There is a lot of cholera. General Rice died last night. There are many bodies floating down the river. It’s tremendously hot. I have just seen Williams, the doctor of the Sikhim. He says the Turks have been good throughout. The Arabs have looted at the beginning, but this has been put an end to. It’s not going well with the Arabs. We must largely depend on them for supplies.
I saw MacPherson in despair about the orders given for destroying Arabs. General Cleary had sent in an order to say that in consequence of thefts, five of the Mehailah men were to be shot. Any five. The thefts are the work of the tribes, not the Mehailah men, and if we shoot the Mehailah men we shall get no more lightermen; also Gorringe has said that aircraft are to drop shrapnel on bodies of Arabs; this will not tend to make the friend-lies more friendly, and we can’t do without the Arabs. We must largely depend on them for supplies and other things. Gorringe and Tatray have gone off strafing to Sheikh Saad, where I follow them en route for on S1.
Wednesday, May 10th, 1916. HMS Mantis. There was a witness of the roaring scene between Gorringe and myself, who reported it, and I found myself the most popular man in camp; implored to stay and insult him once again. Wilson Johnson said ‘we can do with the Turks, and the flies and the cholera and the climate, and being forgotten, if only they will send us a sahib as General’. All the same Gorringe, though he is a cad, is also rather a great man. Those who hate him put the Dujeila redoubt and March 8th down to his credit. They say he so tied Kemble up with orders that the latter did not dare move, though he knew the Turkish position was empty, and would soon be full.
I was to have left on S1, but when it was apparent that it would not start that night, I went off to the Mantis. Buxton telephoned from Sheikh Saad that he would take me to Amara, if I could get there by 4.30 a.m. I came down with Colonel James of the Indian Medical. Many bodies in the river and much cholera at Wadi. Our men lack every mortal thing. I should like to send a telegram like this to Austen Chamberlain153, but don’t expect I should be allowed to:
From my experience of this country, I see that, unless certain action is taken immediately, consequences that are disastrous to the health of the troops must follow. All realize here that the past economy of the Government of India is responsible for our failure (vide Sir William Meyer’s Budget speech). Unless this is realized in England and supplies taken out of the hands of the Government of India, altogether, or liberally supplemented from home and Egypt, the troops will suffer even more during this summer than last year. Condensed milk and oatmeal are essential to the troops. India cannot provide these under three months, by which time we shall have sustained great and unnecessary losses. Supplies of potatoes and onions will cease at the end of this month. If cold storage is found to be impossible, a substitute, e.g. dried figs, must be found. India cannot provide these substitutes in time. Sufficient ice-machines and soda-water machines are as essential to prevent heat-stroke in the trenches as to cure heat-stroke in the hospitals. India, unless ordered to commandeer these from clubs, private houses, etc., cannot provide them. Many Indian troops are in 21-lb. tents, single flap, one tent to four men. Numbers of these will get sunstroke. If you mean to hold this country, you can’t do it on the lines of Sir William Meyer. A railway is essential. A fall in the river would render half our present transport useless, above Kurna. Many of the troops here are young and not strong. If a disaster to their health, which, in its way, is as grave as the fall of Kut, and due to the same reason, lack of transport, is to be prevented, supplies must be taken in hand from England and Egypt.
Thursday, May 11th, 1916. HMS Mantis. Amara. Yesterday one of the most beautiful days I have seen in Mesopotamia. We came very fast down the river, with a delicious wind against us. On both banks there were great herds of sheep, cattle and nice-looking horses. Every horse here is blanketed by the Arabs, only our horses not blanketed. The Arabs vary a lot in looks, one naked man towing a bellam and looking over his shoulder, was more like a hyena snarling than anything I have seen many; handsome; mostly clothed, some naked.
We came to Amara in the evening and found a good deal of cholera. I went into the bazaar and bought what things I could for John Kennaway and his mess. Amara looked beautiful in the evening, fine picturesque Arab buildings, and palm groves and forests up and down either side of the lighted river. At night we anchored to a palm and slept well, in spite of occasional great gusts of wind, which roared through the palms, and bursts of rifle fire on the bank by us at Arabs, who were stealing or sniping us. Jackals cried in a chorus on the bank.
To-day the river has been enchanted. Long processions of mehailahs, perfectly reflected in the water, drifted down, often commanded by our officers. The river turned into a lake, almost without a land horizon. We passed the Marmaris, which the Turks fought until she caught fire. Arab villages were half afloat. There was a look of peace everywhere, and the flood is much too high for an attack on us.
There was a beautiful, dangerous sunset. The sky was a bank of clouds that caught fire and glowed east and west over the glowing water. The palms looked like a forest drawn by magic from the river. It was like the most magnificent Mecca stone. Pursefield got nervous as the usual lightning began. I think he was afraid of bad luck on his last night in Mesopotamia. He asked me how much I wanted to get on. I said I could not see the people I wanted that night or before 8.00 the next morning so it made no odds to me, and we tied up in mid-stream, which had the advantage that we couldn’t be sniped. No flies, thank heavens.
Friday, May 12th, 1916. HMS Lawrence. The Army Commander and General Money were both away, and I only spent twenty minutes at. I saw Bill Beach and Captain Nunn and wrote a line to Gertrude Bell and George Lloyd. I wish I could have seen them both. The Sikhim is there, in quarantine, her Red Cross looking like a huge tropical flower. I got on to the Lawrence. Cleanliness and comfort and good food. I wish the others could have it too.
Aubrey Herbert maintained his diaries only intermittently on his journey home. The following, undated, extracts, cover the period between his departure from until his arrival, a week later, via Bombay, in Aden.
The Admiral came, and with him a mail, bringing me bad news. I breakfasted with Commodore Wake. The Admiral had had a long letter from Lady Wemyss who is in Switzerland. Rifaat Pasha and many other Turks were staying in the same hotel at Ouchy. Rosetti, the Roumanian, came to her saying that Turkey wanted peace. The Admiral wanted me to go home and see if anything was possible. He said: ‘Constantly I have thought that a thing was so obvious that there must be an appointed person to do it, and constantly I have seen what was right and proper neglected. If you can do anything, go home and do it.’ He said he would want me again. Meanwhile, I gave him my telegram to Austen Chamberlain. He wanted first to send a similar telegram to Arthur Balfour himself, but I said (1) these were only my opinions, though it is true that they represented the opinions of all the doctors and soldiers with whom I had talked (2) that it had not been my business to make an enquiry of this kind (3) if he also sent a telegram it would almost inevitably create friction with the Army and destroy his power of helping. He then decided to go at once to Simla, and I wrote a report for him to show the Viceroy; a record of my instructions etc., with general observations at the end of it.
General Douglas came on board and talked. Very bitter about India. He said that it had taken them four months’ correspondence in Mesopotamia to get the orders for the boats they wanted, i.e. flies, I suppose. He wanted to get forward as far as Shiraz, punish one or two enemy tribes and liberate O’Connor, who is at Ahram, only thirty-five miles away. Poor O’Connor is mad to get out. Douglas has 2,000 more troops coming. Has sent me his plan of campaign.
On Tuesday the 18th I had an answer from Beach to say that my telegram to Austen had been sent to the Chief of Staff, Skeen, for censorship in India154. I should have had a pleasant time if I had been staying in India. It was the worst practical joke I have ever had played on me. I wish I had stayed in. Gullam Ali the interpreter tells me t
hat we are unpopular in. In the days of Turkish rule the Arab boats were taxed eight annas a month, to-day we tax them a rupee. There used to be no house tax. We have started a house tax. Booking has collected many taxes at Nasryah. He is the inventor of the mat hut. This would do for higher up the river, but the material must be supplied.
The Admiral had wanted to send a telegram home on the lines of my report. I advised him strongly not, as it would only create friction. Burmester agreed. I trust Burmester.
On Monday 22nd May the mail came in with bad news. The Worcester Yeomanry wiped out, the Gloucesters mostly captured; Ego155 either wounded and a prisoner or killed with his brother-in-law. I am very sorry Micky Hicks Beach156 was killed, as apparently he knew he was going to be. He was very fond of his wife, who had died a short time before him.
On May 25th the Admiral left for Simla. I implored him not to let promises of future good behaviour on the part of the Government of India cancel the past from his mind. I drove to the Towers of Silence with de Saumarez.
On Tuesday I saw Hopwood and Wason157 after lunch; and bought masses of food and fishing rods for John Kennaway, then went on board the Salsette. There is a telegram to say that we are running into a cyclone which is an awful bore, but no sign of it yet. Also there are two German raiders, one Dutch and one Danish boat, but no sign of them either. A lot of prickly heat. Blackburn158 on board. He said that Ctesiphon had stocked him with nightmares for his life. There was one ambulance there, the wounded had to come in on springless carts over the rough desert. There were five doctors to 4,000 wounded. Hathaway, the chief doctor, never did anything. I have heard him cursed before. There may be another side, but there ought to be a reckoning for someone.
I had a talk with Blackburn this morning, who said that Nunn had always been against an advance beyond Kurna unless we had more transport; but as a matter of fact the river is constitutionally unsuited to transport. You could put more on it, probably not more than a dozen boats, and the Turks by breaking the bunds might starve us of water altogether in the summer. If the river is to be any use there ought to be a lot more dredging. With proper dredging there should be a thirty foot draft of water at Fao. Sir G. Buchanan, whose business this is or ought to be, is at Simla, said Blackburn, drawing a large salary. He said that twenty white men took Amara in June 1915. Eighty men altogether took 3,000 Turks. He complained of shortage of food recently. Twice they had not received anything before 3.00 p.m. because of the lack of transport.
He said that if Townshend had had white Cavalry at Kut he could have captured the Turkish army. He criticized Aylmer’s generalship at Sheikh Saad. He attacked on both sides of the river, when he could have got round the Turks on the right bank. Balloons ordered by the Admiral are at last arriving at Sheikh Saad. The fraud and corruption going on in are very great.
Simcox of Bombay tried to see Austen (Chamberlain) and others when he was home, but was not able to do so. He wanted to tell them what was happening. Charmers, whose boat was the Ariel, offered a filtering appliance which could produce 30,000 gallons of water a day. His letter was never answered. Blackburn didn’t know to whom he made his offer. His boat was the only hospital boat at the front, though there were many down at. He ought to have had the VC many times. He was made to pay for his own rations and never recognized. He paid for everything, besides providing the boat. 50,000 rupees a week were dropped by aeroplane into Kut.
The battle of Shaiba, according to him, was one of the great battles of the world. We should have been utterly done if we had not had luck with us. All the afternoon we fired at a mirage; it happened that this mirage shone upon the only road by which the Turks could bring up their reinforcements.
Yesterday the alarm went and everyone collected rapidly, thinking of the raiders. The captain, however, made a speech saying there would be danger in a week’s time, and suggesting that the extra men should look after the superfluous women. Nobody cared about it much.
Yesterday I breakfasted at Aden with General Walton159, and Colonel Douglas, Chief of the Police of the Andaman Islands. Douglas had been sent the 15th Lancers and was furious about it. He said they were a splendid regiment, one of the only two pure Mahometan regiments of the Punjab, and that they had done very well in France. They said they would not fight in Mesopotamia because it was holy ground. They were now condemned to imprisonment for life160. Their native officers had sides against the men. Two British officers were broken men. Walton made him furious. He said they should be ready to attack Mecca if necessary. Jacobs and Walton are evidently at the point of quarrelling.
Feel the journey is ending for the moment161.
Notes
Introduction
1. Sir Desmond MacCarthy (1877–1952).
Chapter 1
2. 1st Battalion Irish Guards.
3. Tom Vesey (later Viscount de Vesci), a first cousin of Aubrey Herbert’s wife.
4. Lord Robert Edward Innes-Kerr (1885–1958).
5. Lord Valentine Castlerosse (subsequently 6th Earl of Kenmare) (1891–1943).
6. Killed on 20th July 1917 when serving as Battalion Second-in-Command, 1st Battalion Coldstream Guards.
7. Lieutenant H. Hickie, 1st Battalion Irish Guards.
8. Major Lord Desmond Fitzgerald (1888–1916). Adjutant of the 1st Battalion Irish Guards during the retreat from Mons. He was killed in March 1916, examining a new form of grenade in his tent when it exploded.
9. Major John (‘Jack’) Churchill DSO (1880–1947). Winston Churchill’s brother. Churchill was serving on Field Marshal Lord French’s staff (1914–1915). He subsequently joined Sir Ian Hamilton’s staff at Gallipoli as the Naval Liaison Officer for the Mediterranean Expeditionary Force.
10. Lieutenant Hugh Shields RAMC. Mentioned in Despatches in October 1914, he was Killed in Action at Ypres whilst tending a wounded man on October 26th 1914.
11. Lieutenant Colonel Lord Alexander Thynne DSO (1873–1918). MP for Bath.
12. Major H.A. Herbert-Stepney. Killed 1918.
13. Major Hubert Crichton (1874–1914), Second-in-Command, 1st Battalion Irish Guards.
14. The Hon Archer Windsor-Clive (1890–1914).
15. Lt Col I.W. Burns-Lindow DSO.
16. Field Marshal Douglas Haig, 1st Earl Haig KT GCB OM GCVO KCIE ADC (1861–1928). Commanding 1 Corps BEF.
17. Hugh Grosvenor, 2nd Duke of Westminster GCVO DSO (1879 –1953).
18. Major the Hon Hugh Dawnay DSO (1875–1914).
19. General Sir Charles Monro Bt GCB GCSI GCMG ADC (1860–1929). Commanding the 2nd Division BEF.
20. Field Marshal H.R. Alexander, 1st Earl Alexander of Tunis KG OM GCB GCMG CSI DSO MC PC PC CD (10 December 1891–16 June 1969).
21. Captain Heneage Finch, Lord Guernsey (1883–1914). Killed in Action on the 14th September.
22. Brigadier Robert Scott-Kerr DSO (1859–1942). Commanding 4th Guards Brigade.
23. Lieutenant-Colonel The Hon George Morris (1872–1914), Commanding Officer 1st Battalion Irish Guards.
Chapter 2
24. Rear Admiral The Hon Sir Algernon Boyle KCB CMG, MVO (1871–1949).
25. Field Marshal William Birdwood, 1st Baron Birdwood GCB GCSI GCMG GCVO GBE CIE DSO (1865–1951).
26. General Sir Alexander John Godley GCB KCMG (1867–1957).
27. Brigadier Arthur Asquith DSO (1883–1939). Son of the Prime Minister, Herbert Asquith.
28. Lieutenant Commander Patrick Shaw-Stewart RN (1888–1917).
29. 2nd Lieutenant the Hon Charles Lister (1887–1915).
30. Sub Lieutenant Rupert Brooke RND (1887–1915). Brooke died of septicaemia, resulting from an infected mosquito bite before even reaching Gallipoli.
31. Admiral Sir Cecil Thursby KCB KCMG (1861–1936).
32. Capt (Arthur) Tahu Rhodes DSO MVO, Grenadier Guards.
33. Lieutenant-Colonel John Hughes CMG DSO (1866–1954). Commanding officer The Canterbury Battalion, New Zealand Infantry.
34. George Lloyd, 1st Baron Lloyd GCSI GCIE
DSO PC (1879–1941). A Liberal Unionist politician and close friend of AH. Lloyd and AH had explored the state of the Bagdad Railway together in 1906. Lloyd was a staff officer on Hamilton’s staff during the Gallipoli campaign. Later Governor of Bombay and Secretary of State for the Colonies.
35. Colonel J.H. Patterson DSO: Hunter, author and Zionist, best known for his book The Man-Eaters of Tsavo (1907).
36. Lieutenant-Colonel Charles ‘Dick’ Doughty-Wylie VC CB CMG (1868–1915). Doughty-Wylie’s grave lies close to where he was killed. His is the only solitary British or Commonwealth war grave on the Gallipoli.
37. General Sir John Monash GCMG KCB VD (1865–1931).
38. Johnny Allan, AH’s servant. Allan had travelled with AH on his journeys to Albania before the war.
39. Major Charles Villiers-Stuart (1874–1915).
40. Because he had been through the siege of Plevna and held a number of Turkish decorations.
41. Supply officer of the New Zealand Division.
42. Brigadier William Braithwaite CB CMG DSO (1870–1937). At the time a Staff Officer on Godley’s staff.
43. Lieut.–General Sir A.H. Russell KCMG KCB (1868–1960).
44. General Sir Andrew Skeen KCB KCIE CMG (1873–1935)
45. Brigadier C.N. Trottman CB. Commanding 3rd Royal Marines Brigade.
46. General Sir Henry ‘Harry’ Chauvel GCMG KCB (1865–1945). At the time (Brigadier) Chauvel was commanding the 1st Light Horse Brigade but took over acting command of the New Zealand and Australian Division on the position becoming permanent on 2 October 1915. In November 1915, he became commander of the 1st Division, which he commanded through the final phase of the Gallipoli Campaign, the evacuation, and the reorganization in Egypt.
47. Major General Sir William Bridges KCB CMG (1861–1915). Commander 1st Australian Division. Bridges is one of only two Australian World War I soldiers who were killed in action or died of wounds who were buried in Australia. The other is The Unknown Soldier, disinterred from a French grave and buried at the Australian War Memorial in 1991.
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