In the Line of Battle: Soldiers' Stories of the War
History
In the Line of Battle: Soldiers' Stories of the War
World War, 1914-1918 -- Personal narratives
The Fusiliers’ lighters could not get close to the beach owing to the
barbed wire entanglements which had been fixed in the water, so the men
were ordered to get out and wade ashore. This they began to do--and it
was one of the most awful jobs that a landing party ever undertook.
I could see them quite well from our transport. Without a moment’s
hesitation the Lancashires clambered over the sides of the lighters and
into the water they went, struggling to get ashore. It is hard enough
to force your way through water at any time; put to that difficulty a
heavy kit and rifle and ammunition, throw diabolical barbed wire in,
and you will understand to some extent what it all meant.
As these brave fellows threw themselves overboard dozens of them were
shot; a lot more were caught by the barbed wire, and as they were held
helplessly, with flesh and clothing torn in their frantic efforts to
get free, they were killed or wounded by the Turkish fire.
It seemed impossible for any of the Fusiliers to survive and get
ashore, yet many forced their way through everything and landed on
the beach, where they at once formed up roughly, and then without the
slightest hesitation they charged up the face of the cliff, which
looked to me almost as hard to scale as the side of a house.
As they scrambled up the cliff they were met by a more murderous
fire than ever from rifles and machine-guns, and numbers were killed
or wounded. It seemed to me that for every man who reached the top at
least four were killed or maimed. I could see the bodies rolling down
the cliff-side on to the beach.
It was only a little band of Lancashire Fusiliers that managed to
scramble and rush to the top of that terrific cliff--a few hundreds or
so. They must have been exhausted; but their blood was fairly up, and
with fixed bayonets they charged with such fury and success that the
Turks were fairly taken aback, and I could see them giving way before
our boys’ cold steel.
Some of the Turks were throwing up their arms, and I could hear their
shrill appeals for mercy; but the Fusiliers hadn’t too much time to
listen after the awful experience they had just gone through.
After they had been driven off the Turks made a counter-attack, and
the Fusiliers, being a mere handful, were forced back to the very edge
of the cliff and seemed in peril of going down it; but even then they
re-formed and again rushed on the Turks with the bayonet and scattered
them. Back again the Lancashires were driven, only to recover in the
most amazing way and charge with the bayonet for the third time. And
this seemed to settle the Turks, who cleared off.
While this thrilling fighting was going on, a sight that can never
be forgotten by those who saw it, our brigade was getting ready to
disembark. The infantry had had a hard enough business to get ashore;
but ours was naturally a lot worse, for we had to tackle our guns and
horses, as well as look after ourselves.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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