May 5th.—The attack on Achi Baba was to have commenced to-day at 10 o'clock, but the first cannon roar was not heard till 11, when all belched forth at the same minute. There seemed to be batteries everywhere, the French 75's being specially noticeable all day, along with some other field guns of theirs which had a peculiarly sharp bark.
The Ambulance was unable to do anything till afternoon, when we got in touch with the Regimental Aid Post of the Lancs. and with the Drake and Plymouth Battalions, whose wounded we were responsible for. With us all went well, although some stretcher squads I was with had a narrow escape, two shrapnel shells bursting immediately over our heads and kicking up a dust all round us.
Our transport men, who had nothing to do with carrying the wounded—by hand at any rate—requested me to get them some excitement, and "the hotter the better," and their deputy gave me a list of those eager for this. I took them up the lines as far as we were allowed, and it was with difficulty I kept them from going still further when they heard that out in the open there were wounded who could not be reached by the Regimental bearers on account of shrapnel. When wereached our own front line we found there was a small party of men along a water course still further out. Mainly for a "lark" we determined to go out to these to see if they had any wounded. The water course was dry except for green, stagnant pools, and coming on a deep and very filthy one I decided to mount the bank and make a rush for it. All made similar rushes, one at a time, and all of us were fired at at short range. We reached the small outpost of about a dozen men lying on their stomachs and got roundly sworn at, the small hole they were in could not hold us all and we had to show ourselves, which brought a torrent of bullets about the ears of all of us. It was a very enjoyable and exciting little outing. These men would have gone all the way to the Turkish lines with pleasure.
Those in authority are well pleased with the progress made, the left wing being pushed well forward. The weather during the day was bright, but windy, and with horses and wagons at the gallop the dust was very troublesome, the whole scene being often blurred. Towards evening the cold was intense. What wind we have had here has always been from the north, and at night it might be blowing over snow.
May 6th.—A furious attack was commenced by us at 11 p.m. on the Turkish right, while the French attacked their left. Judging by the increase of the Turks heavy fire they must have brought up more heavy guns. Rumours about Krithia being captured floated in, but I could never believe this, our pouring a constant stream of shells into the village proves that it was not in our hands. The truth seems to be that the Royal Scots pushed into it, and, while following the retreating Turks into a wood on the left, had one or more machine-guns turned on to them which mowed down over 200, while the remainder had to retreat.
One of our men got wounded to-day by a shrapnel bullet which followed round the bend of one of his ribs.
I paid a visit this afternoon to our old ship, the "River Clyde," and during the ten minutes I was there three shells were fired at her. During my short absence from W. Beach for this purpose three had landed there, presumably fired at two of our aeroplanes which had alighted behind us. Only one of the shells did any damage and it smashed a limbered wagon to matchwood. All came from Asia.
May 8th.—My goodness, such a rattle. Since Sunday, April 25, I doubt if I have heard its equal.
Krithia is not yet ours in spite of the awful loss of life its attempted capture has cost us. Batteries, right and left, in front and behind all commenced a simultaneous roar at 5.30 p.m. A fairly hot fire had gone on since 10 a.m., but 5.30 had been fixed for a more furious cannonade, timed no doubt with an infantry attack on Krithia. The whole of that part and the whole face of Achi Baba reek, with denser clouds, every here and there. The roar is simply grand, and one cannot help glorying in the tremendous power of man's devilment. I wish they could make twice as much noise.
May 9th.—I had to stop the above account of the day's doings suddenly and go out with the stretcher-bearers when we had a terrible time—hard work up to 1 a.m. and most of the time to the music of bullets about our ears. And amidst all the din and roar of battle a nightingale sang the whole day and still more sweetly all through the next night, perched in a clump of trees we had repeatedly to pass on the way to the Regimental Aid Posts of the Lancs. and Plymouth and Drake Battalions—such a contrast of sounds!
Later.—It is now 7.30 p.m. and the sun has gone downin a red glow behind the rugged mountains of Imbros as viewed from the entrance of my dugout. It has been a glorious day, uncomfortably warm, but calm and without dust, which has been disagreeable for a day or two. I have just had a bathe in the Aegean, which I was much in need of, this being the first time I have taken off my clothes since I left Lemnos. Walking along the beach I picked up a photograph of a chubby baby, the darling of some one no doubt. He will miss this link with home.
The Turks have had little stomach for fighting to-day. Sniping has gone on, of course, and occasionally a regular fusillade, but to us the day on the whole has been peaceful. From 5 a.m. we have been very busy among the Australian wounded, these being the principal sufferers in yesterday's fight, owing, it is said, to their charging with the bayonet at an inopportune moment. Many of their senior officers passed through our hands, and their men, fine, big fellows, in large numbers.
Thomson and I were in charge of our dressing station at the "Five Towers" from 9 a.m. yesterday till noon to-day, and were busy the whole time, except from about 1 to 5 a.m. to-day, when we lowered ourselves into a trench and tried to sleep.
Last night I started to go as far out as possible with five stretcher squads, but in the dark it is difficult to move, nearly every spot is taken up by men, horses, and transport, and you are continually challenged by sentries. After showing our men across a brook with a dark lantern, some others crossing with stretchers asked for a light, and as soon as I threw a flash on the water a bullet whistled past me from a sniper who must have penetrated our front line. I heard the whistle of many a bullet at close quarters yesterday, and to-day big shells have fallen on all the four sides of our dressing station, coming from Achi Baba.
Yesterday when the battle raged at its worst a telegram was handed to me, and read: "Good luck and fondest love—Mabel," and the date was April 2 (March 16 it should have been). This had followed me all the way from Avonmouth where it failed to find me as I was leaving for this expedition.
The amount of horrors Thomson and I came through yesterday and this morning was most sickening and depressing to both of us. The Australian Aid Post was a perfect shambles, about an acre of stretcher cases, horrible wounds, and all the surroundings soaked with blood. But such brave fellows!
May 10th.—We were very busy last night erecting tents for wounded, being the overflow from the casualty clearing station, which, along with the hospital ships, is absolutely full. We had sixty-seven to find shelter for and succeeded. Two died during the night, and nineteen more in other parts of the camp. Thomson and I were still on duty and we were busy changing dressings, setting fractures, etc., up to 2 p.m. to-day, when an order came to evacuate completely to a hospital ship which had arrived. Welcome news! This gave us an afternoon's rest which we much needed. I spent the time making "couples" for our dugout, which was arched over before with two stretchers interlocking at a slope.
The chief topic of conversation to-day is the brilliant dash of the Australians on the 8th, in their bayonet charge over 300 yards of ground without cover. The Turks with five machine-guns mowed them down, but they dashed on. Their casualties were about 2000. We were all eager to assist them, their own Ambulances being unable to cope with the work.
May 11th.—What we know as "Helles" is the point of the peninsula as far north as Achi Baba. It is fivemiles long, and varies from two to four in width. The whole valley is saucer shaped, with a more or less complete high edge, except at a small part on the Dardanelles side, where the land shelves to the sea at Morto Bay, this low lying part being moist and fertile, with fairly heavy timber and huge downy topped reeds 12 feet high. Across this valley there has once been an aqueduct—perhaps centuries ago—the "Five Towers" being the remains of the structure. While Achi Baba remains in the hands of the enemy there is not a safe inch in what we occupy, the whole being within easy gunfire.
Thomson and I are at present at the Five Towers Dressing Station for twenty-four hours' duty. From the amount of heavy gun ammunition that is being hurried past us we expect a heavy bombardment this afternoon, with a repetition of the trying work we had when last on duty.
A Frenchman has just come into our station with half a loaf under his arm. Great excitement! We were all willing to purchase it at any price, but he handed it over to one of our men who had been hobnobbing with him in the morning. All are deadly sick of army biscuits, the only form of bread we have, hard as the nether millstone and tasteless. The only decent food we have is McConnachie's ration of meat and vegetables, which is excellent cold or hot, or as soup.
7.30 p.m.—Had a weary day—little doing. Thomson in very low spirits, thinking everything is going wrong. News we get from a padre is that in France everything goes badly. Pirie, M.O. to the Lancs, has just looked us up and reports no progress here. We are certainly making little speed, and it is now announced, whether correctly or not, that Achi Baba is to be besieged into submission by starvation if necessary, owing to the great loss of life a direct attack would entail. In the afternoon I went out with a few bearers to the Lancs. Aid Postto find they had gone into reserve for forty-eight hours, a rest they much needed. Shells were coming fast and furious round us, a battery we had to pass being the object of attack. Two big shells fell very near our dressing station this afternoon, a pile of stores being taken for ammunition boxes, the first shell landing among these with terrible crash, and destroying a lot of jam. Rather a hot bombardment of Krithia goes on to-night, while a number of Tommies are enjoying a game of football close to our camp.
May 12th.—At 8 p.m. yesterday a message reached us that the 29th Division had been withdrawn to give them a much-needed rest of forty-eight hours. We accordingly packed up and returned to our camp at W. Beach, and lucky for us we did, as it rained heavily during the night, and we had shelter against showers in our dugouts. On the whole very little fighting went on to-day till 6 p.m. when our big guns all along the line bombarded Krithia and the face of Achi Baba.
When studying our camp fires this morning before daylight I concluded that we really had made but little progress since April 28, and a Lancs. officer I saw this afternoon agrees with this conclusion. Still we are said now to have about 100,000 men here, while I cannot believe the enemy has anything like that number, but while they are on the defensive, with their well-planned trenches and the best positions, and possessing, as they do, a large number of machine-guns, the cost in life entailed by an open attack would be very costly to us.
Three shells giving out coal-black smoke, and bursting with a terrific crash, were fired at our beach to-day, but, as far as I know, without damage. They all burst high in the air and with an unusual sound. (The first of the "Black Marias" or "Jack Johnsons" although wehad been accustomed to other forms of high explosive shells.)
The following "special order" from General Sir Ian Hamilton of to-day's date came this afternoon: "For the first time for eighteen days it has been found possible to withdraw the 29th Division from the fire fight. During the whole of that period of unprecedented strain the Division has held ground or gained it, against the bullets and bayonets of the constantly renewed forces of the foe. During the whole of that long period they have been illuminating the pages of military history with their blood. The losses have been terrible, but mingling with the deep sorrow for fellow-comrades arises a feeling of pride in the invincible spirit which has enabled the survivors to triumph where ordinary troops must inevitably have failed. I tender to Major-General Hunter-Weston and to his Division, at the same time my profoundest sympathy and my warmest congratulations on their achievement."
"(Signed)Ian Hamilton,General."
May 13th.—Resting all day—but already have had enough of the prescribed forty-eight hours' rest. It was besides rendered uncomfortable by a very hot shelling in the afternoon. It is said the Turks have placed a new disappearing gun in position, which is doing this, and is firing high explosives with jet black smoke. They have our range to an inch from Achi Baba. At least twenty-four shells were fired at our Beach with a very creditable bag—three men killed, two mortally wounded, twelve severely wounded, and about fifteen horses and mules killed. I saw the remains of some poor brutes that had been standing in a group when a shell fell among them. There was really nothing left but a large red patch. Numerous pieces of shrapnel fell among our tents. A piece whistledbetween Thomson and myself on our way to attend a wounded officer near the lighthouse.
Later in the day I heard the Turk had got a larger mixed bag than I have stated. I now hear as a fact that sixty-four horses and mules were killed on our Beach.
H.M.S. "Goliath" was sunk by a torpedo at the mouth of the Dardanelles at 2 a.m. to-day; 200 are said to have been saved which means a death-roll of 500 or 600.
We hear that one, if not three, German submarines have passed Malta. The big fleet lying off the coast has always been brilliantly lit, but to-night all are in absolute darkness, except the hospital ships which are still showing their long rows of green lights.
May 14th.—The shelling we got yesterday has made us all think, and we all set to to-day and dug ourselves in deeper, the wagons going to Sedd-el-Bahr and bringing beams and boards from the ruins, and with these we are to make roofs strong enough to resist splinters. By 3 p.m. some of us had nearly finished and were getting disappointed that our funk holes were not being put to the test. By 4 o'clock we got more than we wanted, then before 5 one of our aeroplanes came to grief immediately behind us. Then commenced a terrible cannonade on this new target, and one big shot alighting just inside the entrance of one of our operating tents it was blown into tiny shreds, and ten stretchers were riven into matchwood. Strange to say, although this was in the middle of our camp not a soul was injured. The excitement was of course great, every little bit of shell and every tatter of the tent were carefully gathered to be kept as souvenirs. Three men and a number of horses had been killed in the afternoon's work. Many of the shells to-day were bigger than usual and some think the "Goeben" is the culprit. She could easily fire from the Dardanelles over the east ridge of Achi Baba.
May 15th.—A quiet day in camp: little firing by either side; three "Black Marias" reached us—no damage; a Taube fired three bombs—still no harm. Rumour says one of our flying machines reports the Black Maria gun was silenced by our fire, and her ammunition blown up this afternoon. Her last shot was at 1 p.m. and it looks as if this might be true.
By evening rain clouds appeared in the north and I have been preparing my dugout for a wet night.
May 16th.—We have just returned from church parade which was held at 9.30, amidst a continuous rattle of rifles to the front, the booming of howitzers on the right and left, while just behind us lay the "Swiftsure," which had evidently got word in the middle of the service to open fire on some particular spot. Her guns roared till the concussion made the leaves of our hymn books flutter. While writing a Jack Johnson fell very near me (so close that in my original diary my pen made a big dash across the page). How helpless one feels! Now comes another in the very middle of W. Beach—a very big fellow too—and still another. We are to have a day of it. Eight of these brutes now in a few minutes.
The C.O. has gone to a meeting at H.Q.; all the other officers are wisely at the edge of the sea under cliffs, while I am in my dugout too lazy to join them—but I may be forced to go yet, it is folly to sit here in the line of fire.
Major Ward of the 88th Field Ambulance, which is alongside us, has just taken a photograph of a bursting-shell at 70 yards, which he joyfully declares is "absolutely it". He got well battered with flying dirt.... The shelling got too hot for my continuing my notes and I was forced to close for a short time.
Here we are shut up in the very point of Gallipoli,100,000 of us, and nearly as many horses and mules, every inch within easy range of the enemy's guns, and for three days now he has peppered us more furiously than at first. For three weeks and a day we have had an almost continuous roar of cannon, sometimes many hundred shots per minute, at other times with a lull of a few minutes. To-day and last night the howitzers have been unusually busy, and I believe an attempt is to be made this coming night to straighten our lines. The horns of the line, especially the left, which is held by the Gurkhas, is too far forward for the centre. This centre is directly opposite Achi Baba, and is exposed to the whole opposing line, and has less help from the fleet than the flanks. It is held by the flower of our troops, and these will make any sacrifice to do what is expected of them. May we soon have a little more breathing space than this fouled little piece of the peninsula affords us.
May 17th.—Three different spells of Black Marias to-day. One killed three men and wounded nine. We have several others wounded and a number of horses and mules killed. Altogether not a very pleasant day.
In the afternoon Thomson and I went to Sedd-el-Bahr and photographed the "River Clyde," Major Frankland's grave, the whole of V. Beach, etc., and brought back shell cases of the French 75's and 65's. Before this, while helping Pirie to build his dugout, Kellas shouted to me to look up, and I beheld what I at first took to be a huge flock of enemy aeroplanes, and expected a shower of bombs, but they turned out to be cranes—fifty-five of them in solid formation. They were an interesting and beautiful sight. They hovered over us for a considerable time, and two of our men stupidly fired several shots at them which got us into trouble with the powers that be. They had never taken into consideration the danger from dropping bullets where there was such a congestion of humanity.
The day has been fiery hot as usual, with the usual glorious sunset behind the mountains of Imbros. Yesterday Stephen and I studied the Plain of Troy, the monument of Ajax, and the town of Troy itself—the old and the new—all of which are visible from the rising ground behind Sedd-el-Bahr.
May 18th.—Black Marias paid their visit earlier than usual, three bidding us good morning at 6 o'clock. All got into our clothes at once, so that now at 7 p.m. we have had a long day. Curiously these "coal boxes" have not been seen since, and they never trouble us after this time of night.
About an hour ago I was watching one of our ships shelling a gully I once visited on a memorable night, and got into a shallow trench and watched from there. I was out in the middle of the valley where I could easily be seen from Achi Baba and a shell came singing straight at me. All the time shells had been passing high over my head but my ear at once detected the change of flight and that a low one was certainly coming my way. I had just time to throw myself flat in the trench, which was about eighteen inches deep when the shell burst in a straight line for me. I raised myself intending to bolt when I heard the song of another at its heels. I again fell flat, but as soon as it burst still nearer than the last I sprang and was just on my feet when a third burst three or four yards to my right. The concussion and shower of earth and stones sent me flying, and I peeled the palms of both hands and sprained my right wrist. Then I made a sprint for my funk hole at record speed, arriving quite out of breath after covering about three-quarters of a mile. I felt that turning a big gun on a solitary individual was not playing the game. I was wearing a waterproof cover to my cap which had got bleached almost white, and I may have been taken for some "big pot," as I saton the edge of the trench with this unusual head dress, peering through my glasses.
May 19th.—Am feeling very tired, the result of my bad tumble, and my wrist feels stiff and tender. No doubt my behaviour made the Turk think I was a superior officer and worth a shell or two. With my glasses I had examined very carefully the whole length of the lines, then stepped into a half-filled-in trench and sat on the edge for some time, watching operations at the gully I have mentioned. The second shell was so near that I felt certain the third would have me. A fourth shell followed and burst, but by this time I had picked myself up and was at full gallop, and paid no heed to its whereabouts. The whole four were fired in five or six seconds. (I got the fright of my life; I felt that they were determined to have me, but the fright was entirely due to the fact that I was alone. Never before or afterwards did shells, however near, cause me the slightest discomfort.)
A camp story has it that a mule had to be shot the other day because its cry was so confoundedly like the sound of an approaching shell and caused needless alarm. This is presumably only a story, but it is extraordinary how often one fancies one hears the song of a shell. One day just before tea we were treated to a Jack Johnson, and during our meal in the tent those of us who had not made off to our funk holes ducked at every sound under the table, or behind a biscuit tin or any other flimsy object utterly useless to give cover. Each time we raised our heads we had a good laugh at our stupidity.
Those in the firing line are pitying us at the base to which nearly all the shells are directed. Padre Hardie (afterwards V.C., D.S.O., M.C.) told me he had a major to tea the other day when the Jack Johnsons started, and he bolted in the middle of tea, saying he could notstand the life here, and made off to the firing line which he thought much safer.
I asked a man to-day if he kept a diary. "No," he said, "there's naething to say, I dee naething bit sleep, jink shells, and rin to the Beach." It is amusing to see the "Beach Subdivision" move off when the shells start, all pretending they are off for a quiet stroll, and saunter away with their hands in their pockets.
May 20th.—Still in reserve and absolutely idle. I was up early, being requested by an officer of the 88th Field Ambulance to view his tent which one of our water-carts had backed into and upset a number of boxes of breakables, which he was terrified to look into, especially one which contained several bottles of whisky. This gave me a long day, and as a heavy cannonade was in progress it gave me an opportunity of watching it. We have had no heavy shells at W. Beach (now known as Lancashire Landing in honour of the brilliant work by that battalion on April 25) so far, but we must not brag, they may give us a visit to-day yet. Shrapnel we have had—but we do not care twopence for shrapnel.
6.40.—We have had no shells since I wrote the above, for which we are thankful. When examining the situation before breakfast I felt that the whole valley up to Achi Baba was to be ours before night. Advances all along the line have been made, some units having gained about 700 yards, the French also taking a trench which they afterwards lost. This is the usual way with the French, they have repeatedly broken our line across the peninsula.
The Turks have to-day used their heavy guns much more freely than on any previous day, and doubtless have inflicted considerable damage on our troops, but the range they have been firing at pointed to their having removed their guns further back, which points to theirexpecting to lose Achi Baba, which they have certainly held with the utmost fortitude. I am attributing the peace we have had to-day at Lancashire Landing to this fortunate event, if my conjecture is right.
I visited the "River Clyde" to-day to find she has a number of new holes punched through her, those on the water line having completely flooded her. Her stern now rests on the bottom, and the lowest hold is full of water. All this time only one shell has actually burst inside the ship, and it entered a cabin on the starboard side, blew all the fittings to pieces, chunks flying through everything, some entering the engine room where they perforated and carried away pipes, and blew the roof of the cabin off. An officer showed me the effects of the rifle and machine-gun bombardment on the night on which I spent four hours in a boat and watched the thousands of bullets striking fire over my head. Many had actually perforated the steel plates,9/16th-inch thick, and there were deep dints innumerable. We had twelve machine-guns on board that memorable day, the one in the bow being managed by the son of the Earl of Leicester. This gun was said to have done brilliant work. A large pile of empty cartridges still lies where the gun was posted, and I carried away a few of these as the only memento I possess of April 25, barring the memory of a hellish day and night.
To-day we felt that we were probably beyond the reach of the enemy's big guns, and a load is apparently off every one's mind. Many sang late into the night, and various hilarious games were indulged in, the one giving most fun being a bull fight, where one man held the end of a string about three yards long and tied to a peg, and carried a jug with a stone as a rattle, the other with a similar string having as a weapon a small bag stuffed with hay. Both were blindfolded, and the man with the bag let fly at the spot he thought the sound camefrom, the hit being usually many yards wide of the bull.
The casualties among the Turks up to May 8 are said to number 40,000. Since then the Australians have accounted for another 7000. To the present date the total is probably not less than 60,000. We ought to be well enough pleased with our work.
May 21st.—Had a walk round Tekke Burnu, the S.W. point of Gallipoli, where we have two 5-inch field guns. An officer to whom I spoke said he was the first to locate the whereabouts of the gun that threw the Jack Johnsons. We had all guessed from their whistle that they came from the right ridge of Achi Baba. Two of the shells fired at this battery failed to explode, and this man had the holes carefully exposed for their whole depth, and two poles placed in these pointed exactly to the same spot. Each of these shells had penetrated to a depth of 8 feet in very hard clay.
May 22nd.—About 1 p.m. there seemed to be a strange stir among our transports. I noticed no fewer than six make off in a body towards Lemnos, while Thomson remarked that a destroyer had been going backwards and forwards among the shipping off the point of the peninsula. We did not guess the reason of this till all at once I noticed a warship fire a shot towards Imbros. This was followed by others, and the splashes showed they were firing at something in the sea, no doubt an enemy submarine—which proved to be the case. About six shots in all were fired. Three destroyers were flying about in all directions, absolutely at full speed. Two turned and made for the spot where the submarine had been seen. It is a beautiful sight to see these boats turn in their own length when at full speed. From the rocks at Tekke Burnu I watched for two hours the man[oe]uvresof these and four warships. An anxious night will be spent by our naval brethren. Several other transports have disappeared and gone to the safe anchorage of Lemnos. A large four-funnelled French steamer had just arrived with troops who had no time to disembark, and she has turned tail and gone after the others.
May 23rd.—1.15 p.m. Am sitting near the top of "The Gully". This runs north and south on the west side of the peninsula. I am at a spot slightly north of Krithia, and in the very middle of our firing line. All the tops of The Gully, on both sides and along its ramifications, are lined with our men and all are blazing away at the hardest, while the Turks bullets keep up a constant whizz over our heads. The Worcesters have just gone into the trenches to relieve some other unit. One of the Hants men I have been sitting beside and talking to was in our hold on the "River Clyde" when we landed exactly four weeks ago. He tells me how gloomy his battalion was over the death of their C.O. that day—Colonel Smith-Carrington, "a grand fellow, the best man that ever lived," as he put it.
Wearying to death after twelve days of idleness I set off after church parade to visit the Hants Dressing Station where I knew Pirie was placed. I went along the Krithia road till I came to The Gully I once reached late one evening, when Thomson and I were sniped at. Here I chanced to meet my old cabin companion, Balfour, who directed me to the very top of The Gully where I came across a battery which again directed me further to the left. Here three bullets flew past me, a gunner saying these stray bullets were doing a great deal of damage. Balfour also told me that they had lost two men yesterday from the same cause.
At last I reached The Gully which is several miles long—over three—and averages 100 yards in width at thetop. All the slopes are one solid mass of shrubbery—laurel, juniper, dwarf conifers, holly oak, and brilliant flowers innumerable. I brought back a bunch of Cytisus whose individual flowers might have been our broom (C. Scoparius).
A road has been made the whole length of The Gully, and the whole way is occupied by our troops, especially Indians, many of whom were engaged in their ablutions as I passed. The sides of The Gully would average 100 feet in height, many parts being higher. The sides slope steeply in parts, in many places are quite perpendicular or over-hanging, the walls being the usual hard, marly clay, while I noticed broad layers of conglomerate and sandstone also occur. I was charmed with the whole place, and when describing it at the mess I was thought to be romancing. The heat in the depths of The Gully was very intense and without a breath of wind.
May 24th.—A little rain fell in the morning, and it was more or less cloudy during the day. We watched a fierce thunderstorm, which came round the south side of Imbros, up its east side, then it turned west towards Samothrace. Much shelling to-day, but mostly short and some way from our camp. I hear of no damage.
May 25th.—Had another walk to-day to the top of The Gully with Kellas, Agassiz, and Thomson. Plenty of shells over our heads. Twenty-six shells were fired this morning at several aeroplanes that had landed on our aerodrome. Two were more or less damaged, one with a hole through its petrol tank.
As we were returning from The Gully and were ascending the high bank of Gully Beach I saw something was wrong out at sea, three or four ships being apparently huddled together in one mass. Through my glasses I saw the stern of a ship in the air, preparing for its final plunge to the bottom of the sea. In threeminutes or so she had entirely gone. Strange to say what we had been watching was the last of the "Triumph" which had been torpedoed by the submarine that caused the excitement the other day. She is said to have sunk in twenty minutes. We have not yet heard how many perished in this most regrettable disaster, but if it is true that her magazine blew up, as we hear, the loss will likely be heavy. H.M.S. "Triumph" did much useful work out here. This is the second warship we have lost since we arrived in Gallipoli.
May 26th.—Yesterday we opened a dressing station one and a half miles up the Krithia road. It was the duty of Fiddes and Whyte to be posted there for twenty-four hours, beginning at 3 p.m., but the latter having been kicked by a horse yesterday I offered to take his place. I am there now sitting on the edge of a deep funk hole which I have strewn with a thick layer of thyme, meaning to have a pleasant night between "lavender sheets," but I am told by Stephen and Thomson that there is no sleep to be had out here owing to the terrible din that goes on. At present—7.30—there is a violent interchange of shells going on, the enemy's mostly flying high over our heads on the way to our Beach. The aerodrome beside it has been very furiously attacked during the last two days with considerable damage.
Beside us is the grave of a Turk who smells as all Turks do. Our men, I fancy, think they do not deserve much burial. This reminds me of a Turk on the top of whose grave I lunched with Pirie up in the firing line last Sunday. A man the day before was digging a funk hole, and coming on something soft he plunged his spade into it. The smell was so terrific that he threw his spade and bolted, and the Turk had to be covered up by sand thrown from a distance of several yards. Then thenight before one of our men, when it was getting dark, saw a suspicious object slipping down the side of The Gully, as he thought, so he proceeded to stalk it through the dense shrubs that clothe all the slopes of The Gully, and, on getting close enough to get a view of it through the bushes he recognised the Turkish uniform and sprang on the man like a tiger driving his bayonet clean through him. The Turk had been dead for nearly a month, and his assailant, like the other man, had to make a hasty retreat.
We are to have a very lively night, that is evident. The Turks usually cease firing their big guns by this time of night, but their shells are still flying thick. The British guns are at present quiet, but the French 75's are barking furiously. It is a delight to hear their sharp, clean bark. The enemy's machine-guns have also been very active this afternoon, the crack, crack, crack, of the Turkish one being easily distinguishable from the noise made by ours. The day of our landing taught me this.
May 27th.—I must have slept three or four hours last night, but not soundly. There was constant rifle fire beside us with one big fusillade before midnight. But what annoyed me was the smell of the thyme and other sweet-smelling herbs I had made a bed of, covering all over with a new rubber ground sheet which was very odoriferous. The mixture of odours was not pleasant. I had trampled the plants with my boots to produce as strong a smell as possible, and succeeded so well that it actually made my eyes smart all night. I rose early and was over near Gully Beach about 6 o'clock. Since then shells have been flying on our four sides and high in the air, and I hear of considerable damage.
We are much upset by the news which reached us at 7.45 that at 7 another of our ships had been torpedoed, lying just off our Beach in full view of all there. It isrumoured that it is the "Majestic," but her name we are not yet sure of. The men who brought this news out to us say they saw the men on board line up before she went down, and dive into the sea. Terrible news!
May 28th.—Back at W. Beach. What we heard yesterday about the "Majestic" was only too true. She lies in front of our camp, about 300 yards from the edge of the cliff, a considerable part of her still above water. There is much discussion as to what part of her it is that is visible, but it appears to me to be the keel, certainly the ram is there. The killed and drowned are between fifty and sixty. Several I have spoken to distinctly saw the wake of the torpedo for many hundred yards. The "Majestic" was lying in the midst of other shipping—only supply boats of no great size, besides trawlers and destroyers, but a gap must have been left and through this the torpedo had found its way. The Admiral and Ashmead-Bartlett were both on board. The latter was on the "Triumph" when she went down two days before.
The "Majestic" was able to fire five shots at the submarine when she rose to find her bearings, which she did about a mile off, but whether struck or not she managed to discharge her deadly bolt, which went home right amidships, and in about eight to ten minutes the "Majestic" turned over and sank. Her torpedo nets were out, and as many were scrambling up the side of the hull, as she turned over, the nets on the starboard side swept right over, and must have accounted for many deaths.
It is said that the form of torpedo used is most efficient at ranges of 3000 yards or more, this long distance being necessary to get up full momentum. One of the camp sanitary men, who tells me the story, was on the beach as the men swam ashore, and one sailor was no sooneron his feet than he said: "It was time the damned b—— was down; she was twenty-five years old; any of you chaps got a clay pipe, I am dying for a clay pipe"—all said in one breath. The "Majestic" is said to have been built in 1902 and was an old boat, but her armament was quite serviceable.
An enemy aeroplane crossed over our heads at 7.15 this morning, and dropped a bomb, presumably at our C.C.S. and just missed it. Three men were standing near; all were knocked over, one dying soon after.
May 29th.—This forenoon I walked out to White House Farm, which is about 3 or 3½ miles up the centre of the valley, and is within a few hundred yards of our firing trenches. It was rumoured in the evening that these front trenches had been taken by the Turks. At the White House there is the finest specimen of a fig tree I have yet seen, being large and spreading, and growing in a piece of good turf beside a well. In that part the whole ground is strewn with bullets.
May 30th.—I have not been out of camp to-day. The men in our dressing station came in at 3 a.m. with a long tale of the fury of the shelling out there, many casualties occurring round it. Evidently there is no better place to be had, but the part devoted to the wounded runs in such a way that it can be directly enfiladed by gun and rifle fire from Achi Baba. Another trench at right angles to this could easily be broadened and deepened to hold all the wounded and a whole tent-subdivision.
Three shots were fired from our battery on Tekke Burnu about 6.30 p.m. and at once all the destroyers darted out to sea. Evidently a submarine had been sighted. It is now getting dark, and the sea is covered with our mosquito craft darting about in all directions.
We employ several hundred Greeks, mostly roadmaking. They receive 2s. 6d. a day and their food. All those working at the Beach struck work to-day, demanding higher wages, and retired to their shelter holes in the cliff. A company of Dublin Fusiliers was called out, and fixing bayonets they kicked the mutineers out of their holes, and all were driven into a corner at the foot of the rocks, the open side shut in by a line of bayonets, and there they are to be kept, without food and water till they come to their senses. The Greek nation has always been greedy, always unreliable, and the most notorious liars on the face of the earth.
May 31st.—This has been a very quiet day, the Turks and ourselves having fired comparatively few shots. Although there has been no hard fighting lately, really little more than sniping, we still have a casualty list of some size. Those leaving for treatment on the boats or at the base hospitals of Malta and Alexandria have a daily average of about 125. This includes sickness as well as wounds.
June 1st.—There was much noise last night after all, there being much gun and rifle fire, especially on our centre, but with few casualties, as far as I can learn.
It has been known for two days that the Turks are to make a determined attack on us to-night, for which we are no doubt fully prepared. Since 5 this evening both sides have been very liberal with their shells. Krithia and its neighbourhood, as well as the right ridge of Achi Baba, has been reeking from the discharge of our and the French shells.
It is said that the Turks and Gurkha trenches are so near each other at the top of The Gully that the two are connected by a tunnel through which they hobnob, and that the Turks have asked the help of the Indians to murder their German officers, then they would hand overthe Dardanelles to us without further trouble. A mere story of course, although one firmly believes that it is these savage officers who are forcing the Turks to fight, under threats that they will shoot them if they refuse to go forward.
A few shrapnel shells were fired half an hour ago at the top of our Beach, in resentment of our Ambulance men gathering on the sky line to watch the shells bursting on Achi Baba. This made them beat a hasty retreat. But on the whole the day has been very quiet.
June 2nd.—It appeared in "Orders" to-day that we held an advanced dressing station 100 yards on this side of White Farm, and as no one understood what this referred to, the C.O. after consulting with the A.D.M.S. (Col. Yarr), who could throw no light on the subject, asked me to go out and investigate the ground to see if such a station might be established there. As a big engagement is anticipated within forty-eight hours such a place would be useful. I started at 2.30 with Kellas and Agassiz who were going out to our present dressing station, but on reaching that they proposed to go along with me, as they had never been in that part of the country. All went well on the way out, only an occasional stray bullet being heard. On reaching "Y Battery," about 100 yards from White Farm a gunner joined us and took us quickly over the remaining short distance, where stray bullets are apt to be too plentiful. But worse, a sniper several hundred yards off had the exact range. He took us into a vineyard behind the farm, and pointed out to us all our advanced trenches, warning us not to shake the vines as that might attract fire, and on no account to show ourselves. We returned to this man's battery, and as soon as I started off with Agassiz the sniper had a shot at us, his bullet landing in a tuft of grass a few feet to our right. I thought it was some animal and proceededto stir it out of the grass, but Agassiz declared it was a shot. In a second or two another kicked up a dust beside us, which settled the question. We scattered at once, but three other shots came after us before we got out of sight behind some small trees. From these we watched Kellas sauntering along, hoping he would also have to take to his heels, but the sniper left him alone.
I had next to visit the 88th Brigade H.Q. where I explained to General Doran that the spot mentioned for our dressing station was much too dangerous. He agreed at once, and said even where he was, on the side of rising ground with its back to the enemy, was unsafe, and that one of his sergeants had just been shot through the knee lying in his dugout.