Gallipoli Diary, Volume 1

told two enemy submarines are on their way to pay us a visit. The approach of these mechanical monsters opens up vistas thronged with shadowy forebodings. De Robeck begs me

ches are already overcrowded, and we should be squeezed in cheek by jow

posals. Had he not meant the Fleet to shove in K. must have made some reference to the second Division, surely. Have cabled back at once to K. giving him warmest thanks and begging him to look, personally, into the question of the command of the coming Division. Have begge

s they were with mud, haggard with lack of sleep, pale as the dead, many of them slightly wounded and bandaged, hand or head, their clothes blood-stained, their eyes blood-shot. Who could have believed that only a fortnight ago these same figures were clean as new pins; smart and well-liking! Two-thirds of each Battalion were sound asleep in pools of mud and water-like corpses half buried! Thi

the younger Officers especially had that true funeral set about their lips which spreads the contagion of gloom through the hearts of the bravest soldiers. As each company front formed the knees of the rank and file seemed to give way. Down they fell and motionless remained. An hour or two of rest, their Colonel says, will make all the difference in what the French call their allure, but not quite so soon I think. These are the New Armies. They

have urgent need for his services on a "military mission." D'Amade is a most charming, chivalrous and loyal soldier. He has lost his son fighting in France and he has had his headquarters right down in the middle of his 75's where

fab with the heroes of the 29th Division, and their utter unconsciousness of th

Headqu

May,

ly renewed forces of the foe. During the whole of that long period they have been illuminating the pages of military history with their blood. The losses have been terrible, but mingling with the deep sorrow for fallen comrades arises a feeling of pride in the invincible

Hami

ne

al d'

ned a farewell

Headqu

Exped.

May,

Géné

that your country has urgent need

he cause we have at heart. By day and by night, for many days and nights in succession, you and your gallant troops h

but you, Mon Général, have added fresh brillianc

onsolation hereafter to think that only by so fierce a trial could thus have been full

surance that in your new sphere of activity, you will continue to

ema

Géné

incere

Hami

ne

which a Turkish Torpedo boat sneaked down the Straits and torpedoed the Goliath. David and his

all, in command. Chatted to no end of his men-Inniskillings, Dublin Fusiliers, etc. They have recovered their exhaustion; have cleaned up, and look full of themselves, twice the size in fact. As I stepped on t

econdly,-I should be further, in point of time, from Birdwood and his men than if I was still on board ship. Thirdly,-the several Headquarters of Divisions, whether French or British, would all equally hate to have Braithwai

arried it with a rush! They are absolutely the boys f

we'd get the men to-morrow. If I had my own depots in Egypt still I could see my way, but, as things are, there seems no chance of getting a move on for another fortnight. Have cabled K. saying, "I hope the 29th Division is soon to be made up to strength. I had no idea when I left England that the customary 10 per cent. reinforcement was not being taken with it by the Divis

a contrast we must present to the Headquarters in France! There the stately Chateau; sheets, ta

r, the new Chief of the French. A resolute, solid looking gaillard is

will be cut to the heart. The Admiralty have turned down the proposal to force the Straits si

all your force." Our people know better; we are to go on attacking with half our force. First

delay in getting quickly to Anzac; secondly, because Tenedos is so close to Asia that we might all be scuppered in our beds by a cutting-

has been hit, but another message to say nothing serious, came close on the heels of the first. Anchored at Imbros when I got a cable asking me what forces I shall need to carry right through to a finish. A crucial question, very much affected by what the Admiral told me last night. Nothing easier than to ask for 150,000 men and then, if I

son, his new Flagship, in the morning. The submarines are shadowin

ion. Quite a shower of shell fell all about us, the Turks having spotted there was some sort of "bloke" on the Rattlesnake. We went round a bit of the line, and found all well, the men in great heart and, amidst a constant crackle of musketry, looking as if they liked it. Birdie himself

doctors, alas, give a bad, if not desperate, account of him. Were he a young man, they could save him by cutting off his leg high up, but as it is he would not stand the shock. On the other hand, his feet are so cold from the artery being severed that they anticipate mortification. I should h

, and the natives brighten up when they are greeted in Hindustani. On returning to Imbros, got good news about the Lancashire Territorials who have gained 180 ya

ans show no interest, the Russians do not move an inch to get across the Black Sea (the Grand Duke Nicholas has no munitions, we hear); our submarines have got through but they can only annoy, they cannot cut the sea communications, and so the Turks have not fled to Bulair. Instead, enemy submarines are actually about to get at us and our ships are being warned they may have to make themselves scarce: last-in point of time-but not least, not by a long way, the central idea of the original plan, an attack by the Fleet on the Forts appears to have been entirely shelved. At first the Fleet was to force its way through; we were to look on; next, the Fleet and the Army were to go for th

f up and has gone home by cable to-day. The statement is entirely frank and cove

F. 2

4th instant. The following is m

the Peninsula as many troops as the availa

for them.[18] Moreover, the difficulty in answering your question is accentuated by the fact that my answer must depend on whether Turkey will continue to be left undisturbed in other parts and the

up to strength by the necessary drafts, plus the Army Corps asked for in my No. M.F. 216 of the 10th May, would probably suffice to finish my task. If, however, the present situ

d from the Western side and gain more space; but I could land them on the adjacent islands of Tenedos, Imbros and Lemnos and take them over later to the Peninsula f

that is now being reckoned upon, if I had a liberal su

should go without saving, (1) that my force is kept up to strength, (2) tha

biggest figure in the world. He believes, he has an instinct, that here is the heel of the German

ed into raw battalions commanded by inexperienced leaders is as the value of the sun to the moon. But K. and I have never seen eye to eye here, and never will. The spirit of man is like a precious stone: the greater it is the more room in it for a flaw. Who in the world but K. would have swept up all the odds and ends of detachments from about twenty different regimen

150 yards from the enemy, greatly strengthening t

adventures in the Sea of Marmora. She is none the worse, bar the loss of one periscope from a Turkish lucky shot. Her Commander, Boyle, comes only after Nasmith as a pet of Roger Keye

ealanders at Anzac. I hope and believe that they will do well. Thei

aintance. I met him six years ago on the Austrian man?uvres. He is a delightful personality; a very sound soldier and a plucky one also. I reminded him how, in 1906, he had told me that the Germans would end by binding together all the other peo

as my minimum unless some neutral or Allied Power is going to

6, ci

ointment it has been to me to discover that my preconceived views as to the conquest of positions necessary to dominate the forts on

nd the calls for large reinforcements and an additional

aining on our resources requires grave consideration. I know that I can rely upon you to do your utmost to bring the present unfortunate state of affairs in the Dardanelles to

at the 4,500 which Maxwell can send you are apparently not required by you. With t

ivision is lea

help him by remembering, and by making smaller calls upon him. But the only way I can really help him is by winning a battle: to pretend I could win that battle without drafts, munitions and the Army Corps asked for would be a very short-lived bluff both for him and for me. We have had it from other sources that this strange notion of running away fro

f as a raw brigade, has twisted itself, going down some office corridor, into a story that I don't want the men! K. tells me Egypt is mine and the fatness thereof; yet, no sooner do I make the most modest suggestion concerning anything or anyone Egyptian than K. is got at and I find he is the Barmecide

ng down my demands for reinforcements?-for evidently these demands are what are making them shake in their shoes. Here is my draft for an answe

F. 2

e despondent at anything in the situation. Remember that you asked me to answe

l existing cadres. Maxwell, possibly not to disappoint senior officers, has sen

, and now at 11 p.m. the French and Naval

they were moved up into the fight where a tremendous fire action was in progress. Last, they stormed forward in the densest masses yet seen on the Peninsula. Then, they were mown down and driven back headlong. So they have had a dreadnought recept

rant it to them-the suppliants. Herbert brings amazing fine detail about the night and day battle on the high ridges. Birdie has fairly taken the fighting edge off Liman von Sanders' two new Divisions: he has knocked them to bits. A few more shells and they would have been swept off the face of the earth. As it is we have slaughtered a multitude. Since the 18th we are down to two rounds per gun per diem, but the Turks who have been short of stuff since the 8

is set-back to one who has it in him to revive the part of Pitt, had he but Pitt's place. Haldane, too. Are the benefits of his organization of our army to be discounted because they had a German origin? Fas est et ab hoste doceri

ant-Commander Boyle of E. 4 fame. I was proud indeed to meet the young and mode

sing the veering of the winds of high politics! Evidently K. felt ill at ease; evidently he must now be sitting at a round table surrounded by masked figures. Have just finished writing him to sympathize; to say he is not to worry about me as "I know that as long as you remain at the War Office no one will be allowed to harm us out here."

s on to say, "Could you not take a run out here and see us? If once you realize with your own eyes what the troops are doing I would never need to praise them again. Travelling in the Phaeton you would be here

I wish, on the grounds of ordinary tactics, he could make up his mind to come out. The man who has seen gains self-confidence and the prestige of his subject when he e

k and dreadful Straits? Since I started nothing has handicapped me more than the embargo which a double loyalty to K. and to de Robeck has imposed upon my c

ry than that recorded in the scene when Winston burst into the Council Chamber and bucked up the Burgomeisters to hold on a little bit longer. Any comfort our people may enjoy from

King's Messenger. Never has story be