Our country were being hoodwinked

TCD MS 3414 folio 33 recto

TCD MS 3414 folio 33 recto

[June 1915]

also that the health of the troops had been good etc etc. As soldiers we did not expect to find a Paradise in War, but it made us positively sick to read how our country were being hoodwinked as to the real conditions existing in Mesopotamia, were men going down like flies. As for messing we did ourselves very well, plenty of stores being obtained from Bombay. We never had any dealings with the enemy who were a long way up river, and our duties consisted only of finding a few guards. After 7 a.m. it was to hot to be out, & our parades were carried out therefore before that hour. To amuse ourselves we rode, played stump cricket & fished; the fishing was not good, but one could very often hook a few snub nosed mud fish averaging about 4 lbs. The Arab was a renowned thief, and <they> were continually stealing horses & rifles actually from the lines, two of these marauders were caught & were publicly hanged as an example; it was extraordinary how quickly this thieving ceased. About the 3rd week in July we heard that operations against