"تاريخ الحرب الكبرى استنادًا إلى وثائق رسمية. الحملة في بلاد الرافدين ١٩١٤-١٩١٨. المجلد II." [و‎‎٦‎٢] (٦٦٠/١٣٠)

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EVACUATION OF WOUNDED 99
retire to a safer position such as the Diyala line or 121
to wait in the present situation in a state of readiness to
move, so as to be able to decide according as the enemy's
SoseThe ktter°alternative. re . The ^“--ChLf
British troops during this nigMatta/k! bm^tot^TSIfalfc
according to the official returns during the 23rd and 24th were
82 and a certain number of these occurred during dayS
and among the transport removing the wounded But fhe
fnTlss n es on m the iCd eXhaUSted by their
and losses on the 2-nd—was great. General Townshend’s
narrative shows also how great the strain had been on ffim
personally. In this connection it has to be borne in mind thS
never before m the fighting in Mesopotamia had the Turks
made counter-attacks with such vigour and determination-
in fact they had never made a really serious attempt to retake
a pos. ion once lost. It is therefore, not surprising that
General Townshend should have concluded that they had
received strong reinforcements.
When dawn broke on the 24th quiet reigned along the British
front. The wounded and Turkish prisoners at High Wall
were evacuated to Lajj, where General Nixon also proceeded
with his headquarters, leaving General Kemball behind tem-
poran y to see General Townshend * At Lajj General Nixon
embarked m the Malamir.
Soon after daybreak General Delamain saw a formed body
of 1 urkish troops moving up the river south-west of the Arch.
These he shelled and he advanced for about a thousand
yards to his front disposing of some stray Turkish troops and
then withdrew unmolested to High Wall, to which position the
detachment at Gurkha Mound was also withdrawn.
At 7 a.m. the Cavalry Brigade moved out to the north and
took up a position north-east of “ V.P.” to cover the flank
of General Hoghton’s 17th Brigade, while the wounded were
being evacuated. The cavalry remained out till after dark and
kept at a distance a considerable number of Arab horsemen.
bers A nf ^ ral N / XO y ode \°^ lds La ii wi *h his staff, he came on large num-
t>ers of transport carts containing wounded which were in much confusion
S art ' llery accordance with orders ^ 0 ™!
threegained behind to take charge of these carts. With
three other officers, including a medical and a veterinary officer and after
no S 1 o erabl k dlffiC i Ulty ’ /p eneral Cowpei reached Lajj with the last cart at
each K Three , y in 8 down and three sitting up cases had to be carried in
hGS 1 CartS ; and th,s fact S ive? some idea of the inadequacy and
aunculties of the arrangements and also of the sufferings of the wounded