"تاريخ الحرب الكبرى استنادًا إلى وثائق رسمية. الحملة في بلاد الرافدين ١٩١٤-١٩١٨. المجلد IV". [ظ‎‎١‎٥‎٩] (٥٤٠/٣٢٣)

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264 HISTORY OF THE WAR: MESOPOTAMIA
difficult obstacle to movement. The Jabal Makhul flanked
the right bank of the Tigris closely from the gorge to Ain
Dibs, where there was a practicable pass across the range, and
continued in a north-westerly direction till it gradually merged
into the plain to the westward of Sharqat. Above the Humr
bend, also, the right bank of the Tigris was closely flanked by
another and similar range of hills—the Jabal Khanuqa—which
extended nearly to Sharqat, while the area between the Jabal
Khanuqa and the Jabal Makhul was a jumbled mass of low
hills and ravines.
On the right bank of the Tigris, two roads led from
Shuraimiya to the neighbourhood of Sharqat. One went
along the river bank through the Fat-ha gorge and crossed a
succession of ravines, of which the largest had been bridged
by a wooden structure which the Turks would be sure to
destroy as they retired ; while the other lay over the waterless
desert westward of the Jabal Makhul, which it crossed near
Balalij. On the left bank of the Tigris the road which led
from opposite Tikrit over the Ain Nukhaila pass was passable,
but difficult, for wheels, and the only other practicable route
over the Jabal Hamrin between Ain Nukhaila and Fat-ha was
a steep and difficult bridle path over the Darb-al-Khail pass.
There were springs or wells of water at both these passes, but
the water in them was insufficient for a force of any size. There
was also a road along the left bank of the river, but, after
passing through the Fat-ha gorge, both the road and the
country adjoining it were completely commanded by the hills
on the Tigris right bank.
The Turkish position on the right bank at Fat-ha consisted
of a succession of trench lines, which ran westward from the
Tigris along the forward slopes of the Jabal Makhul for about
three miles and then bent back to the north-west. The
crest of the Jabal Makhul was naturally very difficult of access
owing to the steep and precipitous nature of its slopes; and
every possible track across it was protected by Turkish trenches
and guns. On the left bank of the Tigris, the trench lines
extended for some five miles along the crest line and the forward
slopes of the Jabal Hamrin.
Fifteen miles to the rear, the second Turkish position ex
tended from the vicinity of Ain Dibs across the hilly and broken
ground to the Tigris south of Mushak and continued for some
ten miles along the northern bank of the Little Zab. This
bank was generally precipitous and commanded the southern