'HISTORY OF THE GREAT WAR BASED ON OFFICIAL DOCUMENTS. THE CAMPAIGN IN MESOPOTAMIA 1914-1918. VOLUME I.' [‎120v] (245/454)

218 HISTORY OF THE WAR : MESOPOTAMIA
regiment, 12,000 regular Turco-Arab infantry and 32 guns,
assisted by 11,000 Arab Tribesmen, of whom 2,000 were in
country boats in the adjacent waters. General Melliss calcu
lated the hostile strength engaged on the 14th as 15,000 in all,
including six regular battalions and six guns. The Turks
had fought excellently ; it was they alone who had held the
line of trenches so gallantly on the 14th. The Arabs had
given on the whole but feeble assistance.
It seems clear from accounts of the fight derived from Turkish
soldiers that the Turks had formed no definite plan of action
for the 14th.* The trenches they dug were shallow and
hurriedly constructed, and many of their orders appear to have
been marked by indecision. This no doubt is largely accounted
for by the failure of the Arabs to co-operate. Early in the
afternoon, Horse Artillery officers with the cavalry brigade
saw an enemy column of troops and transport, stretching as
far as the eye could see, retiring to the north-west from
Barjisiya wood, but unfortunately this information did not
reach General Melliss.
Whatever may have been the Turkish intentions they
have every reason to be proud of the fight in which, in spite
of their inferior artillery and the failure of their Arab allies,
they nearly succeeded in beating off the British attack.
General Melliss described it as a “ Soldiers’ Battle," which
we may interpret by saying that superiority in manoeuvre
had little to do with gaining the victory, which was almost
entirely attributable to the splendid fighting of the British
and Indian regimental officers and men.
The siting of the Turkish trenches, facilitating concealment
from hostile gunfire and offering an excellent field of rifle fire,
had the disadvantage of making reinforcement very difficult
and of rendering very costly in lives any withdrawal or retire
ment.
The Turks retreated to the north-west in wild confusion,
harassed and robbed by the Arabs, and scarcely halted till
they reached Khamisiya, about ninety miles distant from
Shaiba. Their commander, Sulaiman Askari, insisted, it was
said, on having the bed from which he could not move kept in
Barjisiya wood throughout the fighting. After the day was
lost, he assembled his officers and, denouncing the faithlessness
* There is nothing whatever in our own records, nor in the Turkish accounts
of the battle, to suggest that there is any truth in a statement, sometimes
published, that the final flight of the Turks was induced by the sight, on
the sky-line, of what they took for fresh reinforcements, but which was in
reality the line of transport carts escorted by the 48th Pioneers.