CHAPTER VIII
.
THE BATTLE THAT WON SAMARRAH.
The following article by Brigadier-General A. G. Wauchope, C.M.G., D.S.O., is here republished with permission:
There stretches, some sixty miles north of Baghdad, from the Tigris to the Euphrates, a famous fortified line known to the Greeks as the Median Wall. It is skilfully constructed in tiers of mud bricks to a height fully thirty feet above the level of the plain, the whole has been covered over by a thick layer of earth protecting the bricks these many centuries from wind and weather, for the Median Wall is, so some say, the oldest building in all the world. It formed certainly the outer line of the defences of the Kingdom of Babylon under Nebuchadnezzar II, when it ran from Opis on the Tigris to Hit on the Euphrates and this line in far earlier times marked the boundary between the two ancient peoples of Akkad and Sumer, and was probably even then a fortification of first importance.
However that may be, it stands to-day the most prominent landmark in all this district of the Tigris valley; though broken, tumbledown mounds represent the great wall towards the Euphrates, for many miles near the Tigris it stands without a break, with strong projecting bastions to give flank defence every forty or fifty yards, and at wider intervals the wall rises so as to form some sort of keep or watch tower.
[Illustration: Date Palm Scenes Below Basrah.]
[Illustration: T. HENDERSON. M.C. G. V. STEWART. C. RYRIE.]
[Illustration: At Arab Village.]
[Illustration: Undepressed.]
Whoever built the great wall built it for the purposes of war, and no building, I venture to say, has ever had so many battles fought within its neighbourhood. Every race through every age, Aryan and Turanian, Babylonian and Assyrian, Median and Persian, armies from Greece and armies from Rome, have, during the past thousands of years, slaughtered each other with extraordinary thoroughness below these mud bastions; and more recently, but with the same seeming futility, Turk has murdered Arab and Arab Turk, the destruction of villages, mosques and canals marking, as of old, the soldiers sacrifice to the God of War.
Standing this morning on these ancient ramparts, I watch the sun rise over this land which, once so rich and fertile, now shows hardly a sign of human habitation, this country where not a tree nor a house has been allowed for many years to stand, over which the blight of misrule has lain as a curse for centuries and I see yet one more army going forth to battle; once again columns of armed men sweep forth to encounter similar columns, to kill and to capture within sight of the Median Wall. And watching these columns of Englishmen and Highlanders, of Hindus, Gurkhas and bearded Sikhs advancing to the coming conflict, one felt the conviction that this struggle was being fought for the sake of principles more lofty, for ends more permanent, for aims less fugitive, for issues of higher service to the cause of humanity, than those that had animated the innumerable and bloody conflicts of the past.
The delta of the Tigris ends a few miles below Samarrah. That is to say, whoever holds the district about Samarrah controls the waters of the Tigris. For lower down in the Baghdad valaiyet the river in its annual flood deposits so much mud on its bed as to raise itself in course of centuries, above the level of the plain. Consequently, artificial banks about three feet high have been built all along the river, and were these to be cut during the flood season, the whole surrounding country would be inundated and the spring crops destroyed. This renders the districts of Samarrah of great natural importance, and the fact that the Germans had completed a railway between Baghdad and Samarrah, made it also desirable for the British to hold it.
The country here differs little from the rest of the Tigris valley, the same level plain of loam and mud, a strip of two or three miles nearest the river highly irrigated, and at this season, green with young corn and barley; further afield the bare, brown, featureless desert stretching out endlessly in every direction. Dawn and dusk transform this shadowless wilderness into a land of the most wonderful colour and atmosphere, but throughout the heat of the day the glare and dust make it hateful to white men. And even in April, the shade temperature runs to 110 degrees Fahrenheit, and where troops march in this country without trees there is no shade from the sun, no escape from the heat.
[Illustration: The Arch Of Ctesiphon.]
[Illustration: The Regiment Passing The Arch Of Ctesiphon En Route For Baghdad, March 1917.]
[Illustration: Women Drawing Water From The River.]
[Illustration: "Gufas'" Or Circular Boats At Baghdad.]
[Illustration: The Entrance To The Mosque Kadhimain.]
Besides the Median Wall, there remain two outward and visible signs of the older civilisation that flourished in happier times. There are, at frequent intervals, low flat mounds composed of old sunbaked bricks the sites of ancient cities; so numerous are these that they seem to justify the Chaldean proverb, boasting of the prosperity of the people, that a cock may spring from house to house without lighting on the ground from Babylon to the sea. The other are the walls of the canals that served to irrigate the country between the two rivers. These canals have for centuries past been dry and useless, but their walls, twenty or thirty feet high, and many miles in length, remain as the most conspicuous monument of the fallen greatness of Mesopotamia. That they will again be put to their original purpose was the confident assertion of Sir William Willcocks, and with Turkish misrule finally banished from the land, a few years may see these canals again filled with water, bringing wealth and plenty to a happier generation. But to-day they seem to have but the one use of acting as tactical features on the battlefield, as was indeed the case in this fight near Istabulat.
For some days before the 31st April, the British had been collecting behind the Median Wall, facing the Turkish position which lay some three miles to the north of the Wall, and some twelve miles south of Samarrah.
A very well selected position it proved, and a very difficult one to attack. The Turkish left rested securely on a re-entrant bend of the Tigris. Thence the line ran east and west across the Dujail River, and continued for a mile along a dry canal, until it met the railway a little to the north of Istabulat station. Both the Railway and the Dujail run roughly north-west to south-east, but the Tigris towards Samarrah bends due west. Consequently the Turks by refusing their right were able to rest that flank on the ruins of the ancient city of Istabulat. These ruins consisted of some low mounds and the high walls of an old canal that had run from the Tigris across the present line of the Railway four miles to the north of the station. The whole country was absolutely flat and bare, except for the broken and uneven walls of the Dujail River and Istabulat Canal.
The so-called Dujail River is a canal that takes off from the right bank of the Tigris some four miles north of the Median Wall. It has been dug and re-dug, till it now flows below the level of the surrounding country, but its walls are fully twenty feet high, and so form the one dominant tactical feature of the level Tigris plain in this district. A couple of miles south of Istabulat station, the Dujail cuts through the Median Wall about a mile to the east of the Railway, which runs from Baghdad through the Median Wall, past Istabulat, and so on to Samarrah.
By the 18th April, the British were holding that part of the Median Wall that runs roughly for a couple of miles eastwards from the Dujail River to the River Tigris, other troops, also in rear of the Median Wall, continued our line on the west bank of the Dujail, and a third body was held in reserve. The open nature of the country, and the difficulty of distinguishing the enemy's main position from his advanced trenches, made the problem of attack uncommonly difficult, and the thorough bombardment of his trenches before assault almost impossible.
The key to the position was obviously the high double wall of the Dujail River. These walls are a hundred to a hundred and fifty yards wide at the top, and being very broken and uneven give some cover to skirmishers in attack or defence. An attack along this line is also made somewhat easier by a small ridge of sandhills that had originally formed the walls of an old canal, which flowed in earlier centuries between the Tigris and the Dujail. Photographs taken by our airmen showed that the Turks had strengthened their line where it crossed the Dujail, by building a strong redoubt on its eastern bank some 300 yards long by 150 broad; here too were a number of machine gun emplacements and, a little in rear, six or eight gun pits.
On the 18th a Highland Regiment pushed forward a strong patrol along the east bank of the Dujail, an Indian Battalion doing the same on the west bank, the two patrols working together and giving each other mutual support. Both Regiments encountered the Turkish outposts within six hundred yards, and after driving them some distance back, the patrols were withdrawn at night.
As an attack on the enemy position was decided on, the Battalion Commander suggested that a line of strong points should be constructed about a mile ahead of our line, that when these had been made good, a second line of strong points a further eight hundred yards in advance should be constructed, so that by this means the final assault might be made from a short distance to the enemy's main position, and also by this means artillery officers would be able to locate definitely the enemy's main trenches and the guns could be brought up within 2,000 yards before the Infantry should assault. This idea was adopted.
During the 19th the Highland Regiment, by some fine patrol work, drove the enemy advanced troops back with little loss, and during the night three strong points were built a mile in advance, two on the east and one on the west bank of the Dujail. From these points both the Highlanders and the Punjabis skirmished further forward on the 20th, and the enemy's position was becoming seriously threatened with but little loss to ourselves.
One incident in this patrol fighting must not pass unnoted. An artillery officer had been sent forward in the morning to observe the ground and enemy positions from our strong point on the east bank of the Dujail. It was a task of considerable danger, for already several of our men had been hit by enemy snipers, and at this moment a wounded man was being carried back by the stretcher bearers. The artillery officer had crawled a little ahead of the Strong Point in order to observe more freely, but his gallantry was ill rewarded by a bullet striking him and incapacitating him from coming back, or even escaping from his exposed position. Easton had been Sergeant of the Highlanders stretcher bearers since his predecessor had been killed when recovering wounded, and he himself had won the Distinguished Conduct Medal for a fine piece of work in France. Without hesitation Easton now ran forward from the strong point and, though the enemy snipers were dropping bullets all round, roughly bandaged the officer, picked him up on his back, staggered down to the river and got him across under the welcome shelter of the other bank, though the stream was over six feet deep. For this action Sergeant Easton now wears a bar to his Distinguished Conduct Medal.
[Illustration: Street Scenes In Baghdad.]
[Illustration: British Residency, Baghdad.]
[Illustration: Hotel Maude, Baghdad.]
[Illustration: The Bridge At Baghdad.]
On the 20th it was definitely decided that the situation demanded an immediate advance, and a direct frontal attack was ordered to take place at dawn on the following morning. One force were to lead the attack at 5 a.m. on the east of the Dujail, the Highlanders to advance along the east bank of that canal, and one Company of the Punjabis on the west bank. On the right of the Highlanders a battalion of Gurkhas were to advance from the right strong point with a battalion of Indian Infantry in echelon on their right near the Tigris, another battalion being held in reserve. When this attack had gained ground a second force was to advance over the bare plain on the west of the Dujail, and their right to gain touch with the left of the Company of Punjabis on the Dujail bank. The objectives of the main attack were the redoubt, and the two bridges which crossed the Dujail immediately above it. A third force was held back in reserve.
The orders were thus very clear, and the plan simple; the main difficulty was to ensure effective artillery co-operation, since to come within effective range of the Redoubt our batteries would be forced to move forward over very open ground, and counter-battery work would be obviously hard to arrange.
The frontage of broken ground open to the Highlanders was but little over 150 yards; the Commanding Officer therefore wisely determined to attack on a narrow frontage of two platoons rather than expose his men on the bare plain, and with the Dujail giving the direction to his left, trust to the impetus of eight lines to force the enemy's position.
Precisely at 5 a.m., the covering batteries opened fire on the enemy outposts, the leading platoons charged forward and, without pausing to fire, but advancing by a series of swift rushes drove back the Turkish advanced troops about a thousand yards from our strong points. A few Turks were bayonetted, a number more shot by the fire of a well-placed Lewis gun, but the surprise of the attack and the rapidity of its execution saved our men from any severe loss during this first advance. But as our leading platoons drew near to the enemy main positions, they came under an enfilade fire from the west bank of the Dujail, and a number of men had to swing round to the left, and, from the crest of the wall, reply to the enemy not two hundred yards distant on the opposite bank. The succeeding lines, however, pressed forward, section after section rushed on to the help of their comrades, every rise and every knoll along the river was held by snipers and the battle developed into a fierce contest between skirmishers. But it was not of long duration. Shortly after 6 o'clock nearly two miles of country had been cleared of the enemy, our men were not to be denied, and the leading section of Highlanders made a gallant charge and rushed the main redoubt, killing a certain number of its defenders and driving out the remainder. The success of the attack was greatly due to the rapidity, but its very rapidity had led to considerable intervals occurring between the eight lines that had originally advanced to the assault. Some platoons had been forced to engage the enemy on the opposite bank, others with Lewis guns were keeping down the fire of the enemy who were holding several small trenches ahead, and a number of men had fallen, never to rise again; consequently for the first few minutes there were less than a hundred men in the redoubt, and these were subject to a heavy fire from their front, and enfilading fire from their left.
[Illustration: The Quartermaster, Assistant Adjutant, Transport Officer, 2nd In Command, And The Colonel Watching The Regimental Sports At The Front.]
[Illustration: Captain T. W. STEWART, Captain W. A. YOUNG And The PADRE.]
[Illustration: The Mesopotamian Railway.]
Now was the moment when artillery support was most needed. But as before explained, this, owing to the nature of the ground, had been most difficult to arrange. The batteries posted under cover of the Median Wall, soon found themselves, as the enemy retired, at extreme range, had been obliged in consequence to advance to new positions. This is a matter which takes longer than the actual bringing up of the guns; fresh observations must be made by artillery officers, new telephone wires must be made, new communications established, and correct ranges ascertained of the new targets before effective support can be given. This was all being done, but under great difficulties, because the enemy had established a strong barrage in rear of the assaulting troops. Many of our gunners were hit, especially among the telephone operators; consequently, just at this critical time, there was little or no artillery support to be had.
Now the Turk is a stubborn fighter. His men on the west bank of the Dujail had not yet been driven so far back as those opposing the Highlanders, and they now opened a very galling fire from the west bank at a range of only two to four hundred yards. The Redoubt had been taken at 6-15 a.m. Within ten minutes the Turks on the east bank had organised a strong body to make a counter attack, and these headed by parties of bombers, rushed the Redoubt, drove the few defenders back, and held its front and side faces. But their triumph was short lived. It was a proud boast of the Highlanders that of all the miles of entrenchments that had at one time or another been entrusted to them not one yard had even been surrendered to the enemy; it was their stern resolve that no Highlander should lie unavenged, that no man who wore the Red Haeckle should give his life in vain. The Redoubt had once been theirs, and in its trenches lay the bodies of their comrades who had died to hold it. It was the Redoubt they had set forth to capture; now more than ever they were determined that not a live Turk should dispute possession. The platoons that had originally formed the rear waves were now fast coming up, bombs and bombers were called for, and an immediate counter-attack organised. But the losses were now very heavy. Within a minute, one Captain and two Subalterns were killed, two Captains and two Subalterns wounded, and a heavy proportion among the rank and file also fell. The smallest hesitation, the slightest wavering, and the Turks had made good their success. But there was no hesitation and, though only one unwounded officer remained, there was no wavering. The bombers dashed forward, every available man followed, and within fifteen minutes of its loss, the entire Redoubt was recaptured and its forward trenches rapidly consolidated. The Highlanders' boast still held true, the Red Haeckle was again victorious.
Many were the dead, many the wounded to testify to the gallant deeds that led to this success. An Artillery Officer, who witnessed the assault, wrote:--
"That day the Highlanders without help won a victory that only those who saw it can realise was among the most gallant fought in this war."
[Illustration: The Colonel.]
[Illustration: The Adjutant.]
[Illustration: The Mosques Of Baghdad.]
What is the secret, whence comes this spirit, of the wave of bravery that seizes soldiers at these great moments? Many of the very men who charged forward had, but ten minutes before, been driven back, many of their comrades lay dead beside them, they had lost their accustomed leaders, shrapnel and heavy shell were bursting among them, and when the cry for bombs and bombers was given, it must have seemed to many to be but the prelude to disaster, the vain cry for further and useless sacrifice. What is it then that stops the individual from hanging back, from letting others lead, from justifying himself to himself by continuing to fire in comparative safety at longer ranges? Who would detect him? Might he not argue plausibly enough, that his covering fire would be of more assistance to his comrades than his rushing uselessly forward at their head? The secret of it lies in _esprit de corps_, in the willing surrender by the individual of his freedom of action, by the voluntary sacrifice of the individual for the good of all. And greater love hath no man than this:--that he giveth his life for his friend.
The gallantry of those who lie dead, whether British, or Indian, or Turk cannot be told, but one incident that was witnessed by several is worthy of record. The Redoubt measured several hundred yards on its front and side faces, and the attackers were few in number. One of these, Private Melvin had by some chance so damaged his bayonet that he could not fix it on his rifle. Throwing that weapon aside, he rushed forward where his comrades were scarce, and the enemy in plenty, and encountered a group of Turks single handed. With bayonet and fist he brought three to the ground, the remaining six, stunned by the violence of his attack, surrendered, and were brought back by this brave old soldier in triumph to his Company. For this deed Private Melvin was subsequently awarded the Victoria Cross.
[Illustration: Samarra.]
[Illustration: Wireless Station, Baghdad. Destroyed by the Huns.]
[Illustration: Samarra Railway Station.]
[Illustration: Resting After The Battle Of Istabulat.]
[Illustration: No. 4 Company Before Istabulat Under The Median Wall. P. SMYTH, A. E. BARISTOW, R. WALKER, and G. V. STEWART in Foreground.]
[Illustration: Ground Over Which The Regiment Advanced To Attack The Turkish Strong Point Beneath The +.]
Battalion Headquarters now moved up close in rear of the Redoubt, the telephonic communication was established with the Brigade, and Companies reorganised according to their losses. And fortunate it was that this was done with no loss of time. For the Turk had intended to hold this line of entrenchments, of which the Redoubt was the key, and the main defence of the two bridges, throughout the summer, and he was not going to surrender the position without further struggle. Two counter-attacks formed up and advanced against the front face of the Redoubt, a few Turks got within fifty or a hundred yards of the Redoubt, but each attack was broken up by steady rifle fire and Lewis gun fire, and our position made more secure. A little nullah ran from the Turks' second position to within fifty yards of the Redoubt, and up this channel from time to time he sent parties of bombers, but these were easily held in check. A group of machine guns from further up the Dujail swept the crest of the hard-won parapet, and men less experienced in war had suffered more than did those who bore the Red Haeckle. But no experience of war could save men from the high explosive shell which burst throughout the day among the trenches, destroying indiscriminately parapet and defenders. These 5.9 shell the Highlanders had known all too well in France, and the number of bursts reminded our men rather of a bombardment in the trenches of Flanders than the shell fire ordinary to Mesopotamia. And to this bombardment the defenders of the Redoubt were subject from time to time throughout that long day. It is a constant puzzle, why in this life so many things that are at first merely disagreeable are allowed to make so great a noise and to continue for so long a time that they become almost unbearable. It is a question that often confronts one at a comic opera, always in the near neighbourhood of a gramophone, but never with such persistent irritation as when undergoing a bombardment from high explosive shell. Nothing is more trying to the nerves, for and from it there is no escape. This war has been defined as a war, not of infantry, nor of artillery, but of effective co-operation between the two. The nature of the ground, and the skill with which the enemy had chosen his positions had prevented this co-operation from being as effective as is usual in our army, and this in spite of every effort being made by our Artillery Officers, and in spite of many casualties among their batteries. In consequence, the enemy's batteries were never silenced, and kept up a heavy fire throughout the day, and our losses were heavy. On our right the Gurkhas had advanced in gallant style at the same time as the Highlanders, and in spite of a stubborn resistance had pushed the enemy back along the line of the old canal, and kept up with our advance. Then with the sand dunes dipped to the level of the plain and the salient bend of the Tigris narrowed their front, the Gurkhas swung round to their left in a most soldierly fashion, and, despite, heavy losses, joined the Highlanders on the Dujail, and for the rest of the day shared the honours and the dangers of the defence of the Redoubt and the trenches near it. The Indian Regiment advancing still further on the right had met with misfortune, for, on reaching a small rise in the ground, their lines had been suddenly swept with machine gun fire at a range of three hundred yards. Many men fell within the space of a few minutes, and it became necessary to bring up the Reserve Battalion to their assistance. Consequently no further advance was possible on this flank, nor on the west flank did the situation offer any greater promise. The Punjabi Regiment on the immediate left of the Highlanders had fought under great difficulties, but with such determination that they eventually dug themselves in opposite the Redoubt on the west bank of the Dujail, though half their men were killed or wounded. On their left again, another Highland Battalion, old friends of ours, both in peace and war, had pressed the enemy back, and occupied some eight hundred yards of an old irrigation channel that ran westward from the Dujail towards the railway. Further to the west, this dry channel remained in the hands of the Turks, and bombing attacks were carried on throughout the day. Another battalion had also suffered considerably from shell fire, and was posted in echelon on the left rear.
It was evident that without a renewed bombardment and strong reinforcements, no further advance was possible on either side. We had advanced a couple of miles, driven the enemy from his strongest positions, and gained our immediate objectives. It was evident, that to the day following must be left the final advance and capture of Samarrah.
This account of the fighting near Samarrah purports to give no general view of the whole action. Enough, if something clear is shown of the part played by one Regiment, and of the fighting by its immediate neighbours. The Highlanders had had some tough battles during the past few months, and during this day's fighting had lost over a third of their total strength in killed and wounded.
On the next morning it was found that the Turks had retired several miles on to the ruins of the ancient city of Istabulat, but it was not until the afternoon that the battle was continued. Then it was fought with the same violence, and with equal stubbornness as on the day before. Again the Turk was driven out of his positions, and again, like the gallant fighter he is, he held on till nightfall. Orders were given to renew the attack at dawn on the third day of the battle, but as day broke the patrols of Highlanders sent back word that the enemy had evacuated his forward positions, and we advanced in attack formation straight on Samarrah. The Highlanders were leading, and passed through the ancient ruins and the several lines of enemy trenches; those trenches held so stubbornly by the Turk, empty now, save for groups of dead bodies and a few of unhappy wounded who had not been moved during the night. Surely the world offers no scene more pitiful than that of a battlefield after action. I know, by personal experience, the suffering entailed in lying day and night untended with broken limbs, the utter weariness from wounds, and the exhaustion after conflict, the tragedy of all surroundings, the cries of those who cry for help that never comes, a passionate longing for death alternating with a craven fear of foe and wandering marauder, and above all, the horror of the great vultures swinging round and round in ever closer circles. Little of the pomp or ceremony of war was seen by the Highlanders as they marched that morning through the Turkish entrenchments at the head of the British troops, the first regiment to enter Samarrah as they had marched some six weeks earlier the first to enter Baghdad.
Such is the story of the part played by the Highland Regiment in this hard-fought battle, but though I have told the tale from the point of view of a Regimental Officer, I am not forgetful of the deeds of others. My endeavour has been to give a picture of events as one man meets them in a course of a day's fighting, not to give a narrative of deeds of which I know little and saw nothing. But of the gallant help given by the Gurkhas I have spoken and, after some experience of war both in France and in Mesopotamia, I add my testimony to the value of the loyal services rendered by so many of our Indian Regiments; it will stand to their honour for all time that they have fought throughout these years so bravely and so faithfully. War is a noble comradeship, and the ties that now bind the Indian and British troops will not easily be severed.
The relationship between British and Indian officers is invariably happy; difficulties of language, however, sometimes give a little humour to a long campaign. When I was first given command of a Brigade formed of both British and Indian Battalions I made a point of speaking to each Indian officer, and saying something in appreciation of his services. To this the senior Indian officer replied with the usual Eastern compliments, and then added:--
"Many Generals have come to see us, but each usually spares us but a couple of minutes; you, in your kindness, have spoken to each of us for half an hour and we shall indeed fight bravely for you, for of all Generals, you, O Brigadier, are the most long minded."
[Illustration: At The Front. The Regiment In The San-i-yat Trenches. Sergeant BISSET and Sergeant MURDOCH both killed in action.]
[Illustration: That Able Administrator General Sir PERCY L. COX And An Influential Arab Sheikh.]
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