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.
August 23rd.—I ended my notes two days ago by remarking that we were all in good spirits over what seemed to us to be a victory. Soon after that some of us had to change our tune. Two officers were ordered up to Chocolate Hill, so Agassiz and I went across the north side of the Salt Lake which we found dry and caked hard. Towards the far end, as we neared the terrible hill, bullets were flying in hundreds—one struck the ground practically under my left foot, another passed between Agassiz and myself when we certainly were not a foot apart. A few more hundred yards, at the double, took us to that absolute inferno, Hill 53. (The hills were named according to their height, 53 meaning 53 metres high.) We got to the top through dead and dying men lined out everywhere. We at once looked up the A.D.M.S. who, along with the heads of the 29th Division, was in a deep and strongly protected dug-out. Now came the terrible and most unexpected news—the Staff were in a state of hysterics—Hill 72, which is separated from Hill 53 by a small dip, had been fought for all day and captured at immense cost, and was now about to be given up, it was impossible for us to hold it. The 11th Division had sent word that they were at a certain point which was their objective, but they were actually some distance behind that, and never did reach that point. But this piece of information, which the line had been eagerly waiting for, now allowed our centre to advance, thinking they had the 11th Division protecting their flank. They soon got too far forward and were at once enfiladed. This was the beginning of what was a catastrophe and which will cost us thousands of lives to rectify. "We are to give up Hill 72," said the A.D.M.S., "and if the Turks make a night attack, as they always do after an engagement, we'll be pushed off this Hill (53) into the valley, and it is hard to say where it will end. In that case we want every stretcher-bearer we can lay our hands on to work with might and main to get the wounded back from the trenches, or they will fall into the hands of the Turks." This sounded terrible, but we had to face it, so we sent back for all our men who could be spared, and many regimental men had to help to carry the wounded back, which was a most difficult piece of work.
In making communication trenches along which the wounded have to be carried from the firing trench, the carrying of stretchers is never considered. Traverses must be made certainly, and the narrower the trenches the better while fighting, but they should be made wide enough to let stretchers along, and the corners of the traverses should be rounded. As it was the stretchers could only be carried along the straight parts with the stretcher traverses "kicked in," and even then the backs of all the men's hands were peeled to the bone. Being impossible to get round the corners the stretchers had to be raised above the top of the trench, and as a rule the bearers soon tired of doing this at every few yards, and got right over the parapets and carried in the open.
We had a terrible night, and next morning as soon as the day began to break, although we were on the opposite side of the Hill from the enemy, they knew the range so thoroughly that they dropped their shells at the exact angle of the Hill, which was but a gentle slope, and raked it from top to bottom time after time.