"دراسة نقدية عن الحملة في ميسوبوتاميا حتى أبريل ١٩١٧: الجزء I - تقرير" [ظ‎‎٧‎٤] (٤٢٤/١٥٣)

124
Pioneers (less one company) ; the Cavalry Brigade, the Heavy Artillery,
and the 61st Howitzer Battery, were posted on the left bank of the
Tigris to the west of Shaikh Saad. This place was held by two companies
of the 2nd Rajputs, a squadron of the 33rd Cavalry, and the bulk of
the Provisional Battalion, the bridge of boats was secured by two com
panies of the 128th Pioneers and the 13th Sappers and Miners ; 100
men of the Provisional Battalion guarded the shipping, and two com
panies of the 128th, one company of the 107th, and 130 men of the Pro
visional Battalion remained, with one gun-boat, on the battle-field of
the 6th—9th January for the purpose of safeguarding the wounded.
(Order of Battle is given at the end of the Article.)
The 12th January was spent in reconnaissance and other prepara
tions for the coming battle. The majority of the tributaries of the
Tigris draw water from the river. But the Wadi, behind which the
Turks had placed themselves, was a running stream that flowed into
it and probably, therefore, could not be controlled by the enemy in
the same manner as an irrigation channel into which water could be
let, or from which it could be excluded by breaking or building up a
dam across its mouth. It was, so far as the British were aware, at
the moment fordable, and flowing between steep banks, but was liable
to be flooded by rain fall in the Pusht-i-Kuh mountains. Except for
the presence of the Wadi, of a walled enclosure known as Chittab's fort,
some ruins of villages, and one or more huts of mud which were inhabited
by Arabs, the battlefield was not different in character from that of
Shaiks Saad. The dead, dun-coloured, monotonous level presented an
unbroken horizon on every side. The area abounded in small banks
and shallow irrigation channels which would either afford ready-made
cover against shells and bullets, or would render the concealment of
trenches and their parapets an easy matter. Near the Tigris and Wadi
there were also deeper canals, still dry since the river had not risen
sufficiently to bring water into them, and therefore providing
covered ways. In many places too there was low scrub which would
favour the concealment both of defences and personnel. The troops
had however, now gained some experience of these conditions, and
also of the disconcerting effect of the daily haze of fine dust blown up
from the desert, and the deceptive mirage.
The reports made by our airmen on the 12th showed that the Turks
definitely intended to stand and were busy entrenching especially on
their left, where a redoubt was being made at a distance of about two
and a half miles from the Tigris. There were emplacements for four
or six guns near the Turkish left, and for six more in or near the angle
between the Wadi and Tigris; various camps had sprung ud behind
the Wadi and it was estimated that 7,500 infantry and 1,200 mounted
men had been seen by the airmen. There was also what appeared to