Gallipoli Diary, Volume I | Page 9

realised this earlier. He had not time to tell
me he says. The General Staff thought we ought certainly to have these
and he and Wolfe Murray went in and made a personal appeal to the
A.G. But he was obdurate. This seems hard luck. Why should we not
have our losses quickly replaced--supposing we do lose men? I doubt
though, if I should have been able to do very much even if I had known.
To press K. would have been difficult. Like insisting on an extra
half-crown when you've just been given Fortunatus' purse. Still, fair
play's a jewel, and surely if formations destined for the French front
cross the Channel with 10 per cent. extra, over and above their
establishment, troops bound for Constantinople ought to have a 25 per
cent. margin over establishment?
17th March, 1915. H.M.S. "Phaeton." At sea. Last night we raced past
Corfu--my birthplace--at thirty knots an hour. My first baby breath was
drawn from these thyme scented breezes. This crimson in the Eastern
sky, these waves of liquid opal are natal, vital.
Thirty miles an hour through Paradise! Since the 16th January, 1853,
we have learnt to go the pace and as a result the world shrinks; the
horizons close in upon us; the spacious days are gone!
Thoughts of my Mother, who died when I was but three. Thoughts of
her refusal as she lay dying--gasping in mortal pain--her refusal to
touch an opiate, because the Minister, Norman Macleod, had told her
she so might dim the clearness of her spiritual insight--of her thoughts
ascending heavenwards. What pluck--what grit--what faith--what an
example to a soldier.
Exquisite, exquisite air; sea like an undulating carpet of blue velvet
outspread for Aphrodite. Have been in the Aegean since dawn. At noon
passed a cruiser taking back Admiral Carden invalided to Malta. One
week ago the thunder of his guns shook the firm foundations of the

world. Now a sheer hulk lies poor old Carden. Vanitas vanitatum.
Have got into touch with my staff. They are all General Staff: no
Administrative Staff. The Adjutant-General-to-be (I don't know him)
and the Chief Medico (I don't know who he is to be) could not get
ready in time to come off with us, and the Q.M.G., too, was undecided
when I left. There are nine of the General Staff. I like the looks of them.
Quite characteristic of K., though, that barring Braithwaite, not one of
the associates he has told off to work hand in glove with me in this
enterprise should ever have served with me before.
Only two sorts of Commanders-in-Chief could possibly find time to
scribble like this on their way to take up an enterprise in many ways
unprecedented--a German and a Britisher. The first, because every
possible contingency would have been worked out for him beforehand;
the second, because he has nothing--literally nothing--in his portfolio
except a blank cheque signed with those grand yet simple words--John
Bull. The German General is the product of an organising nation. The
British General is the product of an improvising nation. Each army
would be better commanded by the other army's General. Sounds
fantastic but is true.[4]
CHAPTER II
THE STRAITS
Cast anchor at Tenedos at 3 p.m., 17th March, 1915, having entered the
harbour at the very same instant as le général d'Amade.
Hurried over at once to a meeting aboard that lovely sea monster,
H.M.S. Queen Elizabeth.
Present:--
Admiral de Robeck, Commodore Roger Keyes, Admiral Guépratte,
cmdg. French Fleet, General d'Amade, General Braithwaite, Admiral
Wemyss, Captain Pollen, Myself.

De Robeck greeted me in the friendliest fashion. He is a fine looking
man with great charm of manner. After a word or two to d'Amade and
being introduced to Wemyss, Guépratte and Keyes, we sat down round
a table and the Admiral began. His chief worry lies in the clever way
the enemy are now handling their mobile artillery. He can silence the
big fortress ordnance, but the howitzers and field guns fire from
concealed positions and make the clearing of the minefields something
of a V.C. sort of job for the smaller craft. Even when the Fleet gets
through, these moveable guns will make it very nasty for store ships or
transports which follow. The mine-sweepers are slow and bad with
worn out engines. Some of the civilian masters and crews of the
trawlers have to consider wives and kids as well as V.C.s. The problem
of getting the Fleet through or of getting submarines through is a
problem of clearing away the mines. With a more powerfully engined
type of mine-sweeper and regular naval commanders and crews to man
them, the business would be easy. But as things actually stand there is
real cause for anxiety as to mines.
The Peninsula itself is being