by Peter Hart
Corporal Godfrey Clifford, 1st West Kent Yeomanry, South Eastern Mounted Brigade, 42nd Division
The storm of fire held back the Turks. There would be many more attacks, but in the end they managed to incorporate the crater into their front line positions. The real measure of their success, however, was whether they succeeded in diverting eyes from events further north.
AT SUVLA THE TURKS WERE WARY, but remained baffled. The earlier quiet periods followed by the vigorous resumption of normal hostilities had created doubts in their minds. Just as they themselves were preparing for winter, so they presumed that the Allies were doing the same, closing down non-essential firing and so quietening down the front. Even on the last day they were completely unaware of what was going on under their very noses.
Opposite us there was peace with the exception of the usual fire from the enemy. About 11 o’clock in the morning our howitzer battery on Ismail Oglu Tepe [the W Hills], with a field battery, had shelled Lala Baba, as a result of which Ismail Oglu Tepe was immediately shelled by several enemy batteries. The usual picture.34
Colonel Hans Kannengiesser, Headquarters, XVIII Corps, Fifth Army
It was of course crucial to manage the staged withdrawal of the artillery batteries. The guns had to be saved where possible, but at the same time if they were prematurely withdrawn and fell silent too early, then the Turks might realise what was happening. Considerable judgement was required.
In the event the evacuation of Suvla proved far simpler than anyone had envisioned. The tension all through Sunday 19 December was evident, but the Turks continued to show no signs of awareness. Once darkness fell the troops filed quietly back with no undue incidents. It was all going very smoothly. Lieutenant Clement Attlee of the 6th South Lancashires had been ordered to hold the last ditch lines around Lala Baba.
We had 250 men and six machine guns. We went down the still very muddy road in the dark. I despatched Lindley and Wakeford with sixty men and two machine guns to hold the road between the Salt Lake and the sea, the remainder I disposed in the trenches as previously arranged and took post myself in a dugout with the Company Sergeant Major, signallers and orderlies. I was in telephone communication with General Headquarters. I had four officers of the East Lancashires on duty at the gaps in the wire which had been erected half way to the trenches, one of these was rather barmy and caused Lindley some trouble by his manner of waving his revolver about. We soon began to get reports of parties passing through. This continued at intervals all through the evening and night. About 3.30, word came that the parties holding the wire half way had closed the gaps and were coming through. I warned our men to get ready. There followed a period of waiting. All this time everything was very peaceful though there were occasional shots to be heard from Anzac. Then we got the order to move. The men hustled up the trench, machine guns going first. I brought up the rear and found at the pier a few military police, General Maude and a few of the staff. We went on board lighters which seemed to go round and round. Flames shot up from the dumps of abandoned stores.35
Lieutenant Clement Attlee, 6th South Lancashire Regiment, 38th Brigade, 13th Division
They finally bade farewell to the shore of Suvla at 04.00 on the morning of 20 December. Major General Stanley Maude, commanding the 13th Division, was considered to have done a good job, though even his devoted staff regarded him as a strange fish.
In appearance he was not exceptional. He was tall and thin and walked with rather a stoop. He wore a Victorian moustache, which hung rather raggedly over a small mouth. His chin lacked firmness. His high-pitched and sometimes rather querulous voice was unmelodious. At times of stress he had a tiresome habit of whistling out of tune. Nothing, admittedly, could be much less flattering than this description, and yet this was the soldier above all others for whom I have the greatest respect and admiration. Beneath this ordinary exterior, and despite these blemishes, there beat in him the heart of a warrior. His craving for detail would have been a vice in another man, but in him it did not seem to matter. At any rate, he never lost sight of the wood for the trees.36
Captain Douglas Brownrigg, Headquarters, 13th Division
As was expected, the main tension on 19 December was at Anzac. Here there was no margin for error, with the trenches often just a few yards apart. If the Turks realised that only a skeleton force was holding the key positions at The Nek, Quinn’s, Courtney’s, Steele’s and Lone Pine, then they could be through and across Russell’s Top or 400 Plateau in minutes. From these vantage points they could fire directly down into the throngs of men being evacuated in boats from the beach. It was a terrifying prospect, especially for the men charged with the responsibility of holding the front lines to the end. Each unit in the line was carefully organised. The arrangements revealed to the officers of the 24th Battalion at their briefing were typical:
The 24th Battalion would hold Lone Pine until the end and for a time would be supported by some of the 23rd in reserve. We left that conference with our feelings too deep for speech. We were stunned and broken in spirit, if not broken-hearted. Subsequent orders divided the battalion into three echelons, to be designated ‘A’, ‘B’ and ‘C’ parties. These groups were subdivided into ‘Al’ and ‘A2’; ‘B1’ and ‘B2’; ‘C1’, ‘C2’ and ‘C3’ parties. ‘A’ parties, consisting of six officers and 245 men (mostly sick), would leave on the first night. ‘B’ parties, consisting of six officers and 386 men, would commence to move out at 9.30 p.m. and be clear of the trenches by 11 p.m. on the last night. ‘CI’ party, consisting of four officers and 26 men, would move at 2 a.m. on the 20th; ‘C2’ party, two officers and 34 men, at 2.15 a.m.; and ‘C3’, the last party, of three officers and 34 men, would leave the trenches at 3 a.m. and arrive at Watson’s Pier at 3.20 a.m. on December 20. Three volunteers were called from among the officers to remain in charge of the last party and it was clearly indicated that there could be no chance of it getting away. The party was to be the rearguard to cover the final retirement, no matter what happened.37
Second Lieutenant Stanley Savige, 24th (Victoria) Battalion, 6th Brigade, 2nd Division, AIF
Every officer volunteered and among those selected were Second Lieutenant George McIlroy and Second Lieutenant Stanley Savige. Their chances of survival relied on competent staff work and an attention to detail.
A list has been drawn up of the names of each of the last 170 officers and men, showing for each man the time that he has to leave the front trenches, and exactly what he has to do – whether to carry a machine gun, or its tripod, or its belts, or to throw a bomb, or to start an automatic rifle, or to light a fuse which will blow up a gun-cotton mine, or to complete a previously prepared barbed-wire entanglement on a track which might be used by the enemy. Every one of these 170 officers and men has been given a card, containing all these particulars so far as they apply to himself, and the exact route by which he is to reach the beach. All this means organisation and makes all the difference between success and failure.38
Brigadier General John Monash, Headquarters, 4th Australian Brigade, NZ&A Division, AIF
As the shortened daylight hours slowly ticked by there was inevitably the occasional false alarm.
We experienced our first scare about midday. A Turkish plane appeared and, dropping to about a hundred feet above the trenches, moved backwards and forwards along their length. Did the airman know anything of our plans? It looked as if he did. If so, our chances were not too bright. As the plane swept along the lines every man was ordered to fire his rifle as rapidly as possible, not at the plane, but simply into the air, hoping to impress the Turkish infantry into believing our line was strongly held.39
Second Lieutenant Stanley Savige, 24th (Victoria) Battalion, 6th Brigade, 2nd Division, AIF
The Anzacs did have other strings to their bow, however. A series of mines had been dug and made ready for detonation. At Russell’s Top two mines were charged with over 1,500 lbs of ammonal, while a tunnel feeling its way right under the Turkish
lines at The Nek was packed with two tons of high explosives by the Australian sappers. Lieutenant James Caddy was left with a small party of the 5th Field Company up on Russell’s Top, the last sector to be evacuated.
Right up to the last, men were left in the faces of the tunnels tapping with picks so that the enemy would think that mining operations were still being continued. The day was spent waiting for the end and testing the connections with the mines to ensure that they would explode when required. It was still doubtful whether the mines would be fired or not, so we fixed up an arrangement which, if necessary, would fire the mines some hours after we had left. This consisted of a sandbag suspended by a string and a candle, which, after staying alight for about 2 hours, would burn the string, causing the sandbag to fall on the exploders and fire the mines.40
Lieutenant James Caddy, 5th Field Company, Australian Engineers, AIF
Similar devices were used to create self-firing rifles which were left in the front line trenches to fire at irregular intervals when the last of the troops had fallen back. Several designs were created, the best-known of which was the invention of Lance Corporal William Scurry of the 7th Battalion.
It occurred to me that if we could leave our rifles firing we might get away more surely. The sand of the hourglass was the first germ of the idea. If the sand could be made to trickle from above into a container attached to the trigger, the increased weight would finally release it. Next day I started on the idea but it wouldn’t work. The sand wouldn’t run and the trigger wanted a jerk to pull it. The jerk was easily got over by the cartridge box full of dirt, but water was the only thing that I could think of to replace the sand.41
Lance Corporal William Scurry, 7th (Victoria) Battalion, 2nd Brigade, 1st Division, AIF
This was a problem and it took some considerable entreaties to get the three pints he needed for the experiments. The principle was fairly simple, but fiddly to achieve in the conditions. A can of water was perched on a small shelf. This dripped the water down into another tin which in turn was attached by a wire to a cartridge box full of dirt and stones. When the second tin was full enough of water it toppled over the cartridge case which was in turn linked by a wire to pull the trigger. He showed his prototype to his officer and tests were held to prove that the idea had merit. It was accepted and Scurry spent his last few days there explaining his simple construct to hundreds of curious Anzacs up and down their front line.
Shortly after dusk there was an ominous increase in Turkish shell fire, with shells crashing down into the Anzac area. What did it mean?
As the shadows lengthened, the enemy began to register with his heavy artillery the communication trenches leading to the front. Past experience indicated that this ranging was a preliminary to a more serious attack. Nerves were now getting a bit on edge. Would he attack after dark or at dawn? We hoped it would be a dawn attack!42
Second Lieutenant Stanley Savige, 24th (Victoria) Battalion, 6th Brigade, 2nd Division, AIF
As everyone else began to make their way as quietly as possible to the beach the men left in the trenches had to create the impression of an undiminished occupancy. Obviously the quiet periods had helped, but it was still best to try to maintain a physical presence for as long as possible.
Each man would take ten to fifteen fire bays as his sector. This demanded great individual activity, as each man, though able to fire from only one bay at a time, must maintain a regular fire from all. This fire must be maintained by firing from irregular bays and not bay after bay in succession. Everything must be done as normally carried out by the full garrison, even to throwing the occasional bomb. These plans were not difficult in making, but extremely difficult in their execution, as the average distance between the lines was only 15 yards, and, at places, considerably closer.43
Second Lieutenant Stanley Savige, 24th (Victoria) Battalion, 6th Brigade, 2nd Division, AIF
Midnight came and went and it became apparent that the Turks were not planning to attack that night, nor were they aware of what was going on just a few yards away. Indeed, the intelligence reports they had received had only added to the confusion.
It was reported from the division that thirty enemy transport ships and eight or nine warships were off Imbros, that four of the transports were sailing towards Suvla Bay and that we should be constantly on the alert for an anticipated landing operation by the enemy.44
Corporal Huseyin Atif, 1st Battalion, 17th Regiment, 5th Division, Fifth Army
As the hours passed, so some of the Australians began to hope that they might, against all the odds, get away with it.
A still night, with a bright moon overhead casting shadows in the bottom of the trench – a scene so peaceful one could hardly associate it with war. The mind found leisure to wander off to far Australia and imagine something of the surprise which would be caused by the newspaper headlines on the morrow. All quiet in front and everything working so smoothly to schedule, one even began to contemplate the hitherto very remote possibility of our getting away with it altogether. It was a great satisfaction to know that most of the troops were already clear and it was beginning to look like a sporting chance for us, although time enough for quite a lot of things to happen yet.45
Second Lieutenant George McIlroy, 24th (Victoria) Battalion, 6th Brigade, 2nd Division, AIF
Yet there were still occasional excitements. Routine Turkish activity, which in normal circumstances would have passed without comment, was suddenly perceived as very threatening.
A little after midnight the officers were sharpened up a bit by a telephone report that a Turkish patrol had been observed pushing up Wire Gully. If this meant a general move forward, we could expect trouble very shortly, while our isolated party might easily be cut off in the rear. Our orders were clear, however, that the position must be held, even though attacked heavily, until 3 a.m. at all costs. Nothing was said to the men, except a warning to be alert and the time arrived for ‘C1’ and ‘C2’ parties, including the machine gunners, to retire, while the phone from the rear was cut off, leaving three officers and 34 other ranks doing their best to sound like a whole battalion, although feeling somewhat isolated in the world, for as far as we could tell no other Australian troops were on either flank for some distance. When each officer, precisely at 2.40 a.m., moved along his front with instructions to slip quietly out to the rendezvous in Gun Lane, instead of the frenzied anxiety to depart which one might have expected, the popular idea of the moment seemed to be, ‘Just another shot at the old **** before we go!’46
Second Lieutenant George McIlroy, 24th (Victoria) Battalion, 6th Brigade, 2nd Division, AIF
McIlroy’s men were filing silently out of the trenches while he conscientiously checked the front line to make sure everyone had got clear. To his amused surprise, he found Corporal Edgar Worrall having a final leisurely pot-shot at the Turks.
The Turk could be heard strengthening his barbed wire. I probably fired the last shot at Lone Pine. At last our time to go had come and with blankets tied round our feet to muffle the noise we made our way along the blanket-covered trenches out to the communication trench and then down to the beach.47
Corporal Edgar Worrall, 24th (Victoria) Battalion, 6th Brigade, 2nd Division, AIF
Many of them felt an eerie remoteness as they walked down deserted trenches and paths that had previously been packed full of soldiers. The hundreds of dugouts that lined the gullies still had candles burning but there was no one at home. This strangeness was intensified by the muffling effect of the blanketed trenches and swathed boots. Behind them they left the self-firing rifles. Lance Corporal William Scurry must have cursed the harvest of his brainwave as he was, not unnaturally, given the task of setting up the 7th Battalion self-firing rifles.
I was told that I had been detailed to remain with ‘C’ Party to work the rifles, which were to be fixed – twelve on a battalion front – ready at the loopholes. The nose caps and magazines were removed, back sights bent and any other little id
ea for making the weapons useless to the Turks was carried out. At the time when the last men would be moving down we were to start operating the rifles. On the left, where I was posted, the Turks were fairly close, so we had the drip set longer there and after I saw the men leave the rifle pit on the flank, I stood alone in that black tunnel for 15 minutes. White moonlight through the entrances to the rifle ‘possies’ made it all the more gruesome and it was a very frightened lad who at last started to fill the water-cans. Off we started. Orders were to move smartly, but not to run, and it took considerable self-control to stick to the latter part. I wondered then, and often since, if any unfortunate ‘Jacko’ got hit with one of those bullets, as it would have been the depth of ‘stiffness’ for him.48
Lance Corporal William Scurry, 7th (Victoria) Battalion, 2nd Brigade, 1st Division, AIF
In the pitch dark the route down to the beach was not easy and the officers needed all their motivational skills to keep their exhausted men going.
The strips of blankets around the boots began to unwind and impede progress. There was not time to halt and rectify this. Before we had traversed half the distance we faced our greatest difficulties, difficulties we had not foreseen. The men of the last party had not slept since the night of the 17th. It was now the morning of the 20th. While on the job in the line the excitement of the situation had kept all of us actively awake. Now that we were clear of the trenches, the nervous strain had its reaction. We were all loaded with packs and rifles. Some men began to drop out of line. All they desired was sleep and to be left alone. All the Turks in the world did not interest them. Persuasion was useless and time was slipping by. There was nothing left but to ply the boot to the fleshy part of the anatomy. We literally booted some of them along to, and on to, the last boat.49