Officers, non-commissioned officers and men of the 13th Hussars who fell at Lajj, in Mesopotamia, on Monday, the 5th of March, 1917.
General Maude’s view of the action is given in a letter to Colonel Symons: “Your old Regiment did spendidly during the advance here, and particularly on the 5th inst., when they made a mounted charge and got well into the Turks, although they lost heavily in doing so, as they got hung up in some trench systems.”
It may be noted that the loss in killed and wounded suffered by the Thirteenth at Lajj was greater than in the famous charge of the Light Brigade at Balaclava. The comparative nearness to England, the dramatic setting, and other circumstances, combined to make Balaclava a name of glory. The charge of the Light Brigade will always be for Englishmen one of the most splendid deeds in the history of the race. Lajj is, and is likely to remain for the nation in general, a name almost unknown. But to the Thirteenth it will always be one of the Regiment’s great days, for the level sands by the Tigris saw that morning in the dust-storm a death ride just as brave and devoted as the one which has become immortal.
CHAPTER XV.
OCCUPATION OF BAGHDAD.
The 5th of March, however glorious, had been a heavy day for the Thirteenth, and their ranks were sadly thinned.
But the Thirteenth formed only one unit of a pursuing army, and the Cavalry had to push on without delay to follow up the retreating Turks. At dawn on the 6th, therefore, the Regiment was again on the march.
One squadron, the one which had been commanded by Eve, remained for some hours with the transport in Lajj, to bury the dead and make further search for any wounded who might still be lying on the field. While they did so their Colonel, and all the wounded officers and men who had been brought in, were embarked and sent down the river to hospitals in rear of the army. The dead were buried together in a nullah on the field.
The rest of the Regiment, under command of Captain Steele, marched out weak in numbers, but still fit for further efforts, and proud of themselves. Their goal, Baghdad, now lay only thirty or forty miles ahead of them, and in common with the whole army they were eager to see the hard fighting of the past three months crowned by the capture of the famous city.
They had not long to wait, for only five days later the British flag was flying on the citadel of the Turks; but before that happened the brave enemy was to make one more stand, and take a further toll of British lives.