At Suvla Bay
ort came steaming into the bay. The haze of early morning dusk
e got up and stretched our cramped limbs.
n't know what part of the Peninsula we had reached. The mystery of the adventure made it a
pidly the pink sunrise swept behind the rugged mountains to
hips, monitors, and troopship
dy shore. The decks were crowded with that same khaki crowd. We all stood eagerly watc
to be blown to pieces by land mines as they waded to the beach. On the Lala Baba side we watched
to Hawk, who was peering
urder,"
e Turkish positions on the Sari Bair range came screa
wounded were crawling away like ants into the dead yellow gr
ackle sounded first on one part of the bay, and then another. Among the dar
he other by our battleships. We watched the thick rolling smoke of the explosions, and saw bits of whee
the bay to the other-it swept round suddenly with an angry
r shells went hurtling and screaming over the mountai
and unfolded puffs of grey and white and black smoke. It flashed tongues of livid flame,
nd shrapnel-toothed. Now and then he bristled with bayonets, and they glitteredthe next instant mowed them down with a hail of lead. He galloped up a battery, unlimbered-and before the first shell
y, and dropped into the water with a great column of spray glittering in the early morning sunshine. A German Taube buzzed overhead; the hum-hum-hum of the engine was very loud. She dropped several b
pressed forward across the Salt Lake. It stormed the heights of the Kapanja Sirt on the one side, and took Lala Baba on the other. Puffs of smoke hung on the hills, and
th, sure enough-Mechanical Death
ersed you before you had set foot on dry land; or a high explosive removed your stomach, and
ng. If it slackened its murderous fire at one side of t
ive, when so many lay dead. Some were killed
the sandy shore, and poured
nd it literally shook the air... it
d the rattle and crackle fainter and fart
ould see our artillery teams galloping along like a team of performing fleas, taking up new positions behind Lala Baba. So this is war? Well, it's p
ink it was quite like this!
d. A lighter came alongside, with a
f any one?" I
n Ket
es
pipe. We huddled into the lighter, and hauled our stores down below. Some of u
be blown to pieces. Encouraging sight... At last we reached the ti