Item 01: Ellis Ashmead-Bartlett diary, 1915-1917 - Page 223
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[Page 223]
ships do them practically no harm except by a lucky chance. For a high-explosive shell of this sort must have something to burst against and if there is no parapet, these shells merely burst in front, making huge holes in the ground whilst the fragments fly right over harmlessly. All the enemy's infantry have to do is to lie low whilst the bombardment lasts and when it ceases or passes further on, which is generally the signal that our infantry is about to advance, they are ready to meet them with a deadly rifle and machine-gun fire.
The maps of the Peninsula are so inaccurate and it is so difficult to fire accurately from a moving platform like a ship, that the gunners dare not fire really close ahead of our infantry for fear of hitting them. Even the tremendous shell fire which was concentrated on the trenches above the beaches on April 25th on positions which would be seen from the foretops had but very little effect. Therefore, it is easy to understand that the effect is even less on the enemy's positions inland. These trenches can only be adequately dealt with by howitzers on shore and by field guns. But the latter must have high-explosive shell and not shrapnel, which is useless against barbed- wire and deep trenches. When I left Gallipoli, there was not a single round of high-explosive shell for the field guns. Our two big sixty-pounder howitzers were, however, doing good work.