CHAPTER II
GALLIPOLI—TO 11th JULY, 1915.
The main objects the Allies had in view in their operations at Gallipoli may be briefly stated:
1. To relieve the pressure on the Russians in the Caucasus by forcing the Turks to withdraw troops to the new front.
2. To open the Black Sea to allied shipping by forcing the passage of the Dardanelles.
3. By striking a blow towards Constantinople to compel the Turks to abandon their attacks on Egypt.
In Southern Russia there were immense stocks of wheat of which Western Europe was in need. If the operations were successful this wheat could be shipped from Odessa, and in exchange the Russians would receive munitions for the heroic fight they were putting up against Germany and Austria between the Baltic and the Carpathians.
Those of us who served at Gallipoli had not always these great issues before us. We were content to know that we were fighting the Turk who had basely sold himself to the Central Powers, and were upholding the Cross, like Crusaders of old, in its long struggle with the Crescent.
The evening of 2nd July was fine, with a fresh easterly breeze, and though the troops on the deck of the Racoon were packed like sardines the passage was a pleasant one. As we neared our destination artillery were at work on Achi Baba, and the flashes of the explosion followed by the dull boom of the guns were—to most of us—our first glimpse of actual warfare.
