"تاريخ الحرب الكبرى استنادًا إلى وثائق رسمية. الحملة في بلاد الرافدين ١٩١٤-١٩١٨. مجلد I" [و‎‎١‎٣‎٥] (٤٥٤/٢٧٤)

PREPARATIONS AT QURNA
245
Arab village to the south-west of Qurna was supported success
fully by a British detachment from Qurna in co-operation
with the Odin and Espiegle. On the 8th, another successful
raid was carried out against one of a series of hostile Arab
villages on the right bank of the Euphrates which had
been responsible for much of the sniping. The force from
Qurna consisted of the Espiegle, Clio, three hundred infantry
in river steamers, and twenty-four heliums containing eight
men each, furnished by the three battalions of the Qurna
garrison. The Arabs did not await the attack, but many of
their mahailas and live-stock were captured, and the tribe
concerned at once asked for terms. In addition to this satis
factory result, the operation afforded the helium squadron a
practical test, in which it acquitted itself well, and gave the
men confidence in their newly acquired craft.
By the 7th May, a new artillery position at Nuhairat, four
hundred yards south of Fort Snipe, had been occupied by the
l/5th Hants Howitzer Battery so as to afford effective artillery
fire against the Turkish positions as far north as One Tower
Hill: three days later the British howitzers made particularly
good practice from here against One Tree and Tower Hills.
On the 9th, a reconnaissance of the A1 Huwair creek was
undertaken in the river steamer Shushan, in which were two
naval 3-pounders, three maxims, and a detachment of thirty
of the Oxfordshire and Buckinghamshire Light Infantry.
Considerable opposition was encountered from Arabs, who
obtained good cover from the six-feet high reeds surrounding
the creek and thus were able to maintain a heavy rifle fire on
the steamer on all sides from close range. Three soldiers were
wounded and also Lieutenant-Commander Cookson, R.N., who
was in command. Realising that the reeds rendered this
route impracticable for an advance and that further recon
naissance was useless and dangerous, Lieutenant-Commander
Cookson, though severely w'ounded, held on to his command
and brought the steamer out into the Euphrates without
further loss. . ,
On the 11th May, the progress of General Gorringe s operations
against the retiring Turks in Arabistan enabled General Nixon
to issue definite orders for the offensive up the Tigris.
These instructions stated that: “The object of the advance
from Qurna is not only to drive the enemy from his present
positions between the Pear Drop Bend and Quma and capture
his guns, but also to push him up river and occupy Amara, the.
operation to be continuous.” The instructions also gave the