State Library of NSW
[Page 44]
attack down the slopes of Koja Chemen Tepe and Sari Bair. But by this time the Colonial troops were entrenched and were able to give a good account of themselves. The "London", the "Queen", the "Prince of Wales" and "Bannchante" as well as the covering ships kept up a tremendous bombardment on the advancing Turks during the morning, sometimes firing on squares in the map as signals were received from the shore and at others, from our own observation of the enemy's movements. I spent most of the morning in the fighting top watching the effect of this fire, but as the shells mostly fell in the valleyes or on the reverse slopes it was difficult to see how much damage we were really inflicting.Nevertheless it was gratifying to receive signals from the shore such as "Your shooting is splendid, you assisted us most materially". Meanwhile fresh troops stores, ammuntion and guns were being disembarked without cessation, and every hour thus gained materially improved our position. (For full account of these operations see elsewhere). I think at this stage the Turks committed a great error in tactics. Their idea seemed to be to render the beaches untenable, and to prevent the landing of reinforcements and supplies. To achieve this end, they concentrated their fire of the majority of the guns on the beaches and tried to create a zone of fire, through which it would be impossible for boats and pinnaces to pass. It is a most remarkable sight to see huindreds of shrapnel shells bursting on the water within about a 100 yards of the shore, and although it was extremely unpleasant to pass
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