The Thirteenth Hussars in the Great War

by H. Mortimer Durand

“When once again the dust had settled, the Turks, observing that the attack was for the moment over, sallied forth from their trenches to pay attention to the casualties. An Arab relieved me of my possessions and led me to an officer in the trench. This officer, on seeing me approach, forsook the machine-gun he had been manipulating and shook my uninjured member warmly—a thing which no good Mahomedan should have done, as such contact with the ‘infidel’ is forbidden in terms of Koran regulations. Some one applied a tourniquet to my arm, which was still dripping, and I was taken to a bend in the trench where I came across Sergeants Gilbert and Spanton, and Trooper Morrison, the only other survivors amongst those who had fallen into Turkish hands. The horses of the two sergeants had been shot down, and Morrison was suffering from a wound in the forearm. We were led out of the trench and across the open country to the Headquarters of the Turkish forces (instead of rounding up a convoy the Thirteenth had ridden through a Division), and in the course of our journey to the rear had ample opportunity of realising how much nastier is the effect of British shrapnel than that of the Turk. Arrived at Headquarters, we were separated and interrogated in a very polite manner by one who spoke English fluently. In this interrogation, to my surprise and the credit of the enemy, there was not the slightest suggestion of coercion to extract information. After a few hours’ rest, Morrison and I, with some wounded Turkish soldiery, were given seats in a rickety waggon, and with Sergeants Gilbert and Spanton marching behind, we set out. It was early the next morning that the palm groves of Baghdad, topped by the domes and minarets of the city’s many mosques, came to sight. At Baghdad, Morrison and I were taken direct to a hospital, where a Jewish doctor, Alalou by name, dressed our wounds and gave us food and drink.”

SCENE OF THE FIGHT AT LAJJ. 5TH MARCH 1917

Lieutenant Pinnington was afterwards sent on to Mosul, and he writes: “It is perhaps worthy of mention that on many occasions during my imprisonment there I received compliments from Turkish officers on the bravery of the British Cavalry in making their ill-fated charge on the 4th [? 5th] March.”

Captain Newton, the one squadron leader who came out unwounded from the “ill-fated” charge, evidently took much the same view of it as his subordinate. The entry in his diary for the 5th March is as follows:—

“Marched 4.45 past Zeur almost to Lajj, where enemy reported. Tried to take them on mounted, but found them intrenched and very strong, and had rather a bad time. Retired a bit, and came into action dismounted, and held on all day. Awful job getting wounded away at dusk. Eve, Lynch Staunton, and Rolfe killed. Pinnington missing. Colonel, Twist, Dawson, Pedder, Welstead wounded. Total casualties eighty-seven. Retired to biv. near Lajj bend, getting in soon after 10. An awful day, wind and dust terrible. A little rain at night. Took sixty-six men into action, and brought out thirty-three.”

In a letter of the 21st March 1917, Captain Newton gives a somewhat longer account.

“The poor old Regiment has been through some pretty troublous times, and has been pretty well knocked about, but it’s done most awfully well, and got a great chit for itself....

“I last wrote on Saturday the 3rd. They gave us a rest next day. We got orders to parade at 4.45 A.M. (on the 5th), and it was awfully cold and dark turning out. We had an uneventful march for some time, but quite unexpectedly came in touch with the enemy in the middle of the morning. We came into action against them, and there seemed to be very few, so the Colonel decided to ride them down. Then we found that we were wrong! There were a few scattered Turks in nullahs who ran away or held up their hands as we rode over them, but just behind were some beautifully concealed and very well-dug trenches, and we fairly caught it from rifles and machine-guns. We rode right up to them though, and even in places across them, but we couldn’t do anything, and had to rally and go about, and eventually came into action dismounted. It was a pretty tough business though, as one did not know where any one was. Young Welstead was hit in the arm before we charged, and Twist during it. Billy,[38] Vavie,[39] Lynch Staunton, Rolfe, and Pinnington could not be accounted for at first, but later in the day we got forward a bit and found poor old Billy’s body, and Vavie lying out wounded, and several other wounded men. Poor Billy was shot through the head, and death must have been instantaneous. He must have been shot in the very act of jumping a nullah, as his body was lying in it as he had fallen with his sword by his hand. Vavie was very badly hit in the knee, and must have had an awful day, as we couldn’t move him till after dark, and the Turks had been at him and taken all his equipment off, and even the rings off his fingers, I believe. Rolfe’s body we found after dark, and Lynch Staunton’s next morning. Pinnington we have no news of, and he must be a prisoner, as his body was never found. When we had established ourselves in a nullah to hold on we continued to have a few casualties, as we had very little cover. Young Pedder got one through the shoulder, and soon after that Jimmy (the Colonel) got one through the arm. Then my troubles began, and I found myself in sole command of such as there were of three squadrons. ‘C’ were not with us, and it was not till much later that we got news that they were away on our right, though they had had a few casualties. We hung on all day, and I had a pretty anxious time, as there were an awful lot of Turks in front of us, and I couldn’t make out what they were going to do. We had frightened them pretty badly, and they cleared off after dark. We collected all we could find and brought them in; but we had no stretchers, and it was pretty hard work, and there were a lot of snipers at us all the time. Vavie was splendidly plucky. He was one of the worst cases, and we got him in on a ground sheet, and although I knew he was in agony he kept quite cheery, and would only apologise for the trouble he was giving us.