ABSTRACT
The infantry made an eighteen-mile march to Zeur, preceded by cavalry who moved on to Lajj, seven miles farther on the road to the team’s goal. At this time it seemed that the gunboats would be first in Baghdad, and the author became a guest of H.M.Ss. Mantis and Tarantula in turn. The Turks were holding a position at Shawa Khan, some five miles south-west of Baghdad, with their left resting on the river. They had no natural defences on this bank comparable to the Diala. By this time they had abandoned all hope of saving the city and were fighting a delaying action. All the five arms of the Force—the Navy, Cavalry, Infantry, Artillery, and Flying Corps—were working together in a way that was new in war. Soldiers reach a point where the road skirts the bank.
