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[Page 143]

Diary Friday August 6th 1915
On this day it became evident that events were rapidly developing and that the great new move from which so much was expected was about too to commence. These plans had been kept a profound secret but already almost everyone had a fairly clear idea of Sir Ian Hamilton's plans from the prelimianry distribution of the reinforcements at his disposition. It was perfectly clear to me that the plan outlined by General Birdwoood to me when I returned from England would be adopted namely another landing in Anafarta Bay which was destined to sweep inland and endevour to get astide the peninsula whil the Australian Army Corps strongly reinforced for the occasion would endevour to push north and capture the the commanding heights culminating in Koja Chemen which is over nine houndred feet high.

I hoped against hope the General Staff would pronounce against this plan and adopt the only sane and logical course namely to throw the new armies across either at or north of Bulair and thus cut the main line of communication of the whole of the Turkish Army in Gallipoli. I never felt the Anafarta landing could possibly succeed b because it meant putting troops in an impossible country broken up into hilly ground covered with nullahs and dongas and giving the enemy every possible advantage, while at the same time even if it succeeded it would only clear the peninsula as far as Kilid Bahr and offered but few prospects of the fleet being able to get through to Constantinople. To-day Our Charge D'Affaires Major Radcliffe dispatched Lawrence and Moseley to Helles or rather told them to start on the following morning while Nevinson and myself received instructions to be ready to.embark at any
hour after 5pm on the following day August 7th

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