World War, 1914-1918 -- Campaigns -- Turkey -- Gallipoli Peninsula
We did not attack at dawn, and so the 88th have not been in action. We
are as we were—yesterday’s battle is not to be recorded as a victory
for us. Machine guns again from right, left, and centre fired from
behind great boulders of stone and hidden hillocks covered with gorse,
and wave after wave of our men were mown down as with a scythe. Twice
we captured the Burnt Hill, but twice were driven off, and Burnt Hill
remains Turkish. The Yeomanry were unable to get to grips with the
enemy: but for gallantry in that march from Chocolate Hill to our front
line, four hundred yards in front across the open in the daylight,
under a hail of shrapnel and machine gun bullets, their behaviour could
not have been excelled.
Their officers represent the best blood of England, and their men good
old country blood of the hunting and farmer class of Old England,
with many a man of good birth in the ranks. How could such men behave
otherwise than gallantly? To-night I take up the remainder of D.H.Q.
kit to their new quarters, not so far forward as Chocolate Hill, to a
rocky hillock covered by gorse, inland from the mainland, a distance of
about a mile in a line with our promontory. The place, if found out by
John Turk, will prove to be a perfect shell-trap, and shells bursting
on solid rock will burst “some.” They will be foolish to stay there.
_August 24th._
To-day we had a terrific thunderstorm; forked lightning all over the
sky and heavy rain, but it lasted only an hour.
We chose a new site further up the side of the slope of the promontory,
yet under cover of a slight rise of ground. The formation of the land
here is full of dips and rises, not noticeable from a distance, and
thereby affording excellent cover, for which we thank Providence. We
have to move, for the Corps Reserve depot is getting such an unhealthy
spot on “A” Beach that it is shortly moving to where we are now.
All day long the battleships pop off at the Turks on shore, the row
from the guns echoing and rebounding with deafening reverberation from
the hills and sides of the promontory.
I go up with rations to our Brigade to-night—a beautiful night—with a
convoy of mule-carts driven by the imperturbable Drabis, who merrily
chant Indian songs. The moon at night simplifies our work considerably.
By day it is dangerous for transport to go far afield.
_August 25th._
It is now four long, terrible months since we landed, and we are still
on the low lands at the three landings. The positions in front of us
are formidable, almost impregnable, and unless the Balkan States are
drawn in on our side, never shall we open the Dardanelles. The task is
now impossible for us, and we have lost our opportunity at the start by
only landing with one Division. Our effort has failed, though we have
made good our landing. The shipping here gets shelled as at Helles, and
this morning a battleship was hit twice.
We can hear heavy firing down at Helles.
_August 26th._
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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