Chapter 13

In the afternoon a well-known lion hunter looked in and had a shrapnel bullet removed from his shoulder. He was a most interesting man, and gave us all his views about the conduct of the war. Every mistake that it is possible to make has been made, he thinks. Once more we are hung up for want of ammunition. He is no optimist with regard to the duration of the war. Unless the new landing pushes on and keeps hitting he fails to see how they will do much. Even though Austria and Turkey are knocked out, Germany is one vast fort, with everything within herself, and will hold out for long. He condemns our statesmen for even now not initiating conscription, and making every unmarried man serve. He severely criticises the quality of our shells, half per cent. of which burst prematurely. The fuses of all those available, where this has happened, have been picked up and examined and all have been correctly set. A French battery of 75's is stationed behind this man's battery, firing its shells just 8 feet above his head, and since it took up its position it has only had two premature bursts, and one of these was caused by the shell striking the branch of a tree. We have been buying shells everywhere, and he says those supplied by America are far and away the worst.

_August 11th._--While we were at tea this afternoon de Boer rushed into our mess in Aberdeen Gully to say that he had brought down, by our bearers at the Zigzag, Captain O'Hara, whom I have spoken about before as the only officer of the 86th Brigade left alive and unwounded. He had lately been sent to Egypt to look after prisoners, and I was unaware that he had again joined the firing line, but I fancy he had found the other job much too slow. He was full of pluck, it was not from attempts to save his skin that O'Hara had escaped so long. To-day he and a Turk were sniping each other, and after a time O'Hara had such a poor opinion of his opponent's firing that he got upright to walk away when the Turk hit him through the back. When I went up to him I said, "Hullo! O'Hara, I haven't seen you for ages". "No," he answered, "and perhaps you'll never see me again." He was one of our greatest heroes, and a most likeable fellow. (Long afterwards I heard that he progressed well for three weeks when he suddenly grew worse, and died on his way home.)

Twenty-four K.O.S.B.'s came in between 2 and 4 a.m. to-day. They had blown up a Turkish sap, and on rushing forward to seize and hold it they found themselves greatly outnumbered. Most of them were very badly wounded, and four died in our station before morning.

_August 12th._--Feeling lazy I rode from Aberdeen Gully to W. Beach, where I spend the next four days. This is only about the fourth time I have been on horseback since I left Mex, the reason for my walking is that I require exercise--and a lot of it--and besides you cannot dodge a shell when mounted.

_August 13th._--We had a big mail to-day. The papers of July 21 announce that all lieutenants in the R.A.M.C., T.F., become captains after six months' service. My captaincy will thus date from April 16 last. The Turks made an attack on the French and our centre last night. We replied with a furious cannonade, then rifle fire continued for the remainder of the night.

_August 14th._--W. Beach. Beautiful, still morning, as most mornings are, but to-day is unusually calm. The sea without a ripple, and a heat haze hangs over all. Our harbour at W. Beach is full of ships, and just beyond it, at anchor, with their smoke rising lazily, are two hospital ships, white to their mast heads except for their surrounding belt of green broken by three large Red Crosses, all dazzling in the sunlight. The harbour is a busy place, and is now a good and commodious one, formed by a pier which it has taken months to build from the rocks of Tekke Burnu. As the work proceeded slowly, the water it was desired to enclose was further shut in by sinking two large steamers, a costly method of pier building perhaps, but here I believe it may be the cheapest, as Greek labour which built the stonework is dear, and the Greeks poor workmen. They are so nervous that when a shell comes their way from "Asiatic Annie" they bolt like a lot of rabbits to their holes, where they cannot be unearthed for the next half-hour. They were not engaged, they rightly say, to work under shell fire, and this often happening several times a day the pier made little progress. We have also put the Turkish prisoners on this job, and this morning I watched two bodies of these being marched down under French guards with fixed bayonets--a capital idea this to put the Turks under their own fire.

10 p.m.--Tremendous blasts came floating in from the sea about 5 o'clock, so I went over to the lighthouse ruins to find out what was doing. One of our monitors lay beside Rabbit Island and was throwing her 14-inch shells at a ridge on the Dardanelles beyond Kum Kale, where we know "Asiatic Annie" and her sisters live. These had been firing at V. Beach and the French lines just before. All very well, I thought, the monitor can do no harm, but she will stir up these guns to give us a lively time at W., and I was not many minutes back when they started, the shells coming in fours, just to prove to us that their guns were all there. We received about fifty shots in all. We had seven destroyers all afternoon at the mouth of the Dardanelles, which looked as if they intended something unusual. Now again after a pause these guns are firing at their hardest at V. Beach--aye, and here too.

_August 15th._--I wrote the last clause (aye, and here too) just before a shell burst behind me. It was one of a group of four, and was two seconds at most in front of the other three, which were simultaneous absolutely. Howls and cries for help at once came from a tent 15 yards in front of my dugout. A shell had crashed into this tent where five men were lying, exploding at the feet of one, and shattering his leg at the ankle. The other four were untouched. Some of the fuses of yesterday's shells have been dug up to-day, and we find from the brilliant orange colour on these that lydite had been used, in some of the shells at least.

To-day a snake 38 inches long was caught in our camp. About twenty men armed themselves with sticks, axes, etc., and surrounded it, but kept a most respectful distance away, having great faith in its springing powers. Sergeant Gavin Greig, who has been in Ceylon and knows otherwise, got it by the neck and put it in a bottle which he filled up with methylated spirit much to the poor brute's dislike as was witnessed by its contortions.

An order came yesterday from the A.D.M.S. asking if we could move off with our present equipment on a sudden call. This has stimulated all those responsible to overhaul all our material, which, though deficient in some points, is adequate. Our greatest deficiency is in personnel; we are short of our original number by three officers and thirty-eight men, this being due to casualties and sickness. Kellas was killed nine days ago, Whyte and Morris are home on sick leave.

_August 16th._--At 8 a.m. as Fiddes and I were preparing to go out to Pink Farm, a message came that we were to embark any time after 17 o'clock (i.e. 5 p.m.). We withdrew all men and equipment from our two advanced dressing stations, and had a busy day in camp packing up all we possessed. We left at 8.30 after a supper of chicken and champagne--something very unusual--and got on board the "Ermine," a Glasgow boat. The officers made themselves as comfortable as possible for the night in the smoke room, where several K.O.S.B. officers had already deposited themselves. I managed to sleep a little at first, but my nearest companion, a K.O.S.B., being unable to persuade me to put my legs over his, placed his over mine while I was in an awkward position, and rather than disturb him, I lay still. My friend was less considerate, he next planked his big, dirty boots alongside my face, which were anything but pleasant, they smelt as if their owner kept cows.

We only steamed about one and a half hours when the anchor was let go with the usual rattle, and we heard some one from another boat shouting that the troops were to remain on board till morning. No one took the trouble to look out to see where we were, such a thing seemed to be of no interest.

_August 17th._--Suvla Bay. Tuesday, 2 p.m. We landed at Suvla Bay about 5 a.m. and marched to the point of the projecting piece of land on the north side. The bay is entirely closed by a boom, and inside we have a fairly large fleet of battleships and transports, and a large number of smaller boats, while three hospital ships lie outside. The Turks have been shelling these rather furiously, but I have seen no hits. Our troops on land are also having their share. All our equipment was sent off on a lighter, which has not yet arrived, and as all our rations are with it we are in dire straits. Luckily another ambulance took pity on us and gave us tea and hard ration biscuits, but there is no sign of further meals, nor do we expect any.

I am sitting on the side of a rocky slope, and just in front, in a dip of the hill, are crowded the whole of the 87th Brigade to which we are for the present attached. All arrived this morning and there is nothing but confusion. The heat is terrific, and is intensified by the large amount of bare rocks, which are so hot that it is impossible to lay your hand on them. The surrounding hills, especially hill 972, S.E. of the Salt Lake which glistens in the distance, are barren and rugged, with no sign of cultivation, except about the foot of that hill, where there is said to be a village, but it is invisible. Round the Salt Lake a good many trees are dotted about, likely olives and figs, and a good deal of bright green scrub exists on the lower hill slopes. This scrub Ashmead-Bartlett calls furze in his articles, but I have never seen furze in Gallipoli. This plant is generally 2 to 3 feet high, is in very solid bushes of a stiff, fibrey nature, with an ovate, dark green glaucous leaf. Thyme and numerous other plants abound. I have been interested in the weathering of the rocks beside the sea, this reminding me of the Brig at Filey. This follows a most peculiar pattern, like a number of leopard skins spread out on the rocks.

I wish night was here, even though we are to go supperless to bed; one would give anything for the cool air one can be sure of after sundown.

It was here that a landing was made by Kitchener's army ten days ago. They are said to have put up a very poor fight. Trained and steady troops, it is said, would have had practically a walk over, as the opposition was slight, little more than a brigade of Turks having checked two divisions of our men. A few shells fell on the top of a ridge where they were advancing. This made a number of the men bolt, others were seized with panic, and all seem to have got out of hand. A splendid opportunity of turning the Turks' flank, joining up with the Australians, and seizing Achi Baba from the north, has been lost, and the difficulties in front of us are much increased. There is nothing for it now but to land troops in such numbers that defeat is out of the question, and it must be done quickly before the wet season sets in. I am afraid we must be content to hold the Germans in check in France, and withdraw the necessary troops from there.

_August 18th._--Yesterday and to-day have been the warmest days we have experienced in Gallipoli. The reason that our present station is warmer than the point (Helles) is the attraction and retention of heat by the rocks, and our camp is on the south face of a high ridge, where we have absolutely no shade. Last evening a Taube sailed over us and discharged four bombs at the warships, all missing, but one was within a few yards of its mark. This evening two came over together, but were fired at before they got overhead, and bore off to the left, unharmed although numerous shots from the ships followed them.

After breakfast I went to Brigade H.Q. to announce that the ship ("Manitou"--B.12) which brought our baggage came in yesterday, and after discharging about a third of our belongings set sail for Lemnos, as she had to be there by a given hour. I had to explain that we could not open a clearing station with our shortage of equipment, but that by afternoon we would be prepared to put patients into improvised blanket shelters. The Brigadier for the time being is Colonel Lucas, who was absent on a visit to his regiments, and I had an interview with Major Brand of his staff. He gave me orders that our unit had to dig itself in before night. This is very necessary as we are still under shell fire in every part we hold here, and are just as exposed as in Helles. Another ambulance is encamped beside us, and two shells bursting among them this morning killed two men and wounded two. A big piece of shell hurtled over my head last night, hitting a rock about two yards away.

Three rumours have come to us this evening, which have put us all into the best of spirits, although we know one is a story, and we are so accustomed to rumours that we doubt the truth of the other two:--

1. Achi Baba has been captured!--certainly not true. The ships in the bay were well bombarded this afternoon, and we saw two shells hit a big transport. A section of an ambulance was on board this ship, and, on their landing in the evening, their comrades gave them a rousing cheer, and when this was heard in other parts the only interpretation that could be put on it was the capture of this troublesome hill.

2. Warsaw we could guess had to fall to the German army, but we hear they soon had the worst of it and fled with enormous casualties.

3. We hear we have advanced 26 miles in France. We try to believe there is some truth in this, but it must be a great exaggeration.

The Turks are supposed to have a number of big guns mounted on rails behind one of the higher ridges overlooking us, and rumour says this railway was taken this afternoon, but I do not believe it. Ugly ridges they are, and certainly we can never capture some of them except by turning, many having a sheer, rocky face of 400 or 500 feet. We know extremely little about what is going on within a few miles of us. I have seen eleven sour-looking Turks marched in as prisoners to-day, which shows we are doing something at any rate. Constant fire goes on, and the ships strike in several times a day for half an hour or so, but naval guns are not well suited for this work. Down about Helles--15 miles off--we can hear much booming too.

_August 19th._--Two days ago I spoke about the scrub Ashmead-Bartlett calls furze. I now find it is almost certainly the plant from which our briar pipes are made. The stem is slender, but the root expands to a considerable extent, and I have seen parts of these, which our men have dug up when clearing the ground, about 4 to 6 inches thick. The fibres are twisted in all directions, giving the wood the well-known bird's eye appearance. What is exposed to the weather seems quickly to darken.

The geology is interesting. I have spoken about the strange weathering of the rocks at the Beach. All the rock on this point of land dips at an angle of 45 degrees, and points northwards. I put it all down as Devonian, it is almost exactly like Hugh Miller's old red sandstone, as seen in Ross-shire, the matrix of a paler red, but the mass of water-worn pebbles embedded in it is the same. The matrix contains lime as is seen in the large amount of calcite that exists. A vein, perhaps 5 feet thick, of a slatey substance runs across just in front of us, and contains a well, which is the only sign of fresh water I have seen so far. The Engineers have sunk a well in a marly part near this, but the earth they are throwing up is perfectly dry, and they might as well give it up.

_Later._--Some one now tells me that the rocks are Tertiary and not Devonian, and that my slatey vein is cobalt. Much of the stone peels readily into large flat slabs which we find useful in building our dug-outs.

There was much rifle and big gunfire last night. The ships have displayed about a normal amount of activity to which the Turk has replied, but his marksmanship is worse than it was yesterday.

We had rain this morning, which was heavy enough to be disagreeable, and it was with difficulty we kept ourselves and our belongings dry. It gives us a foretaste of what to expect soon. But before then we must get on. About Helles the naval guns are very busy.

This morning we had sixty-nine cases of sick and wounded in our hospital. We are expected to keep all minor cases of wounds, and cases of sickness likely to return to duty in a few days, while the more severe cases we send to the hospital ships for the various bases. We saw besides about fifty walking cases, all belonging to our 86th Brigade.

_August 20th._--Last night was very chilly, and for the first time for weeks we had to put on our tunics and unroll our shirt sleeves. But the weather has again changed and to-day is uncomfortably warm.

On landing on the 17th a man I chanced to speak to told me that a rumour is afloat that the Kaiser was suing for peace through the Pope. This I give no heed to, but to-day we have it on better authority, and it is said he is prepared to give up Belgium, Poland, and Alsace-Lorraine. He will have to give these up and a great deal more, nothing but unconditional surrender will be listened to, with partition of his fleet among the Allies. The Emperor of Austria is also said to have declared that he will not allow his people to endure another winter campaign.

7 p.m.--The bearers of our Ambulance have been ordered to proceed to the foot of a hill 3 miles off, beside the Salt Lake, and to take up their position before dawn. I for one will have to go too. I know the spot well in the distance, and know it is a favourite dumping ground for Turkish shells. At present it is pitch dark at night, and we have no idea what we have to encounter on the way.

_August 21st._--Last night we were all busy preparing for our start at 3 a.m. We got off punctually at that hour, and marched in the dark for nearly 3 miles, by an unknown road, which was only a rough twisting track with many off-shoots. We were bound for "Chocolate Hill," east of the Salt Lake, but we have not got there yet. We floundered, and squabbled about what should be done so that daylight was on us before we passed the bar between the bay and the lake, where the main Clearing Station is, also three or four Ambulances. One of these took pity on us, and gave us breakfast, and the use of their ground until we should hear from the A.D.M.S. to whom we have sent a message for instructions. The A.D.M.S. Lt.-Col. J.G. Bell, appeared about 10, and we were planted by him in the middle of the bar, facing the bay, where we can get no shelter from the sun or shells, the bank behind us rising after much digging to less than 5 feet. Our orders are to form an Aid Post here, catching all the wounded that come our way.

We have an attack at 3 p.m., and apparently a very big one is expected, and we are waiting for its commencement. I have explored the bar which is about a mile long, and 300 yards wide, and have studied its flora. There is a large lily with a bunch of sweet-smelling flowers, not unlike the Madonna lily, but the flower is more notched and less of a funnel. It has enormous bulbs, some of which I scraped out of pure sand at a depth of 2 feet. Other bulbous plants are common, and huge downy reeds.

It is now 2 p.m. I am sitting in a juniper bush in the middle of the bar, scribbling, all the country in a scorching haze, the shells from the ships screeching over our heads, searching all the ridges and hollows in front of us. The Turks' guns have been silent for the last hour, no doubt in anticipation of giving us something warm; our bearers are off and have just passed in twos and threes across the north side of the lake, which at this period of the year is dry, except in the middle. On our side all is ready to give the Turk a good hiding, but every time at Helles we were just as prepared and the result always a practical failure. Now for the battle, and little chance of concluding my notes to-day.

6.50 p.m.--Ever since the appointed hour a very big fight has been in progress. To me the most exciting part was the advance of the 11th Division from the south side of Lala Baba, over a mile of absolutely unprotected country, where our men could not fire a shot in return to the perfect hail of shrapnel to which they were subjected, shells coming in fours and fives at a time right in their midst. There was the breadth of the lake between us, but with our glasses we had a good view of the whole proceedings. The number bowled over seemed small, considering that the last half-mile had to be crossed at the double, in a dense cloud of smoke from bursting shells. Whenever the cloud cleared off we saw distinctly that many dead and wounded lay about the field.

What I admired most was the plucky way the bearers did their work, all round the north and east side of the lake, while all the time they were subjected to fire, and towards the end of the day, when the Turk, apparently desperate, sent shell after shell among the bearers and ambulance wagons, at a time when there were no other troops near.

We have tried to dig ourselves into the banks of soft sea sand for the night, but the constant stream of fine sand fills up our excavations as fast as we dig. Four ships still keep firing--"Lord Nelson," "Swiftsure," "Agamemnon" (?) and "Euryalus"--and every shot brings down more sand.

Being off the direct track from the battlefield we have missed the wounded we expected. In spite of our tramping about all night in the dark we feel very fresh, and disappointed at having nothing to do, although in good spirits over our victory--for such we take it to be.

This is the first occasion on which we can find fault with the Turks' method of fighting, but to-day they have fired on all and sundry--bearers, ambulance wagons, Red Cross flags, and the C.C.S.