World War, 1914-1918 -- Campaigns -- Turkey -- Gallipoli Peninsula
Flies, ordinary houseflies, are beginning to be awful pests here,
simply myriads of them. People in England do not know what a fly pest
is. They make a continual hum as they fly round, there are so many of
them. One of our officers named Jennings gets very annoyed with them,
and when trying to get a sleep in his dugout of an afternoon, has a
few minutes’ indulgence in Hate, not against Germany, but against the
flies, murmuring to himself “Gott strafe the flies!” over and over
again.
Ritchie, my old H.A.C. pal of the Goring days, who was on the
_Arcadian_, turns up at Supply depot and invites me to dinner in the
near future. It does not seem so very long ago that we were having a
pigeon-pie dinner in our barn at Stoke-on-Thames, when we were both
gunners in the H.A.C.
Late in the afternoon shells come whistling over our bivouac once
more, well overhead, and burst in the sea near to Supply ships. About
fifteen come over, and the transports weigh anchor and clear out of
the way, taking up moorings again behind the _Majestic_, which is
lying about a thousand yards off the centre of “W” Beach. Evidently
the Turks are being “spotted” for at Yen-i-Shehr, where no doubt they
have many observation posts which are in telephonic communication
with Chanak, further up the Straits, which in turn is in telephonic
communication with Turkish H.Q. on Achi. What more ideal conditions
for laying their guns could be wished for? It is fortunate for us that
their artillery and ammunition are scarce. Were the full complement of
artillery against us that the Germans would provide to an army of the
same strength as that of the Turks, I think that we should, as things
have developed now, pack up and be off within one week, and not even
the dear little “75’s” could save us.
The field bakery is in working order now, in a little gully further up
the coast, and we are having most excellent bread each day—not a full
ration, about 40 per cent. being made up by the biscuits.
It consists of three Bakery Detachments of six Bakery Sections each, a
total of twenty-four ovens, and is capable of making bread for sixty
thousand men. The ovens are made of curved metal; the troughs are in
a large marquee, where all the mixing of the flour and ferments is
done. The bread supplied on the whole is good, but of course, under
the conditions in which the men are working it is difficult to turn
out bread of the quality that one expects in London. Baking goes on
practically the whole of the twenty-four hours. The whole bakery is
under cover, and cannot be seen in any way by the Turk, though the
gully in which it has been placed can be shelled, should the Turk
become aware of its presence.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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