We scrambled up the hill for about 200 yards, & then we dumped our packs, & started off at a fair pace for the firing line, for everyone was anxious to get up to them. We lost a few men advancing over an exposed piece of ground. It did seem funny to hear the bullets cutting into the scrub alongside us as we went along, but no one seemed afraid, & we were laughing & joking as we went along. I don’t want you to think I am skiting when you read this, for I will take my oath on it that it is true. I know myself I never felt the slightest fear the first day or two; it was when we began to realise that bullets hurt when they hit you, that we knew what fear was. The first time that fear came to me was on the third day, when we were in a perfect Hell of bullets, & men were being killed all round me. I felt frightened, & I am not ashamed to say that I had a terrible fight with myself that day: one part of me wanted to run away & leave the rest of my mates to face it, & the other part said no, we would stop & see it out at any cost rather than show the white feather. This sort of thing went on for about an hour & a bayonet charge settled the argument for me. I was fairly right after that but I am getting ahead of myself.
We reached the firing line just in time to reinforce the 3rd Brigade who were being badly cut about. Talk about a hail of bullets; it’s a marvel how any could live in such a storm of lead. I was not long in getting a crack on the ankle but I was lucky for it was a spent piece of shrapnel that caught me. It stung a bit I can tell you — I thought my foot was gone at least. I hobbled back a bit & got it bandaged up, & then I joined the boys again.
About this time the Queen Elizabeth let fly, & without a word of a lie the whole hills shook & trembled from the concussion of those mighty guns. I watched her fire all her 8.15 inch guns at once, & I thought the world surely had come to an end for she was shooting over our heads. We heard the screams of those awful shells — it put me in mind of a fast express train rushing through a deep cutting. Close on their heels came the terrific report from those giant guns, & everything trembled. I would not have cared to be within a quarter of a mile when those monster shells burst. Just imagine if you can the effect of them; each one weighs just under a ton. Where these shells burst there were hundreds of Turks — we could see them quite plainly, & were firing at them — but after the smoke & dust had cleared away there was nothing to be seen at all. What were not killed by pieces of shell & shrapnel were killed by the concussion.
The other ships were still hammering away & the roar was continuous. We advanced a fair bit that morning, & if we only had more men we would most certainly have broke right through to the Straits for they were fairly on the run, but towards evening they came at us in thousands, & we were forced to retire. Some of the boys got cut off, but they refused to surrender, & died fighting to the last.
That night we took up our position & started to dig little shallow trenches. All that night they attacked us, but we drove them back time after time. We used to get all sorts of orders, such as “cease fire”, “English on your right”, “the French are closing in on the left”, “you are firing on your own men”. They came from German officers who dressed in our fellows’ clothes, & got in our lines. They found a few of them out at once, & they were shot immediately, but we never took no notice of these orders — we could see the Turks too plain for that. The fighting never ceased that night, & as daylight broke it grew more furious than ever.
I shot 3 snipers dead today (26th April). They were picking off our poor fellows who were hobbling down to the dressing stations. The first one I killed I took his belt off to keep as a souvenir of my first kill with the rifle, the other 2 I laid out beautifully. I felt a lot more satisfied after that for I had got even with them, & that was great satisfaction to me.
The battle still raged with unabating fury, & the shrapnel fire was worse if anything today for during the night the Turks must have brought up a lot more guns & were making things uncomfortably warm for us. The warships were trying to find the Turkish batteries, but I don’t think they done much good, for the fire never slackened, & so we battled the day through. We were losing steadily but the Turks suffered just as much as we were doing. I had no water at all today for a bullet had penetrated my water bottle & let it all out, but I was not the only one in that state, for most of the chaps had emptied their water bottles to keep the machine guns going. That’s the sort of spirit they fought with; went thirsty themselves rather than let the machine gun get too hot to work.
I never saw Len since we landed, & don’t know where he is.
We held on somehow all that day & night against terrible odds. The next day, 27th April, was the fiercest day of all, it was one constant struggle. They done their damndest to wipe us right out, but if ever men fought hard, well the Colonials did that day. They got that close to the section we were holding that we were ordered to prepare to charge. At the word “charge” we hopped out as one man & before the Turks knew what was happening we were among them. I don’t remember much about it, but I can recollect driving the bayonet into the body of one fellow quite clearly. He fell right at my feet & when I drew the bayonet out, the blood spurted from his body. The next thing I remember is being back in the trench with about half the number of chaps that were there before — the other brave boys were lying dead outside with the officer who took us out. A 13th Batt officer he was, & brave as you like.
That little charge cleared them out & released the pressure for a while but they came just as thick as ever again that evening. We could see it would mean another charge so the officer in charge collected all the spare men he could find, & we got ready again. At a given signal over the boys went. The Turks did not wait this time, but were off for their lives. I had the great luck to get another unspeakable this time. I was hot foot after him, & he tripped & fell. Before he could rise I had the bayonet right through him, & he died without a struggle. It seems an awful thing to say I know, killing men like that, but there was no prouder man on the peninsula than my humble self that night.
When they ceased their attacks & accepted defeat, I had 2 rifles smashed in my hands during the fighting on the 27th April, & I also had the pleasure of knowing that I had been in the hottest part of the battle. This piece was afterwards known as the Chessboard, on account of it being so furrowed with trenches, & Quinn’s Post was just here. The piece of ground opposite us was literally covered with dead bodies, our own boys & Turks. God knows what our losses were — must have run into a few thousands.
I was very much relieved when I heard that Len had got through safely. He was fairly close to where the first charge came off & I did not know it.
On the 27th April they landed a fair number of R.M.L.I.s (they are an English regiment), & the 1st Batt were called from the trenches for a spell. Some of the R.M.L.I. took our place. Now we thought we were right, for we all thought at that time that the English soldier was unbeatable, but we soon had that silly idea knocked out of our heads, for they were no sooner in one trench taken by the 4th Brigade than they lost it, & the 15th Batt had to retake it & help them hold it.
When they got us all together, they called the roll & of the 1200 men who landed 3 days ago, only 500 were left. You should have seen the chaps shaking hands with one another & telling how so & so got knocked out & where another fellow was wounded. We were all as hungry as could be, & sleepy was no name for it, for we had no sleep for 3 days & nights. They gave us a ration of bacon each, which we fried & ate with some biscuits & bully. We had a swim, in spite of the shrapnel which was flying round.
On the fourth day the Triumph sailed in close to Gaba Tepe & knocked the fort to pieces. It was a fine sight to see the heavy stonework being knocked to dust. Those naval guns hit with some force I can tell you.
On the 27th April the Turks made a big effort to stop all reinforcements from reaching the shore. The way they tried to do it was to turn every available gun on the transports, & put a curtain of fire between them & the shore so as it would be impossible for men to come through it. It was just like a heavy hailstorm, the l
ine where the shrapnel was bursting, but all the good they done in spite of the big Asiatic shells & all their field guns & howitzers was to sink one trawler & hit a couple of transports. They never succeeded in stopping the traffic to & from the boats.
And now let me say one word in praise of the sailors. They were in my opinion the heroes of the landing. The way they rowed back & forwards with men, in spite of the terrific fire directed on them, was marvellous for they were helpless. A few of them got carried away by the rush & enthusiasm of the boys, & snatching up a rifle went off with them. I am afraid there were not many of them saw the day through. Australia’s name was made with the British sailors from that day; they will do anything in reason for an Australian or New Zealander. Our fellows get on well with them, & they are fine fellows without a doubt. They used to bring us bread, butter, tobacco & etc when they came ashore from their ships & our fellows would exchange for this shells, bullets & all sorts of curios.
On the 28th April we spelled all day, & cleaned ourselves up. The fighting had died almost down, & things were fairly quiet. Both sides were digging in, & now commenced a series of little fights for the best position to run the trenches. There were constant attacks & counter-attacks for nearly a month after this.
On the 29th April we went back to the trenches & the first thing we had to do was to rush a trench that the Marines had held & lost. Our Company was entrusted with this piece of work. We attacked just at daybreak, & got into the trench with the loss of a few men. This is where I got a bullet which just grazed my kneecap, a very close call. Holding the trench was the job for it was cut off from the rest of our positions, & we had no communication sap cut through at that time, though they were hard at it. The Turks got all round us & we were expecting them to attack us with the bayonet, but we made it a bit too hot for them with the rifles & they kept off.
We held it all that day without water or food, for they could not get any to us without coming over the open ground, & that was certain death. Night came & we were still in it with our dead men in the trench; we had to sit on them the place was so crowded & shallow. All the time our chaps were working like Trojans to get the sap through. Nothing much happened that night, though they crept up close, & sniped a few of our men off. This is where we first came in contact with the bombs. The Turks threw a couple at us but they fell short & done no damage.
The next day to our great joy the first man got through with water & ammunition. That put new life into us, & to our great relief we were relieved that night. We were just about done for we had not closed our eyes for 2 days & nights & were nearly starving.
Our losses in the taking & holding of that little bit of trench (about 40 yds) were 15 men killed & about the same number wounded. It was afterwards known as the “Death Trap”.
I had a stripe at this time, & so was in charge of a certain part of the trench. Things were pretty quiet for a time after this, though the shell fire was pretty hot at times. We were all busy consolidating our trenches & putting up parapets & making loopholes. It was just about this time that General Bridges was killed in Shrapnel Gully, & everyone was sorry. The other Generals wanted him to withdraw all of us on the Sunday night when we were so hard pushed — the Navy had the boats all ready for us to re-embark — but General Bridges said the Australians would never give in & if they had to die he would die with them, & so he did. He was fearless. I saw him myself several times in the very thickest of the fighting, walking about encouraging the men & as cool as a cucumber.
We also lost our Brigadier & Bde Major, Colonel MacLaurin & Major Irvine, & most of our Battalion officers were either killed or wounded. My word they were a fine lot, our original officers. I don’t think there was a single squib among them. They were with their men all the time, & turned up trumps.
There was rather a funny little incident when we rushed the death-trap trench. In our Company we had a big tall chap, “Baby Bliss” we named him. He was 6 ft 3 in height & weighed a trifle of 23 stone. Well when we got into one section of the trench we had to crawl through a small hole just large enough for a man of ordinary size. Most of us got through alright, & it came to Baby Bliss’s turn. He got halfway through, & then he got stuck, & could neither go forward nor back — we had to dig him out.
The snipers were very bad about this time & parties were sent out after them. They got small mercy when our chaps caught them; they would run the bayonet through & through them. Shrapnel Gully was a terrible place for them as they could see right down it from their position. We had to build great barriers of sandbags, & the men had to go up it in little rushes from barrier to barrier. Even then scores of them were killed.
The days here at this time were nice & warm, though the nights were very cold, & we had no blankets as yet, only wet & cold dugouts, but still there was no grumbling to talk about.
I think the sunsets here are the prettiest I have ever seen. The sun used to set between 2 islands, Imbros & Samothrace, & part of the time their mountains were capped with snow, which would glisten & turn all colours with the sky as the sun went down. I used to sit & watch these sunsets for an hour at a stretch, watch them turn from gold to pink, from pink to a pretty red, & from that to a lovely blue & gold tint. It would finally go down in a deep red colour gradually fading away to a steel grey as twilight came on.
There was nothing of any importance happened, beyond the 4th Battalion & us changing places in the line, & very hard work & plenty of it — deepening the trenches, & cutting saps & gun positions for our artillery. Most of this work falls on the infantry. They are easily the hardest worked unit of the whole lot, & you can say that they do all the fighting, for all other units with the exception of the engineers are beyond the firing line, & well to the rear some of them are, especially the A.S.C. & artillery.
On the 18th May the first lot of Light Horse arrived, & they camped at the head of Shrapnel Gully. That afternoon the Turks started the bombardment, & every time a Jack Johnson lobbed in our trenches they would cheer, & when one overshot the trenches & fell in among them we would cheer. Nice, wasn’t it, & men getting blown sky high. I’ll never forget the first one that came along. It was early in the morning, & I was looking through the periscope, watching for a chance shot. When I heard a sort of whining noise, I did not take much notice, & the next thing I remember was a terrific bang, & I was lying covered with sandbags & dirt. I can remember real well me holding the periscope up with one hand so as it would not get broken. I was quickly dragged out, none the worse for my narrow shave. The great shell had not lobbed more than 10 yards from me; it threw great chunks of earth sky high & tore a hole in the ground big enough for 10 men to be buried in. After the first one came over I can tell you we watched for them for you can see them coming quite easily, & hear them a long way off — they have a sort of screech which you can never mistake, once you hear it.
All day long they bombarded us. When they first started the big shells, the Turks thought they had us at their mercy, & they got quite cheeky & exposed themselves freely, but we soon spoilt that little game, for we got to our loopholes & waited for them with pretty good result — they mighty soon kept their heads below the parapet.
Towards evening the bombardment grew fiercer, & it reached its highest point about 2.30 in the morning. The scene during this shelling was a wild but beautiful sight. The Chessboard was a mass of bursting shells, our own & the Turks’, & as they burst they threw out different-coloured flashes, some golden, some pink, yellow, blue, dark & light red, & all different shades from the different sorts of explosives they were using. There was a perfect din while this was going on, then all of a sudden it seemed to stop. It was quiet for about 10 minutes, then a terrific rifle fire broke out, & we could hear the Turks calling on their God as they came at us. Every man was ready for them, & we tore it in right & left. They broke in at one or two points, but those that got in never got out no more — they were bayoneted instantly.
We had some fine shots among us & they made nearly every shot
tell. It was like shooting rabbits coming out of a warren, they were just about as helpless. The chaps almost quarrelled with one another for the right to stand on the platforms so as they could get a good cut at them. Many of them got on top & even pulled the parapets down in their eagerness for a fly at them. This is how a good few got killed.
What a time it would have been for a counter-attack, but worse luck we never had the men. General Birdwood told us after that all we could muster was 10,000 men & 40 guns against at least 30,000 Turkish regulars & 90 guns. Pretty big odds, but they could attack for ever if they didn’t put more dash into their charges, & would never have taken our trenches.
During those 2 days Len accounted for 30 Turks & Wagga got about 20 more. He was a very fine shot was Wagga. I never had the opportunity they did for I was in charge of the post we were on, & had to look after the men & see that ammunition was kept up & etc etc, but still for all that I got a few, though not nearly so many as Len or Wagga bagged. A couple of days after this General Walker congratulated Len on his shooting & his name was taken. I could never understand why more did not come out of it — he must have lost the paper with the names on it.
The ground between the trenches was simply covered with Turkish dead. There was a blind trench just in front of D Company’s trench that was simply a mass of dead & wounded Turks. They let them get in there so as a machine gun could enfilade them but hanged if the machine gun didn’t block after firing about 60 rounds, & the boys had to shoot them over the parapet, & never a man escaped.
The Light Horse never took no part in this scrap at all — they were in reserve in the gully. This was purely an infantry affair, though our artillery & Indian batteries done some fine shooting. The way the Indian batteries behaved on the first day or so of the landing is beyond all praise; they suffered heavily too. We had some Japanese bomb throwers in action here. They used to throw a bomb weighing 28 lbs away up into the air & you could watch it coming down with the bomb throwing a shower of sparks behind it, like the tail of a comet. They were a deadly thing & done a lot of damage.
In Great Spirits Page 4
