Another letter, written on the 3rd March, sums up the operations of the last week and the position as it then stood. At the risk of some repetition it seems as well to give it. “Well, we had known pretty well for a week beforehand that a serious attempt was going to be made to put a pontoon across the Tigris above Kut as soon as the height of the river, which was then in flood from the recent rains, permitted, and this was done on the 23rd February; and during that night a Division was put over, and we followed on their heels next day, the 24th, and in the afternoon found a gap in the line of defence they were putting up to cover the retreat of the fighting troops from the Sannaiyat position, from which the big guns had been retired some days. The delay in getting the pontoon over the river, due to the flood, had, however, given the Turks just enough time to get the survivors from Sannaiyat--where the fighting has been very severe and bitter, and where the deep trenches were literally filled with dead--away, and when we got through it was only to bump up against their rearguard, who were well handled and fought so well that we had to force them back, after three days’ fighting, from position to position, and until the Navy came along with their monitors and flyboats, and turned the retirement into a rout. The Turks then left so quickly that they abandoned guns, trench-mortars, doctors and hospital staff, a motor-car, shells, wounded, and many unwounded men who could not keep up, to fall into our hands or the hands of the Arabs, who kill, strip, and loot Turks and British alike, especially when wounded. Among the prisoners were a few German officers, and a few were also found among the dead. We were ordered to stop the pursuit three days ago by the Army Commander, as we had finished our supplies and were getting far from our base, so have been waiting by the river for the barges to come up; these began to arrive last night, and are coming up fast, so we may expect soon to be on the move again. We are now some forty-five miles from Baghdad, and our friend the Turk may put up a fight at Ctesiphon, although this is very doubtful unless he has been strongly reinforced, which seems unlikely.... “The weather has on the whole been most lenient to us, for although the cold at night has been intense and the winds strong and bitter, we have only had a small shower of rain, and the days are now getting quite warm. The men are well and cheery, and the horses, which a few days ago were footsore and weary, are picking up and ready for more work. The Regiment has fought very well, and our casualty list--about forty in the last ten days--is comparatively small.”