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
No further progress had been found possible in front of the 88th
Brigade and Indian Brigade. Attempts were made by their reserve
battalions to advance on the right and left flanks respectively, but in
both cases heavy fire drove them back.
At 4 p.m. under support of our artillery the Royal Fusiliers were able
to advance beyond the first line of captured trenches, but the fact
that the left flank was held back made the attempt to hold any isolated
position in advance inadvisable.
As the reserves had been largely depleted by the despatch of
reinforcements to various parts of the line, and information was to
hand of the approach of strong reinforcements of fresh troops to the
enemy, orders were issued for the consolidation of the line then held.
Although we had been forced to abandon so much of the ground gained
in the first rush, the net result of the day's operations was
considerable--namely, an advance of 200 to 400 yards along the whole of
our centre, a front of nearly 3 miles. That the enemy suffered severely
was indicated, not only by subsequent information, but by the fact of
his attempting no counter-attack during the night, except upon the
trench captured by the French 1st Division on the extreme right. Here
two counter-attacks were repulsed with loss.
The prisoners taken during the day amounted to 400, including 11
officers: amongst these were 5 Germans, the remains of a volunteer
machine-gun detachment from the _Goeben_. Their commanding officer was
killed and the machine-gun destroyed. The majority of these captures
were made by the 42nd Division under Major-General W. Douglas.
THE GALLANT FRENCH
From the date of this battle to the end of the month of June the
incessant attacks and counter-attacks which have so grievously swelled
our lists of casualties have been caused by the determination of the
Turks to regain ground they had lost, a determination clashing against
our firm resolve to continue to increase our holding. Several of these
daily encounters would have been the subject of a separate despatch
in the campaigns of my youth and middle age, but, with due regard to
proportion, they cannot even be so much as mentioned here. Only one
example each from the French, British, and Australian and New Zealand
spheres of action will be most briefly set down so that Your Lordship
may understand the nature of the demands made upon the energies and
fortitude of the troops.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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