TCD MS 10516 folio 39 recto
[14th September 1916] must have been about 2 p.m.; it was unpleasantly warm with a maximum temperature of 105°F, and we had been under fire since 7 a.m. We were very thirsty but could not dare to drink freely of the hot, though precious, water in our water-bottles
The enemy was pressing on, well punished at every step. The villages had been devastated by the 12th Brigade. We could see the enormous columns of black smoke curling high into the heavens and hear the roar of guns and the rattle of smaller arms indicating their stubborn fight as they moved slowly back to camp. Bullets pattered about us on every side, shooting up their little jets of dust; they seemed to fall so softly in the desert yet one knew that each was moving with tremendous velocity. As the Arabs advanced to harass the retirement, they