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
There were lighters alongside the transport, and into each of these
we got two guns and eight horses, not easy work at any time, but hard
now, with such a rush on and shells dropping all around us. Some of the
explosions caused havoc amongst the horses, and several shells dropped
near our lighter; but I am thankful to say that they were not near
enough to do us much damage.
We were towed as near to the shore as we could get, and then we began
the uncommonly hard and long job of getting the guns and horses ashore.
The lighters were bobbing up and down and “ranging,” owing to the run
of the sea, and this unsteadiness made it very difficult to get the
guns and horses overboard; but every officer and man worked with a
will, and we did it. We got them out of the lighter and on to a strange
kind of roadway that had been made in the water by putting sandbags
tightly down. These sandbags “gave” a fair lot, of course, but we could
not have done anything without them, for the wheels would have sunk too
deeply in the wet soft sand.
When a gun was ready, from ten to sixteen horses were harnessed to it,
and it took these and forty men on the drag-ropes to get one gun over
the sandbag road on to the beach. We did our best, we strained every
nerve, we were experts at the work, yet it was evening before the
battery was ready for action. By that time we had got the guns on the
level at the top of the cliff, about forty yards from the edge, after
tremendous efforts by horses and men. I never saw such man-handling,
even in India.
We had luck in the weather, for a heavy storm came on and the rain fell
in blinding sheets. This, with the darkness, when it came, enabled us
to take up our position without the Turks knowing of the fact.
Of course, while all this work of ours was going on the infantry were
screening us in front. A constant and confused sort of fighting was
taking place, and our men were mixed up with the enemy in furious
hand-to-hand scraps. It was a regular bedlam, and so that nothing
should be left in the way of trouble we were soaked to the skin. But we
were so absorbed in the fighting, and so keen to get to work ourselves,
that we did not give a thought to the drenching. We longed to get into
action, but were kept back by the mixing up of our own men with the
Turks, which made it impossible for us to open fire, because we should
have killed as many of our own men as Turks.
We stood by till we knew that our infantry had driven the Turks well
back, and then it was that the enemy got one of the biggest shocks
of the day, for we simply let go at him with shrapnel at point-blank
range. So well had we been handled by our officers that the first hint
the Turks had of our presence was when we opened fire, and then the
muzzles of our guns were almost in amongst them.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
Reviews
Reviews
No reviews yet
Be the first to share your thoughts on this work.
Elsewhere in the archive
Join the Discussion
Join the discussion
Sign in to leave a comment or review.
Sign InorCreate an account