V *
^
"
NEW SYNAGOGUE
HEBREW AND RELIGION CLASSES,
STAMFORD HILL, N.
LIBRARY.
presented
With the Zionists in Gallipoli
The Shield of David shown on the cover
and title-page formed the badge of the
Zion Mule Corps.
With the Zionists in
Lt.- Colonel
J. H. ^Patterson, ns.o., Author of
"The Man-Eaters of Tsavo" and "In the Grip of
:: the
THIRD EDITION
LONDON: HUTCHINSON & CO.
:: :: 'PATERNOSTER ROW :: ::
PREFACE
THE narrative of the Zionists in Gallipoli has been
written during the enforced idleness of the past month
— a month which has been spent in endeavouring to
recover sufficient health and strength to enable me to
take a further, and, I trust, a more useful hand in the
Great Drama now approaching its climax.
In the following pages I have " set down nought in
malice," neither have I given a word of praise where
praise is not due — and more than due. My relations
with those with whom I came into contact were ex-
cellent, and on the very rare occasions when they were
otherwise it was not due to any seeking of mine, but,
unfortunately, my temperament is not such that I
can suffer fools gladly.
My story is one of actual happenings, told just as I
saw them, with some suggestions thrown in, and if from
these a hint is taken here and there by those in the
" Seats of the Mighty," then so much the better for
our Cause.
My chief object in writing this book is to interest
the Hebrew nation in the fortunes of the Zionists and
show them of what their Russian brothers are capable,
even under the command of an alien in race and
1762223
vi PREFACE
religion. Those who have the patience to follow me
through these pages will, of course, see that I am not
by any means an alien in sympathy and admiration
for the people who have given to the world some of
its greatest men, not to mention The Man who has so
profoundly changed the world's outlook.
J. H. PATTERSON.
London, 1916.
CONTENTS
CHAP. PAGE
I. — INTRODUCTION ..... i
II. — GENERAL POLICY OF THE DARDANELLES
CAMPAIGN . . . . . .17
III. — STRATEGY AND TACTICS OF THE DARDA-
NELLES CAMPAIGN .... 22
IV. — FORMATION OF THE ZION MULE CORPS . 31
V. — ARRIVAL AT LEMNOS . . .48
VI. — A STRENUOUS NIGHT .... 59
VII. — DESCRIPTION OF SOUTHERN GALLIPOLI . 73
VIII. — A HOMERIC CONFLICT .... 77
IX. — THE ZION MULE CORPS LANDS IN GALLI-
POLI
X. — A NIGHT UP THE GULLY RAVINE
XI. — How ZION MULES UPSET TURKISH PLANS
XII. — LIFE IN OUR NEW CAMP
XIII.— A MAY BATTLE
XIV. — GENERAL D'AMADE AND THE CORPS EXPE-
DITIONNAIRE D'ORIENT
XV. — VARIOUS BOMBARDMENTS
XVI. — THE COMING OF THE GERMAN SUBMARINES
XVII. — TRENCH WARFARE IN GALLIPOLI .
XVIII. — GUNS AND STAFF ....
XIX. — VISITS TO THE TRENCHES
XX. — FLIES, DUST AND BATTLE .
viii CONTENTS
CHAP. PAGE
XXI. — WORK OF THE ZION MULB CORPS . 203
XXII. — THE AUSTRALIANS AND NEW ZEA-
LANDERS . . . . . .211
XXIII. — VOYAGE TO EGYPT .... 224
XXIV. — RECRUITING IN EGYPT . . . 231
XXV. — LIFE IN EGYPT . tr . . . 238
XXVI. — RETURN TO GALLIPOLI . . . 249
XXVII.— BEELZEBUB 258
XXVIII.— A FEAT IN GUNNERY . . . .266
XXIX. — THE FINDING OF THE SHIELD OF DAVID 277
XXX. — BACK TO ENGLAND . . . . 286
XXXI. — THE EVACUATION . ... . . . 301
APPENDIX ...... 307
MAP
The "Handy" sketch of the toe of the Peninsula
Facing page 76
MUSIC
Hatikvoh (The Song of Hope), arranged by Eva
Lousdale ....... page 313
With the Zionists in Gallipoli
CHAPTER I
INTRODUCTION
T PROPOSE in the following pages to have
•*- something to say on the general policy
of the Gallipoli campaign, and also upon the
operations of war in execution of that policy.
Now, in the discussion of these questions, I shall
have some criticisms to make, so it may not
be altogether inappropriate to give the reader
some little idea of a few at least of my qualifica-
tions for such a role ; otherwise he might well
be tempted to say : " A fig for this fellow and
his criticisms. What is he but a mere
muleteer ? "
Perhaps I may remark, to begin with, that
when I took over the command of the Zion
i i
Introduction
Mule Corps, I knew a great deal about soldiering
and the art of war, but very little about the
muleteer or the artful mule. But that's just
" a way we have in the Army ! "
From my boyhood I have either been a soldier
or taken the keenest interest in soldiering, not
only in England but in all parts of the world.
My military experiences extend through home,
India and South Africa, and have been by no
means of a sketchy character. I spent the best
part of three years in South Africa, where I
commanded a Yeomanry regiment, and at times
Regular troops of all arms, during the Boer War.
Those were glorious days — days when one
could thoroughly enjoy warfare — a wild gallop
over the veldt, a good fight in the open, and the
day won by the best men.
In these days war is robbed of all its glory
and romance. It is now but a dyke-maker's
job, and a dirty one at that ; but much as the
soldier may dislike this method of warfare, it
has come to stay, and we must make the best
of a bad job, adapt ourselves to the new con-
ditions, and by sticking it out, as we have always
done, wear down the foe.
2
Introduction
In addition to practical experience of soldiers
and soldiering in England, India, and South
Africa, I have watched our troops at work and
play in many out-of-the-way parts of the
Empire — the King's African Rifles in East
Africa and Uganda ; the Cape Mounted Rifles
in South Africa ; the " Waffs " in West Africa ;
the " Gippies " in Egypt, and the North- West
mounted men of Canada away in the wilds of
the Klondyke.
Nor have I confined my attention to the
Empire's soldiers only.
In my various visits to America I looked very
keenly into the training and organization of
the American Army. I was especially fortunate
in being able to do this, as I had the privilege
of being Colonel Theodore Roosevelt's guest at
the White House, while he was President, and
his letters of introduction made me a welcome
visitor everywhere. I saw something of the
Cavalry and Artillery, both East and West. I
watched their Infantry amidst the snows of
Alaska. I also noted what excellent game
preservers the Cavalry troopers made in the
Yellowstone Park — that wonderful National
3 i*
Introduction
Reserve, crammed with nature's wonders and
denizens of the wild, where a half-tamed bear
gave me the run of my life !
Whenever I was with American soldiers,
their methods were so like our own that I never
could feel I was with strangers.
There is only one fault to find with America's
Army, and that is that there is not enough of
it ; for its size, I should say that it is one of the
finest in the world. Never have I seen more
efficiency anywhere, more keenness among
officers and N.C.O.'s ; and certainly never in
any army have I eaten such delicious food as is
supplied to the American private soldier ; the
soldiers' bread, such as I tasted at Fort Riley,
baked in military ovens, cannot be surpassed at
the "Ritz," *' Savoy" or "Plaza."
It is incomprehensible to me why the average
American should have such a strong prejudice
against the Army. He seems to imagine that it
is some vague kind of monster which, if he does
not do everything in his power to strangle and
chain up, will one day turn and rend him, and
take all his liberties away.
To give some little idea of the feeling of
4
Introduction
Americans towards soldiers or soldiering, I will
relate a little conversation which I overheard
at Davenport, a town away out in the State of
Iowa. I had had a very strenuous morning in
the hot sun, watching the jih Cavalry at
squadron training and other work, and had got
back to the hotel, thoroughly tired out after
my arduous day. In the afternoon I was
sitting on the shady side of the hotel which was
on the main street ; at a table near me were
seated three Americans whose remarks I could
not help overhearing ; they were travellers in
various small articles, one of them being a
specialist in neckties ; while they were talking
two men of the yth Cavalry walked past ; my
friend, the necktie man, looked after them,
shook his head, and in most contemptuous tones
said : " I suppose we must pay the lazy, useless
brutes just for the look of the thing." The
speaker was a pasty-faced, greasy, fat hybrid,
about twenty-eight years old. I am afraid he
was a type of which there are many in America ;
their God is the almighty dollar, an idol the
blind worship of which will one day surely bring
its own punishment.
5
Introduction
Of course I do not, for a moment, wish it to
be thought that people of this type predominate
in America. I am happy to state that among
her citizens I have met some of the most charm-
ing, hospitable, intellectual, unselfish and noble
people to be found on the face of the globe.
America holds many interests for me, and
I never fail to pay our cousins a visit when the
opportunity occurs. Perhaps the chief of her
attractions, so far as I am concerned, centre in
and around the State of Virginia, that beautiful
piece of country where most of the great battles
of the Civil War were fought.
All my life I have made a point of studying
military history and the campaigns of the great
Captains of the past. Indeed, I have tramped
over many battlefields in Europe, Asia, Africa
and America, not at all with the idea that the
knowledge would ever prove of value from a
military point of view, but solely because I was
deeply interested in soldierly matters.
In Spain and Flanders I have followed the
footsteps of both Napoleon and Wellington.
In Canada I have sailed up the stately
St. Lawrence, and with Wolfe in imagination
6
Introduction
again stormed the Heights of Abraham. When
I stood on those heights some hundred and
fifty years after the great victory which added
Canada to the Empire, I was able to realize,
more fully than I had ever been able to do from
books, the magnitude of the task which General
Wolfe had before him when, on that fateful
night of the I3th September, 1759, he led his
troops up that precipitous road to victory.
In the United States I have, on horseback and
on foot, followed Stonewall Jackson up and
down the Shenandoah Valley, from Harper's
Ferry (over the Potomac) to The Wilderness,
where he was seized with such strange inertia,
and on ' to that fatal Chancellorsville where an
unlucky bullet, fired from his own lines, put an
end to his life and all chances of victory for the
South.
When I was at Washington, General Wather-
spoon, the Chief of the War College there, very
kindly supplied me with maps and notes which
he had himself made of the battlefield of Gettys-
burg, and I am convinced that, if General
Longstreet had arrived on the field in time,
victory would have rested with the South ;
7
Introduction
and I am equally convinced that, if Stonewall
Jackson had been alive, Longstreet would have
been in his proper place at the right time.
What a pity we have no Stonewall Jackson
with us in these days. How noble is the epitaph
on the monument of this great soldier. I only
quote the words from memory, but they are
something like this :
" When the Almighty in His Omnipotence
saw fit to give victory to the North over
the South, He found that it was first
necessary to take to Himself Stonewall
Jackson."
It was a great pleasure to me to see his wife,
Mrs. Stonewall Jackson, when I was at Washing-
ton, but unfortunately I did not have the
chance of speaking to her.
I was delighted to meet Miss Mary Lee
several times, the daughter of the best-loved
General that ever led an Army — Robert E. Lee,
the Commander-in-Chief of the Confederate
Forces. Miss Lee gave me much pleasure by
recounting many anecdotes about her famous
8
Introduction
father. Among other interesting reminiscences
she told me that when the war broke out her
youngest brother was a mere boy still at school,
but the stirring accounts of the great fights in
which his father commanded and his older
brothers took part, so fired his ardour that one
day he disappeared from school, and was not
heard of by any of his family for the best part
of a year. During this time he served as a
soldier in a battery of Artillery. One day,
while a furious battle was raging and the fortunes
of war swayed first to the South and then to
the North, General Lee observed some of his
guns rapidly retiring from a particularly hot
position. He galloped up to them himself
and ordered them back into the fight. The
Commander-in-Chief was somewhat surprised
when a powder-blackened, mud-grimed young
soldier, in a blood-stained shirt, said to him :
" What, Dad, back into that hell again ? "
— and back into that hell the General sternly
sent them at a gallop, and by so doing won
the day for the South. Luckily, his boy came
out of the battle unscathed and is alive to this
day.
9
Introduction
A few years ago I received an invitation from
the German General Staff to visit Berlin. What
I saw then, and on subsequent visits, impressed
me very much with the thoroughness of the
German nation, not only from a military, but
also from a civil point of view.
A captain on the Staff was detailed to be my
" bear-leader," while I was in Berlin. As we
were strolling down Unter den Linden one
day, discussing the youthfulness of senior
officers of the British Army, as compared with
those of the German Army, he confided to me
that when he was ordered to conduct an English
Colonel, he fully expected to see an old and
grizzled veteran, whereas to his astonishment,
he found me younger than himself, who was
only a Captain. I shall never forget how, when
I laughingly told him that I had jumped from
Lieutenant to Lieut.-Colonel in about eight
months during the South African War, he
stopped short in the middle of the pave-
ment, saluted me gravely and said : " You are
Napoleon ! " Of course, in these days, this
meteoric flight is quite an everyday occurrence
in our Army !
10
Introduction
Among many other interesting things that the
Prussian Captain showed me was their Hall of
Glory, the walls of which are covered with
pictures of famous battles and generals. While
we were there I saw little parties of Prussian
recruits being taken from picture to pic-
ture, guided by veterans. With straightened
shoulders and glowing eye the old soldiers
kindled the enthusiasm of the coming warriors
by recounting to them the glorious and daring
deeds performed by their forefathers on many
a well-fought field.
This, no doubt, is only one of the numerous
carefully thought out schemes of the General
Staff to instil into the German nation the spirit
of military pride and glory.
I paid another visit to Germany shortly before
the present war broke out, and, soon after my
return, I happened to meet in London the
German Military Attache, Major Renner, who
seemed most anxious to hear from me what my
impressions were. I suppose he wondered if I
had seen much of the vast preparations, which
were even then being made, for the great war
into which Germany has plunged the world.
ii
Introduction
Of all my observations the only things I confided
to him (which he noted down as if they were of
great importance !) were that I considered the
abominable type used in German newspapers
and books responsible for the be-spectacled
German ; that although their railway stations
were wonderfully clean, yet they were without
a decent platform, and my insular modesty had
been shocked on many occasions by the amount
of German leg I saw when the ladies clambered
into and out of the carriages ; and lastly, that I
thought the long and handsome cloak worn by
the officers might be greatly improved by making
a slit at the side, so that the hilt of the sword
might be outside, instead of inside the cloak,
where not only did it make an unsightly lump,
but was hard to get at in case of urgent need.
A day or two after war was declared, I happened
to be dining in London with Mr. and Mrs.
Walrond. Among the other guests was a Staff
Officer from the War Office, Major R., who
is now a general. Hearing that I had been
recently in Germany, he asked me what I thought
of their chances. I told him that I felt sure
that Germany would have tremendous victories
12
Introduction
to begin with, and that I believed her armies
would get to the gates of Paris, but did not
think they would capture Paris this time ; and
that, although it would take us time, we would
beat them eventually, for so long as we held
command of the sea we were bound to win in
the end.
Some of the guests at this dinner party have
since complimented me on the accuracy of the
first part of my prophecy, and I feel absolutely
convinced that the remainder of my forecast
will, in spite of all bungling, prove equally true,
always provided the Navy is given a free hand,
and allowed to do its work in its own way.
In poor, brave little Belgium also I had every
opportunity given to me by the General Staff
to see their Cavalry at work ; and while I was in
Brussels, Colonel Fourcault, commanding the
2nd Guides, gave me the freedom of the
barracks, where I could come and go as I liked.
I became very good friends with the officers of
the regiment, and we had discussions about
Cavalry, its equipment and fighting value. On
being asked for my opinion on the relative value
of the rifle as compared with the lance and sabre,
13
Introduction
I unhesitatingly backed the rifle. I saw that the
Belgian Cavalry were armed with a small, toy-
like carbine and a heavy sabre, and in the dis-
cussions which we had, I told them that in my
humble opinion they would be well advised to
scrap both and adopt the infantry rifle and a
lighter thrusting-sword ; but above all I impressed
upon them to be sure about the rifle, as the
occasions for the use of the arme blanche in future
would be rare, with all due deference to General
von Bernhardi.
I was, of course, looked upon as a Cavalry leper
for expressing such heretical opinions in a Cavalry
mess, but I had my revenge later on, when
Captain Donnay de Casteau of the 2nd Guides
called on me at my club during his stay in
London after poor little Belgium had been
crushed. He came especially to tell me that
those who were left of the regiment often
talked of the unorthodox views I had so strongly
expressed, and he said : " We all had to agree
that every word you told us has proved abso-
lutely true."
While I was in Belgium I went down to the
now famous Mons, and was the guest of the
14
Introduction
7th Chasseurs a cheval, where I got a thorough
insight into the interior economy of the regiment.
It has always been a profound mystery to me
that our Intelligence did not give Field-Marshal
French earlier information while he was at
Mons of the fact that large German forces were
marching upon him from the direction of
Tournai. Some strange and fatal inertia must
have fallen both on the French Intelligence and
our own, otherwise it would have been impossible
for a large German army to have got into this
threatening position without information having
been sent to the Commander-in-Chief.
When in Spain I was privileged, owing to the
courtesy of the Madrid War Office, to see some-
thing of the Spanish Army. I cannot say that
I was deeply impressed ; there was too much
" Manana " about it, or in other words, " Wait
and see ! " From what I observed I was not
at all surprised to find it crumple up before the
Americans in Cuba. It would, however, be a
glorious thing to be a colonel in the Spanish
Army, as they seemed to be able to do what was
right in their own eyes.
But this was some years ago, and I understand
15
Introduction
that the Spanish Army, now that it has got a
brand-new General Staff, is to be completely
reorganized and made into a really efficient
fighting force.
Of course I have many times seen the French
and Italian armies at work and play — so that
altogether my knowledge of soldiers and soldier-
ing is somewhat catholic, and I may therefore
claim to have some little right to criticize the
policy, the strategy, and the tactics of the
Gallipoli campaign.
16
CHAPTER II
GENERAL POLICY OF THE DARDANELLES CAMPAIGN
TV /[" ANY leaders of thought in England,
f 4 whose convictions should certainly
carry weight, are of the opinion that the expe-
dition to the Dardanelles was in itself unsound,
and should never have been undertaken. Now
the views of well-known, practical, common-
sense men should not be lightly thrust aside,
but perhaps as one who has travelled and read
much, and knows the East and the questions
bound up with it fairly well, I hope I may not
appear too presumptuous if I venture to disagree
with those who condemn the Dardanelles policy.
It must be remembered that although we
declared war on Turkey she had already com-
mitted several hostile acts on our Russian ally,
and had flouted us most outrageously by allow-
ing the Goeben and Breslau the freedom and
17 2
General Policy of Dardanelles Campaign
protection of her waters and the resources
of her arsenals.
Of course the escape of these two ships is one
of the most extraordinary bungles of the war,
which it is to be hoped will be carefully gone
into at some future time, and the responsible
culprit brought to book, for on his head probably
rests the blood of the countless dead in Gallipoli.
I have reason to think that it is more than
doubtful whether the mischievous activity of
Enver Pasha and his satellites would have been
sufficient to induce the Turkish nation to commit
an act of war against either ourselves or Russia,
but for the presence at the gates of Constanti-
nople of these powerful German warships.
Our ally having been attacked and we ourselves
flouted it became necessary for us, if we meant
to uphold our prestige in the East, to declare
war on Turkey.
A successful war against the Ottoman Empire
had immense possibilities in it ; the way to
Russia would be opened, guns and munitions
would have streamed in to her through the
Bosphorus, while wheat for ourselves and our
allies would have streamed out — but there was a
18
General Policy of Dardanelles Campaign
great deal more than this at stake, as I shall
point out.
It was well known to the Foreign Office that
unless we showed a strong hand in the Near East,
some of the Balkan States, who were even then
trembling in the balance, would in all probability
link their fortunes with those of the enemy.
These wavering States wished to join the Allies
if they saw a reasonable chance of the Allies'
success. On the other hand Austria, backed
up by the might of Germany, was at their gates,
and with Belgium as an object lesson they feared
for their country. What therefore could have
been more calculated to gain them to our side
than a smashing blow which would crumple up
Turkey and give us direct communication with
Russia ? Had we succeeded (and we ought to
have succeeded) it is certain that Greece and
Rumania would now be fighting on our side ;
the astute Ferdinand would have seen on which
side his bread was buttered, and have either kept
Bulgaria neutral, or made common cause with
the Allies ; and those unfortunate little States,
Serbia and Montenegro, would not have been
betrayed and ground to dust.
19 2*
General Policy of Dardanelles Campaign
The fall of Constantinople would once more
have been a great epoch-making event, which
would have changed the course of the world's
history, for with its fall our victorious army,
hand in hand with Russia, would have made a
triumphant march through the Balkans, where
every State would then have rallied to our side.
This allied flood would number between two
and three millions of men, and with this irre-
sistible force we would have burst upon the plains
of Hungary and on to the heart of the Empire.
Such an advance is not new to history, as the
Turks themselves, when in the zenith of their
power, overran Austria-Hungary and were only
denied the domination of Europe under the very
walls of Vienna itself, where, as everybody knows,
they were defeated by John Sobiesky. No
modern Sobiesky would have been found strong
enough to deprive us of our prey, and with the
fall of Vienna Austria would have been crushed,
and the war would soon have come to a victorious
end.
Even if we did not penetrate quite so far, the
very fact of such a large army advancing from the
south and east would have drawn an immense
20
General Policy of Dardanelles Campaign
number of the enemy's troops from the Eastern
and Western fronts, which would have given the
Russians, the French and ourselves an oppor-
tunity of smashing through on those fronts and
between us crushing Germany.
Yes, undoubtedly the fall of Constantinople
was of vital importance, and for once our poli-
ticians were right.
In addition to our material gains in Europe,
our prestige throughout the East would have
reached a pinnacle such as it has never yet at-
tained, and there would have been no such nuts
for us to crack as the Egyptian, Persian, or
Mesopotamian questions.
Germany would be completely hemmed in and
the strangling grip of our Fleet would have been
irresistible when this last link with, the outer
world had been severed.
Germany's wheat supply from Rumania, copper
from Serbia, cottons, fats and other vital pro-
ducts from Turkey would be cut off, and economic
life in the Central Empires would in a very short
time have been made intolerable.
21
CHAPTER III
STRATEGY AND TACTICS OF THE DARDANELLES
CAMPAIGN
~\ T OW, having recognized the tremendous
•*• ^ issues which were involved in the fall of
Constantinople, it may be asked did the Govern-
ment provide a weapon sufficiently strong to
carry out their policy ? In my humble opinion
they did, — if only the weapon had been rightly
handled.
Of course, whoever is to blame for the
Bedlamite policy of the first disastrous attempts
by the Navy alone bears a heavy responsibility.
Beyond knocking the entrance forts to pieces,
all that this premature attack by the Fleet
effected was to give the Turks ample warning
of our intentions, of which they took full
advantage by making the Gallipoli Peninsula
an almost impregnable fortress and the Dar-
danelles a network of mines.
22
Strategy and Tactics
But even this grave initial blunder could have
been rectified, if only sound strategy had been
adopted in the combined naval and military
attack on the Dardanelles.
The problem before the strategists was, of
course, to get through to Constantinople with
the Fleet, and this could only be done by forcing
the Narrows, a strip of the Dardanelles heavily
fortified and only a mile wide. It was there-
fore necessary to reduce the forts guarding the
Narrows, and with an army to hold the heights
on Gallipoli dominating the Dardanelles, so as
to ensure the safety of the Fleet.
Having command of the seas gave us the
choice of launching the attack at any point we
chose on the Turkish coast ; therefore the
Turks were at the great disadvantage of having
to divide their forces into several parts, so as
to guard such points as they thought might
possibly be attacked.
It was known that there was a Turkish army
on the Asiatic side, at the south of Chanak, the
principal Fort on the Asiatic shore of the Narrows ;
also that the Bulair lines, some forty miles from
the extremity of the Peninsula, were strongly
23
Strategy and Tactics
fortified and held ; that a strong force was
entrenched on the southern portion of the
Peninsula in the neighbourhood of Cape
Helles ; and, in addition, that there was yet
another Turkish army holding the heights on
the Aegean at, or near, a point now known as
Anzac.
Now, if anyone will take the trouble to study
the map, he will see that the key to the
Narrows is that portion of the Gallipoli
Peninsula which extends across from Anzac on
the Aegean, through the heights of Sari Bair, to
the Dardanelles.
If, therefore, instead of dividing the Medi-
terranean Expeditionary Force (which un-
fortunately was the plan adopted) and having
it held up or destroyed in detail, the whole
force had been thrown in its entirety at this
point, and a vigorous sledge-hammer blow
delivered, I feel absolutely confident that a
crowning victory would have been gained and
the expedition would have been a glorious
success.
Of the four Turkish armies the only one that
could have opposed a sudden vigorous thrust
24
Strategy and Tactics
at the key position was the one at and near
Anzac, and this force we could have swept aside
and crumpled up before any of the others could
possibly have come to its assistance.
That the .Expeditionary Force could have
been landed here is proved by the fact that the
two Australian and New Zealand Divisions did
land here, and these dauntless men, by them-
selves, almost succeeded in taking Sari Bair
and getting astride the Peninsula. For eight
months they held their end up, and more than
held it up, against overwhelming odds. Had
they been backed up at the time of the first
landing on the 25th April, 1915, by the " incom-
parable 29th Division," one of the best the British
Army has ever seen, together with the two French
Divisions, with their hundred celebrated .75
guns, and the Royal Naval Division, no Turkish
troops at that time in the neighbourhood could
for a moment have stood up against them,
and with our grip once established on the
Peninsula nothing could have shaken us off —
not all the soldiers in the Ottoman Empire.
Every Turk on the southern portion of Galli-
poli must inevitably have fallen into our hands
Strategy and Tactics
within a few days, for it was well known that
they were but ill supplied with ammunition
and food. There was no chance of escape for
them, for our Fleet commanded all the waters
round Gallipoli up to the very Narrows them-
selves, and nothing could possibly have gained
the Asiatic shore ; while anything attempting
to cross at the Narrows would have been in-
evitably sunk by the artillery which we would
have mounted on the dominating heights of
the Peninsula. No help could reach them from
Constantinople, for the same reason, and it
would have been in vain for them to have en-
deavoured to break through our lines, as was
proved over and over again in the many deter-
mined but futile assaults they made on us in
Gallipoli, when they were invariably hurled
back with enormous losses.
Once astride the Peninsula, where our length
of front would be less than seven miles, with
over six men to the yard holding it, nothing
could have shaken off our strangling hold. It
would only then have been a question of direct-
ing the fire of the heavy naval guns on the Forts
in the Narrows, which would, of course, be done
26
Strategy and Tactics
by direct observation, and these strongholds
would have been pounded to dust by the Queen
Elizabeth and other battleships within a week,
thus leaving open the road to Constantinople.
Such might have been the glorious ending of
the Gallipoli campaign if only sound strategical
and tactical methods had been employed.
It is a thousand pities that this plan of opera-
tions was not adopted, for with such proved
commanders as General D'Amade, General
Birdwood and General Hunter-Weston — thrusters
all — and with such incomparable men, there
would have been no " fatal inertia " to chronicle.
It must be remembered that at the time of
this landing on April 25th, the Turks had had
but little time to organize their defences, and
it would then have been a much easier task to
have seized the heights of Sari Bair than when
the attempt was made with raw troops later on
in August, an attempt which, even with all the
drawbacks chronicled against it, came within
an ace of being a success.
Another great advantage was that the weather,
when we landed in April, was much cooler ;
there was also an ample rainfall, so that there
27
Strategy and Tactics
would have been no difficulty about drinking-
water, a lack of which in August proved fatal
to the attempt made in that hot, dry month.
We did not, of course, rely upon a chance rain-
fall at the time of our landing, for, as I shall show
later on, ample provision had been made for
carrying and supplying water, at all events for
the 29th Division.
Unfortunately, such a plan of campaign as I
have outlined was not put into execution.
Instead, the force was split up into no less than
nine parts, and practically destroyed in detail,
or brought to a standstill by the Turks.
The Australian and New Zealand Divisions
landed at Anzac, the key position ; the 29th
Division beat themselves to death attacking six
different and almost impregnable positions on
the toe of the Peninsula, where, I dare to say,
not a single man ought ever to have been landed ;
in addition to the opposition they met with in
Gallipoli they were subjected to a rain of shells
from Asia, not only at the time of landing but
throughout the whole time we wasted in occupy-
ing this utterly (from a military point of view)
useless end of the Peninsula.
28
Strategy and Tactics
The Royal Naval Division was sent somewhere
in the direction of the Bulair Lines, where it
effected nothing, and the two French Divisions
made an onslaught on the Asiatic coast, which,
although well conceived and most gallantly
put into execution, helped the main cause not
at all. Of course, they were invaluable in pre-
venting the Asiatic guns from firing on the
agth Division at the time of the landing, but
then this Division should of course have been
landed at Anzac, where they would have been
out of range of those guns. Whatever Turkish
force opposed the French at Kum Kale could
never have got across the Dardanelles in time
to have opposed our landing at or near Anzac.
If it had been thought necessary to make
demonstrations on the Asiatic coast, at the toe
of the Peninsula, and at the Bulair Lines, this
could have been done equally well by sending
the empty transports to those places, escorted
by a few gunboats, and thus have held the Turks
in position by making a pretence at throwing
troops ashore at those points.
Of course, it is easy to be wise after the event,
but I never did see, and never could see, the
Strategy and Tactics
point of dividing our force and landing on the
southern part of Gallipoli, for, once we had
got astride the Peninsula from Anzac to the
Narrows, all the Turks to the south of us must
have fallen into our mouths, like ripe plums.
Napoleon has placed it on record that it is
the besetting sin of British commanders to
fritter away their forces by dividing them and
so laying themselves open to be defeated in
detail. It would appear that we have not even
yet taken Napoleon's maxim to heart, for if ever
there was an occasion on which it was absolutely
vital to keep the whole force intact for a mighty
blow, it was on that fateful Sunday morning,
April 25th, 1915, when one concentrated thrust
from Anzac to the Narrows would have un-
doubtedly placed in our hands the key of the
Ottoman Empire.
The Dardanelles campaign will go down to
history as the greatest failure sustained by
British arms, and yet no more glorious deeds
have ever been performed by any army in the
world.
30
CHAPTER IV
FORMATION OF THE ZION MULE CORPS
T^ROM the days of my youth I have always
been a keen student of the Jewish people,
their history, laws and customs. Even as a
boy I spent the greater part of my leisure hours
poring over the Bible, especially that portion of
the Old Testament which chronicles battles,
murders, and sudden deaths, little thinking that
this Biblical knowledge would ever be of any
practical value in after life.
It was strange, therefore, that I, so imbued
with Jewish traditions, should have been drawn
to the land where the Pharaohs had kept the
Children of Israel in bondage for over four
hundred years ; and it was still more strange
that I should have arrived in Egypt just at the
psychological moment when General Sir John
Marwell, the Commander-in-Chief, was looking
Formation of the Zion Mule Corps
out for a suitable officer to raise and command
a Jewish unit.
Now, such a thing as a Jewish unit had been
unknown in the annals of the world for some
two thousand years — since the days of the Macca-
bees, those heroic Sons of Israel who fought so
valiantly, and for a time so successfully, to
wrest Jerusalem from the grasp of the Roman
legions.
It had happened that there had come down to
Egypt out of Palestine many hundreds of people
who had fled from thence to escape the wrath of
the Turks. These people were of Russian
nationality but of Jewish faith, and many of
them strongly desired to band themselves
together into a fighting host and place their
lives at the disposal of England, whom the Jews
have recognized as their friend and protector
from time immemorial. Indeed, by many it
is held that the British people are none other
than some of the lost tribes ; moreover, we have
taken so much of Jewish national life for our
own, mainly owing to our strong Biblical lean-
ings, that the Jews can never feel while with
us that they are among entire strangers.
32
Formation of the Zion Mule Corps
Now these people having made known their
wishes to the Commander-in-Chief, he, in a
happy moment of inspiration, saw how much
it would benefit England, morally and materially,
to have bound up with our fortunes a Jewish
fighting unit.
The next thing to be done was to find a
suitable British officer to command this unique
force, and at the time of my arrival in Cairo,
General Maxwell had already applied for " a
tactful thruster " to be chosen from among the
officers of the Indian Brigade then doing
duty on the Suez Canal.
My opportune arrival, however, coupled with
a strong backing from an old friend, Major-
General Sir Alexander Godley, decided him
to offer me the command.
It certainly was curious that the General's
choice should have fallen upon me, for, of
course, he knew nothing of my knowledge of
Jewish history, or of my sympathy for the Jewish
race. When, as a boy, I eagerly devoured the
records of the glorious deeds of Jewish military
captains such as Joshua, Joab, Gideon and
Judas Maccabseus, I little dreamt that one day
33 3
Formation of the Zion Mule Corps
I, myself, would, in a small way, be a captain of
a host of the Children of Israel !
On the 1 9th March, 1915, I was appointed
to my unique command, and on the same day
I left Cairo for Alexandria, where all the refugees
from Palestine were gathered together as the
guests of the British Government.
On my arrival there I lost no time in getting
into touch with the leading members of the
Jewish Community, and I found the Grand
Rabbi (Professor Raphael della Pergola), Mr.
Edgard Suares, Mr. Isaac Aghion, Mr. Piccioto
and others, all most sympathetic and eager to
assist me in every possible way. Nor must I
forget that an impetus was given to the recruit-
ing by the receipt of a heartening cablegram from
Mr. Israel Zangwill, whose name is a household
word to all Zionists.
On the 23rd March, 1915, the young Jewish
volunteers were paraded for the purpose of
being " sworn in " at the refugee camp at
Gibbari.
It was a most imposing ceremony ; the Grand
Rabbi, who officiated, stood in a commanding
position overlooking the long rows of serious
34
Formation of the Zion Mule Corps
and intelligent-looking lads. He explained to
them the meaning of an oath, and the import-
ance of keeping it, and impressed upon them that
the honour of Israel rested in their hands. He
then asked them to repeat after him, word for
word, the oath of military obedience to myself
and such officers as should be appointed over
them, and with great solemnity, and in perfect
unison, the men, with uplifted hands, repeated
the formula.
The Grand Rabbi then delivered a stirring
address to the new soldiers, in which he com-
pared them to their forefathers who had been
led out of Egypt by Moses, and at the end
he turned to me and presented me to them as
their modern leader.
This memorable and historic scene aroused
the greatest enthusiasm among the throng of
Jewish sympathizers who had come to witness
this interesting ceremony.
The sanctioned strength of the Corps in
officers and men was roughly 500, with 20
riding horses for officers and the senior non-
commissioned officers, and 750 pack mules for
transport work.
35 3*
Formation of the Zion Mule Corps
To assist me in commanding the Corps, I
had five British and eight Jewish officers.
The Grand Rabbi of Alexandria, a most
pious, earnest and learned man, was appointed
our honorary chaplain.
I was extremely fortunate in my British
officers, for although they had never served in
the Army, or knew anything about military
routine, yet they were all practical men, and,
after all, at least in war-time, everything depends
upon having officers with plenty of common sense.
I had Mr. D. Gye, who was lent to me from
the Egyptian Ministry of Finance ; Messrs.
Carver and Maclaren, expert bankers and
cotton-brokers ; and the two brothers, Messrs.
C. and I. Rolo, whose business house is known
not only in Egypt, but also in the greater part
of the world.
I was, indeed, lucky in getting such good men
who loyally seconded me in everything and
quickly mastered the details necessary for the
running of the Corps ; nor did they spare them-
selves during those four weeks of slavery which
we together put in while getting the men ready
for active service.
36
Formation of the Zion Mule Corps
In addition to these British officers, I had,
as I have already stated, eight Jewish officers.
One of these, Captain Trumpledor, had already
been a soldier in the Russian Army, had been
through the siege of Port Arthur, where he
had lost his left arm, and had been given the
Order of St. George (in gold) by the Czar
for his gallantry and zeal during that celebrated
siege.
Among the N.C.O.'s and men I had every
conceivable trade and calling ; highly educated
men like Mr. Gorodisky, a Professor at the
Lycee in Alexandria, and afterwards promoted
to commissioned rank ; students of Law,
Medicine, and Divinity ; mechanics of all kinds,
of whom I found the tinsmith the most useful.
Even a Rabbi was to be found in the ranks, who
was able to administer consolation to the dying
and burial rites to those who were struck down
when death came amongst us before the enemy
in Gallipoli. I also discovered among the en-
listed soldiers a fully-qualified medical man,
Dr. Levontin, whom I appointed our surgeon
after having obtained permission to form a
medical unit.
37
Formation of the Zion Mule Corps
Through the kindness and practical sympathy
of Surgeon-General Ford, the Director of
Medical Services in Egypt, I soon had a hospital
in being, with its tents, beds, orderlies and
sanitary section.
Altogether we were a little family unit
complete within ourselves.
I divided the Corps, for purposes of interior
economy, into four troops, each with a British
and Jewish officer in command ; each troop
was again divided into four sections with a
sergeant in charge, and each section was again
subdivided into subsections with a corporal
in charge ; and so the chain of responsibility
went down to the lively mule himself — and, by
the shades of Jehoshaphat, couldn't some of
those mules kick ! ! Sons of Belial would be
a very mild name for them.
One of the first things to be attended to was
to find a suitable place upon which to train
the men and mules. I eventually secured an
excellent site at Wardian from Brigadier-General
Stanton, then commanding at Alexandria. Here
we pitched our tents and went into camp on
April 2nd, 1915.
38
Formation of the Zion Mule Corps
It was no light task to get uniforms, equip-
ment, arms, ammunition, etc., for such a body
of men at short notice, but in a very few days
I had my men all under canvas, my horses and
hundreds of mules pegged out in lines, and the
men marching up and down, drilling to Hebrew
words of command.
Never since the days of Judas Maccabaeus
had such sights and sounds been seen and heard
in a military camp ; indeed, had that redoubtable
General paid us a surprise visit, he might have
imagined himself with his own legions, because
here he would have found a great camp with
the tents of the Children of Israel pitched round
about ; he would have heard the Hebrew tongue
spoken on all sides, and seen a little host of the
Sons of Judah drilling to the same words of
command that he himself used to those gallant
soldiers who so nobly fought against Rome under
his banner ; he would even have heard the
plaintive soul-stirring music of the Maccabaean
hymn chanted by the men as they marched
through the camp.
Although Hebrew was the language generally
used, nevertheless I drilled the men in English
39
Formation of the Zion Mule Corps
also, as it was fitting that they should understand
English words of command.
The men were armed with excellent rifles,
bayonets and ammunition, all captured from
the Turks when they made their futile assault
on the Suez Canal.
For our badge we had the " Magin David,"
an exact reproduction of the Shield of David,
such as he perhaps used when, as the Champion
of Israel, he went out to fight Goliath of Gath.
It may, perhaps, be wondered why we were
equipped with rifles, bayonets and ammunition,
but this is one of the unique things about this
unique Corps that, although it was only a Mule
Corps, yet it was a fighting unit, and of this,
of course, the men were all very proud.
When we were getting our equipment from
Cairo, I left Lieutenant Carver there to draw it
from the Arsenal in the Citadel and bring it to
Alexandria, telling him that above all things
he must never lose sight of the gear, for if he
did it would certainly be appropriated by
somebody else.
Among other things, he was drawing pack
saddlery for our mules, which I was anxious
Formation of the Zion Mule Corps
to obtain quickly in order to go on with the
training of the men.
Carver saw the pack saddles safely put into
the railway wagons at Cairo, saw the wagons
locked, sealed, and consigned to me at Alexan-
dria, but the moment they arrived at Gibbari
a prowling marauder from the Royal Naval
Division, happening to spot the wagons and see
what they contained by the ticket on the outside,
induced the " Gippy " station-master to deliver
them to him, and before I even knew that they
had arrived at the station, all my pack saddles
were safely on board ship and on their way to
Suez with the Naval Division !
I tracked down the culprit, who not only had
to disgorge but, I understand, to pay for the
transit of the saddlery back to Alexandria ;
although this may have been a lesson for the
buccaneer and might for the future make him
" tread lightly " like Agag, yet it did not com-
pensate me for the annoying delay caused by
this unblushing robbery. „
The work of training went on from dawn to
dark, as officers and men had to be taught every-
thing from the ground-floor up. Not a moment
41
Formation of the Zion Mule Corps
could be wasted. Drilling and parades were
the order of the day ; horses and mules had to
be exercised, fed and watered three times a
day ; the men had to be taught how to saddle
and unsaddle them, load and unload packs ;
they had also to be instructed in the use of the
rifle and bayonet. Camp kitchens had to be
constructed. Horse and mule lines had to be
swept and garnished, tents cleaned out, etc.,
and a thousand and one things crammed into
the day's work.
Notwithstanding the zeal and energy which
we all put forth to get the Corps ready, yet had
it not been for the sympathy of General Max-
well, and the active help of his Staff Officer,
Captain Holdich, I fear it would have been
impossible for us to have made the rapid pro-
gress we did in such a short space of time.
I think it must be, in its way, a record to
form, equip and train a unit of this descrip-
tion and have it actually in the firing line,
and doing useful work there, in a little over
three weeks !
It speaks volumes for the keenness of the
men, and for the intelligent way in which they
42
Formation of the Zion Mule Corps
imbibed the knowledge which was crammed
into them in such feverish haste.
After a couple of weeks' training we were
specially favoured by a notification that the
Commander-in-Chief of the Mediterranean Ex-
peditionary Force, General Sir Ian Hamilton,
would inspect us. It was with mixed feelings
that I received this order, for, of course, it meant
a special parade, and also that the whole of the
routine of drills, etc., would have to be knocked
out for one afternoon, and as every moment
was precious this was no light matter.
The Commander-in-Chief came and made
his inspection a few days before he sailed
for Mudros, and was most complimentary on
the workmanlike appearance which the Corps
presented.
I was delighted to receive about this time a
notification that my Corps should be held in
readiness to embark for the front at an early
date.
A few days before we embarked I had the
privilege of partaking of the Feast of the Passover
with the Grand Rabbi and his family at
Alexandria. It will readily be understood with
43
Formation of the Zion Mule Corps
what feelings of deep interest I took part in
the various rites. I seemed to be living again
in the days of Moses when, in this very same
land and not very far distant, the Children of
Israel sprinkled their doorposts with the blood
of the lamb, and partook of the Feast with their
loins girded, their staves in their hands, on the
eve of their departure from the land of bondage.
I had to ask myself if it were all a dream. It
seemed so strange that I should be partaking
of the same Feast four thousand years later on
the eve of my departure, with a number of the
Children of Israel, to wander and suffer anew in
another wilderness.
Every bit of the ceremony was gone through,
the eating of unleavened bread and bitter herbs,
the drinking of wine and vinegar, each symbolical
of the trials to be gone through by the Israelites
before reaching the Promised Land. All had its
charm for me, and when my hostess came round
with a towel and ewer and basin, to wash my
hands at certain times during the Feast, it visual-
ized to me as nothing else could have done those
far away days when Pharaoh ruled the land.
The Grand Rabbi had his three handsome boys
44
Formation of the Zion Mule Corps
at his knees, the youngest a living image of one
of Murillo's cherubs. He recounted to them in
Hebrew the story of their forefathers' sojourn
in Egypt, and their subsequent wanderings in
the wilderness, as no doubt the same story has
been told by the fathers of Israel to their
children for countless generations. " And thou
shalt show thy son in that day, saying : This is
done because of that which the Lord did unto
me when I came forth from Egypt."
During our training period in Alexandria,
we were the recipients of many acts of kindness
from the community there. The men were
given gifts by a committee of ladies, composed
of the Baronne Felix de Menasce, Madame
Rolo, Madame Israel, Mesdames E. and J. Goar,
and a host of others.
We had a last big parade, and marched from
Wardian Camp for some three miles through the
streets of Alexandria to the Synagogue, to receive
the final blessing of the Grand Rabbi. The
spacious Temple, in the street of the Prophet
Daniel, was on this occasion filled to its utmost
capacity. The Grand Rabbi exhorted the men
to bear themselves like good soldiers and in
45
Formation of the Zion Mule Corps
times of difficulty and danger to call upon the
Name of the Lord, who would deliver them out
of their adversity. His final benediction was
most solemn and impressive, and will never be
forgotten by those who were privileged to be
present.
A couple of days later we received orders to
embark for Gallipoli with all possible speed. We
therefore strained every nerve to get aboard in
good time and in ship-shape order.
The Corps was divided into two parts ; the
Headquarters and two troops going on H.M.
Transport Hymettus, and two troops on H.M.
Transport Anglo-Egyptian.
It was no easy task in so short a time to get
men, mules, horses, forage, equipment, etc.,
from Wardian camp to the docks, a distance of
two or three miles, and we worked practically
all day and all night slinging horses and mules
on board, tying them up in their stalls, and
storing baggage and equipment, etc., in the
holds. Thirty days' forage for the animals and
rations for the men were also put under the
hatches.
As one of our duties in Gallipoli would be to
46
Formation of the Zion Mule Corps
supply the troops in the trenches with water, an
Alexandrian firm had been ordered to make some
thousands of kerosine oil tins, the manufacture
of which is a local industry. Wooden frames had
also been ordered to fit on to the pack saddles,
so as to enable the mules to carry the tins. Each
mule was to carry four of these full of water,
equal to sixteen gallons. The tins arrived in
good time, but the wooden frames were late in
delivery, and held us up over a day and a half
beyond our time in Alexandria Docks.
At last, having obtained delivery of the in-
dispensable wooden crates, we joyfully steamed
out of harbour en route for Gallipoli on the
1 7th April, 1915.
47
CHAPTER V
ARRIVAL AT LEMNOS
T ~\ TE were not the only troops on board the
* • Hymettus. There were some gunner
officers of siege batteries, and some officers and
men of the Royal Army Medical Corps ; a
stationary hospital with the necessary staff of
the R.A.M.C. men, as well as some other
odds and ends for various units of the Expe-
ditionary Force already at Lemnos. I hap-
pened to be the Senior Officer on board, so
was Officer Commanding the troops during
the voyage.
I would like to mention here that the captain,
chief officer, and chief engineer of the Hy-
mettus were most helpful in every possible way,
and I am glad to be able to pay this little tribute
to them for all their kindness to us while we
were aboard.
48
Arrival at Lemnos
One of the most interesting of our fellow
voyagers was Captain Edmunds, R.A.M.C., one
of the medical officers in charge of the Australian
Hospital stores. He had been taken prisoner
by the Germans while attending to the wounded
during the retreat from Mons, and he told us
many tales of his bad treatment at their hands.
He was kept a prisoner for a considerable time,
but finally was released owing to some inter-
change of medical officers between England and
Germany.
The voyage to Lemnos was quite uneventful.
We, fortunately, missed the Turkish torpedo-
boat that tried to sink the Manitou, a transport
just ahead of us. This troopship had quite an
adventurous time. The torpedo-boat stopped
her and the Turkish commander, with rare
humanity, called out that he would give them
ten minutes to save themselves. I am told that
there was a German officer on the bridge who was
heard quarrelling with the Turkish commander
for being so lenient.
The Manitou lowered her boats in a very great
hurry, and unluckily a couple of them tilted up,
with the result that some fifty or sixty men were
49 4
Arrival at Lemnos
drowned. At the end of the time limit the
Turk discharged a torpedo. Now when this
missile is first fired it takes a dive before it
steadies itself on its course, and as the two
vessels were close together, luckily for the
Manitou, the dive took the torpedo well under
her keel; the same thing happened when the
second and third torpedoes were launched ;
finally, just as the Turk was about to open fire
and sink the troopship with his guns, a British
destroyer raced up at full speed and chased the
marauder on to the rocks of a Grecian isle,
where the Turkish vessel became a total wreck.
The training of the Zionists went steadily
forward on board ship, for many of the men were
still quite raw — in fact, I recruited several on the
ship a few hours before we sailed. The mules
and horses took up a great deal of time every day,
but we never had one sick or sorry ; and I may
say here that we never lost one from sickness all
the time we were in Gallipoli, which must, I
think, be a record.
On April 2oth we arrived at Lemnos and
anchored just inside the entrance of Mudros
harbour in a blinding wind and rain storm. It
50
Arrival at Lemnos
will be remembered that when the gods
quarrelled, Jove hurled Vulcan out of Olympus
on to Lemnos, where he established a forge
underground. The morning following our arrival,
one of the transports to windward of us began to
drag her anchor, so our captain weighed imme-
diately, fearing a collision, and we sailed right
through the fleet to the opposite end of the
great land-locked harbour. Never in all my
life had I seen such a mighty armada of battle-
ships, cruisers, destroyers, transports, etc. The
Queen Elizabeth was there, looking for all the
world like a floating fortress. There were some
quaint French battleships, while the Russian
cruiser Askold caused universal attention, owing
to her five slim funnels. With the soldier's
customary knack of giving appropriate names,
the Askold was known throughout the Fleet as
" the packet of Woodbines." Our Zionists, as
we sailed by, astonished her crew by bandying
words with them in Russian.
Our trip up the harbour was not to end with-
out adventure, for, on turning round to cast
anchor, our ship ran aground on a mud bank.
Here we stuck fast, and all the King's horses and
5i 4*
Arrival at Lemnos
all the King's men failed to tug us off again. Time
after time naval officers came along with tug-boats
and vessels of various kinds which strained to re-
lease us, but each attempt was a hopeless failure.
On the afternoon of the 23rd, I got somewhat
of a shock on being informed that the Zion Mule
Corps was to be divided. The half on the
Hymettus was to go with the 29th Division, and
the other half, those already on board the Anglo-
Egyptian, were to be sent with the Australians
and New Zealanders. Of course, this arrange-
ment would have been all right if these three
Divisions had been landed at the same place ;
but as they were to disembark some dozen miles
apart it would be impossible for me to keep an eye
on both halves of the Corps, and I greatly feared
that the half away from my own personal super-
vision would not prove a success, for officers,
N.C.O.'s and men were entirely new to soldier-
ing, and it was too much to expect that they
could go straight into the firing line, after only
some three weeks' training, and come through
the ordeal triumphantly without an experienced
commander.
I, therefore, after many vain endeavours to get
52
Arrival at Lemnos
away, hailed a passing launch, which, as a great
favour, put me on board the staff ship, the Arca-
dian, where I had an interview with the Deputy
Quartermaster-General, and begged of him not
to divide the Corps, as I feared that those away
from my control would prove but a broken reed.
He told me, however, that it was impossible to
alter matters, and that the Australians and New
Zealanders had practically no transport, except
what my Corps would supply, and that in any
case we would not be separated for more than
four days, because if we could not crush the Turks
in that time, between the two forces, we were
going to give up the attempt and return to our
ships.
Well, we did not crush the Turks in the four
days, and, having failed, it was not so easy to get
away, and the result was that, owing to lack of
experience, and mismanagement in the handling
of them, the two troops with the Australians,
after a couple of weeks' service with that force,
were sent back to Alexandria, without any refer-
ence to me, and there disbanded.
As there were no boats available, I had the
greatest difficulty in getting away from the
53
Arrival at Lemnos
Arcadian, and it was only after wasting many
valuable hours and meeting with many rebuffs,
that I eventually got a kind-hearted sailor to give
me a lift back to the Hymettus. A few steam
launches were badly needed to enable command-
ing officers to go aboard the staff ship to discuss
with the chiefs of the various departments such
items as can only be settled satisfactorily at a
personal interview.
I must say that I was not at all pleased with our
position on the mud bank, where, in spite of all
efforts to move us, we still remained stuck. In
the first place, I feared that we would be unable
to get away with the rest of the transports on the
morning of the 25th, the date fixed for the great
attack, and even if by chance another vessel could
be found for us, it would mean transhipping
all the men, horses, mules, baggage, forage and
equipment, which would be an immense labour
in an open harbour like Mudros, where it is often
blowing half a gale. It is no wonder that, as
each attempt at hauling off the Hymettus failed,
I grew more and more anxious as to our ultimate
chance of getting away in time to see the start
of the great fight in Gallipoli.
54
Arrival at Lemnos
At last, on the 24th, the naval officers engaged
on the work gave up all further attempts to haul
us off, and reported the task as hopeless — at any
rate until everything was removed from the ship.
In the course of an hour I received a signal from
the Deputy Quartermaster-General to tranship all
my corps, stores, etc., from the Hymettus to the
Dundrennon, a transport lying half a mile or more
away. On receipt of this message I signalled back
and asked for tugs and lighters to enable us to
effect the transfer, but, although my signallers
endeavoured for hours to attract the attention
of those on the staff ship, I entirely failed to
get any reply. I finally tried to extort a response
of some sort by sending an ire-raising message to
the effect that, on investigation, I found that
many of the men and mules could not swim !
But my sarcasm was wasted, for the Arcadian
remained dumb.
This failure in the signalling arrangements was
very marked all through the two or three days
we spent at Lemnos. It was practically im-
possible to get any message through, and one felt
completely cut off from all communication with
the staff ship. There were no arrangements
55
Arrival at Lemnos
for getting about in the harbour. The ship's
small boats would have been swamped in the
heavy sea, and it was practically impossible to
secure a launch.
This failure, together with the wretched
signalling arrangements, gave me serious qualms,
and I could not help wondering if the muddle
ceased here, or did it extend to other and more
grave matters which would imperil the success
of the expedition ?
All day long I was anxiously on the look-out
for a tug and lighters to enable me to tranship
to the Dundrennon, and at last, at about 6 p.m.,
I saw a little trawler, towing a string of half a
dozen lighters, making her way up the harbour
towards us. In a few minutes they were along-
side and made fast to the Hymettus, but, alas !
I soon discovered that, although the lighters
were for us, the tug was about to sail away again.
The only order the commander had received
was to bring the lighters alongside and make
them fast to the Hymettus, and there his task
ended. This was a blow to me, for I felt that,
if the little Jessie went off, I and my Corps would
be left high and dry on the Lemnos mud, while
56
Arrival at Lemnos
the rest of the Expedition sailed off next morning
on the great adventure ! Luckily, the com-
mander of the 'Jessie was a friend of the Captain's
and came on board for a yarn. After a few
moments I followed him to the Captain's cabin
and, on being introduced, found that he was
Mr. A. R. Murley. I soon discovered that he
was a most exceptional man in every way, and
a sailor to his finger tips. He had been Chief
Officer on board a large liner, but had resigned
his post to volunteer his services to the Admiralty
for the war, and, although the position he now
held as skipper of the 'Jessie was a very small one
compared with his last charge, yet, as he sportingly
said, what did it matter so long as he was usefully
doing his bit ? — and I believe he was as proud of
the Jessie as if she had been a liner or a battle-
ship.
I used all my eloquence on Mr. Murley,
pointed out what a desperate position I was in,
and said that if he did not come to my aid we
would, indeed, be hopelessly stranded. The
Captain of the Hymettus, who, by the way, was
naturally very much upset at having struck
this uncharted mudbank, ably seconded my
57
Arrival at Lemnos
appeal, and although Murley had been working
from dawn and had intended to return to his
depot to lay in stores of coal, water and oil, to
enable him to start with the expedition at five
o'clock in the morning, he agreed to work for
me throughout the night.
CHAPTER VI
A STRENUOUS NIGHT
T_T AVING once obtained Murley's consent I
flew off and got officers and men told off
in reliefs, some to work on the loading up of the
lighters, others to go with the mules to the
Dundrennon and remain there to ship and stow
away each load as it came over during the
night.
There were six lighters, and as soon as three
were filled, Murley got the little Jessie hitched
on and towed them off to the Dundrennon.
It was a joy to watch the masterly way in which
he handled his tug and manoeuvred the tow of
lighters into the exact position where they were
required alongside the Dundrennon. Never did
I see an error of judgment made, and everything
that Murley had to do went like clockwork.
He had a clear and pleasant word of command,
59
A Strenuous Night
which rang out like a bell, and although he
was " a hustler " his men never resented it ;
first of all, because they knew he was top-hole
at his job and, secondly, because he was extra-
ordinarily tactful. Tow after tow went back
and forth throughout the night — three full
lighters to the Dundrennon and three empty
ones back to the Hymtttus — and didn't we just
hustle those mules into the boats, and didn't
they kick and bite as they felt the slings go
round them to hoist them aloft ! It would have
taken us too long had we only slung one mule
at a time, so we hoisted them in couples ! The
comical sight the brace of mules presented, as
they were whipped off their legs and swung up
into the gloom, can well be imagined. They
kicked and plunged as they were passed over the
side and lowered down into the inky murkiness
of the lighters, where they were caught and
secured at much risk by men waiting there for
the purpose. Heaven only knows how they
escaped injury, for they had a very rough time
of it before they were comfortably stowed away
in their new quarters on the Dundrennon. I was
quite prepared to hear of several casualties among
60
A Strenuous Night
both men and mules, but the mule is a hardy
beast, and the Zionist can stand a lot of knocking
about, and we had not a single man or animal
injured.
We were exceptionally fortunate in finding
on board the Dundrennon part of an Indian Mule
Corps for service with the New Zealanders,
commanded by Captain Alexander, and I
cannot be sufficiently grateful to him for the
way in which he set his men to work and helped
us to put away and tie up our equipment and
mules.
I cannot say so much for the help given me
by the Captain of the Dundrennon, who was
rather a rough customer, and curtly informed
me that he had orders to sail at five o'clock a.m.
sharp, and that, whether I was aboard or not, he
meant to weigh anchor at that hour.
All night long we worked feverishly, slinging
and unslinging with all possible haste, and while
I was using everybody up to breaking point
in my efforts to get through in time, Captain
Edmunds, who was in charge of the medical
stores for the Australians and New Zealanders,
came up to me and told me of the hopeless
61
A Strenuous Night
plight in which he was placed. The Director of
Medical Services had ordered him to get himself,
his men and his stores as quickly as possible on
board the Anglo-Egyptian, but here again no
means were supplied to enable the order to be
carried out. " I can hardly dare appeal to you,"
he continued, " to get me out of my difficulties,
for I can see that you will hardly get your own
lot transferred before five o'clock." I asked
him if it was very necessary that he should be
put aboard, and he told me that, so far as he
knew, his were the only hospital stores available
for the Australians and New Zealanders.
This was a very grave matter, and although
I was very loth to give up all chance of completing
the transfer of my own Corps within the time
limit, yet I felt that this was a case which, at
all hazards to my own fortunes, must be seen
through, so that our gallant comrades from
Australia and New Zealand might not lack the
medical necessities which I knew would be
required the moment they got into action.
I, therefore, turned my men on to loading up
the hospital stores, and, when all was ready,
Murley towed us across to the Anglo-Egyptian,
62
A Strenuous Night
where I eventually saw Captain Edmunds, his
staff of R.A.M.C. men and his stores safely on
board.
Some months afterwards Gye received a letter
from Captain Edmunds, written from Anzac,
in which he stated : " Remember me to Colonel
Patterson and tell him from me that being able
to get those stores on to the Anglo-Egyptian
averted what would have been an appalling
calamity from a medical point of view, as I
do not know what this place would have done
without my stores the first two days."
So I think that Australia and New Zealand
owe me one for the help I gave them on that
strenuous night of April 24th, when I was
buried up to the neck in work of my own. It
was a great strain on my feelings of duty to risk
being left stuck on the mud, but I realized at
the time that I was doing not only what was
right, but what was essential from a military
point of view ; and when I read that letter
from Edmunds, I felt very glad that I had risen
to the occasion and had put the needs of the
Australians and New Zealanders before my own.
By the time that the transfer was completed
63
A Strenuous Night
it was 3.30 a.m., and I then knew that I could
not possibly get the remainder of my Zionists,
mules, equipment and stores transferred to
the Dundrennon by the time she was scheduled
to sail. I, therefore, went to the Captain and
laid my case before him, pointing out that it
was impossible to get everything transferred in
time and asking him would he delay sailing
until we were aboard. I have said that he was
rather a rough type of man. Having been for
many years master of a tramp steamer, he had
spent his life dealing with rough men and doing
rough work. I have, therefore, no doubt that
he thought he was answering me in quite a civil
and polite way when he told me he would see
me damned before he delayed his ship five
minutes.
I then asked my good friend the skipper of
the Jessie if he would run me down to the
staff ship, as I hoped to be able to get a written
order from somebody there, to the Captain of
the Dundrennon, cancelling the sailing at 5 a.m.
until such time as I would have my unit complete
on board.
Off we sailed, threading our way in the dark
64
A Strenuous Night
through such of the few warships and transport
vessels as had not yet sailed, and just before four
o'clock I found myself knocking at the cabin
door of a Naval Officer. After rapping for some
time, he called out, " Come in," but the door was
locked, so he was obliged to get up to let me
in, and I am not surprised that his greeting to
me was not exactly one of brotherly love. When
I told him of my position and asked him to give
me an order delaying the departure of the Dun-
drennon, he flatly refused to do it, and said
that the hours of departure of the ships were
fixed and that he was not the man to change
the order ; I would have to go to the Captain
of H.M.S. Hussar, who was the man actually
responsible for the sailings. I pointed out
to him that by the time I reached the Hussar,
which wae still further off, and got at the Captain,
and then made my way back to the Dundrennon,
it would be long after five o'clock, and there
would be no Dundrennon there, for the ship
would have sailed ! I urged that in a special
case of this kind I hoped he would over-rule the
Time-table. He was, however, most obdurate,
and told me it was useless for me to argue with
65 5
A Strenuous Night
him any longer. When I pointed out to him
that I had only received means of transferring
my Corps late the previous evening, and that
we had been working all through the night, he
snapped at me and said, " Why do you make
such a fuss about having worked all through
the night ? That is nothing." I quietly told
him that I had once or twice in my life worked
all night without making any fuss about it,
and that I had merely wished to impress upon
him that it was not through any fault or slackness
on my part that the transfer could not be com-
pleted in time. He was not mollified, however,
and practically marched me off to the gangway,
where he turned about and made for his cabin.
But I was not to be so easily shaken off, so I
promptly turned about also and pursued him.
I pointed out to him emphatically that, unless
he gave me this order, on him would rest the
entire responsibility of leaving the 29th Division
in the lurch, as I remarked that my Corps
was the only one to take them up food and
water, and that if they died of thirst he would
be entirely to blame. " What is the good of
sending off the Dundrennon" I asked, " unless
66
A Strenuous Night
she has on board the Corps upon which so much
depends ? What will be said hereafter if you
let the zgth Division die of thirst ? "
This last appeal moved the naval man's bowels
of compassion ; so without more ado he had the
office opened up, and wrote out an official order
delaying the sailing of the Dundrennon until
eight o'clock. When I told him also that the
master of the Dundrennon was not very helpful
he at once wrote a curt note to him as follows :
" I hear that you are not aiding Colonel
Patterson in his embarkation as much as you
might. You had better do so."
I kept this note for emergency, in case the
master of the Dundrennon might prove obstreper-
ous, but I had no occasion to use it.
I was delighted with my success, and so was
Murley, who was with me all the time I was
endeavouring to persuade the naval man to order
this very necessary delay. It was of course no
light thing to take upon himself the responsibility
of altering the Time-table. I can only say to him,
" Well done." We got back to the Dundrennon at
a quarter to five and were greeted by the wrathful
skipper, who was up and preparing his ship for a
67 5*
A Strenuous Night
punctual start. I shouted up to him : " I have
an order cancelling your sailing until eight
o'clock. Do you want to see it ? " " I do,"
was the gruff response. " Pass it up on this
rope," throwing a line aboard the Jessie. I
stuck the order between the strands of the rope
and the skipper hauled it up, and as he read it
he uttered highly flavoured maledictions on all
naval and army men, without showing any
undue partiality for either !
Now I was very glad that things had turned
out so happily, but even if I had not obtained
the order for the delay of the Dundrennon, I
still had a trump card up my sleeve, which I
had only intended to play in the last resort,
namely, to have seized the anchor winch and,
at all costs, have prevented any sailor from
approaching it until I gave orders that they
might do so. I had put fifty armed men on
board ship, whom I*was prepared to use for this
purpose in case of necessity, as I was determined
that I should go to Gallipoli complete, even at
the risk of seizing the ship and being, later on,
tried for piracy on the high seas !
This reminds me of an incident which
68
A Strenuous Night
happened in the South African war when I had
to resort to almost similar methods. I was
given orders to entrain my squadron instantly
at Bloemfontein, but instead of being sent
north we were merely shunted into the station
siding, where we had to remain for the best
part of twenty-four hours without any chance
of watering our horses. We started some time
in the night, and at daybreak the train was halted
at a siding where there was a stream running
close by. I looked at my horses and found
many of them down, owing to fatigue and want
of water, so I ordered the men to unbox them
and take them to water at the stream. When
the guard saw this he strongly objected, saying
that the train that was coming down might
pass through at any moment, and that, as soon
as it had passed, he would proceed on his way
to Johannesburg, whether the horses were back
in the boxes or not. I said : " Will you ? " and
he replied : " Yes, I will. I am in charge of
this train and I am going to push on."
I thereupon called up the Sergeant-Major,
whispered an order to him, and in two seconds
that guard found himself a prisoner on the
69
A Strenuous Night
platform with a soldier on each side of him,
with orders to hold him fast in case he made
any attempt to get away. The watering was
quietly and expeditiously proceeded with, and
meanwhile the down train passed through.
Our engine driver came along the platform
to see what was the matter and I overheard
the guard telling him to proceed at once, even
if he, the guard, were left behind. I asked the
driver if he meant to carry out the guard's in-
structions and he replied : " Yes." I then said :
" Sergeant-Major, two more men ! make this
driver a prisoner."
When the watering of the horses was over I
released my prisoners and told them they could
now go on. The driver refused. I said : " All
right, then. I will drive myself." The look
of astonishment that came over the driver's
face when he saw me mount the footplate,
confidently put my hand on the lever and start
the train, was something to be remembered.
He immediately caved in, jumped up and
resumed his duties, without more ado. Some
time afterwards I heard that the guard made
a bitter complaint of my high-handedness,
70
A Strenuous Night
which eventually came before General Tucker,
then commanding at Bloemfontein, and it was
a satisfaction to me to learn that the General
emphasized his approval of what I had done in
one of his choicest expressions.
Even with the extension of the time limit,
I felt that it would be a close thing if we were
to get everything on board the Dundrennon by
eight o'clock, so we all worked with feverish
energy, and it was only by a great spurt on the
part of the Jessie that we finally got our last
three lighters, loaded to their utmost capacity,
made fast to the Dundrennon just before eight
o'clock. I knew that it would still take a good
hour to get everything aboard, so, drawing
Murley aside, I suggested to him that he must
be in need of a little refreshment after his
strenuous night, and that if he were to go to
the skipper's cabin he could, I felt sure, count
on him to produce a bottle — and I added :
" Make sure that he does not come out until
I give you the signal."
Murley laughingly undertook this congenial
task, and when, after everything had been stowed
away, I eventually joined them at 9.10 a.m.,
A Strenuous Night
I found the skipper thoroughly enjoying himself
and laughing heartily at one of Murley's im-
promptu yarns. Bravo, Murley ! If I am ever
ruler of the " King's Navee " — and stranger
things have happened — you may be sure that
you will be appointed an Admiral of the Fleet !
I don't know how to find you, but if these
lines ever come under your eye, remember that
dinner that you are to have with me in London,
and it shall be of the best, Murley, of the very
best.
I found, after all, that the old skipper's bark
was worse than his bite. He thawed towards
me to such an extent that, when I parted from
him at Gallipoli, he sped me on my way with
a present of two precious bottles of his best
whisky ! — sign manual of his having taken me
to his rugged but withal kindly old heart.
72
CHAPTER VII
DESCRIPTION OF SOUTHERN GALLIPOLI
A S I shall have to mention several places in
•^* Gallipoli, it may be well before pro-
ceeding further to give the reader some idea
of the geography of the place.
Gallipoli is a narrow, hilly peninsula, varying
from three to twelve miles wide, running south-
westward into the Aegean Sea, with the Dar-
danelles, from one to four miles wide, separating
it from the Asiatic coast throughout its length
of some forty miles.
As I am going to speak more particularly of
the southern end of the Peninsula, I will only
describe that portion of it, as it was here that
the 29th Division landed, and the Zion Mule
Corps worked.
The dominating feature is the hill of Achi
Baba, some seven hundred feet high, which, with
73
Description of Southern Gallipoli
its shoulders sloping down on the one side to
the Aegean and on the other to the Dardanelles,
shuts out all further view of the Peninsula to
the northward. There are only two villages
in this area, Sedd-el-Bahr at the entrance to
the Dardanelles, and Krithia, with its quaint
windmills, to the south-west of Achi Baba,
somewhat picturesquely situated on the slope
of a spur, some five miles north-west of Sedd-
el-Bahr — Achi Baba itself being between six
and seven miles from Cape Helles, which is the
most southerly point of the Peninsula.
A line through Achi Baba from the Aegean
to the Dardanelles would be a little over five
miles, while the width at Helles is only about
one and a half miles.
A fairly good representation of this tract of
country will be obtained by holding the right-
hand palm upward and slightly hollowed, the
thumb pressed a little over the forefinger.
Imagine the Dardanelles running along by the
little finger up the arm, and the Aegean Sea
on the thumb side. Morto Bay, an inlet of the
Dardanelles, would then be at about the tip
of a short little finger ; Sedd-el-Bahr Castle
74
Description of Southern Gallipoli
at the tip of the third finger ; V Beach between
the third finger and the middle finger ; Cape
Helles the tip of the middle finger ; W Beach
between the middle finger and the forefinger ;
X Beach at the base of the nail of the forefinger ;
Gully Beach between the tip of the thumb
and the forefinger ; Gully Ravine running up
between the thumb and forefinger towards
Krithia village, which is situated half-way up to
the thumb socket ; Y Beach at the first joint
of the thumb ; and Achi Baba in the centre
of the heel of the hand where it joins the wrist.
Anzac, where the Australians and New
Zealanders landed, would be some distance
above the wrist on the thumb side of the fore-
arm ; and the Narrows of the Dardanelles
would be on the inner or little finger side of
the forearm opposite Anzac.
Imagine the sea itself lapping the lower part
of the hand on a level with the finger nails,
and then the cliffs will be represented by the
rise from the finger-nails to the balls of the
fingers.
The hollowed hand gives a very good idea
of the appearance of the country, which gradually
75
Description of Southern Gallipoli
slopes down to a valley represented by the palm
of the hand. The lines on the hand represent
the many ravines and watercourses which inter-
sect the ground.
Practically the whole of this basin drains into
Morto Bay or the Dardanelles, with the ex-
ception of Gully Ravine and the ravine running
down to Y Beach, which drain into the Aegean
Sea.
A glance at the " handy " sketch here will
make everything clear, but it does not pretend
to strict accuracy.
z
<o
*
3
a
<</
YBeacfa
U
T
Gully Beach
X.Beacfo /z^/Ca^
{ZiohGamf/'*"-'^
WBeac?r\('*7 /MprfoBay
CaDeHdle^/^^a^>erBeach
C*peHelle^-edd_e,_Bahr
Kum Kale
ASIA
CHAPTER VIII
A HOMERIC CONFLICT
1\ yfUDROS HARBOUR was deserted as
±* *• we sailed through it on our way out,
for all the warships and transports had already-
left. Just beyond the harbour entrance we
passed the Anglo-Egyptian, on the decks of
which the other half of the Zionists were
crowded. We wondered what had happened
to detain her, for she was lying at anchor ; but
we saw nothing amiss, and lusty cheers were
given and received as we steamed past.
When we had rounded the land which guards
the entrance to the harbour, the Dundrennon
turned her bows North-Eastward and we steamed
off towards the land of our hopes and fears,
through a calm sea, which sparkled gaily in the
sunshine. The soft zephyr which followed us
from the South changed suddenly and came
77
A Homeric Conflict
from the North-East, bringing with it the sound
of battle from afar. The dull boom of the
guns could now be plainly heard and told us
that the great adventure had already begun.
How we all wished that the Dundrennon were a
greyhound of the seas and could rush us speedily
to the scene of such epoch-making events !
But, alas ! she was only a slow old tramp, and
going " all out " she could do no more than
twelve knots an hour ; and it seemed an eternity
before we actually came close enough to see
anything of the great drama which was being
enacted.
As we ploughed along the calm sea, to the
slow beat of the engines, each hour seemed a
century, but at last we were able to distinguish
the misty outline of the Asiatic shore and, a
little later on, we saw, coming to meet us like
an outstretched arm and hand, a land fringed
and half-hidden by the fire and smoke which
enveloped it as if some great magician had
summoned the powers of darkness to aid in its
defence.
Soon battleships, cruisers and destroyers began
to outline themselves, and every few minutes
78
A Homeric Conflict
we could see them enveloped in a sheet
of flame and smoke, as they poured their broad-
sides into the Turkish positions. The roar of
the Queen Elizabeth's heavy guns dwarfed all
other sounds, as this leviathan launched her
huge projectiles — surely mightier thunderbolts
than Jove ever hurled — against the foe. Every
now and again one of her shells would strike
and burst on the very crest of Achi Baba, which
then, as it belched forth flame, smoke and great
chunks of the hill itself, vividly recalled to my
mind Vesuvius in a rage.
The whole scene was a sight for the gods,
and those of us mortals who witnessed it and
survived the day have for ever stamped on our
minds the most wonderful spectacle that the
world has ever seen. Half the nations of the
earth were gathered there in a titanic struggle.
England, with her children from Australia and
New Zealand, and fellow subjects from India ;
sons of France, with their fellow citizens from
Algeria and Senegal ; Russian sailors and Russian
soldiers ; Turks and Germans — all righting within
our vision, some in Europe and some in Asia.
Nor did the wonders end here, for, circling
79
A Homeric Conflict
the heavens like soaring eagles, were French and
British aeroplanes, while, under the sea, lurked
the deadly submarine.
It was altogether in the fitness of things that
this Homeric conflict should have its setting
within sight of the classic Plains of Troy.
Who will be the modern Homer to immortalize
the deeds done this day — deeds beside which
those performed by Achilles, Hector and the
other heroes of Greece and Troy pale into utter
insignificance ? Certainly a far greater feat
of arms was enacted in Gallipoli on this 25th
of April, 1915, than was ever performed by
those ancient heroes on the Plains of Ilium,
which lay calm, green and smiling just across the
sparkling Hellespont.
Up the Dardanelles, as far as the Narrows,
we could see our ships of war, principally de-
stroyers, blazing away merrily and indiscrimin-
ately at the guns, both on the European and
Asiatic shores. The sea was as calm as a mill-
pond round Cape Helles — the most southerly
point of the Peninsula ; the only ripple to be
seen was that made by the strong current
shot out through the Straits. All round the
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men-of-war Turkish shells were dropping, sending
up veritable waterspouts as they struck the sea,
for, luckily, very few of them hit the ships.
It was altogether the most imposing and awe-
inspiring sight that I have ever seen or am likely
to see again.
We were under orders to disembark, when our
turn came, at V Beach, a little cove to the east
of Cape Helles. As we approached near to our
landing-place, we could see through the haze,
smoke and dust, the gleam of bayonets, as men
swayed and moved hither and thither in the
course of the fight, while the roar of cannon and
the rattle of the machine-guns and rifles were
absolutely deafening. We could well imagine
what a veritable hell our brave fellows who were
attacking this formidable position must be facing,
for, in addition to rifle and machine-gun fire
from the surrounding cliffs, they were also at
times under a deadly cannonade from the Turkish
batteries established on the Asiatic shore.
The warships were slowly moving up and down
the coast blazing away fiercely at the Turkish
strongholds, battering such of them as were left
into unrecognizable ruins.
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We in the transports lay off the shore in four
parallel lines, each successive line going forward
methodically and disembarking the units on board
as the ground was made good by the landing
parties.
We watched the fight from our position in the
line for the whole of that day, and never was
excitement so intense and long-sustained as
during those hours ; nor was it lessened when
night fell upon us, for the roll of battle still con-
tinued— made all the grander by the vivid flashes
from the guns which, every few moments, shot
forth great spurts of flame, brilliantly illuminating
the inky darkness. Sedd-el-Bahr Castle and the
village nestling behind it were fiercely ablaze,
and cast a ruddy glare on the sky.
The next day, from a position much closer in-
shore, we watched again the terrible struggle
of the landing-parties to obtain a grip on the
coast. We were one and all feverish with
anxiety to land and do something — no matter
how little — to help the gallant fellows who were
striving so heroically to drive the Turk from the
strong positions which he had carefully fortified
and strengthened in every possible way.
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A most bloody battle was taking place, staged in
a perfect natural amphitheatre, but never had
Imperial Rome, even in the days of Nero himself,
gazed upon such a corpse-strewn, blood-drenched
arena.
This arena was formed partly by the sea, which
has here taken a semicircular bite out of the rocky
coast, and partly by a narrow strip of beach which
extended back for about a dozen yards to a low
rampart formed of sand, some three or four feet
high, which ran round the bay. Behind this
rampart the ground rose steeply upwards, in
tier after tier of grassy slopes, to a height of about
one hundred feet, where it was crowned by some
ruined Turkish barracks. On the right, this
natural theatre was flanked by the old castle of
Sedd-el-Bahr, whose battlements and towers were
even then crumbling down from the effects of
the recent bombardment by the Fleet. To the
left of the arena, high cliffs rose sheer from the
sea, crowned by a modern redoubt. Barbed
wire zig-zagged and criss-crossed through arena
and amphitheatre, — and such barbed wire !
It was twice as thick, strong and formidable as
any I had ever seen.
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The cliffs and galleries were trenched and full
of riflemen, as were also the barracks, the ruined
fort, and Sedd-el-Bahr Castle. Machine-guns
and pom-poms were everywhere, all ready to
pour a withering fire on anyone approaching or
attempting to land on the beach.
It is small wonder, therefore, that so few
escaped from that terrible arena of death.
Indeed, the wonder is that anyone survived that
awful ordeal.
The little cove was peaceable enough on the
morning of the 25th, when the Transport River
Clyde steamed in. It was part of the scheme to
run her ashore at this beach and, as it was known
that the venture would be a desperate one, what
was more fitting than that she should be filled
with Irish soldiers (the Dublins and Munsters)
— regiments with great fighting records ? With
them was also half a battalion of the Hampshire
Regiment. Special preparations had been made
to disembark the troops as quickly as possible.
Great holes had been cut in the iron sides of the
River Clyde, and from these gangways made of
planking, which were of course lashed to the ship,
sloped down in tiers to the water's edge. From
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the ends of these gangways a string of lighters
stretched to the shore to enable the men to rush
quickly to land.
In addition to those on the River Clyde, three
companies of the Dublin Fusiliers were towed
to the beach in open boats and barges by little
steam pinnaces. It had been intended that these
should steal in during the dark hours just before
dawn, but, owing to miscalculations of the speed
of the current, or some other cause, the boats
did not arrive in time and only reached the shore
at the same moment that Commander Unwin,
R.N., of the River Clyde, according to the pre-
arranged plan, coolly ran his vessel aground.
This manoeuvre must have greatly astonished the
Turks, but not a sound or move did they make,
and it seemed at first as if the landing would not
be opposed. As soon, however, as the Munsters
began to pour from her sides, a perfect hail of
lead opened on the unfortunate soldiers, who were
shot down in scores as they raced down the gang-
way. Some who were struck in the leg stumbled
and fell into the water, where, owing to the weight
of their packs and ammunition, they went to the
bottom and were drowned. For days afterwards
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these unfortunate men could be seen through the
clear water, many of them still grasping their
rifles.
The men in the boats suffered equally heavily
and had even less chance of escape. Many were
mown down by rifle fire and sometimes a shell
cut a boat in two and the unfortunate soldiers
went to the bottom, carried down by the weight
of their equipment.
The sailors who were detailed to assist in the
landing performed some heroic deeds. Theirs
was the task of fixing the lighters from the gang-
ways of the River Clyde to the shore. Even in
ordinary times it would be a very difficult task,
owing to the strong current which sweeps round
from the Dardanelles, but to do it practically at
the muzzle of the enemy's rifles demanded men
with the hearts of lions. Scores were shot down
as they tugged and hauled to get the lighters
into position. Scores more were ready to jump
into their places. More than once the lighters
broke loose and the whole perilous work had to
be done over again, but our gallant seamen never
failed. They just " carried on." Commander
(now Captain) Unwin was awarded the Victoria
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Cross for fearlessly risking his life on more than
one occasion in endeavouring to keep the lighters
in position under the pitiless hail of lead.
Those naval men whose duty it was to bring
the Dublins ashore in small boats were shot down
to a man, for there was no escape for them from
that terrible fire. Both boats and crew were
destroyed either on the beach or before they
reached it.
In spite of the rain of death some of the Dublins
and Munsters succeeded in effecting a landing and
making a dash for shelter from the tornado of
fire under the little ridge of sand which, as I
have already mentioned, ran round the beach.
Had the Turks taken the precaution of levelling
this bank of sand, not a soul could have lived in
that fire-swept zone. More than half of the
landing-party were killed before they could reach
its friendly shelter and many others were left
writhing in agony on that narrow strip of beach.
Brigadier-General Napier and his Brigade Major,
Captain Costeker, were killed, as was also Lieut. -
Colonel Carrington Smith, commanding the
Hampshires ; the Adjutants of the Hampshires
and of the Munsters were wounded and, indeed,
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the great majority of the senior officers were
either wounded or killed.
Many anxious eyes were peering out over the
protected bulwarks of the River Clyde, and among
them was Father Finn, the Roman Catholic
Chaplain of the Dublins. The sight of some
five hundred of his brave boys lying dead or dying
on that terrible strip of beach was too much for
him, so, heedless of all risk, he plunged down the
gangway and made for the shore. On the way
his wrist was shattered by a bullet, but he went
on, and although lead was spattering all round
him like hailstones, he administered consola-
tion to the wounded and dying, who, alas ! were
so thickly strewn around. For a time he seemed
to have had some miraculous form of Divine
protection, for he went from one to another
through shot and shell without receiving any
further injury. At last a bullet struck him near
the hip, and, on seeing this, some of the Dublins
rushed out from the protection of the sandbank
and brought him into its shelter. When, how-
ever, he had somewhat recovered from his
wound, nothing would induce him to remain in
safety while his poor boys were being done to
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death in the open, so out he crawled again to
administer comfort to a poor fellow who was
moaning piteously a little way off ; and as he was
in the act of giving consolation to the stricken
man, this heroic Chaplain was struck dead by a
merciful bullet.
Father Finn has, so far, been granted no V.C.,
but if there is such a thing in heaven, I am sure
he is wearing it, and His Holiness Benedict XV.
might do worse than canonize this noble priest,
for surely no saint ever died more nobly :
" Greater love hath no man than this, that a
man lay down his life for his friends."
The Turkish position was so strong and they
were able to pour down such a concentrated fire
from pit, box, dress-circle and gallery of their
natural theatre, that every man of these gallant
Irish regiments who showed himself in the open
was instantly struck down. So hot and accurate
was this close range Turkish fire that the dis-
embarkation from the River Clyde had to be
discontinued.
The little body of men who had escaped death
and ensconced themselves under the sandbank
kept up a lively fire on the Turks as long as their
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ammunition lasted, but there they had to remain
for the best part of thirty-six hours, more or less
at the mercy of the enemy. An attempt to
dislodge them was, however, easily repelled by
fire from the warships, as well as from the
machine-guns on the decks of the River Clyde.
It was not until after nightfall that the re-
mainder of the Irishmen could disembark, and
then all the units had to be reorganized to enable
them to make an attack on the formidable
Turkish trenches on the following morning.
Practically every officer of the Dublins and
Munsters was either killed or wounded ; very
few escaped scot-free. The Dublins were
particularly unfortunate, for at another landing-
place, Camber Beach, close by Sedd-el-Bahr
village, out of 125 men landed, only 25 were
left at midday. Nevertheless, the fragments
of the two battalions were pulled together
by Lieut. -Colonel Doughty-Wylie and Lieut. -
Colonel Williams, assisted by Captain Walford,
R.A., Brigade Major. , It will be readily under-
stood what an arduous task it was to reorganize
men who for over twenty-four hours had been
subjected to the most murderous and incessant
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fire that ever troops had had to face ; but nothing
is impossible when really determined men make
up their minds that it must be done, and early
morning of the 26th April found the Dublins and
Munsters and some of the Hampshires, led by
Doughty-Wylie and Walford, dashing at the
Turkish trenches, which they carried at the point
of the bayonet. They rushed position after
position, and by noon Sedd-el-Bahr village was
in our hands, and here the gallant Walford was
killed. Sedd-el-Bahr Castle yet remained to be
taken, and it was while leading the final attack on
the keep of this stronghold that the heroic
Colonel Doughty-Wylie fell, mortally wounded,
at the moment of victory. The posthumous
honour of the Victoria Cross was granted to these
two officers to commemorate their glorious
deeds.
At the other landing-places the fighting had
also been very fierce. At W Beach the Lanca-
shire Fusiliers had a terribly difficult task in
storming an almost impregnable position, which
had been carefully prepared beforehand by the
Turks. The high ground overlooking the beach
had been strongly fortified with trenches ; land
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mines and sea mines had been laid ; wire entangle-
ments extended round the shore and a barbed
network had also been placedr in the shallow
water. Like V Beach it was a veritable death-
trap, but the brave Lancashires, after suffering
terrible losses, succeeded in making good the
landing and drove the Turks out of their trenches.
In commemoration of their gallantry this Beach
was afterwards known as Lancashire Landing.
The 2nd Battalion South Wales Borderers
under Colonel Casson were able to land at S
Beach, Morto Bay, and seize the high ground
near De Tott's Battery, to which they tenaciously
held on until the main body had driven the Turks
back, when they joined hands with the troops
from V Beach and continued the advance.
X Beach was stormed by the 2nd Battalion
Royal Fusiliers and part of the Anson Battalion
Royal Naval Division, who drove before them
such Turks as they found on the cliffs. They
were reinforced by two more Battalions of the
8yth Brigade, and after some heavy slogging they
eventually got into touch with the Lancashire
Fusiliers and Worcesters and so eased the pressure
on V Beach by threatening the Turkish flank.
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The landing on Y Beach was effected by the
King's Own Scottish Borderers and the Plymouth
Battalion of the Royal Marines. These splendid
fellows forced their way into Krithia village, but
want of ammunition and reinforcements obliged
them to fall back to the beach, where they were
almost overwhelmed by the enemy and lost
more than half their numbers ; eventually they
were compelled to re-embark, but not before they
had done immense damage to the Turks and
considerably helped the troops who were forcing
the other landings.
Meanwhile, the two Australian-New Zealand
Divisions were engaged in the perilous enter-
prise of forcing a landing in the face of a large
Turkish force at a place now known as Anzac
(this word being formed from the initial letters
of Australian-New Zealand Army Corps). In
the dark hour before the dawn some four
thousand of these splendid fighters were towed
in silence towards the shore, and here again
it seemed as if they would meet with no opposi-
tion ; but not so — the Turk was not to be
caught napping, and, while the boats were still
some way from land, thousands of Turkish
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soldiers rushed along the strip of beach to inter-
cept the boats, and the heavy fire which they
opened caused very severe casualties in the ranks ;
nothing, however, could daunt Colonel Maclagan
and the men of the 3rd Australian Brigade ;
the moment the boats touched the shore these
dare-devils leaped into the water and with
irresistible fury drove the Turks before them at
the point of the bayonet. Nothing could stand
up against their onslaught, and by noon, having
been reinforced, they had " hacked " their way
some miles inland, put several Krupp guns out
of action, and if they had been supported by
even one more Division, the road to the Narrows
would undoubtedly have been won. As it was,
owing to lack of sufficient men to hold what
they had made good, they were compelled to
retire to the ridges overlooking the sea, and
there for eight months they held the Turks
at bay and hurled back, with frightful losses,
every assault made on their position. Oh, if
only the 29th Division had also been landed
here, what a sweeping victory we would have
won !
94
CHAPTER IX
THE ZION MULE CORPS LANDS IN GALLIPOLI
~^HE beach, cliffs and Castle were now in
our hands, and disembarkation for the
remainder of the army was possible. While
the great battle for the landing was going on,
we had been fretting and fuming at being left
so long idle spectators. Thinking that it was
high time we should disembark, and finding
that no orders came along for us, I felt that
in order to get a move on I must make a
personal effort. I therefore hailed a trawler
which happened to be passing, and got it to take
me over to the Cormvallis, on which I knew
General Hunter-Weston, the Commander of
the 29th Division, had his temporary head-
quarters.
The General was glad to see me, and said I
had turned up just in the very nick of time,
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Zion Mule Corps Lands in Gallipoli
for my Zion men were urgently required ashore
to take ammunition, food and water to the
men in the firing line. He appealed to Admiral
Wemyss, who was close by, to detail trawlers
and lighters to get my Corps ashore as quickly
as possible. The Admiral very kindly told off
a naval officer to come with me, and he in his
turn found a trawler and some horse boats which
were soon alongside the Dundrennon.
From two to six o'clock p.m. we were busily
employed loading up and sending mules and
equipment ashore. I noticed that the officer
in charge of our trawler was a bit of a bungler
at his job ; time after time he would fail in
his judgment ; when getting the barges along-
side he had repeatedly to sail round and round
the Dundrennon with his tow before he got near
enough for a rope to be cast ; he was not a
regular naval man — just a " dug-out." How I
longed then for my friend Murley !
I must say here that in my humble opinion
the Navy failed us badly in the matter of
tugs, lighters and horse boats ; there were not
nearly enough of these, and we could have
done with three times the number. My Corps,
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Zion Mule Corps Lands in Gallipoli
which was most urgently wanted by the General,
took three days to disembark, in spite of our
most strenuous efforts to get ashore as quickly
as possible. The delay was entirely due to the
lack of tugs, for it was only now and then that
a trawler could be spared to haul us inshore.
We were sadly held up and kept waiting for
hours after our boats had been loaded up, ready
to be towed ashore.
Who was responsible for this shortage I do
not know. It is, of course, quite possible that
the Navy provided all the trawlers requisitioned
for by the Army.
I had taken the precaution while on the ship
to fill all my tins with fresh drinking water, and
these had to be unloaded by hand from the
lighters. To do this I arranged my men
in a long line, stretching the whole length
of the temporary pier from the lighters to
the beach, and in this manner the cans of
water were rapidly passed ashore from hand
to hand.
While we were engaged on this work the guns
from Asia were making very good shooting,
shells striking the water within a few yards of
97 7
Zion Mule Corps Lands in Gallipoli
us, just going over our heads, a little to the
right or a little to the left, but always just
missing. I watched my men very carefully to
see how they would stand their baptism of fire,
and I am happy to be able to say that, with
one solitary exception, all appeared quite un-
concerned and took not the slightest heed of
the dangerous position they were in. The
one exception was a youth from the Yemen,
who trembled and chattered with nervousness ;
but when I went up to him, shook him some-
what ungently, and asked him what was the
matter, he bent to his work and the cans
passed merrily along. In fact, everybody there,
especially the naval men who helped us to catch
our mules as they jumped from the horse boats
into the sea, treated the cannonade from Asia
as a joke, and every time a shell missed a hearty
laugh went up at the bad shooting of the Turkish
gunners. It was only a mere fluke, however,
that the shells did not hit the target aimed at,
because, as a matter of fact, the shooting was
particularly good and only missed doing a con-
siderable amount of damage by a few yards
each time. We were exceedingly fortunate in
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Zion Mule Corps Lands in Gallipoli
not losing a single man during the whole period
of disembarkation.
Practically the first officer I met as I stepped
ashore was Colonel Moorehouse, whom I had
not seen for years, and he was most helpful in
the present emergency. I found that he was
in charge of the landing operations on the beach,
and I believe he had given up a Governorship;
or some such billet, in West Africa to do his
bit in the Dardanelles.
While we were disembarking, General
d'Amade, who was commanding the French
Corps Expeditionnaire, stepped ashore and soon
afterwards the French troops began to pour on
to the beach.
During the great battle which took place on
the 25th and 26th for the possession of V Beach,
the French battleships and gunboats, together
with the Russian cruiser Askold, had been batter-
ing down the fortress of Kum Kale on the
Asiatic side of the Dardanelles, some two and
a half miles in a direct line from Sedd-el-Bahr.
In the face of much opposition the French
troops forced a landing, and after some heavy
fighting defeated the Turks and captured many
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Zion Mule Corps Lands in Gallipoli
hundreds of prisoners. There is no doubt that
this diversion averted much of the shell fire
which would otherwise have been concentrated
on those of us landing at V Beach. Having
driven the Turks out and effectively destroyed
Kum Kale, the French troops were re-embarked
hurriedly, brought across the Dardanelles, landed
at V Beach in feverish haste, and flung into
the thick of the fight which was still raging
just north of the village of Sedd-el-Bahr.
I watched them disembark, and it was magnifi-
cent to see the verve and dash which the French
gunners displayed in getting their beloved .755
into action.
Our naval men helped to bring the guns
ashore, but the moment the Frenchmen got
them there they had them away and in action
on the ridge to the north of the amphitheatre
in an incredibly short space of time.
As soon as we had got a couple of hundred
mules ashore, I was ordered to march them off
to W Beach, which was on the western side of
Cape Helles. Having had some experience of
the ways of soldiers on active service, I knew
that we should have to keep a very sharp eye
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Zion Mule Corps Lands in Gallipoli
on our gear as it came ashore, otherwise it would
be appropriated by the first comer. I therefore
left Lieutenant Claude Rolo on the beach to
look after the mules, horses and stores as they
were disembarked, and incidentally to dodge
the shells which more than once covered him
with sand but did no further damage. I had
left Lieutenant Gye on board the Dundrennon
to see to the work of loading up the barges.
On the way to W Beach we were fired on by
Turkish riflemen who had not as yet been driven
very far away from the shore, but fortunately
we sustained no damage.
The Lancashire Fusiliers, as I have already
described, had a terribly difficult task in forcing
their way on to W Beach, and the moment I
saw it I could well realize what an arduous
undertaking it must have been. It looked, like
V Beach, an impossibility, but the Lancashire
lads could not be denied, and all honour to
them for having stormed such a fearsome strong-
hold. By the time I got there there was
already a huge stock of ammunition and supplies
piled up on the shore, and these we at once
began to load up on the mules to take out to
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Zion Mule Corps Lands in Gallipoli
the men in the firing line, who were constantly
driving the Turks before them further and
further from the beach.
I shall never forget my first night in Gallipoli.
We loaded up a couple of hundred mules, each
mule carrying about two thousand cartridges,
and with Major O'Hara (now Lieut. -Colonel
O'Hara), who was the D.A.Q.M.G., as guide,
we marched off into the darkness to distribute
ammunition along the front.
Major O'Hara came with me, partly because
he knew the way, and partly because he wanted
to make sure what were the most urgent needs
of the men in the trenches. We trudged
together all through that trying night, so it is
not much to be wondered at that we almost
quarrelled once or twice — but I will say here
that of all the men I met in Gallipoli there
was not one who was so capable at his job, or
worked so hard to see that everything for which
he was responsible ran smoothly. Oh, if only
our Army could be staffed with O'Haras, what
a wonderfully efficient machine our Army
would be !
Soon after we left W Beach in the dark it
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Zion Mule Corps Lands in Gallipoli
began to pour, and it poured and poured solidly
for about five hours.
On we squelched through the mud over
unknown tracks with the water streaming down
our bodies and running in rivulets out of our
boots. As soon as the rain ceased a biting cold
wind set in, which froze us to the marrow.
However, the vigorous walking, helping up a
fallen mule, readjusting the loads, getting out
of holes into which we had tumbled, etc., kept
our circulation going, and when we arrived at
a place known as Pink Farm, the furthest point
to which we had yet advanced, there was a
sudden alarm that the Turks were approaching.
Nobody knew then where our front line was,
or whether it linked up across the Peninsula.
There were many gaps in it through which the
Turks, if they had had initiative enough, might
have forced their way and inflicted a consider-
able amount of damage upon us before we could
have organized adequate resistance.
On the first alarm of the approaching Turks
I sent a man out to reconnoitre, formed my
little escort in open order, prone on the grass,
and asked Major Moore, D.S.O., of the General
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Zion Mule Corps Lands in Gallipoli
Staff, now Brigadier-General Moore, to bring
some men from the trenches, if he could find
them, as quickly as possible, for I had no desire
to lose my convoy at such an early stage of the
proceedings.
Gongs could plainly be heard sounding,
apparently close by, as though it was some pre-
arranged signal of the enemy, but whatever the
reason we saw nothing of the Turks, and no
attack was made, so we unloaded our ammunition
and were then sent back for more by Colonel B.
to Lancashire Landing. Now Colonel B. of
the Head-Quarters Staff told me personally on
no account to bring back supplies, but only
ammunition, as no supplies were needed at this
place for the present. Unluckily O'Hara was
not on the spot when Colonel B. gave me these
explicit and reiterated instructions, so when
we got back to the beach he wished to load up
supplies, but this I refused to do owing to the
specific orders I had received. O'Hara was
furious but I was obdurate, so, of course, we
loaded up with ammunition.
Back again we trudged steadily through rain
and slush towards the Pink Farm. When we
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Zion Mule Corps Lands in Gallipoli
had got about half-way, we were met by a Staff
Officer who told us — to O'Hara's great satisfac-
tion— that it was not ammunition which was now
wanted at the Pink Farm but supplies. I am
not at all sure that I did not overhear O'Hara
call me " an obstinate damn fool," but it is as
well to be hard of hearing as it is to possess a
blind eye on occasions.
The upshot was that we had to return to the
beach, unload the ammunition, load up boxes
of tinned beef, cheese, biscuits and jam, and then
back again along the " sludgy squdgy " road we
trudged once more towards that never-to-be-
forgotten Pink Farm. Again we got about half-
way there, when yet another Staff Officer met
us, who told us that the supplies were not wanted
by the brigade holding the line at the Pink Farm,
but by the brigade holding the line on the
extreme right, where they were urgently re-
quired, and he ordered us to take them there
without delay. It was now my turn to chuckle,
and I observed to O'Hara that there " really
must be a damn fool somewhere about after
all."
Without a murmur we turned back once
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Zion Mule Corps Lands in Gallipoli
more, for, not knowing the country, nor where
we might bump into the enemy, we could not
take a short cut across, so were forced to return
to W Beach. From thence we went along the
track by the Helles cliff which took us to the top
of V Beach ; our route then led us through Sedd-
el-Bahr village, where we were warned by a
French soldier that we would be sniped by Turks
as there were many still lurking there.
When we got safely clear of this jumpy place,
we found ourselves wending our way through
some Turkish cemeteries, the tall, white, thin
headstones, with their carved headlike top
knobs, looking exactly like ghosts in the gloomy
light. We passed through cypress groves, along
sandy lanes, and rugged paths, fell into and
scrambled out of dug-outs, ditches and dongas,
where mules and loads tumbled about indis-
criminately to the accompaniment of much
profanity.
At one spot on this adventurous journey we
came upon a Battalion of Zouaves crouching
down for rest and shelter in the lee of a hedge.
The sergeant in charge of my escort took them
for Turks, and only that I was happily on the spot
106
Zion Mule Corps Lands in Gallipoli
when he made this startling discovery, he would
undoubtedly have opened fire on the Frenchmen.
I must say that they looked exactly like Turks,
owing to their semi-barbaric uniform.
When we got the convoy to where we thought
the front line ought to be, we failed to find it,
and as we were very hazy as to whether we would
run into our own men or the Turks, we left the
convoy under the cover of some trees, and
O'Hara and I went off to reconnoitre. I believe
we must have passed through a gap in our own
line. At all events we wandered for some time,
making many pauses to listen for any sound that
might guide us, but the weird thing about it
was, that the whole place was now still as death,
though we must have been quite close to both
armies. No doubt they were dead beat after
the recent terrific fighting they had come
through.
At last we luckily struck our own men, lining a
shallow trench which had apparently been very
hastily thrown up, for it scarcely afforded enough
cover to shelter a decent-sized terrier. The
men were so exhausted with the continued
strain and stress of the battle, which had been
107
Zion Mule Corps Lands in Gallipoli
continuous since the morning of the 25th, that
they slept as if they were dead. The sentries, of
course, were on the alert, looking out grim and
watchful at the Turkish line, which we could
just make out in the struggling moonlight,
apparently not more than two hundred yards
away.
Telling the sentinel in a low voice, so as not
to draw the Turkish fire, that we had brought
up a convoy of supplies, and that we were about
to unload them among some trees a couple of
hundred yards further back, we ordered him to
pass this information on to the Brigade Head-
quarters, so that arrangements might be made
for the distribution of the food before daybreak.
We then turned back, and taking the mules
out of the shelter of the trees where we had left
them, we brought the supplies as close as possible
to the firing line, where we stacked them under
cover.
Here again O'Hara's thoroughness and readi-
ness to help in all things came out, for he was
one of the busiest men in the convoy, helping
to unload, putting the boxes in order, and
removing our pack-ropes from the cases, for, of
108
Zion Mule Corps Lands in Galllpoli
course, these always had to be untied and taken
back with the mules.
We saw some pathetic sights on our way back
to W Beach ; we were obliged to stop every
now and again so as not to bump into the
wounded men who were being carried down
on stretchers to the ships all night long by the
devoted R.A.M.C. orderlies.
When we topped the crest overlooking
W Beach, a gleam of light was coming up out of
Asia, telling us of the approach of dawn, and we
felt, as we wearily strode down the slope to the
beach, that we had done a hard and useful night's
work.
Now, when I had disembarked from the Dun-
drennon soon after midday, I had no idea that I
would be hustled off to the trenches at an instant's
notice. I had expected to go back to the ship
again for at least one more load of mules, and I
had therefore nothing with me except what I
stood up in — no food or equipment of any
kind, and beyond a dry biscuit and some cheese,
I had had nothing to eat since lunch-time, so
that it can be well imagined I was fairly ravenous
when I had finished that night's trek. There
109
Zion Mule Corps Lands in Gallipoli
was no food to be had just yet, however, and in
any case I had to see to the watering and feeding
of my mules, for they, like myself, had been
without food or drink since the previous midday.
This job was finished by about 7 a.m., and soon
after that I joined O'Hara at an excellent break-
fast, after which I felt ready for another strenuous
day.
no
CHAPTER X
A NIGHT UP THE GULLY RAVINE
F^EELING greatly refreshed after my break-
fast with O'Hara, I went to select a
suitable place for our camp, or rather bivouac,
for, of course, we had no tents. Finding a snug
little valley which stood back a couple of hundred
yards from W Beach and which ran up under
the protection of a rise in the ground, which gave
us some slight cover from the Turks, I put all
hands on to prepare and level the ground for the
horse and mule lines.
We had been rushed to the trenches in such
haste with the ammunition and supplies that we
had been unable to bring any rope with which to
tether the mules, so, seeing some ship's rope
lying on the beach, I asked the naval officer in
charge to let me have it for my lines. He not
only did this, but lent me some of his men as
in
A Night up the Gully Ravine
well to carry it up to my little camp, where they
helped me to fix it in the ground. I am sorry
to say I forget this officer's name, as he was most
helpful to me in many ways, and I never had to
appeal in vain to him, or, as a matter of fact, to
any other naval officer for assistance.
Throughout the day there was more than
enough to do. The ground had to be levelled
off, so as to make comfortable the mule and horse
lines. Ropes had to be pegged down and the
ends of them buried in the ground, tied round
sacks filled with clay, drains trenched out, and the
larger stones thrown out of the way. Then the
mules had to be fed and watered, and I feared the
latter was going to be a difficult and dangerous
business, for the only water discovered so far
came under Turkish fire. Luckily for me, how-
ever, one of my men, Schoub, my farrier sergeant,
discovered a deep well carefully hidden at the
corner of a demolished building, standing at the
head of the little valley where we were camped.
I feared that it might have been poisoned, so to
solve my doubts I went to the Provost Marshal,
and borrowed from him one of the captured
Turkish prisoners. I felt sure that a Turk coming
112
A Night up the Gully Ravine
from these parts would know the natural taste
of the water, so I took him with me to the well
and asked him to drink. He was rather loth
to do this at first, but at last, with a little per-
suasion, he took a sip in his mouth, rolled it for
a moment on his tongue, then nodding approval,
drank freely of the water. As he survived the
ordeal, I thought it was all right to go ahead with
the mules, and later on we used the well ourselves,
for it was excellent water.
All day long parties were coming and going
between V and W Beaches ; forage, water tins,
supplies, etc. — everything had to be brought to us
on our pack mules, and the day was all too short
to do the many things that landing in a new
country in time of warfare makes necessary. Not
much time was wasted over the cooking of food ;
biscuits, jam, cheese, tinned beef, required no
fires ; only a little tea was boiled in our hastily-
made camp kitchens. The only fuel to be had
was obtained by breaking up some of our old
packing-cases ; the Turks had cleared off every-
thing— not a man, woman, child or beast was
left on the place — but this did not worry us, as
we were always able to rustle for ourselves.
113 8
A Night up the Gully Ravine
Before dark that night we began to load up
another big convoy of munitions and supplies
for the trenches.
This proved to be one of the most weird nights
of many that we have spent tramping up and
down the Peninsula.
Of course, we had to move off after dark,
otherwise the Turks would have concentrated
their artillery on us and we should all have been
destroyed. We went from W to X Beach, along
the Aegean shore, falling into trenches and dug-
outs on the way, for the night was very dark,
while every now and again we were caught up
in Turkish wire entanglements. Then from
X Beach we slowly pioneered our way through the
trackless scrub and undergrowth until we came
to the cliff which overlooks Gully Beach, at the
mouth of a huge ravine which here opened into
the Aegean Sea, some miles north-west of
W Beach.
On the way we had to go through some of our
own guns, which were in action on this side of
the Peninsula, and I had to request the Battery
Commander to cease fire while we were filing
past, as I feared the roar and flash of the guns
114
A Night up the Gully Ravine
might stampede the mules. He let us through
in silence, but we had scarcely got fifty yards
from the muzzles when out belched the guns
again, the roar of which at such close range, to
my surprise, did not in the least upset the mules.
I shall never forget our struggling down to the
sea from the cliffs above the Gully. Of course
there was no road then and we had to reconnoitre
ahead in the dark every yard of the way. Often
I had to turn back and call out to the men to
halt as I found myself dangling on the edge of
the cliff, holding on to the roots of the gorse,
which fortunately grew there in profusion. After
many mishaps, mules and supplies falling about
among the ravines which scored the face of the
cliff, we eventually reached the beach.
Then began our march up the bed of the
ravine, and although the Gully was very wide
and there was ample room to march either to
right or left of the stream, yet we knew nothing
of this, for the ground was new to us and every-
thing was pitch dark, so the only sure way of
getting up the ravine in safety was to walk in
the river bed. I led the way, expecting all the
time either to fall into a water-hole or be shot by
115 8*
A Night up the Gully Ravine
an ambuscade of Turks. Cliffs loomed up on
either side of us to a height of a hundred or more
feet, and there was nothing to be seen but the
faint twinkle of the stars overhead.
Now and again I called a halt to reconnoitre
and listen for any suspicious movements ahead,
as it was a most likely spot in which to be
ambushed by the enemy. So far as I knew the
Turks were in possession of the bank to my left,
and all that part of the country right up to Anzac,
where the Australians had landed. For a time
everything was quiet as we splashed our way
along, there being a lull just then in the fighting ;
all of a sudden it broke out again with feverish
intensity. The Gully Ravine made a turn at
one part of its course which took us right between
the line of fire of the two opposing forces. Shells
from our own guns screamed and passed safely
over the ravine, but the shells from the Turkish
batteries often burst exactly overhead, scattering
shrapnel all round, at other times plunking into
the cliff on our right and smothering us with
clay and gravel. The rattle of musketry was like
the continuous roll of kettledrums, and consider-
ing all our surroundings, and the fierce fight that
116
A Night up the Gully Ravine
was going on, it was altogether a night to be
remembered.
At last we reached the troops holding the front
line ; there were no supports or reserves, so far
as I could see ; every man had been put into the
firing line, owing to the terrible losses that had
been sustained.
Here in the dark, with shot and shell flying
all round, we unpacked our mules and handed
over the ammunition and food to the brigade.
I was right glad to be able to turn back and get
my convoy safely away from the gloomy depths
of this uncanny ravine.
We had again to climb the cliffs when we got
back to the sea at the gully-mouth, and at the
top again to negotiate our guns, which were still
blazing away for all they were worth. However,
by dint of much shouting when I had crawled
close enough to be heard, the gunners ceased fire
just long enough to enable us to slip through.
These two nights are fair examples of the work
done in those early days by the Zion Mule Corps,
at that time the only transport corps on the
Peninsula at Helles.
117
CHAPTER XI
HOW 2ION MULES UPSET TURKISH PLANS
i-
T T will be remembered that I left Claude
-*• Rolo on V Beach to take charge of our gear
.as it came off the Dundrennon, while Gye was
left aboard that vessel to hurry everything
ashore ; but it was not until the third day that
we had disembarked all our belongings, the delay
being entirely due to the shortage of steam tugs,
on which I have already commented.
During the time that our gear was stacked on
V Beach, with, of course, a guard in charge of it,
one of the sentries became the object of suspicion
to the French, who were now in entire control
of V Beach. After a few minutes, finding he could
speak no understandable language (for he only spoke
Russian or Hebrew, which, no doubt, sounded
Turkish to the French), and seeing that he was
armed with a Turkish rifle and bayonet and had
118
How Zion Mules Upset Turkish Plans
Turkish cartridges in his belt, he was taken for a
daring Turk who had invaded the beach to spy
out the land. Without more ado, he was tried
by drumhead court-martial and condemned to
be shot out of hand. He was actually up against
the walls of Sedd-el-Bahr Castle, and the firing
party in position to carry out the execution,
when the Sergeant in charge of the Zionist Guard
luckily spied what was happening, and, as he spoke
excellent French, he rapidly explained the situa-
tion. The man was released, but the shock was
too much for him, and when he was unbound he
was found to be paralysed, and it was two months
before he was fit for duty again. After this, I
allowed none of my men to leave camp unless
they could speak English or were accompanied
by someone who could act as interpreter.
Gye and Rolo worked hard to move the pile of
equipment — water tins, forage, etc., etc. — to the
little valley where the rest of the Corps were
already snugly encamped, overlooking W Beach.
I was extremely glad to have these two officers
with me again, because, during these three days
and nights since the landing, while we were
separated, I had had a very strenuous time.
119
How Zion Mules Upset Turkish Plans
I remember when Gye saw me for the first
time after coming ashore, he got quite a shock,
and I believe he must have imagined that I had
been indulging in some frightful orgy, because
he observed that the whites of my eyes were as
red as burning coals ; but it was only an orgy of
work and want of sleep.
I may say that when I did sleep I slept very
soundly indeed, for a high explosive shell dropped
within seven or eight feet of my head, exploded,
blew a great hole in the ground, yet I never even
heard it !
This feat was outdone by a man who, on
being roused in the morning, found himself
lame, and then discovered that he had been
shot through the foot some time in the night,
while asleep !
The work, owing to Gye and Rolo being with
me, was now considerably lightened, as we each
took a convoy out to different parts of the front,
and so got the distribution of supplies through
much more quickly. I was unable at that time
to make use of my Jewish officers, with the excep-
tion of Captain Trumpledor, for they were with-
out experience and could not speak English.
120
How Zion Mules Upset Turkish Plans
Later on they were able to take charge of convoys
and did the work very well.
Gye, Rolo and I made a cheery little party and
never found the time hang heavy on our hands,
nor were we ever dull for a moment, even when
we returned from convoy work at two o'clock
in the morning. We would then have dinner
together, and Gye was such a wonderful story-
teller, and Claude Rolo was such a good second,
and he also possessed such an infectious laugh,
that I have often literally fallen from the box on
which I was sitting, convulsed with merriment.
I am sure the men of L Battery, R.H.A., who
were camped close by, must have wondered what
all this unseemly racket was about at such
unearthly hours of the morning.
Gye's knowledge of colloquial Arabic was
profound. It is related of him in Egypt that a
Cairo street loafer on one occasion maliciously
annoyed him, whereupon Gye turned upon him
and let loose such a flood of Arabic slang, minutely
vituperating the fellow himself and his ancestors for
fourteen generations back, that, despairing of ever
reaching such heights of eloquence, the loafer, out of
sheer envy, went straight away and hanged himself !
121
How Zion Mules Upset Turkish Plans
In this first little bivouac of ours I spread my
ground sheet and blanket in the corner of what
had been a house. The guns of the Fleet had
evidently got on to it and now nothing was left
standing but some of the walls, which in places
were about three or four feet high.
A day or two after settling in here I happened
to jump down from one of these walls and the
ground gave way somewhat under me. We made
an excavation into it and discovered, hidden
away in an underground chamber, an old green
silk flag, so ancient that a touch rent it, an anti-
quated battle-axe, dating, I should say, from the
time of the Crusaders, and also some antique
brass candlesticks — a curious and rare find in
such a place.
It must not be supposed that the Turks left
us in peace during the day. They constantly
dropped shells into our little valley, tearing holes
in the ground all round us, but by great good
fortune while we were in this place we suffered
no casualty of any kind, either man or mule.
On May 1st, after nightfall, I sent Claude Rolo
out in the direction of the Gully Ravine, with
ammunition and supplies for one of the Brigades
122
How Zion Mules Upset Turkish Plans
of the 29th Division. He got to his destination
safely, but while he was unloading the convoy,
at about ten o'clock, whether by chance or design
I know not, a tremendous hail of shrapnel was
poured upon them from the Turkish guns a
couple of miles away. Some forty of the mules
had already been relieved of their loads, and
many of these broke away and galloped off into
the darkness.
This turned out to be a providential diversion,
for they helped to save the British Army that
night, in much the same way as the cackling geese
once saved Rome, for, all unknown to us, masses
of Turks were at that very moment creeping up
in the dark just before the rise of the moon.
They were in three lines, the first line being
without ammunition, as it was their particular
business, when they got near enough to our
trenches, to rush them with the bayonet. The
Turkish General Staff, however, had not calcu-
lated on Zion mules ! The terrified animals,
scared and wounded by the shrapnel, careered
over our trenches and clattered down with
clanking chains on the stealthy foe. The Turks
undoubtedly took them for charging cavalry,
123
How Zion Mules Upset Turkish Plans
for they poured a volley into them and thus gave
away their position.
Our men instantly lined the trenches and
opened such an intense fire that the Turks were
utterly routed, and those of them that were left
alive fled back to the cover of their own trenches.
The battle was taken up all along the line, and,
if volume of musketry counts for anything, it
was the hottest night fight we had during all the
time we were on the Peninsula.
Claude Rolo had a most arduous and perilous
time collecting his men and mules in the midst
of all this turmoil, but he eventually got them
together and took them down a side track to the
Gully, into which they all scrambled helter-
skelter, for safety.
One of the men, Private Groushkousky, dis-
tinguished himself greatly in this fight, for when
the hail of shrapnel descended on the convoy
and stampeded many of the mules, this plucky
boy — for he was a mere youth — although shot
through both arms, held on to his plunging
animals and safely delivered his loads of ammuni-
tion to the men in the firing line. I promoted
Private Groushkousky to the rank of Corporal,
124
How Zion Mules Upset Turkish Plans
for his pluck and devotion to duty, and, in addi-
tion, recommended him for the D.C.M., which I
am glad to say he obtained.
While Rolo and his men were having such a
strenuous time on the left of the line, I took a
convoy to the Brigade holding the centre. At
about two o'clock in the morning, soon after we
had returned, we were all having a much-needed
sleep, for we were worn out with constant coming
and going day and night. I was roused from a
deep slumber into which I had fallen by a
messenger to say ammunition was urgently
required by the Anson Battalion of the Royal
Naval Division and other units on the right flank
of our line. I remember what a difficult task it
was to rouse the men, who lay about on the
ground, like rolled-up balls, in front of their
mules. I found a very effective plan was to shout
loudly in their ear : " Turks ! " That, coupled
with the roar of the guns and the crackling of the
rifles, quickly brought them back to realities,
and almost in the twinkling of an eye the Zion
men were loading up cartridges with feverish
speed at the Ordnance Depot, which was situated
not many yards below our lines. I always kept
125
How Zion Mules Upset Turkish Plans
our mules saddled throughout the day and night,
in relays, for I knew that in those strenuous times
I would be likely to get a call at any moment to
supply the firing line with ammunition.
No matter at what hour of the day or night we
went to the ammunition stack, Major Ho well
Jones, the Chief Ordnance Officer of the 29th
Division, was always on the spot to issue it ; and
not only was he there, but if there was any
" push " on, he turned to and helped to load up
the mules with his own hands. He was one of
the hardest-worked men on the Peninsula, and I
sincerely hope that the 29th Division realizes
all it owes to his energy and foresight.
In those early days after the first landing, when
we were pressing the Turks so steadily before us,
and we all expected that one final push would
drive them over Achi Baba, the Zionists peti-
tioned General Hunter-Weston to be permitted
to take part in the assault. After some con-
sideration, the General refused to let us go, saying
that we were performing invaluable services in
keeping the men in the trenches supplied with
ammunition and food. Although we were denied
officially the privilege of actually taking part in
126
How Zion Mules Upset Turkish Plans
the attack, yet unofficially some of the Corps, at
least, had the gratification of joining battle with
the Turks.
It must be remembered that our troops had
suffered terrible losses in those early battles, and
the Inniskilling Fusiliers had fared no better than
the rest, and they had very few men indeed with
which to man their trenches in the event of an
attack. Now it so happened that the Turks
made a determined onslaught upon them on one
occasion, when a party of the Zion Mule Corps
was close by, unloading a convoy; the Zionists,
having the lust of battle strong in them, and
seeing how weak the Inniskillings were, left their
mules to take care of themselves and, under the
leadership of Corporal Hildersheim, leapt into
the trenches and materially assisted in repelling
the Turks.
127
CHAPTER XII
LIFE IN OUR NEW CAMP
TV yf ORE and more troops kept on dis-
*•'••• embarking and within fourteen days
we found ourselves being crowded out of our little
valley that ran up from the sea, and it became a
pressing necessity to look out for fresh quarters
further inland. Nor were we sorry to move, for
a road had been made close to our lines, which,
owing to the great traffic upon it, was now several
inches deep in fine white dust, which blew over
us in choking clouds.
At this time the whole of the Peninsula, from
Cape Helles to Achi Baba, was one expanse of
green pastures and cultivation, and the country
looked exceedingly pretty. Quantities of beau-
tiful flowers grew everywhere, so much so that
some fields were a regular blaze of colour, the
western slopes of Achi Baba itself being beautified
128
Life in our New Camp
by gorgeous stretches of blood-red poppies.
Groves of trees of various kinds were dotted about,
while the olive and the almond flourished every-
where. Here and there were to be seen round,
masonry-topped wells, just like those pictured
in illustrated Bibles, showing Rebecca drawing
water for Abraham's servant — but, alas, here
there was no Rebecca !
Before we left it, this smiling land became the
most desolate, God-forsaken place that it is
possible to imagine — nothing but row upon row
of unsightly trenches, and not a single blade of
grass anywhere to meet the eye.
For our new encampment I chose a green level
field, some two miles inland, and into this we
moved on May nth.
A beautiful olive tree grew and threw a grateful
shade by the edge of our encampment, and here,
practically under its roots, we excavated a shallow
dug-out and erected over it a shelter of canvas.
Gye, Rolo and I settled ourselves in as comfort-
ably as possible, and although we thought it
merely a temporary halting-place on the way to
Constantinople, we never moved camp again, and,
indeed, for over seven months it was our home.
129 9
Life in our New Camp
I had occasion to ride back to W Beach within a
couple of hours after quitting our first encamp-
ment, and I heartily congratulated myself that
we had cleared out of it just in the nick of time,
for the Turks had concentrated their guns on the
place immediately after we had left. I counted
no less than thirty holes through a piece of canvas
that was stretched over the place where we had
slept the night before. Had we still been there
we must all inevitably have been blown to
smithereens !
At our new encampment we found, burrowed
into the ground about us, the wagon lines of
B, L and Y Batteries, R.H.A., together with the
ammunition column — in fact, our lines joined
up with L Battery which, it will be remembered,
earned such fame, and won so many V.C.s
during the retreat from Mons. Lieutenant
Davidson of this Battery was in charge of the
wagon lines, and, as it was Gallipoli, and he was
all alone, the haughty horse gunner did not dis-
dain to join the lowly Muleteers' Mess ! We were
very glad to have him, as he was good, cheery,
sensible company, -nd he also made a fourth at
Bridge, which was our relaxation when nothing
130
Life in our New Camp
else had to be done. It is odd, when one thinks
of it now, that we were far more interested at
times, when the game got exciting, as to who
should make the odd trick than in the Turkish
shells, which flew screaming by a few feet over our
heads, especially when one remembers that the
deflection of the guns by a hair's-breadth by those
tiresome fellows who were peppering us from
Achi Baba and the plains of Ilium would have
meant that, in our peaceful little dug-out, spades
would have been trumps !
During the course of our stay here we
gradually excavated and enlarged our dwelling
and burrowed down into the ground, making
a cellar into which we could retire in case the
shelling became too hot ; but, as a matter of
fact, though the bombardment at times was
hot enough to satisfy the most desperate fire-
eater, we used our bomb proof entirely as a
pantry, for which we found it most useful.
No sooner had we settled down to life in our
new bivouac than the Turks began to annoy
us by dropping shells into it and disturbing
our peace of mind and body. On the morning
following our arrival, while we were having
131 9*
Life in our New Camp
breakfast under the spreading branches of our
olive tree, a shrapnel burst, sending its bullets
unpleasantly near. I remarked jocularly to the
others that if the next shell came any closer
we should have to move. Scarcely had I spoken
when one went bang just over us, and a bullet
whizzed between our heads and smashed through
the arm of my Orderly-Room Sergeant, Abulafia,
who at that moment was standing by my side
taking some orders. It is a marvel how it missed
hitting a member of our little mess, for we were
all sitting very close together round an up-
turned box which we were using as a breakfast
table.
The same shell wounded two other men,
besides killing and wounding half a dozen mules.
We decided that the place was too hot for us,
so, after helping our Medical Officer to dress
the wounded, we finished our breakfast on the
other side of a bank which ran along by our
olive tree. I must mention here that Sergeant
Abulafia refused to have his wound dressed until
the others who were more severely injured had
first received attention.
Dr. Levontin was very good in attending
132
Life in our New Camp
to wounded men under fire, and he gave first
aid to these men and many others, often at
great personal risk ; but at last the continual
battering of high explosive shells so close to his
dug-out was too much for him, and his nerves
went, as did the nerves of many others, and
there was nothing for it but to send him back
to Egypt. From the time of his departure our
sick and wounded were ministered to by Captain
Blandy, R.A.M.C., who was the Medical Officer
in charge of the Batteries camped round us,
and the men, finding Captain Blandy most
sympathetic and painstaking, did not fail to
avail themselves to the full of his able services.
The troublesome Turks did not allow us
to keep our animals in the pleasant field where
we had, after much trouble, laid down our
ropes and pegs and made our lines.
From Achi Baba and the slopes above Krithia
they could see us perfectly well, and they rained
such a tornado of shells round about us, plough-
ing up the ground in all directions, that I ordered
a hasty evacuation of the field and chose another
site close by, somewhat better concealed from
view by a plantation of olive trees. It was
133
Life in our New Camp
extremely difficult to hide from the Turks as
Achi Baba dominated the whole Peninsula.
Even in our new position we were not allowed
to remain undisturbed, for almost daily the
Turks peppered us with shrapnel and high
explosive, both from Achi Baba and the Asiatic
coast.
I set the men to work to dig themselves and
the mules well into the bowels of the earth,
and in a very short time they had done this so
effectively that a stranger visiting the place
would be astonished if he were told that some
hundreds of men and mules were concealed right
under his very nose.
Soon after we had evacuated the field in
which the Turks had shelled us so vigorously
it was taken possession of by the Collingwood
Battalion of the Royal Naval Division. They
arrived in the dusk of the evening, and as they
were apparently unaware of their dangerous
position, I felt it to be my duty to go and
warn the Commanding Officer, Captain Spear-
man, R.N., how exposed the place was, and
how they would probably be plastered by high
explosive as soon as the Turks discovered them
134
Life in our New Camp
on the following morning. Captain Spearman
was very glad to be given this friendly warning
and, in consequence, he made his Battalion dig
itself well in, and for several hours into the
night I could hear pick and spade digging and
delving. It was well they did so, for on the
following morning a brisk bombardment opened
on them, but, thanks to the precautions which
they had taken, they, on that day at all events,
suffered no casualties.
It was very funny to see the men sitting in
rows along the banks of earth thrown up out
of their " dug-outs " and watch them dive,
like rabbits into their burrows, at the sound of
an approaching shell ; then, after the explosion,
everyone popped up again to see what damage
had been done.
During the time they were camped there
a shell would now and again plump right into
a dug-out and then, of course, the unfortunate
occupants would be blown about in little pieces
all over the place. A hand was once blown
down to my horse lines, some hundred and fifty
yards away from where the shell had burst and
shattered a man to atoms.
135
Life in our New Camp
A German Taube for a time flew over our
lines every morning long before sunrise, of
course catching all our airmen napping. These
visits were generally for observation purposes,
but sometimes the Taubes would liven us up
by dropping a few bombs. They made several
shots at the French guns, but always missed.
I saw a bomb land among a dozen French
horses one day, and all of the unfortunate
animals were terribly wounded. I never saw
such a shambles, for the horses were in a dug-
out close together for safety. The Zion lines
had several close escapes, as did the Royal Naval
Division Hospital, which was close to us, and
where Staff-Surgeon Fleming cheerfully and
skilfully attended to our sick and wounded at
all times of the day and night.
The Taube is a much more vicious looking
machine than ours. It has a certain air of
arrogance about it, entirely lacking in our type
of aeroplane. It is not in the least like a dove,
as the German name signifies, but appears to
me very like a hawk, always ready to pounce on
its prey.
Day by day one kept missing friendly faces.
136
Life in our New Camp
I remember such a nice boy, belonging to one
of the Naval Battalions, who used to pass my
camp regularly with his platoon on his way
to the Beach to bathe. I never knew the boy's
name, but he interested me as he was a bright,
cheery, handsome youngster, who seemed to
be on the best of terms with his men. One
day there was a vigorous bombardment of his
lines, and when next the platoon went by the
young officer was missing. He had been blown
to pieces by a shell.
The Royal Naval Division were a mixed
crowd, and their ways in Gallipoli were some-
what peculiar. Their habits and customs were
decidedly " herumphroditish." They performed
military duties as ordinary Infantry ; then they
jumped back and were sailors again. They kept
time by the chiming of ships' bells ; when they
were wanted out of their dug-outs, the boatswain
would pipe, " All hands on deck ; " when a
company was mustered on parade, the Com-
mander (when the Commodore came along !)
reported, " All present on the main deck, sir "
— the main deck being along a line of dug-
outs ; and if one " herumphrodite " wished to
137
Life in our New Camp
visit another " herumphrodite " in a different
Battalion, he had to apply for " shore leave ! "
The Collingwood Battalion met with a very-
sad end soon after their arrival in my neighbour-
hood. They were sent up to take part for the
first time in an attack on the Turkish trenches,
and they were placed on our extreme right,
linking up with the French. When the order
came to charge they went forward most
gallantly, capturing, with little loss, two of the
Turkish lines of trenches, Captain Spearman,
well to the fore, leading his men. He got
shot in the foot, but, ignoring it, dashed along,
waving his hat in the air as he cheered his men
to the assault. Unfortunately, owing to the
conspicuous part he and his officers played in
the attack (and it was necessary that they should
do so, owing to the rawness of the men), he and
practically all the other officers of the Battalion
were killed. Then someone, possibly a German,
for there were several of them in the Turkish
trenches round about, shouted out the fatal
word " Retire." This was carried along the
line and the men turned about and made back,
helter-skelter, for their own trenches, but in
138
Life in our New Camp
trying to gain them they were practically
annihilated by machine-gun and rifle fire. I
was particularly sorry for Captain Spearman,
who had come to our dug-out on many occasions,
and had drunk an early cup of coffee with us
only a few hours before he was killed.
In this disastrous retreat the Collingwood
Battalion was practically wiped out. The sur-
vivors were transferred to another unit of the
Royal Naval Division and the very name of
this Battalion went out of existence.
139
CHAPTER XIII
A MAY BATTLE '
FAURING a - big battle which took place
••— ' early in May, I sent Gye forward with
a large convoy of ammunition, and on riding
out later on to see how things were going I
passed over some of the ground occupied by
the French, who were to the right of the
British, and extended from thence across the
Peninsula to the Dardanelles. A couple of miles
to the rear of the fighting line extended the
batteries of the famous .753 cunningly con-
cealed among trees, branches specially planted
in the ground, reeds, etc. I watched the
gunners serve their guns, and my admiration
was aroused at witnessing the ease and celerity
with which they were loaded, their mechanical
arrangement for setting the fuse, and, above all,
the beautifully smooth recoil of the barrel.
140
A May Battle
This was so nicely adjusted that I might have
placed my finger on the ground behind the
wheel of the gun and have received no damage.
The French Army can give us points on many
things, but above all stands their .75 gun.
They are wonderfully accurate, marvellously
quick, and seem able to pour out from their
muzzles a continuous stream of projectiles.
The French certainly did not starve their gunners
in ammunition, and only for those .755 our
position in Gallipoli would often have been
somewhat precarious.
After I had watched the guns in action for a
while I passed on, and going down the sandy
road which led from Sedd-el-Bahr village to
Krithia I came upon the first evidences of the
fight that was now raging. A handsome young
French artilleryman lay dead by the side of
the road ; some friend had closed his eyes,
and he looked as if he merely slept, but it was
the long sleep of death. A little further on
lay some Zouaves, and yet a little further some
Senegalese, all lying just as they fell, with
their packs on their backs and their rifles close
by, facing the foe — brave French soldiers all.
141
A May Battle
Turning a corner I found myself riding into
General d'Amade and his staff, busily directing
the battle. Almost at the General's horse's
feet lay a Turk whose face was half blown away.
The poor fellow had wrapped the end of his
puggaree round his ghastly wound. Within a
yard or two lay another Turk, his shoulder
smashed to pulp by a shell. Both men bore
up with the greatest fortitude and never uttered
a groan. A first-aid dressing station was close
by, where scores of wounded, French and Turks,
were being doctored and bandaged. These
sights of the uglier and sadder side of war are
not pleasing, and any one who has seen the
horrors of it can never wish to view such scenes
again. I would put all Foreign Ministers,
Diplomats and Newspaper Proprietors in the
forefront of every battle for which they were
in any way responsible. However, duty has to
be done, even in the midst of horrors, so saluting
the General, I pushed further along to the
front, where I could see Gye with the mules
in the distance.
By the time I had cantered up to him all
the ammunition had been unloaded, and at the
142
A May Battle
spot where I halted I found myself looking over
a bank into the midst of a Battalion of cheery
little Gurkhas (the 6th) and almost within
handshake of their Commander, Colonel C.
Bruce, who was an old acquaintance of mine.
I had no idea he was in Gallipoli, and it was
curious to come upon him, after some years,
in the thick of a battle.
I stayed for a time chatting with him while
the bullets and shells whizzed round — in fact,
until an order came for his Battalion to go
forward into the fight.
I myself went and took up a position on a
hill close by, where I could see, as if from the
gallery of a theatre, the whole fight staged
before me ; where I could note the move of
practically every man and gun.
As I looked down from my post of observa-
tion, a saucer-like green valley full of olive
trees, vineyards and young corn spread out
before me for some five miles, right away up to
Achi Baba, the dominating hill, some six hundred
or seven hundred feet high. The French, as
I have already said, were away on the right,
and I watched their infantry mass in hollows
143
A May Battle
and ravines, then advance in wavy lines under
the pounding shelter of their guns. The latter
were served magnificently, and the infantry as
they advanced found the ground to their im-
mediate front swept yard by yard by the guns
fired by their comrades a couple of miles to their
rear.
It was a stirring sight to watch the officers
dash out and give the men a lead when there
was any hesitation or waver of the line. In
places I could see the Turks run like hares, but
on the extreme left the French who were in
touch with our right could be seen retiring
precipitately over the hill, badly slated by the
Turks.
I was fascinated by the sight and wondered
how that broken line could be again reformed.
It was done, however, in the shelter of a bluff,
and once more they charged over the hill and
were then lost to my view.
The 29th Division extended from the French
left, near the right centre of the saucer, across
to the Aegean sea. The front was towards
Achi Baba, and our men made headway towards
it in the face of fierce opposition. Our guns
144
A May Battle
were barking away at the Turks in their trenches,
and the great guns of the Fleet were hurling
their high explosives, which descended on the
doomed Turks with terrific effect. One could
see great spurts of flame, smoke, earth, timbers,
rocks, Turks, in fact, everything in the neigh-
bourhood, going up as though shot out of the
crater of a volcano.
To me it seemed as though nothing could
possibly live under such a rain of death, which
continued with ever increasing intensity for an
hour. Nothing could be seen of Achi Baba,
or any other part of the Turkish position, owing
to the smoke and dust which the bombardment
had raised, and unfortunately the wind was
blowing towards us, which brought everything
into the eyes of our men as they leaped out of
the trenches to the attack.
The moment the guns ceased one could
discern, through the haze, the gleam of bayonets
as the Allies swept forward along the whole
front like a bristling wall of steel, right into
the leading Turkish trenches.
Wherever the bombardment had done its
work and smashed down the wire entanglements,
145 10
A May Battle
our men found it easy to advance. Such Turks
as remained in the trenches were dazed and
demoralized by the shell-fire, and were only too
willing to surrender. But in some parts, especi-
ally on the left of the line, the guns had failed
to cut down the barbed wire, and here our
men were crumpled up by the deadly fire of
rifle and machine-gun which was concentrated
on them at this point.
It was a soul-stirring sight to watch, on this
great stage, the alternate advance and retreat
of our men, and the scuttle of the Turks along
their communication trenches; the charge of
the Zouaves; the hurried retirement of the
Senegalese when they were met with a terrific
fire from the Turks ; the reforming of the line
behind the friendly crest ; the renewed pounding
of the Turkish line by French and British guns ;
the charge once more of the Allied infantry into
and through the Turkish curtain of fire until
they were swallowed up in the smoke.
The heart palpitated with emotion, and one's
imagination was gripped by the sight of these
gallant fellows flinging themselves recklessly at
the Turks.
146
A May Battle
At length human nature could do no more,
and both British and French had to call a halt.
The result of the battle was that we gained
some few hundred yards practically along the
whole front except on the extreme left, but it
was at a considerable cost in killed and wounded.
CHAPTER XIV
GENERAL D?AMADE AND THE CORPS
EXPEDITIONNAIRE D'ORIENT
end of our camp was in touch with
the French lines and, of course, I saw a
great deal of the French soldiers and a little
of their gallant Commander, General d'Amade.
I know, therefore, with what feelings of regret
his men heard that he was about to return to
France. He had endeared himself by his un-
failing courtesy and goodwill, and had impressed
with his fine, soldierly qualities all those with
whom he had in any way come into contact.
During the tenure of his command, the
French troops had, at the point of the bayonet,
wrested seemingly impregnable positions from
the brave foe. Their losses had been cruel,
terrible, but their deeds are imperishable.
The military records of France make glorious
148
Gen. d'Amade and Corps Expeditionnaire
reading, but even to these dazzling pages General
d'Amade and his gallant troops have added fresh
lustre.
A sad blow had fallen upon the General while
he was in Alexandria reorganizing his Corps
Expeditionnaire d'Orient, prior to its departure
for Gallipoli. In the midst of his work a
telegram was handed to him announcing that
his son had fallen gloriously in France. The
General, having read the heart-breaking message,
paused for a moment and then remarked
" Well, our work for France must go on."
It was my good fortune to see the order of
the day of the Journal Officiel du n Fevrier, 1915,
which recounted the death and gallant deeds
of General d'Amade's boy. He was only
eighteen, and had just joined his regiment, the
1 3 ist Infantry, when he went on a perilous
night mission to obtain information which could
only be got by creeping up into the German
trenches. With just two men he accomplished
this dangerous duty successfully, but at that
very moment he was discovered and a volley
from the enemy laid him low. Although
grievously wounded, his first thought was for
149
Gen. d'Amade and Corps Expeditionnaire
France, so, forbidding his comrades to carry
him off, he told them to fly with all speed to
the French lines with the valuable information
which he had obtained. Young Gerard d'Amade
died where he had fallen, a noble example of
that spirit of self-sacrifice which characterizes
all ranks of the French army.
A framed copy of this order of the day has
now a place of honour in the nursery of a little
boy I know of who, every night before he goes
to bed, stands in front of it at the salute and
says : " I do this in memory of a brave French
officer who gave his life for his country. May
I so live that, if necessary, I may be ready to die
for England as nobly as Gerard d'Amade died
for France."
The British public is little aware of what it
owes to General d'Amade. During the terrible
retreat of our Expeditionary Force from Mons,
when we were outnumbered by five to one, and
when the Germans were closing round our small
army in overwhelming numbers, General Sir
John French sent out urgent appeals for assist-
ance in this hour of dire peril to the Generals
commanding the French armies on his right
150
Gen. d'Amade and Corps Expeditionnaire
and left. For some reason or other none of
these came to his aid, and for a time it looked
as if our gallant little army would be engulfed
and annihilated.
Fortunately, there was one French General
to whom the appeal was not made in vain. This
was General d'Amade, who, at that time, was
guarding the line in the north-west of France
from Dunkerque to Valenciennes. To hold
this very important eighty miles of front all
the troops he had were four divisions of some-
what ill-equipped Territorials, with very few
guns. It must be remembered that the French
Territorial is past his prime and, as a rule, is
the father of a family, and considers his righting
days over.
It can well be imagined, therefore, what
an anxious time General d'Amade had during
those fateful days from the I9th to the 28th
August, 1914, when at any moment the German
avalanche might burst upon him. On the
24th August his force was strengthened by
two Reserve Divisions (the 6ist and 62nd),
which only arrived in the nick of time, for
with these he was able to do something in
Gen. d'Amade and Corps Expeditionnaire
answer to General French's despairing appeal.
General d'Amade manoeuvred these two Reserve
Divisions into a position which seriously
threatened von Kluck's flank. That " hacking "
General, not knowing the strength of General
d'Amade's menacing force, became anxious for
his right flank and communications, so turned
aside from his pursuit of the British and pro-
ceeded to crush the French. These two divi-
sions put up such an heroic fight and offered
such a stubborn resistance to the German
horde that it took the pressure off our sorely
stricken men, enabling them to extricate them-
selves and retire, broken, exhausted, tired,
crushed, it is true, but still to retire to safety,
where they were able to reorganize and take
ample vengeance on the Germans a few days
later.
General d'Amade lost practically his entire
force, but he had gained something very
precious ; he had saved our army from destruc-
tion, and what is more, he had saved the honour
of France — nay, even France itself, for if the
French generals had stood idly by and allowed
our Expeditionary Force to be wiped out of
152
Gen. d'Amade and Corps Expeditionnaire
existence, I think it is more than likely that
France might have prayed in vain for any
further assistance, in troops at all events, from
England.
All honour, therefore, to the General who,
without hesitation, with just two Reserve
Divisions, took the shock of the German legions
and sacrificed himself and his troops rather than
see the honour of France go down in the dust.
Politicians may recommend the bestowal of
honours and decorations on their favourite
Generals, but General d'Amade deserves more
than this, he deserves a tribute from the British
people. He made a magnificent sacrifice in
our cause, and if ever in the history of the world
a general deserved a sword of honour from a
nation, General d'Amade deserves one from
England.
153
CHAPTER XV
VARIOUS BOMBARDMENTS
T~?VERY morning regularly the Turks com-
•*—* menced shelling us punctually at eight
o'clock, presumably after they had had break-
fast, and again at tea time. They generally
continued for a couple of hours, and these
hours were always lively ones for us, and it
was a daily occurrence to lose men, horses and
mules.
On the 1 6th May, eleven Frenchmen, who
happened to be close to our lines, were killed
instantly by one shell, on the i/th one of my
horses was wounded, and on the I9th the second
was hit in the ribs by shrapnel.
The Turks often switched off from us and
bombarded a section of the road used by wagons,
gun-teams and motor cyclists. The latter were,
to me, the chief wonder of Gallipoli. I ride
154
Various Bombardments
a motor cycle myself, and have had a fe\v
smashes, so can fully realize its dangers.
I was introduced to this convenient form of
locomotion by Dr. Rolleston after a breakdown
in health. It is the most wonderful tonic I
have yet come across, because the moment one
gets on to the bicycle one's attention is so
centred on keeping it going, picking out the
smoothest bits of road, avoiding collisions, etc.,
that I veritably believe the treachery of one's
closest friend would, for the moment, at least,
fade from the memory. I am perfectly certain
that the Gallipoli motor cyclists never gave a
thought to absent friends ; they were much too
busy avoiding pitfalls and shells. They flew
over the most uneven ground, took small
trenches as it were in their stride, and were
generally the most dare-devil set of boys I have
ever seen. Many a time we stood and watched
through our glasses this dangerous strip of road
which the Turks had got the range of to a yard.
As the wagons, gun-teams and cyclists approached
it, they would get up the pace, and fly through
it at top speed. The narrow squeaks that we
constantly witnessed on this bit of road were
155
Various Bombardments
enough to make one's hair stand on end ! Yet
I am glad to say I only once saw a man struck
down. It looked so sad — the moment before
so full of the joy of life, and then, just a little,
huddled heap, lying still and quiet on the dusty
roadway.
On May 2Oth, the Turks bombarded us for
several hours ; five of my men were wounded,
two seriously, one of the poor fellows having
his leg smashed to atoms. The same day I had
five mules and one horse killed and ten mules
wounded. The Horse Artillery, camped round
about us, also suffered rather severely, for the
Turks every now and again switched their
batteries on to their lines and caused them
heavy losses. It was a busy time for Lieutenant
Fisher, the Veterinary Surgeon of the Horse
Batteries, who kindly came to our aid whenever
the Zion mules got " strafed."
When this bombardment broke upon us,
everybody made a rush to get his horse, mule,
or himself out of danger, and many were the
curses heaped on the Turkish gunners, who
were universally consigned to the warmest place
of which we have ever heard. It makes me
156
Various Bombardments
laugh even now when I think of a little comedy
that took place between Rolo and his groom.
The latter, whose name was Dabani, was a most
comical looking little fellow, with bandy legs,
a swarthy face, and little black beard sprouting
in patches here and there. He was an Israelite
from Arabia, and although an excellent fellow
in many ways, he was more renowned for his
piety than for his courage. You could always
tell the intensity of a bombardment by the
fervour of Dabani's prayers. On this occasion,
when the shells began to burst and spatter the
shrapnel all round us, Rolo shouted to Dabani,
whom he saw scuttling off for safety, to come
back and look after his horse. " What, look
after your horse now ? " cried Dabani. " This
is a time when I must look after myself," and
taking not the slightest notice of Rolo's angry
maledictions, he, with rabbit-like agility, dived
for safety into his dug-out !
This bombardment badly shook some of my
men, and among them Schoub, my farrier, who,
the moment he felt it safe to emerge from the
nethermost depths of his dug-out, came in a
state of abject terror to Gye, begging piteously
157
Various Bombardments
to be sent back to the bosom of his family in
Alexandria, because, he remarked, " I am no
use here now. The shells have made me stone
deaf. I cannot hear a word." " What," said
Gye, in a low voice, " not a single word ? "
" Not a single word," replied Schoub !
It was many months before he returned in
safety to Alexandria, and by that time bombard-
ments had become so common that they had
ceased to terrify.
On the 2nd June, I was returning with Claude
Rolo from an expedition which we had made
to the Gurkha trenches on the extreme left of
the line. Before we had got very far on our
way heavy howitzers began to bombard the
Turks, and as we were just then passing an
artillery observation post, hidden away in a
cross trench, we turned aside and went into it.
From here we could see our high explosive shells
bursting with terrific effect on the Turkish
trench, which was only about three hundred
yards away. The Artillery Observation Officer
telephoned back to the guns the result of each
shot, and under his guidance the shells soon
battered down the earthworks, pulverizing
158
Various Bombardments
everything where they fell. Soon, however, some
sharp-eyed Turkish gunner spotted our observa-
tion post and began to plug at us pretty rapidly.
Shells hopped off the parapet, shrapnel struck
the steel shield, fuses and fragments of all kinds
thudded into the bank behind our backs, and
we seemed for the moment to be living in a
little tornado of lead and iron. When this
had continued for a few minutes, I remarked
to the gunner man : " What on earth are the
Turks trying to hit ? " " Hit us, of course,"
he somewhat sfiortly replied.
Now, so long as we remained here in the deep
trench we were comparatively safe, but as I
wanted to get back to camp, I thought I would
pull the gunner's leg before leaving him ; he
had no idea who we were, for we were in our
shirt sleeves as usual, so I pretended to be
thoroughly scared, and said : " Good heavens,
this is no place for me ! " on which he smiled
the smile of a brave man who feels pity for a
poltroon. There were some twenty yards or
so of open ground to be covered the moment
we left the shelter of the observation post, and,
of course, this was a really dangerous strip,
159
Various Bombardments
because it was exposed to the fire of the Turks,
and had therefore to be covered at top speed.
The only way of accomplishing this in safety
was to do it in between the shells, and as there
was only a couple of seconds between each, the
plunge out had to be made the instant one
burst, so as to be under cover before the next
arrived. Warning Rolo to follow me after the
next explosion, out we darted. We had almost
reached safety when I heard coming after us
the scream of an approaching shell. I shouted
out to Rolo, " Jump for your life ! " and at the
same time threw myself down, and the last
thing I saw, amid the dust kicked up by the
shower of shrapnel bullets, was Rolo plunging
head foremost into a ditch, as if he were taking
a dive !
We were neither of us hurt, but a stone thrown
up by the shell struck me on the hand and drew
a little blood. We both congratulated our-
selves on our lucky escape and got back to camp
with whole skins, none the worse for our close
shave.
160
CHAPTER XVI
THE COMING OF THE GERMAN SUBMARINES
F N our nightly journeys back from the
-*• trenches we were always guided through
the darkness to our camp by the brilliant glare
of the lights from the warships, hospital ships
and transports, which lay thickly clustered round
Cape Helles. It was a most beautiful sight,
like a veritable floating Venice, but it was not
practical and it was not war. It showed an
arrogance and utter contempt of the enemy
who was, at that very moment, stealthily stalking
them under the seas with the deadly submarine.
At all events, the submarines came, with the
result that the battleships Goliath and Triumph
were sunk with appalling swiftness and great
loss of life.
Then, and then only, did the Fleet awaken
to its danger ; the battleships and cruisers
161 ii
The Coming of the German Submarines
vanished into the unknown, while the transports
disappeared in a night, and we felt, as it were,
marooned on this inhospitable Peninsula, from
which the Turks had removed every living
thing, save only a few dogs, which were found
to be so dangerous that they had to be shot at
sight.
It was, therefore, with feelings of great
pleasure that, as I rode down to W Beach on
the evening of the 26th May, I saw the stately
battleship, the Majestic, lying at anchor out
in the roadstead, a few cable lengths from W
Beach ; and as I looked my heart grew glad
within me, because there lay the ship in the
open sea, exposed to any attack, and I felt that
it would be impossible for the ship to lie thus
unless the German submarines which had sunk
the other battleships a few days previously
were either disposed of, or else some clever
new defence had been designed which made
the Majestic immune from the deadly torpedo.
It was a cheering thought, and it helped to
enhance the beauty of the wondrous panorama
which lay spread before my eyes.
Away to my left stood the quaint old ruined
162
The Coming of the German Submarines
walls and towers of Sedd-el-Bahr, thrown into
bold outline against the rippling waters of the
Dardanelles, while further on the eye was
caught by the green plains of Ilium, set in a
tangle of hills, on the picturesque Asiatic coast.
Ahead of me, to the south, glittered the soft
sea, with Cape Helles jutting into it, like a
rough brown hand thrust into a basin of shimmer-
ing quicksilver. Almost at my feet lay Lan-
cashire Landing, busy with its hundreds of men
and animals going to and fro, while away on my
right sparkled the Aegean, with the Isles of
Greece jutting out of it, like rugged giants
rising from their ocean lair. To crown all,
the sun was going down in a perfect blaze of
colour, tipping the crests of Imbros and
Samothrace with a glint of gold, as it sank
behind them into the sea. I have seen sunsets
in many parts of the world, but never have I
seen anything to equal the glorious lights and
shades which at sundown are painted on the
Aegean sky. If I were an artist, my ambition
would be to go (especially in the lovely autumn
days) on a pilgrimage to these shores and humbly
try to put on my canvas the perfectly gorgeous
163 n*
The Coming of the German Submarines
but harmoniously blended rose, pink, scarlet, red-
yellow, purple, green, amber and blue — a perfect
intoxication of glorious colours which the
imagination would be unable to grasp, unless
they were absolutely thrown on the sky before
one's own eyes. The magnificence of the sunsets
seen from Gallipoli were the sum of what an
ordinary mortal could conceive as a fitting
setting for the splendour of God's Throne.
So it is to be hoped that the officers and crew
of the Majestic, which was moored so peace-
fully amid such heavenly surroundings, took
a soul-satisfying view of the glory around them,
because, alas, for many of the poor fellows it
was the last sunset that would ever gladden
their eyes, for on the morning of the 27th
the ship was marked down by a German sub-
marine and sent to its doom within^four minutes
of being struck.
I was attending to some routine work in my
camp when I heard the terrific explosion and
looking up, saw a volume of smoke ascending to
the heavens from W Beach. I jumped on my
horse, which was ready saddled close by, and,
galloped over to hear what had happened.
164
The Coming of the German Submarines
When I topped the rise, all of the Majestic that
I could see was a couple of dozen feet of its
copper keel which projected above the water,
and which still remains thus — a mute witness
to the fact that " someone had blundered."
Regrettable incidents like these should be
unknown in a Navy renowned for the good
practical commonsense and thoroughness of its
captains.
165
CHAPTER XVII
TRENCH WARFARE IN GALLIPOLI
" T"^ROM all forms of trench warfare, pre-
serve us, O Lord ! " should be the
humble prayer of every soldier, for it is about
the most unpleasant, tiresome, humdrum, dis-
agreeable, dangerous, death-without-glory kind
of warfare which the evil genius of man could
devise. As, however, it has come to stay, it may
perhaps be of interest to describe what it was
like in Gallipoli.
When after the first battles the Turks refused
any longer to meet us in the open, and took to
the trenches which they had, with great energy,
dug right across the Peninsula, it became neces-
sary for us to adopt the same mole-like tactics,
and our advance was brought practically to a
standstill. Instead of going ahead a couple of
miles in a day's fight, it now became a question
166
Trench Warfare in Gallipoli
of taking one trench at a time, and often we did
not gain as much as that, even after the most
strenuous battles.
Long lines of trenches, from three to six or
more feet deep, and three or four feet wide,
were dug in zig-zags right across the Peninsula,
more or less parallel to the Turkish lines, and
behind these were similar support and reserve
trenches ; at the back of these again were second
and third line defence trenches ; while still
further were the so-called rest trenches, but in
Gallipoli these were just as dangerous as the front
trenches, owing to the confined space in which
the army was cooped up, and also owing to the
configuration of the ground, which exposed them
to fire from Achi Baba as well as from the guns
in Asia. Some of our trenches were so deep that
hundreds of scaling ladders were always kept
in readiness to enable the men to swarm out
quickly when an assault was to be made. Long
lines of communication trenches ran up and down
and to and fro, connecting the various lines of
trenches, and many of these were dug deep
enough and wide enough to give ample cover for
mules and horses. Various little back alleys were
167
Trench Warfare in Gallipoli
also dug in different directions, so that the whole
face of the country was transformed into a
veritable rabbit warren. These communication
trenches were necessary so that reliefs, reinforce-
ments, munitions, food and water could be taken
up in safety to the firing line.
Where the ground was very hard and deep
trenches could not be dug, the necessary cover
was given by building parapets made of sandbags,
little canvas bags about two feet long and ten
inches across, which could easily be carried by
one man when rilled with sand or clay. These
sandbags should be of different colours, because
otherwise when one is taken out to make a loop-
hole the blank space is seen at once and the
enemy's fire is concentrated on it. In Gallipoli
our sandbags were all of the same colour — drab
coloured canvas.
When an attack was made and an enemy's
trench was captured, thousands of these sandbags
were carried forward, and by piling them up a new
protective trench was rapidly constructed, for, of
course, the original Turkish trench was always
battered to pieces (or should have been) by high
explosive shells before the attack was launched.
168
Trench Warfare in Gallipoli
Another great use of the sandbag was to erect
a barrier across an enemy communication trench,
otherwise, of course, he could pour his troops
down the communication alley and perhaps effect
a surprise. It was exceedingly odd to see our
sentry on one side of such a barrier and the
Turkish sentry on the other side, apparently
quite friendly in the intervals of bombing each
other !
One day a man of the Inniskilling Fusiliers
played a trick on the Turkish sentry. Finding
life rather monotonous, and being somewhat fed
up with bully beef, he bored a hole in his tin,
stuck a cartridge into it, and hurled the novel
projectile over the sandbag barrier among the
Turks, who could be heard flying for their lives
away from it along the trench, evidently thinking
it was some new form of diabolical bomb we had
invented. Then one man, a little bolder than
the rest, could be heard cautiously stalking it ;
he even threw stones at it, and when these failed
to cause an explosion, he plucked up enough
courage to hook it towards him with his fixed
bayonet. It was apparently sent off for investi-
gation to some German professor in the rear,
169
Trench Warfare in Gallipoli
for some few hours later the Turkish sentry
shouted out loudly over the parapet : " Bully
beef, bully beef ; throw us more ! " and this
little incident led to many friendly exchanges
of bully or cigarettes.
Life in the trenches when no " strafe " was on
was very monotonous — dull, weary watching and
waiting, with dust blowing into one's eyes and
mouth and nose all the time, and flies everywhere.
While in the trenches food had to be snatched
when it was possible to get it. It was cooked
some considerable distance to the rear and was
then carried up to the trenches in great pots and
there distributed, and in Gallipoli, of course,
that meant dividing it between men and flies —
the latter getting the lion's share during the
months of June, July and August.
Of course, work was always going on. The
trenches had to be carefully drained and sloped
so as to allow the rainfall to flow off. If this
were not properly done they would inevitably
be flooded out in the rains, and life in them would
be impossible. Even when every care was taken
they sometimes became raging torrents. Much
ground was made good by digging out from the
170
Trench Warfare in Gallipoli
trenches towards the Turkish lines and forming
a fresh line of trenches closer to the enemy and
in a better position.
Every yard in front of the trenches was guarded
by barbed wire, sometimes left unrolled on the
ground, where it naturally goes into coils and
traps for the unwary, and sometimes interlaced
on stakes, like a regular wire fencing, doubled
many times. It was very dangerous work putting
up this form of defence, and it was generally done
at night, but even then the enemy could see our
men by the light of the brilliant flares which were
constantly sent up, for these remained in the air
for several seconds, making everything as bright
as day. The only chance of escape then was to
lie flat down and remain perfectly still until the
flare went out.
Then there was the constant arduous and
dangerous labour of sapping, i.e., tunnelling under-
ground from our trenches underneath the
Turkish trenches, making a huge cavity there,
filling it with explosives and blowing the trench
and such Turks as were in it sky-high. This was
generally done when an attack was made, so as
to throw the enemy into greater confusion.
171
Trench Warfare in Gallipoli
At night it was usual to man the front trenches
fairly strongly, one third of the force always
being awake and on the look-out for the
enemy.
Of course, it was almost certain death for a
man to stand up and show his head and shoulders
above the parapet line, so the watch on the
enemy was kept by men with periscopes, who
could see every move in perfect safety. Even
the periscopes were often shattered to pieces
by the bullets of the Turks, which shows that
some of them were good marksmen.
Telephone wires were laid everywhere in the
trenches, and telephone operators and observing
officers were scattered up and down the line.
On the first sign of an enemy attack these officers
communicated with their Batteries in the rear,
and within two seconds a curtain of fire was
rained on the advancing foe, which, in most
cases, he found it quite impossible to get through.
If he ever succeeded, however, the infantry were
by this time lining the parapets, ready to mow
down the enemy with rifle and machine-gun fire,
so the only marvel is that any of the assaulting
force ever got through — a very rare occurrence —
172
Trench Warfare in Gallipoli
and those that did pierce the line never again got
back to their own trenches.
One day I went up to visit Lieutenant
Davidson, who was Forward Observing Officer,
and he, having occasion to fire a gun, telephoned
to the Battery ; it was a distinctly weird
feeling to hear the scream of the shell from
the guns two miles back flying close over our
heads into the Turkish trenches in front of us,
almost before Davidson had ceased speaking ! At
that same observation post, on the previous day,
another R.H.A. officer, Lieutenant Perceval, who
also was a member of our little mess, had a very
narrow escape. A Turkish shell came through,
slightly bruised his shoulder and killed his
Bombardier, who was, at the moment, holding
the telephone.
In the side of the trench next the enemy little
niches were excavated where men could lie and
sit fairly well sheltered from wind and rain.
These recesses were often used by the Turks as
burial places for their dead. I remember on one
occasion I was walking along a piece of the
line which we had just taken from the Turks
when a shell exploded close to the trench. The
173
Trench Warfare in Gallipoli
concussion shook away some loose earth and out
from the side of the trench popped a dead hand
and arm ! — just as if a policeman had put out his
hand to stop the traffic. The dead Turk seemed
to try, even in death, to bar the way to an enemy's
approach.
A very disagreeable feature of trench life is the
unpleasant odour of the dead, which penetrates
everywhere, for, of course, when an attack is
made by one side or the other hundreds may be
killed close to the trenches, and as a rule it is
impossible either to rescue the wounded or to
bury the dead, because the enemy would in-
evitably shoot down anyone attempting such a
task.
One of the very worst trials of trench warfare
is to see the dead body of a comrade lying out in
the open, gradually fading away before one's
eyes, a mummied hand still clutching the rifle,
the helmet a little way off, looking ever so weird
in its gruesome surroundings.
While in the trenches one is, of course, subject
at all times to shells, rifle fire, mine explosions,
poison gas, bombs, liquid fire, and other dia-
bolical inventions. The Turks, however, did not
174
Trench Warfare in Gallipoli
use either poison gas or liquid fire, and, of course,
neither did the British.
Worst trial of all is the trench mortar ! This
venomous weapon sends a bomb weighing a
hundred pounds or more of the most deadly high
explosive plumb into the midst of a trench with
marvellous accuracy at any range up to four
hundred yards. The vicious thing can be seen
soaring high up into the air, until it reaches a
point directly overhead, then it hovers for a
moment, like a hawk over its prey, and finally
swoops down, pulverizing everybody and every-
thing near which it explodes.
From my own observation of trench warfare
I would say unhesitatingly that no assault should
be launched against the enemy until his trenches
had been thoroughly pounded to pieces by high
explosive, his men demoralized by a constant
stream of shells, and all wire entanglements or
other barriers swept out of the way of the ad-
vance. Then, and then only, should the infantry
attack be launched, but before doing so the
supports and reserves should be brought up as
close as possible to the firing line, because, in these
days especially, the speed with which an assault
175
Trench Warfare in Gallipoli
can be reinforced makes all the difference between
victory and defeat.
During the assault the guns should be con-
stantly playing on the reserve trenches of the
enemy, the counter batteries (i.e., those batteries
told off to dominate enemy batteries) firing as
fast as they possibly can to keep down enemy
shrapnel fire and generally supporting the attack
in every possible way. Special groups should
always be told off (not single individuals) with
orders to signal back to the batteries the posi-
tion which the front line has reached in the
assault; otherwise — and I have seen it happen
more than once — our own guns will be found
playing on our own men.
It is unwise to trust to telephone wires for
passing signals back to the batteries, for they
are often cut by shells or broken by passing troops.
Aeroplanes fitted with wireless are most useful.
Another good plan is to fasten some very con-
spicuous object, such as a large tin disc, to the backs
of the men, so that the gunners would always be
able to tell at whom they were firing. The disc
should be tied so that the men could switch it
round to the front if they were forced to retire.
176
Trench Warfare in Gallipoli
This plan was adopted in Gallipoli towards the
end of July with excellent results, for our men
could always be made out by the flashing of
the tin, which, of course, the enemy could
not see.
Bombs should always be carried with the
assaulting columns, and the bomb throwers
should not be hampered by a rifle, but should
only be armed with revolver and bayonet, for
when their stock of bombs is expended there
are always plenty of rifles lying around belonging
to the dead and badly wounded.
When all these arrangements have been com-
pleted, and a combined attack is made with shells,
machine-guns, rifle fire, trench mortars, poison
gas, liquid fire, etc., the attack is almost certain
to succeed at some point or other, and once the
defender's line is broken his whole line is threat-
ened, and if the reserves are brought up and
poured quickly enough into the breach, so as to
get a wedge in between the enemy's forces, his
army can then be smashed up in detail and a
great victory won.
Cavalry can then burst through and once
more come into their own by playing havoc
177 12
Trench Warfare in Gallipoli
with the enemy's lines of communication.
Of course, in Gallipoli we had no Cavalry ; at
least, such mounted men as we had came as
Infantry without horses ! and I must say that
they fought well, those yeomen from Bucks and
Kent — the only pity is that we did not have
more of them. When we did make a breach
in the enemy's line, we never had enough troops
to push through and so ensure a crushing victory.
178
CHAPTER XVIII
~^HE losses which we suffered in every attack
on the Turkish trenches were very severe,
and it was painful to see our men frittered away
time after time in these hopeless assaults on
what had now become an impregnable position
— impregnable at all events to such forces as
we could launch to the attack. Our casualties
at the original landing had reduced the 29th
Division to a mere skeleton. Many of the
Battalions were not a company strong and had
scarcely any officers left, and it was found
necessary to join the remnants of two or three
together to make one rather weak Battalion.
The Dublins and Munsters were thus linked
up together and were officially known as the
" Dubsters."
Reinforcements only came in by driblets, and
179 12*
Guns and Staff
as they came they were eaten up in futile attacks
on the strong trenches which the Turks had
meanwhile, with great energy, dug right across
the Peninsula.
We were never really strong enough to under-
take a serious offensive, and our guns never
had ammunition enough to prepare the way
properly by a devastating bombardment. Half
an hour or an hour was usually about all we
were able to do in the way of knocking the
Turkish trenches about with high explosive,
whereas these same trenches needed a steady
rain of shells for several days to crumple them
up and destroy the scores of machine-guns which
bristled everywhere. Trench warfare seemed
to have taken us completely by surprise ; we
were without trench mortars, but luckily were
able to borrow some from the French ; neither
had we any bombs or hand grenades, except
such as we could manufacture locally out of
jam tins !
No Battery Commander was allowed to fire
a single round unless he had first obtained per-
mission from his Brigadier, and even when a
couple of Battalions of Turkish troops well
180
Guns and Staff
within range could be observed marching in
column, the Brigadier was compelled to limit
the battery to two rounds only, for to such
dire straits were we reduced owing to lack of
ammunition !
Even with the slight support given by the
guns I have seen our gallant fellows time after
time leap out of their trenches and, in an
irresistible onslaught with the bayonet, sweep
over trench upon trench full of Turkish soldiers.
Nowhere could the enemy stand up to our men
in the open, as was proved over and over again
in the early days of the fight before they took
to trench warfare. If only we had had enough
ammunition and one more Division, equal to
the 29th, we would have retrieved the initial
mistake of landing at Helles, and have swept
the Turks over Achi Baba from their posi-
tions round the Narrows, and Constantinople
itself would have been in our grip within a
month.
But, alas ! we hadn't the ammunition and
we hadn't the men ; and when the Turks took
to mole tactics, and protected their front with
those two inventions of the Evil One — barbed
181
Guns and Staff
wire and machine-guns — our case, considering
the means at our disposal, was a hopeless one.
During a fierce battle which took place in
June I was standing close to one of our batteries
in position, just south of the Pink Farm, and
what a contrast it was to see these guns in
action after having repeatedly watched the
French .755 ! Here was no smooth barrel-
recoil, but a clumsy spade stuck in the ground
to prevent the piece from kicking. Whenever
the gun was fired it jumped back like a bucking
broncho, necessitating the relaying of the gun
after each shot.
We have better guns than that now, of course,
but with all our mechanical superiority and
mechanical resources we should years ago have
had a gun equal, or superior, to the French .75.
Of course there is no use in having a quick-
firing gun if you cannot have mountains of
ammunition alongside of it, and this point should
never be lost sight of by the Staff, whose duty
it is to look after such matters.
As we were very short of high explosive shells
the Battery was not doing a great deal of firing,
and in the lull a Staff Officer rode up and told
182
Guns and Staff
the Battery Commander to lay his guns on to
some Turks whom he pointed out, saying they
were threatening our line.
Now I had been watching this part of the
battlefield most carefully through my glasses,
and I had seen our own men advance and go
into the position which the Staff Officer said
was held by the Turks. I overheard his in-
structions to the gunner officer, so I called out :
" Those are our men, not Turks ! " However,
in spite of my warning, a couple of rounds were
loosed off and they were only too well placed,
for they exploded among our unfortunate troops,
doing, no doubt, a considerable amount of
damage, because, in a moment, a wrathful tele-
phone message came to the Battery Commander
telling him to cease fire instantly, on which the
discreet Staff Officer made a hurried departure.
While we had some excellent Staff Officers,
there were others not exactly noted for their
brilliancy, and no doubt the Turks saw that
some of our " regrettable incidents " were due
to bad Staff work, and the following story was
Touched for by the Peninsula wag.
It had been noted with some surprise that,
183
Guns and Staff
though the Turkish sniper exacted his toll from
all other ranks, the Staff appeared to be immune.
At last the mystery was solved when one of
these sharpshooters was captured, for on being
asked how it was that the Staff always escaped,
he replied : " Oh, well, you see, I get five shillings
for every private I shoot, ten shillings for every
sergeant, a pound for every officer, but if I were
to shoot a Staff Officer I would be shot myself ! "
I need hardly say that these merry quips
made at the expense of the Staff by our frolic-
some wits should be taken with a grain of salt.
So far as my own experience goes, the Staff
Officers of the 29th Division, and, later, of the
8th Army Corps, were all that could be desired,
and at them no such gibe could be levelled.
All those with whom I came in contact were
very much all there at their respective jobs.
There is no doubt, however, that there is
some reason for the general lack of confidence
in the Staff. Responsible positions are un-
fortunately too often given to most unsuitable
men with regrettable results.
Glaring instances of jobbery and favouritism
are so universally known that it is unnecessary
184
Guns and Staff
to quote examples. Puck must be having the
time of his life. If only our responsible
administrators would for the future abjure
nepotism (vain wish !) and give proved talent a
chance, we should, I am convinced, have some-
thing better to show than " strategic retreats "
and " brilliant evacuations."
I am reminded of an incident that occurred
when I was staying with Colonel Roosevelt
during the time he was President of the United
States. An influential and well-known Senator
came into the room while I was there, and urged
on the President the claims of a protege of
his to a post as Mining Inspector. President
Roosevelt's reply impressed me very much :
" Well, Senator, if your man is the best Mining
Engineer that can be found in the United
States he shall get the job, but not otherwise ;
he will have the lives of men in his hands."
Mark this, ye jobbites of England !
185
CHAPTER XIX
VISITS TO THE TRENCHES
"TOURING one of the hot June days Gye
••— ^ and I paid a visit to Colonel Bruce and
his Gurkhas, who were holding the left of the
line down by the Aegean Sea.
The Gurkhas have done some splendid work
in the Peninsula. They are in their element
when out at night doing reconnoitring work.
Bruce told me of the valuable report brought
in by one of his N.C.O.'s, on the strength of
which he took his men up the side of a cliff
and was able to surprise and drive the Turks
out of a very strong position which it was of
prime importance we should hold. Other
troops had several times attempted this feat,
but failed because they attacked in the open,
while the Gurkhas succeeded owing to good
reconnoitring work.
186
Visits to the Trenches
The night previous to our visit the Turks
had made a most determined attack on the
Gurkhas, and the Gurkhas asked for no better
sport. Flares, shot up by our officers, showed
the Turks advancing in regular parade formation
in line of columns. As soon as the Turks saw
that they had been observed, they charged,
yelling their war cry : " Allah, Allah ! " The
Gurkhas waited patiently, lining the trenches
as thickly as they could stand. They allowed
the Turks to approach within about fifty yards
of them and then opened such a hurricane of
rifle and machine-gun fire that the Turks were
absolutely crumpled up in ranks as they stood.
The fury of the Gurkhas was now thoroughly
aroused and, the reserves having been brought
up, the whole brigade made such an onslaught
that practically not a single Turk out of that huge
attacking force ever got back to his own trench.
When Rolo and I viewed the battlefield
within a few hours of the fight, there were still
some wounded to be seen in the intervening
groun.fl between the two forces, while in regular
battle array lay line upon line of Turkish dead,
silent witnesses to the terribly accurate fire
187
Visits to the Trenches
poured into them by the Curias. They are
brave fellows, those Turks, ana. it was a sad
sight to see so many gallant meri laid low.
No doubt in revenge for the; defeat they had
suffered the previous night, ^the Turks were
bombarding the Gurkha lines vigorously, and
while I was there they landed a big " Black
Maria " shell underneath a little fellow who
was squatting on his heels outside his dug-out.
It was an extraordinary sight to see him shoot
down the hill in this position and land some
forty feet away in a clump of bushes^ from which
he emerged not much the worse for his in-
voluntary flight.
The Gurkhas, in one of their previous attacks
on the heights occupied by.jethe Turks, were
held up by some barbed wire and had to
retire. A private soldier, however, chose to
remain behind, ensconced under $pr scanty
protection of a coup^pof knapsacks, which
he pulled together from those strewn round,
thinking that he could hold his own until
another assault was delivered by his comrades,
when he wof|jjr join them. No comrades
came, however, so he found himself unable to
188
Visits to the Trenches
move without being observed. He therefore
pretended to be dead and lay absolutely still
for hours, not even daring to move his head,
except when his neck got very stiff, and then
only by pushing his hat up a fraction of an
inch, so that he might slowly twist his head
inside it without showing any movement. At
last he could stand the strain no longer, so he
leaped up, raced in a zigzag to his own trenches
amid a hail of bullets, and, carefully avoiding a
low spot where the Turks had concentrated their
fire, expecting him to go in that way, he leaped
over the highest part of the parapet and escaped
scot-free.
I saw this "little fellow a few hours after his
exploit and he looked as though he had thoroughly
enjoyed the adventure.
A few days after the big Turkish assault I
was again on my way to this part of the line,
when I happened to meet General de Lisle, and,
on mentioning that I was going to see Colonel
Bruce, he told me I would not find him, for he
had been wounded on the previous night by a
bomb, while gallantly leading his men.
I had several friends in the Inniskilling
189
Visits to the Trenches
Fusiliers and frequently I came across them in
my journeys to and from the Gurkha lines.
As a rule, they held the trenches to the right of
the little brown men from Nepaul.
I always made a point, when I was anywhere
near, of looking up Captain Gordon Tillie. He
was now practically the only officer left of the
Inniskillings who had taken part in the original
landing and had, so far, escaped scot-free. I
was hopeful that his luck would see him through,
because he had only been married a few days
before he left England for the front, and I knew
his wife very well, and had promised her to look
him up whenever I had an opportunity.
Just before the 29th Division went to Suvla,
Gye and I paid him a visit, while he was holding
the front trenches, and, sad to say, this was the
last occasion on which I ever saw Gordon Tillie.
He took us along that portion of the trench
for which his company was responsible, and
showed us the various points of interest in the
Turkish line, which, at this particular place,
was sometimes parallel, and sometimes almost
at right angles to our trenches, and in places
only a dozen yards distant. When I was leaving
190
Visits to the Trenches
him he cautioned me to be careful of a
certain part of the trench we should have to
pass through, as he said it was exposed to the
Turkish guns and they often gave it a strafing.
My parting remark to him was : " Take care
they don't ' strafe ' you."
Of course, shells were dropping here and
there all the time from the Turkish guns, and
they were paying some attention to the piece
of dangerous trench which Gye and I were
bound to go through, so, saying to him : " Let's
make a bolt for it," we started off at our best
pace, but before we got through we had to
lie down in the bottom of the trench to escape
a couple of shells which burst all round us
and knocked to pieces the sandbag parapet
protecting our heads.
Gordon Tillie's friendly warning may have
saved our lives, and it is a nice thought, for,
soon afterwards, the 29th Division was sent
to Suvla, and there Captain Tillie was killed
while gallantly leading his company up the
slopes of Sari Bair — a brave soldier, as Sir Ian
Hamilton testifies in his Suvla Bay Despatch.
I often made an expedition to visit a friend,
191
Visits to the Trenches
only to find, when I got there, that he had
perhaps been killed the day before, or else had
been sent off to hospital badly wounded, and
it was sad to see how one's friends gradually-
got thinned off. Many of them lay buried
all round. One would suddenly be startled by
coming across a freshly-dug grave in some
sheltered little nook by the wayside and learn
for the first time, from the rude cross erected
over it, that one's friend lay there. But war
is war, and as a shell or bullet may come at
any moment and bring sudden death with it
to one's self, one gets used to the idea, and
somehow it does not seem so dreadful. Many
of us often escaped by the merest chance. In
my own case the turning aside to pluck a flower,
or straying a little from the path to get a better
view of a sunset, was the chance that prevented
Death from finding me, because more than
once I have seen a shell explode and excavate
a huge hole on the exact spot where, had I not
turned aside, I would undoubtedly have been
standing. Yes, indeed, in those days one often
heard, sounding softly in one's ears, the faint
rustle of the wings of the Angel of Death.
192
Visits to the Trenches
I do not know whether the Turks had any
particular spite against my Zionists, but they
certainly gave us more than our fair share of
shells. One afternoon they began a bombard-
ment and plumped a shell into a bank on which
sat a Zion man, Private Scorobogaty. The
explosion sent him some feet into the air, but,
beyond the bruise and shock, he suffered no
damage. The next shell dropped plump in
the middle of our little supply of stores, within
six feet of the door of our dug-out, and sent
everything flying through space. A third shot
plunged into the roots of a tree which stood
close to our lines, by which the trumpeter of
L Battery, R.H.A., was standing. He heard
the shell coming, and, without any particular
reason, but luckily for him, he made a dive to
the right instead of to the left, and so escaped
for the moment. Next afternoon at tea-time
another shell came, cut the same tree clean in
two, wounding the trumpeter and two other
men of L Battery who were having their tea
in its shade.
193 13
CHAPTER XX
FLIES, DUST AND BATTLE
T ULY was a scorching month, and to add
j to the discomfort of heat there was
a plague of flies ; flies, flies, flies every-
where, and I have no doubt that they were
responsible for the serious epidemics which
broke out among the troops. Doubtless it was
the self-same pestilence which Homer tells us
attacked the Grecian Army camped round Troy,
and which they attributed to the anger of
Apollo, though none of our mules suffered as
did those of the Greeks.
These flies were disgusting, horrible pests,
for they would come straight from the rotting
corpses of the Turks, which lay in unburied
hundreds in front of our trenches, and blacken
every scrap of food on which they could obtain
a foothold. The only way to get a clean bite
194
Flies, Dust and Battle
into one's mouth, without taking the flies with
it, was to blow vigorously all the time until
the lips had actually closed on the morsel, and
even then these pests would hover round,
waiting for a chance opening to dart in and
chase it down.
The dust, too, in these days was very trying,
for the whole peninsula was now one vast dust-
heap, which the slightest wind would swirl
about in blinding, choking clouds. I noticed
that on several occasions our men had to do
battle with this dust storm blowing directly
in their eyes, so that it was impossible to see
anything in front of them, while the Turks,
with their backs to it, could see our men coming
along plainly enough and could slate them at
their leisure. I always found, as was to be
expected, that when we foolishly attacked on
such days as these we effected nothing beyond
getting ourselves killed. The Turks must have
marvelled at our blind folly. I well remember
that one of our most successful battles was
fought on a day when the wind carried the dust
into the faces of the Turks ; towards the close
of this fight I saw a couple of battalions go
195 13*
Flies, Dust and Battle
right through and over all the Turkish trenches
within sight, and then get engulfed in a great
ravine on the very slope of Achi Baba itself,
where they were hidden from view, and then I
saw thousands of Turks stream down through
communication trenches on each side of our
men, filling the trenches in their rear, as could
be plainly seen by the bristling bayonets which
showed above the parapets.
I felt that these two battalions were lost,
as indeed they were for two or three days, but
somehow or other, after some extraordinary
hide-and-seek experiences among the Turkish
trenches, they fought their way back again,
clearing the Turks out of their path in hand-
to-hand fighting as they hacked their way
back to our lines.
A friend of mine, Captain Braham of the
6th Manchesters, had a narrow escape on one
occasion when he made an attempt to lead
his men in an assault. Being short of ammuni-
tion for the guns the Turkish trenches had not
been properly bombarded ; Turkish machine-
guns and riflemen were still in position, ready
to mow our men down the moment they leaped
196
Flies, Dust and Battle
from their trenches. This was the fate which
overtook the 6th Manchesters ; they were
practically cut to pieces before they had
advanced more than a dozen yards from their
lines, and the few survivors thought it wiser
to get back to cover as quickly as possible.
Captain Braham, however, tried to rally them
out of the trench again, and at that moment,
while standing on the parapet, a bullet struck
his knapsack and cut through the buckle, a box
of chocolate and a tin-opener. The tin-opener
diverted the bullet out through the bottom of
the haversack by his heels, but the impact of it
was so great that it knocked him off the parapet
into the trench, as if he had been struck with
a sledge hammer. He told me afterwards that
he did not know at the time what had knocked
him over, and it was not until he had removed
his haversack that the mystery was explained.
During one of these dog days Rolo and I
went as far forward as it was possible to go, so
that we might get a close view of a battle which
was to begin at n a.m. on the I2th of July.
Punctually to the minute our guns crashed
out along the line and pounded away steadily
197
Flies, Dust and Battle
for an hour. Then we watched the attack,
and what impressed me in this battle, as it did
also in others, was the inadequate force with
which we attempted to take the offensive.
A line of our men would dash forward, take
two or three Turkish trenches, losing perhaps
half its effective strength in so doing, and then
find itself too weak to do more than hold on,
and very often they could not even do that.
There seemed to be no regular system of sending
line after line at intervals into the fight. I
know that this was arranged for in orders, but
it did not always come off, and the men who
had, with such gallantry and at such a cost,
taken the trenches, would be forced out of
them in a counter-attack by overwhelming
numbers of Turks, and, in getting back to their
own lines, would again lose heavily.
To obtain a view of the battlefield from a
different point, we made our way along a com-
munication trench, and here our interest in
the fight in the front was abruptly switched off
and centred on ourselves, for the Turks had
spotted a Battalion of Lancashire Fusiliers
coming along to reinforce the firing line, and
Flies, Dust and Battle
they turned a most deadly and accurate fire
upon us from the Turkish guns. Shells hopped
from the parapets or broke them in all round
us, crashed over our heads, and even plumped
right into the trench itself, sending men flying
in all directions.
The Lancashire Fusiliers had, therefore, to
halt and take cover under the lee of the parapet,
and during this time one of the men asked
Claude Rolo what his job was in these parts,
for, being in our shirt-sleeves, and pretty grimy
with dust and with climbing about the trenches,
he could not make out who or what we were.
When Rolo replied : " Oh, I've only come
to see the show," " Oh, Hell ! " said the
Lancashire man, " you must be mad to come
to a show like this on your own."
I felt very sorry for the poor lads when they
finally marched off. The day was hot enough
to make one feel that the only way to keep
cool was to sit in one's bones under the shade
of a tree, and yet here were these Lancashire
men loaded down with the whole weight of
their packs — food, ammunition, blanket, belts,
bayonet and rifle — marching on through this
199
Flies, Dust and Battle
infernal heat to a bloody combat, where they
would have to put forth all their efforts in
getting rapidly across the fire-swept ground,
plunge into and out of deep trenches, and, in
addition, grapple hand to hand with no mean foe.
Some things are more than human nature
can stand. You cannot overload the soldier,
and then expect him to pull his full weight in
battle with the broiling sun burning out his
throat.
The Lancashire lads were soon in the thick
of the fight, and a great many never again needed
the shelter of a friendly trench.
We lost a few prisoners to the Turks in this
battle owing to exhaustion, and it is a comfort
to know that our gallant enemies treat such men
of ours as fall into their hands with kindness.
I never heard anything but praise for the Turk
and the way he played the game. I only knew
of one case of a prisoner being mutilated, and
this may have been the work of a German, for
the victim was a Sikh, and died before any
evidence could be taken. The Turk is a clean
^ighter, and more than once they have pointed
out to us that they would be glad if we would
200
Flies, Dust and Battle
move a hospital ship a little further from the
transports, for they feared that in firing at the
latter they might hit the hospital, and, so far
as the records go, this is more than would have
been done by the Germans.
Among the prisoners taken in one of these
battles were some German sailors from the
Goeben, who had been working the machine-
guns. When taken they had no more ammuni-
tion left, their officer and many others had
been killed, and their position was quite hopeless,
so they gladly surrendered. They looked crest-
fallen and sullen when I saw them as prisoners
on their way to the beach.
During these hot July days the Turkish
shells would often set fire to the dried-up gorse
and bracken near our lines, and, as the wind
usually came from the north, I have seen a
raging line of fire, hundreds of yards long, with
flames forty feet high, roaring and crackling
down to our trenches.
Our men, however, had taken the precaution
of cutting the gorse down in front, so that the
fire never actually overwhelmed our lines.
The Turks did not lack initiative ; their
201
Flies, Dust and Battle
snipers gave us a considerable amount of
trouble all the time we were on the Peninsula.
Two of these men obtained some celebrity by
their daring and originality. They actually
concealed themselves between some of our guns,
and before they were hunted down and shot
they had killed and wounded several of our
officers and men. They were painted green
all over, face, hands, clothes, and even their
rifles, while little green bushes, similar to the
gorse around, were tied to their heads.
Their sense of humour showed itself in some
rather quaint ways. Once, when a bomb was
thrown over a barricade by a French soldier,
hitting a Turk on the head without exploding,
the latter shouted back, " Assassin, assassin ! "
On another occasion, on the completion of one
of the heaviest bombardments to which we had
subjected their trenches — a perfect storm of
shells from field guns, siege guns, howitzers
and battleships — as soon as the firing ceased
and the dust cleared away, a huge placard was
slowly raised from the front trench, on which
was printed in large letters, " No Casualties."
202
, CHAPTER XXI
WORK OF THE ZION MULE CORPS
"TOURING all these battles in May, June and
July, the Zion men and mules were kept
steadily at work, and wherever they went it
was gratifying to know that they performed
their duties satisfactorily. Sometimes little
parties of them would be attached to different
battalions, and when their tour of a week or
ten days' duty was over they would invariably
bring back a letter from the Transport Officer
to say how well the men had worked, and how
well they had behaved when under fire. I
have dozens of such letters, which testify to their
good work and how well they got on with their
British comrades, with whom they were great
favourites ; the party commanded by Corporal
Nehemiah Yahuda was always in great request,
as this bright, cheery young N.C.O. had a happy
203
Work of the Zion Mule Corps
knack of inspiring his men with his own zeal
for work and devotion to duty, regardless of all
danger.
Sometimes while away from Headquarters on
these detached duties a man would get killed.
His comrades always brought the body back
to camp and then the whole Corps attended the
funeral, which was a very solemn ceremony.
Over the grave of each hero whom we buried in
Gallipoli was erected a little memorial, the
Shield of David, with his name and the date
of his death engraved underneath. Nothing
brought the old days of the Bible back more
vividly to my mind than to see, when one of
my Zion men was wounded, how his friends
would literally fall on his neck, weep, and
embrace him most tenderly. The outward ex-
pression of such emotion as I have witnessed
is of course impossible for us Westerners, but
I doubt if our feelings are not harrowed all the
more by the rigid restraint which we perforce
place on them.
The gallant Captain Trumpledor differed
from his compatriots in this respect, and
I never once saw him give way to any of these
204
Work of the Zion Mule Corps
emotions. On the contrary, he would remark
to me over the body of a badly wounded
Zionist : " Ken, ken ! (Hebrew for " Yes,
yes ! ") A la guerre comme a la guerre ! "
And I must say that he himself bore a bullet
wound through his shoulder with the greatest
fortitude, carrying out his duties as if nothing
had happened and absolutely refusing to go
into hospital. I am glad to say he made a
speedy and good recovery.
A couple of my Zionists were not quite so
brave as the Captain, for I observed them one
day, when we were being somewhat heavily
shelled, making tracks for the beach for all
they were worth.
Their flight reminded me of a story which
I had heard, of an Irish soldier at the Battle
of the Boyne, who related to a friend how
his Captain, before leading them to the charge,
said : " Now, boys, strike for your King, your
country, and your home." " Some of the
fools," said the Irishman, " struck for their
King and country, but I struck for home ! "
I am glad to say that the valour shown by
some of my men made up for the lack of it
205
Work of the Zion Mule Corps
shown by others. No one could be a braver
or a better soldier than Nissel Rosenberg, who,
through shot and shell, led his mules with their
loads of ammunition right into the firing line,
when all others, both Jewish and British — for
both were there — made a strategic and hurried
movement to the rear. I was watching this
myself, and, as I considered it very plucky of him
to go forward with his much-needed loads of
ammunition, while men were being killed all
round him, I recommended him for the D.C.M.,
a distinction he well deserves. He escaped all
wounds that day, but a fortnight later, when
again on his way to the trenches, he was severely
wounded by a piece of shell ; I am glad to
say he made a good recovery and is still going
strong. In appreciation of his gallant services,
I promoted him to the rank of sergeant.
It must not be supposed that we only came
under fire on specific occasions. It broke upon
us at all times, night and day, without warning.
In these " strafes," as we used to call them,
many men and mules were killed and wounded.
During one such " strafe," I can even now
see Gye and myself running across a couple of
206
Work of the Zion Mule Corps
hundred yards of fire-swept ground to the
rescue of two stricken men, and I should not
like to say the number of times we both had to
throw ourselves down and grovel on the ground,
while shells plunged round us, making holes big
enough for our graves and covering us with
dirt and gravel. We luckily got through without
a scratch and helped to get the wounded men
removed, as fast as ever we could, out of danger.
Both were very badly injured and I never
expected to see either of them alive again ; one,
indeed, Corporal Frank Abraham, died soon
after we got him to the hospital ; the other,
who seemed even more severely wounded, with
two bullets through his back, and his thigh
smashed to pulp, I was surprised to find in a
fair way to recovery, when I visited my sick
and wounded men in hospital during a recruiting
trip to Alexandria. The poor fellow, when he
saw me, seized my hand and embarrassed me by
covering it with kisses, saying that but for my
lifting him out of that dangerous fire-zone he
would certainly have been killed. I was sur-
prised to see that the man remembered that
I had been there to help him, as he was in such
207
Work of the Zion Mule Corps
agony at the time that I did not think he would
have remembered or known what was going on
around him. I reminded him that he owed
quite as much gratitude to Lieutenant Gye as
to me, for we had both helped to get him away.
I must mention here, however, that, as a
rule, Gye would take on much greater risks
to rescue a mule than a man, for which on one
occasion he was highly commended by General
Hunter-Weston.
Many of the Zionists whom I had thought
somewhat lacking in courage showed themselves
fearless to a degree when under heavy fire, while
Captain Trumpledor actually revelled in it,
and the hotter it became the more he liked it,
and would remark : " Ah, it is now plus gai ! "
It must not be supposed that all the Zionists
were saints, or that I did not have my times of
trouble and difficulty with them, because some
would occasionally murmur and hanker after
the " flesh-pots of Egypt." They were, indeed,
true descendants of those forefathers of theirs
who wandered in the wilderness, and whom
Moses had so often to chide severely for their
stiff-neckedness. Now Moses, in his dealings
208
Work of the Zion Mule Corps
with his troublesome children, had a tremendous
pull over me, because, when my men grumbled
about lack of water, I could strike no rock and
make it gush forth for them, neither when the
meat and food were scarce could I call down
manna or quails from Heaven, nor was there
any black cloud to interpose and hide us from
the devastating fire of our enemy. Although
Moses had these Divine aids, yet his task in
shepherding over half a million of people through
a barren wilderness was truly gigantic and could
only be compared to mine as the ocean to a
bucket of water ; with that great example before
me I felt it was up to me not to fail in shepherd-
ing through our trials the little host confided
to my charge, so, like Father O'Flynn with his
flock, I kept my children in order by :
"Checkin' the crazy ones,
Coaxin' unaisy ones,
Liftin' the lazy ones on with the stick."
I found that the racial characteristics of the
Israelite made it necessary to hold him in with
a thread light as silk and yet strong as a steel
cable, and it required a tremendous amount of
209 14
Work of the Zion Mule Corps
tact and personal influence to weather the
various little storms which sometimes threatened
to wreck our family life.
There was great excitement amongst the
Zionists when I told them that the much-
coveted reward for bravery, the Distinguished
Conduct Medal, had arrived from England for
Corporal Groushkousky, and had been forwarded
to me by the Commander -in-Chief. The Corps
was paraded in the afternoon and marched to
the Headquarters Camp, where General Stop-
ford, the General Officer in Temporary Command
of the 8th Army Corps, inspected the men,
shook hands with all the officers and finally
had Corporal Groushkousky out to the front,
and, after congratulating him warmly on his
gallant action, pinned the medal on his breast.
210
CHAPTER XXII
THE AUSTRALIANS AND NEW ZEALANDERS
HTOWARDS the end of July, owing to the
numbers killed, wounded and in hospital,
the Corps was reduced to less than half its
strength, and as, at that time, we had no depot
in Egypt to send us recruits, it was obvious
that, in the course of another couple of months,
this interesting and useful unit would cease to
exist, if the present rate of casualties continued.
The reduced strength of the Corps having come
to the knowledge of Sir Ian Hamilton, I was
ordered to proceed to Imbros and report to
General Headquarters there. I had an inter-
view with the Commander-in-Chief, and the
result was that I was commissioned to go to
Alexandria, and, if possible, recruit two fresh
troops of Israelites in Egypt, and there establish
a Recruiting and Base Depot for the Corps.
211 14*
The Australians and New Zealanders
A considerable stir had been created through-
out the Jewish world when it became known
that there was, for the first time in British
history, a Jewish unit fighting side by side with
British soldiers ; and there is no doubt that
the sympathy of Jews for the Allies was con-
siderably fostered by the presence of this unit
fighting in their ranks.
In proof of this I received letters from Jews,
and, indeed, from Gentiles, too, from all parts
of the world, letters which showed a deep
interest in, and sympathy for, this Jewish
fighting unit.
Perhaps the most prominent Gentile from
whom I heard was Colonel Roosevelt. I only
wish I could publish his heartening letter, but
at least I may mention that he was anxious to
know if my men made good soldiers, because a
relative of his was in command of a battery of
artillery in one of the Southern States, and he
had reported to the Ex-President that, curiously
enough, part of it was entirely composed of
Jews, who were among the most efficient soldiers
in the whole battery.
During my interview with Sir Ian Hamilton,
212
The Australians and New Zealanders
I brought these facts to his knowledge, but I
found that he was already well informed of
the interest and sympathy which the Zion Mule
Corps had aroused among the neutral Jews of
the world, as he himself had received letters from
prominent Israelites in America, and, among
others, one from the editor of the New York
Jewish newspaper, The Day, asking if such a
unit really existed.
Sir Ian Hamilton's reply, which appeared
in The Day, is as follows :
" General Headquarters,
" Mediterranean Expeditionary Force.
" It may interest you to know that I
have here, fighting under my orders, a
purely Jewish unit. As far as I know,
this is the first time in the Christian era
that such a thing has happened.
" The men who compose it were cruelly
driven out of Jerusalem by the Turks,
and arrived in Egypt, with their families,
absolutely destitute and starving.
" A complete transport Corps was there
raised from them, for voluntary service
213
The Australians and New Zealanders
with me against the Turks, whom they
naturally detest.
" These troops were officially described
as the * Zion Mule Corps,' and the officers
and rank and file have shown great courage
in taking water, supplies and ammunition
up to the fighting line under heavy fire.
One of the private soldiers has been specially
recommended by me for gallantry and has
duly received from the King the Dis-
tinguished Conduct Medal."
It will therefore be seen that, in my endeavours
to keep the Corps alive, I had a powerful ally in
Sir Ian Hamilton.
I was the guest of the Headquarters Staff in
Imbros for a few days, so that I had an oppor-
tunity of studying its ways at close quarters.
There was certainly no slacking here. Work
seemed to go on day and night, and the food
and drink were almost spartan in their simplicity,
practically nothing but the rations which were
served out to the troops, officers and men alike.
I have heard some criticism levelled at the
General for being camped away from the Army,
214
The Australians and New Zealanders
on a secluded island, but, in my humble opinion,
it was by far the best position for the Head-
quarters Staff and the Commander-in-Chief,
because, owing to the unfortunate division of
the Mediterranean Expeditionary Force into
two parts, he was more in touch, from Imbros,
with Anzac and Helles than he could have
been in any other place.
Of course, had the Army been all together,
I think to be with it would be the right place
for the Commander-in-Chief. It may suit the
temperament of the Japanese soldier to have
his chief hidden miles away from the battle-
field, but I do not think that this plan fits in
with the temperament of the British soldier.
He likes to see his General, and he likes to know
that his General sees him, and realizes from
personal contact the nature of the task he is
asking his men to perform.
While I was at Imbros, I made an expedition
across the island over hill and dale to the opposite
shore, and it was curious to see the old-world
way in which the Greeks, who inhabit the island,
live in these modern, hustling days. There I
saw two women grinding at the mill, and the
215
The Australians and New Zealanders
oxen treading out the corn, just as they did
thousands of years ago throughout all the lands
of the East. I found the people hospitable and
kindly, ready to offer the stranger a cool draught
of water from a gushing spring (and this was
really delicious after Gallipoli), or a platter of
luscious mulberries, which were then in season.
But what, perhaps, interested me beyond all
else was the view which, on my return journey,
I obtained from the summit of a hill, of the
position of the Turkish guns at the back of Achi
Baba. With my glasses I could see them per-
fectly plainly, and could actually make out the
gunners as they served the guns. With a power-
ful telescope this would have made a most
excellent observation station, as all the Turkish
movements at the back of Achi Baba could be
plainly seen from this Imbros hill.
When I left Headquarters at Imbros I
took passage on a trawler which called in at
Anzac, where the Australian-New Zealand Army
Corps were dug into the ridges.
I had, of course, a good view of the position
they held on the precipitous cliffs and hills which
rose in successive sierra-like ridges from the very
216
The Australians and New Zealanders
sea-shore and I could then adequately realize
the tremendous feat they had performed in
gaining a footing on these heights against such a
brave and well-armed foe as the Turks.
I had met the Australians before in March,
when I had paid them a visit in their roman-
tic camping-ground under the shadow of the
Pyramids, and it was in the same month that I
met, on the verandah of Shepheard's Hotel in
Cairo, the chief medical officer to the Australian
Army, Surgeon-General Williams, whom I had
met in South Africa and London some fifteen
years previously.
Thinking that he would remember me, I sat
down beside him and opened the conversation
by saying : " Any chance of a billet with you,
General ? "
He looked rather blankly at me and said :
" Not a ghost of a chance, unless you are an
Australian. Who are you, anyhow ? "
I then told him who I was, upon which his face
lit up with welcome, but he would not believe
that I could be the same man, and asked me to
remove my headgear so that he might have a good
look at me, as he said I had grown ten years younger.
217
The Australians and New Zealanders
" How do you manage to keep your youth ? "
he demanded.
" Oh," I replied, " it is easily done. An un-
eventful life and no worries," at which the
General, knowing something of my travels and
adventures, winked, ordered a couple of whiskies
and sodas, and over these we had a long talk about
things past, present and to come.
General Williams took me round the hospitals
and kitchens out at Mena Camp, where we
inspected the ambulances and other things under
his charge, and I was much impressed with the
completeness with which Australia had equipped
the magnificent fighting force which she had sent
to the aid of England.
It was a great pleasure to meet Colonel Ryan,
a senior member of the Australian Medical Staff,
who had served with the Turks as a surgeon in
their last war against Russia and was with them
all through the siege of Plevna. I had read his
most interesting book describing his experiences
in that war, and altogether I was delighted to have
had the pleasure of meeting this most genial
Irish Australian.
Camp life at Mena, for the thirty odd thousand
218
The Australians and New Zealanders
men in training there, was very dull indeed.
There was not much to relieve the monotony
once the Pyramids had been climbed and the
Australian colours had been planted on the
summits, save an extra dose of sandstorm. It
was no wonder, therefore, that every now and
again the troops would invade Cairo in force and
paint the city red ; in fact, one night they painted
it very red indeed, when they held a corroboree
round the blazing ruins of a Cairene Courtesan's
Temple, which they had given to the flames,
because the Priestess had, in some way or other,
maladministered the rites !
The Staff of the Australian and New Zealand
Expeditionary Force, commanded by General
Birdwood, had their Headquarters at " Shep-
heard's," and there I met again young Onslow,
of the Indian Cavalry, the General's A.D.C., and
one of the nicest and handsomest boys that ever
buckled on a sabre. He was not only beloved of
men, but the gods loved him, too, and it was a
black day for me when I heard he was killed at
Anzac.
I thought of all these things as I approached the
little landing-stage on the Anzac shore, where,
219
The Australians and New Zealanders
as we dropped anchor close to the beach, we got
vigorously shelled by the Turks, whose guns, most
artfully concealed, dominated the landing.
In the course of the eight months' sojourn
there, these guns were responsible for the deaths
of hundreds of the Australians and New Zea-
landers, who were killed while they worked at
loading and unloading the stores and ammuni-
tion, which were constantly poured into Anzac.
In spite of this shell-fire, all through the hot
weather scores of men might be seen swimming
about and thoroughly enjoying themselves in the
water. A look-out man was kept and when he
reported a shell coming all dived until the
explosion was over.
There are many good stories told of the Austra-
lians and their want of reverence for the Staff,
and their love for the General.
On one occasion, while a dignified and very
portly British Staff Officer, who had been having
a swim, was drying himself, an Australian came by,
and, giving him a hearty smack, said : " Hallo,
old sport, you look about ready for the knife.
Have«you been getting into the biscuit-tin ? "
Whatever the Australians may have lacked in
220
The Australians and New Zealanders
what soldiers know as discipline and etiquette
they more than made up for by their fearlessness
and utter contempt of death in the fight. The
very fact that they had gained a footing on these
precipitous crags in the face of a desperate
resistance showed that they were a race of super-
men.
In vain did the Turks, time after time, hurl
themselves at them in an attempt to drive them
into the sea. The Turks would charge, crying :
" Allah ! Allah ! " The Australians would re-
spond by leaping on the parapets of their trenches,
shouting, " Come on, you blighters, and bring
him with you." They fear nothing — God, Man,
Death, or Devil !
When we eventually plant our flag triumphantly
on Gallipoli, the flag of Australia and New
Zealand must float in the place of honour upon
the Anzac peaks, for here, in their shadows, at
peace for ever, lie thousands of their bravest
sons.
After a few hours my trawler weighed anchor
and we steamed south for Helles, which we
reached in a couple of hours.
The skipper was a North of Ireland man, and
221
The Australians and New Zealanders
he told me much about the arduous life which the
men in the trawlers and mine-sweepers led.
During the first attack upon the Dardanelles
some of these went through a perfect hell of shell-
fire, in fact, right through the Narrows. For
eight months, scores of them were constantly on
the perilous work of mine-sweeping round Helles
and the islands, or carrying troops- to and fro ;
and all this time they were daily under fire, or,
during the night, with all lights out, risking them-
selves and their vessels. More than one sweeper,
with all its crew and living freight, came to a sad
and sudden end through collision in the dark.
As we neared the landing-stage I spied a new
kind of warship for the first time, and as we
passed close to her I saw her elevate the muzzles
of the two great guns with which she was armed
and let fly a brace of shells at the enemy's batteries
on Asia. This was the coming of the unsinkable
Monitor, armed with her terrible fourteen-inch
guns. I don't know how accurate her shots were,
but the Turkish gunner who replied was a marvel,
for, with his third shot, I saw him strike the deck
of the Monitor plump amidships. I heard
afterwards that this shell went through all the
222
The Australians and New Zealanders
decks and stuck in the keel plate. By a great
piece of good luck no damage was done, as it did
not explode.
When I reached the camp of my Zion men I
held a parade and told them how interested Sir
Ian Hamilton was in the Corps, and how he wished
it to be kept up, and with that view had ordered
me to proceed to Alexandria to recruit two new
troops of their co-religionists. I asked them all
to be good boys while I was away, and to work as
.well for Lieutenant Gye, who would command
them in my absence, as they had always worked
for me, and in this way keep up the reputation of
the Zion Corps.
223
CHAPTER XXIII
VOYAGE TO EGYPT
r I ^O assist me in recruiting, I decided to take
with me Claude Rolo, Captain Trumple-
dor, and Corporal Groushkousky, D.C.M. At
2 p.m. on the 25th July we steamed away from
Cape Helles in a little trawler and without
adventure arrived at Lemnos at about 7 p.m.
We immediately went on board the Staff Ship
the Aragon, in order to get a warrant for our
passages to Alexandria.
I must say that I was astonished to find such a
splendid Royal Mail Line Steamer as the Aragon
anchored idly in Mudros harbour, merely to
provide quarters for the Lines of Communication
Staff. She must have been costing thousands of
pounds per week and might have been doing
much more useful work on the high seas, where
there was a shortage of ships of all kinds. I have
224
Voyage to Egypt
no doubt there were many good men aboard who
would prefer to have roughed it on the island in
tents, as did the members of Sir Ian Hamilton's
Headquarters Staff at Imbros, and there was no
reason, so far as I know, why they should not have
camped on Lemnos.
It was twenty-four hours before we could take
ship for Alexandria, so, during the interval, I
went to call on a naval officer who held an
important Staff appointment, and who hap-
pened to be at the moment in Mudros
harbour.
I found the same old difficulty of getting about
in the harbour from one ship to another, and it
was only due to the courtesy of the Captain
commanding the Aragon, who kindly placed his
boat, cox, and crew at my disposal, that I was
enabled to visit my friend. It was a lovely moon-
light night as we skimmed across the shimmering
water, and it was not long until I found myself
on the quarter-deck of the " ."
My naval friend had just finished dinner when
I got aboard, and was most sympathetic and
helpful when I told him some of the things which
were troubling my mind, and which I had specially
225 15
Voyage to Egypt
come to lay before him. I was anxious to get
him to use his influence to send more lighters
and more tugs to assist in the disembarkation of
stores at Helles. The landing officer there, just
before my departure, had begged of me to do
what I could in this respect with somebody in
authority, as he said he had made repeated re-
quisitions for more tugs and lighters, but all in
vain. I was anxious, too, because the pier which
had been built by the sappers was of a very flimsy
nature, and I knew that the first storm that arose
would wash the whole thing away, and then,
unless there was a good store of provisions,
ammunition, forage, etc., on shore, it would be
a very bad look-out for those of us on the Penin-
sula. As a matter of fact the pier was washed
away later on, and for some time the horses and
mules were on half rations, and we ourselves
were threatened with a shortage of food, but,
mainly owing to the excellent arrangements
made by Brigadier-General Coe, the head of the
Supply and Transport Department, Colonel
Striedinger, and other members of his efficient
Staff, no breakdown ever occurred.
My naval friend was not over pleased when I
226
Voyage to Egypt
told him about this shortage of boats and tugs,
and led me to understand that the Navy had
supplied everything which the Army had
demanded.
It is of vital importance, when our Army and
Navy work together, as so often happens, that the
Staffs of both should pull together. I think
this could be ensured if a capable naval officer,
having the entire confidence of the Admiral on
the spot, were attached to the General's Head-
quarters, and a capable military officer, in whom
the General placed implicit reliance, were put
on the Admiral's Staff ; these two officers working
together for the common good would obviate
all friction. Of course, I am aware that naval
and military officers are interchanged on the
Staff, but juniors are not good enough for this ;
they should be senior men who could speak with
authority, and whose opinions would carry
weight.
The position of the island of Lemnos, some
forty miles south-west of the Dardanelles,
makes it an important strategic point, more
especially as it possesses a magnificent harbour
which, with very little trouble and expense,
227 15*
Voyage to Egypt
could be made practically impregnable. I sin-
cerely hope that we will retain possession of
this island for, with it as a naval base, the
Dardanelles can be bottled up at any moment,
and the whole of the adjacent seas dominated.
Turkey at present still claims the island. It
should therefore be annexed by us as some
small compensation for the Gallipoli failure.
On the following day at 7 p.m. we got on
board a transport bound for Australia, via
Port Said. I found myself the Senior Officer
on board, and therefore had to take command
of the troops, and among my other charges
were some fifty nursing sisters, who had been
brought to Lemnos direct from England, and
were now being transferred for duty to the
military hospitals in Egypt.
Soon after I got aboard we weighed anchor,
and I then put the ship's adjutant to the task
of detailing to their boats every individual on
the ship for whom I was responsible, as I knew
there were hostile submarines six or seven hours
out from Lemnos, and I wished to be as ready
as possible in case of an attack.
At nine o'clock I got the captain to sound
228
Voyage to Egypt
the alarm, when everybody rushed and stood
by their own particular boat ; I then made a
minute inspection, looked over the list of names
boat by boat, and by ten o'clock all knew their
proper places.
The night was hot, so laying a blanket on the
deck, I slept on it there. I was awakened out
of a deep sleep by a loud explosion. I leaped
up instantly, not yet quite wide awake, saying
to myself, what a funny time for an aeroplane
to drop a bomb. The next instant I realized
that I was at sea, and it flashed through my
mind that we had been torpedoed. As I looked
over the side, I saw a shell explode a mile or
so away, over and beyond a submarine which,
in the bright moonshine, could just be made
out. The report which had roused me was a
shot which had been fired from our own
4-7-inch gun fixed on the stern of the ship.
The vessel was instantly swung round so as to
present as small a surface as possible to the
submarine, and we made off as fast as the ship
could steam. A British war-vessel of some
kind came up in a few minutes, and we saw and
heard nothing more of the submarine, but
229
Voyage to Egypt
during the few minutes while the alarm lasted,
things were pretty lively on board our transport,
and many of the nurses rushed to the side to see
what had happened, but there was no sign of
alarm or panic among them ; they took it all
as a matter of course, and seemed quite dis-
appointed when we reached Port Said without
further adventure.
CHAPTER XXIV
RECRUITING IN EGYPT
"\ X TE were detained one night in Port Said,
and the following morning made our
way by rail to Alexandria. It was an inter-
esting journey because it took us along the
Suez Canal as far as Ismalia, where we saw all
the defences and the troops guarding it, and
also the precautions taken by the householders
along the bank, who had turned their homes into
little sand-bagged forts. It was on this journey
that I saw, for the first time, the celebrated
battlefield of Tel-el-Kebir where General
Wolseley crushed Arabi Pasha and his army,
and there the graves of British and Egyptian
soldiers who fell in the battle may be seen
from the railway carriages. This journey to
Alexandria is rather a roundabout one, for
it is necessary to go almost to Cairo before
231
Recruiting in Egypt
reaching the Cairo to Alexandria line. How-
ever, we eventually reached Alexandria in the
afternoon, and Claude Rolo took me to the
house of his mother, Mrs. J. Rolo, one of the
kindest and best ladies it has ever been my
good fortune to meet. Here, in this most
comfortable and luxurious house, I was made
to feel thoroughly at home. While there,
I, unfortunately, had a rather severe attack of
fever, but thanks to Mrs. Rolo and her nieces,
especially " the angel Gabrielle," I was soon
restored to health.
My first duty was to see General Sir John
Maxwell at Cairo and get his consent and help
in raising new recruits for the Zion Mule Corps.
When I arrived in Cairo, however, in the
afternoon, I found that I could not see the
General until the next morning, so I deter-
mined to go and see a friend in hospital, but
in which hospital ? That was my difficulty.
As I was standing in the verandah of Shep-
heard's Hotel, wondering to whom I could apply
for information, up the steps from the street
tripped a charming young lady in nurse's
costume. " The very thing for me," I said to
232
Recruiting in Egypt
myself, and without more ado I walked up to
her and explained my difficulty and asked her
if she could help. She was kindness itself, and
took a great deal of trouble to put me in touch
with my friend, and through taking her advice
I succeeded in my quest.
I saw Miss again on several occasions in
the hotel, but not being of a forward nature,
I kept out of her way. General Williams told
me that she was an Australian lady devoting
herself to nursing the sick and wounded. I
have heard since that she has added beauty to
the British Peerage.
While I was in Cairo, I visited the Turkish
wounded in the Red Crescent Hospital there,
where they were well looked after and seemed
most comfortable. I met a very interesting
young Turkish officer, the son of Djemel Pasha,
with whom I had a long conversation. He had
been captured by the Indian Lancers when
he was reconnoitring for the attack on the Suez
Canal. He told me that he was the only sur-
vivor of a party of twelve, and that he himself
had received fourteen lance wounds. He was
an extremely good type of Turkish officer, and
233
Recruiting in Egypt
during the short time we were together we
became great friends, and on leaving him he
took my hand in both his and shook it warmly,
saying he hoped we would always be good friends
no matter what the politicians might do for
our respective countries.
When I saw General Maxwell he did every-
thing necessary to ensure my success in this
new endeavour to raise recruits ; he summoned
the leading Israelitish notables of Cairo to
meet me in his office, where he put my needs
before them, and requested them to do what
was possible in the way of getting suitable men
from their community. Two members of this
committee took an interest in raising recruits
for the corps, Moise Cattaui Pasha and Mr.
Jack Mosseri, the latter a well-known Zionist
and a great Hebrew scholar, thoroughly imbued
with all the best ideals of the Hebrew race.
He was a tower of strength to me, and organized
meetings in various synagogues throughout
Cairo. One such meeting which took place
in the beautiful temple in the Mousky I shall
never forget. We walked through this cele-
brated and picturesque part of Cairo to the
234
Recruiting in Egypt
meeting — and what a walk ! The colours, the
lights, the sights, and the sounds, were all
redolent of the very heart of the East ; even
Rahab might be seen there looking out of a
window ; but of all the charms of the Mousky,
and it has many, commend me to its smells !
There you will find the full fragrance of the
East in all its pristine power and glory ! Thread-
ing our way carefully through the narrow alley-
ways, dexterously avoiding babies, donkeys,
mules and camels, we at last reached the Temple.
We found it packed with people, and on the
platform stood the Grand Rabbi of Cairo, a
most imposing and eastern-looking personage,
and other notables of the city.
Cattaui Pasha and others, whom Mr. Mosseri
had interested in the movement, made stirring
addresses to the Jewish youths among the con-
gregation. The result of Mr. Mosseri's efforts
was that, in the course of a few weeks, some one
hundred and fifty Jewish recruits had been
obtained from Cairo alone, and these I designated
the " Cairo Troop " of the Zion Mule Corps.
I am sure that Mr. Jack Mosseri will be glad
to know that the great majority of these men
235
Recruiting in Egypt
whom he took so much trouble to imbue with
the old Hebrew fighting spirit of the heroes of
the past, proved courageous and useful soldiers,
when, after a brief training, they found them-
selves before the enemy in Gallipoli.
While I was at Alexandria I was unlucky
enough to get my hand crushed under a motor,
and as it required a great deal of attention, I
used to go to the Greek Hospital every day
because it was close to the office where I worked.
This hospital was full of our sick and wounded,
where they were carefully attended and nursed
by an efficient staff of Greek doctors and Greek
nurses. I used to go round the wards talking
to the men, and they were all perfectly happy
and contented, expressing gratitude for the
care lavished on them by the Greek ladies of
Alexandria. Dr. Petredes attended to my
wounded hand, and nobody could have been
more kind. One of the Greek sisters told me
rather a pathetic story about an Australian.
He was a young fellow badly wounded in the
leg ; the wound got worse and worse, and it
was seen that he must die. He was told by the
clergyman who came to visit him that his
236
Recruiting in Egypt
case was hopeless, but he was not in the least
bit upset about himself, he only grieved at the
sorrow it would give his mother. Knowing
that a photograph would be a comfort to her,
he asked if a photographer could be brought.
When the latter had arrived, the brave lad
insisted on being propped up in bed, and then
requested the photographer not to snap him
until he could get a nice smile on his face, " For,"
he said, " I would like my mother to know that
I am dying quite happy." In a few hours
the boy had passed away, but there remained
a photograph with a bright, cheery smile as
some small consolation for the bereaved mother.
237
CHAPTER XXV
LIFE IN EGYPT
A \ THILE I was in Egypt a few things
* * struck me with particular force : one
was the inefficiency of the police of Alexandria ;
another the appalling callousness of the average
Egyptian in his treatment of animals.
It was an amusing sight in Alexandria to
watch the police trying to regulate the traffic.
The drivers would take absolutely no notice of
the policeman's raised hand, and would dash
recklessly over the crossing, quite regardless of
what might be coming down the cross street.
After being flouted in this way, the policeman
would leave his beat, run after the driver and,
on catching him up, engage in a wordy warfare
for five minutes. The same performance would
be repeated over and over again as each suc-
cessive Jehu came furiously along at his best pace.
238
Life in Egypt
I also had some experience of the lax methods
prevailing in the Passport Department — a most
important office in war-time, especially in a
country like Egypt, which was simply teeming
with spies.
A couple of my men who had been sent from
Gallipoli to the Base Hospital at Alexandria,
owing to wounds or illness, wished to resign
from the Corps and go to America, as they had
no desire to return to the Dardanelles. I, of
course, could not grant their request, so by
some means or other (bribery, no doubt) they
obtained a false passport, got on board ship and
gave instructions to some friends of theirs to
inform me, three days after they had left, that
they were on their way to America and hoped
I did not mind ! To make sure that these
rascals were not merely hiding in Alexandria, I
carefully investigated the matter and found
that one, at all events, had really sailed.
I have referred to the cruelty which the
average Egyptian shows in his treatment of
animals. To give one glaring example : there is
a steep incline over the railway bridge near
Gibbari, a suburb of Alexandria. Over this
239
Life in Egypt
bridge, the slopes of which are paved with smooth
stones, rolls a great part of the immense traffic
which goes to and from the docks. Almost at
any hour of the day one may see half a dozen
wretched horses hauling overladen carts up this
slippery slope, being unmercifully beaten by their
drivers, and falling sometimes two or three times
before they reach the summit. I say, without
hesitation, that such a scandal is a blot on Alex-
andria, a blot on the police officials, who wink at
it, and a blot on the British rulers in Egypt who
tolerate such a state of affairs. A couple of
thousand pounds should be set aside at once to
remedy the grievous sufferings which are daily
and hourly inflicted there on our unfortunate
dumb friends.
I was told that a Society for the Prevention of
Cruelty to Animals flourishes in the country.
If a member of it ever goes up and down the
Gibbari Bridge, he must surely turn a blind eye
on the cruel sights which are to be seen there
almost at any time, otherwise he must be shamed
for ever. This recalls to my mind a story which
Gye once told me about a leading light of this
Society who was on a visit to Egypt. He made
240
Life in Egypt
a tour of the Provinces, and at each place he
visited he was delighted to find that the officials
were most zealous supporters of the Society.
As a proof of their keenness for the League,
they would conduct him to the public pound and
show him numbers of maimed camels, horses
and donkeys which they assured him was the
day's catch. Of course it was all eyewash, as the
wily officials had got news of the coming of the
great one, and told the police to lock up the
wretched animals for just as long as he was in
the place and no longer.
While the Arabs show appalling callousness to
the sufferings of animals, they often exhibit
intense kindness and affection for each other;
more especially does the Arab mother show great
love for her child. A pretty story has come down
to us illustrating this maternal solicitude. An
Arab youth married a maiden whom he came to
love passionately, but he had great love for his
mother too, and of this the wife was intensely
jealous, so much so, that she told him one day
that she could never love him fully while his
mother lived, and that the only way for him
to secure her affections was to kill his mother
241 16
Life in Egypt
and bring her heart as a peace-offering. The
wretched youth, blinded by passion, committed
this terrible crime, and, concealing his mother's
heart within his gown, he ran swiftly to present
it to his wife. On the way he tripped and fell
heavily, and, in doing so, the heart dropped to
the ground. On picking it up to replace it, the
heart said to him, " My poor boy, I hope you did
not hurt yourself when you fell."
I related this story to a friend in London, and
he said : " Now I will tell you a story of filial
piety on the part of an English boy. He possessed
a dog of which he was passionately fond, named
Paddy. One day a cart ran over Paddy in the
street, and he was picked up dead. The boy's
mother broke the dreadful news to her little
son while he was having dinner, saying how
sorry she was to have to tell him that poor Paddy
was killed. The boy was not very much con-
cerned, and went on eating his pudding. Later
on, however, in the nursery his Nana condoled
with him on the loss of his pet, whereupon he
raised a tremendous outcry, sobbing and weeping
bitterly. His mother rushed up to see what was
the matter, and on finding he was weeping for the
242
Life in Egypt
dog, said, ' But, darling, I told you at dinner-
time that Paddy was killed, and you didn't seem
to mind much.'
" ' Oh, mammy,' he sobbed. ' I thought you
said Daddy — not Paddy.' '
Thinking this would be a good story to tell a
little boy that I know very well, I related it to
him, but as he took it very gravely, I asked him
whether he saw the joke, and he said, " No."
Now he possessed a black kitten, named " Mike,"
for which he had a great affection, so I thought I
could illustrate my story by saying : " Well, now
tell me which would you rather see run over and
killed— Mike or Daddy ? "
Having given long and serious consideration
to this problem, and with a troubled look on his
little face, he, after a great inward struggle, at
last said : " I think Mike."
During the time I was in Alexandria an attempt
was made there on the life of the Sultan of
Egypt, not the first attempt, by any means.
Now the Sultan is a kindly, good-natured ruler,
having the welfare of Egypt and the Egyptians
thoroughly at heart ; there is nothing whatever
of the tyrant about him, and therefore there is
243 16*
Life in Egypt
no excuse for attempting his life. I happen to
know that the Sultan was not at all anxious to
accept the dignity which was thrust upon him,
but since he has fallen in with the policy of
England, it is the duty of England to protect
him and uphold him by every means in her
power. Let it be known that in case of any
further attempt stern measures will be taken, not
only on the perpetrator of the crime, or the
attempted crime, but on the family and relatives
of the criminal, and also on the leading members
of any political society to which he belonged —
because, of course, they are all in league with
each other and know perfectly well what is going
on — and if they knew that they would be punished
as well as the criminal they would take good care
either to dissuade him from the crime or give
timely warning to the authorities. If they fail
to do this, their property should be confiscated
to the State, and if the crime were perpetrated
from a hired house, then the owner of the house,
who had let it, should be severely punished,
because in Egypt the only policy that is under-
stood by the criminal agitator is two eyes for one
eye, and a whole row of teeth for one tooth ;
244
Life in Egypt
and the sooner our pusillanimous politicians
realize this the better it will be for Egypt, the
Egyptians, and the continuance of our rule there.
As ex-President Roosevelt said in his vigorous and
memorable speech at the Guildhall, we should
either " govern Egypt or get out." It is im-
possible to govern such a country on the milk-and-
water policy so loved by invertebrate politicians.
I was privileged, while at Alexandria, to meet
on many occasions Prince Fuad, the brother of
the Sultan, and it was at one of his many inter-
esting and hospitable receptions, for which he is
famous, that I had the opportunity of being
presented to His Highness the Sultan. When,
however, I looked through the windows of the
room where the Sultan was receiving, I saw that
he did not appear to be very well (it was soon
after the attempt had been made on his life),
and there was such a throng waiting to be pre-
sented that I determined that I, at least, would
save him the fatigue of a handshake. There were
compensations for my solicitude for the Sultan,
because at that very moment I was talking to a
most charming and interesting lady, whose people
had hailed from the famous city of the Caliphs,
245
Life in Egypt
Baghdad, and although her ancestors came from
that dusky neighbourhood, she herself was fair
as a lily, had gloriously red hair, and was withal
as entertaining as Scheherazade. At this same
entertainment I saw standing before my eyes
and talking to the Sultan a lady whom I took to
be Cleopatra herself returned to life. I was
amazed to see someone really alive so like the
picture of the famous Queen of Egypt, and yet
there she was within a few feet of me, carrying on
an animated conversation with the Sultan. I
came to know " Cleopatra " and her husband very
well indeed during my stay in Egypt, and I spent
many an enjoyable evening under their hospit-
able roof. And what a delightful couple they
were ! I shall never forget a little impromptu
concert which took place one night as we sat out
under the rustling palms in the soft moonlight.
Cleopatra's husband melted all our hearts by
singing, in his low, sweet voice, " Unpeu d* amour."
It prompted me to make the ungallant remark
to Cleopatra that I really did not know which
of them I liked the better, and ever afterwards
she whimsically pretended to be hurt at the
lack of discernment which I had shown.
246
Life in Egypt
Now, Cleopatra, before I bid you good-bye,
I will only say that I am glad you did not live
in the days of the Pharaohs, because if you had,
I am sure you would have been given to the croco-
diles, for you must know that once a year, in
those barbarous, far-off times, there was chosen
for that sacrifice the most lovely and the most
perfect maiden in all Egypt.
It was at some reception or other in Egypt that
I met, about this time, an officer who had been
on the Staff of the 29th Division in Gallipoli.
Riding about the Peninsula as we both did, we
met practically every day during two or three
months, and although we rode together and were
quite good friends, I never knew what his name
was, and I never tried to find out, as I am not
of an inquisitive nature. However, one day he
disappeared and his place in Gallipoli knew him
no more. I thought it was very likely he had
been killed, because his duties often took him
into perilous places — indeed, any and every place
in Gallipoli was perilous in those days. At all
events, here I met him safe and sound, on which
I heartily congratulated him. A little later he
asked to be introduced to a friend of mine who
347
Life in Egypt
was also at the reception, so I was compelled to
confess that I had not the least idea what his
name was. " My name is B ," he replied ;
and on asking him if he was any relation of ,
mentioning a well-known public man in England,
with whom a few days before I left home I had
been walking up and down Rotten Row, " Oh
yes," said he ; " that's my father ! "
My Gallipoli friend was, unfortunately, on the
Persia when she was sunk without warning in the
Mediterranean, and went down with the ship ;
but his time was not yet, for he luckily came up
again, and was numbered with the saved, for
which Allah be praised.
I hope the reader will not run away with the
idea that I spent my time in Egypt in a round of
festivities and riotous living. It was, as a matter
of fact, very much the reverse, because even when
I went to these receptions I combined business
with pleasure by getting the people I met there
to help me to get recruits and to interest them-
selves in the Zion Mule Corps.
248
CHAPTER XXVI
RETURN TO GALLIPOLI
WAS very impatient to get back to Gallipoli
and made several applications to the Staff
both by letter and by telegram to do so, but
it takes a long time for the machine to
move ! At last I received the anxiously looked
for orders for myself and my new men to
embark.
I had a little trouble with a member of the Staff
before I left, and, as it illustrates the pettiness of
some men even when great events are at stake,
I think it is worth recounting. I had sent him
my embarkation return, showing the number of
officers and other ranks bound for the Darda-
nelles. In the meantime a telegram arrived from
Gallipoli asking for two of my officers to be sent
there immediately. I had them on board and
on their way to the front within four hours of
249
Return to Gallipoli
the time I read the message. Two days after-
wards, when I came to embark, I had with me
my men and one other officer, but the red-tape,
red-tabbed acting Staff man objected to this
officer going, as he said my original application
was for three officers only, and of these, he said,
" Two have already gone ; you make the third,
therefore the other officer cannot go ; he must be
left behind to look after the men at Wardian
Camp." It was in vain that I pointed out to
him that this officer would be of little use at
Wardian, but that he was invaluable to me, as he
knew the various languages of the men, which I
did not, and that I could not very well get on
without him. He was obdurate, so I said that,
as I must have the officer with me, I would, if
necessary, go and see the General and get his
sanction. On hearing this threat he took counsel
with another red-tab man, whose official designa-
tion entitled him to write half the letters of the
alphabet after his name, and who, from the little
I saw of him, was, I consider, fully entitled to
three or four more ! These two tin gods, having
privily consulted together, issued a ukase to
the effect that it would be impossible to allow the
250
Return to Gallipoli
officer to accompany me to Gallipoli. " All
right, then," I said ; " there is nothing for it but
to see the General, as I must have this officer."
This meant that I had to motor some three miles
and lose a lot of precious time in order to outwit
these ruddy obstructionists, a thing I was deter-
mined to do at all costs. When I got to the
General's office, I first interviewed his Staff
Officer, Major Ainsworth, one of the most sensible
and helpful staff officers it has been my luck
to come across during the whole campaign.
On my proceeding to tell him what I wanted, he
said : " Oh, I know all about it. Major
has already telephoned to me that you were on
the way, and has said that, in his opinion, you
should not be allowed to embark your extra
officer." I remarked to Major Ainsworth that
it appeared to me that some of the Staff were
only there to obstruct, and I repeated that this
man was necessary to me for the efficiency of my
Corps, and that it was much more to the point
to have efficient officers in Gallipoli, rather than
to leave them behind kicking their heels in idle-
ness in Alexandria. This had the desired effect
on a sensible man like Major Ainsworth, who
251
Return to Gallipoli
tactfully told Major that I must have the
officer with me that I wanted ; and so the incident
was closed.
On embarking for Gallipoli for the second
time I found that I had 1,100 men on board,
made up of 102 different units, many of them
without officers, and as I was again the senior
on board I had to take command of the whole,
and jolly glad was I to know that I would only
be responsible for such a heterogeneous collec-
tion for two or three days. The first thing
that I discovered on going aboard was that
for the 1,100 men we had only boat accommoda-
tion for 700 in the event of the ship being sunk.
I asked the skipper if he usually put to sea in
war-time, when submarines were about, with
an inadequate supply of boats, and I refused
to sign the clearing papers to say that I was
satisfied with all the arrangements on board
ship. The captain fully agreed with me ; he
anchored the vessel in the outer harbour, and
we went back together next morning and inter-
viewed the naval authorities, who were furious
at the delay in sailing and at my demand for
more boats, but at the same time promised to
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Return to Gallipoli
send them out to us in the course of an
hour or two, and as soon as they arrived
and were stowed away on the deck, we sailed
for Lemnos.
I am very thankful that we dodged the sub-
marines on the way, because with such an over-
crowded vessel, with so many different units,
most of them without officers, and hardly
standing room for everybody, and with very
inadequate means of getting boats out, I fear
that there would not have been many survivors
had the vessel been sunk. I issued orders to
all on board never to part with their life-belts,
as they would have to depend on them princi-
pally, and not on the boats, for their lives. We
were lucky to escape, for just about this time
the transport Ramadan was sunk with heavy
loss of life. It passes my comprehension that
ship-owners should be allowed to continue the
antiquated methods of boat lowering which are
still in existence. How many hundreds of
lives have been lost owing to the stupid
method in use ? Ropes, blocks and tackle are
fixed to the bow and stern of each boat, and to
ensure that it should reach the sea on an even
*53
Return to Gallipoli
keel the men using both sets of tackle must
lower away at exactly the same rate. What
actually happens in any time of excitement is
that one rope is lowered much more quickly
than the other, with the result that the un-
fortunate occupants are tilted into the sea and
drowned. It would be a simple matter to lower
boats by means of one rope only, and this
method should be made compulsory on all
ship-owners.
Captain Williams of the Munsters was my
ship's adjutant. I believe he was the only
surviving officer who had landed from the
River Clyde on that memorable morning of the
25th of April ; he had gone through that
desperate fight, and had been engaged in every
battle on the Peninsula since that date, and yet
had come through it all unscathed. He must
have borne a charmed life, and I sincerely
hope his luck will stick to him to the end.
He practically did all the work of the ship
for me, and I never had a more efficient
adjutant.
We reached Lemnos in safety, and got into
the harbour at dusk, just before the entrance
254
Return to Gallipoli
was blocked up, because, of course, the harbour
mouth was sealed every night from dark to dawn,
owing to the fear of submarines. We lay at
anchor all night and most part of the next day,
and, as nobody seemed to take the slightest notice
of our arrival, the captain and I sailed across
the harbour in a tiny boat, although the sea
was far from calm, and, on reaching the dragon,
I reported myself to a gentleman in an eye-glass,
whom I had never seen before and never want to
see again. He was very " haw haw," and said
that I had no business to leave my ship until
the military landing officer had been aboard.
I remarked that we had been waiting in the
harbour so long that I thought perhaps the
military landing officer was dead, and so I had
come myself to report our arrival. With that
I left him and returned to the ship, and soon
afterwards we were boarded by the landing
officers, and the 1,100 men were drafted off
to their different units, I going with mine
on a trawler to Cape Helles. We arrived
at Lancashire Landing on a beautiful calm
moonlight night, and were received with
joyous shouts of " Shalom " (the Hebrew
255
Return to Gallipoli
form of salutation) from the veterans of
the Corps.
I missed the face of Lieutenant Gorodisky
from among those who greeted me, for, alas,
he had died during my absence from an illness
contracted owing to the hardships of the cam-
paign. By his death the Corps suffered a severe
loss. He had resigned from an important and
lucrative post in Alexandria and enlisted as a
private soldier in the Zion Mule Corps. His
ability and soldierly qualities soon raised him
to officer's rank, and he was one of the best
and most useful in the Corps. Like all Israelites
he was passionately fond of music, and it was
he who wrote out for me the Hatikvoh, the
music of which has been arranged for me
by Miss Eva Lonsdale and will be found
in the Appendix. He told me once that,
though the Germans claimed that they were
the most musical nation in the world, yet all
their best musicians were either Jews or had
Jewish blood in them. His death was a sad
blow to his widowed mother, as he was her
only child. Madame Gorodisky may, however,
be proud to have been the mother of such a
256
Return to Gallipoli
noble character, and it will, I trust, be some
consolation to her to know that he was held
in the highest esteem by every officer and man,
not only in the Zion Mule Corps but also by
those who knew him in the French and British
regiments among whom we were camped.
257
CHAPTER XXVII
BEELZEBUB
T FOUND, on my return in September, that
•*• life on the Peninsula was much less strenu-
ous than when I had left for Egypt at the end
of July. The Turks must have been very short
of ammunition, for few shells were fired for the
first five or six weeks after our arrival. I was
able to have drills and parades in the open,
exposed to the full view of Achi Baba and
Krithia — a thing which would have been out
of the question in the early days. It was quite
a pleasure to be able to ride about all over the
Peninsula even to within a few hundred yards
of the Turkish trenches without being shelled.
Of course, in the days when the Turks had
plenty of ammunition, they thought nothing
of wasting half a dozen rounds on a solitary
horseman, and many a time have I had to gallop
258
Beelzebub
at breakneck speed to avoid the shrapnel which
they peppered me with on many occasions. I
was very glad indeed that shells were rather
scarce, as it gave my recruits time to get into
shape and get used to the conditions of warfare.
The new Cairo men took to the life very
kindly, and soon burrowed themselves well into
the ground and adapted themselves to cave
dwelling as to the manner born.
In the evenings, when our day's toil was
ended, we had concerts round our camp fires
and enjoyed ourselves as much as it was possible
to do under the circumstances ; in fact, at
times we used to forget that we were at
war.
The camp-fire sing-songs were rather weird
affairs — songs in English (Tipperary, for choice),
French, Russian, Hebrew and Arabic — the two
latter made rather melancholy by the plain-
tive wail of the East. Some of the men
were first-rate Russian dancers and expert
wrestlers, so we had many excellent little side-
shows.
The concerts were always ended by singing
" God Save the King," the Marseillaise (for
259 17*
Beelzebub
many French soldiers would be present), the
Russian Anthem, and last of all the Maccabean
March.
We had many visitors to our quaint polyglot
lines ; a strenuous lieutenant all the way from
Canada often called on us, and I was indebted
to him for an invitation to come and try my
hand at tent-pegging on a beautiful tan track
which he had made and at which various officers
used to meet to run a course.
Now I used to be rather good at the game,
and I think I rather surprised my Canadian
friend, Maurice, when, in answer to his banter-
ing challenge : " Now, Colonel, show us how
it's done ! " I took every peg for which I tried.
It was good to find that one could still ride
straight and depend on eye, hand and arm, and
that the spear-point could be made to strike
the peg as squarely and as surely as of old.
There was not a great deal of work to be
done in these days, as there was now any amount
of other Transport which took much of the
weight off our shoulders.
The lack of steady hard work made the
mules very frisky, and some of them were regular
260
Beelzebub
demons. We had one which was rightly named
Beelzebub, for he was indeed a prince of devils,
and I veritably believe he made all the other
mules laugh when he kicked one or other of
the N.C.O.'s or men. He had an extraordinary
cat-like faculty of being able to plant fore and
hind feet into one's ribs practically simul-
taneously, while at the same moment he would
make a grab at one's head, emitting all the
while strange noises and terrifying squeals !
He pinned me in a corner one day, apparently
to the delight of the other mules, and I was
glad to get out of it alive ! In order to make
him pay a little more respect to his commanding
officer for the future, I ordered him to be tied
up to a tree and kept for a day without food or
water. This, however, did not fall in with
Beelzebub's theory of things, so he gnawed
through the rope in the night and then made
for the forage stack, where, to make up for lost
time, he ate about six mule rations ! — at which
the other mules did not laugh !
No one was over-particular about Beelzebub's
safety, as he was not what might be called
popular, so instead of being put down with the
261
Beelzebub
others in a dug-out, where indeed he would
have kicked them to bits, he was generally left
by himself in about the most exposed position
that could be found for him in the camp, and I
am quite certain that both Jewish and Gentile
prayers went up for his speedy annihilation by a
Turkish shell ; but Beelzebub bore a charmed
life. Shells hopped all round him, cut in two
great trees which sheltered him, excavated
enormous caverns at his very heels, but the only
effect they had on Beelzebub was to rouse his
ire and start him off on a fresh kicking bout.
At last a chunk of shell hit the ground close
to him, bounced up and " ricked " off his ribs,
making a wound, not very serious, it is true,
but still not exactly calculated to improve his
diabolical temper.
I sent him off to the sick lines to have his
wound dressed. Now I never could find out
what he actually did to the veterinary surgeon
who tried to doctor him there, but this officer
wrote a polite little note requesting me to be
so very kind as to remember in future that his
hospital was for sick mules — not for Man-
Eaters !
262
Beelzebub
I have already mentioned that on the night
of my return to Gallipoli from Egypt a brilliant
moon was shining, and by the light of it I saw
great mounds of earthworks thrown up just
to one side of our lines. On looking closer, I
found that these were the emplacements for
four heavy French guns of 9.6-inch calibre.
I cannot say that I was over-pleased at the
sight, because I knew that the moment they
opened fire their position would be seen from
Achi Baba, and the shells which the Turks would
be bound to hurl at them would be more than
likely to miss the battery and hit my men and
my mules.
Two French officers were in charge of the
siege pieces, Captain Cujol and Lieutenant
La Riviere, both exceedingly nice men with
whom we made great friends. The gallant
captain was a great horseman, and I often
delighted him (for he had no horse with him)
by mounting him on one of mine, and together
riding over the Peninsula. Lieutenant La
Riviere, who was a much-travelled man, often
entertained us with stories of his wanderings
and adventures in Arabia, Abyssinia and the
263
Beelzebub
Soudan in the long evenings after we had all
dined together in our cosy little dug-out.
While I was away recruiting in Egypt the
glamour of the Horse Artillery had fallen upon
Gye, and furthermore Davidson and other
officers of L Battery had beguiled him, so that
soon after my return he asked me if I would
let him go to the Gunners. I was glad to
recommend him for the transfer, for I felt that
with his sound common sense and good horse-
mastership he would be of more use to the
general cause as a gunner than as a muleteer.
I had two British officers still left with me, and
here, too, was a case of good material being
wasted on work which could have been equally
well done by less brainy men.
Claude Rolo was an eminent civil engineer,
and had constructed some of the most important
public buildings in Egypt, and, of course, his
proper place would have been with the Sappers.
His brother, I. Rolo, with his vast business
experience in Egypt, should have been em-
ployed as purchasing agent for the Army, where
his knowledge of local affairs would undoubtedly
have saved us tens of thousands of pounds. His
264
Beelzebub
talents were wasted merely keeping the records
of the Zion Mule Corps Depot at Alexandria.
I recommended both for transfer, but I fear
their services are still being wasted.
I wonder when we will wake up to the fact
that we have plenty of talent if only those in
authority would avail themselves of it and use it
in the right way.
265
CHAPTER XXVIII
A FEAT IN GUNNERY
T3 Y this time, after many weeks and months
•**-' of delving, the efforts of our Engineers
and other troops to alter the geographical
features of the Peninsula began to have effect.
Long lines of communication trenches were dug
to and fro everywhere. Indeed, the amount
of earthwork that was excavated in digging
trenches and dug-outs, both at Helles and
Anzac, was simply " colossal." If the same
amount of digging, trenching and dug-outing
had been concentrated into one effort, it would
have been possible to make a canal across the
narrowest part of the Peninsula, wide enough
and deep enough for the Queen Elizabeth and
the rest of the British Fleet to sail through,
without let or hindrance, to Constantinople !
One good thing the diggers did was to make
266
A Feat in Gunnery
the communication trenches wide and deep
enough to give ample cover to horses and mules.
In consequence of this, it was now possible to
take ammunition and supplies to the front
during daylight, and so most of our night work
ceased. Small detachments of men and mules
were attached to various battalions for transport
work, and all over the Peninsula Zion men could
be met cantering along on their mules — for they
were good horsemen — and they invariably rode
when they had a chance. They looked very
comical as they galloped along, uttering exulting
yells, their faces grimy, caps crammed home on
the back of their heads, jacketless and with
torn shirts, perched up on the pack saddles, the
chains of which clattered loudly at each stride
of the mule. Our soldiers, with their usual
happy knack for nick-names, christened them
the " Allies Cavalry," while a brilliant wit
went even one better and dubbed them " Ally
Sloper's Cavalry ! "
While the men were out on these detached
posts, I, of course, visited them at regular
intervals to see that they were keeping up the
reputation of the Corps and also to hear any
267
A Feat in Gunnery
reports or complaints they might have to make.
It was rarely that a day went by without some-
thing odd or amusing, or both, happening at
one or other of these detached posts. For
example : I had some men stationed up the
Gully Ravine, and just before I visited them,
the Turks had given them a vigorous bombard-
ment which had set fire to the forage which
was stored close by the mules. The last of it
was being burned up just as T arrived on the
scene and, as my men were still lying low in their
dug-out, I shouted for the corporal and angrily
demanded why they had not saved the forage.
He replied : " Turk he fire shells, plenty
shells, hot, hot — too bloody hot," which
showed that their sojourn with the British
Army, if it was doing nothing else, was at
least improving their knowledge of classical
English !
Although Gye had by this time joined L
Battery for duty, he still lived with me in our
little dug-out under the great olive tree, which,
by the way, now supplied us with excellent
olives. Being with the gunners, he would
occasionally get early news of an artillery
268
A Feat in Gunnery
" strafe," which, as a rule, we went together
to watch from some commanding position.
I was not surprised, therefore, when one
afternoon he came in from the battery and
told me there was to be a most interesting
" shoot " on in the afternoon, nothing less
than the " strafing " of a troublesome Turkish
redoubt by the huge guns of one of the Monitors.
As this promised to be a rare good show, we
sallied forth on our horses, taking the road by
X Beach and the Gully Ravine. On reaching
our observation post and seeing no sign of a
Monitor in the vicinity, I remarked to Gye :
" It certainly is a very fine afternoon for a ride,
but I don't see much appearance of that * strafe '
you promised to show me."
" I think it will be all right," replied Gye,
" there is the Monitor away out at sea," point-
ing to a speck close over to the Imbros shore,
some seven or eight miles away — a mere cockle-
shell in the distance.
On looking from the speck to the redoubt I
said : " It is not a ' strafe ' you have brought
me out to see but a miracle," because it looked
to me that it would be little short of a miracle
269
A Feat in Gunnery
to hit that small redoubt which, of course, could
only be faintly seen from the tops of the
Monitor by telescope.
However, I hadn't to wait long for the
wonderful sight. Punctually to the moment
when it was expected, we saw the Monitor
enveloped in great billows of waving clouds of
flame and smoke — one of her great 1 4-inch guns
had been fired. Anxiously we watched the
redoubt and, incredible as it may seem, the
shell only failed to strike it by thirty yards,
for at that distance from it a great upheaval of
earth could be seen. Again we watched the
Monitor. " Pouf ! " went her second gun, this
time sending the shell plump into the redoubt.
The result was extraordinary. Up went Turks,
rocks, timbers, guns, all mixed up in a cloud of
smoke, flame and earth — a marvellous shot !
Three more followed in quick succession, each
one plumping right into the redoubt, pulverizing
it absolutely out of existence. It was as if a
steam-roller had gone over the earthworks.
A few more shells were dropped into the fort,
just to make sure, and one of these, having
struck some hard substance, " ricked " across
270
A Feat in Gunnery
the Peninsula, over the Dardanelles, and
exploded in Asia !
I took off my hat to the man behind the
gun on that Monitor. If he is a type of all
other gunners in the British Navy, the Germans
may as well scrap their fleet without further ado.
After watching this wonderful feat of gunnery,
we were riding back towards camp, when we
saw running towards us an old soldier of a
Scottish regiment in a state of great excitement,
apparently having something of importance to
impart. I pulled up my horse and asked him
what was the matter. He told me in the
broadest Scotch that there was a German spy
a little further down among the gorse taking
notes and sketching the position of a heavy
battery which was in position close by the sea.
I asked the Scotty how he knew the man was
a spy, and he said : " He's goin' on verra
suspeecious."
I got him to point out the exact position of
the supposed spy and then I arranged with
Gye that I would go up and open conversation
casually with him, and that if I made a certain
signal, he was to gallop off for an escort. I
271
A Feat in Gunnery
found the " spy " dressed in khaki in the uniform
of a Scottish regiment. I opened the conver-
sation by asking if he had seen the magnificent
shooting of the Monitor, and carried it on until
I found out who he was and from whence he
had come. I knew that his regiment was
forward in the trenches, so I asked him why
he was not at the front, and he told me that
he was going through a course at the bombing
school and so, for the moment, was away from
his Battalion. He seemed all right, but to
make sure I sent Gye over to see the Instructor
at the bombing school which was close by, to
find out if such an officer was really there taking
a course.
While Gye was away I strolled to the edge
of the cliff with the supposed spy who, I was
now pretty sure, was what he represented him-
self to be — a British officer. Down below us
on the shore was the body of a dead horse, half
in and half out of the sea, and tearing at it
was a good-sized shark which we could see very
plainly, for the water was beautifully clear. My
spy got very keen on seeing this and, borrowing
a rifle from a soldier standing near, he made
272
A Feat in Gunnery
such good shooting at the shark that it speedily
gave up its horse-feast and plunged off to the
depths in terrified haste. In the midst of the
fusillade, Gye came back to say all was well, so
bidding my " spy " good-afternoon, we rode off
to our camp.
There is no doubt, however, that the Peninsula
was alive with spies, and at night, on returning
from the trenches, when all the camps would
be in slumber, I have repeatedly seen flashes
sent up from the British lines towards Krithia,
where they would be answered, but although
I tried on several occasions to locate the
signaller, I never succeeded in doing so. Of
course I reported the matter to Headquarters,
but whether they were more successful than
myself I never learned.
On one occasion, a night or two before we
made a big attack, I distinctly saw signals
flashed from the neighbourhood of the cliffs
by the Gully Ravine, where there was the
Headquarters of a Division, to the lines of the
Royal Naval Division, from which a signaller
answered back ; both then signalled to some-
body on the hill where the Headquarters Staff
273 18
A Feat in Gunnery
of our Army Corps were established, and this
signaller in his turn flashed messages up to
Krithia, where there was a steady red light
shown for a considerable time while the signalling
was in progress. I tried to locate the signaller
on the Headquarters hill, but failed. I then
reported the matter to the Chief Signalling
Officer, who told me that whatever lights I had
seen were not made by our people, as none of
the signallers were out on duty that night.
Gye and I found the spot from which the daring
spy on the Headquarters hill had been signalling.
It was most craftily selected, as it was completely
sheltered for three-quarters of the way round,
and his light could only be seen from the
direction of Krithia ; I had not been able to
observe it until I came into a direct line between
Krithia and the hill.
The tricks and daring of the spy are wonder-
ful ! It was common gossip in the Peninsula
that a Greek contractor who was allowed to
sell some tinned foods, etc., to the soldiers, had
in some of the larger tins, not eatables, but
carrier pigeons, which he would send off to the
Turks on suitable occasions, but whether this
274
A Feat in Gunnery
is true or not I cannot say for certain. It was
rumoured that he was found out and shot.
Some of our fellows used to do the most
extraordinary things. A sergeant, thoroughly
bored with life in the trenches, thought he would
like to break the monotony by having a look
at the Turks, so, shouldering his rifle, he
sauntered over to the enemy trenches and
looked in, and there saw five Turks, three sitting
together smoking and two others lying down
having a rest. He shot all five and then doubled
back to his own trench, escaping in some mar-
vellous way the hail of bullets that came after him.
Then there was Lieutenant O'Hara of the
Dublins, who was always doing some daring
feat and showing his contempt of death and
the Turks on every conceivable occasion. He
won the D.S.O. before going to Suvla, where,
alas ! his luck deserted him, and he was mortally
wounded. O'Hara firmly believed that no Turk
could ever kill him, for he thought nothing of
sitting up on the parapet coolly smoking a
cigarette, while bullets rained all round him.
When he had finished his survey of the Turkish
line he would get down, but not before.
275 18*
A Feat in Gunnery
Another brave man of the Dublins was
Sergeant Cooke. If ever there was a dangerous
job he always volunteered for it, and was con-
stantly out reconnoitring the enemies' position
and bringing in useful information to his officers.
He, too, was very lucky for a long time ; he
was one of the few who escaped all hurt in the
original landing, but at Suvla, Sergeant Cooke,
while doing a brave deed, was mortally wounded,
and, although he must have been in great agony
for a couple of hours before he died, he never
uttered a groan. Just before the last, he said :
" Am I dying like a British soldier ? " No
soldier ever died more gamely.
276
CHAPTER XXIX
THE FINDING OF THE SHIELD OF DAVID
OOON after the Bulgarians had thrown in
*"r* their lot against us, the Turks, who up
to this time had been husbanding their ammuni-
tion, felt, I presume, that there was now no need
to be so sparing in their use of shells, and they
therefore took on a much more aggressive atti-
tude.
Turkish bombardments and trench strafes
once more became the order of the day. Not
to let the enemy have everything his own way,
we ourselves arranged, late in October, to make a
trejnendous onslaught on the Turks. One of
their trenches, known as H. 12, occupied a some-
what commanding position and had been giving
us a lot of trouble. It was decided, therefore,
to batter it out of existence.
Sharp to time, at three o'clock on a very
277
The Finding of the Shield of David
" nippy " afternoon, a most terrific cannonade
was opened on the doomed trench. Naval
guns, French guns, British howitzers and field-
pieces rained a devastating fire of high explosives
and, as if this were not enough, three huge vol-
canoes spurted out at three points of the trench,
denoting that some great mines had been ex-
ploded. While the fire lasted, it was terrific,
and the dust and smoke speedily hid all the
Turkish trenches, as well as Krithia and Achi
Baba, from our view. The infantry were then
launched and the trench captured with very little
loss.
Trench warfare, dull as it is, for those who
prefer a fight in the open, with a good horse
under them, is yet not without its moments of
fascination, and I often found myself in the
thick of a trench strafe when I really had no
business whatever to be in the neighbourhood.
Gye, Rolo and I were returning from one of
these trench fights in mid-October, when we
ourselves nearly got " strafed " at Clapham
Junction, a well-known spot behind the firing
line on our right centre. Our mortars, borrowed
from the French, had thoroughly annoyed the
278
The Finding of the Shield of David
Turks and they retaliated by bombarding our
trenches with shell-fire. We were pretty safe
so long as we remained under cover, but on the
way back to camp we caught it rather badly
and only saved ourselves by our speedy flight
over an exposed piece of ground which we
had to cross, where the shells were falling
pretty thickly.
One of the most annoying things the Turks
did was to mount a big naval gun " somewhere
in Asia " not far from Troy — as distances go in
Asia. This fiendish weapon had such a high
velocity that the shell arrived on us before the
report of the gun was heard. The sensation of
hearing the shell screaming a few feet over one's
head was most unpleasant, and we all looked for
the moment that the big French guns in our
lines would begin to shoot, as things were very
disagreeable for us while " Helen " was in action.
This gun was altogether so troublesome that we
had christened it " Helen of Troy."
Fortunately, only about one in four of its
shells burst, otherwise we should have suffered
very heavily, because many of them fell in and
around our lines. My men would calmly pick
279
The Finding of the Shield of David
up these unexploded shells and struggle off with
them on their shoulders to adorn the entrance of
their dug-outs ! This used to horrify the French
gunners, who were close by and knew the danger
of touching such dangerous toys. I am afraid
my Zionists thought me somewhat of a tyrant
for abolishing these aesthetic aids to the beauti-
fication of their subterranean homes !
Now and again, just as a reminder of the rigours
to come, we were deluged by a downpour of rain,
and then life in the trenches was almost unbear-
able, for, owing to the subsoil being clay, all the
water ran on the surface and speedily rilled up
every trench, dug-out and hollow ; and this
discomfort, coupled with mud, filth, too little
food and sleep, and too much shells and bombs,
made life in Gallipoli more fit for a dog than a
man.
As the cold weather was coming on, I deter-
mined to build a good stone house for my men,
where there would always be a big fire going to
keep them warm and to dry their clothes when
they came back wet from the trenches. As it
was not in our zone, I had to get the permission
of the Chief Engineer of the French Army to
280
The Finding of the Shield of David
take some stones from Sedd-el-Bahr village,
because it was only there that building material
could be obtained. While we were pulling down
a house and excavating the foundations, we dug
up a slab of marble with a beautiful filigree
design carved round the outer edge of it, and in
the centre, strange to say, was the Shield of
David ! The stone must have been very, very
old, and how it got there is a mystery. Perhaps
it may have been taken from Solomon's Temple
in Jerusalem.
My Zion men were delighted at the find and
brought the stone in triumph to our camp, and
it was kept in the new house as a talisman to ward
off the shells. Strange to say, although they
fell all round, the building was never touched nor
was anyone injured in its vicinity.
Our own dug-out was also greatly improved
when the weather became bitterly cold. We
made the fireplace and chimney-stack out of old
kerosene tins, which made a kind of brasier on
which we burned charcoal obtained from the
refuse heap at the field bakery. Altogether, our
dug-out was considered to be the cosiest one in
the whole Peninsula, as indeed it had every right
281
The Finding of the Shield of David
to be, for was not Claude Rolo, who was our
architect and engineer, one of the cleverest civil
engineers that ever passed through the Poly-
technic in Paris ?
Our charcoal fire was very useful in many ways ;
it made very good toast, for the bread, which up
to now had been excellent, began to be sodden
owing to the bakery being in the open and, of
course, getting the full benefit of all the rain that
often came down in torrents ; and in addition to
the rain the unfortunate bakers were at all times
under shell-fire. Although the bread was not up
to the usual standard after the rains set in, yet in
the whole history of war I do not believe that
men and animals have ever been better fed
than were the troops, horses and mules during
the whole time we were on the Peninsula.
The variety of food might perhaps have been
bettered, but the quality and quantity on the
whole were excellent and reflected the greatest
credit on the organization of the Army Service
Corps ; in fact, it was the only department
where one could say all the time — it had done
well. The Ordnance failed at times — failed
lamentably in the supply of high explosives for
282
The Finding of the Shield of David
the guns, but this was through no fault of the
ordnance officer on the spot, who, I know, took
every precaution to ask for every conceivable
article months before it was required. Of course,
he did sometimes get the needed articles, and
sometimes, when it was on its way, submarines
would sink the ship, or the ordnance people said
the ship was sunk, which amounted to the same
thing and covered a multitude of sins. Those
submarines saved many reputations ! All the
sapper supplies, however, might just as well have
been sunk, as it was impossible to get the smallest
scrap of material, no matter how urgently
required, without the most minute details as to
what it was for and all about it. There was
any amount of stuff one wanted in the Field
Park, but when application was made for it the
invariable reply was " It is earmarked for other
purposes."
This policy is all very well in normal times, but
does not do for war. Some men cannot shake off
the petty trammels by which they are fettered in
times of peace.
I have no doubt the Turks much enjoyed
the use of a considerable amount of this
283
The Finding of the Shield of David
" earmarked " material, which, if it had been
issued to us, would have greatly enhanced the
comfort of man and beast.
I remember on one occasion being in want of
a gallon of tar. Now there was any amount of
it in the stores, in fact, one could see it oozing
out of the barrels in all directions. I wanted this
tar to put on some ropes and sacks filled with
sand which I was burying in the ground to make
my horse lines and to waterproof some canvas ;
so I sent a man to the R. E. Park, with a requi-
sition, hoping to get it back in the course of
half an hour or so ; but no : all he brought back
was a letter to say : " Please explain for what
purpose you require this gallon of tar." I was so
annoyed that I replied : " To make a bonfire
when you get the order of the boot." But I
have some doubt as to whether this message ever
reached its destination, as I had a very diplomatic
adjutant.
The officers and men of the corps of Royal
Engineers who wore no red-tabs, were simply
splendid, and it was with admiration that I
often watched them at all hours of the day and
night, digging trenches, making saps, or putting
284
The Finding of the Shield of David
up barbed wire, right in the very teeth of the
enemy — " Second to None."
It is sometimes of vital importance in war to
do the exact contrary to all peace traditions ;
but men get into a groove, get narrow, and often
fail to rise to the occasion. I have a good in-
stance of this in mind. A certain officer refused
to issue sandbags from his store when they were
urgently needed. (This did not happen at
Helles.) " They cost sixpence each," he re-
marked, " and I have got to be careful of them " —
a wise precaution in peace-time, but utterly un-
sound in war, because a few sandbags at sixpence
each might save the lives of several soldiers worth
hundreds of pounds, putting it on merely a cash
basis.
285
CHAPTER XXX
BACK TO ENGLAND
OHORTLY before I left Gallipoli our Staff
*^ arranged what the American soldier
would call a great " stunt." Materials for a huge
bonfire were secretly collected and placed in a
commanding position after dark on the heights
near the Aegean coast ; near to it a mine was laid.
At about ten o'clock at night this was purposely-
exploded, making a terrific report ; next moment,
according to prearranged plan, the bonfire,
which had been liberally saturated with oil and
tar, burst into a great sheet of flame which lit
up half our end of the Peninsula. Our Staff
fully expected that the explosion followed by the
great fire would bring every Turk out of the
depths of his trench to the parapet in order to
see what had happened ; so at this moment
every gun on the Peninsula, which of course had
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Back to England
the range of these Turkish trenches to a yard,
loosed off a mighty salvo. Next morning at
daylight the Staff eagerly scanned the enemies'
parapets, expecting to see them littered with
dead — but instead, they were somewhat chag-
rined to observe our old friend the Turkish wag
slowly raise a great placard announcing : " No
Casualties ! "
The Turks were now much more lively in
their cannonading, and began once more their
hateful tactics of loosing off shells at mounted
men.
About a fortnight before I left the Peninsula,
I was riding up from Gully Ravine, and, having
got to the top of what is called Artillery Road,
I met a gun team, and one of the drivers told me
to be careful going along the next couple of
hundred yards, as the Turks were shelling the
short strip of road just ahead. I was walking
my horse at the time, and continued to do so,
as I felt I was just as safe walking as galloping.
In a few moments I heard the report of a gun from
behind Krithia, then I heard the scream of a
shell coming nearer and nearer, and as I bent my
head down to the horse's mane I said to myself :
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Back to England
" This is going to be a near thing ! " The shell
whizzed close above my head and exploded a
yard or two beyond me, plastering some twenty
or thirty yards of ground with shrapnel. My
horse took no notice of the explosion, and con-
tinued walking on as if nothing had happened.
Although I was anxiously on the look-out for
another salute from the enemy, I thought, if I
just walked on, I would bluff the Turkish observ-
ing officer into thinking that, as I took the matter
so unconcernedly, he must have the wrong range
and it would be useless to go on shooting. It
was either that or else he was a sportsman and
thought that, as I had taken my escape so calmly,
he would not shoot again, for at any rate not
another round was fired.
Although I did not know it at the time, Gye
had been watching the whole of this episode from
a little distance. He had seen the gun team
being shelled as it galloped for shelter down to
the Gully, and when he saw me emerge he felt
pretty sure that I would be fired on as soon as I
was spotted by the Turkish gunners. He told
me it was most exciting to watch me as I came
to the dangerous bit of road ; hear the report of
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Back to England
the Turkish gun, hear the shriek of the shell as
it came along, and then see it go bang, apparently
on my head !
As was to be expected, where cannonading and
battles were the order of the day, there was little
to be seen on the Peninsula in the way of animal
or bird life. The cranes which Homer sings
of somewhere or other, flew in great flocks down
to Egypt, flying almost in the arrow formation of
geese when in flight, but with the arrow not
quite so regular. I have put up some partridges
out of the gorse, between the Gully Ravine and
the Aegean, within a hundred yards of where the
guns were blazing away for all they were worth.
There were a few other small birds about, but
very few, if any, warblers. I came across one
dead hare, shot by a stray bullet, and I had a
glimpse of one live one as it scuttled away in the
gorse. The only other four-footed wild thing
that I saw in the Peninsula was what appeared to
be a cross between the merecat and the mon-
goose, but slightly larger than the mongoose.
It was of a dark reddish-brown colour, thickly
dotted over with grey spots. I saw one or two
small snakes, but whether they were venomous
289 19
Back to England
or not I cannot say, for they glided off into their
holes before I could secure a specimen.
A night or two before I left Gallipoli we had
a sudden downpour of rain which made the
trenches raging torrents, and turned the dug-
outs into diving baths ; but still our men re-
mained cheery throughout it all ; nothing can
depress them. The men of L Battery, R.H.A.,
like all others, were flooded out in the twinkling
of an eye, and I watched them, standing in their
shirts on the edge of their dug-outs, endeavour-
ing with a hooked stick to fish up their equip-
ment and the remainder of their attire from a
murky flood of water four feet deep — all the time
singing gaily : " It's a long way to Tipperary."
My escape on Artillery Road was the last
serious little bit of adventure I had on the
Peninsula, for towards the end of November
I got ill, and Captain Blandy, R.A.M.C., packed
me off to hospital. My faithful orderly,
Corporal Yorish, came with me to the hospital
and saw that I was comfortably fixed up for the
night. I cannot speak too highly of this man's
behaviour during the whole time he was with
me in Egypt and Gallipoli. In Palestine he
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Back to England
was a dental student, but he could turn his
hand to anything, and was never happy unless
he was at work.
I spent that night in the clearing station
close to Lancashire Landing, on a bed having
a big side tilt, with a dozen other officers all
round, some sick, some wounded. We had
a dim light from a hurricane lamp suspended
to a rope, which was tied to the tent poles, and
we got a little warmth and a lot of smell from
an oil stove, for the weather was now very cold.
At about 4 a.m. I dozed off, and the next
thing I remember was a Turk leaning over me,
trying, as I thought, to prod me in the face with
a bayonet. I made a vicious kick at him which
woke me up, and then I discovered that my
Turk was no Turk at all but merely the hospital
orderly, who was attempting to jab a ther-
mometer into my mouth in an effort to take
my temperature. It was 5 a.m. and the hospital
machine had begun to work, and whether you
are well, or whether you are ill, or whether you
are asleep, or whether you are awake, tempera-
tures and medicines must be taken according
to rule and regulation.
291 19*
Back to England
This same clearing station had seen some
very lively times, because it is close to the
ordnance stores, and in a line from Asia to
W Beach, so that shells used to fall into it both
from Achi Baba and from across the Dardanelles.
Orderlies and patients had been killed there,
and many others had had marvellous escapes.
Scores and scores of times have I witnessed
the departure of the sick and wounded, which
generally took place in the evening, and the
clock-like precision with which everything
worked reflected the greatest credit on Colonel
Humphreys, R.A.M.C., who was in charge of
it from the beginning to the end, and on the
members of the R.A.M.C. Corps who assisted
him. From what I saw of the R.A.M.C. men
in Gallipoli, this Corps has every reason to be
proud of itself. Of course, at the first landing
there was a lamentable medical break-down,
and there is no doubt that hundreds of lives
were lost because there were not enough
doctors, attendants, and stores to go round.
Hundreds and hundreds of badly wounded men
had to be stuffed anywhere on board transports
and sent down to the hospitals at Alexandria
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Back to England
with practically no one to look after them,
excepting their lesser wounded comrades ; but
this was an administrative blunder, which
does not reflect on the pluck, energy and
skill shown by all those R.A.M.C. officers
and men with whom I came in contact in
Gallipoli.
Colonel Humphreys saw me off on the morn-
ing of the 29th of November, and I went down
in an ambulance full of officers and soldiers to
the French pier at V Beach, the same at which
I had landed in April, because our own pier
at W Beach had been washed away and could
not be used. While we were getting on board
the trawler which was to take us to the hospital
ship, the Turks put a few shells close round us
in their efforts to damage the French works
on V Beach. This was their last salute so far
as I was concerned, for I never heard another
shot fired. They were very good about our
hospital ships, and never attempted to do
any shooting which would endanger them in
any way.
As we rounded the stern of the hospital ship
in order to get to the lee side, as the weather
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Back to England
was a bit boisterous, I was interested to see that
the ship was called the Assaye.
Now, during the South African War, I had
gone out in this same ship in command of about
twelve hundred troops, and it was somewhat odd
that I should now see her as a hospital ship and
be going aboard her as a patient. I found
things very comfortable on board, and certainly
it was an immense change to us to find ourselves
once more between sheets on a spring bed swung
on pivots, so that the patients should not feel
the motion of the ship. We were very
democratic in the hospital, as generals, colonels,
majors, captains, lieutenants and senior N.C.O.'s,
some thirty or forty of us in all, were jumbled
up together in the ward.
There was only one nursing sister for our
ward, an Australian lady, Sister Dixon, who cer-
tainly worked like a slave from somewhere about
seven in the morning until ten at night. Her
task was too severe, and enough to break down
any ordinary mortal. She was assisted in the
ward duties by Corporal O'Brien, who did what
he could to make us comfortable. The night
orderly was a big kindly Scotch Highlander,
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Back to England
named Mackinnon, almost as tender and sym-
pathetic as a woman, who apologized profusely
when he had to wake us every morning at 6 a.m.
to take our temperatures and count the beats
of our pulse.
The Assaye lay off Cape Helles in a blinding
blizzard of hail and snow, during which many
of the poor fellows in the trenches were, I am
told, frozen to death, or, as a lesser evil, got
their feet frozen during that very cold spell.
On the 2jth we set sail for Mudros, which
we reached in about four hours, where we lay
at anchor for a day, and there was much specu-
lation as to whether we would be transhipped,
or go ashore and be put in hospital on this
island, each and all wondering what was going
to happen. One or two light cases were put
ashore, and then the ship weighed anchor bound
for Alexandria, which we reached without
adventure on the ist of December. All of us
who were unable to walk were carried ashore
by some stalwart Australians, and then we
were sandwiched into a motor ambulance, still
remaining on our stretchers, and driven off
to Ras-el-Tin Hospital, which occupied an
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Back to England
excellent position by the edge of the sea. Here
I spent fifteen days getting every care and atten-
tion from Miss Bond (the matron), and nursing
sisters Blythe and Jordon, who looked after
the patients in my ward. Ras-el-Tin Hospital
is used for officers only, but I noticed that some
of the medical officers were somewhat young
and inexperienced. This I consider wrong,
because in these days the lives of officers are
of great importance, and only the best and most
experienced medical officers should be employed
to look after them, and get them fit for their
duties as soon as possible.
My own little experience in this respect may
not be out of place here as an apt illustration of
what I have just written.
The senior medical officer in charge, a very
young temporary captain, without coming to
see me, decreed that I was fit and well enough
to leave the hospital for a convalescent home.
Now, I was just about able to crawl and no
more, and the matron and sister who knew the
state I was in, told him that I was utterly unfit
to leave the hospital. However, without
coming to see me, he still remained obstinate,
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Back to England
and ordered my kit away ; but meanwhile
Colonel Beach, the A.D.M.S. Alexandria, having
come to see me, his experienced eye showed
him that it would be some months before I
should be fit for military duty again, and he
told me I should have to go before a medical
board, who would dispose of my case. The
following day the medical board decided to
send me to England, and I was put on board
the hospital ship Gurkha, which I found very
comfortable, with excellent food and a most
excellent medical staff, a colonel, three majors,
and a captain, all of the Indian Medical Ser-
vice ; and I thought what a pity it was that
some of these able and experienced officers
could not be utilized to take charge of such
hospitals as Ras-el-Tin, where they could guide
the junior staff into the way they should go.
It is just another example of not utilizing in
the right way the wealth of talent which we
possess in skilled and able men. I do not
for a moment mean to suggest that the talents
of these Indian Medical Service officers were
wasted on the Gurkha. What I do mean is
that one or two of the senior men would have
Back to England
been ample on the ship, with a couple of younger
men as assistants, and the other senior men
could then have been released for similar work
among some of the ill-staffed hospitals in Egypt
or Mesopotamia.
Colonel Haig, I. M.S., the senior medical
officer on board, was untiring in his care of the
sick and wounded, and if a testimonial of his
zeal were wanted, it could be found in the
difference in the appearance which his three
hundred patients presented from the day when
they came on board the Gurkha at Alexandria
to the day when they left his hands at South-
ampton. I, who saw it, can only say it was
simply marvellous.
After eleven days' treatment in the capable
hands of Major Houston, I. M.S., I found myself
a different man when I walked off the ship at
Southampton, where we arrived on Boxing
Day, 1915, and reached London on a hospital
train the same evening. At Waterloo we were
met by a medical officer, who scattered us
throughout the hospitals in London. I was
fortunate in being sent to that organized by
Lady Violet Brassey at 40, . Upper Grosvenor
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Street, where I was never so comfortable or so
well cared for in the whole course of my life,
and for which I tender her my very sincere
thanks ; and I would also like to thank Doctor
A. B. Howitt, Miss Spencer (the matron), and
the sisters and nurses for the care and kindness
which they showed me during the three weeks
I was in their charge.
It was delightful to have old friends crowding
in with gifts of flowers, and fruit, and books,
and all the latest London papers and gossip.
Lady Violet arranged some delightful concerts
for us at which such public favourites as Madame
Bertha Moore, Miss Evie Greene and others
charmed us with song, story, and recitations.
Among the " others " was Miss Marjorie Moore,
whose song, " Just a Little Bit of Heaven,"
reached all the Irish hearts there.
Harry Irving, too, came to see me one day,
and presented me with a box for the Savoy,
where half a dozen of us thoroughly enjoyed
The Case of Lady Camber.
Discussing the play at dinner in the hospital
afterwards, I remarked how well Holman Clarke
had acted in the Sherry scene, when the V.A.D.
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Back to England
nurse who was at that moment handing me
some soup remarked : " I am glad you liked
him because he is my brother."
How wonderfully well the women of the
Empire have shown up during the war ! They
have come forward in their thousands not only
for V.A.D. work, where their help is invaluable,
but also for Munition work, and work of every
kind which up to the outbreak of war it was
thought could only be done by men.
Yes, the women have certainly come into
their own, and I for one am very glad of it, and
proud too of the fact that they have responded
so nobly to the call.
300
CHAPTER XXXI
THE EVACUATION
\ A THEN I learned in August of the Great
Failure at Suvla, and heard with
astonishment and no little anger that no further
troops were to be sent to Gallipoli, I knew then
that the only thing to do was to get out as
quickly as possible before the Turks could get
a fresh stock of munitions and reinforcements
from Germany and Bulgaria.
It must not be imagined that I was anxious
that we should leave Gallipoli after all our great
sacrifices there, but since the Government had
decided once more to fritter away our chances
by diverting troops to Salonika, when it was
already too late to accomplish any useful pur-
pose there, I knew that our position on the
Peninsula was hopeless.
Bad weather was coming on and it would
301
The Evacuation
have been absolutely impossible to live in the
trenches and dug-outs. Even with the little
amount of rain that I had experienced, the
communication and other trenches were at
times waist deep in raging torrents, carrying
down empty cases, dead Turks and other debris.
Had troops been left in Gallipoli for the
winter, the losses from sickness and exposure
alone would have been enormous ; in fact, the
Army would have needed renewing every month.
It must be remembered that the conditions
of life in Gallipoli were entirely different to
those prevailing in France. There were no
such things as dry sleeping places, dry clothes,
or housing of any kind, and one was just as
likely to be killed in the so-called rest trenches
as in those on the front line.
One of the saddest things I know of was the
death of the Colonel commanding the King's
Own Scottish Borderers. He had escaped
everything right through the campaign, but
in the end met his death in one of the rest
trenches about the middle of November, by a
shell fired from Helen of Troy on the Asiatic
coast.
302
The Evacuation
When once it was definitely decided to send
no further reinforcements to Gallipoli, of course
the only thing left to do was to get out, and
to get out as speedily as possible.
But even after the obvious had become in-
evitable, we still went on gaily, spending
enormous sums of money, laying down miles
of tramways, making roads, bridges, erecting
camp hospitals, and doing a thousand other
things — all very expensive work.
When I saw this going on I began to think
that perhaps, after all, the Government were
really going to do the right thing, which would
have been to throw an overwhelming force of
Anglo-French troops on the Turks, catching
them, as they then were, with but little ammuni-
tion, crumpling them up and thus accomplishing
our main object in the Near East. This would,
undoubtedly, have been the right line of policy
to have taken, and would have helped Serbia
much more than anything else, but some fatal
demon seems to dog the footsteps of our politico-
strategists.
When our Foreign Minister declared that
we were going to uphold Serbia with all our
303
The Evacuation
might he must have known that he was mouth-
ing mere empty phrases, but the unfortunate
Serbians put their trust in the pledged word
of a British Minister, with the result that
thousands upon thousands of them have been
cruelly done to death.
The more honest and more noble plan would
have been to have admitted that, at the moment,
we could do nothing for Serbia or the Serbians,
and to have advised them to make what terms
they could with their powerful neighbour,
assuring them that, at the right time, when
we were ready, we would, without fail, not
only deliver them from the hands of their
enemies, but amply compensate them for the
trials they would, for a space, have to endure.
It is said that the gods strike with blindness
those whom they are about to destroy and it
certainly looks as if the gods had held the searing
iron rather close to our eyes ; but, notwithstand-
ing all the mistakes and in spite of our politicians
and our blundering strategists, and in spite of
our neglect of science and scientists, I have
still absolute confidence, owing to what I have
seen of the splendid pluck and endurance of
3°4
The Evacuation
our men, both in the Fleet and in the Army,
that we will come out of this great World War
triumphant.
Let it not be supposed that our terrible
losses and disastrous failure in the Dardanelles
have been altogether fruitless. By our presence
there, we held up and almost destroyed a
magnificent Turkish Army and by doing this we
gave invaluable aid to our Russian ally.
Had it been possible for the Turkish Army,
which we held fast in Gallipoli, to have taken
part in Enver Pasha's great push in the Caucasus
there is no doubt that the Turks would have
crushed the Russians in those regions and have
made things look very black indeed for our
ally. As it is, I consider it is greatly due to
the Gallipoli campaign that Russia, during her
time of stress and shortage of munitions, was
able to hold her own in the Caucasus and, when
she was ready, assume the offensive, resulting
in her recent brilliant capture of that great
Turkish stronghold in Asia Minor, Erzeroum.
The knowledge that this effort of ours has,
after all, borne some fruit tends to assuage our
grief for the loss of those dear friends and good
305 20
The Evacuation
comrades who now lie buried by those purple
Aegean shores.
We can well imagine that the spirits of those
heroes of France and Britain and Greater
Britain who have fallen in the fight are eagerly
watching and waiting for the hour of our
victory ; and when our Fleet sails triumphantly
through the Dardanelles, as it surely must, and
thunders forth a salute over the mortal remains
of our mighty dead, their shades will be at
peace, for they will then know that, after all,
they have not died in vain.
306
APPENDIX
I HAD no idea when I was taken to hospital that I
should not see my Zion men again. I thought I
should be fit for duty in the course of a few days, so
I never even said good-bye to them before I left.
However, I am in touch with them still through the
post, and I am glad to say that there were no deaths
after I left and all got safely back to Egypt when
that brilliant piece of work — the evacuation of Gallipoli
took place. I promised to recommend those who did
well to the Russian Authorities, and I was glad to
forward the following letter and list of names to the
Imperial Russian Consul at Alexandria, for trans-
mission to the proper quarter :
" From the Officer Commanding Zion Mule Corps.
" To the Imperial Russian Consul, Alexandria.
" Headquarters, Zion Mule Corps,
" 14 Rue Sesostris, Alexandria
" December I4th, 1915.
" SIR,
" I have the honour to state that with the approval
of your Government a number of Jewish refugees from
307
Appendix
Palestine, Russian subjects, were formed into a corps
for service with the British Army. I have already
furnished you with a nominal roll of all officers and men
of Russian nationality in the Corps. I now wish to
bring to your notice, for the favourable consideration
of your Government, the names of those soldiers who
did especially well while serving under my command
in Gallipoli, and I sincerely trust that you may find it
possible to have their names brought before the Imperial
Russian Minister for War for favourable consideration.
" The following have distinguished themselves before
the enemy :
" Officers :
(1) " Captain J. Trumpledor has proved himself a
most gallant soldier and has been already decorated
by H.I.M. The Tsar for gallantry at Port Arthur.
(2) " Second - Lieutenant Alexander Gorodisky.
This was one of my best officers and he was a very brave
soldier. I was much grieved when he died as the result
of the hardships of the campaign. He leaves a widowed
mother who was dependent on him for her maintenance.
(3) " Second-Lieutenant Zolman Zlotnic, a useful
officer and a gallant man.
" Non-commissioned officers :
(1) " Sergeant-Ma j or Joseph Yassinsky.
(2) " Sergeant Nissel Rosenberg.
(3) " Corporal M. Groushkovsky. This Corporal
308
Appendix
has been awarded the Distinguished Conduct Medal
for gallantry in the field.
(4) " Corporal Nehmia Yehoudis.
(5) " Corporal Isaac Yorish.
(6) " Corporal Frank Abram (killed in action,
leaving a widow and five little children).
" I have only mentioned those who have specially
distinguished themselves, many others did very good
service also, and I am glad to be able to attach a copy
of an official letter, enclosed herewith, testifying to the
good work done by these Russian subjects while serving
under me in the British Army.
" Trusting for the favour of your transmitting these
names to the proper quarter.
" I remain, Sir,
" Your most obedient servant,
(Signed) " J. H. PATTERSON.
" Lieutenant-Colonel Commanding Zion Mule Corps."
[COPY.]
" 8th Army Corps, H.Q. " D. Adjt.-General, G.H.Q.
"No. 27412. "No. B. 3322.
" October 2nd, 1915. " 5 io'i5.
" M. E. F.
" The A.Q.M.G. 8th Army Corps.
" I have had a petition from forty-five N.C.O.'s
and men of this corps for permission to go to Alexandria
for a couple of weeks on leave. I would very strongly
recommend that this leave may be granted, as these
309
Appendix
N.C.O.'s and men have been here (and have worked
well) ever since the original landing in April.
" I consider that the men really need this change and
as their families are in Alexandria, I hope they will be
sent there in accordance with their request.
" If, as I hope, my men are given leave to proceed
to Alexandria, I propose to give one half leave as
soon as granted, and the other half on the return of
the first party.
" As these men have done particularly well, I trust
that their good service will be recognized.
" J. H. PATTERSON,
" Lieutenant-Colonel, Commanding.
" 2 10 15.
" (Zion Mule Corps.)"
2. " Adjutant-General, G.H.Q. " 8th Corps, H.Q.
"No. B. 332. "No. A. 274'i2.
"510,15. "41° 15-
" M. E. F.
" G.H.Q.
" I recommend this application. As the G.O.
C.-in-C. is aware this Corps has done excellent work.
(Signed) " FRANCIS DAVIES,
" Lieutenant General,
" Commanding 8th Corps.
"41015."
310
Appendix
3. " G.O.C. Stb Corps.
" This leave is approved, the delay is greatly regretted,
but has been unavoidable. The C.-in-C. has approved
of a grant of one pound to each of these forty-five men
in consideration of the good work of the Corps, and the
Field Cashier is authorized to issue the cash.
(Signed) " A. CAVENDISH,
" Colonel,
" A.A.G., G.H.Q.
"511 15."
4. " Field Cashier.
" Please note, and pass to O.C. Zion Mule Corps,
who should return this memo to Corps Headquarters.
(Signed) " C. D. HAMILTON MOORE,
" Lieutenant-Colonel for B.C., D.A. and
" Q.M.G. 8th Army Corps.
"71015."
HATIKVOH
Kol owd Hallivor peneemoh
Nafesch Yehoodee howmeeoh
Ulefahahsi Mizroch kohdeemoh
Aynec Tzeeown tsowfeeoh.
Owd km ovdoh Sikvohsinu
Hatikvoh hahnowshohno.
Loshur learetz ahvousinu
Leear bow Dovid chonoh.
Kol owd demohows — Mieyeninu
Yizzlu keghashem nedovous
Urvovous mibni Amminu
Owd howlcheem al kivri ovous.
Owd lou ovdoh Sikvohsinu
Hatikvoh hahnowshohno.
Loshur learetz ahvousinu
Leear bow Dovid chonoh.
312
HATIKVOH
(THE SONG OF HOPE)
Arranged by
EVA LONSDALE
By kind permission of
Mess1? R.MAZIN&O
LONDON
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Printed at The Chapel River Press, Kingston, Surrey.
UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA LIBRARY
Los Angeles
This book is DUE on the last date stamped below.
RPR 19 1989
I OCT02 1988
<H.APRl9
0 6 1999
JUN05200Z
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