The Australians advanced to a slight hollow in the ground, giving some amount of cover. Here it seemed likely they would bivouac, for during the early afternoon an ominous pause ensued. But Sir Ian had determined upon one more effort to secure victory by movement. At 5.15 all the battleships and cruisers, all the French “75’s,” and such heavy guns as we possessed, opened a tremendous bombardment. The bursting shells concealed the slopes of Achi Baba on both sides. Sudden volcanoes spouted rock and earth in dark cones. The orange of the lyddite curled over the enemy’s trenches. It seemed impossible for human beings to survive that quarter of an hour. At 5.30 all guns ceased like one, and with bayonets fixed and rifles at the slope, the whole line again moved forward. The brunt of the fighting now fell to the Australians. Two battalions in front and two in support, they walked or ran in “rushes” of 50 or 60 yards on about 1000 yards of front to the left of the Krithia road. The ground was open, and their appearance was at once greeted by the roar of rifles, machine-guns and field-guns, which the bombardment had again utterly failed to silence. The Australians, though heavily laden with packs, shovels, picks, and entrenching tools, and exposed to intense fire, pressed on, rush after rush, their Brigadier directing and encouraging by waving a stick in front. Without a sight of their deadly enemy, they advanced over 800 yards, the support battalions joining up into the bayonet line. They swept across a long Turkish trench. They shot those who ran, and bayoneted those who stayed. They came within half a mile of the eastern approaches to Krithia itself. Seldom in this war has so reckless and irresistible an advance been recorded. None the less, after an addition of a quarter of a mile beyond our original lines, it was checked. Suddenly upon the right Major Cass, wounded in both shoulders, had discovered a yawning gap of 300 yards, into which groups of Turks were pouring down a gully to harass the Australian line on flank and rear.[114] The French, though late, had advanced gallantly to the attack, drums beating, bugles blowing, as in a Napoleonic battle. The French white troops in good order fought their way about 300 yards farther along the Kereves Ridge, capturing the much-disputed redoubt. But the gap was left. The Naval Brigade were delayed in filling it, and in the falling darkness the whole line, exhausted and reduced, had barely life left in them to dig trenches for the night. An average advance of 500 yards had been accomplished. Next day (May 9) Sir Ian issued the following special order to the Australians and to the British troops, which had now become the VIIIth Army Corps: