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[Page 54]
[Pages 50 & 51 are written in long hand and have been inserted in the typed text]
The Charge of the 4th A.I.Bde at Bloody Angle Anzac May 2 1915
This trench had been giving us considerable trouble owing to its position, commanding as it did, practically the main artery of Anzac, the road (if such it could be called.) through which our supplies were brought: eventually it became quite impossible to get further stores through.
The landing of supplies on April 25th had been an infinally more difficult task, it is time, but our ranks had become so decimated, the line so thinly held that we could no longer afford to throw away lives upon what we knew as certain death; it would have still further weakened an already weak front., and give the enemy the chance to break through; give to them the opportunity they had been so ardently awaiting. But at last even this consideration had to be ignored , for we could not hold the line without munitions, the human frame must have means of sustenance, for even the strongest will reach breaking point.
It was finally decided to storm the ridge – a desperate undertaking desperate even for Anzac, There could be no question of a surprise on the enemy, for they knew our straits, knew that we should have to make an effort or perish. All through the day the fleet had been bombarding the ridge, leaving no question of doubt in the enemy's mind of what was afoot.
At 6pm on the evening of Sunday, May 2nd we, the 16th Bn assembled for the attack. The setting sun was touching the hilltop with rose and gold as we filed along in the purple shadows of the gully at its base.
The barrage from the ships had slackened, it was now – for Anzac – comparatively peaceful, for the contours of the gullies deadned most of the sound. The occasional ping ping! of some enemy rifle on the ridge above, as he fired at some movement fancied or real – the humming of some distant shell, with its plomp! as it hit its objective – were all the sounds that came to us.
The sun was well below the horizon, the fire from the the ships had died right away, the shadows deepened, until figures became moving silhouettes, or became merged into the scrub which overhung the gully. And