THE GREAT NIGHT MARCH
[CHAPTER XV]
THE GREAT NIGHT MARCH
It is now time to follow the fortunes of the 4th Brigade of Australian Infantry who, under General Monash, had massed at Outpost No. 2 on the night of August 6. Their mission was to cross the two gullies up which the New Zealanders had charged to the capture of Chunuk Bair, and to storm a third and more northerly gully, known as the Aghyl Dere. The upper portion of this gully leads to the slopes of the height of Koja Chemen, the highest point of the mountain mass of Sari Bair. Its crest is 971 feet above sea level, and is marked on the maps as Hill 971.
Their line of march lay north-east, through unknown country that was badly broken by gullies and steep hills. It took them over part of the open plain which lay between Sari Bair and Suvla Bay, an agricultural plain comparatively flat and clear, where the Australasians had watched the Turkish peasants getting in their crops through the month of July.
It was the individual resource and confidence of each unit of these Colonial troops which permitted this difficult night march to be accomplished successfully. The task of co-operation set to the newly landed troops at Suvla Bay was by no means so difficult. Without intending any disparagement of these forces, it has to be said that if they had displayed the initiative and resource of their more seasoned Colonial comrades, a more successful outcome of these operations could surely have been recorded.
The plan adopted by the Australians was beautiful in its simplicity, and in the full reliance placed upon each individual man. The officers showed the non-commissioned men their maps of the unknown country through which the night march was to be made; and the non-coms, in their turn explained to each man the object of the march, and the nature of the chief obstacles marked on the maps.
When the word to advance was given, the men simply melted away into the darkness, and without any noise made their way towards the goal. Sometimes two or three pressed forward silently together; more often the fellows made their way alone. The most impressive part of that advance was its noiselessness. Now and then the enemy would turn their guns down the gullies up which the advance was being made, and then each man found cover as best he could, and waited until he thought it safe to pursue his onward way.