Volume 2: Letters written on active service, M-W, 1914-1919 - Page 55
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[Page 55]
bullets flew a little high over us but many went amongst us. I went back and brought Crowley in; someone else got Johnson and some others who had fallen when we ran into the fire – the bullets were still as bad as ever, and it was very unhealthy anywhere there.
Stayed in gully for a while and helped a first aid Ambulance chap bind up Crowley's wound and a lot of other wounded – the top of the gully – or rather the narrow bed of it, was full of dead and wounded and I had to pick my steps moving about for fear of treading on them. We sent the word down for stretcher bearers for the wounded and took wounded as far down gully as we could to be out of the fire. Got word back stretcher bearers could not come for a while as they were removing the wounded further down the gully who were blocking up the way.
Started out to find the rest of the 13th Battalion, and after getting into 16th trenches and we eventually found them, about 3 p.m. on Monday morning 3/5/15. They had driven the Turks out of their trench and occupied it. We dug down trench deeper and a support trench at the rear. Some English marines were at the rear of the trench we had taken in the open.
At dawn we found we were enfiladed on both sides by Turkish machine guns and the marines who were outside the trenches were shot down wholesale before they realised what was up. Many of our chaps in the trenches were also wounded. All that day (a Monday) we had to duck down low in the trenches, as the Turks had a continuous stream of machine gun fire on us from both flanks and rifle fire on one front.
A good many of our men were wounded during the day in the part of the trench I was in, and one near me who exposed himself above the trench was shot dead through the heart. Sgt. Gordon Mitchell very pluckily exposed himself to pass sand bags up from the support trench to the firing line and was shot, I believe three times by the Machine gun – but not (I think) very seriously.
I had no water, having given all mine to the wounded during the night before and most of us had nothing to eat all day, but we didn't think of that we were so busy crouching down to dodge the bullets. At dusk we evacuated that position, taking our wounded with us and
[Sergeant, later 2nd Lieutenant, Gordon Robertson Mitchell, No 877, 13th Battalion.]