The Thirteenth Hussars in the Great War

by H. Mortimer Durand

“The monitors did excellent work and recaptured the Firefly and other boats.”

2nd Lieutenant J. O. P. Clarkson—March 3.—“We started early in the morning[32] and trekked to the Tigris west of Kut. The Infantry had established themselves on the other bank, so we crossed in the early morning and followed them up. When they had cleared the trenches we went through to harass the enemy’s retreat.... The next day we went in on what was supposed to be the retreating enemy, and found it was the main body, consisting of about 5000 men.... The next night we bivouacked by a water-hole in the desert. We had some armoured cars with us, and one of them got into difficulties a very short way off some Turkish guns, but the next morning was still intact. The next day we again went on and captured 400 prisoners and 12 guns, 6 of which were 5.9 howitzers, and one man found the breech-blocks, which had been buried in another place. By this time we were getting very short of food for the horses, but luckily we found a barge laden with grain that had been captured, so we filled up again.... We are now at a place about half-way between Kut and Baghdad. The Navy here—i.e., the monitors—did great work. They rushed on ahead, and got right into the thick of it, firing 6-inch shrapnel at the Turk at a range of 400 to 600 yards. Every gun on board was worked, and in every direction. They captured several boats and barges, and what used to be the Firefly. The Turks captured it at Kut, and have used it against us ever since, and in a few days it is going to come up and shell the Turk. The litter that was left behind by the Turks was awful—rags, clothes, camp furniture, ammunition of every description, and bombs, shells—in fact a bit of everything. We recaptured half a dozen of our fellows who had been captured the day before, and they had their boots and overcoats taken from them, as the Turks are very short of both. They even strip their own dead as well as our own for the clothes they can get off them.

“I also found a Constantinople paper which was written in French, and which said the Germans had gained a great defensive victory on the Somme against the English because—and here came long explanations. Also that Verdun was as good as lost to the French, &c. I was also shown some post-cards from Germany, but they were very badly written, and I could not decipher them. There was also an ‘Illustratte Zeitung’ there, with wonderful pictures showing how grateful the Pole was for the German liberation scheme.”

(Lieutenant Clarkson read and spoke fluently both French and German.)

Captain W. H. Eve—March 2.—“Well, things are going really well, and we are now forty-five miles short of Baghdad, and resting a day or two. The difficulty is again supplies....

“I wrote you Friday last, February 23rd, and we moved at 4.15 next morning, 24th. The fight at the river-crossing had gone very well, and we were sent over the bridge which our sappers had built about 9 A.M. The Infantry were still pretty busy further forward, and we waited about for three or four hours and watered. Then we really thought our chance was coming of getting them in the open, but their rearguard put up a very fine fight, and got into nullahs and ditches, and our show ended in a dismounted fight, and we weren’t able to turn them out, and so it ended at dark. The squadron was out on flank guard and had next to nothing to do, and only one man wounded, and one of Payne’s chargers, his best of course, killed. We camped north of the river, but weren’t in till midnight, and I can tell you we were tired then. We had had nothing to eat, and there were no rations up, so we turned in straight off. It had been a very hot day.

“Well, the Turks’ rearguard cleared off in the night and we had got Kut. For they had evacuated it directly we got the crossing of the river, to escape being bottled up there. Meanwhile the other Corps had taken Sannaiyat, but the remnants of the Turks got away from there too. The Turk rearguard really did well. I did hope and think our day might have come, but it was not to be. All the same there was nothing to grumble at, for we had got Sannaiyat and Kut, and the whole of the Turks were retreating as fast as ever they could.

“Our monitors came up the river as soon as Sannaiyat was taken, and passed through our bridge early the next day. Then—that is, Sunday 25th—the pursuit started. We managed to get some food early in the morning and left camp at 7. I was advance-guard, but we saw no Turks till the afternoon, except a few scattered prisoners which we rounded up. In the afternoon the other Brigade on our left found their rearguard and sent for us to help. They were in a very strong position, Infantry and Artillery, and we were sent in dismounted. The Regiment was on the left, ‘B’ and ‘C’ in front, and ‘A’ and ‘D’ in support, under me. We were very weak in numbers, only about 100 in the firing line from the Regiment, and they were much too strong for us. We went on, of course, but finally got held up, and we had a warm time. I took the support line up to within about 100 yards of the front (two squadrons). The Turks were shooting very well—rifle, Maxim guns, and their guns too—and people behind thought we should be about wiped out. But ‘V’ behind us helped us no end, and when orders came to retire we got out of it better than I expected, just before dark. ‘B’ and ‘C’ came back through me, and I then came, but by degrees. The men, all of them, were topping. We had heavy casualties, but only a very few killed.

“Only half of ‘D’ was there, as Payne with the other two troops had been out on a reconnaissance all the night before, and so had been left behind to come on with the supply column. Even so I lost both sergeant-majors, two sergeants, and a corporal wounded—no one killed. Sergt.-Major Edwards was only lightly hit in the leg and will soon be back at duty, but Sergt.-Major Goddard was very badly shot through the middle, and I am afraid was bad: I haven’t been able to find out anything about him since, either, except that he was easier when he left the field ambulance. Sergeants Bell and Hill were both shot through the face, and Corporal Heathman through both legs. Lord was wounded, the only officer casualty. We were lucky to get out as lightly as we did. The monitors helped us too. I only had one horse very slightly hit, but shells fell right amongst them and they were very lucky indeed, too. It’s an extraordinary thing: if you are going to be hit, you’re going to be, and if you’re not, you’re not, and that’s all about it. I was touched—my clothes—by bits of shrapnel, and I got a bullet through my revolver holster and then through my coat—near enough, but I wasn’t touched. Corporal Watkins, my signaller, had two or three through his clothes, one of which was stopped in his pocket by his pocket-book.

“I rode Follow Me till danger threatened on the Saturday, and then Caprice, and on this day, the Sunday, I rode Follow Me. We didn’t get back to camp till 11.30, but we got food all right then.