“The Mosque here is most beautiful—that is, the outside, for no infidel is allowed inside the gate.[52] It is simply enormous, and faced with silver till it reaches the roof and four towers, which are gold.
“I went down the Bazaar yesterday afternoon, and bought a pair of saddle-bags for five rupees. They are made of the very finest carpet of true colours, bound with leather; it’s a shame to use them on a horse, but my other ones are in rags from carrying so many tinned foods.... I have never carried anything in the way of loot about with me, nor let my men do so, because it is such an incentive for the Turk to put a bullet through you if you are wounded, and he finds them on you; but now the Mesopotamia War is over so far as we are concerned, and we shall live like human beings again under cover from the sun and cold nights, and be able to think of such things. The rest of the Cavalry Division are getting three days’ rest before pursuing the enemy farther up. We, as far as we know, are to be in Baghdad for a while at least....
“Late evening. I have just been taking a stroll round the town in case we don’t see it again. The officers are allowed to go in pairs armed, but we haven’t dared to let the men out yet; they have been in trouble already, climbing their way on the roof to the quarters of the Sheikh and pinching bedding; also there are intermittent shots fired now and again from mysterious spots, and there has to be a house-to-house search for any stray Turks in hiding. We went through endless streets with the houses almost touching across to each other. Every window is glassless, but securely barred, and great wooden shutters slide down to shut out the hot sun. Down by the river the Eastern picturesqueness is very novel,—to see the Arabs lifting water by appliances that have been used as long as the world was peopled; the coracles (round boats) spinning round and round as they in time get across the stream: they are allowed to spin, as it lessens the resistance to the current. To get alongside the water and amongst the palms with their green crop underneath is wonderful after weeks of the desert. I don’t know of anything more depressing and hopeless than to—as we often and often had to—be going all day in the broiling sun and dust and wind, and find it hopeless to try and get to the river, and must camp where we are, the horses unwatered, and every one finished their water-bottles, and knowing that you’ve got to be on the move at 4 A.M. again, with the expectation of meeting the enemy.”
Surely the soldier on service earns his pay.
| A TYPICAL WATER LIFT | A PERSIAN WATER WHEEL NEAR BAGHDAD |
March 14.—“We turned out of our delightful quarters at Kazimain this morning, and have now taken over the Cavalry barracks in Baghdad—a horrible, flyey, and hot place that is nothing more than bare mud walls and filth, since the outside Arabs have stripped it of everything. These brutes got in and looted the Bazaar clean; the civil population always expect that to happen on such occasions, and just sit calmly by and watch them wreck their shops.... I am writing this in agony from the flies. There are five other chaps in this bare stone-floored room with me who have their heads buried under their blankets, having given up any attempt at reading or writing....
“We found absolutely nothing in the town. The Bazaar, as the multitude of dusty and smelly arcades are called, are rows and rows of little cubby holes with the meanest supplies of merchandise, and as they were all ransacked when the Turks left, we could buy nothing at all. The whole town is most disappointing, even were it not half in ruins: everywhere is dilapidation and dirt....
“Gowan, whose father was a member for Vancouver, is in charge of the armoured cars we have attached to the Cavalry; he is an extraordinary daring chap, and when in France with the 7th Battalion had the back of his skull blown away—which he carries in his pocket—had a bayonet through his stomach, and was discharged from the Canadian Army as no further use—is now the admiration of every one for his daring exploits!”
Lance-Corporal Bowie’s diary, from which quotations have already been made in earlier chapters, tells the story of the advance from Lajj to Baghdad in very concise terms.
“On the following day, the 6th,[53] we carried the pursuit of the Turks past Ctesiphon. A very bad sand-storm raged during this day, making our progress very difficult. We bivouacked that night near Bawi, and the next day was spent in a well-earned rest, while a pontoon bridge was being thrown across the Tigris, which, during the day, Turkish airmen tried very hard to destroy by bombing, but only succeeded in hitting one of our ammunition waggons, killing the entire team, drivers, and everything within a radius of 300 yards. The following day we crossed the Tigris without opposition, whilst the Infantry fought their way across the Diala river some miles farther up. We at once made a long night-march to get at the enemy’s left flank, which we attacked, forcing him back a distance of some two miles, bivouacking that night on the ground from which we had driven the enemy. During the same [day?] one of our officers was killed while we were watering our horses in the face of the enemy’s fire. The following morning we started to blow up a railway bridge, but had to abandon this enterprise owing to a terrific sand-storm which overtook us. After a few more hours’ rest we proceeded on our way to Baghdad, where we encountered no opposition, our Infantry having driven out the last of the enemy’s rearguard during the earlier part of the morning, the Thirteenth Hussars being the first of the Cavalry to enter the city, which we did about 11 A.M. on the 11th March. The following morning the pursuing Cavalry took Khasmain, whilst the Thirteenth Hussars remained bivouacked in a large orchard. Having been selected to garrison the city, we crossed the Tigris on the morning of the 14th, and took up our quarters in the old Turkish Cavalry barracks, which were situated just outside the citadel. These we found to be in a filthy condition, and infested with vermin. Happily our stay here was very brief....”