'Field Notes on Lower Mesopotamia' [‎27r] (60/112)

hish and are loophole d at 4| feet from the ground,
this teing their height as measured both inside
and outside the fort. The diagonal corners have a
second tier of loopholes 1 foot below the top of the
wall for use by men lying on the roof of buildings
inside, which* run nearly all the way round and
furnish quarters for the garrison, store-rooms,
etc. The loopholes have no splay. The walls
are 2 to 3 feet thick, the lower eight feet being of
unbaked brick, the upper part of mud with a coping
of burnt brick. The gateway is also of burnt brick*
There is a garrison of 1 officer and 30 men.
There is, also, about 3| miles south-east of the
telegraph station just above the bar an incomplete,
stone, blunted rc dan, facing south-east, and com
manding the bar and approaches. Garrison about
2 officers and 24 infantry (recently reinforced).
Casemates ; wet ditch; 2 bastions ; gun embrasures ;
caponier. It has been stated that there were 15
guns and ammunition in store underground, but in
May 1912 the fort was still incomplete, with no
guns, mounted. This is probably the position now,
for, with the exception of a clear alley leaving down
to the nearest part of the river, the fort is now (1914)
entirely surrounded by a forest of date trees and is
falling into disrepair.
This fort would have to be taken before the river
could be used as a line of advance.