Diary of Samuel Hedley Hemming Hawkins, 1914-1916 - Part 10

24 June  1915
THURSDAY
No Duty
Turks send about 30 shells
into our position.

Quartermasters Fatigue.

For the last fortnight
Tommies & French
have been engaging
in a deadly struggle
to take Acia Baba.

Send letter to mother.
 

1915  June 25
FRIDAY
Fatigue Work on beach.
Turks continually shelling
our position.

26 June  1915
SATURDAY
Rest. Turks give us
a bad time with shells.

They keep up a cannonade
so strong on beach that
we are unable to approach
it.
Turkish Guns are very
inaccurate but they have
captured some French 75
which do awful damage.
Killing 121 men at a time.
They hit our batteries for
the first time with the
75. This shows clearly
its superiority over
Turkish Guns
 

1915  June 27
SUNDAY
4 AFTER TRINITY
Battalion on Duty.

Turkish Guns are now in
such a position that they
can shell us from any
point. Our position here
looks anything but good.

Church Parade.

30 June  1915
WEDNESDAY
Fatigue Work. Digging
long sap to left. Very
wide to enable quick
movement of Troops in
case of fighting on our
extreme left & to be
able to support outposts
in case of attack.
Battleships Bombard all
day. Every second you
hear Rumble Rumble
of big guns. Probable
300 guns take part.
This began 28^th.
 

1915  July 1
THURSDAY
Inlying Picket.
Bombardment of Achie
Baba lulls for a time.
————————————
All signals to B'Ships from
land looked grand.
Red White & Blue Flares
were used & were very
impressive. Their Flares
would be seen to show
the advancing Tommies
their way.

2 July 1915
FRIDAY
Heavy Bombarding of
Achie Baba in morning.
Things quiet during
day

1915 July 3
SATURDAY
Turkey gets a new 11 inch
naval gun into position
against us. She hit
one transport but did
little damage. Gives
us plenty of shells.
Fatigue Work.

Post letters Alice &
Father. 

4 July 1915
SUNDAY
5 AFTER TRINITY
Fatigue, Church Parade,
Holy Communion

1915 July 5
MONDAY
Turks again very merry with
their artillery. Through
some spying they get onto
16 Batt ^(who are off to Imbros on the road.

They shell then right over
to the island. As the
Turks say "They chased
a regiment from the
Peninsula."

Inlying Picket

6 July 1915
TUESDAY
Very quiet. After 16 Batt
go she does not send a 
shell into our position.
But they were shelled out.
Inference. Some spies in
the 16^th.

Respirators served out as 
prisoners tell us Turkey
has mortars & poisonous
shells which she intends
to use against us.

1915  July 7
WEDNESDAY
Turkey gives us 24 hours to leave
Peninsula or she will heavily
bombard our position
On Guard at Army Service
stores. Four hour shifts.

8 July 1915
THURSDAY
Battalion on Duty.
Turkey carries out her
threat but does not drive
us into the sea. She simply
wastes a great no of shells

1915 July 9
FRIDAY
Rest day. Fatigue 5 pm to
9 pm. Very few shells today

Receive letters from home
dated 24 April, 30 & 29 May
Mother, Dad, Alice.
Aubrey & Siebert & Leboyn  [[Dye?]]

10 July 1915
SATURDAY
Voluntary Inoculation
today against Cholera.
Turks very quiet.

Inlying Picket.

1915 July 11
SUNDAY
6 AFTER TRINITY
Inquire re Insurance
Due 11 August.

Battalion on Duty
Inlying Picket. 

12 July 1915
MONDAY
Fatigue work on beach

Receive letters Dad, Mother,
Flo & Alice written
June 8^th.

1915 July 13
TUESDAY
Turks rather active.
Blow up Scots Posts
which is slightly to the
right of Courtneys Post.
They attack but are unable
to take the position

28 June 1915
MONDAY
Fatigue Work.

Along the Anzac firing
line was made a general
advance. Our men
successfully took 700 yds
of trenches but with 
heavy losses. Royal
Scots land between
Gaba Tepe & Cape Helles.

Tommies are fighting desperately
for Achie Baba.
Our attack was made
simply to draw Turkish
troop forward us, which
was successfully
done. Our Artillery

1915 June 29
TUESDAY
Turks are very active.
Try to retake lost position
& in doing so loose 1500
killed on our front.
Their casualties were
enormous

Active Bombardment of
Achie Baba by Brit, French
Italian Battleships. All
hill in Flames. Tommies
Take 1000 yds.
played havoc among
Turkish Bn Reinforcements.