This success was chiefly due to the extraordinary dash of the Manchester (42nd Division) and the 2nd Naval (R.N.D.) Brigades. Under young and high-spirited leaders such as few troops possessed,[122] the so-called “amateurs” of the Anson, Hood, and Howe Battalions rushed forward through the bushes and small ravines of the neutral ground, stormed the first trench, and captured the southern face of a projecting Turkish redoubt. It was done in a quarter of an hour, and in five-and-twenty minutes their consolidating parties were at work upon the positions gained. The Manchester Brigade (always a model of what Lord Haldane’s Territorials could become) swept forward with even greater success. In five minutes they were over the first line; in half an hour they had captured the second, and it was believed that no defences lay between them and Achi Baba. The belief was probably too sanguine, but at all events they had won a third of a mile, and the working parties began reversing the aspect of the excellently constructed Turkish trenches. Farther to the left, the 88th Brigade (29th Division), though exposed to heavy fire from front and left flank, and met with the bayonet by Turks who courageously awaited their assault, succeeded in capturing the first line of trenches, the Worcesters especially distinguishing themselves. But the farther advance of the division was checked because the 14th Sikhs on their left were held up by barbed wire at the first trench, remaining undamaged by the bombardment. For the same reason, the 6th Gurkhas, who had skilfully advanced along the extreme edge of the cliffs, were compelled to withdraw, and reinforcements were hurried up from the reserve. But even the new battalions were unable to advance against the heavy rifle-fire, and the left of the British line was thus kept in check, unable to conform with the victorious advance in the centre. [Illustration: FRENCH DUG-OUT AT HELLES] [Sidenote: FAILURE OF FRENCH COLONIAL TROOPS] With the French upon our right, all seemed at first to go well. The 1st Division carried the first trenches. The 2nd or new Division, with characteristic _élan_, at last rushed the formidable redoubt which commanded the approach to the southern slope leading up to the crest above Kereves Dere, and had barred the French advance almost since the first advance. From its bulging crescent shape, the French called it the “Haricot.” Unfortunately, here again, as before, the Senegalese and Colonial troops were found unable to retain positions which they had won. Within an hour of the first infantry advance, the Turks projected an overwhelming counter-attack upon the “Haricot,” shelling it heavily and pouring masses of reinforcements down the deep communication trenches. A fatal gap was thus opened between the French and British lines. The right flank of the 2nd Naval Brigade became dangerously exposed. The fortune of the battle turned.