IMPRESSIONS OF IRAQ

Press, Volume LXXVII, Issue 23324, 9 May 1941, Page 8

IMPRESSIONS OF IRAQ

Close Similarity To Egypt DUNEDIN, May 7. Impressions of Iraq, formed between 1908 and 1922, were given yesterday by Captain P, B. Roebuck, who held a commission during the Great War as a lieutenant in the Royal Naval Reserve and served in this area both as captain of an armed tug and in the mercantile marine. In almost every respect the countryside of Iraq was similar to that of Egypt, he said. It was flat country, mainly desert, except where it was irrigated. Along the Shatt-el-Arab river in 1908 were four main towns —Fao, Abadan, Mahommarah, and Basra. Four, miles from Mahommarah the river narrowed. Here, in the Great War, 'the Turks sank a prize ship, the Ecbatana, and an Arab ship, the John O. Scott, to try to block the river against the passage of British troopships. They did, not succeed, as tugs were able to pull the latter ship clear, leaving a passage of 200 feet of deep water. When the British took control in 1916, Basra began to change rapidly, and modern buildings sprang up in place of mud and grass huts. During the winter months of the Great War the country became very muddy, and even camels could not work under the prevalent conditions. Light, high-axled lorries, however, could make progress through the mud. Captain Roebuck said that he had seen convoys of as many as 3000 vehicles in the Iraqi Desert. There’was no cover for troops except desert scrub, and the chief difficulty was the water supply, which had to be chlorinated before use. Trying Conditions for Europeans The Anglo-Persian Petroleum Company’s oil wells were situated at Ahwaz, about 300 miles from Abadan, where the oil was loaded for shipment, Captain Roebuck said. Sometimes the oil had to be lightered because of the fluctuating depths of water on the Shatt-el-Arab bar. From June to October, the heat was unbearable for Europeans, said Captain Roebuck, Sometimes the temperature rose to 147 degrees. In a shamal, the hot, dry norljh-west wind, which blew mostly in September, the heat became more intense.* When a south-east wind, which blew across the sea, was experienced, the temperature was lower, and the air full of •moisture, These conditions, however, were most oppressive, and Europeans found them very trying. In the winter, the conditions were as bad. The shamal became a cold, dry wind, and oilskins had to be worn under greatcoats.