TCD MS 3414 folio 34 recto
[July 1915]
the Turks at Nasariyeh were in progress, & later heard that the force consisting mainly of the 12th Composite Division under General Gorringe C.B had been successful in occupying this Town & <in> driving the Turks up the Shatt-el-Hai to Kut-el-Amarah. The Norfolk regiment and a few details of artillery were sent from Amarah to join this force temporarily. About the same date, the 6th Division was ordered to embark for an advance up river, evidently with the intention of cutting off and destroying the Turkish forces retiring from Nasariyeh. My regiment embarked accordingly, and when we were all ready to start the orders were cancelled, so we disembarked and returned to our old billets. At this time I was machine gun officer to the regiment, and a few days later I took out the guns to test them by firing several hundred rounds from each gun. To my surprise both barrels bulged and had to be replaced on returning to billets, so it was lucky for me that the orders for the advance up river had been cancelled. We got our parcels and mails regularily every week and Reuters almost daily, so we were always kept well informed of what was going on in the other theatres of War. The Fall of German West Africa was