17 June 1915

LEMNOS - Rear Admiral Sir Rosslyn Wemyss aboard HMS Europa, had originally been appointed as governor of the island of Lemnos and commander of the base at Mudros - where he was charge of creating the necessary port facilities. In addition he had the responsibility of commanding the squadron supporting the Helles landings on 25 April. In the early days he had not been impressd by the army as in this quote from 15 March.

"What tiresome people soldiers can be! Everybody above the rank of subaltern seems to think that he ought to have an Admiral's barge at his own disposal. Of course these stories only reach me through my staff and they, poor devils, are worried to death by the helplessness of them all. Truly a soldier is not the man of whom one can expect the manufacture of bricks without straw."

But by mid-June the Royal Navy was beginning to realise just how tough it was for the Army ashore. The Navy was not inactive, but the bulk of the fighting and the casualties was endured by the infantry. Their conditions of service also left much to be desired in contrast to the relative comfort of the wardroom or messdeck. Certainly by 18 June Wemyss tone had radically changed.

"How splendid are the regimental officers and the rank and file! They are indeed heroes. What stuff there is in the ordinary Englishman, if people only knew how to get it out of him! Of course there are exceptions: where are there not? But, thank God, they are so few and far between, that they only help to throw the others into high relief. To be pessimistic is foolish, to be optimistic may lead to bad results, so that one has to try and keep a level head and just go on doing one's job to the best of one's ability."

 

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SOURCE: Lord Wester-Wemyss, The Navy in the Dardanelles Campaign, (London, Heinemann, 1916), pp.38 & 140

 

18 June 1915

ANZAC - Colonel John Monash, Headquarters, 4th Australian Brigade, NZ&A Division, AIF - Monash seems to have been in a thoughtful mood as he wrote a letter home on 18 June.

Photograph: Lone Pine Memorial - a noble memorial erected by the people of Australia on a high plateau overlookiing Anzac Cove.

"I thought you would like a little bit of the Gallipoli Peninsula, or of as much of it as we have so far conquered, so I enclosing herewith a little twig and flower of broom, which grows wild in great profusion on the slopes of all the hills. Among wild flowers yellow predominates and many have a sweet scent. In the distance, in that forbidden land a mile or two away, still in the possession of the Turk, but some day to be trodden by us, are patches of green fields, clothed with bright scarlet patches of poppy. But the whole Peninsula, so far as one can judge from the peeps we get at our observation posts, has very little flat ground or cultivation and is a confused tangle of steep hills clothed with low green scrub like mallee. When peace comes, and we are free to move about the country, no doubt the tourist of the future will come to inspect these parts. The Catacombs of Rome will be a baby compared to the extraordinary amount of digging and trenching and road making and tunnelling that we have done. I suppose that someday, on some high plateau overlooking Anzac Beach, there will be a noble memorial erected by the people of Australia, to honour the memory of their fallen dead, who lie peacefully sleeping in the little cemeteries in the valleys all around."

Monash was almost right. Most of the bodies would be lost and the Lone Pine Memorial performs the function of commemorating the Australian dead. But Monash would surely be amazed at the number of his fellow-country men who gather here to pay their respects especially on 25 April every year.

In the same letter Monash mused on the transitory nature of international emnity/friendship.

"Today is the centenary of the Battle of Waterloo, and on the strenght of it a rum ration for all hands has been authorised. But we must restrain ourselves against any manifestations of joy, so as to prevent any offence to our Allies the French, for you see a hundred years ago the British, the Belgians, and the Germans were fighting the French, while now the British, the Belgians and the French are fighting the Germans. The whirligig of time brings many changes. In 1851 the British, the French and the Turks were fighting the Russians, while today the British, the French and the Russians are fighting the Turks. Who shall say what the next combination will be?"

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SOURCE: J. Monash (edited by F. M. Cutlack) War Letters of General Monash, (Australia, Angus & Robertson Ltd, 1934), pp.50-51

19 June 1915

HELLES - Following the Third Battle of Krithia on 4 June, Major General Sir Archibald Paris commanding the RND had decided to push forward a more advanced firing line into No Man's Land. It was realised that they could get forward some 100 yards reasonably easily but that in the centre of the RND line there was an advanced Turkish trench which if captured would allow an even greater advance.

Photograph: Hawke Battalion Officers, May 1915, before departing for Gallipoli.

The Hawke Battalion was ordered to attack on the night of 19 June. Lieutenant Douglas Jerrold left an outline of the fighting when the attack started at 00.30 on 19 June.

"A dark, moonless night, and particularly quiet. The Turkish rapid fire was by now far less active, as our machine gunners learnt to keep the Turks below their parapets. Punctually at 12.30am Morgan led out his platoons from the saphead, and giving the word himself led the attack. From that moment the fortunes of this miniature battle alternated with bewildering speed. Advancing with more enthusiasm than method, and adopting the o1d fashioned and probably mistaken habit of cheering as they advanced, the assaulting line was seen to reach the trench; then there was a burst of firing from the enemy and five minutes' pause, broken only by a confused shouting of orders. by officers separated from their men; then a swift and inexplicable retreat. Morgan himself had reached the neighbourhood of the trench with some of his men and had there been killed. That much was certain, but the rest was confusion. Each man had found himself alone, as indeed happens to men facing death at night in the open for the first time; someone had ordered a concentration on the right; another had directed his fellows to the right; a third had heard his officer call a halt; nor had countenanced a retirement, yet the chances of war had resulted in nothing less. The attack had failed, and Sub Lieutenant Little and two men, who were the only party who had actually reached the trench unwounded, were obliged, seeing themselves isolated, to retreat themselves. But the attack had not begun. Such, at any rate, was the view of Lieutenant Horsfield, Morgan's second-in-command, who had been left out of the first assault; and a new attack was immediately planned and immediately executed. This time there was no mistake, and the trench was taken at 2.30am, Horsfield, Rush, Little, and Tremayne (Machine Gun officer), with the survivors of the first assault, reaching their objective with little loss. Now in the two hours of darkness that still remained the work of consolidation had to be completed. For a time there was peace. The Turkish garrison of the trench had fled, and silence reigned while their victorious successors filled sandbags and attempted to prepare a defensible position."

The account is then taken up by Sub Lieutenant Rush.

"The trench, however, proved to be barely 4 feet deep, and was untraversed for almost its entire length, besides having scarcely any parapet or parados. It was apparent, moreover, that its position alone rendered it almost untenable. Attempts to consolidate were made by reversing the parapet, and by blocking the trench about 100 yards towards the left. Here the `machine gun was mounted and got into action, though it soon jammed. Sub- Lieutenant Tremayne was here shot through the head whilst firing over the parapet. The garrison continued to maintain a steady fire until very heavy casualties, and the fact that there the enemy offered no very clearly defined target, made active defence difficult."

Lieutenant Douglas Jerrold continues:

"An hour before dawn the struggle entered on a new phase. Rifle and machine gun fire was concentrated on the position from the Turkish trenches which dominated it, and the enemy advanced to the counter-attack. Partly by fire from the captured position, mainly owing to the vigilance of the Nelson Battalion in Nelson Avenue, this was beaten off, but our losses in the trench were becoming serious, and ammunition was running out. Moreover, as it grew lighter our communications had become insecure. In the half light before dawn volunteers from D Company (among whom Able Seaman Chalkley was conspicuous) took out ammunition and rifles to the now small and exhausted garrison, and came back, for the most part, safely, (though six men of this fine company: L. W. Young, S. G. Brown, J. S. Menhinnick, L. H. Salaman, E. W. Langland, and H. W. Stoessiger were killed), it was already clear that the position would be held with difficulty. The garrison was dangerously reduced. Lieutenant Horsfield, wounded in the first assault, had been wounded again, this time mortally. Sub-Lieutenant Tremayne, the battalion machine gun officer, had been killed. Of the original assaulting party, not more than twenty were unwounded. Sub Lieutenant Rush made his way back to Colonel Wilson, watching the situation anxiously from the saphead, and gave him a detailed account. Whatever the issue might be, it was clear to Colonel Wilson that 'A' Company must be relieved, and Lieutenant Cotter's 10th Platoon ('C' Company) was ordered up. Before this platoon had reached the front line, however, the Adjutant, who was in charge at the saphead of the digging parties and other arrangements, got a message from the garrison that another officer was wanted."

The Hawke Battalion Adjutant was Lieutenant R. H. Sheldon and he takes up the story:-

"Being on the spot, I went over and found the trench, which was only about 3 feet deep, an absolute shambles. Soon after, Cotter arrived with his platoon, and as dawn was breaking, and there was about 20 yards of open ground to get over, I ordered the 'A' Company men to crawl back one by one; the Turks spotted this and turned a machine gun on to them, and it was then that Little was killed. In the trench there was no field of fire, but we kept the Turks back with bombs. When these were exhausted, the Turks crawled up and bombed us; this was at about 8am, and as we were badly enfiladed it could only have been a question of time before we would have been all wiped out. I then gave orders to withdraw one by one. Poor Horsfield was lying badly wounded in the trench, but managed, the Lord knows how, to crawl as far as the commencement of the communication trench, where Cotter and l found him and got him back to the front line; he died the next day. Of Cotter's platoon, which had held the trench for not more than half an hour, more than half had become casualties."

By 08.30 on the morning of 19 June this disastrous little operation came to an end. The Hawke Battalion had lost 29 men killed and 75 wounded.

 

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SOURCE: D. Jerrold, The Hawke Battalion: Some Personal Records of Four Years, 1914-1918, (London, Ernest Benn Ltd, 1925), pp.67-70.

20 June 1915

GALLIPOLI - General Sir Ian Hamilton was beginning to ponder the activities of the official war correspondents who were attached to the MEF to send their reports back to the home countries. Australia's representative we have already met - Charles Bean a journalist from The Sydney Morning Herald, was elected by his colleagues in the Australian Journalists Association and the nomination then ratified by the Government.

Picture of cover of popular edition of Ashmead Bartlett's despatches published during the campaign.

The British war correspondent was a more contentious figure: Ellis Ashmead-Bartlett. Bartlett had some military experience as an officer with the Middlesex Regiment in the Boer War. By 1915 he was a journalist for the Daily Telegraph and was selected as the Fleet Street representative. As such he was very much the main man and his reports actually beat Bean's to publication in Australia. A colourful writer, he was never one to fight shy of adding fictional material to improve a story, but he had also become deeply critical of Hamilton's efforts. During a visit back to London in June Ashmead-Bartlett had done a considerable amount of politicking, meeting many of the key political and military figures. It was Ashmead-Bartlett's influence that Hamilton had in mind when he wrote his diary for 20 June.

"Told Kitchener about the arrival of fresh Turkish troops and our fighting on the 18th. The trenches remain as before, but the Turks, having failed, are worse off. I have also written him about war correspondents. He had doubted whether my experiences would encourage me to increase the number to two or three. But, after trial, I prefer that the public should have a multitude of councillors. "When a single individual," I say, "has the whole of the London Press at his back he becomes an unduly important personage. When, in addition to this, it so happens, that he is inclined to see the black side of every proposition, then it becomes difficult to prevent him from encouraging the enemy, and from discouraging all our own people, as well as the Balkan States. If I have several others to counterbalance, then I do not care so much." Fired off a second barrel through Fitz from whom I have just heard that my Despatch cannot be published as it stands but must be bowdlerized first, all the names of battalions being cut out. Instead of saying, "The landing at 'W' had been entrusted to the 1st Bn. Lancashire Fusiliers (Major Bishop) and it was to the complete lack of the sense of danger or of fear of this daring battalion that we owed our astonishing success," I am to say, "The landing, etc., had been entrusted to a certain battalion." The whole of this press correspondence; press censorship; despatch writing and operations cables hang together and will end by hanging the Government. My operations cables are written primarily for K., it is true, but they are meant also to let our own people know what their brothers and sons are up against and how they are bearing up under unheard of trials. There is not a word in those cables which would help or encourage the enemy. I am best judge of that and I see to it myself. What is the result of my efforts to throw light upon our proceedings? A War Office extinguisher from under which only a few evil-smelling phrases escape. As I say to Fitz:-- "You seem to see nothing beyond the mischief that may happen if the enemy gets to know too much about us; you do not see that this danger can be kept within bounds and is of small consequence when compared with the keenness or dullness of our own Nation."

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SOURCE: I. Hamilton, Gallipoli Diary, (London, Edward Arnold Ltd, 1920), pp.320-321

21 June 1915

HELLES - THE BATTLE OF KEREVES DERE - At Helles the generals and their men seemed to be locked together in a campaign without hope. Yet, as they still believed that a continuous pressure had to be maintained on the Turks, Hunter-Weston and the French commander General Henri Gouraud came up with an alternative to the discredited idea of a general advance.

It was decided to concentrate all possible artillery resources to support strictly localised attacks with the aim of biting off small chunks of the Turkish line and then using a wall of shells to assist the infantry in holding off the Turkish counter-attacks. The French were given the honour of trying out the new tactics. On 21 June they would launch a concentrated attack hammering into the Turkish lines between the Ravin de la Mort offshoot of Kereves Dere and the Haricot and Quadrilateral Redoubts that dominated the Kereves Spur. They would attack on a very narrow front of just 650 yards, but it contained three objectives of excessive difficulty in not only the Haricot and Quadrilateral Redoubts but also the trenches overlooking the Ravin de la Mort. The artillery support was crucial and centred on the deployment of seven batteries of French 75mm guns, two batteries of 155mm howitzers, trench mortars and seven British howitzers to shatter the Turkish defences. At the same time six more batteries of 75mm guns were assigned to fire into the rest of the Turkish lines facing the French to keep them busy, while other French long-range batteries accompanied by the pre-dreadnought Saint-Louis would be trying their best to suppress any interference from the Turkish guns on the Asiatic shore. In all it worked out at a gun or howitzer for every 10 yards of front to be assaulted. In the days leading up to the attack the level of French fire increased as they tried to smash down and blot out the Turkish trenches.

Second Lieutenant Raymond Weil of the 39th Régiment d'Artillerie was in a forward observation post.

"All along the French front the artillery raged. For our part we made our range corrections with a slow deliberation. Then we proceeded to methodically mop up every last fragment of the Turkish trenches which had to be completely destroyed. Each of our guns had its own pre-determined task, but in contrast to the last attack on 4 June, it was our Captain's orders which determined the changes in pace according to circumstances, rather than following a rigid plan laid out in advance."

The final bombardment opened at 05.15 and lasted for just 45 minutes. At 06.00 the 176th Regiment lunged for the redoubts, while to their right the 6th Colonial Regiment tried to clear the Ravin de la Mort. The French had plentiful ammunition and during the attack would expend over 30,000 shells crashing down on the narrow front during the battle. The attack went and the dreaded Haricot was swiftly over-run by the 176th Regiment, along with the Turkish second line, although the Quadrilateral behind it remained inviolable.

Corporal Charles Thierry of the 176th Regiment, 3rd Metropolitan Brigade had been engaged in digging a sap when at 15.00 he was sent forward with extra ammunition to the newly captured Turkish front line.

"The men go in threes: Legeay gets a shell fragment in the back, Legendre is wounded - many men fall! Our turn to go, a little shiver up the spine! I pass through a small communication trench, treading on the corpses of dismembered men, dry arms, one can no longer find anything human in these corpses. Only 25 metres across the open. At last I am in the first Turkish trench at the side of a wounded captain. We are subjected to a short bombardment. Surrounded by corpses we occupy the trench - I am almost alone in more than 100 metres of front, all the men are wounded. At every moment reinforcements are called for but none come; ammunition is also demanded but nothing comes. I attend to a wounded Turk in the trench. In gratitude he kisses my hand and lifts it twice to his forehead. I want him to write something in my pocket book but there is nothing to be done. The heavy shells from the Asian side rained down: Brumel is hit, Henriot as well. At about 6pm an intense and well-directed bombardment from their lines warns us of a counter-attack, besides the situation demands it. But we enfilade them and they retreat swiftly. It is a veritable manhunt with our bullets. We throw our kepis in the air with shouts of joy. The bombardment is terrible; the shrapnel rains down. I lie down in the trench a few moments later I am hit in the left hand. At last the bombardment stops."

Thierry was safely evacuated despite the close attentions of Turkish machine gun fire as he returned to the French lines. This time, aided by their massed artillery, the French threw back the Turkish counter-attacks and the Haricot was finally captured. The 6th Colonials were also successful in taking the Turkish front line but could get no further forward. The newly captured line had been severely damaged by the French bombardment and what was left was choked full of dead and dying Turks. There was little effective shelter and as Turkish fire lashed across the trenches the 6th Colonials commander, Colonel Noguès, was badly wounded. Confusion set in and by 07.00 the 6th Colonials had fallen back in disarray to their start line. At 14.15 they tried again with no success. A final attempt was made at 18.45 when the Regiment de Marche d'Afrique recaptured and this time held the line overlooking the Ravin de la Mort.

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SOURCES: R. Weil quoted in Dardanelles Orient Levant, 1915-1921 (Paris: L'Harmattan, 2005), p.35

C. Thierry, Typescript translation of diary, 21/6/1918 in Brotherton Special Collections Library, Leeds University, Liddle Collection.

22 June 1915

HELLES - Major Norman Burge, Nelson Battalion, 1st Naval Brigade, wrote a wonderful series of letters from Gallipoli which were witty evocations of Gallipoli life designed as much to amuse as to inform, One of the best was written on 22 June 1915.

"My word it is baking 'ot today - the hottest we've had - no wind and 30 billion more flies than yesterday. I suppose there must be a maximum number allowed otherwise I don't know what will happen if each one is capable of laying so many thousand eggs per minute or whatever it is! They are getting so impertinent too - a reproving shake of the head is no longer enough to dislodge one off your nose, but a slap is necessary - which makes one hot and also in exasperation one sometimes slaps harder than was intended - which is more exasperating. There's been a dreadful calm all day most uncanny - very few guns and practically no rifle fire, so I suppose something devilish is brewing. We had the rare spectacle of a duel in the air this morning between a German Taube and one of our biplanes, who were indulging in a friendly bickering up aloft - we could hear their pistol shots at each other. The Taube managed to get away however - as he could turn twice as quick as our feller. So presently back comes our biplane and settles down on the aerodrome with her propeller making a sort of smug sort of whirr - just as if saying, "There you are - now I hope you'll cease saying we never do anything!" At that moment back shot the Taube from behind Achi Baba really with the sort of look of a mischievous puppy making a dart from underneath the sofa, but this time he proceeded to drop large bombs, one of them came disgustingly close! Ours of course went up at once but it takes some time to get up to a few thousand feet - so off went the Taube having distinctly scored. So ours came down to rest again not quite so blatantly as before but in a more subdued fashion."

There was one passage in the letter where his inner feelings escaped, just for a few lines, before his sense of humour reasserted itself.

"I've been rather trying to analyse ones feelings at different times and find it very difficult. Mostly, I think, one doesn't have any feelings to speak of and yet at other times you sort of look at things in a light you'd be rather ashamed of, that is if you didn't happen to know that all the other fellows are feeling just the same. I know they do, 'cos I asked them and they said they did. So each of us was quite happy to find the others had nervousy moments. For instance on a Monday - down here in the rest camp. You hear there's going to be a night advance of 100 yards on Tuesday. On Tuesday morning a sinister message all about stretchers and where the 'dressing station' will be at comes in etc and also what part of the line we'll be in and so on. I don't mind confessing that for a moment one feels as if you hadn't had your breakfast. Sudden flashes of awful horrors one can picture only too easily, intrude themselves on one's mind in a most insistent way. The uncomfortable feeling generally comes on when you know you've got to do something at a certain hour and you are just sitting down waiting for the clock to strike as it were. That feeling again stops with a click directly you begin doing it, whatever it may be, and from then on you cease thinking how absurdly inadequate Government pensions for widows are and mild wonders as to how the world can possibly get along without you - and all that sort of morbid nonsense. Also one gets, or always has been (the same in the end) very callous indeed to other folks' suffering. You say "poor old So and So" and soon forget all about him and when you do remember you sort of mechanically say to yourself 'Poor old chap' as if it were a necessary formula that you ought to have repeated more frequently."

His thoughts then reverted to his recent close escape from a bomb.

"I've quite decided (since this morning) that the worst one of all is the sinister swish of an aeroplane bomb coming down. You feel such a "fearful ass" (in every sense of the word). You can't do anything and there's nowhere to go and no time to get there if there was. Everyone shouts "Bomb Coming" which is a peculiarly fatuous remark as the fact needs no announcement - then you stand still and look foolish and talk rather unnecessarily when it has gone off. Most shell are gentleman. To begin with - the vast majority of 'em you hear coming and a very little practice enables you to tell the probable size of it (as if it mattered), its direction, (more important) and probable place of explosion (most important). So that newcomers duck and dive and assume most comic attitudes over noises which do not in the least disturb the equanimity of the cook preparing the omelette - we've never had one yet but we have hopes especially with the French so close!"

 

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SOURCE: IWM Documents: N. Burge, letter dated 22/6/1915

 

23 June 1915

HELLES - Captain John Gillam, Army Service Corps, 29th Divisional Supply Train - Gillam had a quiet day on 23 June.



"10.30am. Turks very quiet. French 75s now and again firing. Very hot, fine day. Rode last night to Gully Beach with Carver, round by road on cliffs on W coast. Beautiful moonlight night. Wagons trekking up and down, and now and again a sentry challenges with his bayonet pointed to the breasts of our horses, which we rein in, at the same time shouting, "Friend!" Answered by, " Pass, friend; all's well!" I should like to feel that it really was 'all well'. Enemy aircraft brought down yesterday, falling in Turkish lines. French losses in recent battle, 2,000. To-night I ride again with Carver to Gully Beach, which is now the home of the 29th Division HQ. The steep cliffs on either side of the gully are honeycombed with dugouts, each with a little light shining, and in the declining light, with the moon hanging overhead, shining on the sea, it is a very beautiful sight. We had a topping ride back along the road on the edge of the cliff overlooking the calm sea, lit up by silver moonlight. We could see quite plainly enough to canter, and cantering by moonlight in such beautiful surroundings is a unique pleasure."

see  for more information on Gully Ravine, which is today one of the most beautiful areas of the Gallipoli battlefield.

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SOURCE: J. Gillam, Gallipoli Diary, (Stevenage, The Strong Oak Press, 1989), pp.141-142