Item 02: Ellis Ashmead-Bartlett articles on the Gallipoli campaign, 1915 - Page 68
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[Page 68]
The enemy has got two big guns in position behind the slope of Achi Baba and with these they started a systematic bombardment of W. Beach or Lancashire Beach, as it is now known. In two days they killed one hundred horses and several man! These high explosive shells naturally get on the nerves of the working parties. Also a tremendous amount of digging had to be undertaken and the horses placed on roads cut in the cliffs, where they are fairly safe. We are much in the same position as an army besieging a fortress which is held by a more powerful garrison than the besieging force and which constantly makes sorties.
In fact, as we are situated at present, the Turks have it in their power to annoy us in a hundred different ways, whilst our chances of retaliation are small. It is still considered necessary to keep battleships protecting the flanks, even after the arrival of submarines. This led to the loss of the "Goliath," "Triumph," and "Majestic." As long as it is necessary to keep ships on the flanks to keep down the enemy's shell-fire from the Asiatic and European shores, it cannot be maintained that the Allied Army is either self-contained or comfortable.
The Troops In Southern Gallipoli.
Our Army in Southern Gallipoli at present consists of the following units. The remains of the splendid 29th. Division, now reduced to below the strength of one brigade. This Division bore the brunt of the fighting during the landing and in holding the positions then won. The losses have never yet been made good as only an allowance of drafts representing a loss of ten per cent