'Mesopotamia Commission. Report of the Commission Appointed by Act of Parliament to Enquire into the Operations of War in Mesopotamia, together with a Special Report by Commander J Wedgwood, DSO, MP, and Appendices. London: HMSO, 1917.' [‎40r] (79/248)

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PART X.—MEDICAL BREAKDOWN. 77
D. The Misuse of Reticence.
Battle of Ctesiphon {continued).
side was covered with stalactites of human faeces. This is what I then saw. A certain number of men were
standing and kneeling on the immediate perimeter of the ship. Then we found a mass of men huddled up
anyhow—some with blankets and some without. They were lying in a pool of dysentery about 30 feet square.
They were covered with dysentery and dejecta generally from head to foot. With regard to the first man
I examined, I put my hand into his trousers, and I thought that he had a haemorrhage. His trousers were
full almost to his waist with something warm and slimy. I took my hand out, and thought it was blood clot.
It was dysentery. The man had a fractured thigh, and his thigh was perforated in five or six places. He
had apparently been writhing about the deck of the ship. Many cases were almost as bad. There were a
certain number of cases of terribly bad bed sores. In my report I describe mercilessly to the Government
of India how I found men with their limbs splinted with wood strips from ‘ Johnny Walker ’ whisky boxes,
‘ Bhoosa ’ wire, and that sort of thing.”
Were they British or Indian ?—British and Indian mixed.
61. We do not wish it to be inferred that the conditions on all the river steamers
reached this pitch of horror. The conditions, for example, in the “ Blosse Lynch ” and
the “ Mosul,” two ships which on this occasion had been prepared beforehand for the
wounded, though unsatisfactory, were probably superior to those in the “ Medjidieh.”
On the other hand there is evidence that the conditions in some of the other boats were
as bad as or worse than in the “ Medjidieh.”
62. We will now see how the evacuation of the wounded, resulting in such
appalling conditions, was officially described by the General Officer Commanding the
Expedition. We append two telegrams on the subject:—
From —Secretary of State for India
To —General Nixon, Basra.
Dated December 4th, 1915.
C. 243. On arrival wounded at Basra. Please telegraph urgently particulars and progress.
From —General Nixon.
To —Secretary of State for India.
Dated December 7th, 1915.
940/28/A. Your C. 243. Wounded satisfactorilv disposed of. Manv likely to recover in countrv com-
w fortably placed in hospitals at Amara and Basra. Those for invaliding are being placed direct on two hospital
•hips that were ready at Basra on arrival of river boats. General condition of wounded very satisfactory.
Medical arrangements under circumstances of considerable difficulty worked splendidly.
We have had great difficulty in ascertaining who actually drafted this telegram and
was responsible for its despatch. Sir John Nixon, who was ill at the time it was sent,
in his evidence before us stated that he had only a dim, if any, recollection of the circum
stance, but he admitted having seen it the day after its despatch, and as it was sent in
his name he accepted the responsibility for it.
63. Sir John Nixon has communicated to us a letter he has lately received from
a member of the Staff in Mesopotamia, which states that this telegram was
drafted by, and is in the handwriting of, Surgeon-General Hathaway, though it is
not initialled by him, but by two members of Sir John Nixon’s Staff, subordinate
officers in the office of Major-General Cowper, then Deputy Assistant and Quartermaster-
General of Force “ D.” Surgeon-General Hathaway told us that he had assisted in framing
it. Major General Cowper stated to us that he personally had no share in the despatch
of this telegram, and that he did not himself submit it to Sir John Nixon before his subordi
nates despatched it. These two subordinate officers seem to have accepted Surgeon-
General Hathaway’s authority as sufficient. It is impossible to believe that Surgeon-
General Hathaway was ignorant of the condition and sufferings of the sick and wounded.
He had been at Laj when the wounded arrived from the battlefield, and he had himself
worked with great energy in embarking them on the steamers. He had also travelled
down the river with the wounded and was, according to one witness, actually at Basra
at the date of the “ Medjidieh’s ” arrival.
Major Carter stated to us that he had insisted upon seeing Sir John Nixon in order that
he (Sir John Nixon) might personally know of the condition of the wounded on their
arrival at Basra in the “ Medjidieh.”
64. Sir John Nixon, Major-General Cowper and Surgeon-General Hathaway all assured
us that the telegram was not despatched with the object of misrepresenting the state of
things. Sir John Nixon informed us that at the time the telegram was sent his “ thank
fulness was great at having got the wounded down safely under circumstances of great
difficulty without letting them be exposed to mutilation ” by the Arabs, and that what
filled his mind was the resource and unceasing efforts of the medical officers to alleviate
the sufferings of the wounded. Surgeon-General Hathaway said that he meant the latter