The Thirteenth Hussars in the Great War

by H. Mortimer Durand

Lieut. T. Williams-Taylor (Wounded at Shumran Bend, 4th February 1917; wounded and taken prisoner at Tekrit, 5th November 1917)		Lieut. M. G. Hartigan, M.C.
	Capt. S. O. Robinson (Wounded at Shumran Bend, 4th February 1917. Killed at Tekrit, 5th November 1917)
S.S.-M. F. J. Tegg (Killed at Tekrit, 5th November 1917)		Pte. F. G. Jasper (Killed at Tekrit, 5th November 1917)

“Meanwhile we had crossed some three lines of fire trenches in which a few wounded Turks were lying, and on my left I saw the two leading squadrons returning from their ride. They were then about 400 yards away, and the light had become so bad that I distinctly saw the flashes from the enemy artillery some 2000 yards ahead of us. I had already gone far beyond the objective given us by the Brigadier, and now that I had found the two leading squadrons, I was chiefly concerned in getting the Regiment out of action whilst the light remained. I accordingly had ‘Rally to the Right’ sounded on the trumpet, in the hope of drawing ‘B’ and ‘C’ Squadrons to me, but they were too far off to hear the sound in the din of the firing, so I wheeled to the right again and returned to the neighbourhood of the first-line trench. I was then in rear of the squadrons, and seeing a few men struggling back with wounded comrades and wounded horses, I sent out a message to Major Twist to retire the horses out of range, then to dismount the men and bring them up dismounted to cover the retirement of any stragglers who had been wounded or unhorsed. I myself stayed with the R.S.M. (Seekins), the Trumpet-Major, and a few men to give a hand to a few men who had got left with wounded comrades and horses.

“After allowing about half an hour for any stragglers to rejoin, I retired the men on to their horses and we rejoined the Brigade. Here I learned that Captain Robinson had been killed, Lieutenant Williams-Taylor and some seven N.C.O.’s and men were missing. ‘C’ Squadron had 22 horses killed and ‘B’ 9; in addition, we had about 19 men wounded; my orderly was hit in the chin, and his horse through the neck. One man, Pte. Thomson, died of wounds en route to bivouac at Aujah Nullah, which we reached about midnight.

“Here I will interpose an account of the doings of ‘B’ and ‘C’ Squadrons, as gathered from reports by officers and men.

“‘B’ Squadron rode straight to the point to which they were directed without opposition, and Captain Robinson, finding our Infantry in position, there halted and waited until ‘C’ Squadron came up; then he explained the situation to Lieutenant Norton, and his decision to lead the two squadrons against a mass of Turks, 300 to 400 in number (estimated), who could be seen some 1000 or 1200 yards away to his left and left front,—and I may say here in parenthesis, that his decision to go beyond the objective given by the Brigadier was eminently the right one, if not the only one: our mission was to assist the Infantry, and that was the only way in which he could do it under the altered circumstances, so the two squadrons wheeled to the left and rode to the north-west, one on either side of a long—and I think the first-line—trench. They went through the Turks, and in this advance Captain Robinson was killed, shot through the head by one of the four Turks whom he was trying to take on with his sword. His Trumpeter, Maguire, claims to have shot this particular Turk with his revolver. Having gone through the mass of the Turks, they turned about 1200 or 1500 yards from where they started, and rode through the Turks again, and they claim to have accounted for at least a man per man. It was soon after this that I saw them returning, and they pulled up near our Infantry and came under Major Twist’s orders. The men were much elated with their ‘ride,’ and our losses were, comparatively speaking, extremely light, as the rifle and machine-gun fire was very heavy, and as they returned, they came under fire from two or three batteries—at a low estimate. At one time when I was looking, I saw the sky thick with bursting shrapnel, but it was all very high, and the gunners must have been firing wildly. It must be remembered, too, that by this time the dusk was becoming the dark.

“Next day, the 6th November, we learnt that the Turks had completely evacuated Tekrit during the night, so I sent an officer’s patrol, under Lieutenant Stirling, to go over the battlefield and to gather what information they could about our dead and wounded. On its return I learnt that our Infantry had buried six dead, presumably belonging to the Regiment, although they could not be identified, as the Turks had stripped them completely, even to their identity discs; so on the following day, the 7th, I obtained permission to take a party for the purpose of burying all our men together, and succeeded in getting the Divisional Padre—Ryan—to accompany it. We only succeeded in finding four bodies—viz., those of Captain Robinson, Sergeants Gray and Newman, and Private Francomb, and these we collected and buried, and the Padre read the burial service over them. We also found Lieutenant Williams-Taylor’s horse, dead, where it fell, and from its position, and from the report of the man who saw him lying under it, pinned by its weight to the ground, I felt confident in assuming that he had been taken prisoner by the Turks.

Note added on 6th February 1918.—“This assumption has been confirmed by wire received to-day from London, and I have every hope of hearing soon that S.S.M. Tegg is also alive, but a prisoner of war.

13th HUSSARS.

The Charge of Squadrons B and C at Tekrit in Mesopotamia on Monday, the 5th of November, 1917.

S.S.M. F. J. TEGG.	Capt. S. O. ROBINSON.	Sergt. A. S. NEWMAN.
Sergt. JOHN GRAY.	IN UNFADING MEMORY	Pte. F. G. JASPER.
Pte. WM. THOMSON.	1914 Staff. 13224 Pte. MICHAEL MACDONNELL Served with the 6th Dragoon Guards in S. Africa, 1900-1902. (No portrait available.)	Pte. WM. FRANCOMB.