Sir Ian Hamilton's Despatches from the Dardanelles, etc.Hamilton, Ian
History
Sir Ian Hamilton's Despatches from the Dardanelles, etc.
Hamilton, Ian
World War, 1914-1918 -- Campaigns -- Turkey -- Gallipoli Peninsula
On the stroke of noon the artillery increased their range, and along
the whole line the infantry fixed bayonets and advanced.
The assault was immediately successful. On the extreme right the French
1st Division carried a line of trench, whilst the French 2nd Division,
with the greatest dash and gallantry, captured a strong redoubt called
the "Haricot," for which they had already had three desperate contests.
Only the extreme left of the French was unable to gain any ground, a
feature destined to have an unfortunate effect upon the final issue.
NAVAL BRIGADE'S DASH
The 2nd Naval Brigade of the Royal Naval Division rushed forward with
great dash; the "Anson" Battalion captured the southern face of a
Turkish redoubt which formed a salient in the enemy's line, the "Howe"
and "Hood" Battalions captured trenches fronting them, and by 12.15
p.m. the whole Turkish line forming their first objective was in their
hands. Their consolidating party went forward at 12.25 p.m.
The Manchester Brigade of the 42nd Division advanced magnificently. In
five minutes the first line of Turkish trenches were captured, and by
12.30 p.m. the Brigade had carried with a rush the line forming their
second objective, having made an advance of 600 yards in all. The
working parties got to work without incident, and the position here
could not possibly have been better.
On the left the 29th Division met with more difficulty. All along the
section of the 88th Brigade the troops jumped out of their trenches at
noon and charged across the open at the nearest Turkish trench. In most
places the enemy crossed bayonets with our men and inflicted severe
loss upon us. But the 88th Brigade was not to be denied. The Worcester
Regiment was the first to capture trenches, and the remainder of the
88th Brigade, though at first held up by flanking as well as fronting
fire, also pushed on doggedly until they had fairly made good the whole
of the Turkish first line.
A CHECK ON THE LEFT
Only on the extreme left did we sustain a check. Here the Turkish
front trench was so sited as to have escaped damage from our artillery
bombardment, and the barbed wire obstacle was intact. The result was
that, though the 14th Sikhs on the right flank pushed on despite
losses amounting to three-fourths of their effectives, the centre of
the Brigade could make no headway. A company of the 6th Gurkhas on the
left, skilfully led along the cliffs by its commander, actually forced
its way into a Turkish work, but the failure of the rest of the Brigade
threatened isolation, and it was as skilfully withdrawn under fire.
Reinforcements were therefore sent to the left so that, if possible, a
fresh attack might be organized.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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