World War, 1914-1918 -- Campaigns -- Turkey -- Gallipoli Peninsula; World War, 1914-1918 -- New Zealand
21st Indian Mountain Battery (less one section).
4th Australian Infantry Brigade.
29th Indian Infantry Brigade.
9th Royal Warwicks.
9th Worcesters.
7th North Staffords.
6th South Lancashires.
The centre of this force was to attack Hill Q; the left was to attack
the Abdel Rahman spur--the two attacks converging on Koja Chemen Tepe,
the highest point in the range.
We must look in turn at the left, the centre, and the right.
Away on the left the Australians of the 4th Brigade moved up the Asma
Dere towards the lower slopes of Abdel Rahman Bair. The intention was
to gain a footing, then wheel to the right, and work up this rugged
northern spur towards Koja Chemen Tepe. By this time, however, Turkish
reserves had accumulated all along the rear slopes of the whole
mountain system. With machine guns and shrapnel the Ottoman soldiery
assailed the Australians, who were presently almost surrounded.
Hopelessly outnumbered, wearied with incessant fighting, the gallant
4th Brigade fell back to its former line.
In the centre the men of the 39th New Army Brigade and the Indians
fared little better. Pushing on past both sides of The Farm the troops
assailed the lower spurs leading up to Hill Q and the left of Chunuk.
But the Turkish machine gunners and riflemen were fresh from reserve.
They held the high ground with all its advantages, they were fighting
in a country with which they were familiar, and compelled our line to
come to a definite standstill on the slopes overlooking The Farm.
The Capture of Chunuk Bair.
On the right things were going better. At dawn the men of the
Wellington Infantry Regiment were ready again to attack the fatal
crestline. The tired troops of yesterday were once again to essay the
seemingly impossible.
At 4.15 in the grey of the morning, the Wellington Infantry and the
7th Gloucesters, led by Lieut.-Colonel Malone, commenced the desperate
struggle for Chunuk Bair. So far as the New Zealanders are concerned,
August 8, 1915, was the blackest day on the Peninsula. But the prize
was the strategical key to the Gallipoli Peninsula. Win the Ridge
and we should win the Narrows. Open the Narrows to the Navy, and
Constantinople was ours! Surely a prize worth fighting for. So from the
scanty trenches on Rhododendron Spur leapt the Wellingtons and the 7th
Gloucesters.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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