World War, 1914-1918 -- Campaigns -- Turkey -- Gallipoli Peninsula; World War, 1914-1918 -- New Zealand
On the morning of the 7th, extra ammunition and entrenching tools were
issued, and the brigade started on a long trek in a north-westerly
direction, eventually coming down to Gully Beach on the Gulf of Saros.
After a short rest, the march was resumed. The leading files struck
back again up the hill and met many Lancashires coming back wounded.
Everywhere equipment was scattered. Many of our men secured sun
helmets, which later were the envy of Anzac. When word came to rest for
the night and dig in, the brigade pulled off the track to the sides
of the valley, posted outpost groups, and endeavoured to rest for the
night. But there was a good deal of confusion and noise, Ghurkas and
other troops were moving up and down, and presently word came to move
further up the gully. On the weary men stumbled, past a trench held by
the King's Own Scottish Borderers, and eventually arrived near a small
stone farmhouse on the right-hand side of the gully. On both sides
of the road were some old Turkish trenches, in a filthy condition.
Sticking up in the parapet was a dead man's hand, like a stop sign,
seeming to indicate "this far and no farther." Backwards and forwards,
this way and that, men wandered in the search for a comfortable resting
place. Here the brigade passed the night, acting as a reserve to the
87th and 88th Brigades of the 29th Division, but the morning came
without our men being called on.
The shelter of a ruined building was seized upon for a dressing
station. Near by was a large fig tree, which later served as a
landmark for the last resting-place of many New Zealand soldiers. From
this dressing station the wounded were carried by the stretcher-bearers
some distance to the rear to the Pink Farm, whence the mule ambulances
carried the suffering men over the well-worn roads to the beaches.
[Illustration:
[_British Official Photograph._
LANCASHIRE LANDING AT "W" BEACH.
Here the 1st Lancashire Fusiliers added fresh glory to their
illustrious record. The barbed wire was placed down to the water's edge
and in the water. But the gallant Lancashires were not to be denied and
performed prodigies of valour. The picture shows the steamers sunk to
make a breakwater.]
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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