Photograph: 460th Howitzer Battery, one of those supporting the attack on the Boomerang on 28th June 1915."At about 6.30 am the silence was broken by a peculiar loud whirring noise from behind and we observe a strange umbrella shaped object falling almost vertically from the air. It falls with a tremendous explosion on the "Boomerang" sending up a shower of earth accompanied by a dense cloud of black smoke. We learn that it is a kind of aerial torpedo which a French mortar battery is using to open the preliminary bombardment of the redoubt. They follow one another at about half minute intervals and before long it looks as though the occupants of the enemy redoubt are having a very rough time with it. This goes on for about an hour and a half and in the mean time there has been no return fire from the Turks. At 8 o' clock the mortar battery ceases fire and once more a strange silence falls over the place. Everything is so silent that one can hear the twittering of the birds as they flit about for all the world as though no such thing as war existed." (Sergeant Sydney Evans, 1st Battalion, Border Regiment, 29th Division)
The Boomerang Redoubt bombardment had began, with the first bombs from the French mortars falling on the redoubt with deadly accuracy. Petty Officer F. W. Johnston, a machine gunner, in the Royal Naval Armoured Car Division, RNAS recalls that the bombs
"Flight was easy to follow & was wonderfully fascinating. Reaching a height of, perhaps, two hundred feet and appearing to be directly overhead, it slowly turned over & still more slowly (it seemed) began to descend. It almost imperceptibly drew away from us and landed with a dull thud on the outer works of the Boomerang. A remarkable silence followed & then tons of earth, sections of entanglements, bodies, clothes and limbs were sent into the sky. A terrific explosion of unparalleled violence, causing the earth upon which we stood to tremble & spreading its pungent fumes, like a mist over everything & everyone, was the result. It's terrifying roar re-echoed along the ravine until drowned by the ships' guns at sea. Before the air was clear another torpedo was fired."
Evans continued his account:
"At 9.30 however the battery opens fire again and once more the huge projectiles fall in rapid succession on the redoubt. At 10 o' clock a furious bombardment of the whole Turkish line breaks out, everyone of our batteries joining in and within a few minutes we are in the midst of the most terrific bombardment that has yet been experienced on the Peninsula. Even the ships of the fleet join in and bombard the flank positions near the sea. The din is tremendous and we have to shout to our next neighbour to make ourselves heard."
At 10.40 the order went along the 1st Border Regiment's trench line to fix bayonets as the artillery barrage reached its crescendo.
"One further minute and the word 'Ready' is passed along. In that one minute we unconsciously take one look at the sun and the sea and involuntarily commend our bodies and souls to our Maker - and then before we realise - and then before we realise it a hoarse shout of 'Over' and we are up the ladders and racing like the wind for the redoubt about 200 yards distant."
The bombardment lifted off the Boomerang Redoubt at precisely 10:45, opening the way for the Borders to attack. Three open lines emerged from their trenches, bayonets fixed, advancing through the lingering dust cloud of the bombardment. The heavily fortified Boomerang Redoubt, along with almost a hundred dazed Turkish prisoners was quickly captured. Little return fire was given by the surprised defenders, and casualties were light.
This could not be said for other areas of the line, particular the attack by 156th Brigade.
SOURCE: The full account by Sergeant Sydney Evans can be read in the The Gallipolian, No.46, pp.19-21
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