Chapter V: Part 5

The guide who came for us deserted us half-way to the Aid Post, and on returning I found him minus his equipment making himself comfortable for the night in our gully. I ordered him off to the firing line knowing that this was a favourite dodge to escape for a time. After half an hour I found him in our cook house, when I took his number and name to report him to his C.O. The man was in a state of funk, and declared that the Turks would certainly break through before morning. Believing that there might be some reason for his alarm I made sure before starting that my loaded revolver was at my belt, in case of our having to beat a retreat.

By 3 a.m. I was able to lie down for a short time, but another furious attack by the Turks commenced at 4.15. Later in the day I was relieved by Fiddes, and about 11 o'clock set off with Agassiz who had ridden out from our base. On reaching Gully Beach we took the high road for home, but opposite X. Beach the explosions of high explosive shells on the road in front of us were too terrifying, and we descended to the under-cliff road.

W. Beach had had the worst bombardment it had so far experienced during the morning, hundreds of shells falling. Many horses and three men were killed. At Corps H.Q. and V. Beach the same went on, and no doubt with similar results.

_June 21st._--The A.D.M.S. Col. Yarr, called at 9 a.m. and asked me to relieve him for the day, and I am now in his dugout at H.Q. of the 8th Army Corps, perhaps the hottest place to shell fire on the whole peninsula. I found six aeroplanes drawn up waiting for messages, and before 10.30 we had twenty-nine shells all within a few yards of us. Only very few exploded luckily, but the others buried themselves at least six feet in the earth. H.Q. is a network of deep dugouts with communication trenches, but a direct hit will pierce any one of them. Already two have been struck since I arrived, and the wings carried off a French biplane. They had 200 shells here yesterday, one of the orderlies being killed and another has been showing me how his tunic was riddled by pieces of a shell that exploded. The aeroplanes are really the target aimed at. Two have just ascended, but as long as it is daylight they will come and go. We usually get less fire when a few of our planes are up, when the Turks' guns lie low not to give away their positions.

Corps H.Q. is on the east side of the aerodrome, while our camp at W. Beach is on the other. When I entered the mess for lunch the only person there was an officer in a half faint, seated in a corner glaring at a shell on the floor. This had come through the roof that very minute and was luckily a "dud". The roof is made of heavy beams, thick iron plates from the "River Clyde," sandbags and earth, but this shell entered at the edge of the iron which did not project far enough over the wall. The place had just been excavated and completed and was used to-day for the first time. General Hunter-Weston and his staff were present at lunch, also Compton Mackenzie, author and war correspondent.

The French have been very busy all day. The Turks are only a little less active from their having fewer guns--fifty-two on Achi Baba said to be, and they must have six very big guns on the Asiatic side, and these have been throwing huge shells into our lines, across Morto Bay, all morning. Occasionally there is a burst of rifle fire which would show that the French are making an attempt to regain two trenches I hear they lost yesterday or the day before. It is said that to-day's attack is to be entirely French. We are giving no help at present, but for an hour in the early morning we bombarded, likely with the view to distract the Turks' attention from the French front.

10.15 p.m.--The French are said to have been very successful in their attack at 4.30, when they captured two Turkish trenches. The story about their losing two trenches is said, at H.Q., to be incorrect. About 8 o'clock a counter-attack was made, the result of which is not yet known.

_June 22nd._--The fight between the French and the Turks raged without the slightest intermission for seventeen hours, in which time the former must have fired at least 60,000 shells. I hear the French had taken either two or three trenches in the early morning, and during the day had repulsed several counter-attacks. Just before dark I observed the continuous bursting of French shells on the S.E. corner of Achi Baba, as if the Turks were forced back out of Kereves Dere, which has so long been a natural protection to them.

I have been asked to-day for a report of the case of ---- No. --, who is to be court-martialled for spreading alarmist reports of the fight the other day. The double charge of leaving the firing line without permission and spreading alarmist reports is a serious one.

The last time Agassiz and I were at the Y. Beach O.P. we had peeps at the Turks' trenches from four different points, and at each a bullet flew past us, showing that their snipers keep their eyes open. Major W---- and I were fired at the other day when out in the open, and we had to take to our heels to find cover.

To-day the 5th Battalion Royal Scots have received the highest praise from General Hunter-Weston for their brilliant work. They have three times retaken trenches from the Turks that had been lost by our Regulars. This is the only Territorial Battalion in the whole of our Division, and was looked on by the others as our one weak point. Their Lt.-Col. (Wilson) received the D.S.O. from His Majesty by cable the day after he was recommended.

_Later._--The French captured five lines of trenches, a large concrete redoubt, and possibly a battery, but there is some doubt about this last. All are greatly satisfied at the result, although the cost to the French was very heavy. A great number of Turks are said to have been slaughtered and a large number taken prisoners, but so far I have heard no exact figures.

_Still Later._--The French casualties are placed at 3000 and they are said to have taken that number of prisoners, but as a man said to me, "Where are they then, they must have buried them?" General Hunter-Weston, I was told, "is as proud as a dog with two tails over the French success".

A Taube visited us early and one of our biplanes gave chase and is said to have winged it, as it was seen to descend behind Achi Baba, while our airmen dropped bombs on it. I watched the chase as the two circled about. While the chase was in progress a second Taube appeared, and the coast being clear it flew round us and dropped a couple of bombs.

Yesterday I passed in The Gully what remained of the Dublin Fusiliers--less than a company. They were parading in their gas respirators, their M.O. lecturing them, and saying that if a rifle is a soldier's best friend, his respirator should come next. We are all provided with these.

A strange occurrence happened the other day at W. Beach, when I was up The Gully. A figure appeared over the sky line in petticoats, as it was thought. Our men began yelling "A wuman, a wuman," and all tore out to see what they had not seen for months. Lieut. Thomson and Corporal Morrice were the most excited. These two have not yet got over their disappointment on discovering this was an Egyptian--and a male one--in a long coat.

_June 24th._--Whyte left us to-day on sick leave. There is a proposal that the rest of us should get short leave--four days to Lemnos.

I have just had a visit from a couple of Senegalese--French troops. They were going through our camp, grinning as only a nigger can, our men making fun of them. One carried off a tin of jam in great glee. They stopped at my dugout and I could not get rid of them till I gave each a chunk of Turkish delight, which pleased them immensely. I had to get rid of two sailors the same way yesterday, giving each a Turkish nose cap. Every Turkish curio is valued in the Navy, extensive barter being carried on between them and men ashore, whisky and all sorts of goods being received by us.

10 p.m.--I have been watching a big green frog which came jumping through our tents at a great speed, as if bound on business. He went straight to the cook's tent and crept under the flap. Plainly he had been there before. Flies are everywhere by the million, but he knew where they were particularly plentiful. Half an hour ago I saw a brilliant speck of light on a piece of heath, which I thought was too bright to be the reflection of the moon from some bright object. I found it came from an insect nearly one inch long, jointed like a lobster, the glow coming from the last two joints on the under side. Even when held close to the flame of a candle the apple-green glow was still very bright.

_June 25th._--Walked to Aberdeen Gully, but nothing worth noting to-day.

_June 26th._--Like yesterday an uneventful day--unless a visit from a Taube is worth noting, and a thunderstorm over in Imbros. The sky has been more or less cloudy, which is certainly unusual, while yesterday in The Gully the heat was perhaps more trying than I ever felt it.

All preparations are ready for a very big day on Monday (28th) when the Turks on our left are all to be blown sky high; such a bombardment as Flanders has never seen the like of. So says General de Lisle who has been in France from the beginning of the war until the other day, when he became our Divisional-General.

_June 27th._--I went to Aberdeen Gully to-day with Kellas, Agassiz, and Morris. We wondered if we could extend our accommodation for wounded in anticipation of to-morrow's fight. We did nothing in that direction, but Kellas getting a message to attend a meeting at Brigade H.Q. as we went up The Gully, he brought up word that General de Lisle wished us to open another dressing station, as far as I could make out, in the slight dip immediately in front of our first firing line to which we are expected to creep out, and dig ourselves in, and wait for to-morrow's advance. I know the ground, and saw his sketch of the site, and pronounced it impossible. We next went to Y. Beach and along a small gully beside Gurkha Bluff, till we were stopped by our front trenches, and could find no possible way of opening another station. We next visited the A.D.M.S., Major Bell, who had not heard of this suggestion.

The bombardment by the naval and field guns commences at 9 to-morrow, and as Thomson and I, who are at present in reserve at W. Beach, are both anxious to take part in what is likely to be one of our biggest fights, we have permission to be out in Aberdeen Gully before it starts. I have just been ordering breakfast for 6.45 to-morrow, the cook remarking sarcastically to a bystander, "Widna five be a better oor": "I dinna think ye shud gang to bed, min," was the reply.

We had seven aeroplanes up at one time this evening, viewing the land and the movements of the Turks, preparing for to-morrow's row.

_June 28th._--After an early breakfast Thomson and I set off for Aberdeen Gully, and as our three mule ambulance wagons were going up for the day we had a ride in a four-in-hand to Gully Beach. All the way out we watched the Turks' shells falling right along The Gully, all the batteries, which are numerous there, getting their attentions, while we sat and wondered what we were to do. At the foot of the steep descent into Gully Beach Major Bell shouted to me from a high terrace in which he lives, and advised us not to risk taking the wagons and mules further, especially as mules were getting scarce and are very valuable, so, after consulting with Col. O'Hagan, he suggested parking them where they were. Col. O'Hagan, thinking this gave him the power to do with our wagons as he liked, dared our men to do anything without consulting him, otherwise he would put them under arrest--a threat not much to the liking of Serg. Philip.

We now decided to give The Gully as wide a berth as possible and took the track by the foot of the rocks to Y. Beach, about 2-1/4 miles further on. The attack was to commence at 9 a.m. and we had three-quarters of an hour to do this, climb the long, steep ascent at Y. Beach, and cross by the sunk mule track to Aberdeen Gully. The guns had been unusually active for the last two days, and to-day from daybreak the heavy howitzers had been throwing shells among the Turks to knock in their trenches, and these and many others were dropping their shells a short way to our left as we crossed the mule track. The heat by this time was intense, and I was absolutely soaked by the time I reached the top of the cliff, scrambling through the Gurkha and Sikh dugouts by the nearest cut possible, not much to their relish I thought. Many of the Gurkhas were handling their knives, and one or two sharpening them on stones. These knives of theirs are not so sacred as some say they are, although I was once warned sharply not to touch one I was to pick up beside its owner. I have often seen them chopping wood and meat with these, hence the necessity for their requiring sharpening this morning. Poor Gurkhas! later in the day some of our men mistook them for Turks and mowed down seventy of them with their machine-guns. In every battle we have had some such mistake, and the Dublins in the afternoon had the same experience as the Gurkhas.

We were not many minutes in Aberdeen Gully when the Turks shrapnelled the mule track very thoroughly, as they did in our last battle, and wounded came in thick from here. Of course the Turks, by means of spies, who are said to be numerous, knew the exact minute of the attack, and were fully prepared to give us a hot time. The mule track is merely an old trench widened and deepened, and when there is fighting many troops pass along this, and the Turks guessed they could get a rich harvest here.

From 9 to 11 every gun on the peninsula fired as fast as it could be loaded--between 300 and 400 guns. We were in the thick of it, between the two artillery lines, and the shells of both passed directly over our heads. Orders to the artillery were that ammunition was not to be spared.

At 11 the infantry assault on the first Turkish trench was to be made, and the guns were then to lift and be trained on the third. All along the first line seemed to fall easily, and many of our men rushed to the second, some even taking a third, while a Scotch battalion even took five. This sort of thing usually proves disastrous, as most of our own big guns are out of sight of their objective, and fire entirely by range, and in this case the guns were trained on the third trench while this battalion rushed through to the fifth, with calamitous results. This battalion--either Royal Scots, Scotch Fusiliers, or K.O.S.B.'s I forget which--had lost all its officers, but, with no one to lead them, they dashed on, greatly to the admiration of all onlookers. Two Munster officers had finally to go forward and recall them. Pushing forward at this rate, even apart from the chance of running into your own artillery fire, generally ends disastrously; if too much progress is made we can rarely retain our position.

The Turks were entirely demoralised by the heavy bombardment and cleared out of their trenches, some of our men, as they came to us wounded, complaining that they ran so fast that they could not get near them. Many got down on their knees and surrendered, still shouting their war cry, "Allah, Allah".

Large bodies of prisoners, all motley crews, passed us during the day, and we had a good many wounded Turks to attend to. I dressed one I was much interested in--a short, swarthy chap of middle age, who was brought in by some Fusiliers. This man had jumped on the parapet of his trench, where he coolly stood upright and shot five Fusiliers dead before they managed to bowl him over, but a shattered left arm left him helpless. He walked in with about sixty other prisoners, with a bullet through his upper jaw and tongue, which had come out at the back of his neck; another shattered completely his left arm, the splintered humerus being at a very sharp angle, and a third through his thigh. He had lost much blood from the divided brachial artery, and was very thirsty, and soon drained the fill of a feeding cup of water, in spite of the state of his mouth. He soon wanted more "su" (Turkish for "water") and was given a bowlful, but he would have nothing to do with the bowl, he stuck his finger to its side to show that he wanted the one with the spout. Evidently he was surprised I did not cut his throat, and all the time I was dressing him he patted me with his sound hand.

All the guns were trained on a small patch to begin with, a troublesome part known as the "boomerang," a redoubt with sixteen machine-guns. This was blown to smithereens.

The whole fight was on our extreme left, with a front of not much over half a mile. This must have been very thoroughly ploughed up, and a large number of Turks blown to pieces. One woman was found among the dead, but it is believed that many of them had their wives with them. Many of their underground dwellings were so elaborate that they had evidently made up their minds that they were to spend the coming winter here.

Our casualties, although light compared with the Turks, must be heavy. Over 300 passed through our station before dark, but at that time perhaps the bigger half was still to come. Those lying between trenches have usually to lie where they fall till dark. Our losses would likely be 3000 to 4000.

The Asiatic guns, finding they could take little active part in the proceedings, although they fired occasionally on the French, amused themselves by firing at W. Beach and the battery on Tekke Burnu, and with forty-two shots managed to kill two men and wound eight. One of our men, Corporal Dunn, got badly hit while in Aberdeen Gully by a two-pound shell cap. It was due to the premature bursting of one of our own shells. (Corporal Dunn died a day or two afterwards.) So far the wounds received by our Ambulance have been slight.

Padre Creighton had a peculiar experience at 1 a.m. to-day, while asleep in his "crow's nest". He has taken up his quarters with us in Aberdeen Gully, and has a dugout about 15 feet above the path that winds the length of our Gully. This is almost sheer up and is reached by steps cut in the rock and sandbags. It was formed by levelling a natural recess, and had a galvanised iron roof. Sheer up from this again the rock rises another 70 or 80 feet to the mule track above. A packhorse with two heavy tanks lost its footing on its way up and fell crashing down on Creighton's place, carrying away the roof and a number of sandbags, and dropping one of the boxes in the middle of his bed. The padre escaped untouched. Kellas, sleeping further down the path, rushed out and found himself face to face with the runaway steed, which, still more strange to say, was also unhurt. The padre in the bright moonlight was standing in his pyjamas on the top of his steps, scratching his head, and wondering what it all meant.

The heat all through the day had been most trying, and as I trudged down The Gully by myself, Thomson remaining behind, in the sweltering heat, the whole way packed tight with ammunition and other wagons, through a dust that filled The Gully to the very brim, I felt dead tired after a hard day's work and the long tramp of yesterday, when we looked in vain for a site for a new advanced dressing station. The road seemed without end. As I neared "home" and came over the slight rise at our cemetery the moon rose through a slight haze over the classic Mount Ida, as a great blood-red ball, while on my other side, out in the Gulf of Saros, a dense cloud hung over Imbros, which every few seconds was lit up by a flash of lightning. I had little food all day, and was too tired to eat, but after a big drink of lime juice I retired to bed and slept the sleep of the just--of the tired at any rate.

And so ended a day in which we had had a good specimen of a modern battle, where both sides had shown equal and indomitable pluck.

_June 29th._--Spent the day resting and washing clothes. When I can I have a washing day twice a week.

Many wounded passed through Aberdeen Gully after I left last night, the total up to some hour this morning being 566, which meant a lot of hard work.

After I left, Ashmead-Bartlett was passing, and recognising Padre Creighton he went over our Gully, and greatly admired the place for its suitability and picturesqueness, and is to give a description of it in one of his early articles to the home papers--so he says. He told our fellows the following story of a friend of his, who had been through the landing of April 25. He wrote home saying that shells flew thick about his ears, torpedoes chased him about, and mines floated all round; still he was not in the least afraid, he just thought of what his padre told them the previous Sunday, when he exhorted them when in danger to look upwards. He looked upwards, and behold! here was a bloody aeroplane dropping bombs.

Early in the afternoon we had a goodly number of shells. Yesterday, when I was up The Gully, a large piece of shell flew through our mess tent, where the servants were sitting, and landed in a jam pot on the table, splashing an orderly all over; he, mistaking jam for his own blood, did not know whether he was really alive or dead.

_June 30th._--We had seven large shells during the night, all landing on our side of W. Beach. Two traction engines have been fitted up lately down on the shore, and one of these was smashed, and a tool-house beside it blown pretty well to pieces. There was also some fighting about our left and centre, but I have not heard the result. The Turks have now a plentiful supply of ammunition, and all yesterday afternoon and this morning have poured a constant stream of high explosives into the French side of Kereves Dere.

Soon after 8 p.m. lightning flashed thick about Imbros, which had an inky black cloud hanging overhead. The storm moved to the east, till it came over Achi Baba, and by this time the flashes were almost constant and the thunder loud. It was one of the grandest thunderstorms I ever saw, and what made it more impressive was the din and flashing of all our guns, the searchlight from Chanak, which always plays over the Dardanelles and us, and then we had a severe shelling from Asia all to ourselves. We just wanted a good rattling earthquake to complete this fearsome picture of hell where both man and the gods warred.

The Turks have started a new form of frightfulness. They shell us every now and then from Asia, and from there last night they dropped into W. Beach a huge shell that detonates with a terrible crash, and every twenty minutes or so they treated us to one of these, and made the whole night hideous, and sleep impossible.

This afternoon a French battleship stationed herself off the entrance to the Dardanelles, and fired about fifty rounds from her biggest guns at a point on a hill about a mile beyond Kum Kale. As the Turkish guns are believed to be in tunnels they were firing practically at right angles to these, and I could not possibly see how they could get a direct hit, and prophesied that as soon as the ship left they would show that there was life in the old dog yet, by giving a worse cannonade than usual, and this was just what happened. No fewer than five shells fell in the C.C.S. beside us, killing the cook, and wounding two orderlies, and a number of the already wounded. I saw several horses and mules fall to their bag also. Then as soon as it got dark they made up their minds that we were not to be allowed to sleep, and every fifteen to twenty minutes we had a terrific crash in the camp up to 5 a.m. This becomes very trying, and all wish that something could be done to silence these guns. Nothing will do but a landing on the Asiatic side.

_July 1st._--I came out to Aberdeen Gully after breakfast. Here one feels comparatively safe, and we are enjoying the peace after our nocturnal shellings, and the thought of a good night's sleep braces one up wonderfully. Fiddes and I walked over to the Artillery Observation Post to see the extent of our advance, the other day, and I was surprised to find our front trenches so far forward. Some of these front trenches we still divide with the Turks, and during their attempts to recover some of these last night the darkness of the night and the thunderstorm terrified the Gurkhas so much that they nearly lost their most advanced line.

_July 2nd._--Spent a quiet day out at the dressing station--as far as work went. I went over to Y. Beach by the mule track, but as shells were dropping about both these places I returned sooner than I intended. In the afternoon a message from the Turks, dropped from an aeroplane, gave the whole army half an hour to clear out of the peninsula, otherwise they would shell us into the sea. The shelling had to be resorted to, and commencing at 5 p.m. they worked so vigorously that plainly they meant what they said. The artillery duel then started was on this left side, and, our Gully being between the two fires, all the shells went right over our heads, and the shrieking was as bad as any I ever heard. At periods during the three hours this lasted they crossed at the rate of 200 per minute. We were close to three of our own batteries, and these had to be peppered over our heads, and most of the shells being shrapnel, timed to burst in the air, we had many an explosion immediately above us. We all cowered as well as we could up against the rocks, and although shrapnel bullets and half a shell base came among us no one was hit. In spite of all this bombardment, an artillery officer told me next day that all the casualties he knows of are one man and five horses wounded. All these were hit in a small side Gully like our own, a shell bursting in their midst.

Padre Creighton came back tired and hungry at 8.30 and found no supper nor fire to cook it with, the cook's life having been frightened out of him he forgot the necessity for bodily sustenance for the rest of us. I noticed the cook at one time flourishing a spade like a cricket bat, and on asking him what this was for he declared, "You can easy see the bloody thing comin'". He intended to let fly at the first shell that came his way. Creighton in his usual energetic way buckled to, and prepared an excellent supper of fried onions on toast, with a little bacon. This was much enjoyed, as was also the Bivouac cocoa with which it was washed down.

_July 4th._--Aberdeen Gully. A glorious Sunday morning. A slight shower during the night has refreshed the air and nature's dusty face, and now, with a brilliant sun and a gentle breeze, one can feel as happy as one can out here, thousands of miles from home--but are we downhearted? No! There is also almost an absolute calm from those noisy death dealers, shots being only very occasional. A big howitzer is going off at times, but apart from that the unnatural silence seems ominous, like a calm before a storm.

Padre Creighton is to-day offering five pounds to a shilling that it will be Christmas before we take Achi Baba. My forecast is we will be there before this day week, while any combatants I have spoken to say it will take us to the end of July. At the present rate we will take months, but in my opinion it will be necessary to push on faster than we have been able to do so far, although I believe by wearing out the Turks slowly our casualties will be less. But a more rapid advance would be a greater help to our comrades fighting in other parts of the Continent.

_Afternoon._--Had an excellent lunch cooked by Fiddes, who is a first-rate _chef_. An officer lunched with us who says he is the last of his battalion. He came in slightly wounded, but his nerves have so completely gone that he says he will never be able to shoot a rabbit again, and sheds tears at the thought of such cruelty. Many will follow in the same condition if we cannot get relief, and out of reach of the Turks' guns for an occasional rest.

_July 5th._--We have had a terribly hot morning, we opening the artillery ball at 3.45, when the Turks made an attack on the most important front trench we now hold, and took from them this day last week. Now, at 9 o'clock, things are still very warm, but nothing to what they were during the first three hours, when the fire from both sides was about equal. After the first rush of the Turks the fight has been nothing but an artillery duel.

In Aberdeen Gully, we are wonderfully protected by our high rocks, and natural banks which have been improved by ourselves, and although many pieces of shell have fallen in it to-day no one was hit.

The Turks are said to have suffered enormously, being taken by surprise in a nullah along which they were marching in close formation. An officer with a machine-gun says he alone accounted for about eighty. We have had about twenty-four wounded Dublins so far, some mere boys. Those boys who are slightly hit are in great glee over their prowess, one as he walked proudly in exclaiming, "Py Jasus, we gave them a holy paestin' this mornin'".

Last night we had a call from the M.O. of the Scottish Rifles. He was telling us about the casualties in the Lowland Brigade on Monday last. They went in 2900 strong and only 1200 came out. Their Brigadier and three Colonels were killed. I have spoken to several officers of the Brigade, and they unanimously put this loss down to some tactical mistake. They charged much too soon, and moreover the men had to assault trenches that had never been shelled. This M.O. says he had been speaking to an officer who said he assisted to cut the rope by which one of the Turkish gunners was bound to his machine-gun. To prevent their running away we have heard that they are sometimes tied to their guns by chains.

6 p.m.--I am back again at W. Beach where I find they have had a perfect hell of a time. A big French transport was sunk off this by a torpedo on Saturday.

In the morning after the fight of the 29th I met in The Gully three wounded soldiers of the Lowland Brigade, two of them trying to put a sling on the third, who had a smashed hand. I assisted and asked about their casualties. One said, "We lost our Brigadier, Scott-Moncrieff, did ye ken him, a wee wiry beggar?"

After dinner to-day I walked to the Dublin trenches with Creighton, who was to bury some of the men killed last night. As we passed a workshop and engineers' dump on our way back, Creighton was again asked to bury a man. While he was doing so I sharpened my pocket knife on a grindstone standing by, and asked a soldier if that was all the killed they had last night. "Yes," he said, "and we had an officer buried to-day." "Oh," said I, "when was he killed?" "He wasn't killed at all." "Then why did you bury him?" "A shell blew in a trench on the top of him, but we dug him out, and he was none the worse."

Another mule--but it was a horse this time--toppled down from the path above us this afternoon. He started on his career with his full load, but he had nothing but his saddle when he dumped himself down on the path three yards from my sleeping bunk, after a drop of about 50 feet. I would much rather have a whole mule flying in among us than a chunk of shell. He picked himself up and looked scared, and went away puffing hard, but quite unharmed except for a bleeding nose.

_July 6th._--W. Beach. What's wrong? Not a shot in our neighbourhood during the night, and I must have slept seven hours.

_Later._--By afternoon we had a few shells, some dropping uncomfortably near--forty-five in all, so many from Achi Baba, and ten huge ones, with big explosions, from Asia. These last were aimed at our ammunition dumps, where some damage was done.

At supper our Q.M. Dickie told us the following little anecdote, which I jot down as it was connected with our Corps. One evening a recruit presented himself at Fonthill Barracks, Aberdeen, and informed the CO.--Captain Robertson--that he wanted to "Jine". "But we are full up," says R. "Oh, I thocht ye wintet men." "Oh well, as you are a likely looking chap, I think I'll take you; when would you like to be examined?" "I'll be examined noo, far's the doctor?" "I'm the doctor," said R. "God," says the chap, "ye dinna look muckle like a doctor." "But why do you wish to join?" "It's jist like this, I hid a dram, an' the maister said I was a damned feel, so I telt him if I wis a damned feel, he wis a damneder, an' he telt me to gang tae hell, sae I jist gaed, an' here I am." "When can you join?" "Weel, this is Saeterday nicht, it wid need tae be Tiesday or Wednesday. Ye see I drive the milk caert, a damned responsible poseeshen." Not much of a story but real Aberdeen.

_July 7th._--Had seventy shells to-day on W. Beach, mostly big ones from the "Asiatic Annies"; bag, two killed and three wounded.

_July 8th._--W. Beach. Yesterday we had a big mail--great rejoicing.

When we came out of the mess tent to-day at 1.15 we found a great swarm of what we all think must be locusts, but no one is sufficiently well up in zoology to be certain. All are flying inwards in the same direction, as if they had come out of the sea, but it is more likely they have come from Asia, across the Dardanelles. There is a slight breeze and they have difficulty in flying, and are resting everywhere, and bump up against tents and everything that comes in their way, and are not strong flyers. They have powerful grasshopper legs, red from the knee downwards, and an inner pair of wings, which are also red and give the whole animal a red colour when in flight. Now, after an hour, they are still more plentiful, and are flying past actually in myriads.

At 4.30 I got a message to relieve Col. Yarr at Corps H.Q. An aeroplane was drawn up there, and along with myself a second one arrived. Now I am in for a shelling, I said to myself, and I had just entered Col. Yarr's dugout when the first shell exploded a few yards off, and this was immediately followed by two others. Near the middle of the aerodrome a large gun emplacement--or whatever it is--is being dug, which, it is hoped, will draw some of the fire away from here.

The swarm of locusts (?) did not diminish for three hours, when it tailed off. Their bumping into one's face made walking almost impossible.

_July 9th._--Head-quarters. We have had a quiet night. The shelling does not commence here till the aeroplanes arrive from Tenedos. Last night at dinner various subjects were discussed, such as the duration of the war. The views of all were very depressing, although no one had the slightest doubt as to the ultimate complete smashing up of Germany, and the longer the war lasted the more complete would the smashing be. One man was sure it would be ended by next spring, another, who had lived long in Macedonia, is positive it will take two years from now. General Hunter-Weston took no part in this discussion, but looked interested and amused while his juniors threshed the subject out. All agreed that it was most laughable to read the forecasts in the papers at home, and that it was only now that England was realising how enormous the task before her was, and that the war will continue till both sides are just about played out, but there can be no doubt of our ability to hold out longest.

The plans for the next big attack were also discussed. The General, who commands the whole army on the peninsula--including the French--arranges all details, under the Commander-in-chief, Sir Ian Hamilton. The dates of former attacks were known to us all several days before they took place, and these invariably reached the Turks. To avoid this more secrecy is now observed, and it amused me last night to hear the General emphasise his dates in a voice that denoted that he did not mean them to be taken literally. This was to bamboozle me, I thought, the only non-combatant present, but occasionally he stumbled. As it was always with regret that I came to know the dates of former attacks some days ahead I was glad to observe this attempt at secrecy. I remember we were once to commence at 7 o'clock, and the Turk let fly at us at 6.45, determined, sensible man, to get in the first blow.

When talking about crushing Germany, all regretted that our country was so soft, and would not crush sufficiently; however, they thought they could rely on Russia and France insisting on this being carried out very thoroughly.

After breakfast I walked down about 300 yards to Helles point, wondering what had come of all our shipping. The hospital ships are there, one small supply ship only, a few mine-sweepers, and close in under the rocks a British and a French submarine, lying beside the keel of the "Majestic". It appears a German submarine had been sighted last night, hence as many of the ships as possible had fled. A French ship is battering Kum Kale, and kicking up a tremendous dust. An officer from H.Q. was regretting the inability of the Navy to help us. At last, I hope, even the Navy has discovered this for themselves, for land operations they are of little use. Then we must rely on our field guns and howitzers, and these only. Another 5-inch howitzer battery arrived last night, I hear, and we have 9.2-inch guns somewhere, but I fail to gather whether these had been actually landed.

_July 10th._--We had an unusually good dinner last night, a feast fit for the gods to one who has had nothing but camp rations for three months, where the staple diet is bully beef. We had various liqueurs before dinner, and excellent cocktails made by the General's A.D.C. But I never enjoyed anything so much as a bottle of Bass the night before. The A.D.C. is a jovial fellow, always happy, with plenty of foresight, and with a fatherly interest in everybody. General Hunter-Weston has been spending the night at Imbros with Sir Ian Hamilton, and the Staff had asked several of their friends to dine with them. I was able to find out from one of our visitors that there is absolutely no truth in a most persistent rumour we hear, that the whole of the 29th Division is going home to be re-equipped, after their almost complete annihilation. He says we are to get a rest, but we only go to Lemnos. Why send troops away in the meantime?

The Turks for some days back have been making a huge excavation on this side of the actual peak of Achi Baba. Its purpose is a great puzzle here. The first object one would think of is that it is a big gun emplacement, but, as they say at H.Q., they have made it on the wrong side of the hill. Still I cannot see why not, if they front it with a big enough mound. But there could be no advantage in making it on this side, where we could so easily "spot" our shots.

We, too, are making a big excavation on one side of the aerodrome, but when the first aeroplane enters it for the night I am mistaken if the Turks do not knock it out within an hour. It is intended for a monoplane that can fly 113 miles an hour, and its special purpose is to give chase to the first Taube that appears.

That Achi Baba excavation makes one suspicious that the German officers with the Turks are to be up to some form of frightfulness. It cannot be gas, but, if it is, we have been prepared for that for some weeks, and every man has his respirator. To-day I was asked by the A.D.C. about a paper dealing with gases, with which we are to retaliate should the Turk use these first, but it contains names I never heard before, and can give him no enlightenment on the subject.

6 p.m.--I have been on the General's observation hill with one of the staff, and his opinion about the excavation is probably correct. It must be a redoubt, in which the Turks will have a large number of field and machine-guns, which will mean some taking, but our artillery should make short work of it.

_July 11th._--Was knocked up at 6.30 to see the General who is ill. This is awkward, as I have just gathered at breakfast that the next big fight ("stunt" is the word always used) comes off to-morrow. I also heard at breakfast that in our last stunt when the first lines of the Turks were slaughtered, new troops as they were brought up refused to cross the masses of their dead comrades, and that one of the reasons for General Hunter-Weston refusing the armistice asked for by the Turks two days ago was that he wished to retain their dead as a wall of defence.

Much business has to be transacted in preparation for to-morrow and the General is getting little rest.

6 p.m.--I walked over to the Ambulance to notify them about to-morrow's stunt. The road between the aerodrome and the Beach was being shelled, so I took the other side of the aerodrome, past the Ordnance Stores, and as I was nearing these the Asiatic gunners thought they might pepper this side, and I had some big crashes near me. A shell entered the road just behind the 89th F.A. without exploding, and one of our men pushed a 7-foot stick down the hole without reaching the bottom. The hole was the cleanest I ever saw, 7 inches in diameter, and every mark of the rifling of the driving band was beautifully moulded in the clay. Here at H.Q. they dug up one of these new and unexploded shells, and it had penetrated 14 feet into the ground.

A New Zealander was telling me yesterday that his people closely resembled those of the old country in every respect, while the Australians seem to completely alter. When the British and New Zealanders hear a shell approaching they duck, while an Australian straightens his back, gets his head and shoulders over the parapet, and swears.

General Hunter-Weston kept improving during the day, and by evening was much better.

_July 12th._--An important battle took place to-day, and still rages, beginning at 4 a.m. but in real earnest by 5, when many new big guns were used for the first time. Our centre (Naval Division) and the right (French) are mainly involved, although the whole line took part in the preliminary bombardment. News came in that the first attack failed, but that by 7.30 the first line of the Turks was captured. On the top of the Observation Hill at H.Q. I met an interesting fellow, who said he was the only civil surgeon who had got permission to join us. He had a Government appointment in the Soudan, and having three months' leave he was allowed to spend it here without pay. He said he would have been ashamed to go home.

The General feels better to-day, and by lunch time looked as if things were going well at the Front. However, the French have a most difficult piece of work before them, namely, the capture of Kereves Dere, which has blocked their way since April 28. This gully runs in a S.E. direction from the foot of Achi Baba to the Dardanelles, is flat at the bottom, and about 400 yards wide, with steep perpendicular cliffs on both sides, nearly 200 feet high. At the bottom each side holds a trench facing the other, while there are others half-way up wherever there are slopes. In a spot or two the French are said to have pushed through before, and for a time held a piece of the other side, but the difficulty is to get the Turk entirely out and the position consolidated.

The enemy submarines would like to do some mischief to-day, could they find something worth a torpedo, but all our shipping has gone, except three hospital ships and the torpedo craft. Within the last fifteen minutes a destroyer has given a long blast on her whistle, followed by two short, the signal that a submarine has been sighted. Three destroyers are at the present moment grouped together evidently having a conference.

6.15 p.m.--The battle has raged the whole day, but less violently from 11 to 4, but at the latter hour, a warship, lying close in, with all our field guns, raised a great roar, and a solid mass of smoke and dust rose high in the air enveloping the whole of the Turkish lines from the west of Krithia to the Dardanelles. The Turks have replied all day, but feebly in comparison.

Most of the day I had been watching the battlefield from the Observation Hill, then at 5 went to tea in the mess where I was alone. General Hunter-Weston entered in a few minutes, and sitting opposite me said, "What an extraordinary thing war is". The progress of the day had greatly satisfied him I could see, and he was in great glee. "Yes," I said, "but I wish to goodness it was all over." "My dear sir," he replied, "we'll have years of it yet." I asked if he thought there was any possibility of its ending this year. "Absolutely none; I think there may be trouble in Germany over the food supply by the beginning of next harvest and, if so, there will be a chance of its ending in twelve months, but it is more likely to take two years." I was afterwards speaking to Major ---- about this, and I have always agreed with his remark, "It is all damned nonsense to talk about starving Germany".

After tea I returned to the Hill where several of the Staff were collected. We watched a body of Turks, about 200 in number, leave their own lines and come towards ours with a large white flag. Within three seconds after their forming into a body five of our shells landed among them, and there was nothing to be seen when the smoke cleared off. But in a few minutes those remaining gathered into a body again, and immediately two more shells exploded in their midst. The few remaining could now be seen coming out of the smoke and tearing down a slope to a nullah a short way off, and they were not seen again. Major ---- was here called away to interpret to three Turkish prisoners who had come in, but I have heard no particulars of their examination.... I hear from one of the orderlies that a prisoner complained that their own guns opened on them as soon as a body formed up to surrender. (This is what actually happened, Turkish shells, not ours, fell among them, a lesson to others what would happen if they surrendered.)

We seem to have made a great advance in front of our Naval Division. It is more difficult to say what the French have done, their line is more hidden from here, owing to the contour of the ground. It will be dark by 8, and now at 6.45 it is high time we were straightening up our line, otherwise the forward positions will be enfiladed by night.

I heard our Artillery Staff-General being asked at the Observation Hill if he was satisfied with the day's work, and he replied, "Quite, on the whole, quite, quite".

I was interested to find that none of our Generals left H.Q. to-day; everything is worked from there by telephone. Each was at his own post and spent little time on the Observation Hill--much less than I did myself.

_July 13th._--Rumours after a battle are always plentiful, but at H.Q. one has an opportunity of sifting these, in fact I could always get the exact truth by asking members of the Staff, but I feel as a non-combatant that I have no right to openly poke my nose into purely military matters. Rumour said we had taken 700 prisoners yesterday; another rumour puts the number at 2000. I heard at dinner that eighty had come in. Mention was laughingly made of "the lost regiment". I could not imagine at the time that we had lost a regiment and thought it was a joke of the General's, but to-day I find that a whole battalion of K.O.S.B.'s are amissing. Those must be prisoners in the hands of the Turks. They had lost so heavily before that they could not have been at anything like full strength. The curious thing is the officers are said to have turned up, and can give no account of what happened. I expect this is not the exact truth. They are said to have pushed too far forward, which is the usual cause of our worst disasters.

Three violent counter-attacks were made last night. Fighting had never ceased the whole night, and I hear we had to retire all along the line. The extent of our falling back I do not know, but the news is most depressing.

Major ---- told me yesterday that the best troops in the world would get so completely demoralised under a shelling like that we gave the Turks that every man would be absolutely limp, and could not even aim when firing. Then, the more shells we have the better, as we all know here and at home. Yesterday we used very little shrapnel, it was almost entirely high explosives. At home it was discovered that we had used too much of the former in France. The demoralising effect of shrapnel is slight, and it has little effect on troops under cover, but you might as well fight an earthquake as the other, if it is anywhere near you.

Yesterday's casualties up to evening were put at 3000 to 4000, but this number will have been added to over night.