Item 04: Fred Harold Tomlins war diary, 19 December 1915-18 March 1916 - Page 9

[Page 9]

20.12.15
was blown up; We were put on board a transport & as we headed for Lemnos the Turks were still firing away at empty trenches. I wonder how long it will be before he realizes that we have left & he is fighting empty trenches; We were the last Regt. to leave & as no one had been wounded it was not necessary to leave the 3rd Field Ambulance behind & they came away with us & very pleased they were; It was a great feat to get so many troops away without having any casualties, it was previously estimated that 2000 men would be lost in the evacuatiorn , & we got away scot free; We arrived at Lemnos about midday & were transferred to a large transport with others on board managed to have an hours sleep there & were then brought ashore & put in camp here at Mudros very tired erected 3 tents for the Sqd & turned in having only the bully & biscuits we brought with us & only the water we had with us