THE SHIP OF THE DESERT PLAYS AN IMPORTANT PART IN MESOPOTAMIA
RUINS OF "OLD BASSORAH."
We used to have three Officers' Messes when in the trenches. The Headquarters Mess presided over by the Colonel and two Company Messes, presided over by their respective Company Commanders. The Headquarters Mess was a very comfortable affair, a big dug-out, and made in such a way that ground formed the table in the middle and seats all around, the sides were well banked up with sand bags and outside a small ante room where one could sit and smoke in the evening, and the roof was the sky and a very wonderful sky during those long rainless cloudless months. Round about the Headquarters, the Colonel, the Adjutant, the Doctor, the Sergeant-Major, had their dug-outs, and the Mess did for Orderly Room also. The Company Messes were not so elaborate, and were situated nearer the front line and close to our own dug-outs. We endeavoured however to make ourselves as comfortable as possible, but for some reason or other the flies took a great liking to our Mess (No. 1 Company), and at any time day or night they were assembled in their hundreds on our canvas roof. We had a large war map fixed up on to the mud wall to enable us to follow events and we had occasional visits from the Padre and the Doctor, but it was not a healthy place, no part of the second line was; the second line was about a 100 yards behind the first, and for some reason it seemed to give the Turks much more pleasure to put their shells nearer to the second line than the first. I have picked small flowers growing on the front line parapet, but I have never seen any on the second. During my first spell in the trenches after being in the front line, I was put in charge of the reserves in the reserve trenches and spent three awful days and four awful nights in this position. The heat seemed to be worse here than anywhere. I had to spend my days in a small 40 lbs. tent lying on the ground gasping for air as the sun poured down with relentless fury. It was burning hot from the moment it rose till it set 14 hours after over the Arabian Desert. The men were slightly more fortunate in that they had a bigger tent, but they suffered also and it was at these times that one could not but admire the spirit of the 'British Soldier.' One seldom heard a complaint, of course they were "fed up" with the heat, everyone was the Archangel Gabriel would have been, but there was never any thought given to anything else but to "stick it at whatever cost." The officer in reserve was attached to the Headquarters Mess and so one was likely to get any news going. Lying in my tent reading, I now forget the name of the book, but I came across the passage which I will always remember "The writing which Nebuchadnezar saw on the wall." As I read that I felt convinced that Nebuchadnezar never saw any writing on the wall and when I reached the Mess that evening, the first one to come in was the Doctor and being a good Presbyterian I felt sure he would have this knowledge at his fingers' ends, so I asked him who saw the writing on the wall and he immediately replied "Nebuchadnezar". "Not at all," I said, and I told him I had just read the same thing in a book but felt convinced it was wrong, he felt certain the book was right. "Very well," I said, "I'll bet you, you are wrong," he accepted the bet. The Adjutant came in soon after and supported the Doctor. I now saw a veritable gold mine before me and he too was willing to back his knowledge against mine. We decided to refer the matter to the Colonel, so when he came in we asked his opinion. The Colonel was not only a gallant soldier but he was a cautious Scotchman. "Well," he said, "I think it was Nebuchadnezar, but I would not be willing to back too much on it." It is only necessary to turn to the 5th Chapter of Daniel to see who won the bets. That night sanction came for several N.C.O.'s and men to go on leave to India for a month. Sanction had been hanging fire for some time and the lucky ones were beginning to despair. My sergeant was among the lucky ones and I knew how pleased he would be when I got back and told him to report to Headquarters at 5 the next morning for leave to India. It was late when I got back, but little did he mind being disturbed to receive such news. I vouch for it that he slept well that night and did not oversleep himself in the morning. To those in France who get leave every three or four months it is impossible to understand what leave even to India once in one or two years means, but when the news comes that we can get leave for England, it will indeed be a red letter day for us all. I was so exhausted the next day with the heat that I was unable to appear at Mess. The Colonel sent up to find out what was wrong and wanted me to return to the rest camp at once, but I was not sufficiently done up for that, and I only relate this incident to show the thoughtfulness of the Commanding Officer for those under him.
| QUARTERMASTER-SERGEANT HOBBS. | THE REGIMENTAL SERGEANT-MAJOR IN THE TRENCHES. SERGEANT-MAJOR A. SMART, M.C. | PIPE MAJOR KEITH. |
NO. 3 BRITISH GENERAL HOSPITAL.
The next evening after the Regiment was relieved the reserves being the last to come out of the trenches, I found a horse waiting for me, on the Commanding Officer's instructions, so that I would not have the exertion of the march back to camp; that and similar incidents made our affection for our Commanding Officer a very real thing. But being in reserve had one compensation, in the early morning before the sun rose and just at dawn to lie and watch the wonderful colourings on the Pusht-i-Kuh Hills, colours changing every moment, was always pleasurable, and suddenly a shell would burst near the artillery position and one would know the daily Hate and Strafe had started, and shortly after the sun would rise. We spent some uncomfortable evenings being shelled in these trenches, and watching and waiting for them to burst was not an enjoyable occupation. There were no safe dug-outs to seek safety in, one had to stick it out wherever one was situated and hope for the best. The damage done was seldom great beyond knocking the trenches about a bit and these were soon repaired. Having been put in charge of a digging party one morning in the rearward area whose duty it was to widen and deepen a communication trench, I saw a good opportunity while the work was going on of looking for souvenirs in the shape of Turkish shell caps. So getting out of the trench I commenced a search and continued for some time but without success, when I was driven to seek shelter in the trench by a shell bursting in close proximity, they had evidently spotted someone walking about and opened fire, but it did not last for long. During our period in the trenches if there was very little doing, as was usually the case during the hot weeks, we were in turn sent down to the Depot three miles behind for two days' rest, and it was an absolute and complete rest. One had nothing whatever to do, get up at any time, go to bed at any time, complete relaxation, those two days were a great boon to us. To have absolutely nothing to do was a great luxury and anything out of the ordinary routine was enjoyable. During my spell of leave at the Depot one evening sitting round the Mess table which we had outside on account of the great heat, we were discussing the movements of the Regiment during the past 20 years and when I remarked that I had watched the Regiment embarking at Durban for India 15 years before, the Quartermaster said, "I was there and out of the whole Battalion that embarked that day, there are only two of us left with the Regiment, the Sergeant-Major and myself". I little thought as I watched the 2nd Battalion saying farewell to South Africa that 15 years later I would share in some of its trials on the banks of the Tigris. Sitting in the Headquarters Mess in the evening, as I previously stated, one got all the news, about 8 o'clock the Quartermaster would appear having come up from the Depot in charge of the rations party and to make his report. The mails would be brought up by them too and if the English mail was due and had arrived with letters and papers great was the excitement. Our letters took about six weeks from England to the firing line, but we were allowed to send week-end cables at a very reduced rate, something like 6d. a word, and could send them off actually from the trenches on their long journey half across the world. The food, taking everything into consideration, was good, although of necessity it had to greatly consist of tinned and dried varieties and we suffered somewhat from lack of fresh vegetables. Later an improvement in this respect was effected.