The wounded and dead testified to their skill as swordsmen. The whole
sight reminded me more of the battle books I read as a boy than anything I
saw in the war. About six hundred prisoners were taken, but many of the
Turks escaped to the mountains and lay among the rocks, whence they could
snipe at us with impunity. They were a tenacious lot, for all next day
when we were using the road below the hills they continued to shoot at us
from the places whence it was impossible to dislodge them.

While the prisoners were being brought in we caught sight of one of our
aeroplanes crashing. Making our way over to it we found that neither the
pilot nor the observer was seriously hurt. Flying in Mesopotamia was made
unusually difficult by the climatic conditions. The planes were designed
for work in France and during the summer months the heat and dryness
warped the propeller blades and indeed all the wooden parts. Then, too,
the fine dust would get into the machinery when the aviator was taxiing
for a start. Many pilots coming out from France with brilliant records met
an early and untimely end because they could not realize how very
different the conditions were. I remember one poor young fellow who set
off on a reconnaissance without the food and water he was required by
regulations to carry. He got lost and ran out of gasolene--being forced to
land out in the desert. The armored cars went off in search of him, and on
the second morning after he had come down they found his body near their
bivouac. He had evidently got that far during the night and died of
exhaustion and exposure practically within hearing. He was stripped of his
clothes; whether this had been done by himself or by the tribesmen was
never determined. A death of this sort always seems so much sadder than
being legitimately killed in combat. The L.A.M. batteries were in close
touch with the Royal Flying Corps, for when news came in that a plane was
down in the desert or some part of the debatable land, we would be
detailed to go out in search of the occupants. A notice printed in Arabic,