World War, 1914-1918 -- Campaigns -- Turkey -- Gallipoli Peninsula
The beach quickly becomes alive with men all working for dear life, and
we get to our feet, go down to the water’s edge and bathe our faces,
and start to finish the work of making a small Supply depot which we
left last night. My servant comes to tell me that breakfast is ready,
and we go up the cliff and join Way and Carver at a repast of biscuits,
jam, bacon, and tea. But the tea tastes strong of sea water. All water
had been carried with us in tins, and we had struck a bad batch, for
most of them leaked. And then our day’s work begins in all seriousness.
By night O’Hara wishes us to have a proper Supply depot working, the
Quartermasters coming with fatigue parties, presenting their B55’s, and
rations to the full are promptly issued and accounted for in our books.
At frequent intervals the Fleet bombard, but we are quite used to the
roar of the guns now. I am covered and coated with clayey mud and have
no time to clean myself properly. We have to take cover continually
from snipers—unknown enemies who fire at us from Lord knows where. One
open part of the beach is especially dangerous, and I cross that part
about six times during a day—not a very wide space, but I feel each
time I go across that I am taking a long journey. The dead are still
lying about, and as there is no time to bury them, we pass to and fro
by their bodies unheedingly. In addition to these snipers who pick off
one of our number now and again, we have spent bullets flying in all
directions, for our firing-line is but a few hundred yards away. The
Turk, however, does not appear to have a proper firing-line; he only
seems to have advanced posts strongly held, and must have retreated
well inshore.
It is a blessing for us that no shells come along, only these spent
bullets and the deadly shots from the unseen snipers. Heavy firing
sounds, however, from “V” Beach, a rattle of musketry and a roar of the
battleships and torpedo-boat destroyers lying at the mouth. Colonel
Beadon and Major Streidinger are getting a proper system of supply and
transport working.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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