New York Times Current History; The European War, Vol 2, No. 5, August, 1915Various
History
New York Times Current History; The European War, Vol 2, No. 5, August, 1915
Various
World War, 1914-1918
Of the Royal Scots, one can add nothing but that they are Edinburgh
Territorials brought in by the fortune of war to make the twelfth
regiment of the immortal 29th Division whose deeds since April 25
might have stirred the ghost of Homer to sing their valour.
Mention has been made already of the difficulties that oppose our
advance upon the two flanks. On June 21 it was determined to
straighten the line upon the extreme right, and at 1.30 A.M. the
preliminary bombardment began. The dawn had been clear, but soon a
curtain of silver, through which gleamed the ghost of the rising sun,
hung over the Kereves Dere. This was the smoke of bursting shells.
Slowly as the sun climbed up the curtain became more substantial. Then
it seemed to droop and sweep along the hollows like a vanishing mist
of dawn, and during a respite the thin blue smoke of the bivouac fires
came tranquilly up into the still air. The respite was very brief, and
the bombardment began again with greater fierceness than before. The
75's drummed unceasingly. The reverberation of the 125's and of the
howitzers shook the observation post. Over the Kereves Dere, and
beyond, upon the sloping shoulders of Achi Baba, the curtain became a
pall. The sun climbed higher and higher. All that first mirage of
beauty had disappeared, and there was nothing but the monstrous shapes
of bursting shells, giants of smoke that appeared one after another
along the Turkish lines. All through the morning the cannonade went
on.
By noon the Second Division of the French had on the left stormed and
captured all the Turkish trenches of the first two lines. Even the
Haricot Redoubt, with its damnable entanglements and its maze of
communicating trenches, was in French hands. On the right, however,
the First Division, after reaching their objective, had been
counter-attacked so effectively that they had fallen back. Again they
advanced; again they took the trenches; again they were driven out. It
began to look as if the victory upon the left would be fruitless, that
the position would become an untenable salient and the Haricot Redoubt
revert to the enemy.
At this moment a message was sent to say that the trenches must be
recaptured, and, when recaptured, held. There were still five hours of
daylight for this battle of the longest day. British guns and
howitzers were asked for and were lent at once. The bombardment was
resumed throughout that afternoon, and at half-past five it seemed as
if every gun on earth were pouring shells on the Turkish lines.
At six o'clock the third assault was delivered. In one trench there
was a temporary shortage of ammunition, but the enemy fought even with
stones and sticks and fists. A battalion came hurrying up from the
Turkish right to reinforce it, was caught on open ground by the
drumming 75's, and it melted away. Six hundred yards of Turkish
trenches were taken, and still the bombardment was continued in order
to ward off the counter-attack that was anticipated.
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