Eating tinned food was not conducive to good health

TCD MS 3414 folio 17 recto

TCD MS 3414 folio 17 recto

[1915]

in the shade, mosquitos were plentiful & men were continually getting malaria, but our worst enemy throughout was dysentry, & through it we lost a good many men. The eating of tinned food was not condusive to good health in this climate but it was impossible to feed the troops on local fresh produce under war conditions. The Indian troops suffered equally, & were no better at standing the heat than the Br soldier who had been serving in India, but the young Territorials from England suffered terribly.

About the 25th May it became an open secret that we were shortly about to attack the Turkish positions already described. All the country around & that lying between the two positions was under about 3 feet of water <& covered with reeds 3 foot high> & intersected with water cuts & channels some of which were 15 feet deep. To carry out the attack the infantry had to employ bellums or local canoes each holding about 8 men. Several hundred of these craft were collected & every day double companies could have been seen manoeuvring under such words of command as “Advance in squadron line ahead” “Form line to the right” etc. Each boat