126 One brigade of the R.N.D. alone lost 60 officers.

127 “The worst was that the wounded had not been got back, but lay between ours and the Turks’ firing line. It was impossible to get at some of them. The men said they could see them move. The firing went on without ceasing.... The General had suggested putting up a white flag, and some one going out to the wounded. They tried this later, but it failed” (With the Twenty-ninth Division, pp. 122, 123). Who the General was is left uncertain. The passage is from a diary of June 5.

128 With the Twenty-ninth Division, pp. 122–129. Of original officers in this famous division, the South Wales Borderers now had the most left. They had eight.

129 The loss, unhappily, included Colonel Giraudon, Chief of the Staff, who had been rashly put to command the 2nd Colonial Brigade of the 1st Division on this occasion—a serious, brave, and intellectual soldier. He was dangerously wounded, as was Colonel Noguès, commanding the 6th Colonial Regiment in that brigade, who with his regiment had distinguished himself greatly in the attack upon Kum Kali and elsewhere (see Uncensored Letters from the Dardanelles, p. 137). Colonel Giraudon returned to his position in the Dardanelles, and survived to do excellent work in France, where he was, however, ultimately killed in action.

130 Account by Mr. Compton Mackenzie, who acted as authorised correspondent for the London papers during Mr. Ashmead Bartlett’s temporary absence.

131 The division consisted of the 155th Brigade (Brig.-General J. F. Erskine, succeeded by Lieut.-Colonel Pollok-M‘Call), containing the 4th and 5th Battalions Royal Scottish Fusiliers, and the 4th and 5th Battalions K.O.S.B.; the 156th Brigade (Brig.-General Scott-Moncrieff, killed on June 28; then Brig.-General H. G. Casson, succeeded by Brig.-General L. C. Koe), containing the 4th and 7th Royal Scots, and the 7th and 8th Scottish Rifles; and the 157th Brigade (Brig.-General R. W. Hendry, succeeded by Brig.-General H. G. Casson), containing the 5th, 6th, and 7th Highland Light Infantry, and the 5th Argyll and Sutherland Highlanders.

132 Now (spring, 1918) Commander-in-Chief in Mesopotamia in succession to Sir Stanley Maude, who commanded the 13th Division during the later part of the Dardanelles campaign.

133 “Scenes of desperate fighting are plainly visible all around our front line. On a small rise a little to the left (i.e. of our advanced position up the Gully) lie half a dozen of our men killed in the final advance, whom it had been impossible to get at and bury. Right in front a line of khaki figures lie in perfect order only a few yards away, yet the sniping is so heavy that even at night it is almost impossible to bring them in. Farther up the ravine are heaps of Turkish dead, piled together, who have fallen in the big counter-attack. In a gorse patch farther to the left lie a further large number of the enemy, mixed up with some of our men, for there seems to have been a general mêlée in the open at dawn on the 29th, when our men issued from their trenches and hunted the enemy out of the gorse, killing large numbers of them.”—Dispatches from the Dardanelles, by E. Ashmead Bartlett, p. 152 (July 4).

134 Uncensored Letters, pp. 144–146.

135 Australia in Arms, pp. 205–210.

136 “A rough estimate of their number (Turkish troops) since mobilisation is as follows: At the Dardanelles, 130,000; in Thrace, 30,000; at Constantinople and Chitaldja, 20,000; on the Bosphorus, 20,000; in the Caucasus, 60,000; at Bagdad and the Persian Gulf, 20,000; Syria, 30,000; Aleppo and Mersine, 30,000; Smyrna district, 30,000; gendarmerie, 30,000; at the depôts, 50,000; scattered, 30,000” (Inside Constantinople, p. 125). This makes a total of 480,000, and the writer estimates that Turkey had by that time (June 18, 1915) lost 260,000, including 100,000 on Gallipoli. But these statistics are probably of little more than Turkish value.

As to the neglect to supply the Dardanelles Expedition with guns and shells, it must, of course, be remembered that they were then short on all fronts, and it was only in the beginning of June that Mr. Lloyd George was appointed to a Ministry of Munitions.

137 This destruction of a signal and telegraph station was probably the incident referred to at the end of Sir Ian’s second dispatch. He tells how Corporal G. A. Walker, R.E., although much shaken, repaired the damage, collected men, and within 39 minutes reopened communication by apologising for the incident and saying he required no assistance. Twelve were killed or wounded, beside the officer on duty, killed.

138 This was the German General Weber, commanding the “Southern Group” on the Peninsula. He was superseded by Vehib Pasha, “a grim and fanatical Turk,” the change causing great discontent among the Germans. “In this case, the Turkish point of view prevailed, for General Liman von Sanders, Commander-in-Chief of the Gallipoli Army, was determined not to lose his post, and agreed slavishly with all that Enver Pasha ordained” (Two War Years in Constantinople, p. 46).

139 See note on p. 223.

140 The Aragon was torpedoed in the Mediterranean, January 1918.

141 First Dardanelles Commission Report, par. 14, note. It seems to have been a section of the “War Committee” established by the Coalition Government of May 19.

142 This estimate does not include the French casualties, which are not published.

143 The 13th Division consisted of the following brigades:

The 8th Welsh Regiment were Divisional Pioneers.

144 The 11th Division consisted of the following brigades:

The 6th East Yorkshire were Divisional Pioneers.

145 The 10th Division consisted of the following brigades:

The 5th Royal Irish Regiment were Divisional Pioneers. Only about 60 per cent. of the men in these battalions were Irish, the rest being chiefly North-country miners and Somerset. For the complete list of the battalions in this Division, the Artillery, Engineers, etc., see The Tenth (Irish) Division in Gallipoli, by Major Bryan Cooper, pp. 2 and 3.

146 I am unable to give the exact formations of these Divisions. The battalions were changed shortly before they left England. From dispatches and other sources, however, one can make the following list:

53rd (Welsh) Division:

54th (East Anglian) Division:

147 Uncensored Letters, p. 170. There were 10 French planes.

148 Our estimates of the enemy’s forces for the days of fighting in August were:

A 11,000 marching south. B 2000 marching south.

149 Part of this small and undisciplined body actually landed, but meeting with opposition rapidly withdrew to the ship in characteristic disorder, assuming their object to be accomplished.

150 

151 Here, as in other places, it is impossible to record individual acts of courage, but the service of Lieut. W. T. Forshaw (9th Manchesters) became almost a legend on the Peninsula. On the night 7th-8th, he was holding a northern corner of the vineyard with half a company when he was attacked by a swarm of Turks converging down three trenches. “He held his own, not only directing his men and encouraging them by exposing himself with the utmost disregard of danger, but personally throwing bombs continuously for forty-one hours. When his detachment was relieved, after twenty-four hours, he volunteered to continue the direction of operations. Three times during the night of August 8–9 he was again heavily attacked, and once the Turks got over the barricade; but after shooting three with his revolver he led his men forward and recaptured it. When he rejoined his battalion he was choked and sickened by bomb fumes, badly bruised by a fragment of shrapnel, and could barely lift his arm from continuous bomb throwing.”—Official Report for his V.C.

152 Sir Ian’s Suvla dispatch; and Australia in Arms, pp. 221–223.

153 The name was due to a repeated saying of Colonel J. L. Johnston (11th West Australian Battalion), that if only he could bring howitzers instead of field-guns to bear on it, he would have “a jolly good time there.”—Australia in Arms, p. 188.

154 Australia in Arms, p. 225. The author, Phillip Schuler, was present, but it is noticeable that Captain C. E. W. Bean, who was also present, does not directly mention this underground line.

155 Of this eagerness, Capt. Bean, the Australian correspondent, gives an example: “‘Is there any room up there?’ I heard a man in the trench ask of those who were crouching under the parapet. One of the men on the fire-step looked down. ‘I dare say we could make room for one,’ he said. ‘Shift along, you blokes—we can squeeze in a little one.’ The man in the trench was clearly relieved. ‘I want to get up here along with Jim,’ he said. ‘Him and me are mates.’”—See the Australian newspapers, October 17, 1915.

156 As to these seventy prisoners (who were caught and disarmed in one tunnel) and the Turkish wounded, Major-General Walker, commanding the division, and my old schoolfellow at Shrewsbury, told me shortly afterwards as we stood on the spot that, until they could be brought safely across the open, they were carefully placed lying down in line under the shelter of that white loopholed parapet as the most secure place the Australians could find for their comfort.

157 Australia in Arms, p. 238.

158 Captain C. E. W. Bean, in the Australian papers, October 4, 1915.

159 Captain C. E. W. Bean’s account in Australian papers of October 4, 1915. Phillip Schuler (Australia in Arms, p. 241) says his words were: “Men, you have ten minutes to live,” and “Three minutes, men.” But this is an unlikely utterance from so good an officer.

160 Captain C. E. W. Bean in the Australian papers of November 2, 1915.

161 The arrangement of these forces is given in Sir Ian’s dispatch.

162 Captain Bean, Australian papers, October 14, 1915.

163 See “From Quinn’s to Rhododendron,” in the Chronicles of the N.Z.E.F., August 8, 1917.

164 It was either on this position or upon a neighbouring knoll known as Destroyer Hill that the following peculiar event occurred, as narrated by Captain Bean (Australian papers, October 25, 1915): “The Otago Battalion, which was clearing out the small trenches ahead of it as its head wormed up the Chailak Ravine, swung up the slopes of this hill. The battalion had just reached the shelf below the Table Top, and was pushing up its line for the final rush over the hill when there arose a strange uproar on the top above them. There was the sound of the piling of arms, followed by vociferous cheering and wild rounds of applause and hand-clapping. It was the Turks on the top of the hill who had decided to surrender, and who did not want any mistake to be made as to their intention.” The Otagos alone are said to have taken 250 prisoners that night (Australia in Arms, p. 253).

165 Captain Bean, Australian papers, October 25. He adds: “I believe that fifteen men actually managed to reach the Turkish trench on the summit. They never came back.”

166 Captain Bean’s account in Australian papers, October 25, 1915.

167 Fortunately for the brigade, the Turks had withdrawn their guns during the night (7th and 8th) owing to the Suvla landing, and had not yet brought them back to W Hill.

168 Sir Ian’s dispatch quotes the order.

169 Phillip Schuler definitely says: “Mistaking the target, the destroyers dropped 6-inch high-explosive shells amongst the Indian troops” (Australia in Arms, p. 261). But, accurate though he generally was, I believe he is here mistaken. I never heard the destroyers mentioned at the time, and I doubt if their guns could have shelled a reverse slope. Further on (p. 263) he says that during the Turkish counter-attack next day the Anzac guns shelled “the reverse slope.” If that was possible, another explanation besides the one I suggest above may be considered.

170 Apparently, it was mainly to this incident that Dr. Stürmer referred in the following passage: “In those September” (he means August) “days I had already had some experience of Turkish politics and their defiance of the laws of humanity, and my sympathies were all for those thousands of fine Colonial troops—such men as one seldom sees—sacrificing their lives in one last colossal attack, which if it had been prolonged even for another hour might have sealed the fate of the Straits and would have meant the first decisive step towards the overthrow of our forces; for the capture of Constantinople would have been the beginning of the end.”—Two War Years in Constantinople, p. 86.

171 Sir Ian’s dispatch.

172 The Story of the Anzacs (Messrs. Ingram & Son, Melbourne), p. 87.

173 Sir Ian’s dispatch.

174 For a detailed account of the four battalions in the 29th Brigade during this action see The Tenth (Irish) Division in Gallipoli, pp. 62–120. Two companies of the 5th Connaught Rangers (Colonel Jourdain) went up to the Farm on the evening of the 10th after the other troops had been withdrawn, and brought in many wounded whom they found lying there in great need of water and attention.

175 Phillip Schuler put them at 18,000 (Australia in Arms, p. 270).

176 Australia in Arms, p. 271.

177 Sir Ian’s dispatch twice mentions these batteries as the sole land artillery. All three belonged to the 11th Division. Other batteries of field-guns and howitzers arrived later, but we are speaking of the Suvla first landing—the really critical time.

178 Sir Ian in his dispatch reckons twelve 18-pounder guns and eight mountain-guns as starting. Only the mountain-guns and four of the 18-pounders were in action by August 8, but the 59th Brigade, R.F.A., and the 4th Highland Mountain Brigade, R.G.A., were attached to the 11th Division. On the 9th, two field batteries were on Lala Baba. On August 13 to 15 the 58th Brigade also arrived at Suvla, and was attached to the 10th Division. On the 19th a battery of the 4th Howitzer Lowland Brigade, R.F.A., was placed in position on Lala Baba.

179 Sir Ian’s dispatch gives a full account of the warships, lighters, and trawlers sent with the landing-force, together with details about the water-supply provided. He does not mention the large transport Minneapolis, which I think must have taken the place of the sloop Aster, for we certainly had batteries of mountain-guns with their teams on board. She was a liner, taken over with all her staff; and as instances of petrifying routine I remember that, as I hoped to land at 4 a.m., I asked if one could get a cup of tea then, and was haughtily informed, “On this ship breakfast is always at 8.30”; and later in the morning, when the fighting was at crisis, the “stewards” were sweeping out the gangways with vacuum-cleaners as they had swept for years. Habits of routine were, however, fatally disturbed in the following spring when the Minneapolis was torpedoed between Egypt and Salonika.

180 The Tenth (Irish) Division in Gallipoli, p. 142.

181 These fires appear to have arisen near the true Hill 10, which was taken about this time by a mixed force of Northumberland Fusiliers, Dorsets, and West Yorks, after a severe struggle against a redoubt there.

182 Sir Ian’s dispatch says the naval authorities were unwilling to land them at A Beach “for some reason not specified.” Considering what misfortune had already happened there, the above explanation appears to me at least sufficient. But A East and A West had been discovered by the navy before the unfortunate landing at B Beach began.

183 The Tenth (Irish) Division at Gallipoli, pp. 125 and 140.

184 So Major Bryan Cooper in The Tenth (Irish) Division, p. 129. My impression at the time was of no rush, but a calm though laborious trudge. Major Cooper, however, continues: “The 7th Dublins in particular were much encouraged by the example of their Colonel.... While every one else was dashing swiftly across the neck, or keeping close under cover, it is recorded that Colonel Downing—a man of unusual height and girth—stood in the centre of the bullet-swept zone, quietly twisting his stick.” “Dashing swiftly across” that sand would, I think, be impossible under any impulse, and cover did not exist; at least I never found it, though I toiled over that spit many dozen times, and it always remained exposed to shell-fire from W Hill.

185 The movements of Hill’s battalions, and their relation to Sitwell’s are difficult to follow, chiefly owing to the changes of command and intention. After speaking of these changes, Sir Ian in his dispatch continues: “I have failed in my endeavours to get some live human detail about the fighting which followed.” The detail has now been largely supplied by Major Bryan Cooper in The Tenth (Irish) Division in Gallipoli, pp. 127–135. In the main, I have followed his account, the chief outstanding difficulty being the presence of the 6th Lincoln and 6th Border Battalions, which did not belong to Sitwell’s or Haggard’s Brigades, but to Maxwell’s (the 33rd). Major Cooper says two battalions of the 11th Division reinforced Hill’s column, and Sir Ian mentions those two as distinguished at the taking of the hill. But how they came to be under Sitwell’s command, or under Hill’s, is not yet clear. I can only suppose that, as Sitwell’s force could not or did not move, General Hammersley ordered Maxwell to send them over from Lala Baba. After Brigadier-General Haggard was wounded, Colonel J. O‘B. Minogue (9th W. Yorks) took temporary command of the 32nd Brigade.

186 Sir Ian’s dispatch.

187 For an account of the thirst, see Sir Ian’s dispatch and The Tenth (Irish) Division, pp. 137, 145, 148, 157–158. Also Suvla Bay and After, by Juvenis, pp. 37, 40–43, where the services of the destroyer to the 10th Division are mentioned.

188 Sir Ian’s dispatch.

189 The water question was much disputed at the time, and many contradictory versions were given. I have here followed the account given me in recent (1917) conversation by a naval officer who was closely connected with the superintendence of the landing. The real causes of the thirst, in any case, were the want of receptacles and the distance from the firing line. As to the failure at A Beach, it must of course be remembered that the naval chart was old and useless, and no survey had been possible without betraying the point chosen for landing.

190 Sir Ian’s dispatch.

191 So as not to interrupt the narrative, one is obliged to mention only in a note the remarkable achievement of our submarines on this critical and unfortunate day. In order to help E14, which was already in the Sea of Marmora, E11 had forced her way through the nets in the Straits, and on the 8th torpedoed a Turkish warship coming down towards Maidos with reinforcements.

192 Turkish information has since shown that Liman von Sanders had brought up two divisions (7th and 12th) by forced marches from Xeros.

193 The Tenth (Irish) Division, pp. 158–161.

194 One of these was called A East, the other A West. Between them was Kangaroo Beach, where the Australian Bridging Train built a landing-stage. They also built a very useful little pier close to the “cut” into the Salt Lake, chiefly for the service of the wounded being taken off to hospital ships. Of the Suvla beaches A West was the most generally used, though a small harbour was afterwards blasted out of the rocks at the extreme point.

195 The “Times” History of the War, chap. cxii. p. 198.

196 A detailed account of this small but gallant action is given in The Tenth (Irish) Division in Gallipoli, pp. 161–180.

197 The daring of the Turkish snipers, who crept across our lines at night and perched in the small trees, was proved when, on September 8, General Inglefield’s horse was shot under him as he rode along the beach from Anzac.

198 Sir Ian’s dispatch.

199 Ibid.

200 In the spring of 1916, General Peyton commanded the successful expedition against the Senussi, west of Egypt.

201 The brigades were composed as follows:

202 The two brigades (30th and 31st) of the 10th Division, at Suvla, having lost nearly three-quarters of their officers and half the men, were withdrawn to rest near Suvla Beach on August 17, and on August 22 General F. F. Hill, the trusted Brigadier of the 31st, was invalided away with dysentery. As previously noticed, he was succeeded in command by Brigadier-General J. G. King-King, General Staff Officer (1).—The Tenth (Irish) Division, p. 208.

203 The “Times” History of the War, Part 84, p. 205.

204 It was unfortunate that, standing beside a machine-gun at the front parapet of Chocolate Hill, I was just at that moment struck on the head by shrapnel, and so was unable to witness the confused advance which led to the failure. By the time I returned to my position at 4.15, the mistake had been made. It may, perhaps, be medically interesting that for the previous forty-eight hours I had been suffering from high fever, but the violent rush of blood from the wound appeared to reduce the temperature, and at night I walked to the dressing-station at Suvla Point in perfect health, except for mere pain and exhaustion.

205 Sir Ian’s dispatch. In a Supplementary Dispatch the 9th Sherwood Foresters and 6th Borders were also specially mentioned.

206 Sir Ian’s dispatch.

207 As usual throughout this history, I have found it impossible to record the countless instances of individual bravery, but I may mention the case of Captain O’Sullivan (1st Inniskilling Fusiliers). Early in July, describing one of the actions at Helles, Sir Ian had written: “A young fellow called O’Sullivan, in the Inniskilling Fusiliers, led a bombing party into one end of an enemy trench, and cleared it of the enemy. The Turks counter-attacked with bombs, and drove him and his men out with a good deal of loss. Again he cleared the trench, filling his pockets and belt with bombs. Again he was driven back. A third time he led the attack, and this time the trench was held and remains in our possession. Within an hour of this last feat of arms, a trench was lost to the right in prolongation of the Inniskilling Fusiliers. This same young fellow, who had already gone through enough to shake the nerves of the most veteran soldiers, led his company down into the trench himself, running along a few yards ahead of them out on the parapet, exposed to a tremendous musketry fire, chucking bombs into the trench just in front of the leading files, so as to clear the way for them. There is a limit to luck, and this time he was wounded, but I hope he may pull through.” He pulled through, and on August 21 twice led his company up against the Turkish trenches on Scimitar Hill, and twice was driven back. Collecting the men in a little hollow of the ground, he said, “Now I depend on you, my lads, and we’ll just have one more charge for the honour of the regiment.” He led them all by a clear 20 yards up the hill, leapt into the trench, and there died.

208 Brigadier-General R. S. Vandeleur succeeded to the command of this brigade on September 22.

209 The Tenth (Irish) Division, pp. 188–192. Until that volume appeared, the Connaught Rangers had not received the public credit due to this serviceable exploit, though in Gallipoli they were spoken of with the highest praise.

210 During the night Captain Gilleson, the Presbyterian chaplain of the 14th Australian (Victoria) Battalion, worked incessantly at bringing the wounded back to safety. After daylight next morning, still hearing cries from the exposed slope over the crest of the ridge, he crept out and found a British soldier (probably Hants or Connaught Rangers) wounded and tormented by ants. With help of two others (one also a Presbyterian chaplain) he had dragged the man about a yard when he fell mortally wounded. The man, I believe, was also killed; the Presbyterian was wounded. Later on (August 28) Captain Grant, a New Zealand padre (the form of religion was not mentioned to me at the time) went searching for a wounded friend along a trench filled with dead and wounded Turks. To the wounded he attended on his way; but hearing conversation farther on, he thought he recognised his friend’s voice. Turning a sharp corner of a traverse, he came face to face with the Turks, and was instantly killed.

Both Captain C. E. W. Bean (Australian papers, Oct. 28, 1915) and Phillip Schuler (Australia in Arms, p. 275) mention these incidents, which were described to me on the spot a few days after they happened. Taken with Sir Ian’s dispatch, these two authorities give a clear idea of the confused fighting around Hill 60. For the action of the Connaught Rangers, The Tenth (Irish) Division in Gallipoli should be read, as mentioned above. For myself, I had the great advantage of going over the ground with General A. H. Russell a day or two after the final action of August 29.