"تاريخ الحرب الكبرى استنادًا إلى وثائق رسمية. الحملة في بلاد الرافدين ١٩١٤-١٩١٨. مجلد I" [و‎‎٨‎٣] (٤٥٤/١٧٠)

ARRIVAL OF REINFORCEMENTS
145
engagement, and to let General Barrett know if he required
more troops.
Early on the 6th, General Fry reached Shwaiyib camp with
his reinforcements and learnt that a reconnaissance on the
previous day had proved that the Turks had re-occupied
Muzaira’a. During the afternoon he held a conference with
the Senior Naval Officer, at which Sir P. Cox was also present,
on board the Lawrence, from whose decks a good view was
obtained of the enemy’s former position. He was seen to be
entrenching at Muzaira’a. In the meantime a reconnaissance
was being carried out by one and a half companies of infantry
on land and by the Shaitan and Lewis Felly up the river.
General Fry’s intelligence was to the effect that the Turks had
been reinforced since the 4th, and that they had now about
twelve hundred to fifteen hundred men* at Muzaira’a with
six guns and another eight hundred men with four guns at
Qurna. General Fry decided that it was essential to make an
early attack on Muzaira’a and to clear the left bank of the
enemy before they received any further reinforcements. The
first day’s operations were to be confined to these objectives
and to preparing to cross the Tigris above and out of sight of
Qurna. To allow of his force remaining in occupation of
captured ground, General Fry asked General Barrett to send
him a mountain battery and three hundred and twenty
transport mules, to carry a minimum quantity of baggage
and stores from Shwaiyib landing-place.
Just after 2 p.m., a force of the enemy, about five hundred
strong with two guns, were seen advancing across the plain
from Muzaira’a. Our outposts were reinforced and the Espiegle
and Lawrence moved upstream; and they and some field
artillery guns on shore opened fire, with the result that the
enemy retired with some loss in about an hour’s time. A further
fruitless minor attack on our outposts at dusk preceded a
peaceful night.
With the 30th Mountain Battery—which arrived at Shwaiyib
about 7 a.m. on the 7th—General Fry’s force amounted to a
total strength of about three thousand seven hundred with
twelve guns, in addition to the guns on the warships and
launches and the four field artillery guns on the river steamers,
His plan of attack was as follows : the Norfolks and the half
battahon 120th were to attack Muzaira’a and the trenches south
of it, while the 110th were to carry out a turning movement
k
* It was ascertained subsequently that they had a total on both banks of
about three thousand.
(67£8)
L