TCD MS 3416 page 14
[May 1916]
a complete regiment of French African troops about to entrain for Baghdad, I learnt from them that they had been captured by the Germans in the Retreat from Mons, & had been given the choice of remaining prisoners or of going to Turkey to fight for Mohamet in the Holy War; (they being of course Mohammedans) they had elected to do the latter & their sergeants and corporals were now commissioned Turkish officers commanding companies; the regiment itself was commanded by a Turkish major. I often wonder what became of these fellows & if they ever came into action, they were certainly fairly well set up, but their rifles were mostly of old pattern rifles. I also wonder what their fate would have been had any of them fallen into the hands of the Russians or ourselves!
On May 14th we were informed that we were expected to start the following day & we were told what our transport was to consist of. The transport was ridiculous, and General Delamain protested and got our Commandant Essad Bey to wire to the Commandant at Baghdad to ask if anything could be done in the matter, for we had several sick officers amongst us, and we had no wheeled