The Secrets of a Kuttite: An Authentic Story of Kut, Adventures in Captivity and Stamboul IntrigueMousley, Edward O. (Edward Opotiki)
History
The Secrets of a Kuttite: An Authentic Story of Kut, Adventures in Captivity and Stamboul Intrigue
Mousley, Edward O. (Edward Opotiki)
Al Kut (Iraq) -- History -- Siege, 1915-1916; World War, 1914-1918 -- Prisoners and prisons, Turkish
At the height of the show the sharp notes of the alarm
gong rang over Kut, and Fritz, with a second machine
accompanying his Morane, was seen approaching rapidly from
the north. Our machine-guns opened on them and also a
brisk fusillade from the trenches as they came over. They
bombed Kut and then returned to their camp for more bombs.
This was repeated again and again, making a dozen trips in
all. Every one took cover in basements. Scarcely a soul
was to be seen. We had to stick where we were, as our guns
were still in action, but one had plenty of time to look skyward
and see the death-bird there, as I did three or four times this
afternoon, directly in a plumb-line over our heads, and to hear
the whirring propeller of the bomb increasing in loudness and
pace as it fell. One trusted in Providence or luck. He got
the bank of the river and the hospital several times, but his
nearest to us was at least forty yards off. The bombs cannot
be placed with great accuracy, so they drop three or four
close together to make a zone. Some of the bombs were
100-pounders, which would blot a fellow out as effectually
as an hydraulic stamp.
Funniest of all, the heavy mortar, Frolicsome Fanny, tiring
of acting wallflower on the other bank, chucked her big bombs
at us. But she is a left-handed and cross-eyed filly, and the
gods have set a limit to her range for evil. Some went in
the river near the horse boats. These were received calmly
by the Tigris. Another got into the sand-heap near our
butchery and fell into it without exploding. Some scientifically
minded Arabs charged up to secure it and were within thirty
yards when the thing went off to their huge astonishment.
We had a good laugh at the way they sprinted back
jabbering with rage and fear. The mules have got to know
her, and, keeping one eye on the bomb as it comes over the
river, continue grazing until it is nearly across and then bolt
the opposite way.
One of Fritz's bombs, a 100-pounder, we saw toppling
over and over in the air quite plainly. It didn't go off. But
another such sent a table at least two hundred feet into the air.
This is true. I won't spoil it by saying that the cloth was laid
and set. It was merely a table and its four legs stuck up
towards the evening moon.
The bombing raid continued until it was too dark for
Fritz to see. Then I went home, and on my way saw interested
little crowds that had emerged to examine various shell-holes.
Arabs ran up and down the streets howling for their dead.
Over a thousand shells have been flung into the town and there
were a good few hit among the hospital patients, and the
Arabs lost many. About a score only were killed, but many
more were injured. Considering the intensity of the bombardment
this is an excellent tribute to the shelters of Kut.
_10 p.m._--Every one is extra vigilant to-night although we
think it hardly likely the Turks will try to storm us. That
they cannot easily do now, and the floods increase their
difficulty daily.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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