-east the long range of barren hills, known as
the Jebel Hamrin, runs N.W. and S.E.; from
them the waters of the Diala disgorge on to the
Mesopotamian plain; and the rough caravan track
which was the old Khurasan road winds away over
the summit of the hills to the recesses of Persia.
From the flat country round Shahroban these low
hills, only three or four hundred feet above sea-
level, seemed to dominate everything; but in the
early morning, before the haze and mirage of the
day had obliterated distance, one's eye was
BAGHDAD AND BEYOND 125
tantalised by the snows of the great Persian ranges
behind. It was in this low but dominating range
'that the enemy, reinforced by the advanced troops
of the 1 3th Corps from Persia, took up his position.
It was necessary to endeavour to pin him to his
ground till the Russians arrived.
So on the night of the 23rd General Keary's two
brigades moved forward with the intention of
attacking at dawn; they were, however, held up
by 'the numerous canals which had to be bridged.
Material was brought up, and the sappers com-
pleted their operations on the night of the 24-th.
By dawn of the 25th, Gurkhas, Dorsets, an3
Mahrattas of the Qth Brigade were lying down a
few hundred yards from the position waiting to
attack. The intention was that the 9th Brigade
should crush the Turkish left flank against the
Diala, when the 8th Brigade would be thrown in
frontally.* But the enemy, reinforced from
Khanikin, were in too great strength as regards
men, guns, and position, and he had the ground and
bridge sites accurately ranged. After driving in
his outposts our 'troops were held up by a withering
fire from the broken ground above them, and in
the mass of hills it was difficult to locate
the Turkish guns, which in any case were well
protected against our shells by the contour of the
ground. In the heat of the day heavy counter-
attacks were launched, and, our flanks being
in danger of envelopment, a general retirement was
ordered. The Turkish cavalry attempted to charge,
but were mowed down by steady rifle and machine-
* See map.
126 IN THE CLOUDS ABOVE BAGHDAD
gun fire. The British Force, having lost a
thousand casualties, eventually regained and
consolidated a line along 'the Ruz Canal. The
enemy's strong position in the Jebel Hamrin now
ensured the safe passage of their I3th Corps across
the Diala, and it soon became evident that, far
from contemplating retirement towards Kifri, they
intended effecting a junction with their i8th Corps
on the Tigris.
On the Euphrates the Turkish Force were
observed retiring beyond Ramadi; on 'the Tigris
aerial reconnaissance de'tected a trench system
being dug at Istabulat to cover Samarra. The
aeroplanes were humming on all three lines. The
co-ordination of work with three forces; difficulties
of supply far out in the desert; direction of river,
motor, and mule transport; supervision of the
Aircraft Park, five hundred miles down-stream;
and the estimating six months ahead for stores from
England; these were only a few of the mass of
subjects to be dealt with. Chocolo, Huxley,
Somers-Clarke, and myself were on all fronts
during the day, and pored over our maps
and papers far into the night. Enemy machines
were now occasionally seen, and reliable intelli-
gence kept sifting through that twelve more were
soon expected, some of 'them " Halberstadts."
As regards supplies he was on interior lines,
which enabled him to introduce a new type of
machine at the front at least a fortnight sooner
than we could. In view of his remarkable
inferiority in the air during the past months, it was
BAGHDAD AND BEYOND 127
inevitable that he would try and wrest our
supremacy from us by springing some surprise.
Cables fully representing the danger to which we
were exposed had been repeatedly despatched to
London. The obsolete B.E., Martinsyde, and old
Bristol Scouts were quite inadequate 'to cope with
the possible arrival of the machines which were
closely combating our fastest scouts in France.
Via Cairo, or perhaps even London, reports caught
in the web of a great intelligence system percolated
back to Baghdad : *2OO German flying personnel
had been seen at Vienna, dressed as for a hot
climate; a week later Cairo would cable that aero-
planes in packing-cases had been seen on the
railway station at Constantinople; yet again our
own agents would report these packing cases at Ras
el Ain, on the Baghdad railway; and so the story
wove itself into fact. At last the Air Board in
London were able to promise us new machines.
:c Spads," a fast-fighting type, were being sent from
England ; but they would not be in time.
East of the Diala General Keary contained 'the
Turkish force in the Jebel Hamrin. On the west
the enemy commenced a converging movement :
part of the i3th Corps down through Deli Abbas
and part of 'the i8th Corps across the Adhaim River
along the left bank of the Tigris. I took a machine
out to have a look at this movement, and could see
the long Turkish columns winding like black snakes
against the colourless contours of the Jebel Hamrin.
They stopped on sighting my aeroplane, and several
parties commenced to walk back in the opposite
128 IN THE CLOUDS ABOVE BAGHDAD
direction, but their intention was too obvious. On
the 27th the Cavalry Division resisted the enemy's
forward movement on the west bank of the Diala
about Deltawa, and forced him back 'towards Deli
Abbas on the following day. On the night of the
28th, the 39th and 4Oth Brigades of the
1 3th Division deployed to attack the Turkish force
that had come down the Tigris, and was entrenched
near Dogameh. The advance lay across the dead
flat Marl Plain, devoid of the cover of a blade of
grass. The enemy's left flank extended so far into
the desert that both brigades were forced to attack
frontally. The 4Oth held them on 'the left while
the 39th endeavoured to turn their right. The
weather was hot, and owing to mirage the attack
was suspended during the heat of the day. In
the evening a determined onslaught drove the
Turks out of their position, and they fell back
across the Adhaim under cover of darkness. The
two brigades had suffered heavily, but our object
had been attained; the converging movement had
been frustrated by the defeat of both forces in
detail. Aerial co-operation with the artillery had
proved of great assistance in this action, when
intensive artillery support afforded our infantry
their sole chance of closing with the Turk.
A curious outstanding feature of the fighting
on the flats of Mesopotamia was the medley of
artillery observation ladders which sprang up out
of the desert whenever the guns went into action.
Without them it was quite impossible for a battery
commander to see anything at all. They were run
BAGHDAD AND BEYOND I 29
up some distance from the batteries as far forward
as possible, and invariably acted as a magnet to
the enemy gunfire. The utmost gallantry was
displayed by gunner officers, who remained perched
behind a bullet-proof shield on the top of one of
these swaying poles directing 'the fire, until the
smoke and dust around them became too thick 10
see through, or they were blown off the platform
by an accurately-placed " crump."
On the 3Oth March D. H. went out in search of
the Russians with a despatch from General Maude
to General Baratoff. He flew over the Persian
frontier to Kasr-i-Shirin and beyond, but failed to
find any trace of a Cossack. His account of flying
a few feet above snow ridges and in among green
valleys with rushing mountain streams and wooded
slopes made our mouths water, down in the dusty
arid plain, where the midday temperature was
already touching 100 degrees Fahr. in the shade,
and the prospect of another " hot weather " was
depressing. The competition to fly out to this cool
mountain country and gain the honour of being
the first British officer to meet the Russians was
keen.
On the 3ist the Cavalry Division occupied Deli
Abbas and the Turkish force opposite Keary in
'the Jebel Hamrin on the left bank of the Diala
retired across that river. It was evident that except
for perhaps a rear party the whole of the enemy
force must now be across and the Russian army
not very far away. We heard the next day that
BaratofFs advanced guard had reached the Pai Tak
130 IN THE CLOUDS ABOVE BAGHDAD
Pass, and were descending towards Kasr-i-
Shirin.
Lieut. Windsor reconnoitred to Hit on the
Euphrates 100 miles west of Baghdad, but the
enemy on this line had remained quiet. Our
troops were in Felujah, with an outpost up-stream
at Saklawieh. We had not been in time to prevent
the Turk from cutting a dam at the latter place,
and the water was streaming through the opening
into the Akkarkuf Lake, which had flooded over
until the water was now lapping against the railway
embankment at Baghdad; it sluiced through the
channel under the Iron Bridge into the Tigris, but
was steadily rising, and as far as the eye could see
to the north and west a great sea stretched to the
horizon.
On 'the right bank of the Tigris the enemy
occupied Sumaikcheh, and on the left bank was in
position behind the Adhaim River. Such were the
general dispositions on the ist April, when the I3th
Turkish Corps were retiring on Kifri.
At 6 a.m. on the morning of the 2nd I left
Baghdad in a Martinsyde with the despatch that
General Maude had been trying to get through to
Baratoff, for as yet no meeting had taken place
between the Cossacks and the patrols of Keary's
column. My course took me straight out across
the Jebel Hamrin to Khanikin, and over the
Persian foothills to Kasr-i-Shirin. It was a lovely
spring day, the country below was green, the air
above cool and bracing; how good it felt to be
clear of Mesopotamia. Looking back I could just
BAGHDAD AND BEYOND 13!
discern the hill country disappearing down to the
thick haze of noonday in the desert ; looking ahead
it seemed I was flying into a great wall of massive
peaks, with their snows scintillating in the sun-
light above me. I opened my throttle and climbed
to 10,000 feet, but only caught a view of further
snows beyond. The beauty of it to the eye, wearied
by dust and desert, was intoxicating. It was a
different world, and the desire was strong to land
in one of those remote little glens where one could
roll in the grass and bathe in the burn. I had not
seen grass for nine long months.
At Kasr-i-Shirin the road turns almost south-
east before the long thirty-five mile climb up to
the Pai Tak Pass, the gateway from the high
plateaux of Persia down to the plains of Mesopo-
tamia. After flying for three hours I spied
a column of cavalry on the march, passing
a village called Miankul. Not knowing if they
were retreating Turks or advancing Russians, I
glided slowly down. They made no movement to
fire, so I glided on lower and lower till, in answer
to my hand-wave, they threw their fur caps in the
air; I knew that at last we were in touch with the
Russians. I landed on a patch of level ground
not far off the road, and they galloped up,
solemnly saluted, and shook me by the hand, each
in turn. This wild-looking group of Cossacks,
clustered around me in their picturesque long
coats and sheepskin hats cocked at a rakish angle,
against the background of mountain valley and pass
winding away up to the rugged snow hills, made a
132 IN THE CLOUDS ABOVE BAGHDAD
scene I shall not forget. They had come from
Caucasia, down past the Caspian to Persia, a march
of a thousand miles through uncivilised coun-
tries, no lines of communication behind them, and
without transport, finding what they could to live
on as they went. Their little ponies were skin and
bone, they themselves hard and lean, burnt black
by the sun in striking contrast to 'their blue eyes
and fair moustaches. Two or three junior officers
were there, but not a word of any language had we
in common. The despatch they understood, and
I pointed up 'the pass and said " Baratoff." I had
left my engine just ticking over, and having only
sufficient petrol to take me straight back to
Baghdad could spare no further time ; once stopped,
the problem of starting again was too uncertain.
They each saluted, again shook me by the hand,
and as I left the ground gave a weird shout and
threw their hats in the air. It had been a dramatic
meeting. With regret I dropped back into the
Mesopotamian desert from that beautiful mountain
region of snow and wild flowers, and after five
hours' flying into wha: had seemed some dream
country landed in 'the relentless heat and glare of
Baghdad.
The same morning a small column under
Brigadier-General Edwardes, that had pushed out
to Kizil Robat, met a " sotnia " of Cossacks who
had been sent far on in advance to establish com-
munication with 'the English army.
The long-expected arrival of new enemy
aeroplanes materialised, for they made their debut
BAGHDAD AND BEYOND 133
on the following day, April 3rd, when Lieuts. Page
and Rattray, reconnoitring up the Tigris, sighted
a hos'tile machine and gave chase. During ihe
pursuit a second hostile machine suddenly dived
past Page's machine and came up a hundred
yards on the left front. Page veered left-handed
to get the enemy to his right so that his forward
gun would bear. But the enemy countered to keep
the same side, and Page, intent on not giving an
inch, held straight on his course to get to the left.
So determined was each pilot to make the other
give way that the machines, closing at the rate of
1 80 miles an hour, collided at the wing tips, which
were cut off as if by a knife. The enemy imme-
diately made off north for Samarra, and Page
managed to get back to his aerodrome at Kasirin.
It is interesting to compare the perverted German
wireless news : —
" One of the Fokkers, piloted by Captain
Schutz, rammed a hostile plane in air-combat
and caused it to fall. Our machine brought back
a wing torn off the enemy plane and landed
safely in our lines/'
with our own report : —
" The enemy machines appeared to be hit,
and, according 'to tribal report, the larger of the
two was compelled to land somewhere on- the
right bank of the Tigris, and was burnt."
This was confirmed on the I4th April, when the
charred remains were discovered by Fane's column.
K
134 IN THE CLOUDS ABOVE BAGHDAD
Page, in an old B.E., had put the fear of God into
two of the fastest enemy scouts. The flight home
with a wing-tip gone and the rest of the plane
threatening to carry away must have caused him
and Rattray some long and anxious minutes. Page
treated this incident in the same light as when, soon
after joining us in earlier days at Arab Village, he
crawled out of wreckage so complete that only an
electric switch was recognisable, and I had nearly
given him the sack for grinning. He came from
the Yeomanry in Egypt, and he served with us
until I had gone, when, alas ! this glowing spirit
met his end in the desert after eighteen months'
continuous flying.
On April 4th orders were issued by the General
Staff for further operations on both banks of the
Tigris. Our troops concentrated in two columns ;
that on the left bank under Lieut. -General
Marshall, and that on the right bank under Major-
General Fane. The Flight at Baqubah, on the
Diala, was transferred to Fort Kermeah, on the
Tigris, the river-head for General Fane's column,
and the Flight already on the Tigris at Kasirin
moved up-stream 'to Kuwar Reach, the river-head
for General Marshall's column. In view of the
menace of fast enemy machines, Aircraft Park at
Busrah worked hard to put into commission a few
Bristol Scouts that had been sent from Egypt as a
stop-gap pending the arrival of the Spads from
England. These Bristols, with their Clerge't
engines, could not however be considered a match
for the Hun Halberstadt. Fortunately, long
BAGHDAD AND BEYOND 135
superiority over the enemy had bred the utmost
confidence in our pilots, and we had by this time
collected a dauntless gang of cheerful souls quite
firmly convinced that they were second to none.
The prospect of " scraps " 'to come acted as a tonic
to the gayer spirits in the mess. D. H. flew a
worn-out B.E. to Busrah, and was back next
morning with a Bristol, having covered the double
journey of 750 miles in eight hours' actual flying;
Paddy Maguire was en route with another. A
captured loo-horse-power German Gnome engine
was fitted in a third, and it gave her a fine turn of
speed. Unfortunately the extra weight of this
engine spoilt the trim of the machine and made her
difficult to handle in the air. She eventually stuck
her nose into the mud at Amara on the way to the
front, and was totally wrecked.
On Easter Sunday, April 8th, Fane's column
advanced up the railway and captured Beled
station, two hundred prisoners, and some rolling-
stock, after a sharp fight with the Turkish rear-
guard. The next day they occupied Harbe, and
halted pending developments on the opposite bank
of the Tigris. It had been intended that General
Marshall's column should now force the Adhaim
and drive the 52nd Turkish Division back on
Samarra. On the Qth, however, it became evident
that Ihsan Bey with his I3th Corps in the Jebei
Hamrin was advancing down through Deli Abbas
along the Nahr Khalis Canal towards Deltawa,
apparently another effort at effecting a junction with
the 52nd Division on the Adhaim. On this day I
136 IN THE CLOUDS ABOVE BAGHDAD
left once more with despatches from General
Maude to General Baratoff, whose advanced troops
had occupied Kasr-i-Shirin, and were picqueted
along the line of the Diala above the Jebel Hamrin.
The morning was hot, and getting through the
first 4,000 feet behind the big Beardmore engine of
a Martinsyde scout was as warm a performance as
the engine-room watch in a destroyer. However,
the prospect of another day among the hills
banished all feelings of discomfort in the getting
there. A detour on the way out disclosed the enemy
columns winding down on to the plain near Deli
Abbas, a long string of crawling an'ts followed by
the white specks of ambulance waggons. It was
lovely to get back among these ranges again, but
this time my flight only 'took me as far as Kasr-i-
Shirin, 120 miles N.E. of Baghdad, and just over
the Persian frontier. I landed on a rough grassy
space about a mile outside the town, among the
stones which are the ruins of the great Sassanian
Palace of Shirin, the mistress of King Parwiz.
Bits of this lady's palace were nearly the undoing
of my aeroplane, which only by mere luck came to
rest on the stony slope without hitting any of these
relics of ancient majesty. Cossacks streamed over
a knoll which hid the town from view, and soon
some Russian officers, including a colonel, arrived
with an escort and spare pony. After much saluting
and hand-shaking, I mounted this ragged animal
and, leaving sentries to guard the machine, we rode
solemnly towards the 'town. Just outside we came
upon the bivouac of an infantry battalion, the guard
BAGHDAD AND BEYOND 137
was turned out in waiting, and to my surprise there
was also a brass band. They had no ammunition;
they had no food or forage ; they had come hundreds
of miles over burning desert and ice-bound moun-
tain passes, and through all they had stuck to their
brass band ! As we approached it struck up " God
Save the King." We dismounted with our hands
at the salute; all the verses were played through,
and I was about to drop my hand, when the anthem
started again. I think they played the National
Anthem for ten minutes without stopping ; each
time the last chords of the refrain were reached I
thought it was the end, and I could allow my
cramped arm to drop, but immediately the band
would start again. At last they could blow no
more; the remainder of the battalion and many
Cossacks had collected, their colonel made a short
speech, raised his hat in the air, and the Russian
army gave vent to some wild cheering which
necessitated further saluting on my part.
A procession of officers was then formed, and
we adjourned to the only tent. It was of single
thickness, and 'the sun's rays had made the atmo-
sphere within like an oven. As many officers as
possible wedged themselves in, the colonel and I
being the only two who had chairs. So far not a
word had been exchanged ; I could talk no Russian
and they had neither English nor French. So they
conversed excitedly together and gaped at me.
" Arak " (native spirit) was produced, and with
wild acclamation we drank to +he health of both
nations.
138 IN THE CLOUDS ABOVE BAGHDAD
Fortunately Colonel Rowlandson, 'the British
liaison officer with the Russian army, soon rescued
me from the appalling atmosphere, and we rode on
into Kasr-i-Shirin. There I met the Russian officer
in command and handed him the despatch for
General Baratoff. The Staff were magnificently
dressed in long dark coats, belted and skirted,
curved swords and daggers in ivory scabbards,
ivory cartridge cases across their breasts, and white
sheepskin caps. The valleys were hot enough, but
one wondered how they would fare in that kit if
they went down into Mesopotamia. The rank and
file were ragged, and few of their jack-boots had
the soles intact; some of them walked about with
cloth wrapped round their feet. Kasr-i-Shirin is
a pretty little hill village, a mountain stream
running past in the glen below; it looked enticingly
clean and cool, and the Russian soldiers were
bathing in its pools.
We had lunch in the building once occupied by
the Indo-Persian Telegraph Company, since
wrecked by the Turks. It was an interesting
luncheon party; a few of the staff could talk
French, and one, I recollect, was a Hungarian who
had espoused the Russian cause. Fortunately
there was only sufficient " Arak " 'to go round, and
the rest of the drinking was done in tea. Arak is
a fire water made of raisins ; it was the heat of the
day, and there was the long flight back to Baghdad
in front of me. I was escorted back to the aero-
plane, and to the tune of " God Save the King '
by that amazing brass band, I waved farewell to
BAGHDAD AND BEYOND 139
my enthusiastic friends and left the ground for
Baghdad. After another detour to observe the
progress of the i3th Turkish Corps I landed at
Fort Kermeah, on the Tigris. The weather had
stoked up considerably in the last few days, and
it was with difficulty that the water in one's radiator
was kept from boiling. Six hours' flying in a
Martinsyde left one like a wet rag, and drove me
down before reaching Headquarters.
Fort Kermeah was a square mud enclosure with
flat desert on all sides, and a quarter of a mile
away, screened by its steep banks, flowed the Tigris.
Some refreshment and the cheerful meeting with
friends was restoring, and I reached Baghdad
before nightfall.
Lieuts. Page and Rattray had been interfered
with by a Halberstadt while co-operating with
the artillery on the Adhaim, but after two drums
of ammunition emptied at close range, and under
the fire of our A.A. guns, the Hun had turned for
Samarra and left our machine to continue its work.
Orders were given for General Fane to hold the
enemy about Harbe, and Marshall's column to act
offensively against the i3'th Turkish Corps
advancing from Deli Abbas. On the loth the
Cavalry Division, who were out on General
Marshall's right flank between Deltawa and Deli
Abbas, came in contact and fell back in front of
the enemy. That evening Captain Bayly anH
myself took out 'two Martinsyde scouts loaded with
bombs to see if we could break one of the new
enemy scouts on the ground at Samarra. We made
I4O IN THE CLOUDS ABOVE BAGHDAD
out to the northward in company, but near Beled
I observed Bayly manoeuvring some distance to
starboard. I closed to investigate and then spotted
that he was engaged with a Hun which was going
down on top of him. I arrived on the scene just as
the Halberstadt shot below my level, at 6,500 feet,
and there we were, all three shrieking down, one
on top of the other, at about 150 miles an hour.
I should have settled him with a drum of ammuni-
tion, but he was diving in a curve, and 'the stream of
bullets must have just passed by. He pulled out,
and we each started climbing for the right side of
the sun, which was low and blinding. Bayly had
got too low, and was lost to sight. I was carrying
two 112 Ib. bombs, and immediately tried to release
these, which hindered both climbing and
manoeuvring. Unfortunately one bomb jambed and
the release gear carried away in my efforts
to lighten the machine, so there I was with a heavy
list, carrying a 112 Ib. dead weight on one side and
a fast enemy scout manoeuvring for the coup de
grace. The situation was awkward. After a few
minutes he turned and came straight at me from
above, and cocking the old Martinsyde up on her
tail I just got the gun to bear. She lost flying
speed, fell sideways, and then nose-dived 1,000 feiet
before I could regain control. Like a fool he never
followed me down, or I should have been " meat,"
but, climbing higher, disappeared towards his base.
It was nearly dark, and I was 100 miles from home.
Bayly's machine was badly riddled about the
under-carriage, and collapsed on landing. Our
BAGHDAD AND BEYOND 14!
evening's expedition had turned out more exciting
'than had been expected.
The 1 3th Turkish Corps had halted on the loth.
That night two brigades of Marshall's troops made
a twenty-mile march on Ihsan Bey's right flank and
met the Turkish 'troops in the open, endeavouring
to outflank our cavalry at dawn on the i ith. It was
a surprise action. The 39th and 4Oth Brigades
gained the only commanding slope of ground
before the Turks could reach it, and, lying down
under 'the fierce sun, held the enemy while a brigade
of Field Artillery galloped to their assistance close
up behind the ridge and came into action at close
range. The advance was checked, and the Turks,
leaving three hundred dead, retired six miles
during the night. In the stiff fighting, without a
vestige of shade and after their long night march,
the 39th and 4Oth Brigades suffered heavily from
heat and lack of water. The men were still in
their heavy winter khaki, for the demands on the
river transport had not yet allowed for all the
summer clothing to be brought up-stream.
Aeroplanes had difficulty in running their
engines during the heat of the day due to the oil
running thin; they were, however, the only means
of overcoming 'the mirage in the desert, ground
observation being useless and misleading.
The machines were busy on all fronts. At
daybreak on the i2th Captain Bayly and Lieut.
Windsor arrived over the Samarra aerodrome, at
3,400 feet, and obtained a direct hit with a 65 Ib.
bomb on a hostile biplane. The railway station
142 IN THE CLOUDS ABOVE BAGHDAD
and rolling stock were also bombed and damaged.
The raid was carried out under heavy A.A. and
machine-gun fire. The Turks were digging a
position across the railway at Istabulat, ten miles
south-east of Samarra; twenty-eight gun-pits had
been dug. A detachment of the enemy were also
seen coming from the Euphrates line at Samarra.
The enemy on the Adhaim were held by a suffi-
cient force of Marshall's column while the main
force dealt with Ihsan Bey, who continued his
retreat on the I2th, pursued by the cavalry. The
Turks fought their usual stubborn and effective
rearguard action throughout the i3th and i4th.
The Cavalry Division attempted by a wide detour
to get behind them across the Kifri Road, but lack
of water and their strong entrenched flank position
prevented such achievement. Ihsan Bey got back
into the shelter of the Jebel Hamrin during the
night of 'the I4th April.
Heat was beginning to restrict the performance
of aeroplanes; we were still flying the old B.E.s,
but although obsole'te for war purposes, their
stationary air-cooled engines were less vulnerable
to high temperature than the rotary type in the
Bristols or the water-cooled in the Martinsydes.
Captain Pickering flew B.E.2C 4500 from the base
to Fort Kermeah; she was a veteran machine,
having been in action with Townshend at the battle
of Ctesiphon in 1915. To maintain ourselves it
was necessary to ship any crashed or old machines
down to Busrah, where, after being entirely reno-
vated, they were flown back to the Front, and with
BAGHDAD AND BEYOND 143
their old numbers and spirit of past fame they were
better than new. Two Martinsydes which were
fitted with special tropical radiators did not
overheat as yet, but it was doubtful that they would
keep the air throughout the hot weather, and the
heat behind the engine in the pilot's seat was
already well-nigh unendurable. Those without
special radiators were now no use and out of action,
as the water boiled away even if flown at dawn.
It was a gamble how long the Bristol Scouts
would last; they were already coming down with
' blued " cylinders, and making forced landings
with pistons seized. One only hoped that the Hun
was faced with the same problems; if nought but
old Ctesiphon B.E.s remained to meet his new
productions even our last jokes might fall flat.
The enemy's second attempt at effecting a
junction between his I3th and i8th Corps was again
frustrated by defeating both detachments in detail.
Orders were now issued for Marshall's column to
detach the Cavalry Division and two brigades of
infantry 'to contain the i3th Corps, and with the
remainder of troops to make preparations to force
the passage of the Adhaim River.
Fane's column on the right bank of the Tigris,
which had been absorbed under General Cobbe's
command, were to advance towards the Istabula't
position. General Maude never ceased harrying
the enemy, thus keeping the initiative in his own
hands. The scene of battle swung relentlessly
from one front to another; the troops had become
veterans in desert warfare, and 'the supply services,
144 IN THE CLOUDS ABOVE BAGHDAD
500 miles from their base, had forgotten the
meaning of the word impossible.
Every Monday morning it was my fortune 'to
attend a conference at G.H.Q., where the heads
of all departments met, plans were disclosed, past
events reviewed, and the million problems regard-
ing the maintenance and efficiency of the army were
discussed direct with our Chief. He knew the
duties of his staff directorates down to the smallest
detail. They were instructive, those conferences;
one learnt of the stone walls other people were up
against, and one learnt how, when perhaps an
engineering problem was deemed impracticable,
the necessity thereof, backed by the humour and
method of General Maude, crumbled another stone
wall. In that assemblage of staff officers sitting
sweltering under the fans, his was a personality
dominant and absorbing.
On the 1 5th Captain Pickering and Lieut. Craig
left at daybreak on reconnaissance for Cobbe's
column, but they never returned. A sand storm
and gale of wind arose in the morning, which
became too violent to send out a search machine ;
cavalry and armoured cars scoured the country to
no account. Later 'the sad news was received that
old B.E. 2C 4500 met her end in a fight with a
Halberstadt, and both Pickering and Craig had
been killed. The gale continued all the next day,
and it was impossible to leave the ground. On the
1 7th Paddy Maguire arrived with a new Bristol
Scout in 4 hours 20 minutes from Busrah, intent on
avenging the deaths of Craig and Pickering.
BAGHDAD AND BEYOND 145
Aerial photography of the country on all fronts
had been pressed on daily. There were no maps,
and to fight the Turk without eliminated any
chance of the co-operation on which success
depended. The photographic section were deve-
loping and printing far into each night, and with
the results the mapping section at G.H.Q. turned
out accurate squared maps which were distributed
by air on the front. Often last editions of these,
showing the latest enemy earthworks photographed
a few hours previously, would be dropped from the
air to units just about to attack. The mapping of
the Adhaim river had not yet been completed, but
Lieut. Beckett sketched it from its mouth to 'the
Jebel Hamrin ; its bed is in places more than a mile
wide, a mass of shifting channels and quicksands.
The water dries into a few pools in the hot weather.
The crossing was effected during the night of the
1 7th/ 1 8th, again by the Lancashire Brigade, of
Diala fame. Two battalions ferried themselves
over in the darkness, unsuspected by the enemy,
at a point some distance below where another
battalion had ostentatiously forded the river; a
cavalry brigade, under Colonel Cassels, also
demonstrated ori the northern flank. The enemy
were confused. The main crossing against the
Turkish centre was a complete surprise : the cliffs
were stormed at the coming of the dawn and the
enemy outposts threw down their arms. The
sappers and miners started building a bridge, and
the aeroplanes were up there waiting to co-operate
with the artillery. The co-operation worked splen-
146 IN THE CLOUDS ABOVE BAGHDAD
didly, and at 12.30 p.m. three Lancashire battalions
went in with the bayonet under a drum-fire barrage.
The enemy's resistance collapsed, and then
Cassels' cavalry, who had been brought in from
their feint, drove through between 'the Turks and
the Tigris, cutting them off from water. Those of
the enemy who were not killed or wounded threw
down their arms ; Cassels pursued till nightfall,
and hardly a Turk got away. Much of the
success of the day was due to the magnificent
artillery work. The following is an extract from
the artillery report :—
" All batteries were in action from 4 a.m.
onwards. About 6 a.m. H.M.S. : Tarantula '
opened fire with six-inch gun, and H.M.S.
' Waterfly ' with four-inch gun. Observation
difficult owing to clouds of dust hanging over
enemy position. Three aeroplanes co-operated
with the R.A. from 5 a.m. till 10.30 a.m., and
from 11.30 a.m. till i p.m., using 'smoke
balls,' very useful registration being carried out
before bombardment at 12.30 p.m. A't 12.30
p.m. barrage was put up on Turkish position
astride the Narhwan Canal, C and D 55 and
6 ist Batteries bombarding trenches, 6oth Battery
kloofs on both banks of the canal, and the R.N.
and 2/iO4th Battery the bed of canal in rear of
Turkish position. Duration of bombardment,
15 minutes. Rates, of fire : i8-pounders, two
rounds per gun per minute; 4.5 howitzers and
6o-pounders, one round per gun per minute.
BAGHDAD AND BEYOND 147
Parties of retiring Turks were then engaged. At
2 p.m. pursuit had moved out of range of guns,
and sections of c S ' R.H.A. and D 66 Batteries
accompanied and supported Cassels' Cavalry
Brigade. Turkish prisoners report many
wounded by our artillery fire."
One thousand three hundred prisoners were taken,
and the enemy casualties in killed and wounded
were very heavy.
The Flights at Kuwar Reach and Fort Kermeah
now moved further up-stream to Barurah on the
left bank of the river. Aeroplane reconnaissance
was mainly confined to early morning and evening
on account of the intense heat during the day.
Owing to the continual and almost daily movement
of Flights, it had been impossible for the last two
months to put machines under hangars, and in
order to protect them from the sun during the day
they were covered with " chattai " (palm-leaf
mats). It afforded good protection, and kept the
fabric cool. The main object was to keep the light
off the doped fabric; heat had small deteriorating
effect compared to the light of the sun's rays. Tent
hangars being unable to withstand 'the frequent
violent squalls were useless in that country; they
also had no ventilation when closed, and the
temperature inside became terrific and destructive
to the woodwork. The heavy R.A.F. hangars
were of too permanent a nature to keep pace with
our movements.
On the iQth the ;th Division took up a position
148 IN THE CLOUDS ABOVE BAGHDAD
about 3,000 yards from the i8th Turkish Corps at
Istabulat. The Adhaim fighting had cleared the
left bank, and it was now practicable for General
Cobbe to force a decision with Shefket Pasha and
drive him behind Samarra, which would give us the
entire hundred-mile section of the Baghdad
railway.
The enemy occupied a position of great strength
at Istabulat, facing S.E.,with their left on the river.1*
Their front-line trenches ran along a ridge for two-
and-a-half miles to the railway, and then bent back
for several miles parallel to it. The Dujail Canal,
an ancient irrigation work, cut through the Turkish
position and ran S.E. through our own front line.
The enemy trenches commanded dead flat ground
on all sides, and between 'the canal and the river his
line contained two strong redoubts. This position
was held by 6,700 rifles, 200 sabres, and 31 guns,
whils't in reserve at Samarra he had nearly the same
again.
On the 20th April the Turkish advanced posts
were driven in, and our attacking troops concen-
trated in a forward position which had been dug
during 'the night. It was decided to go for the two
redoubts first. At dawn of the 2ist the Black Watch
and 8th Gurkhas advanced across the plain under
cover of a creeping barrage. With dropping
casualties the first wave reached the foot of the
ridge, from the crest of which the enemy poured a
devastating fire. The barrage lifted, and with an
irresistible rush they were in with the bayonet.
The garrison of the northern redoubt surrendered
*See sketch map.
(&<-*
'<£>
\\
7 f5"
BAGHDAD AND BEYOND 149
to the Gurkhas; the Black Watch, after a bloody
struggle, drove the Turks from the Dujail, but
were forced out again by a violent counter-attack a
few minutes later. The " Hielanders " swept up 'the
slopes once more, and finally held the position
against several desperate hand-to-hand counter-
attacks in spite of losing more than half their officers.
The Seaforths and two battalions of Punjabis now
assaulted the line to the south of the canal, and by
7.30 a.m. the whole front trench was in our hands.
The Qth Bhopal Infantry, co-operating to the
extreme right of the Gurkhas, had come under a
cross-fire and been decimated, only one officer
surviving. The aeroplanes co-operated with the
artillery in keeping down the fire of the enemy's
guns. Lieut. Lander had a fight with a
Halberstadt, and drove him down on to his own
aerodrome. The day became very hot, and was
spent consolidating what had been gained, and the
enemy evacuated his position during the night,
retiring to another position six miles from Samarra.
On the 22nd a fresh brigade of the 7th Division
pressed on in the heat, and were in contact by
noon. The position ran along ridges that extended
from the river to the railway.* The Leicesters and
5ist Sikhs advanced towards the Turkish left near
the river, while Colonel Cassels' cavalry and
armoured cars operated on the desert flank. On
the opposite bank of the river a column with guns
under General Thompson had marched up from the
Adhaim. These guns on the other side of the river
took up a position actually behind the flank of the
L * See sketch map.
ISO IN THE CLOUDS ABOVE BAGHDAD
Turkish line. When the bombardment opened at
4 p.m. their effect was deadly. The Turks did not
wait for the bayonets of the Leicesters ; they bolted
across country, but it was too much for our men,
who pressed on after them till they were on 'top of
the guns. A whole battery of seven guns surren-
dered; the remainder of the Turkish army
appeared to be in full flight across the plain. But
the Leicesters were out of touch, the enemy rallied
and counter-attacked, and the Leicesters, in danger
of being overwhelmed, were forced to retire,
leaving their captured guns behind. It was only
the desperate fighting of the 56th Rifles and
53rd Sikhs that held up this counter-attack and
saved 'the situation. The 32nd Lancers also
charged in from the desert flank; they jumped a
trench, from which the enemy bolted and was
stuck, but, coming under a heavy fire, were driven
back with severe casualties. Their colonel and
adjutant were killed leading the charge. Shefket
Pasha retired, and our troops, exhausted and
parched with thirst, halted for the night. They had
been fighting and marching all day in a tempera-
ture of no deg. Fahr. in the shade.
During the fighting Lieut. Maguire, on patrol
in a Bristol Scout, sighted a Halberstadt over
Istabulat at 7,500 feet. The two machines closed
and fought a duel in full view of the troops on the
ground. The enemy had the advantage of the
Bristol Scout both in speed and climb, but was
outmanoeuvred by Maguire, who, while being dived
at, got on to the tail of the Hun by a violent turn
Samarra
Note the tracings of ancient cities on the surrounding; desert
BAGHDAD AND BEYOND 151
and followed down, his Vickers gun going hard.
Some part of the hostile machine shot past the top
plane of the Bristol, and the Hun seemed to lose
control. At 4,000 feet both the wings on one side
carried away, and he continued his career like a
stone 'to the earth. Troops near by heard a
whistling shriek as of a heavy shell coming over;
then a crash and a cloud of dust, and the ground
was littered with the debris of what had once been
an aeroplane.
The following telegram was received from
Cobbe's column : —
:< Pilot of Turkish machine brought down was
a German with fair small moustache, in Turkish
uniform, without badges, but bearing No. 39
K.G.A.G. 1915. No name discernible. Death
instantaneous. In his pocket was pass for Con-
stantinople for Serg't. Conrad. Engine bore
plate ' Argus Flugmotor No. 2263 Berlin
Reinichendorff/ Chassis wheels fitted with
Continental pneumatic tynes, but filled with
asbestos strips, and tyres bound to the wheels
by string. All engine fittings wrecked."
Paddy Maguire had defeated his better-mounted
opponent only by sheer courage and skill ;
Pickering and Craig were avenged; the Flying
Corps messes sang themselves to bed.
On the early morning of the 231 d April our
troops occupied Samaria station. The place had
been burnt out, but the enemy had not had time
152 IN THE CLOUDS ABOVE BAGHDAD
to destroy completely all the rolling-stock or loco-
motives. During the last three days the following
captures had been made : 20 officers (including
battalion and battery commanders), 667 other
ranks, one Krupp gun, one 5.9 howitzer, 'two
machine-guns, 1,240 rifles, 16 locomotives
(some repairable), 240 trucks (large proportion
undamaged), 2 barges, and many other stores.
Turkish losses in killed and wounded were given
by prisoners as over 3,700 at Istabulat alone.
While the battle had been raging aerial news
came in that the I3th Turkish Corps was once
again on the move, and by forced marches was
already advancing down 'the Adhaim from the
direction of Kara Tepe. Apparently a forlorn
hope to save Samarra. On the evening of the 23rd
his leading division occupied a position within
touch of Marshall's troops, who were near the
junction of the Adhaim and Tigris. But they had
outstripped their comrades in rear; their other
division was seven miles back. General Marshall,
seizing the opportunity of defeating him in detail,
marched through the night up the west bank of the
Adhaim and bumped into the enemy just before
dawn. The cavalry and one brigade made an
enveloping movement to the north, while another
brigade attacked frontally, supported by our
artillery at only half a mile range. After a short
resistance the enemy gave way and fled across the
river, affording grand shooting for our guns, which
accounted for 100 crumpled Turks. The British
'troops found what shade they could through the
BAGHDAD AND BEYOND 1 53
day, and that evening air reconnaissance reported
the enemy retiring up both banks of the Adhaim.
Marshall's column followed up through the night.
On the evening of the 25th a line of defence was
observed being dug round Bandi Adhaim close to
where 'the river emerges from the Jebel Hamrin.
General Marshall marched on north and concen-
trated in front of this position by April 28th. Great
heat and mirage impeded operations and reconnais-
sance. The aeroplane engines were worn out
through continual flying without breathing space for
overhaul, and failures had become so frequent as to
impair the efficiency of the aerial arm. Since the
beginning of operations in December the
squadron had flown the equivalent of six full
circuits of the world, no doubt a reason for
many of the forced landings, the majority of the
original machines being still in harness. To make
matters worse, during the night of the 28/29th a
terrific wind arose, and a dust-storm raged for two
days, choking carburettors and bearings with sand,
and almost tearing the aeroplanes away from the
pegs and ropes with which they were tethered to
the desert.
At 6 a.m. on the 28th Lieut. Maguire went out
on patrol but did not return. Captain Merton,
who went in search, saw no trace, and he himself
had a forced landing at Samarra. The German
wireless told us that night 'that " Captain Schutz
felled his eighth enemy aeroplane behind our
lines. The pilot was wounded and captured/'
Poor Paddy, we never saw him again, for he died
154 IN THE CLOUDS ABOVE BAGHDAD
in a Turkish hospital at Tekrit. We missed him
sadly.
On the 29th a Martinsyde on reconnaissance was
blown upside down in the 70 mile an hour gale, and
for ten minutes remained out of control. Three
machines managed to co-operate with the artillery
of Marshall's column and register the enemy
positions before 'the attack. At dawn on the 3Oth
there was a lull in the storm, when the Cheshires
and South Wales Borderers advanced up the east
bank of the Adhaim. The enemy position faced
southerly astride the river-bed, and was refused
back to the hills on either side.* The intention
was to drive in a wedge on his left flank and force
him away from water and his line of retreat north-
east. Demonstrations had been made against his
right flank on the previous day. The Cheshires
and Borderers charged across the fire-swept plain
and gained all their objectives. Both battalions
had started more than 50 per cent, under strength,
and their casualties were heavy, including the
colonel, adjutant, and nearly all the officers of the
Cheshires. They saw " red," and swept beyond
the village right on to the Turkish batteries. Four
guns were captured, when down came the dus't-
storm and obliterated everything. The Turkish
Commander saw his opportunity, and, masked by
the storm, threw in an overwhelming counter-
attack. The Cheshires and Borderers, isolated in
the dust and a mile in front of their supports, were
enveloped by the enemy, and died fighting hand-
to-hand.
* See sketch map.
BAGHDAD AND BEYOND 155
The enemy retook the village, but, being held
up by the other two battalions of Lewin's brigade,
never regained their lost trenches. The two front
battalions had managed to send back one gun and
300 prisoners, including a Brigadier, before they
had been overwhelmed. Another attack, sup-
ported by intense artillery fire, regained us the
village.
Under cover of the storm the enemy managed
to strengthen his left, which allowed him to make
good his retreat after dark into the Jebel Hamrin.
The battle had been bloody, and most of it bayonet
work. Our casualties were severe, but we buried
over 200 dead Turks and captured 365 prisoners,
one gun, and much other booty.
One aeroplane had managed to co-operate early
in the morning with the artillery bombardment,
but the wild squalls and impenetrable dust driving
as high as 5,000 feet made further aerial work
impossible. Had it not been for the thundering
gale and dust-screen the Turkish army would have
experienced the greatest difficulty in making their
escape.
On the morning of the ist of May aerial recon-
naissance located the enemy moving further back
into the hills. It was decided to complete their
discomfiture by an air raid on the 2nd. Six
machines dropped half a ton of bombs on their
columns, camps, and material, causing consider-
able damage and panic; at least fourteen bombs
exploded in the centre of massed animals and
men. News received three weeks later gave the
156 IN THE CLOUDS ABOVE BAGHDAD
enemy's casualties as 50 killed, including one
regimental and one battalion commander, much
damage to transport animals, and that a general
officer, with his car, had been blown some yards off
the road.
The enemy were now out of reach on all fronts,
and Baghdad was for the present secure. The
weather had become too hot for war, and casualties
from heat impeded operations on the ground. The
suffering of the troops in the desperate fighting of
the last month had been severe; marching took
place at night, but in the day rest on the hot ground
under a burning sun was impossible. Often short
of both water and rations, and with seldom any
fresh food, the spirit throughout could only be
regarded as superb. How it was recognised by
the Commander-in-Chief is best understood in the
following extract from his last despatch, dated
1 5th October, 1917, a few days before he himself
was claimed by Mesopotamia : —
" As a result of the fighting during April the
enemy's i3th and i8th Corps had been driven back
on divergent lines, the former into the Jebel
Hamrin and the latter to Tekrit. The i3'th Corps
had twice taken the offensive, with results disas-
trous to itself, and the iS'th Corps had been
defeated and driven from its selected positions on
four occasions. Our total captures for the month
amounted to some 3,000 prisoners and 17 guns,
besides a considerable quantity of rolling-stock and
booty of all kinds. The objectives which we had set
out to reach had been secured, and the spirit of the
, flj^^^uHl
GENERAL MAUDE with British and Russian Sta f Officers
R.F.C. Headquarter Staff, Baghdad, Sept., 1917
CAPT. HUNTING CAPT. LILLEY CAPT. MOXEY
C\FT. NIXON Lr.-Coi.. MAC£VVEN LT.-COL. TENNANT MAJOR GRINI.INTCN
BAGHDAD AND BEYOND
enemy's troops was broken. The fighting carried
out during this month had imposed a severe strain
upon the troops, for 'the heat, the constant dust-
storms, and the absence of water on occasions,
tested their stamina very highly. But as conditions
became more trying the spirit of the troops seemed
to rise, and at the end of this period they main-
tained the same high standard of discipline,
gallantry in action, and endurance which had been
so noticeable 'throughout the army during the
operations which led to the fall of Baghdad and
subsequently.
" The increasing heat now rendered it necessary
that the troops should be redistributed for the hot
weather, and 'that every provision possible under
existing conditions should be made with a view to
guarding against the trying period which was
rapidly approaching. Whilst it was necessary to
hold the positions which had been so bravely won,
and to strengthen them defensively, the bulk of the
troops were withdrawn into reserve and distributed
in suitable camps along the river banks, where they
could obtain the benefit of such breezes as were
available, and where a liberal supply of water for
drinking, bathing, and washing was obtainable."
On the Tigris line aerial reconnaissance reported
the 1 8th Turkish Corps at Tekrit, and Cobbe's
column occupied and made themselves secure at
Samarra. The i3th Turkish Corps having retired
on Kifri, General Marshall marched back down the
Adhaim and took up a line of defence near its
junction with the Tigris.
I5 IN THE CLOUDS ABOVE BAGHDAD
Of the two Flights at Barurah one was ordered
back 'to Baghdad for overhaul of engines away from
dust, and the other retired to Sindiyeh, 40 miles
north of Baghdad for counter aircraft duties and
reconnaissance of the Tigris and Persian fronts.
The remaining Flight remained at Baghdad for
work on the Euphrates or as required. The British
army sought shelter as best it could, for the oven
door had closed on Mesopotamia.
Chapter V.
DAYS GRAVE AND GAY.
Up from Earth's Centre through the Seventh Gate
I rose, and on the Thrcne of Saturn sate,
And many Knots unravell'd by the Road ;
But not the Knot of Human Death and Fat«.
— OMAR.
CHAPTER V.
V
THE outposts counted the flies on their rifles; to
the horizon there was no sign of a Turk. The
ground forces had seen the last of the two enemy
corps till the long summer should be over. But
high overhead a low hum kept him ever aware of
the vigilance of British eyes. It was now possible
to send two or three machines in company on
reconnaissance in case they should meet with a
Halbers'tadt; flying on all fronts simultaneously
was no longer required, and allowed concentration
where necessary. Lieuts. Skinner and Lander
attacked a Halberstadt over Tekrit on the 6th of
May. The enemy, taking full advantage of his
climbing powers, was able to get on the tail of
Lander's Martinsyde. The two machines, out-
stripping Skinner's B.E., were last seen still
fighting and losing height three thousand feet above
Tekrit. Enemy wireless reported later that Lander
had been brought down by Sergt.-Major
P -mmerich, and was wounded and a prisoner. He
had managed to land his machine on an island in
the Tigris, and crawled out of it, one leg badly
smashed by bullets. Arabs had swum across and
161
1 62 IN THE CLOUDS ABOVE BAGHDAD
stripped him of his clothing; then the Turks arrived
and floated him to the mainland on a skin; just
escaping drowning, he was dragged out, put on a
horse, and arrived- at Tekrit in serious condition.
Occasionally we heard of him : his broken bones
would not heal; all that hot weather he lay eking
out a miserable existence in the Turkish camps at
Tekrit and Mosul. It was nine months before he
could walk, but he survived, and turned up in Cairo
a year and a half later. The German aviators were
kind to him, and kept him supplied with any
luxuries they had available.
Besides keeping a close watch on the enemy, the
R.F.C. assisted at several punitive expeditions
against hostile Arab tribes. Political officers were
distributed throughout the occupied areas, but the
Arab population were untrustworthy, and it was not
safe to venture far from a British post without
escort. They endeavoured to interfere with the
Samarra railway, and wrecked a train in which the
G.O.C. was travelling, fortunately in a rear truck.
Lieut.-Colonel Magniac was murdered while taking
a walk near Felujah. When such atrocities took
place 'the Sheikh concerned would be ordered to
deliver up the offenders for justice. After burning
the villages, shooting some of the tribesmen, and
confiscating 'their flocks, they generally came in and
surrendered. On the Euphrates about Sumaikcheh,
and up the Diala, no attention was paid to Bri'tisfi
authority, and it was necessary 'to send out small
punitive expeditions. The heat made operations
by day impossible; marching would be done by
DAYS GRAVE AND GAY 163
night and the villages surrounded and attacked at
dawn. The air unit was of extreme value in these
circumstances, and eliminated the necessity of many
such expeditions. If a tribe got out of hand a raid
could leave the next morning and bomb and
machine-gun any village within a loo-mile radius.
Such immediate and drastic action inspired terror
in the Arabs; once hunted down by machine-guns
from the air they never wished a second dose, and
a bomb having blotted out the happy home there
was nought left but surrender.
With 'the cessation of fighting several of our
observing officers left for Egypt or England to
learn to fly. To fill their places a school .was
started to train officers drafted from other units in
the country, and to give selected artillery officers
monthly courses in aerial co-operation. We had
learnt much through experience, and a detailed
system of instruction was instituted in order that
we might be efficient and ready for any contingency
when 'the weather got cool. A house on the right
bank of the river was appropriated for this purpose
and an elaborate mud model of the Istabulat posi-
tion constructed in the courtyard.
The observer and his instructor controlled the
fire from the roof, which was represented by the
flashes of small electric lamps on the ground map.
The effect was realistic, and gave a sound theoretical
basis to work upon when taken into the air.
When we first arrived at Baghdad the R.F.C.
occupied the railway workshops, but after the
capture of Samarra the railway was re-opened, and
164 IN THE CLOUDS ABOVE BAGHDAD
it was necessary to move to the wrecked German
wireless house, which was used as an advanced
aircraft park. The officers lived in houses on the
right bank of the river. On the opposite bank P. S.,
the Provost-Marshal, and I had established our-
selves in a house recently occupied by a Turkish
officer. It was the usual square building with a
courtyard in the middle opening through a heavy
door into the street; within was a garden well-
shaded by trees and palms, a fountain played in the
centre, and a tiled path ran down to the balcony
and landing-stage by the river. Here, on a balmy
night we would smoke an after-dinner cheroot
under the big Eastern moon and watch the mahalas
glide by. On arrival in March this garden was a
mass of roses in bloom; it was impossible to resist
the charm of the place. All houses in Baghdad had
underground rooms, or " serdabs," where the
inhabitants retreated in the hot weather; we slept
and dined on the roof, and these cellars in the day-
time made life a luxury compared to the tents in
the desert. We furnished this house from the
bazaar, engaged a gardener and other native
servants, and kept open house to our friends from
the desert. The place was my home for a year,
and I grew to be very fond of it.
D. H. organised one dinner-party of note at
Baghdad; the weather was hot, so guests were
invited and a " gufa " (coracle) hired. In it were
put table and chairs, and it was anchored off the
shore and lit by electric light. The courses were
rowed to and fro by chattering Arab servants.
DAYS GRAVE AND GAY 165
With the coffee and cigars the anchor was pulled
up and we drifted down-stream, to be eventually
picked up and towed home by a motor-boat. It
was a cheerful party, probably the first dinner-
party that had ever taken place in an electrically-lit
" gufa."
Perhaps some had been looking forward to a
period of ease after the weather became too hot to
fight, but, at any rate among the organising depart-
ments, 'this was a misconception. All intelligence
seemed to point to a great effort by the Central
Powers. We in Mesopotamia had at least to
prepare resistance against a bold bid for Baghdad
by the Turks in the coming cool season. Russia
had crumbled, thereby exposing our right flank to
new dangers from the Caspian. Agents brought
news of 'the advance of the Baghdad railway
towards Nisibin and the improvement of the
Euphrates road for motor transport. We heard tell
of newly-numbered German Divisions dressed for
a hot climate; of trainloads of guns, ammunition,
and lorries rumbling eastwards from Stamboul.
Was their destination Palestine or Mesopotamia,
or both?
The wires were busy between Baghdad, Cairo,
and London, and the Intelligence sweated far into
the night. In response 'to many appeals an
additional squadron could at last be spared for
Mesopotamia, and General Maude accepted the
offer of two R.F.C. Kite Balloon Sections. The
R.N.A.S. Kite Balloon Section had packed up
after the advance on Baghdad, and their personnel
M
1 66 IN THE CLOUDS ABOVE BAGHDAD
left for other scenes of action. Kite Balloons
seemed to me of no use in mobile warfare, and
certainly could not operate in the hot weather.
They were an expensive item, and involved much
extra transport. However, 'they were already start-
ing for the East when I first heard of the proposal.
There was only a short time in which to prepare
for this trebled strength. It meant a large expan-
sion in the Aircraft Park; detailed calculations of
estimates for stores six months ahead (there were
more than a thousand different store items); the
construction of hangars at Samarra and Baghdad,
for which every piece of wood and canvas had to be
imported into the country; provision of extra
barges and steamers on the river, and a million
other requirements. All this when labour and
material were being taxed to their utmost in the
building of railways, bridges, bunds, hospital huts,
and other military necessities. We formed a Wing
Headquarters out of the officers and clerks avail-
able, rolled up our sleeves, and did a bit of
thinking. It would have been too easy in Europe,
but i't was different a few thousand miles from
nowhere. India was requisitioned for a solid form
of hangar for the Aircraft Park; they were delayed
for want of girders which had to come from
England. Those hangars arrived more than a year
later, after I had gone and the war was almost over.
Meanwhile the great work in hand was mapping.
We must have accurate, detailed maps of the
country on all fronts and beyond, ready for autumn
eventualities. Photography grew to a scale that
DAYS GRAVE AND GAY 167
exceeded the stock of plates for which we had
estimated; India collected from Calcutta 'to
Bombay, and relieved the situation pending the
arrival of hundreds of dozens from England.
They deteriorated rapidly in the climate, and
special refrigerating plant had to be imported to
cool the water for developing and printing. (This
also proved useful in cooling our drinks.) The
office worked at high pressure and the temperature
was higher; fans had been imported and made a
hot gale over one's head ; the wind outside covered
the papers with a coating of dust and then the fans
scattered them over the floor. One sat all day and
half the night while the sweat dropped on to the
foolscap until the ink ran.
Hangars gradually came up river, but meanwhile
the old B.E.s and Martinsydes shrivelled in the
sun and their engines choked with desert sand.
Their fabric became bleached and loose, one could
poke one's finger through it ; to have looped one of
these machines would have been courting disaster.
A machine in Egypt had collapsed in the air owing
to the dryness of the wood. The demise of this
pi' lot was a warning to us, and the veterans which
had been long in the sun were handled cautiously.
In the middle of May I flew down river
to Aircraft Park. A chain of landing grounds was
selected at 'the British posts of Bghailah, Sheikh
Saad, and Amara, where mechanics were estab-
lished. It was a protracted journey, against
contrary winds, but interesting to see all 'the old
haunts and battlefields again. The army that once
I 68 IN THE CLOUDS ABOVE BAGHDAD
had populated and civilised such places as Arab
Village, Sinn and Sheikh Saad had passed on.
There was nothing left 'to indicate to a newcomer
that what now was desert had once been a city of
tents and war stores, scenes of activity and thick
population. The country had gone back to its
state of desolation. Amara had become a still
larger hospital city ; the tents extended further into
the desert. It was also a busy centre of the Inland
Water Transport. There was a remount depot,
convalescent camp, and rest camp for passing
soldiers. A metre-gauge railway linked it with
Kurnah to relieve some of the shipping in 'this
section, where the river is so narrow that only one
ship can go through at a time. Three or four spare
aeroplanes were housed at Amara ready to reinforce
the Front, and 'the R.F.C. maintained a rest camp,
accommodation, and messing arrangements for
passing pilots. Our camp was pleasantly situated
in a date grove, and weary pilots and observers
given a few days' leave from the front were glad
to get there for a few days' respite from war. There
were tennis courts, a club, and the society of the
fair sex from the hospitals, to brighten the eye and
fan the embers of forgotten civilisation. It was a
cheerful place, Amara.
Down at Busrah the air was damp and the
mosquitoes troublesome, but it was good to be at a
harbour again; to hear the ocean-going steamers
passing in the river, and lie awake at night and
listen to the hoots of their syrens. There is some-
thing romantic about a harbour, any harbour. In
DAYS GRAVE AND GAY 169
my old age give me a harbour with the sounds of
ships, the curious foreign sailor-folk, God's fresh
air, and the tang of 'the sea.
In the evenings at Busrah, Clarke, of the
Aircraft Park, and myself would go out in a motor-
boat and board British-India steamers trooping
between Bombay and the Gulf. The white paint
and spotless decks of a passenger liner were a relief
to the eye after life ashore, the hospitality of their
officers was unlimited, and many a pleasant
evening we spent in that breathless tideway,
smoking in deck chairs under 'the bridge, exchang-
ing experiences of sea, land, and air. The lot of
these seamen during the war was a laborious one.
After a few summers in the Gulf they would have
changed gladly for some more invigorating sphere
and a chance of blotting a " Fritz." Short of staff,
ever on the move, and perpetually in the wet steam
of the Gulf, there was no rest year in year out.
They did their bit. In earlier days to get a square
meal at Busrah, unless an officer belonged to one
of the permanent base establishments, he had to
repair on board a steamer and beg a place in the
saloon. The B.I. captains saved many an army
subaltern from going hungry.
The river craft, originally manned and adminis-
tered by the Royal Indian Marine, had now come
under the control of 'the Inland Water Transport
(Royal Engineers), so the sailor-men changed their
white drill for khaki, and became soldiers pro tern.
The skipper of a tug disguised himself as a
sergeant-major R.E., and the captains of the larger
I7O IN THE CLOUDS ABOVE BAGHDAD
vessels as subalterns or captains in the army. Of
these seamen who had volunteered for the Tigris
some came from river-boats on the Yukon, some
from 'the Irrawaddy or Brahmaputra, others from
blue water. It seemed incongruous to meet the
ex-captain of an 8,ooo-ton tramp navigating a
shallow-draught paddle-boat in the uniform of a
second lieutenant R.E.
The flight up to Baghdad was slow ; coming down
there had been a buffeting south wind; on the
journey north the wind had changed there, too.
After a few flights be'tween the base and front they
became intensely boring, but the mode of pro-
gression saved many days, and even weeks, when
the river was low. An aeroplane from Busrah was
always well loaded with the R.F.C. mail and
important official letters; there were also purchases
executed for the mess to be taken back; these
cargoes varied from polo sticks to bottles of cham-
pagne. The Indian merchants and Expeditionary
Force Canteen did big business at Busrah. How
well I remember those flights; the preparation of
the machine before the sun rose, the difficulties of
stowage for what appeared an impossible load, the
roll of bedding eventually lashed on to the centre
section struts; the s'ticky run across the soft salt
soil of the Busrah aerodrome, and the small margin
of clearance over the sheds; a wave to the cheery
park commander and his men on the ground; a
last look at the harbour, and then, steadying on to
the course, one settled down into one's seat and
hummed and droned, droned and hummed, ever
DAYS GRAVE AND GAY i;i
northward. In case of a forced landing the rule
was to follow the river, but, with the gliding
distance of 6,000 feet and confidence in a good
engine, many miles could be cut off by a more
direct course across its wide deviations. The long
straight reach to Kurnah had the appearance of a
colourless canal bordered by a thin strip of date-
palms. The country below was flat sandy desert.
Far ahead, but sharply defined through the haze,
the desert ended against a dark blur. One came
to this in 'time, the beginning of the swamps ; they
stretched to the horizon on either hand, a mass of
bleak vegetation growing out of sapphire pools.
It was most noticeable, this colour of the marsh
water, as compared with that of the Tigris, and
where it drained into the river the blue showed in
contrast to the mud-coloured stream. Yet it was
only Tigris water going back to Tigris ; a hundred
miles ahead, at Amara, the river bifurcates east
into the canal, which distributes itself over a vast
'tract of country into small canals and wide swamps.
Here and there were dry patches of cleared ground
thickly populated by Marsh Arabs, a low and
undeveloped type of humanity unknown to 'the
white man except near the main channels. Their
country is impenetrable. The Tigris between
Kurnah and Amara is narrow and tortuous, and it
is difficult for the pilot to discern the main stream
out of the various channels among the swamps
below. Only the shipping gave the clue to the
newcomer, the craft here and there looking like
stationary specks, 'the white wash churned by their
172 IN THE CLOUDS ABOVE BAGHDAD
paddles like the stream from a mill. There was
nowhere to land in the event of engine-failure over
these swamps. With the day growing hot, one was
glad to go down at Amara, yell for Bob, the
Madrassi cook, to bring breakfast, and then lie and
sweat in the tent till the sun got low. With the
slow old B.E.s one had the choice of going on
against the prevailing north wind to Sheikh Saad
the same evening or staying the nigh't comfortably
at Amara and pushing through to Baghdad the
following morning. The latter was the cooler plan.
Off before the dawn, not too low over 'the hospital
at the risk of a letter from the medical authorities
concerning the shattered nerves of sick colonels,
and one struck north again with the river on the
left. It was a wearisome desert flight to Sheikh
Saad; a north-westerly cut led you across the
Tigris and left Ali Gharbi far to the north, where
the river turns west; the Pusht-i-Kuh stood out
like a wall just beyond. One crossed a remote
flooded area and eventually met the river again at
Sheikh Saad. Here, the previous year, the
authorities had planned to irrigate a few acres for
the cultivation of vegetables. There was still a
post at Sheikh Saad, and the " market garden "
was in being. It was the cause of a remarkable and
awkward phenomenon on this occasion. I intended
to land, and came low over the cultivated patch;
above it was a zone of turbula'tion, gusty currents
of air seemed to come from every direction, the
machine would first bump up 200 fee't, then drop
400 feet like a stone ; she was utterly out of control
DAYS GRAVE AND GAY 173
until I glided well past into the desert again. As
the aerodrome lay adjacent to the cultivation it
would have been inadvisable to attempt a landing,
and I perforce had to miss my breakfast and
continue on to Bghailah, over old battlefields the
whole way. From Bghailah to Baghdad one was
seldom far from the river; at 9,000 feet over
Azizieh the summits of the Persian hills loomed
above the haze, many leagues to starboard, and the
Diala glinted like a steel ribbon across one's path.
The dark shade beyond suggested Baghdad.
On May i3th it was evident that the enemy had
imported, in addition to their single-seater fighting
machines, a new and faster type of two-seater
Albatross. Merton, in a Bristol Scout, encountered
one of 'these over Deli Abbas. The combat began
by a steep dive by the Bristol, which dislodged the
pilot's sun-helmet, considerably baulking his aim
and fire. A passenger made his appearance from
inside the fuselage of the Hun and opened fire with
a rear machine-gun. The Bristol's gun was hit and
damaged, causing the explosion of two cartridges.
Merton had judged the machine a single-seater,
and fit to be attacked from behind, so that the
appearance of an observer came as a surprise.
Being hors-de-combat, Merton broke off the encoun-
ter, and returned unpursued to his aerodrome. It
had been a close call for M.
Our anti-aircraft gunners received encourage-
ment about this time in the following copy of a
Turkish message which fell into our hands : —
" The German aviator 'told me that he could
174 IN THE CLOUDS ABOVE BAGHDAD
not report clearly on the body of troops north of
Samarra this morning, as the fire of the British
Anti-Aircraft was very heavy and accurate." One
can imagine 'the reception afforded to the British
pilot who would volunteer such a report !
As 'the days grew hotter enemy aerial activity
became negligible, and by the end of May already
seven of our own pilots had gone to hospital.
The Turkish forces remained out of touch to the
north-east about Kifri, on the Tigris at Tekrit, and
on the Euphrates at Ramadi. Leave to India had
been opened for those officers and men of the force
who could be spared, but with numbers thinned
down by sickness, the necessity for permanent
activity, and only No. 30 Squadron to cover all
fronts, few could be released for a spell in the cool
of 'the Himalayas, for three weeks in India entailed
an absence of two months by the 'time the journeys
to and from the front were taken into account.
Nevertheless, many of Force " D " managed to
migrate to Gulmarg, in Kashmir, or Neuralia, in
Ceylon, and returned with talk of cool mountain
air, ecstatic scenery, grass and green things; wine,
women, and song. It all sounded idyllic to us
jaded and dried-up folk who had remained behind.
The night of the 4th of June was celebrated over
the Turkish lines. Dent, of the Intelligence, came
with me, and we reconnoitred the enemy positions
and camps up the Tigris by the light of a full desert
moon. It was a wonderful night, milky blue and
beautiful. We started from Baghdad, dined and
fuelled with the Flight at Sindiyeh, and went on
DAYS GRAVE AND GAY 175
north. Observations were as easy as by daylight,
and flying much more pleasant; the silver trail of
the Tigris took us there and back. The enemy
picked us up at 4,000 feet and shelled wildly ; being
shelled in the air by night is, I think, even worse
than by day; the blinding flashes of the bursts,
above, underneath, and around, add a dazzling and
eerie effect to the usual crashing chaos of an air
barrage. Dent was 'taking notes rapidly while I
dropped parachute flares to light up the shadows
below. His work finished, he turned round and
waved a hand, and, to rout them all out, we dived
to i, 800 feet and machine-gunned the camp. Both
guns splayed bullets till our ammunition was gone,
and we left '.he place to clear up its confusion and
vanished south into the night, followed by the
crackling of rifles and machine-guns. At i a.m.
we re-fuelled at Sindiyeh and flew on to Baghdad.
The outline of mosques and minarets against the
sapphire of the twinkling sky, 'the moonlight thrown
back off the blue-tiled domes, and the great stillness
over all ; was it a dream or could it be real ? The
following night Captains Bayly and O'Neill did
the same reconnaissance as a check. In each case
the flight lasted five hours from Baghdad.
The river had started to fall, and in order to
keep the Flight up 'the Tigris supplied by river
transport, and to prevent the workshop and store
barge from being marooned until the autumn, it
was necessary to drop sixteen miles down-stream
into deeper water a. Sadeah, on the left bank. In
the high-water a fly-boat had managed to navigate
176 IN THE CLOUDS ABOVE BAGHDAD
beyond Samarra, but the larger boats could not
penetrate above Barurah. The Tigris winds over
mud and sand to the sea, with a drop of only a few
feet in its six-hundred mile journey; but above here
the whole aspect of the river changes; its bed
becomes rocky, there are numerous islands, and it
flows swiftly between cliffs with sections of
cataract, like 'the Nile above Haifa.
The weather became hotter, although the
" Shamal " had started earlier than usual. The
noonday shade temperature in June was generally
112 deg. Fahr., and by four in the afternoon we
l( ink-slingers " in Baghdad became wound up and
short of temper. Man changes under these condi-
tions for the worse; hard work and loss of health
alter perspective, and are a tax that tells even on
'the sunniest characters. A few months of it and
life seems to fade yellow, only when the sun has
at last dropped " below the yard-arm," and one
may get outside several whiskies-and-sodas does
one's outlook revive. You must work through a
hot weather in the East before you are qualified
to criticise the actions of your less fortunate
fellows : " The temper of chums, the love of a
wife, or a new piano's tune, which of the 'three will
you trust at the end of an Indian June? " Kipling
struck the note true.
Polo saved our lives those stifling months. The
G.O.C. Remounts and his staff of sportsmen over-
came the pony difficulty; many of the Indian polo
ponies were in Mesopotamia ; we were well mounted
and the game was as keen as the heat would allow.
DAYS GRAVE AND GAY
We played for 45 minutes before sundown ; riding
out to the desert ground the walls of the houses
threw off their heat enough to blister your face, you
could not leave your hand on them. The ground
itself was red-hot, and pony and rider played in a
welter of sweat which filled one's boots, but the sun
was down, the glare had gone, and the physical
exertion was good. In the days at Arab Village
we had played almost within sight of the Turk
whenever there was a chance; the polo in
Mesopotamia was the big asset compared with the
war in other theatreo.
In June the Russians announced that they could
endure the heat on the Dial a no longer, and fell
back to the mountain regions about Karind and
Kirmanshah, leaving our right flank exposed.
Beled Ruz was therefore occupied by the cavalry.
The army had settled down to hide from the sun
as best it might. The Cavalry Division were
encamped in a date grove on the river three miles
north of Baghdad. The 3rd Corps dug themselves
under the desert, die i3th Division about Sindiyeh,
on the left bank of the Tigris; and the I4th about
Baqubah, on the Diala. The ist Corps had 'taken
up a strong defensive position at Samarra, and the
1 5th Division, who had come up from Nasiriyeh,
were at Felujah. Enemy aircraft were occasionally
reported. Their usual formation appeared to be
one or two Albatrosses in company with a Halber-
stadt escorting at higher altitude. Air patrols were
out in the early mornings, but he was seldom
encountered. His aerodromes were at Kifri and
178 IN THE CLOUDS ABOVE BAGHDAD
Tekrit. He bombed our camps at Samarra, Beled,
and Baqubah once in June; no casualties were
inflicted, as most of his bombs were " duds." In
reply, six B.E.s retaliated on the camps at Tekrit;
seven tents were demolished by direct hits.
On the 22nd June Captain Bayly and Lieut.
Skinner attacked an enemy ship aground ten miles
north of Tekrit; one bomb exploded in the after-
part and another blew in her side.
Training for the coming winter campaign went
on in the early hours. A regular series of practice
shots at desert targets with the artillery took place ;
the Akkarkuf Lake, outside Baghdad, afforded a
good range for aerial gunnery, over which machines
would manoeuvre, shooting at each other's shadows
on the water.
On the evening of 2 5th June, while having dinner
on my roof, a messenger arrived with a note from
General Maude, asking if it was feasible that he
should fly to Samarra and back on the following
afternoon in order to give away a cup to 'the
winning team of the 7th Division football compe-
tition. It was a night's journey to Samarra by rail,
and unless he flew it meant being away two nights
and a day from G.H.Q., which he could ill afford.
I did not like the idea of trusting one's engine in
the heat of the afternoon and the possibility of a
forced landing " in the blue " with the Commander-
in-Chief — he had never flown before — but the plan
seemed so sporting that I decided to rely on
Fortune, and wrote him that it could be done. We
kept quiet about it, and not even G.H.Q. knew
DAYS GRAVE AND GAY 179
until the expectant G.O.C. ;th Division 'telegraphed
asking how General Maude intended arriving, as
he had not come by the night train. I arranged for
an escort machine in case of trouble, and before
starting asked the C.-in-C. what he desired me to do
if we met a Hun. We were only in an old B.E.,
in which the result of a scrap depended on the
efficiency of the observer with the gun. It was
inadvisable for the General to work the observer's
gun; he was too big 'to move in the cramped seat,
and would probably only have shot away the wires
or propeller. His reply was " Shoot him down,"
so, with the pilot's gun only, I set off, fervently
praying that the evening was too hot for any Hun
tc come up.
The strong " Shamal " delayed us, but we
arrived at Samarra, without incident, in time
to witness the second half of the match. The cup
was duly presented to the winners, the Black Watch,
and, with the sun setting, we started our hundred
mile run back to Baghdad. There was only a
quarter moon, and I knew we should have to land
in the dark, but the G.O.C. seemed to have no
qualms whatever, and gaily started off; if he had
known more about flying perhaps he would have
stayed the night; for me " 'twas folly to be wise."
I wired for flares to be put out; the machine went
perfectly, and only bumped slightly on landing, at
8.45 p.m. in the dark. General Maude had enjoyed
himself, the story went round, and the army was
vastly pleased.
At dawn on July 3rd a punitive column arrived
l8o IN THE CLOUDS ABOVE BAGHDAD
about Beled Ruz to deal with the Beni Tamin
tribe, who had been actively hostile since our
arrival at Baghdad. Two aeroplanes co-operated
with bombs and Lewis guns. They discovered the
tribesmen in mass awaiting the advance of our
'troops. As a preliminary two 65 Ib. bombs burst
where they were thickest, causing confusion and
dismay ; six more bombs fell among them, and they
scattered in all directions. Further bombs set their
village on fire. That was the end. To quote the
official report : " Artillery and the unexpected
aerial attack which got home into Beni Tamin, who
were apparently preparing to get mounted to
oppose our troops, demoralised them." It did.
General Maude now determined 'to improve our
position on the Euphrates and occupy Zibban, the
junction of the Saklawieh Canal, by which Lake
Akkarkuf was flooded, and to consolidate this
occupation by surprising Ramadi. The capture of
the latter place would also complete our blockade
of the Turk from the rich Euphrates country,
whence Arabs were supplying him, via a caravan
route from Kerbela. The weather had been grow-
ing daily hotter; the Turks would deem any
operation at this 'time of year impossible, and were
no doubt absorbed with their own condition,
hundreds of miles from any base, and envying us
the shade around Baghdad. Perhaps there was a
chance that such a " coup " might succeed, but it
seemed impossible that troops could march, let
alone fight, in that flaming temperature. They
moved forward from Felujah by night, and
DAYS GRAVE AND GAY l8l
occupied Zibban on the morning of July 8th. The
enemy must have had wind of the movement, unless
it was mere chance that brought two Hun aero-
planes over our troops on the Diala on the 7th; air
patrols sent to cut them off on the Tigris never
found them, and -he next report was that they were
seen going west over Felujah. It was presumed
that they had descended at Ramadi, and would
return to their base either at Tekrit or Kifri in the
cool of the next morning. A patrol was sent out to
waylay them on the morning of the 8th, but 'the
hostile machines were not seen. On the evening
of the Qth it was reported that they had left Ramadi
that morning, and " Intelligence " reported that one
of them had come down in the desert. The
weather was frantic ; a regular heat wave consumed
the country. By 1 1 a.m. on the Qth the thermometer
stood at 122 deg. Fahr. in the shade. A strong
wind had sprung up which dried the moisture out of
the eyes until they became so bloodshot it was
difficult to see. I lunched with Buxton, of the
:t Mantis," under double awnings and behind a
screen on deck. Baghdad was enveloped in a haze
of sand and a scorching gale. The glasses we
drank out of were too hot to hold, and had to be
cooled with the ration of ice, which the Supply and
Transport Corps now manufactured in the town.
The plates, knives, and forks, everything was
burning. Men were dropping like flies with heat-
stroke ; the hospitals could take no more, they were
lying in rows between the beds. There is no time
to waste in heat-stroke ; a man fit and well will be
N
1 82 IN THE CLOUDS ABOVE BAGHDAD
suddenly seized, and if he is not better is dead in
two or three hours. The supply of ice was limited;
many of those lying recovering from disease were
seized as 'they lay. The nurses worked night and
day through i't all without respite; they were
magnificent. Worn out and ill themselves, they*
fought desperately in the breathless wards for the
lives of the men. Those nights sleep was
impossible ; on the roof of my house i't was necessary
to pour water continually over the sheet I was lying
on to prevent it scorching one's body; a little
longer and there would not be much left of the
British Force in Mesopotamia.
One wondered what on earth was happening on
the Euphrates. On the loth General Andrews
concentrated a column at Zibban, and was ready to
move forward on Ramadi. He had an unenviable
task. The plan was to make a surprise attack at
dawn against the enemy's northern flank, and
endeavour to get between him and the Euphrates.
Cavalry and armoured cars were to await develop-
ments on the extreme right under cover of date-
groves on the river bank, and four machines were
detached to Felujah to work with the column.
Arrangements were made to keep the troops
supplied with ice and drinking water by Ford vans.
In the dawn I motored across the forty miles of
desert to Felujah to arrange for the air co-opera-
tion on the following day. I and my driver started
back in the heat of the day without waiting till
evening. As long as I live I shall never forget that
drive. There was no canopy over the Hupmobile
DAYS GRAVE AND GAY 183
car, any part of which was almost too hot to touch.
The " weight " of the sun on one's head made one
stupid, and by the time we reached the edge of
Lake Akkarkuf there was no water left with which
to refill the radiator, again almost empty.
It was a narrow shave; if we had had to walk I
do not think we could have gone very far. We
soaked our spine-pads and clothing in the water,
cooled our helmets, and refilled the radiator.
Entering the semi-dark arched bazaars of Baghdad
was entering Heaven after the Fury outside. It
felt like an ice-house, though in reality over
1 20 deg. Fahr. ; the Baghdadis themselves had no
record of such heat for scores of years. That drive
put us both on our backs till the next day.
It was of no use for General Andrews to wait till
the Turks improved their defences ; he must either
go on in 'the heat or go back. His column moved
forward that, night of the ioth, which was hotter
even than before. As many men as possible were
carried in lorries and Ford vans. They deployed
at 4 a.m. on the nth, and drove in the enemy out-
posts. By 8 a.m. the heat and a scorching dust-
storm were opponents of greater moment than
the enemy. Observation was impossible, the men
were dropping wholesale with heat-stroke, almost
all the officers of the Dorset Regiment had
succumbed, the sun was getting worse every minute,
and the Turkish shell-fire more accurate. The
attack had 'to be discontinued, and the men lay down
for the day to endure as best they might. Aerial
co-operation was maintained 'till 10 a.m. Two
184 IN THE CLOUDS ABOVE BAGHDAD
Martinsydes and a B.E. had left Baghdad at
4.30 a.m. to bomb and machine-gun and generally
harass the enemy, but the two Martinsydes were
forced down again even at that hour; their water
boiled away and the pilots sick with the heat. Lieut.
Rose got away in 'the B.E. and blew up a Turkish
ammunition waggon with a direct hit.
Captain V. Buxton, from my H.Q., had accom-
panied a wireless ground station. It was spotted
on the open plain by the Turkish gunners, and came
under heavy and accurate shell-fire. The aerial
was shot away three times, but Buxton and the
operator Hall re-erected it each time, and, still
under heavy fire, eventually succeeded in establish-
ing communication with the aeroplane, thus
enabling two enemy guns to be silenced. At night
it was possible for the exhausted troops to re'tire
to the river bank, where they found shade for the
next day. On the i4th they withdrew to Zibban,
pressed by 1,500 Arab tribesmen. The operations
had been a failure, but there are limits to the power
of humanity, and strings of motor-ambulances
winding back to Baghdad told the tale of the
weather more than the accuracy of the Turkish
gunners.
No more had been heard of the two enemy aero-
planes; in an effort to locate these tortured
antagonists in case they were stranded in that
weather, a patrol of our machines searched 'the
desert on the morning of the loth without result.
But two German aviators — an officer and an N.C.O.
— staggered into Samarra in an exhausted condition
DAYS GRAVE AND GAY 185
and gave themselves up to a picquet of the
7th Division. Their story was grim. They
confirmed that they had left Ramadi for Tekrit on
the morning of the 9th, when one of the pair of
Albatrosses was forced to land due to the engine
seizing up in the intense heat. The second machine
also landed, and after burning the first, they
started off again, four up, with one on each wing.
Besides the four men the aeroplane carried its own
machine-guns plus one salved off No. i, all the
personal kit belonging to the men, four carbines,
900 rounds of ammunition, and a small Persian dog
which habitually accompanied reconnaissances as
a mascot. With this load 'they flew for twenty-five
minutes at an altitude of 400 feet, but the height
was insufficient to keep Wie engine cool, and a
descent became necessary. The aviators therefore
decided to wait in the desert till evening, and
sheltered underneath the wings of the aeroplane.
The temperature was beyond 122 deg. Fahr. in the
shade, and they can have only had unsatisfactory
shade from their machine ; there was a strong wind
blowing whose temperature was higher. After some
hours, tortured by thirst, they drank the almost
boiling water out of the radiator. At 6.30 p.m.
they again started, hoping to reach the Tigris by
" taxying," but the engine soon seized up, and they
were obliged to burn machine No. 2, and endeavour
to reach the river on foot. They marched till
8 p.m., when an officer and N.C.O. collapsed. The
other two, Captain von Grone, and a sergeant-major,
reached our picquet line completely exhausted at
1 86 IN THE CLOUDS ABOVE BAGHDAD
5.30 a.m. the morning of the loth. The G.O.C.
ist Corps sent out armoured cars and cavalry with
one of the Germans as guide, but they failed to find
either machines or men, although the search went
out on two mornings. They must have died very
scon of exhaustion and thirst. The thought of it
made the strife of mankind seem puny.
Von Grone came down to Baghdad. He was a
Death's Head Hussar, and had only been East a
month. There was nothing Hunnish apparent in
von Grone. The Intelligence Department got little
from him, and his manners and reticence, in spite
of the terrible ordeal he had just come through and
the fact that he was ill, could only arouse respect.
He gave us news of Lander, who had been shot
down on May 6th with a damaged engine, and was
now in hospital at Tekrit with six bullet wounds in
the leg. We also learnt that poor Paddy Maguire
had come down in flames, and died of his burns 'ten
days later.
The heat wave did not abate, but the midday
shade temperature rose to 123 deg. Fahr. ; inside
tents it was 136 deg. Fahr. The sickness rose, too.
D. H. went down with heat-stroke, but was pulled
through. The Chief of the Staff, Sir Arthur Money,
just returned from leave, also went down, but lived
to be invalided out of the country. Two of our
mechanics died on consecutive days ; one officer and
six other mechanics were invalided the same week ;
seven officers and thirty-two men of the squadron
were in hospital ; and out of the seven new pilots
arrived to reinforce the thinned numbers of No. 30
DAYS GRAVE AND GAY 187
Squadron three went into hospital at Busrah and
one was put ashore from the river-boat on reaching
Kut. Far from building up our strength for the
autumn campaigning we were ebbing away to
nothing. For a few days there was only one officer
fit to fly, so I augmented the strength of the
squadron by taking on the duties of flying officer
in the mornings myself. It was not often in the war
that numbers were s.o reduced that the wing
commander had to act also as flying officer, but we
had to carry on.
On the 1 5th July I decided to go down river to
Busrah to make final preparations for the arrival of
No. 63 Squadron, now somewhere between the
Cape of Good Hope and the Persian Gulf. " Tiger
Lily," the wing equipment officer, was to have
accompanied me, but the heat was too much for
him, having already been invalided out of the
country in earlier days; he had never really
recovered, yet carried on in a wonderful fashion,
although only fit to crawl between his office and his
bed. * Edgar R.," the photographic officer, came
instead, and we made a curious passage to Busrah
in the old " Bahmanshir " at the very height of the
heat. That appalling journey down-stream has ever
since been a firm bond of union between
" Edgar R." and myself. We had the ship to our-
selves, and^took a servant to cook our food. The
awning on deck was only of single thickness, and
during the day it was necessary to lie in the deck-
cabin; even inside the cabin 'the rays seemed to
penetrate the deck, for at high noon one had to
I 88 IN THE CLOUDS ABOVE BAGHDAD
wear a helmet to avoid a headache. A year later,
at Lahore, in the Punjab, I was reminded of this
by having to do the same thing sitting at tiffin inside
a bungalow; a modern one — the old-fashioned ones
were built thicker. The whole journey down we
wore nought else but a bath-towel round our waists
and spent the day in hoisting bucke'ts of water from
the warm Tigris and pouring it over our bodies ; the
immediate evaporation in the hot wind made a
delicious chill for about thirty seconds, till it dried
off again, the wind scorched, and the proceeding
had to be repeated. It sounds ludicrous now, but
I think it kept us both from going down with heat-
stroke. I remember we could not walk on the deck
with bare feet under the awning, but had to wear
shoes to prevent being scorched. :' Edgar R." and
I kept quite fit in spite of the awful weather; we
ate little, but lived on stout, another tip to the
uninitiated. It was a record low river, and we often
stuck on the ground; but the old " Bahmanshir,"
with her courteous old Arab skipper, vibrated into
Busrah five days later. Although the heat had
been its fiercest, I think we were both refreshed by
a rest from the work and worries of the last three
months ; we slept a little, laughed a little, drank a
good deal, and sweated a lot. There was work on
hand at Busrah, but the air hung dank and heavy ;
the humidity made it far worse than up-river. A
wet no deg. Fahr. is ten times more trying than a
dry 130 deg. Fahr.
Everyone at the base seemed more dead than
alive, and it was impossible to get anything done.
DAYS GRAVE AND GAY 189
There was little use going to bed at nights; we
would search the harbour in a motor-boat for a
region of cooler air without success ; everything was
damp, for the wind blew off the Gulf. After a few
fitful moments of sleep between midnight and
4 a.m. one would wake up feeling like a wet rag,
and perhaps take a motor-bicycle out into the
desert, away from the river, in quest of a cool
breath. There was none. By eight the ther-
mometer was back over the 100, and at breakfast
the same wag would daily play " The End of a
Perfect Day " on the gramophone. We were
issued with large Japanese parasols to keep our
helmets cool. A British officer presented a comic
sight in shirt-sleeves, shorts, blue goggles, a large
helmet, a spine pad, and over all a huge parasol !
It was with looks of longing that one watched the
great white hospital ships gliding down the harbour
with their cargoes of wrecked humanity bidding
farewell to this benighted country for ever.
Nevertheless Busrah was always cheerful, for
one ran up against many friends at the base. I
found my friend " Bottle/' of the I4th, just back
from leave in Kashmir, endeavouring to drown dull
care in lime juice at the Club in the heat of the day ;
then there was Cartwright, of the " Moth," just up
from doing guardship at Fao, he and all his crew
nearly silly with prickly-heat. We all had it at
Busrah; it spoils life entirely. According to
Cartwright, Busrah was a health resort compared
with Fao.
I flew down across the Karun River with Clarke
IN THE CLOUDS ABOVE BAGHDAD
to 'the Anglo-Persian Oil Company at Abadan.
We had been endeavouring for some time to use
their petrol in our aero-engines, but, in spite of
distilling a lighter spirit than was shipped from
Egypt or Burma, and eliminating its sulphuric
properties, all attempts to use it had failed.
Engines ran hot and seized up. Its use
would have involved great saving in shipping
and worries as 'to timely arrivals of supplies, which
sometimes, when ships were overdue, ran down to a
very low ebb, and on occasions had only been rushed
up-river in time 'to save the situation. We were
importing 10,000 gallons a month solely for flying
purposes. The motor-transport of the army ran
entirely on this Anglo-Persian spirit, and the wells
were invaluable in supplying oil fuel for the river
craft and locomotives, which had been adapted to
its use, thus saving the importation of coal. It was
interesting to be shown over these famous refineries,
the original cause of the despatch of an expedi-
tionary force from India. Here a handful of
Scotsmen and an army of Persians and local Arabs
refined and directed the flow of oil from 'the 100-
mile pipe-line to supply Jellicoe in the North Sea.
The settlement con^sted of rows of huge tanks
and a smattering of houses made of red brick, with
wide verandahs; it had its own hospital. The heat
was appalling; the company's officials were there
through the war without a break, a trying life for
white man or black. We lunched with the manager
and his wife, and then flew back to Busrah.
After a week at the base I was glad to get away
DAYS GRAVE AND GAY 19!
up-country again to the drier atmosphere of the
desert. But a fortnight later I once more left
Baghdad, this 'time by air to meet No. 63 Squadron
on its arrival from England.
I had just cleared the Baghdad aerodrome on the
morning of the i ith August, when, at a low height,
my engine cut out ; there was no room 'to turn and
glide back, and nothing for it but to descend
straight into a quarry. I took it as slow as possible,
about forty-eight miles an hour; nevertheless, the
crash was complete. Fortunately there was no one
in the front seat, or he would have been killed. As
it was I only cut my chin and knee, and a few
stitches in both places by a doctor roused from
slumber at a neighbouring field ambulance put me
right. It was urgent that I should get to Busrah,
so a start was made in another machine. A favour-
able wind blew me to Amara in one reach, but my
knee had swollen up, and I had to be helped out of
the machine. Lying up in the tent all day did not
improve matters, and, not being able 'to walk, there
was nothing for it but to go to hospital. Lieut.
Morris, who had accompanied me in another
machine, flew on with all the necessary papers and
instructions for the new squadron, and I arrived a
week later. The weather at Busrah had not
improved.
No. 63 Squadron had arrived on the I3th
August. I suppose 80 per cent, of their officers
were under twenty-four years of age, some under
'twenty, and the age of the other ranks must have
been similar. It was a hard test for a youngster to
IN THE CLOUDS ABOVE BAGHDAD
arrive straight from England into such a climate.
Till they arrived in port the health of the squadron
had been excellent, but the Busrah climate imme-
diately drove 50 per cent, into hospital ; two died of
heat-stroke within the first few days. They were a
well-trained crowd, mostly air veterans from the
Western Front, and they arrived with a morale
superb, ready to finish the war. But climate had
been out of their reckoning, and by the time I
arrived the remaining half had mostly succumbed.
Of thirty officers only six remained, and of two
hundred odd men only seventy. This remnant was
lying on its back at Aircraft Park, and even those
who could s'tand up ware badly shaken. I had
feared such a debacle. Busrah was doing its
" damndest " to destroy humanity. At the Aircraft
Park there were about sufficient left to make up the
funeral parties in the evening. I spent the whole
of one afternoon rubbing C., a new pilot, with ice
from the chest that kept the soda-water cool. He
had rolled over with heat-stroke while taking an
afternoon siesta. We pulled him round just before
the last small lump of ice melted away. Disease
shakes 'the morale of men a thousand times more
acutely than the worst shell-fire. There was prac-
tically no evaporation in the air, and it is by
evaporation that humans retain their normal
temperature. The doctors were unwilling to
speculate what would happen if the wet bulb went
up another degree. I had a parade the first
evening; it was all they could do to come out and
stand at attention the while I recounted beautiful
DAYS GRAVE AND GAY 193
lies about the bracing climate, and forbade anybody
else to get ill. The next day the worst happened,
for I was laid prone myself with a violent attack of
fever and carried off with the others to a congested
hospital ! The disembarkation of aeroplanes,
transport, and stores was entirely held up, for there
was no one 'to work. One could only wait anxiously
for a moderation of the heat.
Meanwhile we lay with flaming temperature in
the packed wards, and further cargoes of sick
arriving from up-river made the congestion worse.
Part of the nurses' quarters were utilised as
hospitals, and the hospital ships filled for India as
soon as possible to make room for others. Delirious
men rambled on through the long hot nights, and
one only thought of when the angel nurse would
return down the row of beds with fresh ice to chill
the towel round one's head. I had become well
acquainted with fever and Mesopo'tamian hospitals,
but some of these boys fresh from their English
homes were hard hit. In 'time we went down to the
convalescent hospital at Beit Naama to regain some
weight; the terrible weather that had prevailed for
a month had gone, and the air was dry, the tempera-
ture back to its normal at 115 deg. Fahr. at noon.
I returned 'to the Aircraft Park, where yet little
sign of life was showing. Clarke was a marvel ; he
seemed to 'thrive in Busrah, and his spirits never
left their zenith, in spite of having been there for
two years without leave. There was no sign of
63 Squadron; with dismay I read the medical
reports of some being invalided out of 'the country
194 IN THE CLOUDS ABOVE BAGHDAD
and others seriously ill; malaria, dysentery, sand-
fly fever and heat-stroke had taken heavy 'toll.
There was big work to be done in the coming winter,
and the Huns were reinforced with new aeroplanes ;
30 Squadron was 'thinned out by sickness and short
of machines, yet the base was crowded with
unpacked cases of aeroplanes and engines. The
personnel had melted away; we waited anxiously
for them to emerge from the hospitals. One felt
that anyway the situation could get no worse, and
things must begin to take shape again soon.
The R.E. 8 type of aeroplane had arrived in
quantity for both squadrons; also the long-awaited
fighting scouts known as Spads. There was no
lack of material, including the rows of Crossley
light lorries for desert transport. But every engine
had to be taken down and overhauled; the aero-
plane wooden parts had shrunk in the heat,
necessitating the rebuilding of many machines.
The task of the Park was immense. We got the
first Spad put together and I took her up ; she very
nearly caused The End; the cooling arrangements
devised for Europe were inadequate, and the water
started boiling as I left the ground. I shoved her
up to try and get into cooler atmosphere. At 6,000
feet over the harbour I was suddenly aware of the
whole top plane warping into wave-like contortions
and steam scalding my face. The auxiliary water-
tank in the plane had exploded and flooded the
wood and fabric. It was very gingerly that I glided
down, expecting the wings to carry away; my next
breath was taken when the wheels 'touched the
DAYS GRAVE AND GAY
ground. We fitted a new plane, took precautions
against similar discomfitures, and on the 5th
September I started up river in 'the first Spad. The
turn of speed was excellent, but the heat in the
pilot's seat was 'that of a Turkish bath. I got down
at Amara with no water left. After a spell of fever
she made one sick, for one was not up to it, so I
left her there till 'the temperature might drop, and
trundled comfortably on to Baghdad in an old B.E.
While I had been away air reconnaissance had
reported the Turks constructing a position S.W. of
Shahroban. General Maude, to secure his right
flank, decided to eject them, for the Russians had
gene. Columns from Baqubah and Beled Ruz
marched on the night of the iSth/iQth August, and,
giving little opposition, the enemy retired into the
Jebel Hamrin on the 2Oth. The weather conditions
prevented any further advance. We were as we
had been before the arrival of the Russians in April.
On August 29th two B.E.s closed with an enemy
two-seater over Kizil Robat. Page was doing
escort, and saw the right-hand main strut of the
enemy shot away. Pursuit was impossible owing
to shortage of petrol.
On the 1 2th September a welcome relief was
at last caused by a sudden drop in the temperature
to 113 deg. Fahr., as a result of which No. 63
Squadron took a new lease of life.
By this time a track fit for motor-transport in
dry weather existed the whole way from Busrah to
Baghdad; marching-posts, with tents, fuel, and
guard, were situated at convenient intervals. The
196 IN THE CLOUDS ABOVE BAGHDAD
first convoy of the new motor-transport accom-
plished this journey in eight days; of twenty-two
light tenders one broke down and had to be left at
a post. The route was a severe test, deep and
sandy, and wide detours into the desert were often
necessary to avoid nullahs ; also escort, rations, and
fuel for all the cars was no mean load to bring over
the four hundred miles.
With the cooler weather No. 63 Squadron com-
menced to blow into Baghdad in their new R.E. 8
aeroplanes. With them arrived Mac, who had left
us a year before. He came in the role of liaison
officer from England, France, and Palestine, with
useful information of new methods adopted in those
more prominent spheres. He only stayed a week,
and then this cheerful soul blew on to India and
East Africa. He said that returning to the happy
family in Mesopotamia was like returning home.
Major-General Hoskins also arrived in an R.E. 8,
to 'take command of the 3rd Division.
The aerodrome at Samarra had been enlarged,
and hangars, workshop, store, and dark-room dug-
outs excavated by the ist Corps. It had been
decided that the new squadron should be located
on the Tigris line ; and of 30 Squadron, two Flights
on the Diala and one on the Euphrates.
On the 1 2th September Lieut. Page was forced
to land behind the enemy's lines near Kifri.
Lieuts. West and Dickinson were in company, arid
landed near Page, who had by this 'time burnt his
machine. Arab horsemen were galloping down as
Page ran for the other aeroplane. The old B.E.
DAYS GRAVE AND GAY 1 97
and its unaccustomed load of three waddled off the
ground just in time, and got down safely at Shah-
roban, Page half-standing on the lower plane with
one leg in 'the front seat.
On the 1 3th two machines were sent to fly over
the sacred city of Kerbela, where Arab demonstra-
tions of doubtful tendency had been taking place.
It was thought that the presence of English eyes
and the latent threat droning over their city would
quieten the multitude. Unfortunately one of the
machines had engine trouble, and was forced to
land outside the town. To their surprise and relief
the occupants were greeted in a friendly fashion by
the Arabs, some of whom even craved a " joy
ride " ! Kerbela is the shrine of Hussein, son of
Ali, and grandson of the Prophet; here he and his
family were slain in the year 680. It is a place as
holy to the Shiahs as Mecca is to the Sunnis.
General Maude, with the first break in Jie
weather, decided 'to go for Ramadi and wipe out
the failure of the last attempt, made abortive by
the heat. The Turkish garrison had been consider-
ably reinforced, but the prize was the greater. By
starting to hammer the enemy again at the first
opportunity it gave us the initiative, and it was
the Euphrates line down which big movements
might be expected. He must not be allowed to
rest, or given time to concentrate within striking
distance on that line. It was barely the end of
summer when we were at it again, hammer and
tongs.
Throughout the hot months the Royal Engineers
198 IN THE CLOUDS ABOVE BAGHDAD
had performed prodigious achievements. In
addition to the heavy work entailed to keep the
river within its bounds, they had organised Arab
and Kurd labour corps, to supplement those from
India. Hundreds of miles of light railways had
been torn up in India and despatched to
Mesopotamia, so that a line was now nearly through
between Kut and Baghdad and on to Baqubah.
Another metre-gauge was also half-way across the
desert to Felujah. The railway tracks thus
radiating to all three fronts from Baghdad greatly
enhanced the rapidity with which it was possible to
strike in force on any single one, and placed the
British Force on strong interior lines. Rolling-
stock and personnel lor these railways poured out
from India. The bulk of 'the river fleet was
concentrated between Kut and Amara, on the more
navigable section, leaving as much as possible to
the railways between Busrah-Amara and Kut-
Baghdad. This also greatly reduced the time for
the journey between Front and Base. The services
of the force were nearly doubled. Specially-
designed paddle and hospital boats had arrived
from England, and the familiar sight" of L.S.W.R.
locomotives dragging supplies up to Samarra
reminded one of other days and the milk train
back to Pirbright or Aldershot.
The 25th September was a black day for the
R.F.C. Two of the new R.E. 8's, with the most
experienced and enthusiastic pilots, 'the advanced
party of No. 63 Squadron, failed to return from
reconnaissance. It was a bitter blow; at last some
DAYS GRAVE AND GAY 199
of the new squadron had got up river, and I had
hoped they would build up quickly and form into
line as a unit, for there was much work to be done
and the new Hun machines must be downed. But
almost on their maiden flight the first two are lost.
From deserters it appeared that four fast enemy
scouts had pursued the R.E. 8's north of Tekrit.
In the engagement that followed one of the R.E. 8's
was damaged, and had to come down. Landing
on ground which appeared to be clear of enemy,
the second machine had followed down to rescue
the 'two occupants of the first, but had been imme-
diately surrounded and fired on by Turks, who
emerged from nullahs and dug-outs. One of our
machines was reported to have been burnt, and the
second partially burnt, before being captured. The
Turkish commander courteously sent in a letter
under a white flag to our advanced troops near
Samarra, stating that the pilots and observers were
uninjured. They were Captain J. R. Philpot,
M.C.; Lieut. M. G. Begg, M.C.; Lieut. E. N.
Baillon; and Corporal Grant. It was cruel luck;
they had just arrived. Poor Philpot, a most
magnificent, cheerful, devil-may-care fellow, with
a wonderful record from France, eventually died
of disease in Turkish hands.
On the same morning that these machines went
missing, three Martinsydes from Baqubah
destroyed three separate Arab camps south of
Baghdad. They were bombed and machine-gunned
from an altitude of 500 feet.
By September 26th General Brooking had con-
2OO IN THE CLOUDS ABOVE BAGHDAD
centrated his force at Mahdij, fifteen miles above
Felujah, on 'the Euphrates. Merton's Flight also
moved up to Mahdij, sixty miles from Baghdad;
the only means of communication was by light
lorries over a desert track, part of which was barely
passable for these vehicles. With ten cars they
'took stores and spares for a fortnight, and 160 Ib.
tents for shelter during the daytime. A small-
power plant was moved out in one of the lorries
to keep their accumulators charged for wireless
work. The photographic section established them-
selves in an Arab house at Felujah, and exposures
were flown back to be dealt with there, the results
being returned forward either by air or despatch
rider.
Everything was done to make Ahmed Bey, the
Turkish commander, expect our advance up the
left bank of the river. The road from Felujah
runs up the right bank, but a pontoon bridge was
thrown across at Mahdij, and roadwork undertaken
on the other side. Troops and dumps were also so
disposed on the left bank to complete the bluff;
Arab informants were no doubt running to Ramadi
with the valuable information.
On the 27th the last series of photographs of 'the
Turkish position had been taken and were
distributed to the troops that nigh't before they
marched off under cover of darkness. Four miles
east of Ramadi the Mushaid ridge, a sandy cliff-
like contour, runs north and south ; its northern end
slopes down to the desert before meeting the river,
to the south it slopes to the brackish Habbaniyeh
DAYS GRAVE AND GAY 2OI
Lake. The enemy held an advanced position along
the crest of this ridge facing east. Their main
position was dug about a mile from the 'town, along
the Habbaniyeh Canal, and then refused east across
sand dunes to the Azizieh Canal. Ramadi was thus
strongly protected from east round to south, and
by the river on the north. The Turk can have
feared little from the desert flank; it meant a long
detour from the river, and the water in the
Habbaniyeh was salty and unfit to drink. They,
however, did not reckon with the Ford car. Therein
lay the secret to success. The plan was to work
round the southern end of the Mushaid ridge,
secure the dam crossing over the Habbaniyeh Canal,
and attack Ramadi from the south, where it would
least be expected. Arrangements had been made
to water the force by Ford vans from the Euphrates.
With the crossing of the Habbaniyeh Canal
secured, the Cavalry Brigade were to ride west to
the Azizieh Canal, where water would be found, and
then " burn their boats " and get behind the enemy
astride the Aleppo road. It was a bold scheme, so
bold that the enemy could barely expect it.
Before dawn the infantry on the left had secured
the dam over the canal, and with daylight the
Mushaid ridge was heavily bombarded. The enemy
retired at once, and as soon as our bombardment
stopped put a heavy barrage on the ridge them-
selves. They must have assumed that we would
follow up our bombardment on to this position, for
they had the place accurately registered, and it no
doubt was a trap. But they wasted their ammuni-
202 IN THE CLOUDS ABOVE BAGHDAD
tion in blowing up desert, for not a man of
Brooking's force went a yard further up the slope.
The I2'th Brigade, on the right, turned sharp left,
and with the cavalry traversed the Turkish front,
effectively hidden by the Mushaid ridge. To cover
this movement the left Brigade, to the west of 'the
Habbaniyeh Canal, advanced and attacked the
enemy's southern position. The Gurkhas and
Dorsets pressed forward over the bare shingle
until they could get no further against the accuracy
of 'the Turkish gunners and enfilade machine-gun
fire. They lost heavily but hung on, parched by
thirst under the killing fire, all the hot day. Mean-
while the 1 2th Brigade passed in rear of the 42nd,
and coming up on the left won a footing on the
Azizieh ridge. The Ford vans plied backwards and
forwards with water; thousands of gallons were
supplied to man and beast.
Merton's Flight kept in touch with 'the cavalry,
and spent a strenuous day co-operating with all
arms. Merton himself unfortunately got a bullet
'through both legs early in the morning, but
managed to land safely.
By nightfall we heard that General Holland-
Prior's Cavalry Brigade was across the Aleppo
road. The enemy was hemmed in to the south
and south-east by our infantry. To the north flowed
the Euphrates. Ahmed Bey was trapped. At
G.H.Q. there was a buzz of excitement.
The cavalry had taken up an extended position
on some high ground five miles to the west of
Ramadi; with horse-holders their rifles were few,
DAYS GRAVE AND GAY 203
but they had mounted their machine-guns
cunningly, and were strongly equipped with
Hotchkiss guns. At 3 a.m. the Turks bumped into
the 1 4th Hussars in the dark, and made a desperate
effort to get through. The bursting storms of rifle
and machine-gun fire raged till dawn, but the
cavalry were still across the enemy's line of retreat ;
they gave no ground. With daylight the infantry
attack was resumed. The Turks turned at bay and
counter-attacked repeatedly, but there was no
stopping our men now. The 39th Garhwalis, on the
left, caught sight of 'the bridge carrying the road
over the Azizieh Canal behind the 'town; the only
outlet for any wheels from Ramadi. By it was a
battery blazing point-blank as they charged for
their muzzles. The Turkish gunners served their
guns to the end, and died bravely. The enemy
were finished ; all their defences had been captured
and their retreat was blocked. White flags began
to show over mud walls; 2,000 streamed out of
buildings and surrendered to the few Garhwalis;
Ahmed Bey gave himself up with his staff to the
9Oth Punjabis. White flags were up everywhere,
and a curious silence hung over all; 3,500 prisoners
had been taken, 13 guns, 12 machine-guns, 2 armed
launches, 2 barges, and a large quantity of arms,
ammunition, stores, and supplies also fell into our
hands. I landed close to General Brooking soon
after the surrender; the little General was even
more cheerful 'than usual ; by superb tactics he had
washed the Turkish force off the map; the success
had been made possible by the arrangements to
204 IN THE CLOUDS ABOVE BAGHDAD
supply water to the troops by car, for the days were
still hot ; but the magnificent ride and stubborn
tenacity of Holland-Prior's cavalry was the
decisive factor in the achievement of a brilliant
plan.
Many of the Turks seemed pleased to be
prisoners; only a few cavalry and some strong
swimmers escaped by swimming 'the river. So swift
had been the " coup " that Turkish Army Head-
quarters at Mosul were unaware of the fate that had
befallen the Ramadi garrison. The next morning
a German aeroplane from the Tigris glided down
with the apparent intention of landing outside the
town, but must have spotted something strange,
for he switched on his engine at the last moment
and made off. Vain efforts to start the engine of
a Spad allowed the Hun to get clear.
Brooking's clean sweep and the daily drop in
the temperature put new life into the British army,
rather the worse for the hot weather. Our spirits
were good, we began to feel alive again, and looked
forward to getting " some move on'" to the north,
east, and west of Baghdad.
Chapter VL
ON THREE FRONTS.
For in and out, above, about, below,
'Tis nothing but a Magic Shadow Show,
Play'd in a Box whose Candle is the Sun,
Round which we Phantom Figures come and go.
—OMAR.
CHAPTER VI.
A BRITISH garrison was left at Ramadi, and Ahmed
Bey, with his force, was brought into Baghdad.
The Flight on the Euphrates returned to Felujah
temporarily, where it was easier to supply 'them.
Before embarkation for their places of detention
in India and Burma, the captured Turkish troops
marched through Baghdad as a demonstration of
the might of British arms, and for salutary effect on
the disturbing factions ever at work among the
populace. The long column shuffled through the
streets between the flashing bayonets of Tommy
and Sepoy. Their physique was generally good,
but 'their clothes were in rags, and they did not
possess a sound pair of boots among them; their
tunics and overcoats were German, with the
Imperial Crown on the button. The Christian and
Persian population thronged 'the route to revel in
the spectacle, but the Mahommedans mainly kept
to their own houses, and the women at some points
gave way to their curious wailing.
The same day that Ahmed Bay surrendered — the
29th September — the town of Mendali, on our
opposite flank, ninety miles north-east of Baghdad,
207
208 IN THE CLOUDS ABOVE BAGHDAD
was occupied by our cavalry, who marched from
Beled Ruz. The country around being cultivated,
the place had been used by the Turks as a source
of supply since the retirement of the Russians. A
hundred Turkish cavalry, under a German major,
fled into the hills on the approach of our column,
but lost some men from bombs droppe4 by two
aeroplanes and from our guns. They left behind
them three hundred baggage camels and a large
quantity of grain and supplies. The local Sheikhs
came in and arrangements were made for the pro-
ducts of the area to be supplied to the British army
instead of to the Turks. Mendali was perhaps a
greater loss to the enemy than a gain to us. We
had the whole of the rich lower Euphrates area to
open up and tap for supplies, but 'the enemy was
forced to exist in utterly barren lands, relying on
supplies reaching him by way of rafts, known as
' Killiks," down the unnavigable waters of 'the
Tigris and Euphrates. The i3th Turkish Corps
about Kifri, away from either river, were dependent
on supply by baggage animals. The problem did
not merely concern their arniy, for the whole popu-
lation for hundreds of miles was starving. Lieut.
Welman, who had the misfortune to be taken
prisoner at Kifri a month later, watched the women
crawling about " grazing " on the ground wherever
there might be a few blades of grass. The streets
of Kifri were full of dead and dying; those who
remained alive were but living skeletons. As a
result, the deserters that came over to our outposts
on this front were numerous.
ON THREE FRONTS 2CK)
On the 5th October Lieuts. MacRae and Blake,
reconnoitring up the Adhaim River, seventy miles
N.E. from Samarra, failed to return. Search was
immediately made by another R.E. 8 from Samarra
and two B.E. 2C.s from Baqubah. The missing
machine was located that afternoon by Lieuts.
Adams and West, who went down low to investi-
gate; there were Arabs below, and both machines
were hit by rifle-fire. Apart from this the ground
was too broken to land without crashing. Adams
thought he saw the white skins of two officers
without shirts, and that one of them waved to him.
It has since transpired that what Adams saw were
sure enough the 'two captured officers. The Arabs
had taken most of their clothing and made them
drag their machine some distance over the desert,
cutting their backs open with "courbashes." MacRae
laughed at one of the most aggressive, and tried to
make the others do the same, but the ruffian felled
him to the ground with the butt of his rifle. To watch
our machines fade away must have been a bitter
moment. Intelligence Branch G.H.Q. and political
officers took immediate action in doing all that was
possible to get these officers back. Pamphlets
offering large rewards were dropped over the
locality, and Sir Percy Cox (Chief Political Officer)
sent out an influential Arab, who owned land at
Bandi-Adhaim. This Sheikh reached the place by
motor-car and horseback, only to receive the news
that the two officers had been handed over 'to the
Turks on the 6th. On the long journey to Asia
Minor the only consideration they received at all
2IO IN THE CLOUDS ABOVE BAGHDAD
was from the German officers they encountered, who
helped them as best they could. There seemed a
blight on 63 Squadron.
With the increasing shortage of foodstuffs
generally, and the growing Hifficulties of transport
by sea, the cultivation of the country was a matter
of urgent moment in order to make the army as
self-supporting as possible. Once a vast grain-
producing area, the land still retains a soil richly
prolific provided that irrigation is possible; as the
Tommy said : " Spit on it, and something will
grow." The only arid districts are those where salt
deposits eliminate vegetation. The enemy,
however, were again in occupation of the Jebel
Hamrin on both banks of the Diala, and had control
of 'the canals that branch from that river and irrigate
the country to the S.W. and S.E. They had inter-
fered with the water supply, and it was necessary
to deny them access to the points of irrigation
control. For broader strategical reasons it was also
necessary that Force " D " should pull her full
weight and attack them whenever within reach in
order to relieve pressure on 'the Palestine front.
Accordingly, soon after the Ramadi operations,
General Maude decided to eject the Turks from
the banks of the Diala in the Jebel Hamrin. For
these operations one of the Flights a't Baqubah
moved up to Shahroban.
To endeavour to cripple the hostile air unit
before the movements commenced a raid on the
Kifri aerodrome was carried out by Lieuts. Skinner,
Welman, and Nuttall, in three Martinsydes.
ON THREE FRONTS 211
Six 122 lb. and twelve 20 Ib. bombs were dropped,
and then, to ensure effect, these officers emptied
their machine-guns from a height of 2,000 feet at
the enemy aeroplanes on the ground. It was
thought 'that at least two were put out of action.
The raid was boldly carried out in broad day-
light, and the Martinsydes were under heavy fire
throughout. Two of them were badly hit.
Skinner had a bullet through his petrol tank, and
to get away from the Turk he made for the desert,
and came down 15 miles west of Kifri in enemy
country. Nuttall and Welman followed him, and the
latter came down near by, though unfortunately with
his engine stopped. Meanwhile some Arabs and a
Turkish detachment opened fire with a machine-
gun from a range of about nine hundred yards.
Nuttall, who had had the water connection to his
radiator shot away, but was still flying, attacked
this detachment with machine-gun fire from the air,
and had the satisfaction of seeing several bowl
over, while Skinner and Welman set about burning
the stranded machine and started off in the other.
All maps and ammunition were saved, but time did
not allow for the salvage of machine-guns, as the
enemy were closing in rapidly. The damaged
Martinsyde finally blew up through 'the explosion
of a 2O-lb. bomb. Nuttall, with his water gone,
regained our lines at Shahroban, while Skinner
and Welman, wedged into the single seat of their
machine, got back to Baqubah. These three officers
proved an undefeatable trio on many occasions.
The daring of Frank Nuttall knew no bounds, and
212 IN THE CLOUDS ABOVE BAGHDAD
he was ever a wizard with his engines. We had
gone over to France together in the early days of
1914, when the old R.F.C. was a very limited com-
pany, and he had joined up with the first rush as
a corporal-mechanic. After two years 'this New
Zealander joined me in Mesopotamia, more
cheerful and dauntless than ever. He never went
sick, but in the worst heat would resort to
an amphibious life and sit for hours of the day in
the Diala with his head just above water reading
a book under a large parasol. Though shot about
on countless occasions, more than once stranded
behind the enemy's lines, and out on every raid or
night flight, Nuttall's star never failed him. In
the war practically every great spirit went west, but
Frank Nuttall came through.
On the 1 8th October, the opening day of opera-
tions, a patrol of three Martinsydes noticed two
enemy machines leave the Kifri aerodrome, and
kept one in view till they overhauled him fifteen
miles north of the Diala, at a height of 7,500 feet.
Fire was opened at a range of under 200 yards.
The Albatross dived for home and outdistanced the
Martinsydes, who followed down to a height of
500 fee't. The observer in the Albatross fired
steadily from his rear gun the whole way down, and,
although the Hun must have been knocked about,
he got away. These raids put fear into the hearts
of the enemy flying unit at Kifri. They were well
watched during the operations of the next few days,
and never showed themselves over the scene of
action, only leaving the ground when any of our
ON THREE FRONTS 213
machines happened to appear overhead, when they
flew round and round the aerodrome until we had
gone.
On the 1 8th troops of the I3th Division from
Sindiyeh advanced on Deli Abbas, and drove the
Turks back into the hills. That night General
Marshall concentrated three columns, one on 'the
right and two on the left bank of the Diala. The
plan was to hold them frontally on both banks while
two brigades of 'the I4th Division rolled in the
Turkish left flank and the 7th Cavalry Brigade,
under General Norton, enveloped their left rear.
There was a bridge over the Diala at Kizil Robat.
At dawn of the iQth October the converging
movement commenced, and the cavalry were across
the Khanikin road, behind the enemy, by 7.30 a.m.
But the Turk had not waited for a second Ramadi.
He evacuated the left bank during the night, and
the last of his troops were across the bridge at Kizil
Robat early in the morning. Our aeroplanes
engaged him retreating along the Kara Tepe road,
and watched him burn the bridge behind him. Some
targets were engaged at extreme range and a few
prisoners captured. In 'the evening the enemy left
the right bank after slight opposition, and joined
the columns retreating towards Kifri. They crossed
the bridge at Kara Tepe, blew it up, and again
retired out of touch with the British force. The
victory was nearly bloodless. The next day the
retreating columns were attacked from the air, and
panic and dismay beset the worn-out Turks.
During the summer Wing H.Q. had been
p
214 IN THE CLOUDS ABOVE BAGHDAD
augmented by Major Grinlinton, as artillery liaison
officer; he did much to promote the efficiency of
the artillery co-operation. The " old man " had
been blown up and gassed on the Somme, and after
firing a round a minute for weeks on end in that
sphere of chaotic destruction, it must have been a
relief to come to the more scattered strife of the
desert. In quiet 'times in our home at Baghdad he
would work out horoscopes till two in the morning
with amazing accuracy ; but when the first shot was
fired he would be found rushing round the desert in
a Ford van with a wireless operator, orderly, forty-
pound tent, and rations for a week, and a glint in
his eye foretold some wonderful counter-battery
scheme and Hell for the Turk.
Four of us now lived in the house at Baghdad,
"Old Man," " Chocolo," Buxton, and myself;
P. S., being of another unit, had gone. They were
happy days. :< Old Man " was an authority on
many 'things, and an efficient mess caterer; after
dinner he and " Chocolo " would sing songs and
beat an old German piano far into the night
:< Where the mountains of Mourne flow down to the
sea " and " Twa moons in the sky " still echo in
my ears. Be'tween operations " Old Man " spent
much time absorbing quinine and aspirin on his
bed ; the sound of the piano, however, would bring
him out even in the throes of a fever, and the old
song would start again.
" Huxley," the wireless expert, had by now
trained seventy operators and organised numerous
wireless stations on the front. The R.F.C. helped
ON THREE FRONTS 215
the Anzac wireless squadron in the Intelligence
work for G.H.Q. Before many months this web of
desert aerials was doubled, longer distance plant
was installed in aeroplanes, and several 'transmitting
ground stations erected at various points.
One hot day a huge man in shirt sleeves, covered
from head 'to foot in dust, broke into my office and
introduced himself as officer commanding the Kite
Balloon Company. He had arrived direct from
Busrah in advance of his company, and a convoy
of cars were waiting outside. Three had been
dropped with broken axles at various points in the
400 miles, but here he was ; where was the war ? and
it was a " d — d fine picnic." Jensen was a hardy
customer ; after twenty years planting in the Malay
States he abandoned the fruits of his toil on the
first roll of 'the drum in 1914 to fight for his country.
Sho't down in a flaming balloon on the Somme, he
'took to his parachute, which the Hun peppered as
he drifted down on some trees in No Man's Land ;
surviving this and several barrages, he got back to
our lines. Meanwhile an insurrection broke out in
Malaya; home and estates were devastated, yet
sunshine radiated wherever he went; the fact of
living was good enough for Jensen. t
By mid-October -the nights had become quite
cold, but sickness was still considerable. No. 63
Squadron were sadly deficient; thirty-two of their
ranks had already been invalided to India without
seeing the front in Mesopotamia; a further thirty
were distributed among the hospitals ; added to this
six of their number had been captured. Of the
2l6 IN THE CLOUDS ABOVE BAGHDAD
other squadron and Aircraft Park some haH been
invalided and many were in hospital. Bill Bayly
had been carried off a wreck to India. Never-
theless, compared 'to the debacle of a month ago,
things had appreciated wonderfully.
The Tigris reconnaissance noticed enemy move-
ments south of their advanced position at Daur
on the 22nd October. They apparently desired to
avoid detection, for this reconnaissance of two
R.E. 8's was met and engaged by two
Albatrosses over enemy country. Both hostile
machines were driven down by Captain Simpson
and Lieut. Jamieson, with Lieuts. Underbill and
Taunton. We heard later that one had been
crashed and the pilot had both legs broken; the
other was reported damaged; 63 Squadron main-
tained a close watch.
On the 25th October our advanced patrols inter-
fered with the Turks constructing a position eight
miles north of Samarra, and drove them back on
Daur. General Maude decided to advance and
attack at the latter place ; the 7th Division accord-
ingly concentrated forward.
On the 22nd a tragedy occurred at Shahroban.
Lieuts. Gardner and Leeson were leaving for
reconnaissance, when the engine failed after getting
off. Gardner, in order to avoid coming down on
3rd Corps H.Q. camp, attempted to turn. He lost
control, the machine dived into the ground, and
immediately went up in flames. Gardner got clear
with slight burns, but Leeson could not be extri-
ON THREE FRONTS 217
cated; the petrol tank had exploded, and i't was
all over in a minute.
Poor Leeson had done brilliant work with the
Horse Gunners, and been specially chosen to join
us. So young and so gallant, he had already won
a D.S.O. in action, and could ill be spared.
Perhaps one of our most expert artillery spotters
was Lieut. R. B. Sievier. " Bob " became a wizard
with his wireless work ; if he was up the guns never
failed to hit ; with uncanny genius he would control
two or three batteries at a time as fast as they could
put on their corrections and get into the targets.
On the 30th October Lieut. Hyslop, of 63
Squadron, left Busrah with a new Spad to join up
with 63 at the front. There was a thick ground-
mist between Kurnah and Amara. He was heard
flying round, apparently trying to land by a post
on 'the Tigris about forty miles south of Amara, but
he crashed into the ground in the mist, and was
eventually found dead among the wreckage. The
next day Captain Ffiske, of the same squadron,
flying up river, dropped a wreath on the funeral at
Kurnah.
The 23rd Kite Balloon Company had forty
casualties through sickness on the way up river, the
result of sending unfit men out from England;
balloon units at this period of the war were com-
posed of men unfit for 'the infantry ; the shortage of
man-power entailed such a procedure for European
warfare, but it was false economy for Mesopotamia.
By this time we had grown used to disappointments ;
reinforcements arrived at Busrah meant nothing till
2l8 IN THE CLOUDS ABOVE BAGHDAD
they had reached the front ; we learnt to work with
a nucleus of personnel. A fortnight later No. 51
Kite Balloon Section arrived from Busrah and put
up their gasbag as sentinel over Samarra; 'the other
section of the balloon company followed soon after,
and went out to Ramadi.
The ist Corps on the Tigris were now ready 'to
go for the Turk at Daur. Our operations had
generally been preceded by an aerial attack on the
enemy's air unit on the threatened front. So, on
'the 3ist October, in order to bluff him, three
Martinsydes and three B.E.s attacked the Kifri
aerodrome, the opposite front to that on which
operations were imminent. The formation was led
by Frank Nuttall. Over Kifri one of the Martin-
sydes was seen by two pilots to, go down and land
on the west edge of the aerodrome and the pilot to
get into a nullah; a 112 Ib. bomb was observed to
burst close to the stranded British machine. Mean-
while an enemy aeroplane had climbed to the same
height as our machines. He was engaged by
Lieuts. Adams and Cox. Adams' petrol tanks were
shot through, and he also was forced to land in
enemy country. Nuttall followed him down,
although under fire from the ground. With his
machine-gun he cleared the neighbourhood, and
then landed just as Adams sent his machine up in
a cloud of smoke. It was a matter of seconds, and
Adams jumped on to the plane of N uf tail's
machine before it had come to a standstill. Nuttall,
with Adams clinging on, opened his throttle and
roared off downhill, pouring bulle'ts into a Turkish
ON THREE FRONTS 2 19
detachment, which fled in terror. It was brilliant.
Cox, whose radiator had been pierced by a piece
of shell, glided for the Diala with engine seized
and on fire. Landing in a deserted area, he started
to trek for our outposts, eighteen miles distant.
Successfully avoiding several patrols, he regained
the British lines at 4 p.m., having done the course
in six and a half hours. At noon that day, after
Nuttall had brought Adams back, we knew that
there were still two Martinsydes missing; one was
down at Kifri, but where was the other? Cox had
not yet got back. Two B.E.s first of all went out
in search, but discovered nothing ; one was attacked
out of the sun by an Albatross Scout, which dived
and fired one burst, repeated the evolution without
firing, and then flew off north. To quote Lieut.
Dale, the Albatross appeared to be about
100 M.P.H. faster than his own machine.
Then Nut'tall and Morris went out intent on finding
Cox. Armoured cars also scoured the country.
Nuttall and Morris eventually spotted the charred
remains of Cox's machine, flew back, and landed by
the armoured cars near Kizil Robat. In doing this
Nuttall unfortunately crashed his under-carriage
on the broken ground. The Turks started shelling
them from a 4.2 inch gun across 'the river, and
Morris was blown some yards by a shell and had
his foot damaged. They boarded an armoured car
and went 'to Kizil Robat, where the Sheikh was
interviewed and requested to produce Lieut. Cox
without delay. But Cox had by this time reached
our lines. The two machines were hauled back
220 IN THE CLOUDS ABOVE BAGHDAD
from their exposed position by the infantry and
returned to their aerodromes the next day. It had
been an unlucky and expensive raid, but there was
little doubt 'that one hostile machine was destroyed,
and the extraordinary dash and contempt of danger
with which it was carried out must have left its
mark.
Three machines were lost, but only one pilot,
Lieut. Welman. He was hit by a machine-gun
bullet in the left forearm, which smashed both
bones and severed an artery. Having fainted from
loss of blood, the machine glided on by itself; he
" came to " when only 500 feet off the ground, and,
managing 'to regain partial control, landed without
totally crashing. The Turks lifted him out and laid
him in a nullah some distance away, so as to be
clear of the bombs, which were still bursting on the
aerodrome ; one, however, fell within fifteen yards,
blowing the hindquarters off a Turkish soldier stand-
ing guard close by. Welman spent three days in
Kifri, where a Turkish surgeon operated on the
wound. Thence he was sent in an open cart to
Kirkuk. The nights en route were spent in Arab
huts of awful nlthiness, while black bread and water
were only produced at rare intervals. The artery
had been badly fixed up, and by the time he arrived
at Kirkuk it was necessary to inject artificial blood
to keep him alive. Welman spent six months at
Kirkuk; the first two in a small guardroom, alone,
no one to talk to and nothing to read. For the
remaining four months he was removed to 'the
Turkish officers' hospital. During all this time he
ON THREE FRONTS 221
lay on his back ; food was scarce owing to the state
of famine in the country, and he never had more
than two of the smallest meals a day; sometimes
there was no bread for weeks. He learnt Turkish,
which eventually secured him better attention, but
the doctors made a sorry mess of his arm. There
were four operations, two without anaesthetic, and
successions of fainting were the only relief to 'the
pain. For all the six months he seldom had a wash
and the hospital clothes he was obliged to wear
crawled with vermin. Fortunately he received his
kit, which was dropped by our machines at Kifri.
In January Welman heard that Lander was in a
German hospital at Mosul, and managed to send
him a letter. Later on, in April, he saw three
R.E. 8's come over the Hun aerodrome to drop kit
belonging to Captain Haight, who had been taken
prisoner on another front. Eventually Welman
managed to communicate with his squadron 'through
the kindness of a German flying officer who had
gained admission to the Turkish hospital. A note
was written to Nuttall and dropped over our lines
on their next trip. In May, 1918, Welman left
Kirkuk for Asia Minor, via Mosul ; here he met the
first people who spoke his own tongue, Lander and
Colonel Beazley, R.E.; the latter had just been
captured with Lieut. Edwards, who died of wounds.
The German Flying Corps buried Edwards in the
cemetery, and all turned out in their full kit.
Lander, Beazley, and Welman sadly watched the
earth thrown over their comrade in captivity, while
four machines, led by our old antagonist, Captain
222 IN THE CLOUDS ABOVE BAGHDAD
Schutz, flew over and saluted 'the grave. It is best
not to think of those six dark months spent by
Welman in Kirkuk. It was mere chance that in
spite of his weak state he did not fall victim to
typhus or small-pox which ravaged the enemy
troops, and his strength held out though starved
and bloodless.
On the ist November the 3rd Division, from
Istabulat, had closed up with the remainder of the
ist Corps at Samarra. The Cavalry Division were
also marched up during the night and lay hidden in
nullahs during the day. On the night of the ist
the Cavalry and 7th Divisions marched north from
Samarra. There were eighteen miles 'to cover, and
it was hoped that the cavalry would get round the
desert flank of the Daur position before dawn, when
the infantry attack would be launched. If all went
well we might hem 'the Turkish garrison to his
ground.
All arrangements had been made with
63 Squadron. "Old Man" and I started off in a Ford
car with wireless equipment to be with the artillery
when the show started. It was a beautiful starry
night, but a shivering wind blew across the desert.
We had to make a wide detour to the left to get
on to a high plateau, where the going was good, and
there was no chance of bumping into enemy out-
posts. When you have motored all night over
desert and the dawn only shows featureless sand,
without any landmark, it is easy to be uncertain
where you actually are. There was no sound, and
we could see nothing. " Old Man " and I felt
ON THREE FRONTS 223
somewhat foolish ; we might have gone 'too far and
even be behind the Daur position; we might be
close up to the Turks, or we might be far to the
west in the desert. We go't out and jumped about
to restore circulation and scan the dim landscape
with our glasses. The day was just breaking, and
it was devilish cold, so we consumed a Thermos
flaskful of coffee. At length, as the light
strengthened, we spied the familiar sight of an
armoured car moving slowly in the distance like an
insect on the desert. We jolted after it, but they
were equally glad to see us, for they, too, were lost,
and had been roaming about all night. It was
decided to move east, which anyway must bring us
to the river, whether behind or in front of the
enemy. We at length caught sight of our own
troops and the guns just coming into action two
miles to the east. The cavalry had lost direction,
also, and had halted some miles from their assigned
position when dawn broke, and an aeroplane gave
them their bearings. The enemy, however, did not
wait ; in a night the British army had come twenty
miles, and threatened to envelop him. I had a
splendid view of the whole situation in the plain
below from the top of a " kopje," where the guns
were in action. The aeroplanes were sending
down targets as fast as the Turk got out of his
trenches and rapidly retired. The cavalry rode in
from 'the left in an endeavour to cut them off, but
immediately they debouched on to the open plain
the Turkish gunners got the range accurately. As
the regiments trotted down from the
224 IN THE CLOUDS ABOVE BAGHDAD
high ground and deployed in the open
it was more like some field day at Aldershot
than actual warfare, until the white, woolly puffs
of bursting shrapnel started playing over the top.
They were forced to take cover, and 'the enemy got
away north 'to his Tekrit position. We had failed
to envelop him, but, thanks to rapidity of move-
ment, had captured a very strong position with few
casualties. After twenty-four hours' marching and
fighting, in which the troops had covered thirty
miles, they lay down and slept till the night, when
the pursuit was continued towards Tekrit.
By the 4th 'the ist Corps and Cavalry Division
were concentrated near the town; the Turkish
position was strong and dug in a semicircle, with
both flanks on the river; 63 Squadron maintained
close contact with the enemy, keeping Corps,
Divisional, and Brigade Headquarters continually
informed of the situation by message bags. The
cavalry, working on the western flank, required their
position to be frequently given to them and direc-
'tion corrected.
The enemy attempted to stop this aerial co-opera-
tion by sending out two Albatrosses from Tekrit,
but although on each occasion the action was
indecisive owing to the jambing of the Spad's
machine-gun, the work was never interfered with.
All the autumn we experienced many disappoint-
ments due to the jambing of these machine-guns.
The interruptor-gear of the guns firing through the
propeller was new, and it took much experience to
adjust them till perfect tune was arrived at. Also
ON THREE FRONTS 225
the special aircraft ammunition had not yet reached
us; the ordinary ground ammunition was a sure
source for jambs. Time and agan a scout pilot
would get right in at a Hun, p-p-pop — and the gun
would stop, just as the pilot imagined he had his
enemy cold in a racing dive on his tail. There was
nothing left to do but break away for home and
trust he would not follow. Such a crisis in the mad
whirl of an aerial battle was more than a bitter
disappointment.
On the morning of the 5th November the 8th
Brigade of the 3rd Division, " the Fighting
Starving Eighth," assaulted the enemy's centre;
the 5Qth Rifles and 47th Sikhs took the first line of
a maze of trenches. The enemy counter-attacked
heavily; the i24th Baluchis and Manchesters
followed in, and a bloody onslaught went on till the
afternoon. The cavalry meanwhile contained the
enemy to the west of the town and awaited their
chance. This came when the Seaforths and I25th
Rifles were launched in under a barrage on the left
of the 8th Brigade, and the enemy in front of them
gave way. The i3th Hussars and i3th Bengal
Lancers advanced at a trot and brokeintothecharge.
This was the second time that Colonel Richardson
led his Hussars at the gallop against enemy
trenches. Wounded in the charge at Lajj, he had
returned from India in time to repeat the perform-
ance at Tekrit. The cavalry thundered over the
trenches and carried on half a mile beyond. The
Turk fled in dismay, and was caught by the sabres.
But the inevitable happened, and the two
226 IN THE CLOUDS ABOVE BAGHDAD
regiments came under a galling artillery and
machine-gun fire. They fought their way back
dismounted, but many a trooper and sowar was
left on the field. Under the smoke and dust of the
conflict the Turks retreated north, burning their
ammunition dumps as they went, and during the
night our patrols entered Tekrit. The enemy
casualties were estimated at two thousand.
The Turks were now out of striking distance, and
as it was impossible and of no advantage to main-
tain a large force at Tekrit, the ist Corps marched
back to Samarra, while the enemy took up a
position of great natural strength on high rocky
ridges astride the river about Fatah, seventy miles
north of Samarra.
On the evening of iyth November General
Maude was taken violently ill at his residence in
Baghdad. Cholera had been prevalent in the town
since 'the cold weather, but although it and smallpox
had claimed a good number of victims there was no
regular epidemic, the cases being frequent but
scattered. This made the problem of segregation
all the more difficult for the medical authorities.
On the 1 7th the General and his personal staff had
attended a school treat in the town and drunk coffee,
the usual ceremonial custom of the East. The
following morning, on the way to my office I learnt
that the G.O.C. was dangerously ill and 'that cholera
was suspected. However, a fair percentage of
cholera cases had been pulled through, and 'the
doctors were hard at work fighting for his life.
Alas, it was of no avail, and the great General
ON THREE FRONTS 22J
succumbed to the violence of the attack at six
o'clock that evening.
This sudden blow was a terrible shock to the
British army in Mesopotamia, for we had grown 'to
love our Chief. My own work had brought me
into constant contact with him, as he made a habit of
giving me his requirements and discussing all
matters with regard to the air personally. He was
a leader for whom one worked not only one's
hardest but a little bit more. It is that little bit
more which can be got out of men only by certain
individuals; it is not there and cannot be forced,
but it is somehow achieved when the labour is not
only one of duty but one of love. F. S. Maude
was such a man. He possessed a detailed know-
ledge of every branch of his profession, for he had
spent his career as a student of military matters,
and for years had worked hard 'to attain this end.
It is difficult to define charm, but perhaps in his
case it lay in the complete elimination of himself
in the scheme of things and, above all, in his
naturalness. There was something akin 'to the
schoolboy in his enthusiasm and happiness. It was
difficult to get to know General Maude, but once
one did it was perfect to work for him. His
achievement in Mesopotamia was remarkable, for
he had taken on what might almost have been called
a hopeless task. Failure after failure and a
ravaging climate had depressed the troops.
Considerable incompetence prevailed ; to the casual
observer on arrival the main idea seemed to be to
get out of the country. Maude fought it down, and
228 IN THE CLOUDS ABOVE BAGHDAD
gradually, even to the lowest rank, the call of duty
to make the best of it over-rode all else. Things
were re-organised, and from 'the root the fabric was
reconstructed ; but it took time and immense energy
from all. The authorities across the sea at last
questioned when 'the Expeditionary Force would
attack; but Maude heeded not, and answered
" When I am ready." Lesser men would have
started sooner — and failed. Once he had thrown
down the gauntlet he never left off ; after long weeks
of fighting on the Hai one looked at him and won-
dered if he had failed, but his calmness and
patience bred confidence in all, and the force
continued hammering and dying cheerfully, till a
master-stroke eventually wrought the collapse of a
bewildered enemy worn down by our long offensive.
He led the troops himself; G.H.Q. had never
moved beyond Busrah, three hundred miles behind
the army; but when Maude had finished with his
work at the Base he left it for good. He was often
too far to the front; at Sinn his advanced G.H.Q.
was in front of the is't Corps at Sannayat; during
the pursuit his river-boat was generally close up
behind the cavalry; commanders, annoyed to see
the G.H.Q. ship passing them, pressed on. At
Bawi it had been difficult to persuade the General
to stop when the Turkish shells were falling in the
river a mile ahead. The smell of powder was too
much for him. Apart from professional acquaint-
anceship I came to know the General privately as
far as it was possible for a junior officer to know his
C.-in-C. To dine at his mess was always delightful,
SIR STANLEY MAUDE
Turkish prisoners in background
ON THREE FRONTS
and on all occasions there was a very bright spark
of humour v<hich would force itself to 'the fore. In
the hot weather he tried himself sorely, for
throughout the day he never left his desk, an
evening ride with his aides-de-camp being his only
diversion. With a quaint disregard for weather
conditions, the tall figure of the G.O.C. would be
seen in home-service khaki and Norwegian boots,
when all others were as sparsely clad as possible.
And so the great General passed. It seemed
hard that he should not live 'to receive the rewards
that must have been waiting. He died at his post
having won the campaign, a brilliant servant of his
country, .and lies buried among his soldiers in the
British cemetery just north of Baghdad.
The command devolved on Lieut.-General Sir
W. Marshall, of the 3rd Corps, which was taken
over by General Sir R. G. Egerton. Brigadier-
General Thompson was given command of the I4th
Division.
The Turkish aerodrome on the Tigris was now
situated at Humr, behind the Fatah position. On
iQth November, the day of General Maude's
funeral, two enemy machines were reported over our
lines from Kifri. They probably had received news
of the death of the General, and perhaps were out
to seek any signs of a funeral parade. Two suc-
cessive barrage patrols were sent up, and Nu'ttall,
Cox, and Morris all had engagements. Cox met a
Hun only six miles north of Baghdad. The enemy
turned away, and a running fight ensued at close
quarters; after a forty-mile chase Cox ran out of
Q
230 IN THE CLOUDS ABOVE BAGHDAD
ammunition over Shahroban, and had 'to break off
the battle. His Spad had two mainspars, aileron con-
trol, and centre section strut shot through, and the
Hun must have suffered at least as much. Nuttall,
about an hour and a half later, met ano'ther over
Sindiyeh and chased him to Deli Abbas, when
Morris appeared. Unfortunately Morris failed to
see Nuttall's machine, and attacked independently,
but had to cease fighting, his gun jambing after
sixty rounds. Nuttall followed up, chasing the
Hun down to below 1,000 feet over Kara Tepe,
where he lost him in a ground mist. Several
other machines patrolling in their areas sighted 'the
Huns, but being slower types could not compete.
British influence had gradually penetrated south
into the dark and little-known country between
Hilla and Nasiriyeh. They were the rich lands of
Mesopotamia, and every acre opened up meant so
much more grain for the Expeditionary Force.
The inhabitants were of independent thinking, and
had ever been a thorn in the side of the Turk.
Within reach of the holy cities of Kerbela and
Nejef, they were fanatically religious.
Nejef, the shrine of Ali, son of the Prophet, is
nearly as holy as Kerbela, the shrine of the martyr
Hussein, grandson of the Prophet, which to 'the
Shiah is more sacred than Mecca. Nejef is also a
great seat of religious learning, and stores untold
treasure in 'the vaults of the tomb of Ali.
It is a city of the dead, for here the Faithful come
to die, or are brought after death on donkeys or
camels, sometimes long journeys from the o'tht4r
Nejcf
Tower of Babel
ON THREE FRONTS 231
ends of Asia, so that they may lie in peace near the
hallowed remains of Ali; the desert around is a
mass of graves, while the houses within the walls are
the 'tombs of the wealthy. It is by far the most
romantic-looking spot I have ever seen. After a
hundred-mile flight south from Baghdad one came
upon this amazing city, packed in a congested mass
within encircling walls, and situated six miles west
of the Euphrates. Its walls seem the end of all
things human; to the north, south, and west there
is nothing; you look to the rim of the horizon; on
the east only, after a margin of desert flows the
Euphrates. Out of the mass rises the huge golden
dome of the Mosque; forty miles away it catches
your eye like a heliograph through the haze. There
are no trees, not a vestige of green round Nejef :
jus't this flashing jewel set in the dark mass of the
city abruptly outlined by its wall against the
colourless infinity of desert. A track leads in from
the Euphrates, and a track goes south a thousand
miles over the horizon to Mecca.
Early in the war the persecuted people of Nejef
and Kerbela had risen up and ejected the Turks.
The Turks thereupon shelled their holy places;
'this will never be forgotten, but the Arabians held
their own till Ottoman menace was banished for
ever by the fall of Baghdad. It can be understood
that intrusion by the British was equally distasteful
to these virile folk, and it required the work of such
men as Leachman to prove our attitude. The life
of an Englishman was not worth much in Nejef,
but Leachman went there alone and returned
unscathed. Two aeroplanes flew round the town
232 IN THE CLOUDS ABOVE BAGHDAD
with a political officer as passenger. From
2,000 feet the inhabitants could be seen running in
great alarm to their mosques. Indescribable
terror and confusion was caused; a woman was
seen to rush at a wall and claw it fiercely when she
found she could not scale it. The object was
purely demonstrative, and the machines flew away
again. It is well to display power to the Eastern
m nd before negotiating. Good English blood was
yet to flow ere Nejef abandoned its hostility.
For the remainder of November the Force con-
tinued making good its losses and building up
reserves of ammunition and stores on the three
fronts. The Supply Services kept the river
transport continuously moving between the base
and Baghdad; 'the army was strung out and its
communications were long; to maintain a
margin of stores seemed a colossal task, and 'the
day's ration for each man by the time it reached
Samarra was estimated to cost over one pound.
It was an expensive war. The squadrons, in spite
of losses, were gradually building up towards full
establishment in men and material, a condition
which was never reached. The requirements of the
mapping section were inexhaustible; on the Kifri
front alone two Flights of 30 Squadron produced
just short of 5,000 photographs in the last week
of the month. The railway to Baqubah was
extended to Shahroban, which relieved the motor
transport. Ford convoys were arriving in the
country, more armoured-car squadrons, and a new
cavalry brigade were under formation, and a com-
ON THREE FRONTS 233
plete ambulance train for the Samarra railway had
been brought up river on barges from India.
The enemy were out of striking distance on the
Tigris; on the Euphrates they occupied Hit; on
the Diala they held Kara Tepe and the passes of
the Jebel Hamrin on the right bank of the river.
Here they were again within rapid striking distance,
and General Marshall accordingly decided to
attack them, for the third 'time on this ground.
The plan was to force the passage of the Diala
against the enemy's left, and at the same time
penetrate 'the Jebel Hamrin towards the Sakal-
tutan and Zenabil Passes. Concurrently with
this operation the Cavalry Division, under Major-
General Jones, were to advance up the Adhaim
River, away to the north-west, and get astride
the enemy's rear, thus preventing him either from
returning or being reinforced from 'the direction of
Kirkuk. Apart from the move of the cavalry^up 'the
Adhaim, there were four converging columns.
A volunteer force of Cossacks under General
Bicharakov had made their appearance from the
mountains of Persia. With 'the revolution the
Russians had melted away to their homes in the
Caucasus, but Bicharakov and his men, being
royalist to the core, preferred to pursue their
profession as soldiers of fortune in the cause of the
Allies to returning to their distressful country.
Colonel Leslie was Chief of the Staff to
Bicharakov ; in spite of his name he was a Russian,
and knew not a word of English or French. A
genial old boy, of gigantic proportions, he was
234 IN THE CLOUDS ABOVE BAGHDAD
descended from Scottish ancestors. This fact we
were not allowed to forget. He came down to
Baghdad, and we lunched one very hot day aboard
the " Mantis." Buxton produced a wonderful
repast, thoroughly appreciated by our friend, who
put away vast quantities, and in spite of the sun
washed it down with flagons of creme de menthe.
Between refills he would get up and toast the Czar,
the latter Emperor having already been
deposed; revolution being rife in Russia.
After wonderful barbaric orations, and having
drunk our healths in turn, he would again
wedge his huge body into a chair with a
sigh and assure us that he only lived for the day
when he could retire 'to his native Scotland ! I
expected him to subside with heat apoplexy every
minute. The Cossacks, with Corps Cavalry, were
to cross the Diala on our extreme right and work
round the enemy 'towards Kara Tepe, an infantry
brigade on their left to cross near Kizil Robat and
march on Kara Tepe, and a brigade to attack each
of the passes in the hills on the enemy's front and
right. It was a converging movement of extreme
width; there must have been fifty miles between
the Cavalry Division on the Adhaim and the
Cossacks on the Diala. Prior to this, on the night
of the 30th November, Lieuts. Skinner and Morris
raided the enemy's aircraft at Kifri by moonlight.
Due to ground mis't little result was attained.
The two Flights of 30 Squadron from Baqubah
moved twenty miles up the Diala on the 2nd
December to Qalat-Mufti, where General
ON THREE FRONTS 235
Egerton's Corps H.Q. were established. One
Flight, from 63 Squadron at Samarra, had flown
to Akab, at the mouth of 'the Adhaim, to work with
the Cavalry Division. An advanced ground was
established at Chai-Khana, thirty-five miles up the
Adhaim, where the cavalry left a detachment as
guard, and machines could land and gain touch
with their H.Q. Wireless was the only means of
communication with the cavalry.
On the night of 2nd December the game started.
No Hun had been out to watch our movements, and
the possibilities were great. At 4.30 a.m. on the
3rd our right-flank troops, the 35th Brigade, forded
the Diala three and a half miles above Kizil Robat,
and at 5 a.m. the 4o'th Brigade, our leftmost troops,
penetrated the hills two miles north-west of
Suhaniyeh, opposite the Sakaltutan Pass. At dawn
the attack commenced all along the line. Opposition
had been nil, and the enemy were apparently sur-
prised. The resistance was feeble and our progress
continuous but slow, owing to the intricacies of the
hills. To 'the north the enemy flooded the country
in front of the 35th Brigade, which delayed them
considerably. On the jight flank the Cossacks
crossed the Diala at Kishuk. On the left the
4Oth Brigade trapped two field guns, and some
prisoners in the broken ground. By nightfall the
enemy was still holding the Sakaltutan Pass with
infantry and two guns, but this appeared 'to be the
only point held by the Turks south of Kara Tepe.
On the Adhaim the Cavalry Division were held
up by a strong Turkish force, who opposed the
236 IN THE CLOUDS ABOVE BAGHDAD
passage of the Jebel Hamrin, in 'the hills about
eight miles east of Bandi-Adhaim. This was
unfortunate, as the cavalry were frustrated in their
plan of getting astride 'the enemy's communications,
and their role developed into a containing action.
During the night of the 3rd the enemy evacuated
the Sakaltutan Pass, and retired beyond Kara
Tepe. Throughout the 4th we continued to follow
up. The Cossacks and our cavalry detachment
occupied ground about four miles north-east of
Kara Tepe, and stopped all traffic on 'the Kifri
Road. Air reconnaissance reported the enemy in
position on high ground jus't north of
the town, and the bridge over the Nahrin
river at Nahrin Kupri blown up. At 4 p.m.
'the enemy attacked the Russians, but was
repulsed by machine-gun and shell fire. On the
5th the 35th and 4Oth Brigades passed through
Kara Tepe, and, supported by artillery, captured
the position; the Turks, screened by 'the hilly
country, fled towards Kifri and along the Abu Alik
Road.
Offensive air-patrols were out all the time, but
enemy aircraft were inactive. One Albatross only
got off the ground at Kifri, but did not attempt to
climb and attack our machine. "Anzac " prevented
two guns from coming into action by attacking the
gun teams with his machine-gun. The horses
broke loose and stampeded. He afterwards
reported that the Kifri coal mine was burning,
having been blown up by the Turks. The cavalry
detachment pursued as far as Ibrahim Samin, but
ON THREE FRONTS 237
becoming out of touch and without sustenance
further pursuit was abandoned the next day. We
buried eighty-seven Turks and made two hundred
and fifty prisoners. The British losses were slight
in comparison.
The Cavalry Division remained held throughout
at the Bandi-Adhaim defile, the Flight of 63
Squadron being actively employed bombing and
machine-gunning ihe enemy. One column of thirty
horse vehicles had been scattered and hunted down
in all directions.
The artillery co-operation with Colonel Lynch-
Stauriton's Horse Artillery Brigade was carried out
in quick time. Lynch-Staunton, the keenest of
gunners and finest of pig-s'tickers, had made a
hobby of rapid practice with aeroplanes, and
brought it, like everything else he did, to a fine art.
His wireless station could come into action in
nine'ty seconds. ' V " Battery won a case of beer,
promised to the battery that scored the first direct
hit. A fine soldier and sportsman, " Lynch " fought
in Mesopotamia for nearly three years, winter and
summer without ceasing, only to be killed in action
a few days before the Armistice, and he had made
such plans for shooting and polo and leave to
England !
On the 8th December the troops were withdrawn,
leaving detachments in the Sakal'tutan and Abu
Zenabil Passes, while a bridgehead was con-
structed at Kizil Roba't. The next day patrols went
forward to occupy Khanikin, on the Kirmanshah
Road. Air reconnaissance reported the enemy
238 IN THE CLOUDS ABOVE BAGHDAD
streaming along the Kirkuk Road and Kifri aban-
doned, the coal mine still burning.
Doubtless puzzled by our withdrawal from Kara
Tepe, Ihsan AH sent aircraft over the Diala four
times. Thrice they dodged our patrols, but on the
I3th December Skinner and Cox, on two Spads,
closed with a big two-seater at 9,000 feet above the
Adhaim River. In accordance with a prearranged
plan, Cox had climbed another thousand feet
higher than Skinner, so that he would be spotted
first by the Hun. Meanwhile Skinner got into
position underneath and brought his top machine-
gun to bear. Cox dived on the enemy six times out
of the sun, but his gun kept jambing with faulty
ammunition. Skinner, only fifty feet below the
Hun, got in twelve rounds, but his gun also jambed.
and the Hun escaped. But for the infernal jambs
he was a dead bird. The two pilots came back
" sick unto death."
The following document, captured in the Kara
Tepe operations, was interesting : —
" To the Commandant of the I56th Regiment.
' In order 'to deceive the aeroplanes from the
time that they are in sight, the infantry battalions
which are at Kara Tepe along with the first
battalion of the I56th Regiment, which is at the
south of Nahrin, will at once take the road toward
Jebel Hamrin without waiting for an order, without
striking their tents or taking their packs. They
will continue their march till the aeroplanes have
disappeared, and will rest at the place where they
ON THREE TRONTS 239
will have arrived. If the areoplanes are returning,
the battalions will continue their march toward
Jebel Hamrin, until they are no longer in sight, and
then will return to their own camp.
' The gunners, along with the machine-gunners,
will fire at the aeroplanes without waiting for
orders.
" Acting Commander of the 6th Division.
'' Kaynimre Kain,
" Mimamad Amin."
It was an old ruse, and we knew it well.
On December 5th, while the battle at Kara Tepe
was in progress, " Intelligence " at G.H.Q.
received information that a convoy of a hundred
and sixty camels was moving from Humr on the
Tigris across the desert to Hadithah. on the
Euphrates. Their probable position was worked
out accurately, and Captain Simpson and Lieut.
Caldwell, of 63 Squadron, went out from Samarra
to hunt them down. In the morning they failed to
locate the caravan, but a further effort in 'the after-
noon discovered them far out in the desert. The
two officers went right down and blew Arabs and
horses to glory with bombs and machine-gun fire
from a height of three hundred feet. It was an
efficient achievement that we could know when and
where enemy convoys were at large in the desert,
and, although a hundred and eighty miles from
Baghdad, could stretch out our arm to the exact
locality and blot them immediately.
In the middle of December the weather broke.
240 IN THE CLOUDS ABOVE BAGHDAD
We had had no rain for a year, but high southerly
winds now brought scudding clouds and torrential
showers, which submerged the Busrah aerodrome
and turned that at Baqubah into a swamp. It is
pleasant after a year again to feel rain in your face
when there is a dry house to go to, but out in the
desert it is different; one sits shivering while the
damp drips through the sun-rotted canvas. Hours
spent in the construction of cunning drainage
systems are of no avail; they eventually overflow
and one's kit floats about in 'the tent. At night
fearful blasts of wind uproot tent-pegs, and to save
the complete collapse of your happy home you rush
out to wield a malle't and strain on ropes like one
possessed. You turn in again between damp
blankets and attempt sleep under every conceivable
form of covering. About four in the morning the
scared face of a Pathan sentry peers out of the
gloom, and by his wild gesticulations and vehement
" gibberish " you realise that something is wrong.
Out you go again into the gale, in gum boots and
a macintosh over your pyjamas, in 'time to see a
hangar on the point of collapse. Officers and men
are routed out in the darkness to hang on to ropes
and save the machine. It is as bad as shortening
sail in a breeze at sea. The dawn breaks over
flooded wilderness; cold, wet, and feverish, you
swallow some sardines, for the cook cannot light
a fire except to make a little coffee for breakfast.
After a hot weather or so in Mesopotamia 'the blood
runs thin, and one shivers more easily.
For the rest of the month there were no more
Khazimain with rainstorm beyond
In the wake of a storm
ON THREE FRONTS 241
operations, but with the reinforcements of machines
and pilots we began to feel our strength, and deter-
mined, in the jargon of the air, " to keep a vertical
draught up the enemy." To carry this intention
into effect, we worried him in his country whenever
a gap in the unfavourable weather allowed it. He
seldom retaliated, but did not take his punishment
lying down, for on the approach of our machines
up would come the little Albatross and Halber-
stadt scouts to interrupt the raiders.
On the 1 7th December eight machines of 63
Squadron went out in two formations on a voyage
of destruction. The first formation left Samarra
at eight a.m., followed 'twenty minutes later by the
second. When the first reached Humr they were
attacked by three enemy scouts, speedier and of
faster-climbing power. Lieuts. Caldwell and
Griffith, in an R.E. 8, were set upon by two of these
wasps, and almost immediately had both petrol and
oil tanks pierced. Griffith, while engaging both
with his rear gun, was also wounded in hand and
arm by the hail of bullets from the Huns. He
managed to continue firing till the end of the drum
of ammunition, which, however, he was unable to
remove. With oil and petrol ebbing fast Caldwell
turned his machine for home, eighty miles distant ;
unaccountably the Huns also broke off the engage-
ment, being probably short of ammunition.
Caldwell nursed his engine till it " seized up " only
four miles from Samarra. The third Hun engaged
two of the remaining R.E. 8's, and kept up a furious
attack for 'thirty minutes, when he dived for his
242 IN THE CLOUDS ABOVE BAGHDAD
aerodrome. Both these machines were knocked
about, but got back safely. This resistance was
unusual, and prevented the first formation from
accurate bombing, but the way had been cleared
for the second, who made considerable havoc on
the Humr aerodrome.
Without a fighting escort, the offensive in enemy
country always lays the bombing machines open
to attack by enemy fighting scouts. This must be
accepted, unl-ess the distance is sufficiently short for
fighting scouts to accompany the bombing aero-
planes to their objective, and unless there are
sufficient fighters to do this. The R.E. 8's were
only a class better than the old B.E.s as regards
offensive work, for which they were not designed.
The faster, heavier fighter-reconnaissance 'type able
to pro'tect itself were in use on the Western Front;
we on our side-show must wait patiently till there
were sufficient to be spared, and meanwhile put
our best foot foremost with what we had. We were
generally lucky.
On the Diala front the Huns had moved their
aerodrome back from Kifri to Tuz Kurmatli,
eighty-five miles north from Baqubah. This was
bombed by 63 Squadron, but without serious
opposition. Nevertheless, these raids were always
exciting enough. One set out on a long flight to
distant enemy country with all the chances of being
stranded in the desert should the engine happen
to go wrong. The inhabitants were an uncertain
element, with slow methods of putting an end to
foreigners. There was always, also, the certainty
ON THREE FRONTS 243
of a fight on arrival at the objective; and then the
long run home, perhaps damaged by German
bullets — yes, one had breakfast in (the morning
and never quite knew where one would have lunch.
But in war you get accustomed 'to living from
hand to mouth ; the present is always cheerful, and
the uncertainty of the future breeds a lightness of
heart which makes boys of older men.
In Christmas week a German dropped a letter
at Samarra, with two others from Philpot and
Lander. The following is a translation of that
from the German pilot : —
" Honoured Sirs and Fellow Sportsmen, —
" I am herewith sending you some letters which
I have received by bearer. Owing to a mistake
they only came into my possession a few days ago,
and I therefore request you to excuse the delay.
' Further, I have a request to make. On
1 1 n I IT, while flying over El Aschik, I lost my
kelpek (a Turkish officer's cap with flying badge).
If it should be found I should be very glad if I
could have it back again.
1 With best wishes.
" K. O. HALDER, Pilot."
On the back of the envelope was writ'ten in pencil :
We are again ready to accept challenges in the
air."
The letter from Philpot read :-
" Dear Colonel, —Captain Schutz has very
kindly undertaken to have this note dropped. We
244 IN THE CLOUDS ABOVE BAGHDAD
are all well and being excellently treated. Could
you have a parcel or parcels dropped containing
some 'thick clothes (from Ordnance, if ours have
been sent home) for Begg. Baillon, and me?
Corporal Grant has been sent elsewhere. Also some
money in cash, about ^100. If you will write to
Cox's they will settle this for me. No parcels or gold
allowed out of England for prisoners in Turkey
now. Captain Schu'tz has undertaken to have tHis
parcel safely delivered if you will have it dropped.
Begg's extension fell off in the air while we were
both diving on a Halberstadt, and my engine never
picked up again when I shut off to help him. I am
so sorry. Good-bye. With best wishes to all.
" I remain,
" Yours obediently,
«'J. R. PHILPOT, Capt. R.F.C.
" PS. — Also, if possible, some chocolate or
tobacco."
This was the last we heard of Philpot.
And so another Christmas came round; it was
perhaps more gay than the last, for the flesh-
pots of Baghdad were of greater resource than
those of the desert, and many officers were given
leave for a few days from the Fronts.
Humr was again bombed on the night of 'the
27th, and a large formation of fourteen machines
from both squadrons mopped the place up on the
28th. Two Halberstadts were encountered during
the bombing. The first followed for three minutes
at a distance of two hundred yards, but on coming
ON THREE FRONTS 245
under the concentrated fire of three R.E. 8's dived
away, and preferred to land on the aerodrome
among the bombs. The second Hun took six
drums of Lewis gun-fire, and was driven on 'to the
ground near the junction of the Lesser Zab and the
Tigris. A cluster of four enemy machines was
found outside a hangar ; these and the hangars were
plastered with bombs. All pilots and observers
agreed that they must have been destroyed. At
one particular moment eleven bombs were seen to
burst simultaneously around and among the enemy
aeroplanes. The rear of the formation, under
Captain Everidge, was unable to see the ground
for smoke of burs'ting bombs and fire coming from
the hangars.
All that the enemy could muster in reply to this
were two machines, which bombed the camp of
63 Squadron at Samarra, at the stroke of midnight
on the last night of the Old Year. To quote Major
Bradley, commanding 63 Squadron : " We had a
good doing last night by the Huns. The waiter
was just heralding in the New Year on an empty
shell case, and I was proposing 'the health of all in
a glass of stout, when they came over. They made
very good shooting; one bomb twenty yards from
my pony, one near 'A' Flight mess, another ten
yards from the motor transport park, and one by
the cookhouse door, which destroyed our cookers,
' dixies/ water-carts, etc., and nearly got some
N.C.O.s in a trench. A large piece of bomb went
through the orderly-room tent. Altogether a
pleasant New Year's evening.5'
246 IN THE CLOUDS ABOVE BAGHDAD
This was too much, so on the 3rd January we
attacked Humr again, twelve strong, and put
seventy-nine bombs among them. The Huns were
out to stop us, and three combats took place over
the aerodrome. Lieut. Jacks and Corporal
Huxley were singled out by three scouts, above,
behind, and below. After fifteen rounds from the
Corporal's gun the enemy astern went spinning
down into the clouds, apparently out of control,
and the other two veered off. Two other R.E. 8's
had brushes with the enemy, who, however, would
not close. Page had a forced landing twenty miles
from home, but was located by a search machine,
and rescued by armoured cars, who remained out
all night, and towed 'the aeroplane back on the
following day.
On New Year's Day our wireless station picked
up the following message, faint but clear, from the
Eiffel Tower : —
' Journee marquee seulement par de vives
actions d'artillerie en Champagne, dans la region
des Monts et sur la rive droite de la Meuse, dans
le secteur de Bezonvaux. Pas d'action d'infanterie.
" A tous nos Allies et amis nous addressons nos
meilleurs souhaits de Bonne Annee."
Early in the New Year Lieut. Caldwell met with
a tragic death. He started out to rendezvous with
two other machines, and was heard of no more.
Parties searched the country in vain; it was not till
a week later that, acting on Arab advice, his body
was found near Daur. There were no signs of
ON THREE FRONTS 247
violence, but he had been stripped except for socks,
which were caked with mud from walking. Medical
officers certified that he had died from exposure.
Caldwell was found about fifty miles from where it
was reported that an English machine had come
down. Evidence seems to point that he had evaded
the Turks, but fallen into the hands of the Arabs,
who had taken all his clothes. The perishing nights
and scorching sun by day would not allow a human
to go far under those conditions. Another fifteen
miles and he would have won back.
Another forced landing, with not quite such
disastrous results, befell Lieuts. Mills and Taylor,
who burnt their machine and set off as hard as they
could 'to reach our lines by a wide detour through
the desert. Our armoured cars and aeroplanes
were scouring the country, so was the Turkish
cavalry. Alas, with armoured cars in sight they
were caught by the enemy, after having covered
thirty miles, a stout effort.
The enemy scored their first direct hit with anti-
aircraft gun-fire during a raid made by twelve
machines on the Kifri aerodrome. The machine hit
was a D.H. 4, the first of a powerful fighter-recon-
naissance 'type; its occupants, Lieut. Bean and
Sergt. Castor, were blown to atoms at 7,000 feet.
The pilot next behind in the formation was suddenly
aware of debris in mid-air; there was nothing left
larger than one's hand.
On 'the 1 2th, while I was at Felujah, a " Zepp"
message reported a Hun coming down the
248 IN THE CLOUDS ABOVE BAGHDAD
Euphrates from Hit. We were sitting down to
lunch in the Flight mess when the orderly came in ;
there was a general bolt for 'the aerodrome. My
own machine was standing ready, and two others
were run out without delay. Not waiting for coats
or other gear, Merton leapt in behind me, and we
were off the ground within five minutes of the call.
Having gone some miles up-river beyond where
the Hun had been reported, and having hunted the
air without result, we came back. To our surprise
on landing we were met by the jubilant remainder
of the Flight with two German officers. Appar-
ently 'they had watched us pass close underneath
the enemy machine soon after leaving the ground.
The Huns had seen the three British machines
pass to cut them off, and thereupon landed
near the aerodrome owing to their engine seizing
up. They managed to bum 'their machine before
capture.
It was a cheap victory, for not a shot was fired.
The two prisoners were given lunch by 'their
would-be destroyers. Being the Flight-Com-
mander's birthday it was a good lunch ; I remember
there was beer and pate de foie gras. The captives
had not seen the 4 ike since leaving Germany. Both
were dour and Hunnish ; 'the pilot was very young,
he looked about seventeen, and his observer, a
grim-looking monster in spectacles, was old enough
to be his father. To my surprise the pilot gave the
name of Haider, my correspondent of a few weeks
back. This was amusing, for I remembered that he
Hun aviators who
machine at Ramadi
ON THREE FRONTS 249
had written on the envelope : " We are again ready
to accept challenges in the air " ! I asked him
about his lost " kelpek," but he explained that that
was just a joke. Well, his joke had ended badly.
Taking two men as guard, I motored them across
the forty miles of desert to Baghdad in the
afternoon. We broke down en route \ it was a
curious situation, being stranded in 'the desert with
two foes. They were of course unarmed, and I
had a couple of Sepoys with me ; the fifth man was
the driver; fortunately we got ahead again. They
were our first informants that poor Paddy Maguire,
captured a year before, had died of his burns; we
also learnt that his opponent had died of dysentery
in the summer, and that Lander was still in hospital
at Mosul.
On the night of 24th January there was an air
raid on Baghdad. This was the first and only time
that they bombed the city, although we had long
expected them. A system of defence had been
worked out, and anti-aircraft guns were situated at
various points to co-operate with the searchlights
of the gunboats, but they came and went unscathed,
only causing a few casualties in a hospital. We
decided on a night of persecution as a lesson against
any further disturbance of our slumber. From 8.30
p.m. on the following evening till dawn of the 26th
our machines harried 'the enemy camps, bivouacs and
aerodromes at Humr and Kifri. They left at half-
hour intervals through the night and bombed and
machine-gunned everything that came in 'their path.
It was a night out for the squadrons, and must have
25O IN THE CLOUDS ABOVE BAGHDAD
been a night out for the Turks. In spite of the
nature of the operation there was only one casualty,
and that was the second D.H. 4.
Page, who went out from Baqubah to search in
an old B.E., was attacked by a Halberstadt, which
he drove off, and returned with a negative report.
The two officers in the D.H. 4 were Nuttall and
Bob Sievier, both veterans of fame, and a greater
loss than we cared to consider. But to our joy they
eventually turned up. Turkish bullets had
damaged their engine at 1,000 feet, but Nuttall
glided down and made a perfect landing in strange
country in the dark, his engine on fire. They were
two miles N.E. of Kara Tepe, twenty-four miles
behind the enemy's lines, and close to his camps.
Taking a Lewis gun apiece and the three remaining
drums of ammunition they wasted no time in getting
clear of the burning machine. Making a detour,
they then struck a course by the stars for the Diala.
Nuttall and Sievier were thoroughly enjoying
themselves. If only a Turkish cavalry patrol would
come along, 'they intended to wipe it out with their
machine-guns and capture 'the horses to save further
walking. Stumbling all night across the broken
country 'they eventually reached the river without
being intercepted. But here there was difficulty, for
they could get no further, and were still in enemy
country. The British bridgehead at Mir j ana could
not be far off, but watery nullahs prevented further
exploration. Having come far carrying heavy loads
they lay down in a ditch and slept soundly.
Awakened by the hot sun they exposed themselves
ON THREE FRONTS 2$ I
in order to attract the attention of British outposts
on the far bank, and were greeted by a burst of
machine-gun fire, which nearly proved their
undoing. A handkerchief tied to a reed eventually
produced " R. U. " signalled from the opposite
side. They answered " R.F.C., S.O.S.," then
moved within hailing distance, and an armoured
car was sent to bring them in. The two officers
had really achieved rather a notable performance in
covering twenty-four miles in the dark carrying two
machine-guns with ammunition, and winning back
to our lines.
The inhabitants of North-West Persia were
starving, so British posts were extended up the
Persian road as far as the head of the Pai Tak Pass
to open up the road and improve it for trade and
food supplies. Before the end of January we
established a landing-ground and petrol-dump at
Kasr-i-Shirin, thus enabling two aeroplanes to reach
Kirmanshah, a hill town 5,000 feet up and eighty-
five miles in from Kasr-i-Shirin. Despatches were
brought down from the British Consul there the
following day. A message had come through
describing the ground in this mountain fastness,
and we relied on the skill of the pilots to land on
the snow without crashing. It is necessary to start
from Kirmanshah before the sun is up, as the heavy
frost in the night leaves the snow hard, but imme-
diately the sun rises the thaw makes the ground
impossible. The 'troops camped high up on the
road endured many hardships from the cold and
252 IN THE CLOUDS ABOVE BAGHDAD
shortage of rations, for in bad weather it was
difficult to supply them. Living under canvas in
the snow is trying to the human frame after
sojourning in the fires of the desert, and we had not
gone to Mesopotamia clad for the Arctic.
Chapter VIL
A LAST CROWDED HOUR.
And when Thyself with shining Foot shall pass
Among the Guests Star-scattered on the Grass
And in thy joyous Errand reach the Spot
Where I made one — turn down an «mpty Glass !
— OMAR.
CHAPTER VII.
CLOUDS were gathering over the Caspian in the
north, and a phantom army of officers, N.C.O.s,
and men from overseas was arriving at Busrah.
Volunteers from Mesopotamia and all scenes of war
began to accumulate at Baghdad. Australians, New
Zealanders, Canadians, and English, they were
known as the " Hush Hush Army." We were not
allowed to talk about their mission, but we knew
that some swashbuckling game was afoot, for they
were as tough a looking crowd of cheery customers
as our race could produce ; veteran fighters all, and
a formidable enough gang to back any man into
battle. General Dunsterville, the original of
Kipling's " Stalky," arrived to lead them. They
were to cut themselves away from Mesopotamia,
migrate north through Persia into Armenia, and
there muster the Armenians and train them into an
army to march against the Turk or Bolshevik, thus
securing our threatened right flank. It was a daring
enterprise. They faded away over the mountains
as silently as they had come.
The situation at Teheran was volcanic; intern-
ally there was faction against faction ; the power of
the Shah was doubtful. There were Germans,
255
256 IN THE CLOUDS ABOVE BAGHDAD
Turks, Russians, Swedes, French, Austrians,
Americans, British, all living cheek by jowl in this
" neutral " capital.
Colonel Stokes, who had been military attache
in Teheran for several years before the war, was
ordered 'to reach the British Legation at that place
as soon as possible. A convoy of Ford cars, under
Major Sir Walter Bart'telot, were making prepara-
tions to trek from Baghdad, but would probably
take some weeks to get through. Stokes
approached me about getting there by air, and we
decided it was a practicable, though perhaps
hazardous, undertaking. Teheran is seven hundred
miles from Baghdad; the course lay over 12,000
feet mountain ranges and wild uncivilised country.
There was no map of any accuracy, and 'the winding
road lost itself among snows and mountain passes.
It promised to be a wonderful flight, and one felt
a great desire to see this remote capital, situated
high up in the mountains hundreds of miles from
civilisation, a centre of the intrigue of many
nations. But it was impossible for me to go.
Browning, who had been with us as observer before
the capture of Baghdad and was now a full-blown
pilot, was entrusted with the enterprise. Two
machines started off, one carrying extra petrol
instead of a passenger. They both replenished at
Kasr-i-Shirin, and went on to Kirmanshah. Land-
ing at Kirmanshah, one was filled up with the spare
fuel from the other, and thus able to negotiate the
further three hundred miles to Teheran.
Browning left Kirmanshah in a snowstorm on the
A LAST CROWDED HOUR 257
morning of the 24th, and climbed to 13,500 feet on
a bearing for Asabad. He did not again pick up
the ground till near Kangavar, and only just
cleared the Asabad Pass. The 19,000 feet peak
of Demavand, behind Teheran, was sighted a
hundred and eighty miles away, and gave a good
landmark. On arrival at the Persian capital all
efforts were made to intern him by 'the Swedish
gendarmerie, in spite of the fact that machine-guns
and other armament had been stripped from
his aeroplane at Kirmanshah, so 'that he should
not violate neutrality. (British, Russian, and
Turkish forces had been fighting in Persia
for two years !) But the designs of
the Swedes were frustrated by the superior
numbers of Cossacks present. A guard of forty
was maintained to preserve the machine from
destruction. The natives of Teheran could not
understand 'that the aeroplane itself was the means
of flight, but thought it only the carriage to sit in,
and that the propeller merely acted as a fan to
keep the airman cool while he exerted himself with
some hidden wings, which they were very intent to
discover on the person of the pilo't. They
examined Browning's flying badge, but pointed out
in argument that these " wings " were too small to
fly with, and that there must be others elsewhere.
The town was crowded with enemy, particularly
Austrians freed by the Bolsheviks from
Russian prisons. The German flag flew cheerfully
opposite the Union Jack on the respective Lega-
tions. The warring nationalities kept sullenly to
258 IN THE CLOUDS ABOVE BAGHDAD
themselves. The Shah's palace is outside the town ;
he expressed great curiosity to see 'the British aero-
plane, but did not dare to come into Teheran : 'there
were those who were engaged in starving the popu-
lation, having appropriated all the wheat in order to
put up the price. Meanwhile Browning awaited
the arrival of the Ford convoy, to refill with fuel
for the return journey. The time was spent playing
poker with Swedes and Russians and their ladies.
The night before taking off he received a note from
the Shah requesting him to fly over his palace on
his return journey. Immediately before starting,
however, came another note cancelling the request
in case foreign eyes should probe the sanctity
of the harem from above. Browning had
telegraphed to me, via India, that he had landed in
a barrack square, out of which it was hazardous
work to fly the aeroplane. I had wired back
suggesting knocking down a gap in the wall; this
apparently entailed the demolition of the Regular
Persian Army barracks, and the project was but
coldly received by the Legation ! However, he
eventually flew out into the open country by
emptying the tanks and lightening his machine.
Before leaving, Sir Charles Marling insisted that
a passenger, who could speak Persian, should
accompany Browning in case of a forced landing.
Their " ghulam " (porter) was accordingly ordered
to go, and thoroughly enjoyed the flight to Kir-
manshah, where oil and petrol were picked up.
From there Colonel Bicharakov, commanding the
Russian Partisan Detachment, was brought down
TT
Browning's arrival at Teheran
A LAST CROWDED HOUR 259
to Baghdad. It was a notable achievement; our
aeroplanes then were not Handley-Pages or
Vickers-Vimy.
In the middle of February another squadron
arrived at Busrah, a fighting squadron, under Major
von Poellnitz, equipped with the latest machines.
Fortunately their arrival was timed more happily
than the last, for the weather was still cool, and
they came up-river with few casualties from
sickness. Two of their Scout Flights were located
at Samarra and Mirjana, to attack any Hun
'that approached our forward positions. The long-
distance D.H. 4 Flight remained at Baqubah.
Von Poellnitz unfortunately was killed soon after
by the capsizing of his motor-car over an embank-
ment. The wing had grown, and now mustered
more than a thousand men and a hundred officers.
The marshes of the Euphrates south of Hilla to
Nasiriyeh being uncharted, two aeroplanes went
to Kufa to carry out a survey of this little-known
land. The whole area was in an unsettled state,
and troops had been despatched south to pro'tect
the isolated political officers and friendly tribes.
While flying to Kufa a failing engine forced me to
land within a mile of the ruins of Babylon. Armed
Arabs commenced 'to collect at once, and I was
glad to see the arrival of a few " shabbanas," or
local levies, organised by the political department.
These desperados, on their little Arab ponies,
revelling in their authority, set about " knouting "
the crowd in a most energetic manner. A Sheikh
lent me his pony, and with a " shabbana " as
260 IN THE CLOUDS ABOVE BAGHDAD
escort, I galloped six miles to Hilla, where there
was a British garrison and 'telegraph wire. The
short stirrups and impossible Arab saddle, with
only the usual single cord to the pony's mouth,
afford no control and cause agonies of cramp 'to the
European. My steed, however, knew the road, and
clattered over the rough ground with a wonderful
skill and fine turn of speed which, with only my
cord, I was quite incapable either of controlling or
directing. A breakdown party flew out from
Baghdad, and with Durward, the photographic
officer, I flew on to Kufa the next day.
While stranded we had a look at Babylon, a mass
of half-buried ruins rising in a cluster from the
sand. Since 1899 the Germans had been hard at
work excavating, and had built a museum by the
river. As soon as our influence penetrated as far
as Hilla, the military authorities protected the
museum, otherwise there would have been little
left of it after a few visitations from roving
subalterns. Nearly every brick bears an inscrip-
tion, records of the days of Nebuchadnezzar and
prehistoric dynasties, for 'the Babylonian ruins, as
at present seen, have their foundations on previous
Baby Ions. The salient features of the place are
the Ishtar Gate, built by Nebuchadnezzar, and a
statue of a lion standing over a man.
On the way to Kufa we passed the mound and
ruins which Arab tradition regards as all that
remains of the Tower of Babel. It has the appear-
ance of a Scottish " doocot," and is certainly a very
ancient edifice. These traces of a bygone
A LAST CROWDED HOUR 26 1
standing by themselves in the wilderness, seemed
in their silence to hold aloof from the latest
achievements of man ; one felt in an aeroplane that
one was outraging their sanctity.
We found the two survey aeroplanes in the desert
half-way between Kufa and Nejef, guarded by
Territorials, and "here I me't an old friend, Frank
Balfour, political officer of this wild district. There
had been shooting in the bazaars, and this lonely
work among fanatical thousands was no light
responsibility. A few days later Marshall, of the
Dogras, was murdered in Nejef, and Frank
Balfour, besieged in his house, held out until relief
arrived. Nejef was blockaded by our troops and
thereby cut off from water except for a few brackish
wells inside the city. After a period of siege those
responsible were surrendered. A somewhat
unfortunate incident took place when I sent a flying
officer with important despatches from G.H.Q. to
the officer commanding the British column. It
was not without humour. The pilot entrusted with
the despatches was 'told to drop them without
landing, so on getting into his machine he explained
to the mechanic who was accompanying him to
throw them over when he waved his hand and
pointed down. They set off; on approaching
Babylon the pilot thought he would like to point
out the ruins for the edification of his mechanic.
So he circled round and pointed. Away went the
despatches ! The pilot arrived back with this sorry
tale; there were hectic interviews with the powers,
and Indian cavalry searched the area for two days,
s
262 IN THE CLOUDS ABOVE BAGHDAD
until 'the secret papers were fortunately recovered.
The pilot and mechanic received their fill of abuse !
I took F. B. over 'the southern extremities of this
district, an area of swampy vegetation thickly popu-
lated by marsh Arabs, and then left him at Kufa
and went on to Baghdad. A few days later news
filtered 'through of the death of Marshall and the
plight of Balfour a hundred miles to the south-
ward. Armoured cars were despatched to his
assistance, and aeroplanes went down to co-operate
with 'the column. But, more important still, I
possessed a bottle of old liqueur brandy, which 'the
pilot was to deliver, come what might. It reached
him.
In the middle of February our eyes were turned
towards the Euphrates front. Since the capture of
Ahmed Bey at Ramadi there had been no fighting ;
the resources of the district had been developed,
and our influence established among the local
tribes. The enemy had, however, reinforced 'this
front, and were concentrated about Hit and
Salahiyeh, with his forward troops at Uqbah,
between Hit and Ramadi. The railway from
Baghdad to Felujah was complete. The enemy,
in considerable strength, were well within striking
distance, and General Marshall again decided to
take the offensive, and at least eject him from his
positions, if not destroy or capture his force. After
Ramadi the latter event seemed unlikely. By the
occupation of Hit we should also appropriate the
valuable bitumen wells, for which the place is
famed, and deny him the desert road connecting his
A LAST CROWDED HOUR 263
Euphrates front with Tekrit, on the Tigris. On
the i Qth February a column, under General Lucas,
moved up from Ramadi and occupied Uqbah
without opposition. Air reconnaissance reported
the enemy to be evacuating their trenches south of
Hit and taking up a position on high rocky ground
two miles above the town at the Broad Wadi, where
gun-pits and dumps were located; two enemy
aircraft were at Hit; one in the air refused action
and dived for his aerodrome.
A Flight from Baqubah and one from Samarra
flew to Ramadi and formed a composite squadron
under D. H. for the Euphrates offensive. The
transport from Samarra came down to Baghdad by
rail and completed the journey by road; there was
no suitable road between Samarra and Baghdad;
at that time a road meant an unmetalled desert
track cleared of boulders and carried by rough
bridges over the nullahs. The transport from
Baqubah, in spite of heavy rain which made the
desert well-nigh impassable, reached Ramadi, a
hundred miles distant, in one day; 52 Kite Balloon
Section pushed up to the advanced troops at
Uqbah, and the next fortnight was spent accumu-
lating supplies, concentrating troops in the forward
area, and bombing the enemy. In one week three
tons of bombs were dropped and 9,000 rounds fired
from the air at ground targets. The Hun aero-
planes on Hit aerodrome received particular
attention, and were subjected to showers of bombs
at short intervals. One enemy machine was 'totally
destroyed by a direct hit by Lieut. Berrington, so
264 IN THE CLOUDS ABOVE BAGHDAD
they moved their aerodrome fifty miles back to
Hadi'thah. Rain and low clouds did much to
hamper both aerial work and the movement of
transport.
The influence of a German political officer at
large in Persia had been causing considerable
annoyance. Traps had been laid for him, but the
elusive von Drueffel had never been caught.
Aeroplanes scoured the country where his
presence had been reported from outside sources,
and eventually two machines found and bombed
his camp. It was later ascertained that six of his
wireless operators were killed, but that von
Drueffel still lived.
There was still another front for which Force
" D " was responsible, at Ahwaz, up the Karun
river, far away to the south-east. Here a British
garrison had been engaged for the last three years
in protecting the oilfields and guarding our flank
against the wild Bakhtiari tribes to our right rear.
For German influence was rife in Southern Persia.
There had again been 'trouble, and the need of
aeroplanes was telegraphed to Baghdad by General
Younghusband. Petrol and oil were despatched up
the Karun river, and officers who happened to be at
Busrah were ordered to proceed there in two new
machines from the Aircraft Park. Unfortunately
Captain Parker and Air-mechanic Neilson were
killed when starting off on this expedition. Their
machine, which was heavily loaded, crashed into
the ground from three hundred feet. Two aero-
planes reached Dizful, and with a political officer
A LAST CROWDED HOUR 265
as observer reconnoitred the disturbed area. They
were stranded at Shush by bad weather, but
eventually regained Ahwaz and returned to Busrah.
The enemy, becoming uncomfortable at our
forward movement and concentration on the
Euphrates, left nothing to chance, and evacuated
Hit on the afternoon of March 8th. Our troops
advanced and occupied the town without opposi-
tion on the following day. Flying along the
Aleppo road I watched their columns winding back
and we managed some execution with the machine-
gun. The country above Hit becomes rocky, and
the Euphrates flows down past cliffs and steep
banks. As with the Tigris at Samarra, it is the
end of the alluvial plain of Mesopotamia. The
desert is broken and hilly, as between Suez and
Cairo. Captain Haight and Lieut. Hancock had
vanished into it five days previously; search
machines eventually discovered the charred remains
of their aeroplane two and a half miles N.E. of
Hit. A deserter reported that their engine had
been damaged by rifle-fire, that the officers had burnt
their machine, and were believed to be prisoners.
I landed on the German aerodrome at Hit just
as our advanced troops were passing 'through, and,
borrowing a bombardier's horse, caught up the
head of the column with my report. Hit stands up
from the desert like a mediaeval fortress, the cause
of this elevation being ruins of former Hits; the
town crumbling with decades is built up again on
its own ruins, and so, with the passage of time,
it clmbs up above the surrounding country. It was
266 IN THE CLOUDS ABOVE BAGHDAD
the same with Babylon. Hit smelt worse perhaps
than anywhere in the world. I remember once
lying off Castellamare, in the Bay of Naples, a hot
evening with faint airs off the land. I thought then
the odour was intolerable, but Hit was worse.
First of all there were the bitumen wells; boiling
pitch bubbles to the surface, giving off sulphuretted
hydrogen; the odour of rotten eggs hangs heavy
on 'the atmosphere. Then, near the town, even this
is subjugated by the deadly stench of rotting
carcases, drainage and refuse, littered round the
walls and in the dark alleys which serve as streets.
There are palm groves outside Hi't, and with the
quaint town standing out from among them and the
broad Euphrates flowing past, the place possessed
a fairy-story appearance. The retiring enemy
columns were a fine quarry for airmen. We began
bombing 'them at dawn on the Qth, and continued
till dusk; havoc was caused among troops and
transport both by bombs and machine-gun fire from
ground-level upwards. The deeds of the squadron
could be read along the road. The enemy
moved right back to Khan Baghdadi, where
he took up a position on rocky heights
running into the desert on the right bank of the
Euphrates.
Bad weather hampered movements both on
the ground and in the air. Von Drueffel, on
the Persian side, received his weekly ration
of bombs, and more of his native following
were reported to have been killed. All 'this time
General Cassels had been feverishly training the
Kite-balloon and Anti-aircraft gun in the desert
Hit
A LAST CROWDED HOUR 267
nth Cavalry Brigade in the vicinity of Baghdad.
The 7th Hussars and the Guides Cavalry, recently
arrived from India, the 23rd Cavalry from Ahwaz,
and W Batteiy R.H.A., with i8-pounder guns,
hauled by four pairs of horses instead of the usual
i3-pounder R.H.A. battery with three-pair teams.
They trained night and day as an independent
brigade, and Bob Cassels, dreaming of victories to
be, awaited the opportunity to lead his finely-
tempered machine into action. He hoped hard 'to
be sent to the Euphrates, and to get his chance
before the enemy slipped away out of reach. I
arrived back at Baghdad in time to play polo one
afternoon, and told him the sad news of the rapid
Turkish retirement to Khan Baghdadi. It looked
as though for the rest of the war our energies
would be confined to polo. Poor Cassels was a
disappointed man.
A Baghdad " week " had been arranged : racing,
polo tournament, horse show, golf tournament,
football, boxing, etc. As many as could be spared
came in from the desert; the G.O.C. himself cap-
tained one of the polo teams, and for four days
Baghdad was a scene of sport and jollification such
as it had never witnessed before. Keenness and
competition were at fever heat, and concerts at night
culminated the day's programme. The messes
were crammed, and a special camp had been
arranged for the overflow. The final of the polo
tournament was a sight that will never be forgotten.
The match was watched by thousands; the 22nd
Cavalry and i4th Bengal Lancers were the finalists,
268 IN THE CLOUDS ABOVE BAGHDAD
their 'teams composed of famous players. When the
histle blew at the end of the last " chukker " it
was still a draw. It had been a galloping game,
and the ponies were tired. Two more " chukkers "
went by with widened goal-posts, and still the 22nd
and I4th went thundering up and down the dusty
ground with the ball in the middle. The Sowars
around waved and yelled themselves hoarse with
excitement. The syces 'tried to restore freshness
to the soaked, bloodshot-eyed, game little ponies.
Riders and ponies were almost beat, and it had been
agreed that a draw should be declared if no scoring
took place in the coming "chukker." The multitude
was tense with excitement when " click " went the
sticks once more as the umpire threw in the ball.
The air was electric ; we had forgotten the war and
all else for the great god Sport. With staggering
ponies the i4th Lancers, a team of magnificent
sportsmen of fine polo and pig-sticking fame,
pressed the ball through their opponents' goal-
posts. The army thundered applause.
The Indian soldier is a born sportsman;
" Shikar," Love, and War, the three 'things that
matter to all true gentlemen, are the creed of the
fighting tribesman; that was the root and glorious
tradition of the native army; by it the Sowar or
Sepoy judged his " Sahib," and because of this
sense of fellow-feeling, of being dealt with by
" men," he loved his " sahib " better than life.
When this love dies it is the end of the Indian
army, and modern democratic developments are
hanging over it like the Sword of Damocles. Officer
First race meeting at Baghdad, showing cloud shadows on the desert
A LAST CROWDED HOUR 269
your wild Pathan regiments with " Babus " from
the cities or second-rate Britishers, but do not
expect them to follow into the Armageddon of
modern warfare. Why did Sikh, Garhwali, or
Punjabi endure the exposures and tortures of the
damned through all the long war? Different in
race, religion, and language, they followed gladly
over unheard-of seas to fight in unknown lands and
foreign climates and be mowed down and maimed
in thousands. Ask the Risaldar or Sepoy why he
left all, to fight for the infidel against his brother
Mahommedans : " Smith Sahib go to war, then I
go to war." Our orators who preach sedition in
Hyde Park would have done well to have witnessed
that polo match in Baghdad.
While we exercised our muscles at Baghdad,
General Brooking still followed the Turk by
moving forward men and supplies on the Euphrates,
for General Marshall had issued orders to drive
the enemy as far as possible. Our advanced troops
at Salahiyeh were already 70 miles from the rail-
head at Felujah. They were entirely maintained
by motor-lorries, and it seemed that further forward
movement would overtax the burden of the
transport services.
But the new Ford convoys were proving
their use, and as much motor-transport as could be
spared was sent to the Euphrates. Cassels5 Cavalry
Brigade marched there by night, hiding during the
day, and armoured cars rolled out under cover of
darkness. The enemy were fourteen miles away,
at Khan Baghdadi. General Brooking decided to
270 IN THE CLOUDS ABOVE BAGHDAD
attack the front early on 26th March, while the
cavalry and armoured cars worked round the desert
flank during the night, and got across the Aleppo
road and his line of retreat. The broad principles
of this operation were the same as at Ramadi ; we
could only pray that he would stick to his ground.
On the evening of the 24th, Hobart, Brigade-
Major of the 8th Infantry Brigade, dined with me in
Baghdad to say farewell ; his division, the 3rd, were
following 'the 7th, which had left for the Palestine
front. I happened to say that I was flying out
to Hit on the following morning to have a look at
the enemy's position and see the squadron. I could
not say more, as the impending operations were
deadly secret; but it was my intention to complete
the final air arrangements with the i5th Divisional
S'taff and the squadron on that front. To do so it
seemed necessary to gain a personal knowledge of
the enemy's position at Khan Baghdadi. Hobart,
who had never seen the Euphrates, and who had
many friends there, was keen to come out and see
them before he went down-river and left the
country. Accordingly, on the morning of the 28th,
we set out from Baghdad in the third new D.H. 4;
'the fate of the other two has already been
described.
The weather was cool, with the wind in the north
and driving black rain clouds. The D.H. 4 forged
along in the teeth of this at a comfortable 100 miles
an hour. The Euphrates was eventually picked up,
and 'then we were immersed in the fluffy fog of a
rainstorm at 4,000 feet. We broke out of it with
A LAST CROWDED HOUR 271
Hit astern and to our left, the country below a mass
of nullahs and rocks. We had gone fairly low 'to
avoid the heavy clouds; I could hear the well-
known crackling of machine-guns somewhere down
there on the floor, but could see no sign of life.
Glancing at my instruments, the temperature of the
water had suddenly gone up to boiling point; when
that happens it is time to turn for home. Then the
dial went back to o ; the only possible inference from
these wild fluctuations could be that there was no
water left; those infernal machine-guns must have
hit our radiator. Easing down the engine, I made
for our lines in the hope of crashing somewhere
among 'the rocks within reach of friends, but it
was soon apparent that we were dropping too fast
to clear enemy country, and the overheated engine
could not be expected to revolve much longer. A
thousand feet up the propeller stopped, and the
sudden silence intensified the racket of machine-
gun and rifle fire from below. They were hitting us
now, and we could see the Turks running about on
the ground. There seemed no place where it was
possible to land, but we turned up a nullah running
down from the desert, and somehow alighted on a
few yards of sand without crashing. The hills and
rocks rose up all around us, and from these the fire
continued, the bullets crashing through the
machine and throwing up the dust. I 'tore at a
petrol-pipe with the blackness of despair, while
Hobart searched in his clothing for matches; at
least we would burn the machine. Having ignited
a leak we jumped clear of the machine; Turks
272 IN THE CLOUDS ABOVE BAGHDAD
appeared from cover and advanced cautiously, for
the zone was still bullet-swept from sportsmen on
the further heights. They ran in and we held up
our hands. A little officer rushed up and greeted
us warmly, telling us not to be frightened, and
congratulating us on being alive. But we cared
neither for his remarks nor the fact that we were
still alive ! They led us to a shelter, which
happened to be battalion H.Q., where we were
politely received by a lieutenant-colonel, to whom
we handed the contents of our pockets. Several
other officers came in, and all chattered unceasingly
while the battalion commander wrote a report, and
we endeavoured to make them understand the
spelling of our names and ranks. Coffee was pro-
duced, and the excited eloquence of the enemy
became more voluble. They seemed pleased with
their capture. We were growing a bit bored with
this, when a new officer burst in, and informed us
we were to ride back with him. After much hand-
shaking, we mounted two broken-down ponies, and,
surrounded by a magnificent escort, clattered down
the Wadi. How I longed for one of my polo
ponies; that ragged crew would have been left
standing. En route we were met and ecstatically
greeted by a dapper little Turkish officer, who
explained that he, he alone, was responsible for
our capture. He it was who commanded the
machine-guns, and who had so aptly directed the
barrage against us; with eighteen mitrailleuses on
one hill, he assured us that there had been no
possibility of our escape ; but he expressed profound
A LAST CROWDED HOUR 273
satisfaction that we were unhurt, and were we not
lucky, as we would now be alive at the end of the
war. So, fuming with pride and self-satisfaction,
this droll specimen of the Turkish army strutted
back to his mitrailleuses.
Rounding a corner we came upon a suspiciously
British-looking bell-tent, with an unsuccessful
attempt at a garden outside it. Dismounting here,
we were greeted by a genial old Turk, whose
benign smile disclosed two complete rows of golden
teeth. This suave old gentleman did nothing but
express condolence and attempt to persuade us that
our lot was most fortunate. The Germans were
advancing, and Paris was being bombarded; the
war would soon be over, and we should return safe
to our homes in England; with this well-meant but
distasteful sympathy ringing in our ears, coffee and
cigarettes were handed round. He told us of his
various visits to Paris, and said he intended coming
to London as soon as the war was over; we must
give him our addresses, and together we should
have an evening's entertainment, for he had heard
that the ladies were lovely in London, and the sly
old roue winked his eye ! With the utmost
courtesy he bade us farewell, and we left him, his
gold teeth flashing in the sunlight.
After another hour's ride the Divisional H.Q.
were reached, and we were brought before Nazmi
Bey, commanding the Euphrates Front. A tall,
spectacled, serious-looking Turk, communication
with him was impossible as he could speak no
French. A smart-looking boy who talked broad
274 IN THE CLOUDS ABOVE BAGHDAD
Yankee arrived 'to interpret. The conversation was
long and flagging, for his part dwelling mostly on
the German successes in France ; news had reached
us at Baghdad of the March offensive at Cambrai,
but we were disinclined to believe that the reverse
on the Western Front was as serious as they stated.
Ali, the boy, seemed most friendly, and during the
conversation volunteered advice regarding our
answers, and kept telling us not to be frightened of
the General ! Nazmi Bey was inquisitive about our
aerial activity : Why did we not leave them alone for
a minute ? Was it fair that they should be bombed
and machine-gunned night and day? What did it all
mean? His questions were rather inopportune, as,
knowing the plans for the morrow, it was vital to
allay any suspicion that might be latent in the mind
of the enemy commander. We parried them by
subtle flattery in the suggestion that, with such an
opponent, the strictest vigilance was essential. The
.Turkish General informed us that we should
probably remain in camp with him for two or three
days; this suited us well, for on the morrow the
British army were to move. Ali led us off to a
tent; on the way we passed four German officers
sitting at their mess. The Germans lived entirely
by themselves; their isolation was most marked.
Later one came to interrogate us; as he approached,
Ali made the astonishing announcement, " Here
comes the sausage, but pay no attention to him."
Our visitor proved to be the Intelligence officer ; he
spoke English as an Englishman, and his name was
Boyes. Having been a merchant in Calcutta for
A LAST CROWDED HOUR 2? 5
fourteen years, it was curious that he should have
packed up his home and belongings to return 'to
Germany in June, 1914. As an inquisitor he was
weak; he seemed kindly disposed towards us,
perhaps in deference to his English forbears. The
evening was cold, and our request for a little
exercise being granted gave us an opportunity for
a reconnaissance of our surroundings with regard
to escape; but the numerous sentries, dogs, and
brilliant moon extinguished any hopes. AH
produced some soup and black bread, and informed
us that he was the son of a cigarette-maker in
Stamboul ; he gave us his father's address, and said
he would write to him to help us. He was most
sympathetic and friendly ; educated in an American
college, his demeanour was more Occidental than
Oriental. They gave us a blanket, and, settling
down on the ground for the night, we had hardly
got to sleep when an officer roused us at 10 p.m.
and informed us that we must move.
Knowing what I did of the plans of the army,
our chief aim was to keep near the front as long as
possible; we argued with the Staff officer, and
eventually made him wake the General 'to ask if we
might be left till the morning, as we were very tired.
The General replied that " an order was an order,"
and we were to move at once. So, cold, tired, and
depressed, we were bundled into a waggon behind
drawn curtains and, escorted by a guard of a dozen
men, jolted off across the broken ground. The cold
was intense, the cart had no springs, and Hobart
and I were thrown up and down on the seat like
276 IN THE, CLOUDS ABOVE BAGHDAD
peas on a drum. Although bright moonlight
without, in our palanquin all was darkness. A
Cossack rode at each wheel, a picturesque company
with their strange clothing and shaggy mounts. The
nationality of our guard was surprising; we learnt
that they were deserters from the Russian army.
On the box sat a Turkish Jehu, whose imprecations
shattered 'the stillness of the night as we dived
almost perpendicularly into nullahs or pitched and
tossed among the boulders. We knew not where
we were going, neither did we care; the night was
interminable. Dawn came at last, but in spite of
brutal belabourings the mules could go no further;
so, weary and numbed, we emerged and restored our
circulation by marching. High in the sky droned
a British aeroplane ; soon he would be back having
breakfast at Hit, lucky devil ! The sun rose and
warmed us up, and as the blood ran more freely
through the veins our spirits improved. The village
of Hadithah hove in sight, and here we were taken
into the " serai," after passing through the youth
of the place, who gazed open-mouthed. Our prison
was the usual flat-roofed Oriental mud building, on
which we were allowed to walk about. We took
careful stock of our surroundings, for we had been
informed that we should spend the night here, and
were determined to make a good attempt to escape.
Our position was not exactly promising; outside our
room a sentry was posted, there was another in the
street below, and yet another on the edge of the
desert v/ho must be passed in any attempt to get
away. We planned to, after dark, jump out of the
A LAST CROWDED HOUR
window of our room on to 'the head of the sentry
in the street, thus breaking his neck; then run for
the desert. Two Armenian doctors came to see us,
and, as usual, were more friendly towards the
English 'than towards the Turk. They promised us
a meal and blankets for the night, and we obtained
leave from the commandant to visit their hospital
in the afternoon. This was situated in the main town
of Hadithah, on an island in the Euphrates, to
which we were ferried in an ancient barge. The
hospital was a dismal sight : an ordinary Arab house
with men lying in rows on mattresses on 'the floor ;
there was the usual complete lack of medical
arrangements. While we were there a Turk died as
the result of wounds from an aeroplane bomb. The
Armenians were most sympathe'tic, and showed us
a testimonial from Haight and Hancock, express-
ing gratitude at their treatment a few weeks before.
We induced our guard 'to allow us to walk round
the island, thereby making further reconnaissance
of the lie of the country. So friendly were the two
doctors that I decided to ask them outright what
they thought of any chance of escape. To my
surprise and relief they were quite open to
discussion, which, however, had to be carried on in
an even tone of voice so as not to attract attention.
While marching in single file through a narrow lane
conversing thus disinterestedly in French, I heard
Hobart, who was behind me, growl, " For God's
sake, be careful," and I switched off on to another
topic ; when we got clear of the lane he told me that
above us as we passed he had seen two German
T
278 IN THE CLOUDS ABOVE BAGHDAD
officers looking down from a verandah. The
Armenians held out little hope, and we returned to
our prison and former plan. Ravenous with
hunger, we were looking forward to a long-
promised meal, when the clatter of a horseman and
a buzz of conversation below caused us 'to think.
It was 5 p.m.; we had heard no guns, but if the
betting were on Bob Cassels he should be across
the enemy's line of retreat somewhere down that
road ; at all costs we must try to stay where we were.
But, in burst the commandant, who informed us we
must leave at once, and, in spite of argument and
obstinacy, we were hurried downstairs and shoved
into 'the same old cart. We started off at a gallop;
in every direction were fleeing Turks ; all organisa-
tion and discipline seemed to have collapsed; it
was a most perfect sample of sauve qui pent. With
every stride our chances lessened, yet Hobart and
I could but chuckle at the apparent success of our
friends as demonstrated in the utter terror of the
flying Orientals.
The mules that were galloping us into captivity-
were the same wretched animals that had dragged
us through the preceding night; but now the
Cossacks were flying for their lives. We wondered
how far down the road were the British cavalry,
and what the measure of their success. The pace
gradually slackened, but it was not until midnight
that we halted, and were allowed to restore our
circulation by walking up and down in the moon-
light. A keen wind blew across the desert, and
the pangs of hunger augmented the pains of cramp.
A LAST CROWDED HOUR 2 79
The mules staggered on through the rest of the
night, while we longed for the dawn and the warmth
of the sun ; eventually the cart was abandoned, and
we took to our feet. By 9 a.m. we /cached the out-
skirts of Ana ; on approaching the town aeroplanes
flew over and commenced bombing and machine-
gunning among the houses; our escort rushed us
into a narrow lane and hid us from view till we
sadly watched our friends disappear towards the
British lines, and then, in spite of the low ebb of
our spirits, marched with a swing into the barrack-
square. We realised that we were now out of reach,
and prospects of escape by 'the desert had become
remote. So we fell to planning future flight from
Asia Minor; the war might go on for many years,
and waste our lives in prison we would not; being
a prisoner, as the Turkish General later agreed
with me, is pis que le mort. We were so far back
at Ana, fifty miles from Khan Baghdadi, where we
had been captured, that a rest at least was to be
expected ; we had had none for two nights and two
days, and only 'two meagre meals. Black bread
and a bowl of sour milk were brought into our room,
which we devoured eagerly, and the thought of the
comparison with other meals at the Ritz made us
laugh. Various officials came in to look at us while
this meal was in progress ; they were mostly Arabs ;
one aroused my curiosity by the furtive way in
which he several times visited us. I asked him in
Arabic when he thought the war would be over, and
gave him several other questions ; the fellow looked
as if he wanted to talk. He eventually confessed
280 IX THE CLOUDS ABOVE BAGHDAD
that he was sick of the war, and wished he was back
at home in Baghdad; this was enlightening, and
we dragged it out of him that he intended
joining a caravan of blockade-runners leaving
for Baghdad by the desert in a few days'
time. We immediately proposed that we should
accompany him ; but at this he put his fingers to his
lips and went out. The thought seemed 'too good ;
hopes were at least buoyed by the fact that during
the last two days we had managed twice to discuss
terms of escape with the enemy. But to our dismay
another officer came in and gave the order for the
road once more. It seemed the climax. I shammed
sick, and told them to get a doctor, explaining that
I, a senior officer in his Britannic Majesty's army,
was in no condition to go on, and could not possibly
be treated thus. An Armenian doctor was pro-
duced, but although sympathetically inclined, our
remonstrances were of no avail, and we trundled
out on to the road once more.
Hobart and I each had a camel; the guard
consisted of twelve Tartars on foot; a more evil-
looking crowd I have nevqr seen. A Turkish
" yuzbashi " who could not speak Russian was
quite useless, and entirely in the hands of 'the
Tartars. The camels were completely out of control,
as we had no head-roges, and on the word "march"
they commenced describing circles until rounded
up by the Tartars, a ridiculous enough sight,
though our sense of humour was near to failing.
All day long we trekked across open rolling plain,
a vast wraste, the only relief given being some
A LAST CROWDED HOUR 28 1
grass and wild flowers. It was difficult to remain
awake in order to stay on the camel, and the hours
seemed unending. The sudden mental blank after
the activity of life, work, and companionship over-
shadowed physical discomfort, and a million devils
tortured one's mind. Our aeroplanes came over,
and made good shooting; bullets flicked the grass
all round, but no one was hit. On the approach of
the machines the guard grew very threatening, and
dragged us off our animals into nullahs. They kept
their rifles pointed at us, and one man got so excited
that I saw him pull his trigger in the small of
Hobart's back; by some act of God it did not go
off. One boiled with rage at being man-handled by
these savages, but it was useless. An amazing
thing happened after sunset ; the full moon came up
behind a snowy cloud and all its edges looked as
if they were on fire; it was the finest moon effect
I have ever seen, and made an inspiring sight; even
the Tartars turned round and looked at it with awe.
I told Hobart that that was our cloud with the silver
lining; (by 'the next sunset we were back in the
British lines). Long after dark a light flickered in
the distance yet never seemed 'to get any closer;
we eventually reached a mud fort, a hundred
thousand miles away from anywhere on earth,
without a kick left in us.
In a filthy little room we found a still filthier
Armenian clerk, who went to rouse the com-
mandant. A vision in beautiful silk pyjamas
appeared, and proved to be a young Turkish officer
of the German school, arrogant and annoying; but
282 IN THE CLOUDS ABOVE BAGHDAD
he did his best as regards the little food he had, and
gave us his last thimbleful of " arak," a native
spirit. This sleek young officer seemed incongruous
among his remote and filthy surroundings. He
talked large of his successes in Beyrout, and was
evidently a young spark of that town. The " arak "
made him more arrogant and ego'tistical than ever;
be became offensive and then boring, and even-
tually, at 2 a.m., when our patience was about,
exhausted, he lurched off to bed. They gave us a
blanket, and we slept like logs on the mud floor.
The morning of the 28th found the place full of
fleeing Turks and Germans from Ana, and on we
went. They told us Aleppo was our destination,
many more hundred miles over the limitless plain.
We probably should never have got 'there, for the
Tartars were getting bored; besides, the food
outlook was a bit dismal. A few Germans talked to
us before we left, and told us of the great battle in
France, and that the British were being smashed,
which we did not believe. Our aeroplanes were
bombing and machine-gunning along the road, but
of course could not identify us from others. As a
matter of fact they had been looking for us every
day, and the four we saw that morning had come
out to land ahead and effect our rescue.
We were having our first wash on the banks of
the Euphrates at about n a.m., when a Cossack
galloped past shouting " Auto!" (automobile), but
I paid no attention, as I was certain that our fellows
could not come nearly as far; we did not know the
extent of the defeat of the Turkish force. In fact,
A LAST CROWDED HOUR 283
we had given up any idea of being rescued, under
the impression that there could be nobody within
fifty miles. The Tartars, however, seemed alarmed,
and became threatening. We managed to cool them
down, got on our camels, and went on. Suddenly
there burst the regular stammer of a Maxim quite
close; we looked up expecting to see another
aeroplane ; it was so loud and sudden that the idea
flashed through our minds 'that an aeroplane had
landed to attempt our escape, and we threw our-
selves off our camels and made for the cover of the
river bank. But there, a hundred yards along the
road, as large as life, was an armoured car, with
others behind. I howled it to Hobart, and we went
with heads down as if all the devils in hell were
after us. The Tartars scattered behind the rocks
under the machine-gun fire ; we never looked round.
The officer commanding the cars, Captain Tod,
leapt out and dragged us into the turret, the men
within yelling with excitement. It was beyond
one's wildest dreams. We lay and panted and
talked 'till the open plain was reached, where sniping
would be impossible. There the cars halted,
and we all jumped out; whiskey and bully-beef
were produced — the most wonderful meal of one's
life.
But for its perfect execution Tod's exploit could
never have been achieved. He told us that the
Cavalry Brigade were in Ana, Bob Cassels having
got behind the entire Turkish force. To finish off
his triumph Cassels determined to get us back, and
told Tod to pursue with his armoured cars up to
284 IN THE CLOUDS ABOVE BAGHDAD
ioo miles; if necessary he would feed him with
petrol by aeroplane. Tod came on, scattering the
retreating enemy as he went; the sight of the low
rakish cars terrified the Turk and Arab, who cleared
off the road under cover of the rocks to let him go
by. Many surrendered, and were left by the road-
side without their arms ; at Nahiyeh, where we had
spent the night, a few bursts of machine-gun fire
induced our sleek young friend to haul down the
star- and-crescent and surrender the fort; the dirty
Armenian informed Tod that we were only a few
hours ahead, and on camels. The utmost caution
was now necessary, for the escort had only to drag
us a few yards off the road and we should have been
lost among the rocks, inaccessible to armoured
cars ; or even a surprise semi-complete would give
the guards time to put a bullet through us as they
made good their escape. Tod, in the leading car,
a snake-like Rolls-Royce, sighted us from a hill
some miles away, and crept on cannily. It must
have been about this time that the Cossack had
galloped past shouting " Auto ! " and it was well
that we had managed to quiet our guards and
induced them to consider, as we honestly did our-
selves, that there could not possibly be any cause
for a scare. Meanwhile Tod shortened his distance ;
the road bending among the rocky cliffs helped
him, and 'then he was suddenly on top of us ; seated
at the gun himself, cool and steady, he let fly over
our heads; the rest remained with the gods, and 1
have told about it.
Jubilant we resumed our journey, stopping to
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A LAST CROWDED HOUR 285
collect various prisoners en route ; safe in Ana, we
were received ecstatically by our friends of the
Cavalry Brigade. They had captured 5,000
prisoners, and raided the enemy's line of communi-
cation to 90 miles behind his battle-front in two
days.
The battle of Khan Baghdadi had proved a
second Ramadi; Subri Bey had just been super-
seded by Nazmi Bey for retiring from Hit;
therefore, when the infantry of 'the I5th Division
collided with Nazmi Bey on the early morning of
the 26th March, he stuck to his ground instead of
retiring, the front position was carried by n a.m.,
and the enemy took up a firm stand a mile north of
the Khan. All this time, Cassels, with his cavalry,
guns, and armoured cars, was surmounting impossi-
bilities in the rocky country away to 'the west,
and working round behind the enemy. By 5 p.m.
he was across the Aleppo road in rear of the Turk.
(It was at 6 p.m. that the horseman had arrived at
Hadithah, and we had been galloped off in 'the cart.)
At 6 p.m. the infantry assaulted and carried the
main position, taking many prisoners. Then, at
ii p.m., Nazmi made a desperate effort to break
through the cavalry, but was held by Cassels'
machine-guns, and lost a thousand more prisoners.
At dawn the victory was complete. A battalion
standing by in Ford vans took up the pursuit with
the cavalry and armoured cars, while aeroplanes
mowed down the fleeing enemy further back,
Hadithah was captured, and early the next morn-
ing, the 28th, the armoured cars were into Ana
286 IN THE CLOUDS ABOVE BAGHDAD
supported by the cavalry and motor column. The
Turkish army was wiped out; of their troops on the
lines of communication few got away, for the
galloping pursuit did not even give 'them time to
destroy their war stores. The road was a mass of
wandering prisoners anxious to give themselves up
and be delivered from the attentions of Arabs and
certainty of starvation. In one cave were found a
cluster of corpses murdered by the Arabs. The
pursuing column had no time to stop and collect all
these prisoners, but disarmed them and passed on.
A vast dump of ammunition was discovered at Ana ;
it took some few days to destroy; also a good store
of Turkish gold. There can be no doubt that a great
offensive had been planned down the Euphrates;
the improved road, new bridges, arrangements for
huge quantities of stores and ammunition, and
irrefutable evidence in captured documents, all
told the same tale, endorsed by prisoners them-
selves, that a Turco-German descent had once been
imminent, only to be diverted by Allenby's
offensive at Gaza.
General Cassels returned to report to General
Brooking, and Hobart and I escorted him in an
armoured car through the night, reaching Khan
Baghdadi early on the morning of the 29th. It was
another sleepless night, but nothing mattered now.
Nazmi Bey would not believe that we had been
recaptured, so we went to visit him; he was in the
depth of depression and could say nothing; I
understood how he felt. There was our old friend
with the gold teeth, as cheerful and philosophic as
NAZMI BEY COL. TENNANT
MAJOR HOB ART
Comparing notes on captivity with the Turkish Commander,
March 29th. 1918
i
The Wadi where we were shot down : advancing British troops
examining the wreckage of the D.H. 4
A LAST CROWDED HOUR .l8/
ever; Ali, the boy, very pleased to be in British
hands, and many other faces we knew; the tables
were turned.
We motored on to Hit; the squadron were
waiting spread out along the road, and as we arrived
rushed the car and carried us off to the messes,
which we had to visit each in 'turn. That welcome
I shall never forget; the old faces that had risked
their lives daily at one's order for nearly two years
were there. To see their pleasure was very sweet;
one has no right to say these things, but nothing can
bring a man more genuine happiness than to know
that his command are at his back not only from the
mere force of duty; they were my best friends as
well. Then a great roar of cheering went up
outside the tent, where the mechanics had collected ;
it was difficult to know what to say, and it was
difficult to say it; but those cheers ringing in my
ears were the most touching sound I had ever
heard. I suppose popular heroes get used to such
demonstration ; when one is unused to acclamation
one's vanity is perhaps keener. I learnt that Nut'tall
and three other pilots had gone out the day before
intent on spotting us, landing on some open ground
far back and holding up our escort. They had
picked two marksmen as passengers who were to
shoot the nearest guards ; the rest were to work the
machine-guns. Frank Nu'ttall was certain that if
he had spotted us the scheme would have been
successful. It was a desperate enterprise. From
Hit we flew back to Baghdad. Our mess sat up
288 IN THE CLOUDS ABOVE BAGHDAD
late; it was impossible to ge't to bed, although
Hobart and I had had about five hours' sleep since
the 24th; this was the 29th.
There was a Court of Enquiry as to our capture.
It had been deemed undesirable that I should pro-
ceed over the enemy's lines, but the court were of
the opinion that " capture was due to chances of
war." So I returned to my command; Hobart
caught his division at Busrah, and sailed with them
to join Allenby.
During the 26th and 2 7th the squadron on the
Euphrates dropped 5,550 Ibs. of bombs on the
enemy; these aeroplanes were continually under
heavy machine-gun and rifle fire, and were often
damaged, but casualties were singularly light. The
moral and material effect was great. One of our
machines was shot down, but Lieut. Tanner, acting
as escort, boldly followed and rescued both pilot
and observer; it was a phenomenal feat for the
R.E. 8 to get off the ground with four people up.
No enemy aircraft were seen on this front during
the fighting; they confined their attentions to the
Tigris and the Diala, where they accomplished little
and risked less. Owing to the wide nature of the
front in Mesopotamia the chances of intercepting
an odd machine were not good ; they always flew at
great heights, and invariably tried to avoid combat,
both on our side of the lines and over their own
aerodrome.
Three weeks later my orders came to leave and
take up a group command at home, but by the time
I reached Busrah this was changed for Headquar-
A LAST CROWDED HOUR 289
ters in India. It was a sorry business packing up
and bidding farewell to the little house in Baghdad
and all the old friends in the force.
Where are you now, old companions ? Scattered
to the four winds, some, alas ! flown to Valhalla.
Cahill £~ Co., Ltd., London, Dublin and Drogheda.
SHAKESPEARE IDENTIFIED
in Edward de Vere, 17th Earl o! Oxford
BY J. THOMAS LOONEY
Demy 8vo. Cloth. 21s. net. Illustrated.
This book has aroused, if not the traditional storm, at least
a good strong wind of controversy. Inevitably a certain amount of
scoffing was waiting ready for it. Thanks to the rather wild specula-
tions of the Baconian cryptogramists, it has become the custom
to take up an attitude of amused scepticism towards any attempt
to study the matter of Shakespearean identity. Many great men
and scholars, though, have considered the question a real one and
worthy of their attention. In an article by E. Nesbit, in the New
Witness, obviously inspired by tin's book, a list is given of men who
are known to have been either doubters or frank unbelievers in the
Stratfordian authorship. It includes Disraeli, James Russell Lowell,
W. H. Mallock, W. Hepworth Dixon, Sir Lewis Morris, Bismarck,
Byron, Henry Hallam, Coleridge, Emerson, Palmerston, Cardinal
Newman, Dickens, Oliver Wendell Holmes, J. G. Whittier, Thomas
Davidson, John Bright, Lord Penzance, Walt Whitman and Glad-
stone. Mr. Looney's is probably the most serious endeavour that
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" It is impossible here even to indicate the array of chronological
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They are startling enough. Very ingenious, too, is Mr. Looney's
success in tracing a conformity between De Vere's life and the plots
of Shakespearean plays." — W. L. GEORGE in The World.
THE POEMS OF EDWARD DE VERE
With biographical introduction and notes
BY J. THOMAS LOONEY
Small Quarto. 6s. net. Cloth.
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reason to attribute .to De Vere, or which have some connection with
his work. The book contains a long biographical and critical intro*
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SHAKESPEARE'S LAW
BY SIR GEORGE GREENWOOD
Cr. Svo. 2s. 6d. net. Boards.
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views of Shakespeare that he is one of the few critics of the poet
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A MISCELLANY OP POETRY-1919
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