TCD MS 3416 page 3
[April 1916]
now the Turkish Officers lost in admiration at our methods to obviate the wasting of time.
Our battalion arrived on the evening of the 30th April at Shamran, having suffered no casualties on the way; an admirable performance considering their 5 months confinement in the trenches.
I arrived by ship with the details and our kit of which we were allowed a very liberal quantity, we took a large number of our own tents to erect camp in Shamran during our stay there. By 4 a.m. we had disembarked & we proceeded to that portion of the camp allotted to us.
We were all encamped by the river bank; all discipline, sanitation, & supply arrangements were run by our Divisional Staff.
Food was very scanty, and one can well imagine the turmoil existing in the Turkish Supply Depots when 13000 hungry souls had to be suddenly fed.
The Turkish field ration consists mainly of hard brown biscuits, which, if soaked in water, can be masticated, or made into a porridge; of those we received plenty – Sad to say, many