This website has been prepared by
the first "hotel de charme" on the Gallipoli peninsula
Right beside
me , within a space of fifteen feet, I can count fourteen of our boys stone
dead. Ah! It is a piteous sight. Men and boys who yesterday were full of joy
and life, now lying there, cold-cold-dead-their eyes glassy, their faces
shallow and covered with dust –soulless-gone-somebody’s son, somebody’s boy
–now merely a thing. Thank God that their loved ones cannot see them now
–dead, with the blood congealed or oozing out. God what a sight. The Major
is standing next to me and he says, ‘Well, we have won” Great God –won- what
means a victory and all those bodies within arms’ reach – then may I never
witness a defeat.
"The Gallipoli Diary of Sergeant Lawrence", (Carlton 1981), R. East, p. 69
The sights in
the Lone Pine works were too terrible for words, so I won’t describe that at
all, but the way those chaps took the trenches, and the way they held on, was
the equal of any defeat of arms ever accomplished. One must remember that
these men had been constantly fighting for four months, and are thin and
worn. The Turks are magnificient fighters, and are very brave man ...
Letter from an unknown Australian officer quoted in "Gallipoli", (Sydney
2002),
Les Carlyon, p. 365
The Marines
who were put in as part of the garrison of Quinn’s and other posts were as
exhausted as the 4th Brigade. How great was the strain placed upon these
young troops was only realised when the Colonel of the Deal Battalion (*),
visiting a section of his trenches, was shot by his men, who in a fit of spy
mania, killed him, wounded three others, and slightly bayoneted Colonel Mc
Nicoll.
"The Story of Anzac", (Sydney 1981) Volume I, Charles E. W. Bean, p. 598-9.
(*)
ducked and it spouted more. I began to feel weak, and decided to go to
the rear, and left Richardson in charge. Somehow I got out between our fellows
and the Turks on the way in and was mighty lucky to escape and only for the
whisky flask I am sure I wouldn’t be here”.
... Having
drunk whisky
to dull the pain Scobie had “a recollection of staggering down a creek with my
revolver in my hand, and having another whisky, then listening for
our big guns, to see which direction to take, went straight towards them, and
came upon third battalion men who put on another bandage, and applied more
whisky, and here I am”.
..... Lt. Col. Scobie recovered from losing the bridge of his nose and was
nursed back to health coincidentally by his sister Louisa Stobo, who worked in
the same Cairo Army hospital. However he was killed leading the 2nd battalion
in its charge against Lone Pine on 6 August. Lt. Col. Scobie ordered his men
to retreat in the face of a murderous enemy counterattack and bravely covered
their retreat himself by throwing bombs at the enemy.
Lt-Colonel Robert
Scobie quoted in "Gallipoli Diaries", (East Roseville), Jonathan King, p. 32-33
Lt Colonel
Robert Scobie, the commander of the 2nd batallion AIF
was seriously wounded on the 25th April :
"... and got it on the nose, and of course it bled some, just spouted out, and
each time a shell came along I
And some "men of the cloth" were more fanatic than others :
He’s a brilliant, fiery debater, a fervid Evangilist (*), a versatile scholar
and a rabid partisan all in one ... If convincing were needed, he absolutely
convinced us all of the righteousness of our cause and likened the present
struggle for liberty to a Holy Crusade. So when we finally sang “Onward,
Christian soldiers,” we meant it ...
