The Incomparable 29th and the "River Clyde" Part 12

_July 10th._--We had an unusually good dinner last night, a feast fit for the G.o.ds 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 c.o.c.ktails made by the General's A.D.C.

But I never enjoyed anything so much as a bottle of Ba.s.s 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 ma.s.ses 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 sh.e.l.led, 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 sh.e.l.l 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 sh.e.l.ls, 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 sh.e.l.l 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 s.h.i.+pping has gone, except three hospital s.h.i.+ps 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 wars.h.i.+p, lying close in, with all our field guns, raised a great roar, and a solid ma.s.s 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 d.a.m.ned 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 sh.e.l.ls 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 sh.e.l.ls 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 sh.e.l.ls, 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 sh.e.l.ling like that we gave the Turks that every man would be absolutely limp, and could not even aim when firing. Then, the more sh.e.l.ls 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.

10.55 p.m.--Fighting has gone on all day, and with great success on our side; we have regained our lost trenches and taken several new ones.

I had a very exciting and hot motor ride in search of the Liaison officer, at General Hunter-Weston's request, word having come in that he was badly wounded. I had many narrow escapes, especially from high explosives fired at a battery astride the road through which I had to dart, and afterwards from bullets when I left the car and went forward on foot. On stepping out of the car a man seeing I was on business stepped up to me and immediately dropped dead with a bullet through him. I searched our own and the French front lines amidst showers of bullets but could find no trace of the man I wanted. I had taken Col.

Yarr's orderly with me, an old regular. After clearing the battery, where big sh.e.l.ls from Asia were dropping on all sides of us, and at a terrific rate, he picked himself up from the floor of the car and swore roundly, and said Col. Yarr would never have taken him into such a hot place.

_July 15th._--About 5.30 a.m. we had a Taube overhead, which dropped two bombs on W. Beach, the acres of boxes at the Ordnance Stores being aimed at. A man's arm was blown off and two or three mules killed. We have moved our ammunition from Tekke Burnu, where it was too exposed, and the Turks seem to think we have mixed it up with these stores as a deception, hence these bombs to-day. The machine was at an enormous height, and its approach was neither seen nor heard, and the French monoplane gave it a start of at least five minutes before pursuing.

The Taube went in a westward direction, ours directly north, evidently with the view of cutting it off from its usual landing place. Our machine returned after forty minutes, but I have not heard if it was successful.

I went to Aberdeen Gully this morning having returned from H.Q.

yesterday forenoon.

_July 16th._--Woke this morning about 6 after a delightfully peaceful night. I lay in my bunk, surrounded by muslin to keep the flies out, and felt wonderfully contented with my lot. Such peace could not last long, soon the booming of guns was heard some way off, others nearer followed, and one over our heads joined in the chorus, and by 10 o'clock rather a fierce Turkish cannonade commenced.

6 p.m.--I took the temperature of the air to-day for the first time and found it 92.5--not the hottest day I have felt here, still uncomfortably warm. Walked over to Y. Beach in the forenoon, and up The Gully later, meeting the Hants and Worcesters marching down with their full kits--all off to Lemnos or somewhere out of the reach of sh.e.l.ls. These are the very last of the 29th Division to leave except the three ambulances.

_July 17th._--W. Beach. Returned from Aberdeen Gully to-day. Last night the Asiatic guns were troublesome about W. Beach, also a Taube which dropped bombs about the ammunition dump. By sh.e.l.l or bomb a fire was started that cost us 1,000,000 rounds of rifle ammunition.

I had an order in the forenoon to inoculate the H.Q. Staff against cholera. On going over at 6.15, the appointed hour, I found General Hunter-Weston had gone some hours before, along with Col. Yarr, to Lemnos for a much-needed rest. I inoculated two other Generals and forty-five others, finis.h.i.+ng up with a dose for myself.

One of our men had a letter from a friend who is with the 2nd Highland F.A. in France. He spoke about them retiring out of sh.e.l.l fire for a rest, and after pitching camp a sh.e.l.l fell in the next field. They then struck camp and went back another 5 miles. "Good G.o.d," some one heard him declare, "an' here's his, we could na gang five inches."

_July 18th._--Last night about 11 o'clock seventeen sh.e.l.ls came over from Asia, and one hit a huge pile of cartridge boxes and set it ablaze. It burned furiously, with a very alarming sputter, bullets flying everywhere, although their velocity was not great. They were flying over our heads and we had to go underground. Several about the fire got rather badly wounded. When fully alight the noise was the most earsplitting I ever heard, not that it was so very loud, but there was something painful about it. This pile was composed of cartridges taken off our own dead and wounded, and those picked up about the trenches, where a sinful waste goes on, although I believe the big half was captured Turkish ammunition. Many millions were burned.

In the morning I was asked to spend the day at H.Q. to relieve Col.

Yarr's successor. Major-General Stopford (afterwards in command at the Sulva landing) was acting as G.O.C. Everything seems very quiet at present, as if we were to be in no hurry to make another attack--a pity, I think.

At 9.30 p.m. I went over to the "River Clyde" to guide an ambulance that was coming out from England. They landed at midnight, and are to encamp with us--we fondly hope and believe for the purpose of relieving us. Asiatic sh.e.l.ls were flying as they landed, and for some hours afterwards, an unfortunate and alarming experience as all were raw to warfare.

_July 19th._--For some days we have been looking for orders to go somewhere for a rest. The order came suddenly to-day at 8 p.m. and we were ordered to be on board at 10 at V. Beach. A tall order indeed, all had to pack up and stow away what we were leaving behind. The most of B Section was at Aberdeen Gully, 4 miles away. Word was sent to these, but the note miscarried, and by the time they were able to come in it was long past midnight.

_July 20th._--Last night C Section was sent off in advance, A following about 11 o'clock. We hoped to get off quickly, the object of the rest being to take us out of sh.e.l.l fire. We had to pa.s.s along the road at the top of the lighthouse cliff, and C Section, as they waited for us beside the "River Clyde," observed a signal about the time we had been pa.s.sing that point. The k.u.m Kale guns gave us what they considered a fair time to cover the remaining piece of ground, and just as we were coming up to the "River Clyde," under whose shelter we were to embark, we heard the whistle of an approaching sh.e.l.l. We lay flat but there was no time for shelter. Instead of one sh.e.l.l, as we thought, four (some say six) burst simultaneously about us, all high explosives. Not a man was. .h.i.t, which was an absolute miracle; all had burst beside us, and actually among us, as I thought. I rushed back through the dense smoke and dust, expecting to find terrible havoc in our ranks, and found the men had bolted to shelter, leaving their packs in the middle of the road. I shouted but got no reply, but in twos and threes they collected near the pier, and rushed along to the side of the boat. Other men had been pa.s.sing along this pier when the sh.e.l.ls burst, and a number were killed and mangled, one of the barges being simply splashed with blood. All this was most unfortunate, but it did not end until we got sixteen sh.e.l.ls in all. The officers after the first salvo sheltered at the entrance of a deep dugout owned by a Frenchman. Whenever he saw the flash of a gun over the water he shouted "k.u.m Kale" and pointed to his dugout, when we dived down in beautiful style, tumbling over each other down the dark steps. At last our mine-sweeper came in and we boarded her about 1.30 a.m. to-day.

She took us beyond the reach of the guns to the "Osmanieh," a fine boat of the Khedivial mail line. I had had practically no sleep for the last three nights, and I was soon on the top of my bed half undressed and fast asleep.

We breakfasted at 8 as we were entering the outer roads of Lemnos.

Here we had two more transfers before we landed on the most inhospitable looking sh.o.r.e we had ever seen. We soon wished ourselves back in Gallipoli with its sh.e.l.ls. The wind blew, and such a dust. All the land round the harbour, and far inland is one large camp. The harbour is covered with battles.h.i.+ps and transports, most of the former flying the tricolour flag, and among the others are many of the largest liners in the world, the "Mauretania" with her four funnels being one of them. We trudged on for 1-1/2 miles through the most terrible dust, underfoot and in the air, and took possession of a rushy piece of ground, the only natural piece we could find, all the rest being under cultivation of vines, French beans, maize, and other crops. It is a G.o.d-forsaken place in the meantime. We could get nothing to eat or drink, but finally, after 4 o'clock, we managed to "borrow" sufficient water to make tea. After a meal of bread, and a small tin of salmon between us all, we felt a bit revived, and the desire to return to the sh.e.l.ls of Gallipoli lessened. But we are ordered to strike camp, we are interfering with the privacy of some fellows who have the honour to belong to H.Q. of the 87th Division, and we must be off to-night.

_July 21st._--I expected to have to go to bed hungry last night, but Pirie of the Lancs. called and asked Kellas and myself to dine with him, so that I finally went to rest under the stars feeling quite comfortable. I spread my two coats on the ground, thought twice about undressing, but, wis.h.i.+ng to have a good sleep, got into my pyjamas, and with a single blanket over me slept till about 3 a.m. when I woke up feeling bitterly cold. We are now encamped in the midst of vineyards, where there is an excellent crop of grapes, but they are sour and unripe. I got hold of a Greek yesterday and asked him if he could bring a supply of fruit to us in the evening. He did a big trade among the men with oranges and lemons, and when he saw me produced a special sack with some really fine pears and oranges, and a huge red-fleshed water melon which we had for breakfast, in spite of the warning that we were to guard against all sorts of fruit, but melons in particular. This morning I gathered a supply of French beans and think a good dish of green food will benefit our health. Except at H.Q. I have never had an opportunity of anything of the kind.