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.]