That night we camped near the bridge. At dusk the Red Cross ambulances and
some cavalry caught up. The latter had had a long, hard two days, with
little to eat for the men and less for the horses, but both were standing
up wonderfully. They were the Seventh Hussars and just as they reached us
we recaptured one of their sergeants who had been made prisoner on the
previous night. He had covered forty miles on foot, but the Turks had
treated him decently and he had come through in good shape. We always felt
that the Turk was a clean fighter. Our officers he treated well as long as
he had anything to give or share with them. With the enlisted men he was
not so considerate, but I am inclined to think that it was because he was
not accustomed to bother his head much about his own rank and file, so it
never occurred to him to consider ours. The Turkish private would thrive
on what was starvation issue to our men. The attitude of many of the
Turkish officers was amusing, if exasperating. They seemed to take it for
granted that they would be treated with every consideration due an honored
guest. They would complain bitterly about not being supplied with coffee,
although at the time we might be totally without it ourselves and far
from any source of supply. The German prisoners were apt to cringe at
first, but as soon as they found they were not to be oppressed became
arrogant and overbearing. At different times we retook men that had been
captives for varying lengths of time. I remember a Tommy, from the
Manchesters, if I am not mistaken, who had been taken before Kut fell, but
had soon after made his escape and lived among the Kurdish tribesmen for
seven or eight months before he found his way back to us. Quite a number
of Indians who had been set to work on the construction of the
Berlin-to-Baghdad Railway between Nisibin and Mosul made good their escape
and struggled through to our lines.

It was a great relief when the Red Cross lorries came in and we could turn