Part 11 (1/2)
_March 17th._--We had an extraordinary breakfast of kedjereed tinned salmon Square-Peg brought with him.
c.o.c.kie's temperature is increasing and ought to be diminished.
I played patience a little, which I can't stick for long.
There are not many books circulating.
_March 18th._--Another beautiful day! I stale-mated a game of chess with Square-Peg, and then had a walk round the trenches almost up to the Fort. There is an old disused trench skirting the river on the eastern side, where we sat in a hidden nook and let the cool breeze from the river play on our feverish dank foreheads.
Gra.s.s is beginning to grow in patches here and there on the _maidan_; and here and there a truant mule did himself well behind the _bund_. Presently the Turks or Arabs spotted us, and we reluctantly had to leave the blissful spot.
Rumour says that the Turks have some new 75-inch guns coming. If so, the damage done will be ten times what it has been. And if they only had high-explosive sh.e.l.l the smas.h.i.+ng up of the fort wall and the town would be a very short affair.
A bombardier of the 76th Battery, an excellent lad, has just died of wounds from the aeroplane's bomb. I remember upholding him in a matter of duty once.
Every day some one goes, either from wounds or sickness.
And so far as we know the end is not yet.
_March 19th._--Rheumatics bad again. They remind me I lived in feet of water in my earthy dug-out during the floods, even my bed sopping wet. However, in the heat of the day the aching is less intense. More serious are the increasing cases of enteritis everywhere in Kut. I believe this is essentially a siege malady. The symptoms are violent pains in the intestines and a wish to vomit. It is, I hear, due to bad and insufficient nourishment. I know many who have already succ.u.mbed, but so far in my case these pains have been rather stomach than abdominal.
A bombardment started while I was in the gardens, and I hastened back to c.o.c.kie's observation post. It lasted the best part of an hour.
The floods have necessitated removing the 5-inch guns on the river-front, which are now in a dead line for our observation post, so any accurate one will be not far away. Anyway they can scarcely be closer than they have been. One sh.e.l.l we felt certain was making dead for us, but it went by with a fearful swish and burst ten yards off, killing one man and wounding another after penetrating two feet of brick wall.
The fumes and filthy gases well-nigh choke one.
Another sh.e.l.l got the _Sumana_ through the funnel and bridge, killing one of her crew. Tudway's cabin was completely wrecked. Tudway is a deserving, hard-working subaltern, the only R.N. representative in Kut. He always takes it as a personal insult if his gunboat is. .h.i.t. She is the apple of his eye. H.M.S. _Sumana_, an improvised gunboat, is of the greatest importance, as she keeps us in touch with Woolpress, our tiny stronghold on the other bank, which prevents the Turks from coming right down to the river-bank and thus rendering our water-front totally unendurable. She takes across a barge with provisions and reliefs, and makes three or four trips a week. This the Turks know full well, and do their best to send her under during the day. However, she is fairly well protected with _mahelas_ and rafts, though by no means completely. It is a difficult problem to know how to protect her, and engages all Tudway's thoughts. In fact, how she remains afloat at all is a puzzle to every one.
The last trip of the Morane plane was sufficiently disastrous, one bomb dropping into the hospital ward, killing a dozen men and wounding many others. These large bombs are dreadful things, the splinters of the outer case being very thin and sharp as razors. Square-Peg's servant was among those hit. In the 1907 Convention at the Hague we tried to get all the Powers to agree to refrain from this abominable trick, but it was not to be. Anyway war is now full of abominable tricks.
_March 20th._--Cold and windy, an ideal day for a leather chair with book-rest in one's study before an open fire, or for Grieg's music, for there is a whip and a whistle in the wind, and Peer Gynt is pa.s.sing over us.
Another small strafe started, and H.M.S. _Sumana_ stopped quite a few. She received five direct hits from 9-pounders, and one from the 18-pounder field-gun the enemy captured from us at Ahwaz.
To be sh.e.l.led by one's own gun and ammunition adds humour to injury. And we have learned to respect the fearful rip of this weapon. She hits ten times harder than any other gun they have got of the same size. But as c.o.c.kie says, ”If British workmans.h.i.+p will be so thorough----”
The Morane flew over us last night in the moonlight and dropped several bombs, one of which cut through an ammunition wagon, setting off several sh.e.l.ls. We give every credit to this intrepid flyer. He came quite close.
For dinner we had a very excellent roast joint of horse and some rice. I find that first-cla.s.s horse is better than second-cla.s.s mule, and only second to second-rate young donkey. It beats camel and eclipses buffalo altogether. The horses decrease most sadly. Poor Don Juan! No insurance company on earth would look at him.
We smoked lime-leaves and talked rose-leaves, which means Omar Khayyam and Hafiz. But it lacked much--for we had no drinks more Khayyamnian than water.
_March 21st._--To-day it is a world of brightness. One has in one's self a feeling of joy and rejuvenescence, and outside there are the strong lines of a matter-of-fact morning, bright with the spangled beauties of ten thousand sheets of sunlight.
They are the banners of approaching summer, and beneath the palm trees one hears the sweet voice of that ardent G.o.ddess and the elfish cadence of her myrmidons.
Gorringe, promoted to lieut.-general, has succeeded General Aylmer in the command of the relieving force, and has wired that he is making his final plans.
The river has fallen three feet, and so to-day the whole garrison is keen with expectancy and buoyant with hope.
A few details are to hand with regard to the recent unsuccessful dash by General Aylmer up the right bank. From all accounts it was an excellent scheme, and came very near being a brilliant success. The Turks were completely hoodwinked, expecting the attack on the left bank, but Aylmer's flying column, by a commendable night march, got up to the main line of the enemy, and struck Dujaila Redoubt. The British troops got into this, but the story goes that General Aylmer then chose to wait for his guns and prepared before pus.h.i.+ng through. This took two or three hours, and the Turks, who had scanty troops on that side, immediately rushed over every available man from the other bank, and Aylmer, in attacking again, found the position too strong, and had to cut his way back. If he had shoved on at dawn he must have carried it easily.
Another version is that he had to go back for water, which is almost incredible, the show not having miscarried at all in length of time, and the river lay before him. One thing is certain: if he had got through, the Essin position would have had to be abandoned by the Turks, and, incidentally to the relief of Kut, our debouch would have brought about a heavy capture of the enemy. The difficulty now is that the floods are daily rendering more and more of this table country impa.s.sable. The soil is such that a shower of rain makes it a quagmire, and stagnant water turns it into the stickiest paste. Guns cannot be moved a yard, and it is almost equally impossible for man or horse to move. This means that the enemy's line downstream is shortened considerably, as they have to depend mainly on the dry land for transport.
To-day there is artillery fire below. Our guns exchanged a few rounds with his, and then Square-Peg and I strolled to the middle line and managed to procure some saccharine.