Diary of Herbert Vincent Reynolds, 1914-1915 (second diary) - Part 7










May 1915
the enemy & ourselves whereby we could
remove our dead & a boat carrying the red cross
went in from a destroyer & collected them &ĺ
the enemy sent a party with a red criscent
out to collect their dead & wounded.
[*Wed 5th*]
The enemy after being very quiet all day at sunset
opened fire with a field gun from behind Kapa Tepe
on the No2 ASC depot, they succeeded in holing
a barge alongside the landing stage, but it was
imediately plugged & prevented from sinking.
The 2nd Bgde were issued with 48 hrs iron rations
& left for Cape Helles late tonight A few more
reinforcements landed here today.
[*Thurs 6th*]
A Turkish officer came into our lines at about
11 am on the extreme right flank with a white flag
& information was obtained from him to the effect
that the enemy intended to heavily bombard
our positions, imediately afterwards a battery
of field guns behind Kapa Tepe opened fire
on our bivouacs & gave us an extremely hot time for
a couple of hours, where we are situated is on the
rise just above the No 2 ASC depot on Brighton
beach & in full view of the enemys observation
station on Gaba Tepe, the enemy, can enfilade the
whole of Brighton Beach from Hell Spit to our
right flank & observe any movement on the
beach at all, dug into the shelter of the cliffs
at the No2. ASC depot are our horse & mule
lines & upon these the enemy seemed to direct
his attention though shell after shell exploded
over & around our bivouacs keeping us under
cover like rabbits, as many of the horses & mules
that could be let loose were cut loose from the
lines but we lost 20 mules & 12 artillery
horses & suffered a number of casualties.
We shall have to find another position for our
bivouacs in a safer & more sheltered position
if this new battery of the enemys is not knocked
May 1915
out of action. The battle ships have been
shelling it & one of our sea planes has been up
trying to locate it but without success, they
cease fire when the plane goes over & imediately
open again when it descends.
[*Frid 7th*]
The enemys artillery has been very active
especially from Kapa Tepe, but the damage
done was very slight compared to yesterday.
They put one of our field guns out of action
& disabled the crew. One of our sea planes
has been very buisy attempting to locate the
enemys battery behind Kapa Tepe.
Reinforcements have been arriving all day in
destroyers.
[*Sat 8th*]
Early this morning the enemy opened fire
with his artillery from behind Kapa Tepe &
shelled the beach & flat streatch of ground
between Victoria Gully & Hell Spit with great
violence, our bivouacs being right in the shelled
area we had another hot time, one of the mates
received a shrapnell wound in the shoulder &
took shelter in the bivouac next to mine, he no
sooner got into it than a shell hit one side
of my dugout & blew the bank away between it
& the next, fortunately no one got hurt & we
all beat it for fresh posies & did not risk a
second dose our escape was too narrow to be
comfortable, after a while the enemy quietened
down & we went back to see what had happened
& repair our damaged homes, the worst of the
affair was my rations, they got blown out ofxxx xxxx existence along with my haversack &
a few articals in it, but there are plenty more
where they come from a thing we cannot say
about ourselves. At about 10 am a shell
fell & exploded right in the dressing station on
our right flank & caused a number of casualties
a party of us went up. to bring them down the
May 1915
chap I assisted to bring down was a Reg
streatcher bearer he was unconscious & in a hopeless
state & died before we could reach the hospital.
At noon the 3rd Field Ambulance put up
their geneva cross & at 3 pm the enemy opened
fire with his field guns & shelled the vicinity
of the flag till it was removed.
At about 4 pm I had an extremely warm trip
from the Victoria gully dressing station with
a casualty, we got into a pretty hot shop
near Dawkins point. At about 8 pm, through
some unknown cause 12 rounds of our field gun
amunition exploded killing 3 & causing a number
of casualties.
[*Sund 9th*]
Early this morning the Goeben sent over a
few large shells with the usual result only
causing a splash. The enemys artillery has been
very active again, they did not cease firing
today like they usually do when the captive
balloon on the Ark Royal or a sea plane went
up. about 3 pm the enemy ceased his artillery
fire altogether & things became xxxx unnaturally
quiet for the rest of the day.
[*Mond 10th*]
After being on duty all night at the Victoria gully
station we brought a casualty down at 6 am, after
a very quiet night. The Triumph answered the
Goeben this morning with a broadside to which
she did not reply. The enemys artillery has
been fairly quiet all day. At about 6 pm I was
present at a burial service at the Hell Spit cemetery
& just as the Chaplain finished the service
a shrapnell burst over head followed by half a
doz in quick succession which scattered their
bullets all over the vicinity of the party collected
there, the few casualties that resulted was
marvelous considering the number there.
[*Tuesd 11th*]
After being on duty all day at the Victoria
Gully station we were releived earlier than
May 1915
usual & given instructions to shift our belongings
to a new & much safer bivouac situated at
the mouth of Victoria Gully, we all felt pleased
over the shift as our old position was in full
view of the Enemy on Kapa Tepe. After some
hard pick & shovel work my mate G Cochrane
& I succeeded in getting a fairly safe &
comfortable dugout made to spend the night
in. During the day the enemys artillery has
been very active from both directions, at about
5 pm they opened fire on the engineers dugouts
just below our new position only facing Brighton
beach, there were several casualties. One of my
mates named Collis was wounded by shrapnell
in the shoulder this afternoon.
[*Wed 12th*]
Although it rained fairly heavy during the night my
mate & I were duly rewarded for our exertion in
completing our dugout last night, we worked at it till
well after dark & had the satisfaction of not being
disturbed by the rain as it kept perfectly dry.
We have made a terrace of dugouts in the steep
side of Victoria Gully & ours is about 4 ft wide
to allow 2 of us to lay in it comfortably & the
back bank about 5ft. deep we have banked up
the sides a bit with old ration bags filled with
earth & covered the top with our waterproof
sheets laced together, it is not altogether xxx xxxx worthof home one writes xxxx writing home about nevertheless it is
quite serviceable & as comfortable as circumstances
will permit, any how it is useless going in for
anything flash here as Abdul seems to object
even to us having what we have got.
We are likely to be more contented here in our
new situation as the enemy cannot observe all
our movements like he could in the old, we
also get a very nice sea view here, with all
the transports at anchor & the various battleships
& other naval boats with the islands of Imbros
May 1915
& Samothrace in the distance we get a scene
that always offers a certain amount of interest.
& by climbing a few yards up the stepp steep slope
behind us we can get a magnificent view ofCape Helles away to the south part the point of
Kapa Tepe with its wrecked fort strong point on our our
right flank & away to Cape Helles in the distance. Being off duty today we did not turn
out till dinner time when the rain ^had all cleared off.
The enemy has been very active again today with
his artillery, they put one of the Field guns of
Hughes Battery out of action temporally, two of
the crew was badly wounded, this battery is
posted on our right flank & one of the guns is
practically in the front line looking right at the
enemys positions, it is only used in emergency in
the case of the enemy attacking, when it would
be firing at point blank range. We discovered
this evening that we have to contend with the
enemys artillery from two directions xxx as they
can get at us here from another position that
is down Victoria gully but they can not get
any observation from that direction any more
than from Kapa Tepe of us here, so they can
only send them over & chance to luck about
hitting anything. Some of our Light Horse Regts
landed here today without their horses, to releive
some of our infty who badly require a spell.
[*Thurs 13th*]
Again the enemys artillery has been very active
besides the usual shrapnell they have been
sending over a lot of high explosive shells
directing their attention mostly on our comunication
& stores, things have been very quiet in the
trenches during the last few days. Odd tansports
have been leaving the anchorage for the part week
& at present there are only a few remaining at
anchor off Anzac. We heard today that our
submarine the AE2 has been destroyed by the
enemy in the Sea of marmora:
May 1915
[*Frid 14th*]
There has been a shortage of water here today
owing to the enemy sinking one of our water
barges with his artillery fire last evening.
All day the enemy have been extremely quiet
they were observed constructing gun pits &
entrenchments about 800 yds in front of our right
centre & about 5 pm our artillery got busy &
pounded away at them.
[*Sat 15th*]
The enemy fired over a few shells after dark
last night, a thing they have very seldom done
lately, they have been sending over a lot of high
explosive today.
[*Sund 16th*]
Was on duty at the Victoria Gully station all night
there were no casualties through us from the trenches
& we returned to our bivouac at 6 am. Headquarters
issued instructions today that only urgent cases
are in future to be removed from the dressing
stations to the CCS during the day while the
enemys artillery is in action.
[*Mond 17th*]
The enemy kept up a heavy shrapnell fire on
the 2nd Bgde as they were disembarking on their
return from Cape Helles this morning. Two 6" inch
howitzers were landed here today. One of our
planes flew over our positions this morning
& the enemy & the enemy opened fire on him with
shrapnell but all the shots were very wide of
their mark.
[*Tuesd 18th*]
One of the howitzers brought ashore yesterday
fired a few h e shells today from the end of
Shrapnell gully near Hell Spit where it has been
placed in position, it is directed towards our right
flank. With the exception of about an hour at
8 pm when the enemys guns behind Kapa Tepe were
in action, both ours & the enemys artillery has
been very quiet all day. It is reported that
an enemy force of about 20,000 & strongly supported
by artillery is mustering to attack our positions
& that they are expected to attack some time
May 1915
tomorrow, preparations have been made by
us to counter their attack so they will not
catch us unawares. Received letter from home April 6th.
[*Wed 19th*]
At about midnight the enemy launched a
tremendous attack on our trenches, but despite
numbers & the force with which they made the
attack our lines did not give an inch, our
rifle & artillery fire was very intense particularly
the latter, & the our machine guns spoke to
some order as one of the enemys crack Regts
of Nizan infty found to their dismay, for
when day broke it revealed lines of them, lying
in "no mans land" where they had been mown
down by our maxim gun fire, the slaughter was
terrible & beyond description. These troops
were brought from Constantinople by Gen
Linman Von Sanders & with them he boasted
of the fact & evidently advertised it, that he
was going to sweep us from our positions
& drive us into the sea, but it resulted in
hideous slaughter of both his plans & troops.
As day broke the enemy comenced to bombard our
whole position, with greater violence than he has
ever before done, from 6 am to 8 am it reached its
height of intensity & shells were exploding everywhere
they appeared to have it in their minds to wreak
vengeance for the terrible failure of their infantry
attack by shelling every inch of our positions.
It was my sections night off duty & when the attack
started we were instructed to be in readiness but
it was not till 4 30 am that we were needed, as
our own casualties till then were so light that ethey
could easily be handled by the partys on duty, however
when the enemy opened up with their artillery in earnest
at dawn, our casualties became heaver, & we had a very
buisy & extremely uncomfortable time. On one occasion we
were forced to take shelter with a patient we were bringing
down, behind a bit of a cliff opposite Dawkins point
May 1915
it sheltered us from extremely heavy shell fire from Kapa
Tepe, but gave us no protection to the shrapnell fromthe directly up the gully, but we were forced to make
the best of it till the shelling from Kapa Tepe eared
off a bit. An infantry man after negotiating the
streatch of Beach between Clarkes & Victoria Gullys
took shelter with us, as it was hopeless to attempt to
go on to the A S C depot as things were then. He
was sent down to obtain rifle oil for the trenches
Several shells fell close to us & made us a bit anxious
when with a crash a high explosive hit the bank opposite
we had not time to discover if any of us were hit,
when a second crashed nearly on top of us the
concussion flung us about & we were releived on
getting up to find we were alright apart from being
bruised a bit, the infty lad was less fortunate
as he received a severe wound beneath his
right eye, after bandaging him up we found the
enemy had lengthened his range & the shelling on our track had eased off considerably so we made the
best of it & pushed on down to the CCS. Later in
the morning we got mixed up in a pretty hot
patch of shrapnell & he shells near the No 2 ASC
depot in which we took shelter, here to make things
worse an enemy plane flew over & used the depot
as his target for some of his bombs however much to
our relief they fell wide of the mark & exploded
in the water at the edge of the beach doing nothing
further than giving us a splash of salt water.
About 10 30 am. the enemys bombardment eased off
considerably & for the rest of the day kept up only
a spasmodic fire at 7pm we all turned out & cleared
the casualties from all the dressing stations, as they had
been colecting all day & only cases that circumstances
required to be removed to the CCS were brought
down on account of our comunications being so
heavily shelled though the day, however our
casualties were extremely light & out of all
May 1915.
proportion to the enemys enormous losses.
[*Thurs 20th*]
The enemy was extremely quiet all night, early this
morning one of their planes flew over our lines &
dropped a few bombs, but done no damage. I was
on duty at the Victoria gully station this afternoon &
had a look at the result of the enemys costly attack
his dead are lying in hundreds in front of our trenches
& only a few seem to have reached within a few yds
of them. Our headquarters estimate of the
enemys losses in killed alone is about 2000.
After being very quiet all day the enemy made a
very weak attempt to attack after dark, but it
faded away almost at the outset when our rifles
& machine guns opened on them, the moral effect
of the terrible way their big attack failed yesterday
is certainly troubling them & we are sure to have
a great advantage in future through it, a little
before midnight our Battleships & artillery opened fire
on the enemy trenches & shelled them for some time.
[*Frid 21st*]
Spent the morning in the trenches at Tasmania post
there is evidence of the enemy having suffered very
heavily there by the number of dead in no mans land.
Just before midday a flag of truce was hoisted by the
enemy on Kapa Tepe point & a little later an enemy
horseman rode along towards our right flank keeping
to the beach as he came, a party of our officers met
him at the beach barracade as he reached our
lines, they talked there for some time then at a
signal from the enemy member of the party, three
other horsemen at the flag on the point rode around
& joined them, on their arrival the first member of
the party who rode around was blindfolded &
brought into our headquarters, the remainder of the
party kept the flag of truce flying & waited all the
afternoon till 8 pm when the enemy officer was
brought back from our headquarters & they then
returned to their own lines. Met J Allen today.
[*Sat 22nd*]
Very heavy rain fell between 6 & 10 am & about 11 am
May 1915
a huge water spout was to be seen away across
towards the straights, writhing & twisting in the
sky like a gigantic snake. The enemy officer
returned again today to the place he was met
yesterday on the beach just outside our lines,
some of our officers met him & after blindfolding
him accompanied him in to our headquarters, only
today he rode in on his beautiful black horse, which
was led for him, the others who accompanied him to
the meeting place did not wait there today, but
took one of our officers with them back into their
own lines returning again at 8 pm both partys met
again & then departed for their own lines.
About midday an enemy submarine was reported
in the vicinity of our transports & all the TBDs
comenced dashing about at ftd full speed, all the
Battleships got under weigh & the transports all
weighed anchor & steamed off to the more safe anchorage
in Imbros & Lemnos harbours which are protected
by anti submarine nets. The hospital ship went
with them. There has been very little activity on
either our part or the enemys today. Some efforts
will have to be made to remove the dead in no mans land
as it is almost unbearable in our trenches now, there
is a rumor to the effect that the enemy are negotiating
for an armistice with us to bury their dead.
[*Sund 23*]
Was on duty at Victoria gully station from 7 am to 1 pm
At about 9 am an exceptionally heavy shelling of the
enemys comunications near the Olive Grove behind
Kapa Tepe attracted our attention, being curious as
to what was going on, we climbed to the top of
the ridge between Clarks & Victoria gullys where we
could get a splendid though by no means safe a
view of what was going on Lying very close
to Kapa Tepe point were two cruisers one the
Albion had gone aground & the other the Canopus
was attempting to tow her into deep water, the
Albion was firing broadside after broadside at

This transcription item is now locked to you for editing. To release the lock either Save your changes or Cancel.
This lock will be automatically released after 60 minutes of inactivity.