| Lieut. E. Bristol | Lieut. A. E. Annett | Lieut. C. A. F. Wingfield |
| Major and Q.M. A. Cooke | ||
| Lieut. W. Madgin | Lieut. A. Williams | Lieut. L. A. Ormrod |
CHAPTER XVII.
THE SUMMER OF 1917.
The summer of 1917 was comparatively quiet; General Maude writes of it in the following words:—
“For the remaining five months of the period under review the heat was considerable, and during the latter part of June, July, and beginning of August it was intense. Consequently, movements could not be undertaken by either side without grave risk of incurring substantial casualties from heat-stroke and heat exhaustion. The troops enjoyed a well-earned respite from the continuous fighting in which they had been engaged during the five months terminating in April, but they were by no means idle. Our hold over the area was made secure, defensive positions and pivots were prepared, and training was carried on in the early mornings and late evenings as the temperature permitted. Manly sports, too, which are so essential to the wellbeing of the soldier, especially when temporarily inactive in the military sense, were freely indulged in, with beneficial results to the health and future fitness of the army for service in the field. Arrangements had been made for a proportion of the troops to proceed to India on leave during the summer months, and those who had been on service for a considerable time derived much benefit from the change and rest thus obtained.”
India during the hot-weather months is not usually regarded by Englishmen as a pleasant country, but no doubt its settled cantonments and civilised cities were preferable to camp-life in Mesopotamia, and its cool “hill stations” were a godsend to men worn out with exposure to the fierce heat of the Arab plains.
General Maude’s remark that the troops who remained in Mesopotamia were “by no means idle” is well within the mark, for not only were a considerable part of them engaged during the month of May in such punitive expeditions against the Arabs as the one mentioned in Chapter XVI., but at some points these expeditions extended into June and even the beginning of July, when, as he says, the heat was intense. Nor were such minor movements the only operations which the troops were called upon to undertake. In June the Russians reported that in consequence of the increasing heat they had found it necessary to evacuate the line of the Diala river, and they withdrew across the Persian border from which they had advanced. This necessitated the occupation of the district by a British force, and in August this force had to drive back a body of Turkish troops. Moreover, in July it was thought necessary to push a column forward on the line of the Euphrates, and there was some fighting with the Turks in this direction, fighting which was stopped only by “a blinding dust-storm” and “the commencement of an abnormal heat-wave.” On both flanks of the army, therefore, the troops had active work to do in the summer months.
Nevertheless the bulk of the British troops about Baghdad did no doubt enjoy a peaceful summer in their standing camps along the banks of the Tigris; and this was the case with the Thirteenth, who were left undisturbed among the palm groves at Chaldari. There they rested and recruited their strength for any further campaigning that might occur when the summer was over. Before that time arrived the regiment was thoroughly fit for service again—its numbers full, in officers, men, and horses, and its health excellent.
The following brief extracts from letters and diaries seem to be all that is available for this peaceful interlude in their Mesopotamian war record.
Captain S. O. Robinson—May 13, 1917.—“It is too hot to fight out here now, and we are sitting down for the hot weather after a very successful winter campaign. I expect people at home look upon this as a side-show, which of course it is compared with Europe, but all the same there has been plenty of hard fighting, under most difficult and trying conditions.
