The Fifth Battalion Highland Light Infantry in the War 1914-1918 | Page 8

to the right of the Achi Baba nullah.
The move took place in the afternoon, and although we left in very
open formation--single file with distances of three yards between
individual men and thirty between platoons--the Turk spotted us and
turned on his artillery. Seven men of "D" Company were wounded, and
more casualties were incurred further on when we reached the
communication trenches.
It is easy to write that between 4 and 7 p.m. we took over the firing and
support lines, but the relief itself was a difficult matter--those reliefs
always were, for trenches are narrow things through which a
fully-equipped and weary man passes with difficulty. Troops must not
leave a trench until the reliefs have arrived and taken over the duties.
This is absolutely necessary, but it means that until the relief is
completed the trenches are usually crowded out and one's passage
along them is a painful struggle.
The nomenclature of trenches is always interesting. Those we were
now in borrowed their names from battalion commanders in the Royal
Naval Division--Parsons Road, Trotman Road, and Mercer and
Backhouse Roads. Through this system of trenches ran two
communication trenches--Oxford Street and Central Street, in which
latter Battalion Headquarters were situated.
Our first night passed uneventfully, but the following day we gathered

that something was brewing. Orders were received to clear the western
portion of our firing line and support trench to permit of a
bombardment by the French artillery. (The French held the right sector
at Gallipoli.) Fire opened at 3.45 p.m. and for about two hours the
"Seventy-fives" kept at it, doing considerable visible damage to the
enemy's wire and trenches. The enemy replied with counter-battery
work, and also shelled our communication trenches what time Colonel
Morrison and Captain Simson, our Adjutant, had the unpleasant duty of
reconnoitring the area in which the bulk of the enemy's fire was falling.
They were searching for trenches in which the Battalion would be held
in reserve for the attack which was now in preparation.
During the night Lieut. W. Beckett reported some activity in No-man's
Land in front of "A" Company and invited the bombers to try their
hand. Now the bombers had received their first introduction to their
precarious weapons only 24 hours previously, when they took over
from the 7th H.L.I. a Garland mortar, a trench catapult and various
crude jam-tin and canister bombs of sinister aspect. Selecting the
catapult, which Lieut. Leith thought would be less dangerous to his
team than the mortar, they aimed as best they could in the dark, applied
a canister bomb to the pouch, lit the fuse and pressed the trigger. The
shot was a lucky one exceeding their highest expectations. It burst
among a party of Turks crouching in the open. Amid shrieks of
"Allah!" survivors could be distinguished making for cover.
Immediately the Turkish line opened up rapid fire, which was
continued for about half an hour before things settled down to normal
again.
Our first week on the Peninsula was over. Casualties for this period
were: officers, one wounded; other ranks, three killed and twenty-six
wounded, of whom three subsequently died of their wounds.
CHAPTER III
GALLIPOLI (contd.)--OPERATIONS 12TH-18TH JULY, 1915.
In the afternoon of July 11th the firing and support lines were cleared

for another bombardment, and later we were relieved by the 7th H.L.I.,
who took over our right sector, and the 5th Argylls who took over our
left. Enemy artillery gave us unpleasant attention, causing some
casualties before we had installed ourselves in reserve trenches
immediately behind.
In accordance with orders for the battle which was to be fought the next
day, "A" Company was moved into Plymouth Avenue in support of the
6th H.L.I. on the extreme left.
There were to be two attacks against strong Turkish positions which
had already defied capture; the first in the morning by the 155th (South
Scottish) Brigade, from the right of the sector of trenches held by the
Lowland Division; the second in the afternoon by our own Brigade.
French troops were to push forward simultaneously with the first attack.
The 156th Brigade--Royal Scots and Scottish Rifles, who had been so
badly cut up in the attack of 28th June--was to be Divisional Reserve.
Both attacks were to be preceded by a bombardment, and in each case
three lines of trenches were to be captured and the furthest line held.
Fortunately the eve of the battle was quiet, and the exhausting ration,
water and ammunition fatigues, which only those can appreciate who
have taken part in such preparations, were pushed through in the dark
without serious interruption from the enemy. At length it dawned and
the sun rose in a cloudless sky.
It is well-nigh impossible for one who has played but a small part in a