State Library of NSW
[Page 67]
is every reason to believe the enemy is fortifying these to meet future eventualities. Therefore, unless his resistance suddenly collapses, an eventuality on which we have no right to speculate, each of these positions will have to be taken yard by yard, trench by trench. Also, taking the Narrows will no longer open the road for the Fleet to pass through to Constantinople, because the Turks have been mining the Channel right the way up to Gallipoli. They have been erecting new batteries on shore and placing fresh torpdeo tubes in position. Therefore, let no one suppose that once the Narrows is taken, the longer reach of narrow water beyond can be tackled with impunity.
At the present moment we have not got a military position at all at the southern end of Gallipoli. I do not think we could be driven out of it, but we are not comfortable as every yard of the plain which we hold is exposed to the fire of the enemy's batteries and all the beaches can be swept by his heavy guns. Every movement we make is visible to him on the higher ground and his guns can be moved from position to position in perfect concealment. He, therefore, is constantly effecting some new surprise by shelling beaches, ships and camps from totally unexpected positions. The fire of field guns does but little harm but the moral effect on troops, who are thus constantly exposed to shell fire and on the qui vive, is bad. Regiments are brought out of the trenches into rest camps, but what are these camps? It merely means moving them back to the shade of some trees closer to the coast, where at any hour they may be smothered with shrapnel or blown up by high explosive shells.
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