The following details published in Paris on July 11 by an official "Eyewitness" with the French army of the desperate fighting which resulted in the capture of the summit of Hilgenfirst, more than 3,000 feet high, in the Langenfeldkopf region, in the Vosges Mountains, are given in an account of the struggle written by an official eyewitness with the French army.
In the fight for the capture of the eminence of Hilgenfirst, one company of our advance guard which forced a breach in the German lines was cut off from its battalion as the result of a German counter-attack. This company, nevertheless, succeeded in maintaining the conquered position four days until finally relieved.
On June 14 the Sixth Company of the Seventh Battalion crawled from its trenches and deployed toward a clearing in the woods opposite. It then charged, taking the German trenches. The Germans fled to the woods, leaving a quick-firer. Our men immediately began fortifying the position, but our sentries reported that German patrols had been seen encircling the French. Other companies were ordered forward immediately to support the one in the trench.
Meanwhile large German reinforcements had been brought up, making it impossible to reach our men. The captain in the trench, realizing that he was surrounded, ordered some of his men to form a hollow square and defend the position while others dug trenches on four sides. The Germans attacked in great force with quick firers and rifles, but withdrew at nightfall after a battle lasting two hours. Our men defending the position numbered 137, including five officers. One officer and twenty-seven men were wounded.
The following day, despite a well-directed fire from our main positions, the Germans again attacked in large numbers, advancing in columns of four. The situation now began to look critical, but at the crucial moment a hail of shrapnel from our 75.8 completely decimated one advancing column. The edge of the wood out of which the column advanced was piled high with German bodies and the remainder of the force scattered in flight.
In the afternoon the Germans again prepared for an attack, but the attempt was frustrated by our infantry fire. During the night the captain told off men to rest in squads, the others being constantly on the alert. At dawn a second lieutenant and a few men surprised a small German scouting detachment of twenty men commanded by a non-commissioned officer. Our men threw themselves upon the Germans, killing the officer and two men, the others taking to their heels at top speed.
At 10 o'clock the main body of our troops succeeded in establishing communications with the isolated company which called for help in the provincial dialect. We answered that we would attack at nightfall, but that the attack would be preceded by a heavy bombardment.
Accordingly, they constructed heavy bomb-proof shelters on the four sides of the square and anxiously waited. At 9 o'clock the attack was begun with artillery, quick firers and rifles, but it was insufficient to drive out the Germans, who had in the meanwhile established well-protected trenches and, with an excellent telephone system, made any surprise movement impossible.
The company's rations were now becoming very low. Delirious cries of the wounded added to the discomfiture of the men. The following morning a German patrol tried to take the position by storm, and some of the men succeeded even in mounting the parapet. These were driven off by a quick firer which had been captured from the Germans. On other advancing troops of the enemy huge boulders, dug from the hillside, were rolled down and we succeeded in dispersing the attack.
Another attack was prepared by us for that night, but the danger was great on account of the narrowness of the position occupied by the company. The captain of the company was ordered to light fires at the opposite ends of his position, so that our artillery could better regulate its fire, as there was great danger of killing our own men.
The artillery opened a crushing fire, and the Germans began to retreat. As they passed the company's position their men were mowed down by the exactness of the fire of our troops, and finally the brave company was delivered.
The general in command of the army in the Vosges said, in complimenting the men for their bravery, the company henceforth should be called "Company Sid Ibrahim."
Battle line in the Vosges, July 20
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The official French "Eyewitness" at the front reported on July 18 giving details of the French success in the battle of Fontenelle, in the Vosges. The scene of the conflict is in the neighborhood of the village of Senones and the forest of Ormont, and the ground is described as undulating and cut by deep ravines.
It was in this region, says the observer, that the Germans, after the battle of the Marne, look up a position on a summit commanding the surrounding countryside. This hill was Height 627, which is known as Fontenelle.
On June 22, after severe losses, the enemy succeeded in occupying Fontenelle, says the observer. Although we counter-attacked vigorously, taking 142 prisoners, the enemy held the summit. General Van Kuderzen, in a report dated July 3, said that after a careful inspection of the German works and trenches he finally believed that the hill had been transformed into an impregnable fortress, and that its capture would necessitate tremendous losses.
On July 8 all necessary preparations for the attack had been completed. The same day, at nightfall, three columns, aided by a remarkably accurate artillery fire, took a portion of the enemy's trenches. In the center we also attacked, forcing the enemy to the west of Launois in ten minutes. The attack on the left proceeded more slowly, but, aided by gathering darkness, we took possession of the northwestern portion of the hill.
At daybreak not only the whole of the summit had been retaken, but a majority of the German defenses as far as the road from Launois to Moyen-Moutier. Thanks to our artillery, all preparations for counter-attacks were immediately stopped.
During the battles of July 8 and 9 we took 881 prisoners, including 21 officers. When questioned the prisoners gave great praise to our excellent artillery marksmanship, saying: "We did not believe there could be such a hell of fire."
An Associated Press dispatch dated on the heights of Notre Dame de Lorette, near Arras, July 10, gave the following account of the 120 days' fight ended successfully by the use of high explosives:
After fighting 120 days for the hill country between Bethune and Arras, the French forces are in possession of all the eminences looking out upon the plain of Flanders. Lille, Douai, and Chambrai all are visible from here.
Every position along the broad national road between Arras and Bethune has been won except Souchez, and last night another quarter mile of trenches in the Souchez web was torn away. The attack was made under parachute rocket lights, the French burning bluish white and the Germans greenish white, covering the scene of the desperate conflict with a ghastly glow.
The most desperate fighting has been along the short ten-mile front from Arras to Aix-Noulette, which began March 9 with the taking of a few hundred yards of trenches on the watershed of Notre Dame de Lorette, where there are the ruins of an old Merovingian military road. Every day since then some section of the German trenches has been taken, lost, or retaken.
Each side has been employing formidable artillery both of small and heavy calibre, the French guns being somewhat more numerous and served with unlimited quantities of high explosive shells.
A correspondent of The Associated Press today went through five or six miles of the trenches formerly held by the Germans and reconstructed by the French, who now have abandoned them to move forward. Upward of 100,000 Germans have fallen or been captured in these trenches, according to the French official count, since the second week of March. The French losses, the correspondent was confidentially informed, while serious, have been much smaller than those of the Germans. There are thickets of little crosses made of twigs tied together, marking the graves between the trenches. Some of these graves have been torn up by the shell fire.
Almost every square yard of this region is marked by miniature craters caused by exploding shells. Spots where shells penetrated the earth without exploding are indicated by signs bearing the words "Live Shell."
One line of the German works was just below the summit of a steep slope which, from the nature of the ground, could not be shelled without danger to the French position a little higher up. The Germans were sheltered in dugouts under the hillside, and their French assailants, sliding or jumping down into the trenches, were shot or bayoneted from caves. The line was finally taken by tossing grenades by the basketful into the trenches until most of the defenders in the concaved shelters were killed or wounded. Every curve or angle in the miles of labyrinthine cuttings has its story of tragedy and heroism.
In the party which went over this ground and into the firing trenches within calling distance of the German lines with The Associated Press correspondent were Owen Johnson, Arnold Bennett, Walter Hale and George H. Mair, the last representing the British Foreign Office. As they approached the lines one shell from a four-inch gun burst within twenty-five yards of them, while others exploded only thirty or forty yards away. This incident seemed greatly to amuse the soldiers in the trenches, who laughed heartily at the embarrassment of the civilians.
The visitors were invited by the soldiers into their shelters, which are dry caves with narrow entrances and with clay floors covered with matting or sacking and faintly illuminated by the light which filters in from the entrance or by bits of candle on the inside. Men who had been on duty throughout the night were sleeping in these caves.
The men on the firing line express the utmost confidence that what was done yesterday and this morning they can keep on doing until the war has been won. They never hear the vague, unverified reports circulated in Paris, sometimes of tremendous and impossible victories, sometimes sinister hints of disaster. They know what they have done since March 9, when they were ordered to act on this part of the Aisne. They talk as a matter of course of another winter campaign, because, they say, it will take another year to break the German power.
An Associated Press dispatch of July 9 from Arras via Paris reads:
Shells have been dropping into Arras at intervals today, as they have been for 250 days. Each twenty-four hours a few more buildings crumple or burn, although the Fire Department still is efficient in extinguishing flames.
One thousand civilians out of a former population of 35,000 are still here. There were 4,000 in December when The Associated Press correspondent first visited the town. A few scores of the inhabitants have been killed or wounded, while the others have been persuaded by the military authorities to go away. None of those remaining thinks of sleeping anywhere except in a cellar. The rest of their time they spend out of doors, when no shells are falling.
The streets, which formerly were filled with traffic, are now grass-grown. Two postmen deliver the mail, which comes regularly once a day by military post. Several shops located underground are open for business. Displayed on cellar doors are baskets of fresh vegetables, which can be bought at about the same prices as in Paris. Inside the principal grocery are many standard brands of American, French, and British canned goods.
About half the outer walls of the beautiful City Hall are still standing, but there remains only one jagged corner of the imposing belfry which once adorned the great square of Arras. A citizen occupying a cellar on the other side of the square counted the shells which struck the belfry, and says it took 360 to shatter the beautiful bit of architecture.
An Associated Press dispatch from Paris dated July 13 reports:
Since June 27 the Germans have systematically bombarded various parts of Arras with projectiles of all calibres, says an official communication given out today by the French War Department.
On June 27 the bombardment was extremely violent and was executed by six-inch, eight-inch and seventeen-inch guns, between the hours of 8 A.M. and 2 P.M., and between 6 P.M. and 7:30 P.M. The fire was directed particularly at the citadel and neighboring streets.
On July 3, toward 6:30 o'clock in the evening, a further bombardment took place in which incendiary shells were used, and they started a most violent fire.
On July 5 at 4:30 P.M., the statement continues, the enemy recommenced its bombardment of the city, concentrating its fire upon the environs of the cathedral, more especially upon St. Vaast, the ancient Bishop's palace, which had been transformed into a museum. Incendiary shells set the building on fire, and the use of fuse shells from three-inch and four-inch guns prevented our organizing to combat the fire, which soon assumed great proportions and completely destroyed the palace. During the night there was an intermittent bombardment.
On July 6, about 7 A.M., shells fell on the Cathedral, the roof of which took fire, and, despite the efforts of our troops, was entirely consumed, as were the Cathedral organs.
The departmental archives, which had been deposited in the Palace of St. Vaast, had been placed in the cellar of the palace before the bombardment and were saved. The sacred ornaments and part of the furnishings in the Cathedral were removed.
The French official "Eyewitness" reported on July 15 the French victory in the battle of Metzeral in upper Alsace, as follows:
The operations by which our troops captured the towns of Metzeral and Sondernach, which are situated in the Fecht Valley, have been remarkable because of the means employed and the results obtained, and as the Alpine troops have been forced to surmount all possible difficulties.
Metzeral, the eyewitness explains, is situated in a valley surrounded by high hills, the sides of which dropped precipitously down to the Fecht region. On these hills was stationed artillery, to the rear of which, within easy access, large reinforcements could be massed and brought to the front when needed. He continued:
From prisoners we learned that the Germans considered their position impregnable. It was surrounded by several lines of trenches and barbed wire entanglements. We made long preparations for the attack, concentrating troops and bringing supplies up the Vosges through winding, narrow, and hastily constructed roads, twenty miles in length. New trenches were dug, mines laid, and various other details attended to.
On June 15, after prolonged and heavy artillery fire on both sides of the valley, the attack was begun against Hill 830, on which we captured trenches situated on the slopes, taking two companies prisoners. A portion of the trenches on Braunkopf also fell into our hands.
At Eichwald we gained less, as here the German fortifications were strongest. At Anlass, also, although many grenades were thrown, the fortifications were of such a character as to make it impossible to break through.
On the day following the attack was resumed, with the purpose of gaining us all the positions on Braunkopf and Hill 830. We began at this point to encircle Eichwald, as the road to Metzeral now lay open. The Germans remained at Anlass, where our attack always stopped, and with their fire across the valley on Braunkopf made it impossible for us to proceed.
All our efforts were now concentrated on Anlass. We attacked on June 18 and 19, and on the 20th the German positions fell into our hands. Our troops continued on down the valley, capturing 6 officers, 11 non-commissioned officers, and 140 men.
An attack directed at the same time against Winterhagel, situated to the south of Anlass, was marked by a sad incident. A small group of chasseurs who succeeded in breaking through the barbed-wire entanglements found themselves under a crossfire of quick-firers. The men tried to construct a shelter with the tools they carried. The Germans cried "Surrender!" Not one man answered. The quick-firers accomplished their work, and the men were found lying with faces to the ground, as if they had dropped when drawn up in line for parade.
Our attacks were now centred on Metzeral. The factory at Steinbruck was taken on the night of June 17, and a battalion entered Altenkof the day following. On June 21 our men came down from Braunkopf, surrounded the village on the north, and took the railway station. The Germans in Metzeral, threatened with capture, placed quick-firers in several houses to protect their retreat and prepared to set the place on fire. Our artillery quickly demolished the houses in which German artillery had been placed, and our troops entered the flaming streets from the north and west. The village was burned.
On the two following nights, while our troops harassed the retreating enemy, Winterhagel and Sondernach fell into our hands and our line was established along the length of the valley of the Fecht as far as Sondernach.
The action resulted in the capture of 20 officers, 53 non-commissioned officers, and 638 men.
An Associated Press dispatch from Paris stated on June 30 that the German attempt to divert the attention of the French from the latter's offensive in the region north of Arras has been productive of gains in the Argonne, where a three-days' bombardment of the French trenches was followed by the capture of French positions near Bagatelle. Elsewhere, particularly on the Yser, to the north of Arras, north of Verdun and near Metzeral in Alsace, there have been artillery exchanges without notable results.
The dispatch recorded the following French official communication, issued June 30:
In the Argonne, after a bombardment lasting three days, the Germans attacked our positions on the road between Binarville and Le Four de Paris, but were twice repulsed. They succeeded only in their third attack in gaining a foothold in some parts of our lines near Bagatelle, and they were everywhere else thrown back after a violent engagement.
There has been a bombardment on the front north of Verdun, in the Bois d'Ailly, as well as in the region of Metzeral.
On July 4 Berlin's official report said:
In the Argonne the Germans continue their offensive. Our booty has increased considerably, and amounted on July 1 and 2 to 2,556 prisoners—among them 37 officers—25 machine guns, 72 mine throwers, and one revolver gun.
It was reported from London on July 14 that the attack of the German Crown Prince's army in the Argonne, having for its objective the investment of the French forts of the Verdun area, had resulted in an advance of two-thirds of a mile and the capture of 2,581 prisoners and several pieces of artillery, according to German official reports. A communique issued in Paris, while admitting the German success, asserts that nowhere did the assailants gain more than a quarter of a mile and announces that the Crown Prince's offensive had been definitely checked.
Following is the text of the German official statement of July 14:
In the Argonne a German attack resulted in complete success northeast of Vienne-le-Château. Our troops took by storm the enemy positions in the hills extending over a width of three kilometers (about a mile and three-quarters) and a depth of one kilometer. Hill No. 285, La Fille Morte, is in our possession. Two thousand five hundred and eighty-one uninjured prisoners, including fifty-one officers, fell into our hands. In addition, 300 wounded were taken under our care. Two field cannon, two revolver cannon, six machine guns, and a large quantity of tools were captured. Our troops advanced as far as the positions of the French artillery and rendered eight cannon useless. These are now standing between the French and German lines.
Scene of the German Crown Prince's drive in the Argonne.
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The official statement issued at Berlin on July 15 says:
The French made repeated attempts yesterday, which lasted into the night, to recapture the positions we took from them in the Forest of Argonne. Notwithstanding the employment of large quantities of ammunition and of strong forces recently brought up, all their attacks broke down. In many places there was bitter fighting with hand grenades and encounters at close quarters.
The enemy paid for his unsuccessful efforts with extraordinarily heavy losses. The number of French prisoners has been increased to 68 officers and 3,688 men.
The success of our troops was all the more remarkable as, according to corresponding statements made by prisoners, the French had prepared for a great attack against our positions on the Argonne front on July 14, their national festival day.
The text of the German official statement published July 16 is as follows:
French attacks delivered yesterday and the day before to the west of the Argonne Forest failed in the face of the North German Landwehr, who inflicted large and sanguinary losses on the enemy in bitter hand-to-hand fighting. We captured 462 prisoners.
Since June 20 our troops have fought continually in the Argonne and to the west of that forest, with the exception of short interruptions. In addition to the gain in territory and booty in materials a total of 116 officers and 7,009 French prisoners has been reached up to the present.
On our front which joins the Argonne to the east, lively artillery battles are in progress. Attacks made by the enemy in this region were repulsed without difficulty.
In a dispatch from Berlin, dated July 16, by Wireless to Sayville, N.Y., it is reported that in the news items given out by the Overseas News Agency was the following:
German military tacticians point out that the German victory in the Forest of Argonne, in France, is of special importance, as it shows that the connections toward Western France are gradually being cut.
The large amount of war materials captured by the Germans in the last battle illustrates the importance attributed to the positions by the French commanders. The French, however, were unable to resist the terrific offensive of the Crown Prince's army.
The subjoined narratives, official and semi-official, show clearly the formidable nature of the Allies' land undertaking in the attempt to force the passage of the Dardanelles. It will be noted that Compton Mackenzie, the novelist, has temporarily replaced E. Ashmead-Bartlett as the British press "eyewitness" on the peninsula, and that General Sir Ian Hamilton's reports have for the first time begun to appear. A notable sketch of his career appears in the Atlantic Monthly for July by the pen of Alfred G. Gardiner. A poet and a man of romantic ancestry and taste, experienced in commands in India, in Egypt, and in South Africa, General Hamilton was called by the late Lord Roberts the ablest commander in the field. For his qualities of daring and inspiration, as well as for his coolness in directing the complex movements of the battlefield, he was chosen for this most dangerous and bloody of enterprises against the German-officered Turks.[4]
Mr. Mackenzie estimates the losses of the Turks up to June 30 at not less than 70,000. Prime Minister Asquith in the House of Commons, on July 1, announced that the British naval and military losses up to May 31 aggregated 38,635 officers and men. Yet the great fortress of Achi Baba, by that time one of the most powerful in the world, was untaken up to July 20, and the French and British Allies held but a small corner of the area to be conquered.
Authorized Press Representative at the Dardanelles.
Dardanelles, via Alexandria,
June 30, 1915.
THE battle of the Fourth of June ended with substantial progress on our centre, although on our left and on our right, notwithstanding the most violent charges and counter-charges, we were unable to consolidate some of our initial gains. The reason of this may be found in the natural strongholds of the Turkish flanks, natural strongholds that are helped by the most elaborate fortifications.
The British and French line from the Aegean to the Dardanelles is confronted by rising ground that culminates in the centre with the flat summit of Achi Baba, 800 ft. high. On either side the ground falls away to the sea in ravines and dry watercourses (deres), which the Turks have had time to make impregnable to any except those superb troops that are now fighting to pass over them.
There is no room upon the Gallipoli Peninsula to find weak points, and we are now in the position of having to storm an immensely strong fortress, the advanced works of which, by an amazing feat of arms, we already hold, and the glacis of which has to be crossed before we move forward to the assault upon the bastion of Achi Baba and beyond to the final assault upon the very walls of that fortress, the Kilid Bahr Plateau.
Farther up the coast the Australians and New Zealanders have made a lodgment upon one of the strongest advanced works of the Kilid Bahr Plateau. As seen from the northwest here they threaten the communications of the "fortress" and are drawing against them a large part of the garrison. This is composed of the flower of the Turkish Army, and, notwithstanding casualties that must already amount to 70,000, the troops are fighting with gallantry—with desperation, indeed, because they realize that when the bastion of Achi Baba falls the occupation of the Kilid Bahr Plateau becomes a mere question of time, and that when Kilid Bahr falls the doom of Constantinople is at hand. In view of the difficulties—were it not for the landing one would be tempted to say the impossibilities—which confront our men, the gain of a score of yards in the Gallipoli Peninsula may fairly represent for the purposes of comparison a gain of 500 yards in the Western theatre of war. Therefore, to find its importance the gain of 500 yards on June 4 must be measured with affairs like Neuve Chapelle; and the few quiet days that succeeded may be accepted as repose.
Map of Gallipoli Peninsula, showing the mountainous
nature of the terrain, and Achi Baba.
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After a violent effort on the night of June 11 to 12 there was a
brilliant little action by the Border Regiment and the South Wales
Borderers which resulted in the gain of two trenches. On the 16th the
enemy, led by a Turkish and a German officer, made an assault on the
trenches of the 88th Brigade, but were driven off with loss. However,
that night the trenches gained by the two regiments on the 11th were
heavily bombed, so heavily that our men were forced to retire about 30
yards and dig themselves in. At dawn we were able to enfilade with
machine-guns the vacated trenches.
Then the Dublin Fusiliers charged with the bayonet, and once more gave us possession of our gains at heavy cost to the Turks, whose dead filled one trench.
On the evening of the 18th the enemy bombarded very heavily another portion of our trenches on this side of the line. They were evidently attempting in miniature our own methods of Neuve Chapelle and June 4, as immediately after the bombardment they were seen to be massing for an attack. However, the imitation ended rather abruptly at this point, and the affair petered out.
On the evening of the 19th the Turks by a fierce attack, managed to get into an awkward salient which had remained in our hands after June 4. For some time there was great difficulty in recovering this, but the 5th Royal Scots and a company of the Worcesters, led by Lieut.-Colonel Wilson of the former regiment, made a glorious attack, and drove out the Turks.
Of the Royal Scots, one can add nothing but that they are Edinburgh Territorials brought in by the fortune of war to make the twelfth regiment of the immortal 29th Division whose deeds since April 25 might have stirred the ghost of Homer to sing their valour.
Mention has been made already of the difficulties that oppose our advance upon the two flanks. On June 21 it was determined to straighten the line upon the extreme right, and at 1.30 A.M. the preliminary bombardment began. The dawn had been clear, but soon a curtain of silver, through which gleamed the ghost of the rising sun, hung over the Kereves Dere. This was the smoke of bursting shells. Slowly as the sun climbed up the curtain became more substantial. Then it seemed to droop and sweep along the hollows like a vanishing mist of dawn, and during a respite the thin blue smoke of the bivouac fires came tranquilly up into the still air. The respite was very brief, and the bombardment began again with greater fierceness than before. The 75's drummed unceasingly. The reverberation of the 125's and of the howitzers shook the observation post. Over the Kereves Dere, and beyond, upon the sloping shoulders of Achi Baba, the curtain became a pall. The sun climbed higher and higher. All that first mirage of beauty had disappeared, and there was nothing but the monstrous shapes of bursting shells, giants of smoke that appeared one after another along the Turkish lines. All through the morning the cannonade went on.
By noon the Second Division of the French had on the left stormed and captured all the Turkish trenches of the first two lines. Even the Haricot Redoubt, with its damnable entanglements and its maze of communicating trenches, was in French hands. On the right, however, the First Division, after reaching their objective, had been counter-attacked so effectively that they had fallen back. Again they advanced; again they took the trenches; again they were driven out. It began to look as if the victory upon the left would be fruitless, that the position would become an untenable salient and the Haricot Redoubt revert to the enemy.
At this moment a message was sent to say that the trenches must be recaptured, and, when recaptured, held. There were still five hours of daylight for this battle of the longest day. British guns and howitzers were asked for and were lent at once. The bombardment was resumed throughout that afternoon, and at half-past five it seemed as if every gun on earth were pouring shells on the Turkish lines.
At six o'clock the third assault was delivered. In one trench there was a temporary shortage of ammunition, but the enemy fought even with stones and sticks and fists. A battalion came hurrying up from the Turkish right to reinforce it, was caught on open ground by the drumming 75's, and it melted away. Six hundred yards of Turkish trenches were taken, and still the bombardment was continued in order to ward off the counter-attack that was anticipated.
The smoke of the shells, which at dawn had been ethereal, almost translucent, was now, in the sunset, turbid and sinister, yet the sunset was very splendid, flaming in crimson streamers over Imbros, tinting the east with rosy reflections and turning the peaks of Asia to sapphires. It had a peculiar significance on this longest day of the year, crowning as it did those precious five hours of daylight that, for the French, had been fraught with such achievement. Slowly the colour faded out, and now, minute by minute, the flashes of the guns became more distinct; the smoke was merged in the gathering dusk, and away over the more distant Turkish lines the bursts of shrapnel came out like stars against the brief twilight. One knew the anxiety there would be in the darkness that now was falling upon this 21st of June, but in the morning we heard gladly that the enemy's counter-attacks had failed, and that our Allies were indeed firmly established.
The Turkish casualties were at least 7,000. One trench, 200 yards long and 10 feet deep, was brimming over with the dead. They were valiant those dead men. French officers who have fought in the West say that, as a fighting unit, one Turk is worth two Germans; in fact, with his back to the wall, the Turk is magnificent. The French casualties were marvellously few considering what a day it had been, what an enemy was being attacked, and how much had been gained.
The right of the line now commands Kereves Dere, and the profile of Achi Baba seems to write itself less solidly against the sky.
The British Press Bureau on June 30, 1915, issued the following:
General Sir Ian Hamilton reports that the plan of operations on the 28th was to throw forward the left of his line southeast of Krithia, pivoting on a point about one mile from the sea, and after advancing on the extreme left for about half a mile to establish a new line facing east on ground thus gained. This plan entailed the capture in succession of two lines of the Turkish trenches east of the Saghir Dere, and five lines of trenches west of it. The Australian Corps was ordered to co-operate by making a vigorous demonstration.
The action opened at nine o'clock with a bombardment by heavy artillery. The assistance rendered by the French in this bombardment was most valuable.
At 10.20 the Field Artillery opened fire to cut wire in front of Turkish trenches, and this was effectively done. The effect on the enemy's trench near the sea was great. The very accurate fire of his Majesty's ships Talbot, Scorpion and Wolverine succeeded in keeping down his artillery fire from that quarter.
At 10.45 a small Turkish advanced work in the Saghir Dere known as the Boomerang Redoubt was assaulted. This little fort, which was very strongly sited and protected by extra strong wire entanglements, has long been a source of trouble. After special bombardment by trench mortar, and while bombardment of surrounding trenches was at its height, part of the Border Regiment at the exact moment prescribed leapt from their trenches as one man like a pack of hounds, and pouring out of cover raced across, and took the work most brilliantly.
The artillery bombardment increased in intensity till 11 A.M., when the range was lengthened, and infantry advanced. The infantry attack was carried out with great dash along the whole line.
West of Saghir Dere three lines of trenches were captured with little opposition. The trenches were full of dead Turks, many buried by the bombardment, and one hundred prisoners were taken in them.
East of the Ravine the Royal Scots made a fine attack, capturing the two lines of trenches assigned to their objective, but the remainder of the Brigade on their right met with severe opposition and were unable to get forward.
At 11.30 the Royal Fusiliers led its Brigade in the second phase of the attack west of the Ravine. The Brigade advanced with great steadiness and resolution through the trenches already captured, and on across the open, and taking two more lines of trenches reached the objective allotted to them, the Lancashire Fusiliers inclining half-right and forming line to connect with our new position east of the Ravine.
The northernmost objective had now been attained, but the Gurkhas pressing on under the cliffs captured an important knoll still further forward, actually due west of Krithia. This they fortified and held during the night, making our total gain on the left precisely one thousand yards.
During the afternoon the trenches, a small portion of which remained uncaptured on the right, were attacked, but the enemy held on stubbornly supported by machine-guns and artillery, and the attacks did not succeed.
During the night the enemy counter-attacked the furthest trenches gained, but was repulsed with heavy loss. A party of Turks, who penetrated from the flank between two lines of captured trenches, was subjected to machine-gun fire at daybreak, suffered very heavily, and the survivors surrendered.
Except for a small portion of trench already mentioned, which is still held by the enemy, all and more than was hoped for from operations has been gained. On the extreme left the line has been pushed forward to a specially strong point well beyond the limit of the advance originally contemplated.
All engaged did well, but certainly the chief factor in the success was the splendid attack carried out by the 29th Division, whose conduct on this, as on previous occasions, was beyond praise.
The British Press Bureau states on July 1 that, in continuation of his last message respecting the British advance in the Gallipoli Peninsula, Sir Ian Hamilton had reported as follows:
Further details have now been received with regard to the part played by the Australian and New Zealand Army Corps in the operations of the 29th. As previously stated, the General Officer Commanding the Australian and New Zealand Army Corps was instructed to undertake operations with a view to preventing the enemy in his front from detaching troops to the southern area.
Between 11.30 A.M. and 12 noon the action was opened, His Majesty's ships Humber, Pincher, and Chelmer engaging enemy's heavy guns. At 1 P.M. part of the Second Light Horse Brigade and the Third Infantry Brigade moved out on the right of the position, advancing some 700 yards, when the enemy was encountered in strength. Meanwhile the artillery engaged the enemy's reserves, which were collecting in the ravine opposite right centre, by shelling them effectively with guns and howitzers.
About 2.30 P.M. the enemy appeared to be preparing a counter-attack against the left of our advanced troops, but on howitzer and machine-gun fire being turned on the enemy's attacks were easily repulsed. The retirement of the advanced troops was begun at 3 P.M., well covered by rifle, machine-gun, and artillery fire, and the troops were all back in the trenches between 4.30 and 5.30 P.M.
Our machine-guns and artillery did considerable execution. Naval gun fire also gave valuable assistance. Demonstrations made after dark at 8.45 and 11.30 P.M. with flares, star shell, and destroyer bombardment were successfully carried out.
The Eighth Corps report 180 prisoners taken since the morning of the 28th, namely, 38 of the Sixteenth Regiment, 139 of the Thirty-third Regiment, and three of the Thirteenth Regiment. A Circassian prisoner carried a wounded private of Royal Scots into our lines under fire.
Sir Ian Hamilton reported, as published by the British Press Bureau on July 6, the following details of the attack made by the Turks on the night of 29th-30th June:
About 2 A.M. searchlights of His Majesty's ship Scorpion discovered half a Turkish battalion advancing near the sea northwest of Krithia. Scorpion opened fire, and few of the enemy got away. Simultaneously the enemy attacked the knoll we captured due west of Krithia, advancing from a nullah in close formation in several lines. The attack came under artillery and enfilade rifle fire, and the enemy lost heavily. The foremost Turks got within forty yards of the parapet, but only a few returned.
The Turks made several heavy bomb attacks during the night, our troops being twice driven back a short distance. Early in the morning we regained these trenches by bayonet attack, and they have since been strengthened.
At 5.30 A.M. 2,000 Turks, moving from Krithia into the ravine, were scattered by machine-gun fire. The operations reflect great credit on the vigilance and accurate shooting of His Majesty's ship Scorpion. The Turkish losses in the nullah and ravine are estimated at 1,500 to 2,000 dead.
About 10 P.M. on the 30th of June the Turks again attacked with bombs a portion of the most northerly trench captured by us on 28th. An officer of the Gurkhas being wounded, not dangerously as it turned out, the men became infuriated, flung all their bombs at the enemy, and then charging down out of the trench used their kukris for the first time and with excellent effect. About dawn the Turks once more attempted an attack over the open, but nearly the whole of these attacking forces, about half a battalion, were shot down, and a final bomb attack, though commenced, failed utterly.
Further reports from Australia and New Zealand Corps, as to the enemy's attack on 29th-30th on our right flank, state that the action commenced by very heavy fire from midnight till 1.30 A.M., to which our men only replied by a series of cheers. The Turks then launched their attack, and came right on with bayonet and bombs. Those who succeeded in getting into our saps were instantly killed; the remainder were dealt with by bomb and rifle fire from the 7th and 8th Light Horse. By 2 A.M. the enemy broke, and many were killed while withdrawing. The enemy's attack was strongest on his right. They were completely taken aback by a concealed sap constructed well ahead of our main line, and the dead are lying thickly in front of this. Some got into the sap and several across it; all these were wiped out by fire from the main parapet farther back.
Following the defeat of this attack, the enemy attacked at 3 A.M. on our left, and 30 men came over the parapets in front of the right of Quinn's Post. These were duly polished off. Prisoners brought in state that three fresh battalions were employed in the main attack, which was made by the personal order of Enver Pasha, who, as they definitely assert, was present in the trenches on June 29. This is confirmed by the statement of an intelligent Armenian prisoner captured on that date. According to him, stringent orders were recently issued that no further attacks were to be made, because if the Turks remained on the defensive the British would be forced to attack, and would suffer as severely as the Turks had hitherto suffered. But Enver Pasha, when he arrived in the northern section, overrode this instruction, and orders were received by the prisoner's regiment that the Australians were to be driven into the sea.
On July 2, after a heavy bombardment of our advanced positions by high explosives and shrapnel, lasting half an hour, the enemy infantry advanced, but were driven back to the main nullah about a mile to our front by the accurate shooting of His Majesty's ship Scorpion and by our rifle and machine-gun fire. About 7 P.M. the Turkish artillery recommenced their bombardment, under cover of which two battalions emerged from the nullah to the northeast of our most advanced trench and commenced an attack across the open, advancing in two regular lines. At the outset very effective shrapnel fire from the 10th Battery Royal Field Artillery caused great execution among the attackers. Gurkha supports then advanced, and there being insufficient room in trenches took up a position on some excavated earth in rear, whence deadly rifle fire was poured into the advancing lines. Turkish officers could be seen endeavouring to get their men forward, but they would not face the fire and retreated in disorder after suffering heavy casualties.
The ground in front of our trenches in every direction can be seen covered with Turkish dead, and patrols sent out at night report that the valleys and ravine are also full of them. There can be no possible doubt that the enemy's losses have been very heavy. After checking and counter-checking reports from all sources, I put down their total casualties between June 28 and July 2 at 5,150 killed and 15,000 wounded. The number of killed is, therefore, approximately correct, while the wounded is an estimate based partly on the knowledge of the number already reported arrived at Constantinople, and on experience of proportion of wounded to killed in previous engagements. Since June 29 the total amount of Turkish arms and ammunition collected is 516 rifles, 51 bayonets, 200 sets of equipment, 126,400 rounds of ammunition, 100 bombs.
The following is an extract from captured divisional orders: "There is nothing that causes us more sorrow, increases the courage of the enemy, and encourages him to attack more freely, causing us great losses, than the losing of these trenches. Henceforth commanders who surrender these trenches, from whatever side the attack may come, before the last man is killed will be punished in the same way as if they had run away. Especially will the commanders of units told off to guard a certain front be punished if, instead of thinking about their work, supporting their units and giving information to the higher command, they only take action after a regrettable incident has taken place.
"I hope that this will not occur again. I give notice that if it does I shall carry out the punishment. I do not desire to see a blot made on the courage of our men by those who escape from the trenches to avoid the rifle and machine-gun fire of the enemy. Henceforth I shall hold responsible all officers who do not shoot with their revolvers all the privates who try to escape from the trenches on any pretext. Commander of the 11th Div., Colonel Rifaat."
To the copy from which this extract was taken the following note is appended: "To Commander of the 1st Battalion. The contents will be communicated to the officers, and I promise to carry out the orders till the last drop of our blood has been shed. Sign and return. Signed. Hassan, Commander, 127th Regiment. Then follow signatures company commanders."
The British Press Bureau on July 7 issued this report by General Ian Hamilton:
The night of July 3-4 was quiet in the northern section, but at 4 A.M. the enemy started a heavy bombardment of the trenches. All the guns previously used against us, and some new ones, were in action, but the bombardment died away about 6 A.M. without doing much damage. During the bombardment about twenty 11.2-inch shells were dropped from a Turkish battleship in the strait.
In the southern section the Turks kept up a heavy musketry fire along the whole line during the night and did not leave their trenches. At 4 A.M. their batteries started the most violent bombardment that has yet been experienced. At least 5,000 rounds of artillery ammunition were expended by them.
Meanwhile this shelling of our lines on the peninsula proved the preliminary to a general attack on our front with special efforts at certain points. The principal effort was made at the junction of the Royal Naval Division section with that of the French.
Here, at 7.30 A.M., the Turks drove back our advanced troops and assaulted a portion of the line held by the Royal Naval Division. Some fifty Turks gained a footing in our trench, where, nevertheless, some men of the Royal Naval Division held on to our supports, and the men who had retired counter-attacked immediately and hurled the Turks out of the trench again.
Another attack on the right of the Twenty-ninth Division section, was practically wiped out by rifle and machine-gun fire. On our left the Turks massed in a nullah, to the northeast of our newly-captured trenches, and attempted several attacks. None of these was able to get home owing to the steadiness of our troops and our effective artillery support. The bombardment died down toward 11 A.M., though it was resumed at intervals.
Not only was the result a complete failure, but while our losses were negligible and no impression was made on our line, the enemy added a large number to his recent very heavy casualties. It seems plain from the disjointed nature of his attack that he is finding it difficult to drive his infantry forward to face our fire.
In a dispatch by George Renwick to The London Daily Chronicle, dated at Lemnos, July 11, the following description of fighting, followed by heavy Turco-German casualties, appeared:
The heaviest fighting which has taken place on Gallipoli Peninsula since the allied forces landed there began late on Tuesday and lasted well into Wednesday. It resulted in a swing forward of the southern line of the allied armies for five furlongs and in the infliction of staggering losses on the enemy. Those who were in the battle place the Turco-German casualties at 7,000 killed and from 14,000 to 15,000 wounded. Many prisoners were taken.
The whole army in the southern part of the peninsula was engaged, and the Australians and New Zealanders further north also played a part. The victory marks a definite stage in the initial work of throwing forces around Achi Baba, which may now be described as one of the strongest fortresses in the world.
The Allies had been resting in comparative tranquillity and the Turks had evidently become persuaded the enemy was experiencing a shortage of ammunition. This belief convinced them of the excellent opportunity of driving the invaders into the sea. Late Tuesday night the first signs of the enemy's movement were detected. No time was lost in flashing a warning message to headquarters. The French were soon alert and the artillery at that portion of the line against which the attack was being prepared was quickly and strongly reinforced.
French and British machine guns were rushed to the front until a perfect wall of heavy and light guns was in position. Then there came a short interval of silence and waiting, almost oppressive. Suddenly the stillness was broken by a tremendous burst of shells from the Turkish guns, and for a time shrapnel poured down on the French front. But the men were safely positioned in dugouts and little loss resulted. From the strait loud booming began. The battered Goeben was at work again, and during the bombardment she pounded our right with some forty 11-inch shells. Many did not burst—they were apparently of Turkish manufacture.
This hail of shells lasted just an hour and a half and was the severest bombardment to which our lines have been subjected during the weeks of struggle on the peninsula. No sooner had the heavy fire ceased than great solid masses of Turks leaped forward to the attack. On they came, the silence unbroken save for their shouts, until they reached a point within sixty or seventy yards of the French position. Then from 200 well placed machine guns a devastating answering fire burst from our Allies' trenches, and the rifles joined in, 20,000 of them. The big guns flared and cast a lurid light over the scene.