Meantime Sir Ian, growing continually more impatient at the silence, resolved about noon to leave his central position at Imbros and investigate for himself the situation of his northern force. For some unexplained reason his destroyer, the Arno, instead of keeping steam always up, had just had her fires drawn, and could not start till 4 p.m. During those hours of maddening delay, Sir Ian’s worst suspicions were confirmed by a telegram from a General Staff Officer (Lieut.-Colonel Aspinall, a trustworthy judge of military affairs) “drawing attention to the inaction of our own troops, and to the fact that golden opportunities were being missed.”190 Arriving at Suvla at 5 p.m., Sir Ian at once visited General Stopford on board the Jonquil, where he still kept his headquarters so as to advise upon any action, if any action seemed advisable. There Sir Ian heard, as he dreaded to hear, that nothing could be done that day. The exhaustion of the men, the confusion of units, and other pleas mentioned above were given as reasons. But the deeper reason lay in comfortable satisfaction with present results, and in the absence of inspiring or remorseless energy. It is an old military principle that “A General who refuses to pursue a retreating enemy on the plea that his troops are tired, should be at once relieved of his command.” In Sir Ian’s own words: “Driving power was required, and even a certain ruthlessness, to brush aside pleas for respite for tired troops. The one fatal error was inertia. And inertia prevailed.”

Finding it so, Sir Ian, driven by the extremity of the crisis, took a step unusual in a Commander-in-Chief. He resolved to try what personal influence he could use upon the Divisional Commanders. The Corps Commander raised no objection, and, accompanied by Commodore Roger Keyes and Lieut.-Colonel Aspinall, Sir Ian hastened to Major-General Hammersley’s headquarters at the foot of Lala Baba. He pointed out that time above all price was slipping away unused; that “the sands were running out fast”; that information showed Turkish reinforcements already approaching. General Hammersley replied that his force was much scattered; it was impossible to get orders for a night attack round to the battalions; and that a general attack was arranged for the early morning. He admitted, however, that the 32nd Brigade (formerly under Haggard, who was wounded on the previous day, and now under Colonel Minogue) was more or less concentrated and could move. His General Staff Officer, Colonel Neil Malcolm, an experienced soldier, confirmed this opinion, and Sir Ian took the further unusual step of directly ordering this brigade or any force, even if it were only a company, to advance at once without waiting for the morning’s general attack. Their objective was to be the high ground rising towards Tekke Tepe on the north of Anafarta Sagir. They were to act as the advance guard to the attack.

It was now 6 p.m. In ignorance, Sir Ian had given an order destined to entail disaster. It appears almost certain that neither General Hammersley nor his Chief of Staff knew exactly where the battalions of the 32nd Brigade stood at the time. Otherwise they must have informed Sir Ian that, as a matter of fact, one of the battalions (the 6th East York Pioneers) had advanced that day, had occupied Hill 70 (Scimitar Hill), and were at that moment in position there—Scimitar Hill, next to W Hill the most vital of all the semicircle of heights overlooking the bay! Closely supported by the 7th South Staffords, the Pioneer Battalion was there only waiting for the brigade’s further advance upon W Hill or Anafarta Sagir, to both of which it is the key. Lieut.-Colonel Moore, in command of that battalion, had even sent out three officers’ patrols, one of which actually reached the top of Tekke Tepe, another the outskirts of Anafarta Sagir, the third a point near Abrikja, though unable to return till dark. But no one in high authority appears to have known of these movements. In consequence of this ignorance, the Divisional General, instead of leaving the selection of battalions to the Brigadier, named the 6th East York Pioneers as the battalion to lead the advance, believing it to be the freshest and least tried. Colonel Minogue obeyed and ordered the battalion to rejoin the brigade concentrated at Sulajik. Colonel Moore, commanding the 6th East Yorks, obeyed also, but did not receive the order till 3 a.m. of the 9th. He then withdrew his tired and sleepless battalion to Sulajik. Without a blow, Scimitar Hill was abandoned. It was one of those apparently casual misfortunes which throughout the campaign balked the fairest hopes just at the moment of victory, as though an evil and ironic destiny mocked at the best-laid schemes.

Having heard from General Hammersley that the water supply was now arranged and the troops rested, Sir Ian returned to the Arno and remained on board that night in the bay. Hearing no sound of fighting, he assumed that the brigade had accomplished its task and established itself on the slopes of Tekke Tepe overlooking Anafarta, without opposition.191

From the evening of August 8 to the evening of the 9th.

Unfortunately, Sir Ian’s assumption was groundless. The 32nd Brigade was far from being concentrated as was supposed by the Divisional General. One battalion, as we have just seen, was actually on Scimitar Hill. The 9th West Yorks were half-way up the Anafarta Ridge, and they tried to advance before dawn, but were overwhelmed by the enemy’s reinforcements, thus proving that the intended morning attack would have been dangerously late in any case.192 The remainder were among the trees near the farm Sulajik, where there was water. Verbal orders reached them at 7.30 p.m., but no definite written orders arrived till nearly 3 a.m. The mistakes were chiefly due to ignorance of location. Instead of beginning at eight on Sunday evening, as Sir Ian intended, the movement did not start till 4 a.m. on Monday. Then the brigade attacked the steep slope leading up to Anafarta. It is covered with thick and high bush, up which men can advance only in single file along the cattle-tracks. On their right, Scimitar Hill had been abandoned, its reverse slope being now occupied by swarms of Turkish snipers and troops in formation, which were coming up in strong reinforcement. On their left, one company of the 6th East Yorks (the selfsame battalion which had occupied Scimitar Hill) succeeded in reaching that isolated offshoot from Tekke Tepe above mentioned. But the brigade retired to the line of Sulajik. The losses were heavy, chiefly among the Royal Engineers, one company of whom (the 67th) accompanied the brigade. Colonel Moore of the 6th East Yorks (Pioneers), who had shown such grasp of the situation, was killed.

As day advanced, the position only grew worse. It was the morning when the party of Lancastrians and Gurkhas reached the summit near Hill Q and stared upon the Dardanelles below. As at Chunuk Bair, so at Suvla, the Turks were rushing up reinforcements. Three Divisions, starting from Bulair, were beginning to debouch along the valley between the two Anafartas, and to crowd the heights. Perceiving our inactivity or hesitation throughout the previous day (Sunday), they now brought back the guns they had removed on Saturday night, and increased the number. Hill’s 31st Brigade, and that General himself, were still on Chocolate Hill, but three battalions of Maxwell’s Brigade had now arrived there, and the orders for the attack devolved upon him. On the right he pushed forward those battalions of his own 33rd Brigade, which made fair progress. Some of the leading troops were reported as even reaching W Hill, but that appeared to me very doubtful, as I watched the movements all day from a machine-gun emplacement near the top of Chocolate Hill. In the centre Brigadier-General Maxwell ordered part of the 32nd Brigade to advance again, reinforced by two of the 10th Division battalions under Hill (6th Royal Irish Fusiliers and 6th Royal Dublin Fusiliers). Their objective was Scimitar Hill—that hill which had been quietly occupied and quietly abandoned only the day before! On the left the line was extended by the 6th Lincolns (33rd Brigade) and the whole of the 34th Brigade, which had moved from the sand dunes near Hill 10 at last, and arrived in two detachments. Beyond them were two battalions from the 53rd (Welsh) Division, which had been held by Sir Ian as part of his special reserve, and was being thrown into Suvla early that morning.

Partly owing to the mixture of brigades, the attack went to pieces. There was little combination, and no cohesion. Battalions advanced separately here and there, and separately came back. Two or three times one or other of them (especially the two battalions of Hill’s brigade) came close to the summit of Scimitar Hill. A fraction of the 7th South Staffords in the centre actually reached it. But every hour the enemy’s fire increased. Shrapnel burst low over us. The men of the 32nd Brigade were much shaken by their experience and heavy losses in the early morning. All were much exhausted. Fire broke out on the left side of the hill itself, and swept over the front and summit, consuming the dry scrub in sheets of flame. The wounded, both British and Turk, came creeping out on hands and knees to seek safety upon that yellow open space or “blaze” which, as I mentioned, gave the name of “Scimitar” to the hill. But many perished from suffocation and the extreme heat. Many also were burnt alive, being unable to move. Except a few isolated parties, which bravely endeavoured to hold their ground, the firing lines and supports came swarming back. It was no wonder. The situation was intolerable. The most hardened Regulars could not have endured it, and hardly any of these officers and men of the New Army had known fighting before. At length they were formed up into a confused line along the ditches and shallow trenches between the Sulajik and Green Hill. It was about noon.

From Chocolate Hill General Maxwell ordered the battalions to be reorganised at once for another attack, but reorganisation was impossible. One of the wells, which in the early morning I had found safe, was now exposed to almost continuous rifle-fire. The usual scenes of a battlefield added to the distress and alarm. The dead were lying about; the wounded crying for help; the hands and faces of hastily buried men protruded from the ground. The 6th Lincolns and 6th Borders, posted on either flank, were mentioned for “steady and gallant behaviour” during this ordeal. The 9th Sherwood Foresters (same Brigade) and the Herefords of the 159th were also mentioned. No further movement was attempted. Walking back to Lala Baba towards evening, I was asked to report to General Hammersley in his headquarters there, but could report little good. I found, however, that he had now three R.F.A. batteries in position behind the seaward slope of Lala Baba, and three batteries of mountain-guns ashore, some of the guns being close behind the summit of the hill. The warships were also firing at intervals upon W Hill and the farthest points of Kiretch Tepe Sirt.

Along that razor-edge or whale-back ridge, Sir Bryan Mahon had now firmly established himself with the few battalions left to his command out of the 10th Division. Near the sea-end of the ridge, about three-quarters of a mile from Suvla Point, General Stopford was engaged upon the construction of a permanent Corps Headquarters in a partially sheltered depression among the rocks. Having visited him there in the morning, Sir Ian climbed along the ridge to Mahon’s headquarters among the stones close behind his firing line. He found that General confident of carrying the whole summit of Kiretch Tepe, and it was probably whilst on that point of widely commanding view over the whole plain to Koja Chemen Tepe and the Anzac heights that Sir Ian resolved to press forward the attack upon the left, since the advance upon W Hill and Anafarta Sagir was obviously now impeded. If Mahon’s Division could fight its way along the ridge to Ejelmer Bay, and fresh troops could win the line from Ejelmer Bay over Kavak and Tekke Tepes to Anafarta Sagir, not only would Suvla remain safe from interference on that side, but the Turkish reinforcements on W Hill and Scimitar Hill would be paralysed by the threat from their right, and rendered incapable of advancing farther towards the sea.

In the afternoon Sir Ian went to Anzac with Commodore Keyes, and, after consultation with Generals Birdwood and Godley, telephoned to General Stopford, urging upon him the importance of immediately seizing Kavak Tepe and the rest of the Ejelmer-Anafarta line, which an aeroplane reported as still unoccupied and unentrenched. At the same time he determined to devote to this purpose the last of his own reserve—the 54th (East Anglian) Division, which, however, like the 53rd, consisted of infantry only, and those little over half strength. The battle to hold the summit just south of Chunuk Bair was raging at the time. It is possible that reinforcement by a new Division might have made all the difference there. But to supply water up those heights was difficult, as we noticed in the last chapter, and the Generals on the spot considered there was scarcely room for more troops in the ravines and up the ridges. So to Suvla the 54th Division was ordered to follow the 53rd, and Sir Ian was left without reserve. The new Division was to arrive on the next day but one, the 11th.

From the evening of August 9 to the evening of the 10th.

General Stopford, however, was naturally still anxious to retrieve the check suffered by General Hammersley’s command, and indeed W Hill was still the most vital and threatening point upon the encompassing heights. He, therefore, determined to renew the attack upon Scimitar Hill and the more open field country between it and W Hill, around the Abrikja farm. For this task he allotted nine battalions of the 53rd Division (Major-General Lindley), supported by two battalions of the 11th Division on each flank. The result was more lamentable even than the failure of the previous day. The troops of the 53rd Division set off about six a.m. across the Salt Lake. The Turkish shrapnel and rifle-fire poured upon them as they advanced, and only increased at the foot of Scimitar Hill. To watch parties of them attempting to steal up sheltered portions of the hill was a piteous sight. The cover was much reduced, because the ground was now black with burning, and most of the bushes gone. Many fell on all sides. The corner of a small wheatfield near Abrikja was fringed with dead who looked like a company lying down in the shade. One saw many deeds of courage among officers and men.

Backwards and forwards, the fighting went on all morning, but without result. In the evening the battalions were withdrawn to their original lines, only more confused, more disheartened, and fewer in numbers. Generals Maxwell and Hill remained on Chocolate Hill that day. Hill’s brigade was chiefly occupied in holding Green Hill just in front of the other, and we were much exposed to shrapnel there, as the trenches were incomplete. That evening, however, the withdrawal of Hill’s five battalions in turn began. They were allowed rest and the joy of bathing on the beach till the 13th (Friday), when they rejoined their own 10th Division upon Kiretch Tepe Sirt.193

On this day, the 10th, Chunuk Bair was lost, and the chance of advance from Suvla was almost gone. It was the saddest day in the record of the expedition. Sir Ian telegraphed to General Stopford, ordering him not to risk the proposed renewal of the attacks with tired and disintegrated troops, but to consolidate the line from the Asmak Dere past the front of Chocolate Hill through Sulajik to Kiretch Tepe Sirt.

From the evening of August 10 to the evening of the 11th.

It was indeed time that the line was consolidated. During the night and early morning, the 54th (East Anglian) Division was being landed on the new A Beaches near Suvla Point.194 They formed, as has been noticed, Sir Ian’s last reserve, and were commanded by Major-General F. S. Inglefield, a stalwart and experienced soldier, who had seen service in South Africa and had commanded this Territorial Division for two years, but was already sixty. As in the case of the 53rd (Welsh) Division, some of the best battalions had been taken for France, and others suddenly inserted without knowledge of him or of the other battalions, so that the essential bond of the Territorial spirit was severed. The landing of some 10,000 or 12,000 inexperienced Territorials ignorant of cohesion was inevitably a confused business, though only the infantry had been sent. But that would not have mattered if the confusion upon the front lines had not been far worse. There the condition was indeed deplorable. Along the most critical part of the line, between Green Hill and Sulajik, battalions and brigades were hopelessly mixed together. The men had lost sight of their officers and their units. They lay in any ditch or cover they could find. Here and there a party dug trenches or improved the trenches dug at night. But theirs was not the spirit of victory. One of the bridged fountains was now almost deserted, as it came under fire from snipers or from the troops on Scimitar Hill. But round the other, which was concealed among large trees, the men still swarmed. In consequence, there was much delay and much waste of the plentiful water, nor did any attempts to get them into file, so that each might take his turn, avail for long.

There was no help for it. The only thing to be done was to pull out the battalions gradually and reorganise. It was now Wednesday, and so far as action went the day was wasted, as Sunday had been, though there was better reason for the waste.

From the evening of August 11 to the evening of the 12th.

That evening Sir Ian again sailed over to Suvla with the object of urging forward his project for the occupation of the Kavak Tepe and Tekke Tepe heights before the Turkish reinforcements could arrive and entrench there. He had expected the 54th Division to start at once upon a night march, so as to make the ascent at dawn, while the 53rd Division stood in reserve. But General Stopford raised objections, foresaw difficulties, and asked for at least twenty-four hours’ delay. He hoped that by that time the 53rd Division would have been reorganised sufficiently to clear the way for the passage of the 54th through the jungly, tree-covered ground at the foot of the mountain.

Unfortunately, even this hope was disappointed. Though the 54th Division had not come under serious fire, the Brigadiers in both Divisions reported that they were not yet ready for the attack. General Inglefield, however, was able to send forward one brigade in advance. It was the 163rd (Brigadier-General F. F. W. Daniell), consisting of the 4th and 5th Norfolks and the 5th Suffolks and 8th Hants. The advance began in the afternoon, and the brigade reached the farm called Anafarta Ova, though the enemy’s opposition steadily increased as the forest and bush became thicker. Then occurred one of the minor but startling tragedies of the war. The 5th Norfolks, on the right of the brigade, were led by Colonel Sir Horace Beauchamp, a bold and self-confident cavalry officer, who had commanded the 20th Hussars, and seen hard service in Egypt, the Soudan, and South Africa. In the army he had been known as “The Bo’sun” owing to his love and knowledge of the sea.195 Perhaps inspired by old memories, perhaps hoping to inspire Territorials also with the tradition of Regulars, or to show the Generals what this Division could do under dashing leadership, he led his battalion rapidly forward in advance of the brigade. He was last seen among the scattered outbuildings of the farm, carrying a cane and encouraging his men to follow. They reached the rising ground from which the steep front of Tekke Tepe springs. Whether Colonel Beauchamp intended to carry the mountain unassisted, or to secure the edge of the Anafarta plateau to his right front, cannot be known. The bush grew thicker; the battalion lost formation; the enemy’s fire increased; many stragglers turned back and reached the Division during the night.

One cannot doubt that their bones lie among the trees and bushes at the foot of that dark and ominous hill, and the last real hope of Suvla Bay faded with their tragic disappearance.

In spite of all discouragement, Sir Ian’s mind was still set on securing a further advance by the occupation of Kavak and Tekke Tepes. He agreed to the postponement of attack for another twenty-four hours, and it was arranged for the night and morning of August 13–14. But on the afternoon of the 13th (Friday), on returning to Suvla with Major-General Braithwaite, his Chief of Staff, he found that General Stopford still raised objections. Two out of his four Divisional Generals despaired of success. The line, he considered, was already too long for his troops. Some of the brigades were still disorganised and shaken. Finding that this temper of uncertainty and depression prevailed, Sir Ian could do nothing but cancel the scheme of attack, and order the IXth Corps to reorganise and consolidate a line as far forward as possible.

One further effort was, however, made on Sunday, August 15, when General Stopford called upon the Irish 10th Division to advance along the Kiretch Tepe Sirt in the direction of Ejelmer Bay. The two brigades now under Sir Bryan Mahon advanced along the lofty ridge, part along the summit, the rest strung out down the steep slope towards the sea. The brigades were the 30th (Nicol’s) and 31st (Hill’s). On the reverse or southern slope the 162nd (De Winton’s) Brigade, 54th Division, advanced through thick bushes and deep ravines in support. An unusual amount of artillery was employed. The 15th Heavy Battery had arrived a few days before. The 58th Brigade R.F.A. (10th Division) had marched along the coast from Anzac with safety, and all these guns were engaged, besides a mountain battery, some machine-guns, and the guns of the destroyers Grampus and Foxhound, firing from the Gulf of Xeros. But in spite of this support the advance moved very slowly. It started about noon, and crept bit by bit along the “whale-back,” a good line being kept from the summit down to the sea, but halts frequent, and progress difficult. The ground was all rocky, and most of it covered with prickly scrub, burnt in parts. The summit was bare rock, and the distance to be traversed under fire about a mile and a half. A prisoner told us the Turks had six fresh battalions in line or in strongly fortified redoubts, each battalion provided with twelve machine-guns. That may be exaggerated, but the machine-guns were numerous and deadly. Soon after the beginning of the general advance, Major Jephson was mortally wounded upon the Post which he had originally won and which always bore his name.

Meantime, the 5th Inniskilling Fusiliers, supported by the 6th, had been extended over the southern slope in front of the 162nd Brigade. Here the difficulties of advance were even greater, owing to the tangle of very thick and lofty bush, the steep gullies, the inability of the naval guns to afford assistance, and the deadly fire from the long Turkish trench running down the slope in front, as well as from the guns on the Anafarta and W Hills. Having left the summit, I happened to be with this part of the attack soon after five o’clock, and found the men broken up into small groups by the impenetrable bush. Their loss, especially in officers, was very heavy. Again and again the groups attempted to combine and advance, but were driven back by the storm of fire. Progress on that side was impossible. Three battalions of the 162nd Brigade (10th and 11th London and 5th Beds) supported the attack upon these foothills, and gained their supposed objective, but suffered heavy loss.

Suddenly, hearing a yell of shouting on our left, I looked up to the summit, and saw a body of men charging along it with flashing bayonets. Others, standing up on higher ground behind them, were pouring out a rapid magazine fire. Two companies of the 6th Munsters and two of the 6th Dublins had worked half-way along the edge between Jephson’s Post and the Pimple. The remaining 250 yards they now covered with a charge, cheering as they ran. Some Turks met bayonet with bayonet, and died. Some threw up their hands. Most ran. One could see them scurrying back along the ridge and down the southern slope. The Irish pursued them through the Pimple redoubt and beyond. It was six o’clock.196

In the gathering darkness the men attempted to build small sangars of the rocks, but no real trenching was possible. They lay out in lines along the seaward slope just below the summit. Then the failure to win the southern slope was bitterly felt. Twice in the night the Turks counter-attacked, creeping along that landward side, and, for the first attack, rushing over the top, only to be cut down by rifle and bayonet. In the attack just before dawn they trusted chiefly to a deadly form of round bomb, which they lobbed over the crest in vast numbers. The Irish could only reply with improvised jam-pot bombs, and few of those. Sometimes, however, they caught the Turkish bombs and flung them back. Private Wilkin, of the 7th Dublins, flung back five, but was blown to pieces by the sixth.

So the harassing conflict continued. It continued all next day under the burning sun. The loss was extreme. Many of the very best officers fell. The 5th and 6th Royal Irish Fusiliers were almost exterminated. During the night of the 16th-17th the shattered brigades were withdrawn from the untenable position. It was never recovered. Jephson’s Post and the steep slopes leading down on either side, one to the sea, the other to the plain, remained the farthest points held by our lines along the Kiretch Tepe Sirt.

This attack of August 15 was General Stopford’s last order. That evening he gave up the command of the IXth Corps, and Major-General De Lisle took his place, awaiting the arrival of Major-General Julian Byng. Brigadier-General H. L. Reed, however, remained as Chief of Staff to the Corps. Meantime, in place of De Lisle, Major-General W. R. Marshall (87th Brigade) took command of the 29th Division. A few days later, Major-General Lindley (at his own request) gave up the command of the 53rd (Welsh) Division, and was appointed to the military command at Mudros. Major-General Hammersley retired from command of the 11th Division owing to serious illness. The same cause unfortunately removed Major-General F. C. Shaw from the 13th (Western) Division, which he had commanded with such skill and firmness during the assault on Sari Bair. Brigadier-General Sitwell was succeeded in command of the 34th Brigade by Brigadier-General J. Hill. Soon afterwards the command of the 31st Brigade was taken over by Lieut.-Colonel J. G. King-King in place of Brigadier-General F. F. Hill, who fell seriously ill. It became known that, besides General Julian Byng, Major-General E. A. Fanshawe and Major-General F. Stanley Maude (afterwards the hero of Bagdad) were coming out.