{"id":250,"date":"2016-03-18T14:53:56","date_gmt":"2016-03-18T14:53:56","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/generic.wordpress.soton.ac.uk\/ww1digitaldiary\/?p=250"},"modified":"2016-06-01T14:54:09","modified_gmt":"2016-06-01T13:54:09","slug":"18-march-1916","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/generic.wordpress.soton.ac.uk\/ww1digitaldiary\/2016\/03\/18\/18-march-1916\/","title":{"rendered":"18 March 1916"},"content":{"rendered":"<div>Woke up about six this morning; we were going through some very pretty country indeed, all palm groves and cultivation, with little villages of mud huts at intervals. Hooded crows were as common as sparrows &#8211; saw hundreds of them &#8211; also saw a lot of great big birds like very big hawks, they say they are carrion birds of sorts but I haven&#8217;t found out their name yet.<\/div>\n<div><\/div>\n<div>After a bit we began to get into the desert and saw lots of camels. We stopped at one small station, where we had a big camp, but I don&#8217;t know what units. We saw a camel corps there.<\/div>\n<div><\/div>\n<div>The next place we stopped at was <span class='tooltipsall tooltipsincontent classtoolTips79'><span class='tooltipsall tooltipsincontent classtoolTips85'>Kantara<\/span><\/span> (8:30 am) just where the line joins the Suez Canal. I saw Kenning on the platform and he told me the Brigade has been in a rest camp at <span class='tooltipsall tooltipsincontent classtoolTips56'>Port Said<\/span> and were moving to this place on the canal today, so we got the men and kits out there instead of going on to <span class='tooltipsall tooltipsincontent classtoolTips56'>Port Said<\/span>. Went up to the camp which is just back behind the canal in the desert. I spent the rest of the day getting straight in camp. I believe we are to move over to the other side of the canal in a day or so. This is just where the <span class='tooltipsall tooltipsincontent classtoolTips103'>Turks<\/span> attacked last year, but I think it improbable we shall get any scraping here, though the <span class='tooltipsall tooltipsincontent classtoolTips103'>Turks<\/span> have got a post 50 miles away.<\/div>\n<div><\/div>\n<div>There are two squadrons of <span class='tooltipsall tooltipsincontent classtoolTips27'>Mysore Lancers<\/span> here, fine looking fellows, they&#8217;ve been out occasionally and had a skirmish with the <span class='tooltipsall tooltipsincontent classtoolTips103'>Turks<\/span>, but I think it&#8217;s pretty quiet now. It&#8217;s very funny seeing nothing but sand all round; we had a beastly sandstorm this afternoon and it gets in everything. We are a very cheery little mess, though only six officers now, as Powell and Poulteney mess with the Col., and Gassell, who is vet to the Brigade, messes with headquarters. I am in a tent with <span class='tooltipsall tooltipsincontent classtoolTips82'>Badcock<\/span> and we are getting quite snug.<\/div>\n<script type=\"text\/javascript\"> toolTips('.classtoolTips27','A regiment of lancers from Mysore. The Imperial Service Cavalry Brigade was formed from Imperial Service Troops from a number of Indian Princely States, including Mysore'); <\/script><script type=\"text\/javascript\"> toolTips('.classtoolTips56','A busy sea port along the Suez Canal in Egypt which is crucial for exportation. It gained a lot of importance during the start of the twentieth century and is now one of the biggest cities in Egypt.'); <\/script><script type=\"text\/javascript\"> toolTips('.classtoolTips79','Al Qantarah El Sharqiyya \u2013 a city in north east Egypt on the eastern side of the Suez Canal'); <\/script><script type=\"text\/javascript\"> toolTips('.classtoolTips82','Richard Dorian Badcock (1892-1965), M.C. \u00a0Commissioned as a Second Lieutenant in August 1914, he later commanded the 1\/1st Hampshire Battery as acting Major.'); <\/script><script type=\"text\/javascript\"> toolTips('.classtoolTips85','More commonly known as Al Quantarah El Sharqiyya, <span class='tooltipsall tooltipsincontent classtoolTips79'><span class='tooltipsall tooltipsincontent classtoolTips85'>Kantara<\/span><\/span> is around 100 miles from Cairo. Major depot and headquarters during WW1. It is also the place where Richard is buried.<br\/><a href=\"http:\/\/www.cwgc.org\/find-a-cemetery\/cemetery\/54500\/KANTARA%20WAR%20MEMORIAL%20CEMETERY\">http:\/\/www.cwgc.org\/find-a-cemetery\/cemetery\/54500\/<span class='tooltipsall tooltipsincontent classtoolTips79'><span class='tooltipsall tooltipsincontent classtoolTips85'>Kantara<\/span><\/span>%20WAR%20MEMORIAL%20CEMETERY <\/a>'); <\/script><script type=\"text\/javascript\"> toolTips('.classtoolTips103','More information: <a href=\"http:\/\/www.1914-1918.net\/suez.htm\" target=\"_blank\">The Turkish attack on the Suez Canal 3 February 1915<\/a>'); <\/script>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Woke up about six this morning; we were going through some very pretty country indeed, all palm groves and cultivation, with little villages of mud huts at intervals. Hooded crows were as common as sparrows &#8211; saw hundreds of them &#8211; also saw a lot of great big birds like very big hawks, they say &hellip; <a href=\"https:\/\/generic.wordpress.soton.ac.uk\/ww1digitaldiary\/2016\/03\/18\/18-march-1916\/\" class=\"more-link\">Continue reading <span class=\"screen-reader-text\">18 March 1916<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1408,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-250","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorised"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/generic.wordpress.soton.ac.uk\/ww1digitaldiary\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/250","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/generic.wordpress.soton.ac.uk\/ww1digitaldiary\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/generic.wordpress.soton.ac.uk\/ww1digitaldiary\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/generic.wordpress.soton.ac.uk\/ww1digitaldiary\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1408"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/generic.wordpress.soton.ac.uk\/ww1digitaldiary\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=250"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/generic.wordpress.soton.ac.uk\/ww1digitaldiary\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/250\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":251,"href":"https:\/\/generic.wordpress.soton.ac.uk\/ww1digitaldiary\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/250\/revisions\/251"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/generic.wordpress.soton.ac.uk\/ww1digitaldiary\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=250"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/generic.wordpress.soton.ac.uk\/ww1digitaldiary\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=250"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/generic.wordpress.soton.ac.uk\/ww1digitaldiary\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=250"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}