Item 05: Fred Harold Tomlins war diary, 19 March-15 August 1916 - Page 114
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[Page 114]
22-6-16
a strong force of Turkish Infantry were only a few miles further on
& we were to try & rescue the aviator; Any man who did not feel equal to the journey was told to fall out but there was no reponse & after waiting out in the hot sun till two oclock waiting for fresh water we started for Bir-El-Abd with only half a bottle of water each, we also took an ambulance cart to bring back the aviator (if we could find him) & engine & main
parts of the plane, we had orders not to touch our water bottles till we got to Bir-El-Abd & here we found the water in the cemented well drinkable & we had a good blow out. as we were coming into Bir-El-Abd a patrol of 9 Turks were seen going out of it but did not wait to argue with us, they were mounted on camels;
The 1st & 2nd Regt were together till we got to Bir-El-Abd (the 3rd staying at Debabis) here we parted the 2nd going S.E. & the first going N.E. & had only gone 3 or 4 miles when one of our planes came on the scene & put in till nearly sundown hovering around looking for the