ments and leaped into the redoubts, bayoneting the stubborn defenders; but it was not until 4 p.m. that the hill and the field works were completely conquered. With the capture of Hill 138, it seemed as though the exhausted troops who had landed on Beach W had done all that mortal man could do. Yet further demands were perforce made upon them. The landing on Beach V, on the other side of Cape Helles, had for the time being failed. Men were dying there in heaps. Could the Worcesters and some of the Lancashire Fusiliers get across the high ground on Cape Helles and help them by enfilading their assailants? No appeal was ever made to the men of the 29th Division to which they failed to respond. They began to attempt a rescue with quick cheerfulness. But for that day, at least, the fresh task was beyond their powers. The wire entanglement stretching from the captured redoubts to the edge of Cape Helles was not the only obstacle which barred their path. Beyond it lay the shattered ruins of the modern battery known as Fort No. 1. Its guns were silent, but the ruins were packed with Turkish riflemen, who poured in 66 a devastating fire upon the Worcesters and the other troops advancing against the new line of wire entanglement. The British soldiers were undismayed. "Through glasses," said Sir Ian Hamilton, they could be seen quietly sniping away under a hellish fire as if they were pruning a vineyard." Yet they could not work miracles. The fire from Fort No. 1 grew heavier. Some of the troops which could not be landed on Beach V were diverted to Beach W. More of the 86th Brigade moved forward to strengthen the attack. But the Turks had been steadily sending up reinforcements from the direction of Krithia and Achi Baba. were pressing hard all the way from Beach X to Fort No. 1. When night fell they were counter-attacking vigorously, and the British decided to be content to hold the ground they had won until the morning. They At the end of the day, therefore, the British position on this section of the peninsula extended from the lighthouse on Cape Helles, across Hill 138, then to Hill 114, and so to the low cliff at Beach X. The Turks gave the invaders no rest. They attacked repeatedly during the night, but were always driven back. The British line was thin, but it held. Every man on the beach was ordered into the trenches to assist. Officers and men alike, Engineers, Anson Marines, bluejackets, anybody and everybody who could pick up a rifle hurried forward. It was so dark that many of the beach working party could find no rifles, but those without weapons gallantly carried ammunition into the firing-line. One midshipman covered himself with bandoliers and groped his way up the gully. As he reached the trenches he was struck three times full in the chest. The impact of knocked him over, but he rose the bandoliers had saved him. night more troops were landed the bullets unhurt, for During the on Beaches W and X, and in the morning the British line was still unbroken. Two more points must be recorded before leaving this phase of the Battle of the Landing. The first is that, in the opinion of the onlookers, there was not a man of the 1st Battalion Lancashire Fusiliers who had not earned the Victoria Cross half a dozen times on that murderous beach. The authorities thought the same, and in accordance with precedents set in the Indian Mutiny, the officers, noncommissioned officers, and men were each asked to select one of their number to receive the decoration. Their choice fell upon Captain Richard Raymond Willis, Sergeant Alfred Richards, and Private William Keneally, and the bestowal of the honours was thus recorded in the London Gazette: On April 25, 1915, three companies and the headquarters of the 1st Batt. Lancashire Fusiliers, in effecting a landing on the Gallipoli Peninsula to the west of Cape Helles, were met by a very deadly fire from hidden machine-guns which caused a great number of casualties. The survivors, however, rushed up to and cut the wire entanglements, notwithstanding the terrific fire from the enemy, and, after overcoming supreme difficulties, the cliffs were gained and the position maintained. Amongst the many very gallant officers and men engaged in this most hazardous undertaking, Captain Willis, Sergt. Richards, and Private Keneally have been selected by their comrades as having performed the most signal acts of bravery and devotion to duty. The other point is that the Worcesters, who showed such determination in capturing the LANDING TROOPS IN THE DARDANELLES. Inset: Major Bishop. Commander of the 1st Battalion Lancashire Fusiliers. INDIAN TROOPS MARCHING AWAY FROM THE BEACH. redoubts and in later actions, were specially commended for their general demeanour in a Brigade Order as follows: The Brigade Commander wishes to place on record the great gallantry and devotion to duty displayed by Lieutenant-Colonel D. E. Cayley, officers, and men of the 4th Batt. Worcestershire Regiment during the operations since landing was effected on the Gallipoli Peninsula. The battalion has always been well in hand, and not a single straggler has been reported. They are a splendid example to the brigade. It might be thought that no landing could have been more terrible than the storming of Beach W, but the scenes at Beach V, which lay between Cape Helles and the castle and village of Sedd-el-Bahr, were even worse. Beach V reproduced all the defensive characteristics of Beach W, with several formidable additions, and it was without the advantage of ledges of rocks at each end on which a foothold could be gained. On the contrary, the cliffs at the Cape Helles end were so perpendicular that it was impossible to think of climbing them; while had they been scaled, the adventurous climbers would immediately have found themselves confronted by Fort No. 1 and an impassable zone of rifle fire. The bluff at the eastern end was crowned by the ruins of the castle and village, a nest of sharpshooters most difficult to dislodge. There were other important defensive positions which Beach W had lacked. There was a massive old ruined fort at the eastern end, between the shore and the village, which gave useful cover to the Turks. On the ridge which backed the bay, and commanding the whole amphitheatre, stood a ruined barrack, another well-placed refuge for snipers. Then on the grassy terraces all around the amphitheatre riflemen were posted in snug concealment. Barbed wire had been extensively used, as at Beach W. Fifty yards back from the verge of the sea a great entanglement had been constructed, stretching from the ruined fort right across to Cape Helles. Sir Ian Hamilton declared that it was "made of heavier metal and longer barbs that I have ever seen elsewhere." Higher up the amphitheatre was traversed by another entanglement, which passed in front of the barrack and ended at the village. Yet a third entanglement ran at right angles to these two, at the eastern end of the beach. It went up the hill, and gave extra protection to the village and castle. The crests of the amphitheatre were scored with trenches, and were also provided with gun emplacements bearing four pom-poms. There were dummy pompoms at other points to mislead the assailants. The ruined buildings, especially those on the flank, contained machine guns cleverly concealed. It was possible for the enemy to pour upon the beach a rain of rifle bullets and small shells surpassing in intensity any fire encountered at the other landings. The marvel was, not that the British attack was so long held up as in the event proved to be the case, but that it ever succeeded at all. The glorious annals of the British Army present no example of a position carried against more dreadful odds. Even this catalogue of defences does not exhaust the advantages which rested with the Turks. THE ASSAULT AT "LANCASHIRE LANDING," GALLIPOLI. The opening phase of the Lancashire Fusiliers' attack which won three Victoria Crosses for the 1st Battalion at Beach W, April 25, 1915. Behind amphitheatre and village the whole position was further dominated by Hill 141, a swelling height covered with entrenchments and entanglements. When all the amphitheatre and its adjuncts were overcome the hill had still to be won before the British position was in the least secure. There was only one scanty advantage to be set against all these deterrent elements. Where the beach joined the grassy slopes, ten yards from the water's edge, the low escarpment four feet high gave slight shelter to men lying prone behind it. Many who survived the bloody conflict at Beach V owed their lives to those fifty inches of loose sandy soil. It was recognized from the outset that Beach V was going to be the toughest task of all, and special and ingenious arrangements were made for the attack. It was decided that, as at the other landings, the first assault should be delivered by men sent ashore in open boats. It was also arranged, however, to endeavour to beach a steamer containing the bulk of the attacking force, who were to remain concealed within the steel hull of the vessel until the moment came for them to issue forth. The stratagem was a seaman's variation of the Wooden Horse of Troy. A stout collier, the River Clyde, was selected for the experiment, and she was specially prepared under the direction of Commander Edward Unwin, R.N. Great doors were cut in her sides, giving access to long gang-planks slung by ropes and sloping gradually to the bows. If the water proved to be sufficiently shallow, the men were to wade ashore from the gang-planks; but, if not, they were to pass into lighters which were to be placed between the steamer and the beach so as to form a bridge. From the beginning it was foreseen that the lighters would almost certainly be required. The bridge of the River Clyde was protected by steel plates. Twelve maxims, in rough casemates guarded by sandbags, were mounted in her bows and on the lower bridge. The troops designated for this perilous enterprise were, in the first place, three companies of the 1st Royal Dublin Fusiliers, who were to go ashore in open boats. The River Clyde was packed with the rest of the Dublin Fusiliers, the 1st Royal Munster Fusiliers, half the 2nd Hampshire Regiment, the West Riding Field Company, R.E., and other details. She also carried Brigadier-General Napier, who was in immediate direction of the land attack, as well as several Staff officers. The total number of troops on board the collier was well over 2,000. The attack began at dawn with a rapid bombardment from the battleship Albion, which made little real impression upon the defences. Then the plucky little picket-boats, eight in number, headed for the shore, each towing four cutters full of the Munsters. The River Clyde was already slowly approach. ing the beach, although the plan was that she was not to take the ground until the men in the open boats had delivered their attack. The Turks gave no sign. They never fired a single shot until the picket boats had cast off, and the first cutter slid on to the beach. burst forth, as though at a preconcerted signal, a fearful storm of projectiles, and in an instant the margin of sea and shore was transformed into a hell of destruction. Then All the boats had made straight for the beach, for no protection was available on the flanks of the bay. The fire was so murderous that very few, either soldiers or bluejackets, survived it. The attack from the boats was practically wiped out. One boat entirely disappeared, with its occupants. Others were filled with killed and wounded before any attempt could be made to disembark. In a boat which continued to float only two men were left alive. Those of the Munsters who were able to jump out and wade ashore found themselves entangled in submerged barbed wire. As they emerged from the water, they were shot down until the beach was strewn with dead and dying. A few of the wounded, and one or two who miraculously passed through the terrible ordeal unscathed, managed to run or crawl up the beach to the shelter of the low escarpment, where they hastily dug themselves in. But the fate of most was either death or severe wounds. Nearly all the bluejackets shared the lot of the Munsters, and were destroyed where they stood. Not а boat ever got back. In all the records of the Navy and Army, there is no like tale of slaughter so instant and complete under such conditions. Few names have been associated with this epic exploit, but the memory of Lewis Jacobs, a brave able seaman of the Lord Nelson, must be preserved. He took his boat in to the beach unaided, after every soldier and seaman aboard had been either killed or wounded. To the end he pursued his appointed task undaunted. When last seen he was still trying to pole his |