'Field notes: Mesopotamia. General Staff, India. February, 1917.' [‎90v] (187/350)

172
Route No. 8— contd.
are being made as to possibilities of finding water by digging,
along this line.
On the right bank there are two natural drainage lines run
ning roughly parallel to and at respective approximate distance
of 4 and li miles from the Tigris. The possibilities of these
also are being investigated.
Mahmudiyah would be convenient as a penultimate halting
place for an advance by right bank, as there is good canal water
there for 9 months out of the year.
9. Convenient places for depots are:—*
Nahr Kellak . . . . ^
’Aziziyah . . . . ^ All used during Ctesi*
Bustan I phon advance.
Dialah . . . . . J
(None of these can be reckoned to be above high flood level.
But this is no practical hindrance, for any particular locality on
the Tigris banks can always be rendered flood proof by ring
bunding.)
10. Convenient stages along the route are
Length of stage.
Elbow bend 5 m. E.
of Shaikh Ja’ad
. 16 miles.
Nahr Kellak
. . . .
. 19 „
Umm at Tubul .
. 16 „
’Aziziyah .
.
. 10
Zuwair (Robeida)
• • • •
• 15 „
Bustan
• . • •
. 15 „
Dialah
• • • •
• 12 „
The telegraph line follows the road as a general rule, being
carried over the Dialah by high posts in order to allow passage
of mahalas.
11. As regards tactical configuration—command of one
bank of the river by the other is not very marked. It occurs at
Baghdad, i.e., near Zuwair where the right bank commands the
\