LAST MILE OF KUT.

Taranaki Daily News, 22 July 1916, Page 5

LAST MILE OF KUT.

■ _. N VETERAN THAT HAD TO BE EATHft Further graphic details, describing tße] siege of Knt from within, are supplied in} a despatch from Mr. Edmund dated May ft. ' ■ ( On April 21, he says, the 4oz grain iSI tion gave out. From the 22nd to the 25th' the garrison subsisted on the two days' reserve ration issued in January and from the 25th to the 29th od supplies dropped by aeroplanes. Tho troops were so exhausted when Kut capitulated that the regiments who were holding tb.ej front line had remained there a fort* night without being relieved. They were] too weak to carry back their kit. Dui* ing the last days of the siege the; daily) death rate averaged eight British and, 21 Indians. Ail the artillery, cavalry, and transport animals had been consumed before the garrison fell. When the" artillery horses had gone the driven oij the Field Batteries formed a new unit, styled ''Kut Foot." One of tho UM mules to be slaughtered had been on . three Indian frontier campaigns, and wore the ribbons round its neck. Ths supply and transport butcher had sent it back twice, refusing to kill it, but in the end it had to go with the machines gun mules. Mule flesh was generally; preferred to horse, and mule fat supplied good dripping; also an improvised substitute for lamp oil. The fuel of crude oil used for cooking lasted the), whole of the siege. The tobacco famine was a great privation, but the garrison did not find the . enforced abstention cured their craving, as every kind of substitute was there. An Arab brand, a species similar toj that smoked in Indian hookas, wa» exhausted early m April. TOBACCO £6 8s PER POUND. - After that, lime leaves were smoked of ginger or baked tea dregs. In January English "baccy'' fetched 48 rupees ( £3 4s) a half-pound (or Ss an ounce). In an auction of a dead officer's effects a box of cheap Indian cheroots fetched 204 rupees (about £l3 lis), a box' of Egyptian cigarettes 100 rupees ( £0 13s 4d), and a tin of condensed milk 34 rupees (£2 ss). During the late phase, when the fire. slackened, officers and men had little strength for unnecessary walking. Thus there was very little to break the mono-* tony of the siege in the way of games, exercise, or amusements; but, on the right bank, two battalions in the liquorice factory (the 110 th Mahrattas and the 120 th Infantry 1 were better off, and there was dead ground here— a pitch of about 50 by 20 yards—where they could plav hockey and cricket with pickhandles and a rag ball. They also fished, and did so with success, supplementing the rations at the same time. Two companies of Norfolks joined them in turn, , crosing by ferry at night, and they appreciated the relief. One hundred British rank and file, six Indian officers and 003 Indian soldiers and followers had been brought down from Kut in our hospital ships to Basra, Turkish prisoners are to be given in exchange. The relations of the Kut garrison with the Turks are very smooth. Turkish officers gave every British'soldier a handful of cigarettes as he left Kut. British and Ottoman privates* were observed fraternising with friendly and explanatory gestures, and there seems no fear of the painfully strained relations which exist between' British prisoners of war, and their German captors. Our Turkish prisoners express themselves very well satisfied with their treatment. Fortunately, 1400 taken at Ctesiphon were removed from Kut thai day before the investment.