The troops could go no further

TCD MS 3414 folio 49 recto

TCD MS 3414 folio 49 recto

[September 1915]

to change their direction half right to meet the enemys counter attack which was developing from the bridge of boats with troops from the right bank. Our cavalry, very few in number, had not been able to capture this bridge head. We marched straight towards them and drove them back with severe loss & they retired to Kut-el-Amarah, we ourselves halted only one & a half miles from the river.
The troops could go no further, we had been 24 hours away from water with only our water bottles and the scanty allowance in the puckals on the mules, the heat had been intense and aggravated by a burning desert wind; men were beginning to die of thirst and they simply dropped down there and called upon sleep to temporarily relieve them from their sufferings. General Fry had been in the same position all day except that about 6 p.m. he had moved slightly forward. At the time when the 16th & 17th Brigades were halted near the Swada; there being no further need for my services until day break the next day I started to ride back <7 miles> with the transport, who for some reason were ordered to return to Clareys Post