"تاريخ الحرب الكبرى استنادًا إلى وثائق رسمية. الحملة في بلاد الرافدين ١٩١٤-١٩١٨. المجلد II." [و‎‎٩‎٨] (٦٦٠/٢٠٢)

BRITISH DEFENSIVE ARRANGEMENTS 167
liable to be cut off, appeared to be a weak point. On the
other hand, it commanded two long stretches of the river,
enfiladed part of the range of sandhills, provided flank defence
for the first line of trenches and afforded a good observation
station for artillery.* Strenuous efforts were made to improve
its defences and to render it better able to withstand artillery
fire ; but from the very beginning the Turks selected it as a
special point for attack and their increasing artillery fire
interfered considerably with the work on it. For instance,
on the 5th, Turkish gunfire killed there nearly all the horses
of the Maxim Battery and damaged badly the buildings in it.
Outside the fort, trenches and a redoubt had to be dug along
a portion of the first line, with the usual support, reserve and
communicating trenches ; and further trenches were required
for piquets along the river bank, for the brigade reserve, for
cooking places, brigade headquarters, etc.
The garrison of the fort formed a subordinate command under
Lieutenant-Colonel Brown, 103rd Mahrattas, and consisted of
two 15-pounder guns of the Volunteer Battery, the Maxim
Battery, fifty bombers of the Oxfords, the Sirmur Company
of Sappers and Miners, 103rd Mahrattas and 119th Infantry.
The trenches (in this sector) outside the fort were occupied
alternately by the Oxfords and the 22nd Punjabis, the battalion
not in the trenches forming brigade reserve close to brigade
headquarters.
In the north-west sector lay the greater part of the first line
of defence, including three of its redoubts, and here also there
was much additional work to be done in preparation of the
usual subsidiary trench system. The soil was clayey and in
places very hard ; and by the 7th December, though the
blockhouses had been demolished, and redoubts constructe ,
they were not yet connected up by trenches. The work here,
as elsewhere in the area, was much interrupted by the constant
enemy rifle fire, which continued day and night and caused
many casualties. • . ,
In the southern sector, commencement of the second line ot
defence, the defences of Woolpress village, trenches for piquets
along the river bank and protection for parties getting
were the main points requiring immediate attention. u
town was also in this sector and much subsidiary trench wor
had to be done there. Communication with Woolpress village
* At first a stack of bags of atta (coarsely ground flour used by lntUans)
in the centre of the fort was utihsed as an artillery command and observation
post.