Item 01: Ellis Ashmead-Bartlett diary, 1915-1917 - Page 250
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[Page 250]
I have only dealt with our own troubles and difficulties. The enemy of course has his. But to maintain as I saw stated in an offical report that his losses in the recent fighting were far heavier than ours is a childish falsehood which deceives no one out here. He was acting almost the whole time on the defensive and probably lost about one third of our grand total. You May think I am too pessimistic but my views are shared by the large majority of the army. The confidence of the troops can only be restored by an immediate change in the supreme command.
Even if sufficent drafts are sent out to make good our losses we shall never succeed operating from our present positions. A fresh landing on a grand scale north of Buliar would probably insure success but the season is late and I suppose the troops are not available. If we are to stay here for the winter let orders be given for the army to start its preperations without delay. If possible have the Colonial troops taken off the Peninsula altogther because they are miserably depressed since the last failure and with their active minds, and positions they occupy in civil life, a dreay winter in the trenches will have a deplorable effect on what is left of this once magnificent body of men, the finest any Empire has ever produced. If we are obliged to keep this army locked up in Gallipoli this winter large reserves will be necessary to make good its losses in sickness. The cost of this campaign in the east must be out of all proportion to the results we are likely to obtain now, in time, to have a decisive effect on the general theatre of war. Our great asset against the Germans was always considered to be our superior financial strength. In Gallipoli we are dissipating a large portion of our fortune and have not yet gained a single acre of ground of any strategical value. Unless we can pull through with the aid of the Balkan League in the near future this futile expenditure May ruin our prospects