Ward diary, 6 October 1914 - 28 July 1915 / Eric Harford Ward - Page 32

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1015
May 30 – establishment of strong positions by us here (Sari Bair). British at Capes Tekeh & Helles & near Morto Bay, French at Kum Kale. During the afternoon of the 25th strong counter attacks by the enemy began & hard fighting took place. At the end of a terrible day I found myself on the extreme left of our line with about 50 others drawn from various units, we held the ridge called Quinn's Post ? until the 16th Battalion came up to reinforce us at 10 p.m. Here the Turks came right up to us & were mistaken for Indians, needless to day, we soon poured it in to them when we discovered our mistake. On the 26, 27 & 28th were engaged constantly with the enemy who made strong & repeated counter attacks which were invariably repulsed. Early on the morning of the 27th a fresh Turkish Division was launched against us, preceded by heavy artillery fire. The enemy came on boldly but we defeated every attempt & by 3 p.m. had resumed the offensive. The operation of landing the army in the face of modern weapons, in spite of wire entanglements, in parts 50 yds. wide & under the sea as well as on land, land mines, & deep pits with spikes at the bottom has thus been accomplished. On the 29th after four days hard fighting we were relieved to go to the beach & have a Battalion muster & general clean up & rest for 48 hrs. Here we totalled 421 men & 12 Officers out of 1100. The hills overlooking the beach being honeycombed with "dug-outs" to protect the men from shrapnel while resting. A refreshing dip in the briny & a good feed turned us into new men. On May 1st we proceeding to the fire trenches on the right (Now Brigade Hd. Qrtrs.) 48 of us & on May 14 we changed with the 4th Batt. on our left in order to get all the 1st Batt. together. On Sunday 23rd May we were relieved by Light Horse for a weeks rest & light fatigue.

30 – Our artillery storm Turks trenches on left flanks & light horse make a charge & captured a Turkish Trench. Met Arthur Meade in trenches B Coy 1st.