l but famous village to the Banks of the Tigris.

Pursuing is only slightly less arduous than being pursued, and in his
despatches well might the Army Commander have quoted those famous
words used centuries before by another great leader when an equally
strenuous pursuit was in progress. 'Faint yet pursuing'. One has to
remember that these same troops had been cooped up in trenches for
nearly a year, and to suddenly be called upon to take a prominent part
in such a pursuit as was now in progress was no ordinary strain. Not a
man in No. 1. Platoon fell out on the march from San-i-yat to Baghdad,
a record of which the platoon and its officer might well be proud. The
going was bad, there was no road as one understands a road in England,
it was plain flat open country. A stay was made at Dahra and then a
night march carried us to Shumran, where there were signs of a cavalry
fight and prisoners were being brought in.

The Brigade had orders to clear the battlefield and booty of all
kinds, guns and ammunition were collected, rifles which had been
thrown away, as it is easier to run without one than with, and what
little surplus kit the Turk possessed had been discarded, so that his
flight might not be impeded; they were all out for Baghdad and we were
all out after them, but we were out-running our Transport and
Supplies, and the meals during the great pursuit were both scanty and
irregular, but who cared, so long as we had enough to carry us on. All
England was looking on, and day by day following our progress with
feverish interest. "Is Baghdad going to be taken" was on everyone's
lips. Beards were making their appearance even on the youngest
soldiers' chins, numbers of men were being knocked up by the
continuous strain and a four days' halt was called at Sheik Jaad, No.
1 Company being sent forward to Beghailah. Still pressing forward we
reached Azizie, 46 miles from Baghdad, and the total number of
prisoners since the advance now mounted to well over 5,000. Turkish
depots and stores at many points were in flames, 38 guns, many machine
guns, trench mortars, ships, tugs and barges, miscellaneous river
craft and bridging material fell into our hands.

Booty was strewn over 80 miles of country and the Arabs living in the
neighbourhood must have secured sufficient goods of various
description to last them the rest of their lives.

Zeur, Bustan, then Ctesiphon were all passed, there being no time or
opportunity to stay and