CHAPTER II

 

MUDROS AND MITYLENE

 

“When in Lemnos we ate our fill of flesh of tall-horned oxen.”

— Homer.

 

IT will now be proper to describe the doings of the Division in somewhat fuller detail. The immediate result of the warning received on June 27th, which was officially confirmed on July 1st, was to throw an enormous amount of work upon officers and N.C.O.s. Already the gaps in our strength had been filled up by drafts drawn from the 16th (Irish) Division, and now it was necessary for the whole of the men to be re-equipped. Helmets and khaki drill clothing had to be fitted, much of the latter requiring alteration, while the adjusting of pagris to helmets occupied much attention, and caused the advice and assistance of men who had served in India to be greatly in demand. At the same time new English-made belts and accoutrements were issued, the American leather equipment, which had been given out in March and had worn very badly, being withdrawn. We had gained one advantage from the numerous false alarms that rumour had sprung upon us, the men’s field pay-books and field conduct-sheets were completely filled in and ready. This turned out to be extremely fortunate, as the company officers, sergeant-majors, and platoon sergeants found that the time at their disposal was so fully occupied that they would have had little leisure left for office work. The pay lists were closed and balanced, and sent with the cash-books to the Regimental Paymaster; any other documents which had not already been sent to the officer in charge of records were consigned to him, and at last we felt we were ready.

 

One symptom of the conditions under which we were going to fight was to be found in the fact that we lost some of our comrades. The Heavy Battery and the squadron of the South Irish Horse were transferred to other divisions destined for France, while the transport, both Divisional and Regimental, was ordered to stand fast at Basingstoke. Worse than this, all regimental officers' chargers were to be handed over to the Remount Department. This indication that we were intended for a walking campaign caused considerable dismay to some machine-gun officers, who had invested in imposing and tight-fitting field boots, and were not certain whether they would be pleasant to march in. As for the men of the machine-gun detachments, their feelings were beyond expression. The knowledge that gun, tripod, and belts would have to be carried everywhere by them in a tropical climate deprived them of words. However, they were too delighted to be on the move at last to grumble for long.

 

In the week beginning July 5th, the departure began. The trains left at night, and battalions would awake in the morning to find tents previously occupied by their neighbours, empty. The weather had changed to cold showers, and the men marching through the night to the station had reason to be thankful that their drill clothing was packed away in their kit-bags, and that they were wearing ordinary khaki serge. The helmets, however, were found to keep off rain well. Units were so subdivided for entraining purposes that there was little ceremony and less music at the departure. The men paraded in the dark, marched through the empty echoing streets of the silent town, sometimes singing, but more often thoughtful. The memory of recent farewells, the complete uncertainty of the future, the risks that lay before us, alike induced a mood that if not gloomy was certainly not hilarious. The cheerful songs of the early training period were silent, and when a few voices broke the silence, the tune that they chose was “God Save Ireland.” We were resolved that Ireland should not be ashamed of us, but we were beginning to realise that our task would be a stiff one.

 

The composition of the Division was as follows —

 

Divisional Staff.

G.O.C.: Lieut.-General Sir B. T. Mahon, K.C.V.O., C.B., D.S.O.

Aide-de-Camp: Capt. the Marquis of Headfort (late 1st Life Guards).

General Staff Officer, 1st Grade: Lieut.-Col. J. G. King-King, D.S.O., Reserve of Officers (late the Queen's).

General Staff Officer, 2nd Grade: Major G. E. Leman, North Staffordshire Regiment.

General Staff Officer, 3rd Grade: Captain D, J. C. K. Bernard, The Rifle Brigade.

A.A. and Q.M.G.: Col. D. Sapte, Reserve of Officers (late Northumberland Fusiliers).

D.A.A. and Q.M.G.: Major C. E. Hollins, Lincolnshire Regiment.

D.A.Q.M.G.1. Major W. M. Royston-Piggott, Army Service Corps.

D.A.D.O.S.: Major S. R. King, A.O.D.

A.P.M.: Lieutenant Viscount Powerscourt, M.V.O., Irish Guards, S.R.

A.D.M.S.: Lieut.-Col. H. D. Rowan, Royal Army Medical Corps.

D.A.D.M.S.: Major C. W. Holden, Royal Army Medical Corps.

 

29TH Brigade.

G.O.C.: Brigadier-General R. J. Cooper, C.V.O.

Brigade Major: Capt. A. H. McCleverty, 2nd Rajput Light Infantry.

Staff Captain: Capt. G.Nugent, Royal Irish Rifles.

Consisting of: —

10th Hampshire Regiment, commanded by Lieut.-Col. W. D. Bewsher.

5th Royal Irish Rifles, commanded by Lieut.–Col E. C. Bradford.

5th Connaught Rangers, commanded by Lieut.-Col. H. F. N. Jourdain.

6th Leinster Regiment, commanded by Lieut.-Col. J. Craske, D.S.O.

 

30TH Brigade.

G.O.C: Brigadier-General L. L. Nicol.

Brigade Major: Major E. C. Alexander, D.S.O., 55th Rifles, Indian Army.

Staff Captain: Capt. H. T. Goodland, Royal Munster Fusiliers.

Consisting of: —

6th Royal Munster Fusiliers, commanded by Lieut.-Col. V. T. Worship, D.S.O.

7th Royal Munster Fusiliers, commanded by Lieut.-Col. H. Gore.

6th Royal Dublin Fusiliers, commanded by Lieut.-Col. P. G. A. Cox.

7th Royal Dublin Fusiliers, commanded by Lieut.-Col. G. Downing.

 

31ST Brigade.

G.O.C.: Brigadier-General F. F. Hill, C.B.,D.S.O.

Brigade Major: Capt. W. J. N. Cooke-Collis, Royal Irish Rifles.

Staff Captain: Capt. T. J. D. Atkinson, Royal Irish Fusiliers.

Consisting of: —

5th Royal Inniskilling Fusiliers, commanded by Lieut.-Col. A. S. Vanrenen.

6th Royal Inniskilling Fusiliers, commanded by Lieut.-Col. H. M. Cliffe.

5th Royal Irish Fusiliers, commanded by Lieut.-Col. M. J. W. Pike.

6th Royal Irish Fusiliers, commanded by Lieut.-Col. F. A. Greer.

 

Divisional Troops.

5th Royal Irish Regiment (Pioneers) commanded by Lieut.-Col. The Earl of Granard, K.P.

 

Divisional Artillery.

Brigadier-General, R.A.: Brigadier-General G.S. Duffus.

Brigade Major: Capt. F. W. Barron, R.A.

Staff Captain: Captain Sir G. Beaumont.

Consisting of: —

54th Brigade Royal Field Artillery, commanded by Lieut.-Col. J. F. Cadell.

55th Royal Field Artillery, commanded by Lieut.-Col. H. R. Peck.

56th Brigade Royal Field Artillery, commanded by Brevet-Col. J. H. Jellett.

The 57th (Howitzer) Brigade, R.F.A., remained in England.

 

Royal Engineers.

Commanding Officer, Royal Engineers: Lieut.-Col. F. K. Fair.

Consisting of: —

65th Field Company, R.E.

66th Field Company, R.E.

85th Field Company, R.E.

 

10th Signal Company, commanded by Capt.L. H. Smithers.

 

Royal Army Medical Corps.

30th Field Ambulance, commanded by Lieut.-Col. P. MacKessack.

31st Field Ambulance, commanded by Lieut.-Col. D. D. Shanahan.

32nd Field Ambulance, commanded by Lieut.- Col. T. C. Lauder.

 

10th Divisional Cyclist Corps, commanded by Capt. B. S. James.

 

There is one particular in which the British Army may fairly claim to be superior to any force in the world, and that is in embarkation. Years of oversea expeditions, culminating in the South African War, have given us abundant experience in this class of work, and the fact that even in a newly formed unit like the 10th Division every battalion contained at least one officer who had taken a draft to India, helped to make things run smoothly. The voyage itself was uneventful. For the most part the troopships employed were Atlantic liners, and the accommodation and food provided for officers might be called luxurious.

 

There were, however, two flies in the ointment. The architect of the boats had designed them rather for a North Atlantic winter than for summer in the Mediterranean, and the fact that at night every aperture had to be tightly closed for fear lest a gleam of light might attract an enemy submarine, made sleep difficult. The men, who were closely packed, found it impossible in their berths down below, and the officer of the watch was obliged to pick his way among hundreds of prostrate forms as he went from one end of the deck to the other. The second grievance was lack of deck space, which precluded anything in the shape of violent exercise. Attempts at physical drill were made wherever there was an inch of spare room, and for the rest lectures and boat drill whiled away the tedium of the day. Almost the only soldiers on board with a definite occupation were the machine gunners perched with their guns on the highest available points, and keeping a keen look-out for periscopes. Responsibility also fell upon the officer of the watch, who was obliged to make a tour of the ship, looking out for unauthorised smoking and unscreened lights every hour, and reporting “All correct” to the ship's officer on the bridge. For the rest, the foreseeing ones who had provided themselves with literature read; officers smoked and played bridge; men smoked, played “House” and dozed; but through all the lethargy and laziness there ran a suppressed undercurrent of suspense and excitement.

 

The bulk of the transports conveying the Division called at Malta and Alexandria, on their way from Devonport to Mudros, but one gigantic Cunarder, having on board Divisional Headquarters, 30th Brigade Headquarters, the 6th Leinster Regiment, 6th and 7th Royal Munster Fusiliers, and detachments of the 5th Royal Irish Regiment (Pioneers), and 5th The Connaught Rangers, sailed direct from Liverpool to Mudros, and cast anchor there on July 16th. These troops were the first of the Division to reach the advanced base of the Dardanelles operations, and it was with eager curiosity that they looked at the novel scene. They were in a land-locked harbour, which from the contour of the hills surrounding it might have been a bay on the Connemara coast had not land and sea been so very different in colour. Soft and brilliant as the lights and tints of an Irish landscape are, nothing in Ireland ever resembled the deep but sparkling blue of the water, and the tawny slopes of the hills of Lemnos. Northward, at the end of the harbour, the store-ships and water-boats lay at anchor; midway were the transports, and near the entrance the French and British warships.

 

On the eastern shore dust-coloured tents told of the presence of hospitals; and to the west, lines of huddled bivouacs indicated some concentration of newly-arrived troops. The heart of the place, from which every nerve and pulse throbbed, was a big, grey, single-funnelled liner, anchored near the eastern shore.

 

Here were the headquarters of the Inspector-General of Communications, and the Principal Naval Transport Officer; here the impecunious sought the Field Cashier; and the greedy endeavoured (unsuccessfully, unless they had friends aboard) to obtain a civilised meal. Next to her a big transport acted as Ordnance Store, and issued indiscriminately grenades and gum-boots, socks and shrapnel. At this time, no ferries had been instituted, and communication with these ships, though essential, was not easy. If you were a person of importance, a launch was sent for you; if, as was more likely, you were not, you chartered a Greek boat, and did your best to persuade the pirate in charge of it to wait while you transacted your business on board.

 

We had ample time to appreciate this factor in the situation as it was three days before we disembarked. During that time, we succeeded in learning a little about the conditions of warfare in what we began to call “the Peninsula”. Part of the 29th Division, which by its conduct in the first landing had won itself the title of “Incomparable” was back at Mudros resting, and many of its officers came on board to look for friends. Thus we learned from men who had been in Gallipoli since they had struggled through the surf and the wire in April the truth as to the nature of the fighting there. They taught us much by their words, but even more by their appearance; for though fit, they were thin and worn, and their eyes carried a weary look that told of the strain that they had been through. For the first time we began to realise that strong nerves were a great asset in war.

 

At last the order for disembarkation came, and a string of pinnaces, towed by steam launches from the battleships, conveyed the men ashore. Kits followed in lighters, and wise officers seized the opportunity to add to their mess stores as much stuff as the purser of the transport would let them have. It was our last contact with civilisation.

 

On the beach there was a considerable amount of confusion. The western side of the harbour had only recently been taken into use by troops, and though piers had been made, roads were as yet non-existent. Lighters were discharging kit and stores at half-a-dozen different points, and the prudent officer took steps to mount a guard wherever he saw any of his stuff. In war, primitive conditions rule, and it is injudicious to place too much confidence in the honesty of your neighbours.

 

At last the over-worked staff were able to disentangle the different units, and allot them their respective areas, and the nucleus of the Division found itself installed in the crest of a ridge running northward, with the harbour on the east, and a shallow lagoon on the west. Across the lagoon, lay a white-washed Greek village, surrounded by shady trees, in which Divisional Headquarters were established, and behind this rose the steep hills that divided Mudros from Castro, the capital of Lemnos. Further south was another village with a church; otherwise the only features of the landscape were a ruined tower and half-a-dozen windmills. Except at Divisional Headquarters, there was not a tree to be seen. The ground was a mass of stones. Connaught is stony, but there the stones are of decent size. In Mudros, they were so small and so numerous that it took an hour to clear a space big enough for a bed. Between the stones were thistles and stubble, and here and there a prickly blue flower. In the distance one or two patches of tillage shone green, but except for these everything was dusty, parched and barren. On the whole an unattractive prospect.

 

However, it was necessary to make the best of it, and soon the bivouacs were up, though their construction was made more difficult by the complete absence of wood of any kind. The men had been instructed to supplement the blanket, which they had brought from England, by another taken from the ship's stores, and the hillside soon presented to the eye an endless repetition of the word “Cunard” in red letters. Officers soon found it impossible to obtain either shelter, tables, or seats sufficient for a battalion mess, and companies began to mess by themselves. Few parades could be held, for there were very few lorries and no animals at all in Mudros West, so that practically everything required by the troops had to be carried up from the beach by hand. Most of the camps were nearly a mile from the Supply Depot, so that each fatigue entailed a two-mile march, and by the time that the men had carried out a ration fatigue, a wood fatigue, and two water fatigues, it was hard to ask them to do much more. A few short route marches were performed, but most commanding officers were reluctant to impose on the men harder tasks than those absolutely necessary before they became acclimatised.

 

Already we were beginning to make the acquaintance of four of the Gallipoli plagues — dust, flies, thirst and enteritis. Our situation on the spur was exposed to a gentle breeze from the north. At first we rejoiced at this, thinking it would keep away flies and make things cooler; but soon we realized that what we gained in this respect we lost in dust. From the sandy beach, from the trampled tracks leading to the supply depots, from the bivouacs to windward, it swept down on us, till eyes stung and food was masked with it. It became intensified when a fatigue party or, worst of all, a lorry, swept past, and the principal problem confronting a mess-president was to place the mess and kitchen where they got least of it.

 

The flies were indescribable. For a day or two they seemed comparatively rare, and we hoped that we were going to escape from them; but some instinct drew them to us, and at the end of a week they swarmed. All food was instantly covered with them, and sleep between sunrise and sunset was impossible except for a few who had provided themselves with mosquito nets. Not only did they cause irritation, but infection. There appeared to be a shortage of disinfectants, and it was impossible either to check their multiplication, or to prevent them from transmitting disease. They had, however, one negative merit: they neither bit nor stung. If instead of the common housefly we had been afflicted with midges or mosquitoes, our lot would have been infinitely worse.

 

The third plague was thirst. In July, in the Eastern Mediterranean, the sun is almost vertical; and to men in bivouac whose only shelter is a thin waterproof sheet or blanket rigged up on a couple of sticks, it causes tortures of thirst. All day long one sweats, and one's system yearns for drink to take the place of the moisture one is losing. Unfortunately, Lemnos is a badly-watered island, and July was the driest season of the year. All the wells in the villages were needed by the Greek inhabitants: and though more were dug, many of them ran dry, and the water in those that held it was brackish and unsuitable for drinking. The bulk of the drinking-water used by the troops was brought by boat from Port Said and Alexandria, and not only was it lukewarm and tasteless, but the supply was strictly limited. The allowance per man was one gallon per day; and though on the surface this appears liberal, yet when it is reflected that in 1876 the consumption of water per head in London was 29 gallons, it will be seen that great care had to be exercised. Even this scanty allowance did not always reach the men intact, for the water carts of some units had not arrived, and so the whole of it had to be carried and stored in camp-kettles. In order to spare the men labour, arrangements were made by which these camp kettles were to be carried in a motor-lorry; but on the primitive roads so much was spilt as to render the experiment futile. Even in carrying by hand, a certain amount of leakage took place. In order to control the issue of water, most of it, after the men had filled their water-bottles, was used for tea, which though refreshing, can hardly be called a cooling drink.

 

However, Greek hawkers brought baskets of eggs, lemons, tomatoes and water melons. The last, though tasteless, were juicy and cool, and the men purchased and ate large quantities of them.

 

Possibly they were in part to blame for the fourth affliction that befell us in the shape of enteritis. Though not very severe, this affliction was widespread, hardly anyone being free from it. A few went sick, but for every man who reported himself to the doctor, there were ten who were doing their duty without complaining that they were indisposed. Naturally, men were reluctant to report sick just before going into action for the first time; but though they were able to carry on, yet there was a general lowering of vitality and loss of energy due to this cause, which acted as a serious handicap in the difficult days to come.

 

Some thought that this epidemic was caused by the food issued to the men, and it was certainly possible to imagine a diet more suited to a tropical climate than salt bully beef and hard dry biscuits. An issue of rice was, however, sanctioned, and this boiled with currants formed the men's usual midday meal — the inevitable stew of bully, cooked in a dixie with desiccated vegetables, being reserved till the evening. The rice would have been nicer had it been cooked with milk, but the small allowance of condensed milk available was needed for tea. The bully, too, could have been made more palatable had curry-powder been forthcoming, as the officers' messes which possessed this condiment found it invaluable in disguising the peculiar flavour. Tinned meat is not suited to tropical climates. However, very few officers' messes had brought much in the way of stores, as they were uncertain whether they would be able to carry them, and all officers soon found themselves reduced to the same rations as the men, supplemented by the few eggs and tomatoes obtainable from Greek hawkers. Except for these hawkers, Mudros West had no resources for shopping at this time. All villages were out of bounds, and there was at this period no canteen — even a Greek one.

 

One advantage, however, the place possessed: the bathing was magnificent. From 8 a.m. to 6 p.m. (or, as we were learning to call it, from 8 to 18 o'clock), it was forbidden, as the doctors feared sunstroke; but at six in the evening the bulk of the day's work over, everyone who could leave camp trooped down to a little bay. The men undressed on the shore, the officers on a small pier which ran out far enough to make a dive possible. The water was perfect — warm enough to make it possible to stay in for an hour, and yet cool and refreshing after the heat and dust of the day. The western sun, no longer blazing fiercely overhead, made dressing and drying a pleasure; and the walk up the hill to the evening meal in the twilight made one feel that the world was not such a bad place after all. There was more cheerfulness and laughter at the bathing place than anywhere else in Mudros. Many friendships were made there, some soon to be severed by Death, and men who had begun to harp on the truth of Kipling's words:

 

“Comfort, content, delight, the ages slow brought gain. They vanished in a night: Ourselves alone remain.” were forced to admit that pleasure and happiness had not completely vanished from the world.

 

While the first comers were becoming hardened to the discomforts of the Island, the remainder of the Division began to arrive. They had called at Alexandria, the base of the Mediterranean Expeditionary Force, and had left there the details allotted to the base and the bulk of their kit, wagons and water-carts. The artillery had also been ordered to remain in Egypt till further orders. The rest of the 29th Brigade, with their Brigade Headquarters, arrived between the 23rd and 29th of July, and they were followed by the rest of the Pioneer Battalion, the Field Companies of the Royal Engineers, the Signal Company, who found their motor-cycles more hindrance than help on the roadless Island, the Cyclists, and the Field Ambulances. These last no sooner arrived than they were called on to receive patients, for the prevalent malady had already knocked some men out. It was a severe test, but the doctors and orderlies rose to it splendidly, providing for their patients from their own private stores when Government supplies were not available.

 

The newly-arrived units were for the most part employed on fatigues. Everything needed on the Peninsula had to be carried up to camp: everything else, including the base kits of the units who had not called at Alexandria, had to be carried back again to the beach, where a dump was being formed inside a barbed wire fence. Officers were ordered to lighten their valises, so that they could be carried with ease by one man, and there was much cogitation as to what should be taken and what left behind. As a matter of fact, we saw so little of our valises after landing in the Peninsula that the careful distinction established between essentials (bedding, spare socks and shirt) and non-essentials (spare coat and breeches and boots) was wasted. Most of us determined to rely on our packs, which, we stuffed with a mackintosh, razor, soap, sponge, and (in my own case) a couple of books. From this packing, however, the 29th Brigade were distracted by Brigade night operations, which took the form of an attack on a hill five miles away. The march in the dark over broken and stony ground proved very trying to the men, who had not recovered the condition which they had lost on the voyage, and many of them dropped off to sleep as soon as they halted. It became clear to us that our task was likely to be an arduous one.

 

Meanwhile, we began to wonder as to the whereabouts of the remainder of the Division, since half of the 30th Brigade and the entire 31st had not landed. The transports conveying them had reached Mudros, but owing to the shortage of water it had been decided not to land them there, but to send them to Mitylene. The fact that it was found impossible to concentrate three divisions at Mudros simultaneously, illustrates the enormous increase that has taken place in the numbers employed in modern war. The most famous military expedition of ancient history had its rendezvous and base at Lemnos before it proceeded to attack Troy, and it would appear probable that Mudros Bay, the largest and best harbour on the Island, was the one used by the fleet of Agamemnon. There seems no reason to suppose that the water supply there has diminished, and it is certain that as the time needed for the voyage was longer, the sailing ships and oared galleys in which the Greek host made their way to the Trojan plain, must have been furnished with a copious supply of drinking water before they set sail. Homer does not record the fact that they suffered from thirst, and so it is clear that the whole army was able to subsist on what proved insufficient for less than 50,000 British soldiers. The theory of Professor Delbriick that the numbers taking part in ancient battles were grossly exaggerated, seems to rest on some foundation.

 

In some respects the units that went to Mitylene were more fortunate than the rest of the Division. They did not disembark, but remained on board the liners which had brought them out from England, thus securing good food and immunity from dust and flies. Mitylene, moreover, is far more beautiful than Mudros, and its smiling farms set in the midst of fruit trees and olive groves, were more welcome to the eye than the bare stony hills of Lemnos. There was, too, a larger and more friendly Greek population. Boats from the shore came out loaded with melons, grapes, and other varieties of fruit, so that those men who were possessed of money could get a change of diet. The worst that the 31st Brigade and 6th and 7th Dublin Fusiliers had to complain of, was dullness. Except for bathing and an occasional route march on shore, there was but little to break the monotony of shipboard life; and after a week or so in harbour, everyone was beginning to be a little ”fed-up”.

 

They disliked, too, the fact that they appeared to have lost the rest of the Division, and had no information about their future movements; but they were no worse off in that respect than the rest of us. All that we knew was, that we were part of the 9th Corps, commanded by Lieut.-General Sir F. Stopford. We knew little of him, but we knew that he was an Irishman and were prepared to take him on trust. Battalion commanders had been issued with sets of maps which, when put together, covered the whole of the Gallipoli Peninsula and part of the Asiatic coast; but possibly this was only a “blind.” Rumours, of course, were plentiful and very varied: a strong favourite was one which may conceivably have been encouraged by those in authority, and which suggested that we were intended to make a descent on Smyrna.

 

The fact that the remainder of the Division were known to be at Mitylene tended to confirm this, though there were sceptics who flouted this view and declared that we were to land near Enos in order to co-operate with the Bulgarian Army.

 

We had already been informed by irresponsible individuals that Bulgaria had declared war on Turkey. All these rumours undoubtedly tried the nerves of the troops, but secrecy was absolutely essential. The Island was not entirely under Allied control, a considerable part of the population were Turks, and any leakage of information would have proved fatal to the General's plans. As it was, we could see in the evening, as the ferry boats sailed out with their loads of reinforcements past the cheering battleships, bonfires kindled on the heights in order to inform the enemy on the mainland of the numbers and strength of the troops being moved. Some of us, as we watched them, recalled the beacons which signalled to Argos from the same peaks the news that Troy had fallen, and wondered if the day was soon to come when they would announce the capture of Constantinople.

 

In order that the movements of the Division may be understood, it is now necessary to give a short summary of the plan of campaign adopted by General Ian Hamilton; but it must be borne in mind that at the time regimental officers and men knew nothing of what was intended.

 

The objective of the Mediterranean Expeditionary Force was to secure the high ground commanding the Narrows of the Dardanelles, and to silence or capture the Turkish batteries which barred its passage to the Fleet. In order to achieve this object. Sir Ian Hamilton had at the end of April landed the bulk of his forces at the Southern extremity of the Gallipoli Peninsula. The landing was achieved by the 29th Division, much assisted by a subsidiary landing on the Asiatic coast executed by a French Division. On the following day the French re-embarked and joined the British in Gallipoli.

 

At this period, Sir Ian Hamilton had at his disposal at Cape Helles the 29th Division, the 43rd (East Lancashire) Territorial Division, the Royal Naval Division, and two French Divisions. With these troops, he made repeated assaults on the Turkish positions, on Achi Baba, but although he succeeded in considerably enlarging the area held by him, the main Turkish defences remained intact. Reinforcements in the shape of the 52nd (Lowland) Territorial Division and the 29th Indian Brigade hardly did more than compensate for wastage due to wounds and disease; and by the beginning of July it was clear to the Commander-in-Chief that, in spite of the desperate courage displayed by his troops, little was to be gained by keeping on hammering at Achi Baba. If it were won it would only be at a terrific cost, and its capture would not mean decisive victory, as behind lay another and taller mountain, Kilid Bahr, which barred the way to Maidos and the Narrows.

 

Fortunately, Cape Helles was not the only foothold that we had gained in the Peninsula. While the landing there was taking place on April 25th the Australian and New Zealand Army Corps, under General Sir William Birdwood, had succeeded in establishing itself on shore about a mile north of Gaba Tepe, about halfway up the western coast of Gallipoli. It was a marvellous achievement for troops who had had little more than six months' training, but in physique and courage Australians and New Zealanders are unsurpassed by any soldiers in the world, and the conditions under which they were called on to fight made initiative and endurance of greater value than rigid discipline. In their first success they pressed on half-way across the Peninsula; but the ground that they occupied was too great in extent to be held by two Divisions, and they were forced to fall back to the coast. There they held an irregular semi-circle drawn at a radius of about a mile from the little cove, christened in their honour Anzac. In parts, the Turkish lines were close to the beach, and the Australians clung to the crest with nothing but a precipice between them and the sea: elsewhere a narrow salient pointed inland into a tangle of hills and gullies, meeting with the usual fate of salients in being bombarded from both flanks. As a matter of fact, the whole Anzac position was a salient, and even the beach was regularly swept by the enemy's artillery and pestered by snipers posted on the hills to the northward. However, small as the area gained was, it provided a foothold from which Sir Ian Hamilton could launch his next attack.

 

The plan adopted for this was as follows: —

He proposed to send to Anzac as many reinforcements as space and water would permit, smuggling them in under cover of darkness. This done, he would take advantage of the absence of moonlight on the night of the 7th of August to break out northward from Anzac and seize the backbone of the Peninsula — the high ridge of Sari Bair. This hill ran north-east from Anzac for about four miles, and from its highest point commanded Maidos, the Narrows, and the whole of the lines of communication by which the Turks on Achi Baba were supplied. At the same time, the remainder of the reinforcements for whom there was not room at Anzac, were to effect a landing at Suvla Bay about six miles up the coast, advance in a south-easterly direction across the plain, and establish themselves on the northern end of the Sari Bair ridge, thus protecting the flank of the Anzac force. While the Turks were known to be in strength opposite Anzac, and to have reserves at Maidos, it was believed that Suvla Bay was weakly guarded.

 

Sir Ian Hamilton was able to dispose of the following troops to execute this operation. He had at Anzac the two Divisions of the Australian and New Zealand Army Corps, and reinforced them by the 29th Indian Infantry Brigade from Cape Helles. The reinforcements he received, and was still receiving, from England, consisted of the 10th, 11th and 13th New Army Divisions, together with the infantry of the 53rd (Welsh) and 54th (East Anglian) Territorial Divisions. The last of these Territorials were not due to reach Mudros till August 10th — three days after the commencement of operations. The whole of these reinforcements on August 1st were either still at sea, or divided between the islands of Imbros (16 miles from Gallipoli), Lemnos (60 miles) and Mitylene (120 miles away).

 

The Commander-in-Chief decided to reinforce the two divisions already serving at Anzac under Sir William Birdwood, by the Indian Brigade, the 13th Division and the 29th Brigade of the 10th Division. All these troops had to be conveyed to Anzac, and hidden there before the commencement of operations. To the landing at Suvla Bay he allotted the 11th Division supported by the 10th Division (less one brigade). The 53rd and 54th (Territorial) Divisions were retained as general reserve. The control of the operations at Anzac was entrusted to Sir W. Birdwood, who placed Major-General Sir A. Godley in charge of the attack on Sari Bair. The troops allocated to this operation were, the- Australian and New Zealand Division, two Brigades of the 13th Division, and the Indian Brigade. The Anzac position was to be held, and the feint attack on the Lone Pine position executed by the 1st Australian Division. The 29th Brigade (10th Division) and 38th Brigade (13th Division) were held in reserve. At Suvla, Sir F. Stopford was in command, and it was decided that the11th Division which was concentrated at Imbros should execute the first landing, and that the 30th and 31st Brigades of the 10th Division should arrive from Mudros and Mitylene at dawn in support.

 

It will be seen how great a part in these operations was to be played by newly-formed units which had had no experience of war. The Australians, New Zealanders, and Indians had been in the Peninsula for three months, and though their ranks had been thinned yet those who remained were hardened and acclimatised. The New Army and Territorial Divisions had come straight from England, and though the 13th Division had spent ten days in the trenches at Helles, the remainder as units had never heard a shot fired in anger. It is true that they had many experienced soldiers in their ranks. The General Commanding the 10th Division had seen the last warriors of Mahdism lying dead on their sheepskins around the corpse of their Khalifa. One of the Brigadiers had witnessed the downfall of Cetewayo's power at Ulundi; another had marched with the Guards Brigade across the desert to Tel-el-Kebir; while the third had played his part in the desperate fighting outside Suakim in 1884. Nearly all the Colonels and many of the Company Commanders had served in the South African War, and so had a number of the senior N.C.O.s. Nevertheless, the men, as a whole, were inexperienced, and the organization of the units had not been tested under the stern conditions which prevailed in the Peninsula. To attempt the landing at Suvla with untried troops, and staffs which had not been tested on service and were not in the habit of working together, was a great adventure; but the prizes of victory were great.

 

One thing was certain: never did soldiers go forth to battle with sterner and more resolved determination to maintain the honour of their country and their regiment unsullied than the men of the 10th Division. It was the first trial of the New Army in a great battle. We remembered the traditions of our regiments — traditions dearly gained and dearly cherished by generations of Irish soldiers. On the colours of the Royal Irish Fusiliers blazed the glorious name of Barrosa, and the Connaught Rangers cherished the memory of Salamanca and the storming of Ciudad Rodrigo and Badajos. The Royal Irish, the oldest Irish regiment of the line, had fought at Namur and Blenheim, and there was no lack of glory won in more recent fighting for the Dublins round Ladysmith and the Inniskillings at Pieter's Hill had performed deeds never to be forgotten. Each and every regiment had had its name inscribed on the scroll of fame by the men of the past: the 10th Division were resolute that their Service battalions should be worthy of those imperishable traditions.

 

Source: The Tenth (Irish) Division at Gallipoli by Major Bryan Cooper, 1917.