
On 6th April,
Ian Hamilton inspected the 86th & 87th Brigades of the 29th Division in
Alexandria which led to an euphoric diary entry shortly afterwards :
There was a strong wind blowing which tried to spoil the show, but could not –
that infantry was too superb! Alexander, Hannibal Caesar, Napoleon – not
one of them had the handling of
The strength of the
battalion at the landing was 25 officers and 918 men. On 26th
April their battalion strength was 15 officers and 411 other ranks. The
remainder was either killed, wounded or missing, a total of 517 casualties or
55%. However, their actions were to become legend. W beach became known as
Lancashire landing out of the profound respect for what those men had achieved
that day. The Lancashire Fusiliers, at the end of the campaign, left behind
1.816 men on the Gallipoli Peninsula and have the most names at the Helles
memorial to the Missing, a total of 1,329.
"Helles Landing", (Barnsley 2003), Huw & Jill Rodge, p. 100




legionaires
like these ... If we don’t win, I won’t be able to put it on the men.
His entry in May, shortly
after
the second battle of Krithia, given a totally different picture :
We are now on our last legs. The beautiful battalions on the 25th April are
wasted skeletons now; shadows of what they had been.
"Gallipoli Diary" - Volume I, (London
1920), Ian Hamilton, p. 83 & 207


Ellis Ashmead-Bartlett was on board the Majestic when it sank on 27th May May 1915;
so was
William Henry Body: Ashmead survived, Body didn't :
It was 6.40 when I was aroused by men rushing by me, and someone trod on, or
stumbled against, my chest. This awoke me, and I called out, “What’s the
matter?” A voice replied from somewhere, “There’s a torpedo coming.” I just
had time to scramble to my feet when there came a dull heavy explosion about
fifteen feet forward of the shelter deck on the port side. The hit must
have been very low down, as there was no shock from it felt on deck. The
old Majestic immediately gave a jerk towards port, and remained with a
heavy list; then there came a sound as if the contents of every pantry in the
world had fallen at the same moment, a clattering such as I had never heard,
as


Over sixty men of the Zion Mule Corps had been wounded and fourteen killed, Private Y. Rotman and Private Bergman being buried at Lancashire Landing Cemetery, Gallipoli, and privates Bardin, Halimi, Kirshner, Wertheimer and Zaoui - all of whom died of wounds - in Chatby Jewish Commonwealth War Graves Commission Cemetery, Alexandria. The remaining seven have no known graves and although their names so far appear on no memorial, they will be included on the Helles memorial in due course.
re
produced from the website : www.jewishvirtuallibrary.org
large
number of wounded down to the beach was particularly arduous and high praise
is due to the stretcher-bearers and regimental doctors, who were working all
through the afternoon and the following night and day. Special
recognition is also due to the infantry transport personnel, the Indian mule
cart drivers, and the Zion Mule corps for their untiring energy in this
action-bringing up ammunition close to the forward positions and carrying back
the wounded under heavy fire.
"Military Operations: Gallipoli", Volume II, (London 1929), Brigadier-General
Cecil F. Aspinall-Oglander, p.
53-54.
Flight Commander Charles Herbert Collet –R. N. A. S.- 3rd Wing was victim of an unfortunate accident as we
can read in
a report by Geoffrey Bromet
:
He
left the aerodrome to take spare engine parts to the commander (*), who had
landed in Suvla, & when at 185 feet his engine failed. The wind was strong
and the gusts very bad over the Kephalo cliffs &, when making a turn to land
again, he lost

control of the machine & came to earth with a
fearful crash, as the result of a nose dive & side slip. The machine
caught fire & before the Pilot could be rescued he had been burnt beyond
recognition Death resulted half an hour afterwards. His passenger, an E.R.A., broke his thigh & suffered
severe burns (this : trying to rescue his officer)
transcribed from "Gallipoli, 1915-Pens,
Pencils and cameras at war", (London
1985), Peter H. Liddle, p. 110
(*) Wing Commander Samson - R. N. A. S. – 3rd Wing


On 25th April, 1915, three companies, and the Headquarters of the 1st Battalion 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, Capt. Willis, Serjt. Richards, and
Private Kenealy (*) have been selected by their comrades as having performed the most signal acts of bravery and devotion to duty.

the sad news that poor
Major Adams had just been shot as they were getting ready to come out of the trenches. It was a great blow. He
seemed to have made up his mind that he was going to be killed, but had been
so much more cheerful when I had seen him the week before, after having come
safely through the first bad week. However, the last words he said to me, as
the regiment returned to the firing line, were, “You will write to my wife if
I get pipped ?” He gave me her address. I am glad it was an instantaneous
death. Well, the C.O. asked me to bury him, so I rode back …
… When we got to the
cemetery at six, it was to find that he had been buried some hours before by
H______, so I just said a few prayers over the grave, and went with the two
majors to see about a piece of ground being railed off to serve as a L.F.
burying place, where some day a memorial might be erected above the beach
where they made their famous landing.
"With the Twenty-ninth
Division in Gallipoli", (London 1916), Reverend O. Creighton, p. 88-89
This website has been prepared by
the first "hotel de charme" on the Gallipoli peninsula
We wandered round the beach a bit to see various people, and I packed up my things to go out and spend a night or wo with them in reserve. While doing this I got a note from the L.F.’s, with
The night of the 4th/5th June was spent by the VIII Corps in clearing the battlefield and placing the new line in a state of defence. The task of getting the
"The final moments of HMS Majestic, torpedoed on May 27" picture reproduced from "Gallipoli Then and Now", (London 2000), Steve New-man, p. 83