by Peter Hart
I soon saw he was not the man for the awful position he found himself in. It does not inspire men who don’t know what is going to happen to see a little man running about with a papier-mâché megaphone in his hands all day – doing nothing – and he never landed till the show was over. He was no coward, but simply was not the man for the part.43
Commander Edward Unwin, River Clyde
In Tizard’s defence it should be pointed out that far too many senior officers were killed on 25 April through acting as if they were lowly subalterns and taking unnecessary risks. In so doing they were in effect evading their real responsibility to exercise the command and control functions that came with their rank. Tizard, who was an essentially sensible man, was merely trying to wrest some kind of control over a chaotic situation.
I now went to the machine gun stations on the boat to try and locate targets in order to try and keep the enemy’s fire under control. It was very difficult to get any definite target – the furthest trenches of the enemy were between 400 and 600 yards distant. Captain Lambert RN assisted me in this and he also directed the gunfire of the supporting ships on to various points of the village and ground commanding the beach. I still considered that our best plan was to hold on till the light failed when the enemy’s fire would not be as accurate. However, if I saw a chance when the fire died down, I intended to try and get the men over gradually.44
Lieutenant Colonel Henry Tizard, 1st Royal Munster Fusiliers, 86th Brigade, 29th Division
Yet the Turks too were suffering. One message, sent by Lieutenant Abdul Rahman to his commanding officer, Major Mahmut, reflects in its frantic pleas for reinforcements their growing desperation as they realised the numbers that were pressing upon them.
My Captain – the enemy’s infantry is taking cover at the back of the Sedd el Bahr gun defences, but the rear of these gun defences cannot come under fire. With the twenty or twenty-five men I have with me it will not be possible to drive them off with a bayonet charge, because I am obliged to spread my men out. Either you must send up reinforcements and drive the enemy into the sea, or let us evacuate this place, because I am absolutely certain that they will land more men tonight. Send the doctors to carry off my wounded. Alas! Alas! My Captain, for God’s sake send me reinforcements, because hundreds of soldiers are landing. Hurry up. What on earth will happen, my Captain?45
Lieutenant Abdul Rahman, 3rd Battalion, 26th Regiment, 9th Division, Fifth Army
Given the scale of the British attack on the Helles, it was not surprising that the vastly outnumbered Turkish defenders of 3/26th Regiment were approaching the ends of their endurance. There were no significant reserves immediately on hand and Lieutenant Rahman would have to fight on as best he could. All that Major Mahmut could do was to send forward his 11th Company to the Hill 141 sector to try to bolster further the defence of V Beach.
Help and ammunition only arrived 21½ hours after the beginning of the battle. During this 21½ hours, firing had not ceased or diminished. This shows that the fire discipline was perfect. This in its turn was due to the soldiers having been called up at the right time and to the care taken in their training by efficient and capable officers.46
Major Mahmut, 3rd Battalion, 26th Regiment, 9th Division, Fifth Army
Darkness brought relief of a kind to both sides. It offered the Turks some respite from the attacks, but it also cloaked the British trapped on V Beach and allowed those cooped up aboard the River Clyde finally to start getting ashore. One who took his chance early was Lieutenant George Davidson, a doctor serving with the 89th Field Ambulance Brigade. He could in no conscience wait any longer to try to help the wounded, many of whom had been trapped without help for up to fourteen hours of what must have been the longest day.
I set off alone over the barges and splashed through the remaining few yards of water. Here most of those still alive were wounded more or less severely, and I set to work on them, removing many useless and harmful tourniquets for one thing, and worked my way to the left towards the high rocks where the snipers still were. All the wounded on this side I attended to, an officer accompanying me all the time. I then went to the other side, and after seeing to all in the sand my companion left me, and I next went to a long, low rock which projected into the water for about 20 yards a short way to the right of the Clyde. Here the dead and wounded were heaped together two and three deep, and it was among these I had my hardest work. All had to be disentangled single-handed from their uncomfortable positions, some lying with head and shoulders in the tideless water, with broken legs in some cases dangling on a higher level. At the very point of this rock, which had been a favourite spot for the boats to steer to, there was a solid mass of dead and wounded mixed up together. The whole of these I saw to, although by this time there was little I could do except lift and pull them into more comfortable positions, but I was able to do something for every one of them.47
Lieutenant George Davidson, 89th Field Ambulance, RAMC
The troops on the River Clyde began to file down the gangplanks, across the lighters and then on to the rocky spit to reach the shore.
The losses were small then. For 3 hours I stood on the end of the spit of what had been rock in two feet of water helping the heavily laden men to jump ashore on to submerged dead bodies. This is what went on monotonously: ‘Give me your rifle!’ ‘Your shovel!’ ‘Your left hand!’ ‘Jump wide!’ ‘It’s all right, it’s only kits!’ ‘Keep clear of that man’s legs, can’t you?’ Trying to persuade the wounded over whom they had to walk that we should soon get them aboard. Wounded men were brought to the end of the spit and could not be got aboard, because the other stream was more important and never-ending – there they slowly sank and died.48
Lieutenant Commander Josiah Wedgwood, No. 3 Squadron, Royal Naval Armoured Car Division
Young Midshipman George Drury had earlier received a slight head wound, but he was still assisting in the collection of the wounded.
I had a party getting wounded from the hopper and lighters and putting them onboard a trawler lying under our quarter. An awful job, they had not been dressed at all and some of the poor devils were in an awful state. I never knew that blood smelt so strong before.49
Midshipman George Drewry, River Clyde
So it was that by 00.30 on 26 April all the troops were ashore where they would endure a cold and miserable night.
Not far away Major Mahmut visited his men holding the Helles area. By then the 3/26th Regiment had been reduced to about 450 men, having lost something like fifteen officers and about half of the men. They could hear but not see the British troops creeping ashore.
The officers and men of the 9th Company were spoken to. They were told that the fate of the nation depended on us this night, that if we were able to gain time for our army by stopping the enemy’s advance, we would have completed our task. It was explained that every hour which we were able to remain here would assist our army in gaining a victory and would result in a crushing defeat for the enemy. We must remain resolute. The battalion officers and men were told that help would come, that on arrival of help a bayonet attack would be made, and that with the grace of Allah the timorous enemy would finally be driven into the sea. The men fired their rifles and awaited the order for the bayonet charge. Not for a moment did they call to mind the comparison between the enemy’s strength and their own.50
Major Mahmut, 3rd Battalion, 26th Regiment, 9th Division, Fifth Army
Advanced detachments from the 25th Regiment reached Mahmut’s headquarters at around 02.30. Accompanied by two of their regiment’s four machine guns, they had hoped to re-establish a firm line and then launch a general counter-attack, but this was soon abandoned as impossible, although two companies were sent forward under cover of darkness to help bolster the line. The Turkish forces at Helles were still severely outnumbered.
The British still had their problems. It was soon evident that experienced officers who could motivate the troops were at a premium and would pr
ove crucial to any hopes of success. Their men had suffered great trials either lying helpless on the narrow strip of beach or waiting long hours in the bowels of the River Clyde. Some of them were wavering.
We ought to have been able to seize the crest quite easily, but the men were sticky and lack of officers very apparent; they wanted a good leader.51
Lieutenant Colonel Weir De Lancey Williams, Headquarters, 29th Division
The party of divisional staff officers aboard the River Clyde decided to intervene directly to sort out the confusion and to lead the troops by personal example. The most powerful personality among them proved to be Lieutenant Colonel Dick Doughty Wylie.
The Colonel took charge of the situation at once, and after collecting together the whole force, which consisted of the survivors of the Munster Fusiliers, the Dublin Fusiliers and two companies of the Hampshire Regiment under Major Beckwith, he ordered us to charge in one mass into the Castle and occupy it. He led the charge himself with the other officers, whom he ordered to form up in line in front of their respective regiments. The Castle was occupied finally, and the Turkish snipers found in it all bayoneted, with very small loss to us.52
Captain Guy Nightingale, 1st Royal Munster Fusiliers, 86th Brigade, 29th Division
By 08.00 the Sedd el Bahr fort was occupied and attention could be turned to breaking the Turkish grip on the beach by ejecting them from the village and older fort which overlooked it from Hill 141.
The only way into Sedd el Bahr village lay through the Castle, which had two main entrances for this purpose. Each was a stone archway about 15 feet in breadth, but covered by a deadly fire from machine guns and marksmen hidden in the ruins of the village beyond. Anyone attempting to go through, or even walk past the gate, was killed instantly, and invariably shot through the head. Colonel Doughty Wylie had a very narrow escape here. He was passing some distance in rear of the gateway when a bullet knocked the staff cap off his head. I happened to be quite close at the moment, and remember being struck by the calm way in which he treated the incident. He was carrying no weapon of any description at the time, only a small cane.53
Captain Guy Nightingale, 1st Royal Munster Fusiliers, 86th Brigade, 29th Division
Through a potent combination of organisational ability, experience, tactical skills and sheer courage, Doughty Wylie was helping to shake the men from their lethargy and propel them forward.
Meanwhile, Second Lieutenant Reginald Gillett had been given his own rather difficult and dangerous task: to try to encircle the Turks in the village.
Major Beckwith ordered Lieutenant Parker and myself to try and climb along the cliff on the east side of the village and force an entry half way along. The rock cliff was high and almost perpendicular, below was the sea and on the rocks at the foot of the cliff more than one mangled body lay. It must be remembered that we carried very heavy equipment: a full pack which also contained a spare pair of boots, extra water and 200 extra rounds of ammunition in bandoleers slung round the neck. Officers carried exactly the same amount as the men, except that they carried a revolver instead of a rifle. This encumbrance made the climb even more difficult and perilous. One was covered by direct rifle fire, but at one point a large boulder, evidently pushed over by the enemy, came bounding down the cliff straight for me. I thought I was about to be added to the mangled remains below, but the boulder bounced just above my head and again below my feet and I was still safe.54
Second Lieutenant Reginald Gillett, 2nd Hampshire Regiment, 88th Brigade, 29th Division
Gillett emerged from his dangerous scramble round the cliffs in time to join in the attack through the village. The numbers of Turks left facing them may not have been large, but their sniping could be deadly.
The village consisted of one straight main street with ruined houses on each side. Slowly we worked our way through the village, but with bullets whizzing down the street, crossing it was something of a hazard. However when necessary we did so one-by-one, somewhat after the fashion of small children daring each other to be last across the road in front of an on-coming car. One of my men had a nick taken out of his nose – poor man – but we all thought this rather a joke. When we got to the last house of the village, Major Beckwith detailed two men to accompany me and ordered me forward to reconnoitre. I was so interested in my work that I forgot everything, and for the first time since the landing felt completely at ease. It was therefore a very great shock when I received a sledgehammer like blow on the back which sent me flying up in the air. I thought I was never going to land, but I did and landed with a thump on my back on top of a large heap of stones, masonry and rubble. I was helped back to the cover of the last ruined house in Sedd el Bahr. Soon afterwards the troops advanced and I was left alone.55
Second Lieutenant Reginald Gillett, 2nd Hampshire Regiment, 88th Brigade, 29th Division
The streets of Sedd el Bahr were full of strange and macabre sights, as witnessed by Lieutenant George Davidson.
The only living things I saw in the village were two cats and a dog. I was very sorry for a cat that had cuddled close to the face of a dead Turk in the street, one leg embracing the top of his head. I went up to stroke and sympathise with it for the loss of what I took to be its master, when I found that the upper part of the man’s head had been blown away, and the cat was enjoying a meal of human brains.56
Lieutenant George Davidson, 89th Field Ambulance, RAMC
When they came to the edge of the village the British looked to their half left to the last bastion of the Turks, on Hill 141 overlooking the beach. Once again Doughty Wylie made plans, arranging for the navy to bombard the redoubt via Tizard, who was still aboard the River Clyde. Captain Guy Nightingale was left in no doubt as to Doughty Wylie’s determination to succeed.
Colonel Doughty Wylie took me up one of the corner turrets of the old Castle, and pointed out to me the way he intended to carry out the assault. There was a strong redoubt on the top, but he decided that the remnants of the three battalions should assault simultaneously immediately after the bombardment. He was extraordinarily confident that everything would go well, and the hill be won by sunset, and I think it was due much to his spirit of confidence that he had been able to overcome the enormous difficulties with only such exhausted and disorganised troops as he had to deal with. His sole idea and determination was that the hill should be taken that day at all costs. As the time was getting near for the bombardment to cease, the Colonel gave his final orders to the few remaining officers before the assault.57
Captain Guy Nightingale, 1st Royal Munster Fusiliers, 86th Brigade, 29th Division
All was ready and the attack went in. Having regained some of their self-confidence, the men were enthusiastic for the fray.
When the order came to fix bayonets the men scarcely waited for any orders, but all joined up together in one mass, and swept cheering up through an orchard and over a cemetery to the first line of wire entanglement, through which was a way out leading past the deserted Turkish trenches to the summit of the hill. On the top was a flat space surrounded by a moat 20 feet deep with only one entrance leading up over it, through which the assaulting troops were led by Colonel Doughty Wylie and Major Grimshaw.58
Captain Guy Nightingale, 1st Royal Munster Fusiliers, 86th Brigade, 29th Division
To their left on the beach Captain George Stoney had organised parties of Dublin and Munster Fusiliers ready to join in the attack advancing left of Sedd el Bahr straight up to Hill 141. They were still faced with a formidable barrier of barbed wire. One of the first to reach it was Corporal William Cosgrove, who, at 16 stone and 6 foot 6 inches, was a veritable giant of a man.
The dash was quite 100 yards, and I don’t know whether I ran or prayed the faster – I wanted to try and succeed in my work, and I also wanted to have the benefit of dying with a prayer in my mind. Well, some of us got close up to the wire, and we started to cut it with pliers. You might as well try and snip Cloyne Round Tower with a lady’s scissors, and you wou
ld not hurt yourself either. The wire was of great strength, strained as tight as a fiddle-string, and so full of spikes or thorns that you could not get the cutters between. I threw the pliers from me. ‘Pull them up,’ I roared. ‘Put your arms round them and pull them out of the ground!’ I dashed at the first one; heaved and strained, and then it came into my arms the same as you’d lift a child. I believe there was wild cheering when they saw what I was at, but I only heard the screech of the bullets and saw dust rising all round from where they hit. I could not tell how many I pulled up. When the wire was down the rest of the lads came on like ‘devils’ and, notwithstanding the pulverising fire, they reached the trenches. A machine gun sent some bullets into me, and strange, I was wounded before I reached the trench, though I did not realise it. When I got to the trench I did my own part and later collapsed. One of the bullets struck me in the side, and passed clean through me, took a couple of splinters off my backbone and passed out on my right side.59
Corporal William Cosgrove, 1st Royal Munster Fusiliers, 86th Brigade, 29th Division
The men from the beach were joined by those bursting out of the village. Together they surged towards the old fort on Hill 141, racing across the final stretch of open ground.
We did not come under any heavy fire only losing about four men wounded. We rushed the line of trenches and saw the Turks clearing out. Not many getting away alive. The place proved to have been held by only a very few men – certainly if there had been more we could not have got up as easily as we did.60
Captain George Stoney, Headquarters, 29th Division
The Turks had been ordered to retire towards Krithia in the late morning, but as this would have left them exposed to fire from the Allied ships, they had decided to try to cling on till nightfall.
Our soldiers were still active and were pinning down the enemy. The enemy was advancing in rushes, he was unable to assault. Many of those who rushed forward were being hit and there were many casualties. But there was no telling in what strength the landing had been made. Not an inch of ground remained which was not shelled either by the shrapnel of the fleet or by the many machine guns of the infantry.61