"تاريخ الحرب الكبرى استنادًا إلى وثائق رسمية. الحملة في بلاد الرافدين ١٩١٤-١٩١٨. المجلد II." [و‎‎٥‎٧] (٦٦٠/١٢٠)

CONDITION OF BRITISH FORCE
continuing the offensive next day. General Hoghton's column
was to hold V.P. and the trenches for one mile south of it •
General Delamam s troops were to continue the line to the
south , and General Hamilton’s men were to occupy the
trenches towards the river.
The concentration at “ V.P.” was unmolested by the Turks
who had ceased firing and withdrawn to their second line as
soon as it got dark. General Hamilton’s column and the
76th Punjabis, who were farthest away, all reached “ V.P.”
by 11.30 p.m., having in the meantime collected and sent in
all their wounded.
As the concentration proceeded, General Townshend realised
that his troops were in no condition to resume the offensive on
the morrow. General Hoghton could only muster 700 men
General Delamain had about 1,000, and there were only about
800 or 900 left in General Hamilton’s brigade.* General
Townshend accordingly modified his previous orders. As soon
as the columns had been reorganised he proposed to take up
a restricted front nearer to the river, where he could more
easily obtain water, replenish ammunition and food and
evacuate his wounded. The position he proposed to take up
extended roughly along the Turkish trenches from the river
southward of High Wall to the Water Redoubt.
During the night 22nd/23rd General Delamain, with a
mixed detachment of infantry and the 82nd Field and l/5th
Hants Howitzer Batteries held the Water Redoubt. His
original orders had been to advance and take up a position
from the Ctesiphon Arch to the Tigns, but this was found to
be impossible owing to the Turks being in position eastward of
Ctesiphon village. The remainder of the force, including
General Nixon and his headquarters, spent the night in the
vicinity of “V.P.”
The conditions obtaining in this part of the position—a mass
of trenches and wire—are mentioned in many private accounts
as being indescribable. When captured about 10 a.m. by
General Delamain’s column, its trenches were already full
of Turkish dead and wounded, and to these during the day the
British had added their quota. Many British wounded were
sent to its vicinity during the day and for a great part of
the night others, collected from all parts of the battlefield,
arrived in a constant stream.f The usual ambulance transport
These are the numbers given by General Townshend.
, j during the Turkish counter-attack in the afternoon many of the wounded
had to be moved to the rear to get them away from the Turkish shelling, but
most of them were brought back to " V.P.” after dark.