A third alternative was a landing at Enos or Ibrije for the purpose of seizing the neck of the Isthmus at Bulair; but this was rejected largely owing to the objections of Vice-Admiral De Robeck, who pointed out that the beach was in every way unsuitable for a landing, and that the objective was far too remote from its base for safety. It was, moreover, obvious that a seizure of the neck would not cut the garrison at Achi Baba off from supplies, which could be freely poured in from the Asiatic side of the Strait.

In addition to these official objections, it may be pointed out that it had never been the object of the Allied Commanders to attempt to force a wav directly by land to Constantinople. To have attempted this would have brought them into conflict with 'the whole Turkish Army, which they would have had to face in open country, where their small numbers would probably have led to their being outflanked and utterly defeated. 

On the Peninsula itself, however, they were not subject to this disadvantage, and as the event showed, could hold their own against a force far larger than their own. The true objective of the whole expedition had always been the Narrows; could these once be secured for the warships, and could the Straits be made an open fairway for the Allied Fleet, the end of the expedition would have been at once achieved.

This being so, it was not remarkable that the British Commander fell back upon a fourth alternative. This consisted of a three-fold, or perhaps even a four-fold, operation. The troops at Helles and a certain section of the Anzacs were ordered to make strong attacks in their respective zones in order to keep the Turk occupied and to prevent his reserves being sent to the more vital points.

Meanwhile, a powerful force, starting from Anzac, was to make a strong thrust up toward Hill 305 or 971, the redoubtable Koja Chemen Tepe, and from this vantage point was to dominate the Narrows, to threaten the great fortified plateau of Kilid Bahr, and to cut off Turkish land communications between Bulair and Achi Baba. Simultaneously with these schemes a new attack was to be launched at Suvla Bay, in which the important element of surprise should be prominent. This, it was hoped, would distract a still greater number of enemy reinforcements, and, what was more important still, would be able to supplement the thrust from Anzac, and join its own right wing to the Anzac left along the central ridge of the Peninsula.

It must always be remembered that of these four operations the main one was the great push from Anzac. In the words of Sir Ian Hamilton, "Anzac was to deliver the knock-out blow; Helles and Suvla were complementary operations." The Suvla operations differed from those at Helles, however, in that they were intended to Join up subsequently with the main attack, and eventually to remain part of it. Such a junction, owing to the facts already specified, was almost an impossibility for a force operating from the south. A further advantage of the Suvla operation would, it was hoped, be the provision of a submarine-proof and gale-proof base for all the forces engaged at Anzac.

The element of surprise, could it only be achieved, was of vital importance at Anzac, no less than at Suvla. At Helles it was unfortunately out of the question, but in the two northern spheres of attack large armies had to be mustered both on the mainland and near it without the enemy even suspecting their existence. It was a remarkable problem, and the working out of it is probably unparalleled either in ancient or modern warfare. Complete darkness was essential to its success, therefore the moon had to be eliminated. 

This meant that, unless a whole month was to be lost, the attack should be delivered between the 1st of August, when the troops were first concentrated at their base, and the 10th, or so, of the same month. This date being decided upon, the next step was to set ashore the troops intended for the great adventure at Anzac. It was of vital importance that a large army should be literally smuggled into the Anzac lines, and kept there for several days without the enemy even beginning to know that such a force was anywhere on the Peninsula. 

When it is realised that every morning their aeroplanes soared over the Anzac lines and spied out the whole position it will be seen that the landing of such a force would be well-nigh a miracle. Yet this miracle was accomplished successfully owing to three agencies the remarkable efficiency of the British General Staff, the organisation and enterprise of the Navy, and the indefatigable work performed on the nights of embarkation by the Anzacs themselves. 

After a hard day's fighting these "glorious young giants." as Mr. John Masefield calls them, turned to and dug a vast series of underground tunnels in which this new Army lay hidden throughout the hours of daylight. Millions of rounds of ammunition and thousands of shells were concealed in the same way, and were passed along beneath the cover of darkness to the outpost beyond Fisherman's Hut to the extreme left of the Anzac position.

In addition to this, a large high-level reservoir was secretly constructed at Anzac, in which 30,000 gallons of water were concealed. As the wells already in our possession were quite inadequate to supply the new armies at Anzac and Suvla, not the least useful work of the Australasian Army was the achievement of this wonderful piece of clandestine engineering work, without which it would have been quite impossible for the Sari Bair attacking force to make any kind of headway upon the eventful dawn of the 7th August.

We may postpone, for the meanwhile, the discussion of the arrangements preliminary to the Suvla landing. The whole of this operation is so closely bound up with the great expedition from Anzac that it will be convenient to consider the two movements together, and to reserve discussion of them until some account has been given of the subsidiary operations at Helles and within the lines of Anzac. These operations were aided by various tactical diversions by sea and land. A surprise landing was effected by a force of 300 men on the northern shore of the Gulf of Xeros. 

French warships also bombarded the Syrian coast opposite Mitylene, and, nearer the centre of operations, a demonstration by monitors took place between Gaba Tepe and Kum Tepe. These feints served to keep the Turk in a state of uneasiness; from the very beginning of the campaign he had been apprehensive of an attack upon Bulair from Xeros, and this was not the first time that his cherished stronghold at Gaba Tepe had been menaced.

THE FIGHT AT HELLES.

With the operations at Helles, however, we come to something of real strategical importance. The attack here was delivered by the 88th Brigade of the 20th Division, its objective being an entrenched position extending for about three-quarters of a mile opposite the British right and right centre. An enfilading position, consisting of two smaller Turkish trenches, was simultaneously attacked by the 42nd Division. The assault took place at 3.50 p.m. on August 6th, but when sunset came the whole attempt had failed, in spite of the great pluck and determination with which it was pressed. The ist Battalion of the Essex Regiment actually entered the enemy trenches, but were immediately driven forth, and no part of the enemy lines remained permanently in our possession. Several reasons may be advanced to account for this failure.

In the first place, the Turkish moral had been greatly strengthened by the failure of the Russian eastern offensive against Germany. They now realised that the Russian attack which they had so greatly feared had become impossible, and in their elation, they hoisted posters advising our forces of this fact. Secondly, the whole position had been greatly strengthened, and the defending force had been augmented by two whole Divisions since the battle of 13th July; it was quite a different Army, imbued with quite a different spirit, which now faced the Allied attack. But the most unfortunate occurrence of all, and the one which contributed most to our failure, was the fact that while we were planning to attack the Turk, he was already meditating a sweeping attack upon ourselves, and had his front trenches full of picked troops for this purpose.

It had never been contemplated, however, that in this battle the Allied forces would be able to carry the whole Turkish line and press on toward Achi Baba as they had begun to do in the battles of May and June. The troops knew that their operation was a subsidiary one, designed mainly to hold up as many Turkish reinforcements as possible, and prevent them from assembling on Battleship Hill with a view of swooping down on Anzac or Suvla. This holding-up could be accomplished almost as well by an unsuccessful attack as by a successful one, but it is asking a good deal of troops to expect them to attack under such circumstances with the dash and determination generally forthcoming when there is a reasonable chance of victory. Yet our troops throughout the whole of this operation showed all the indomitable spirit which they had manifested in the earlier battles.

On the morning of the 7th the Turks, according to their original plan, launched their attack upon the left part of our lines, but were repulsed with great slaughter. While their assault was still in progress, a British counterattack was launched against a Turkish position dominating the important road leading through Krithia to Maidos. This attack looked like succeeding, as the 125th Brigade took the first enemy line, and pushed on to the second: but they were driven out from this position by the Turkish troops, who had now massed in great force.

THE BATTLE OF THE VINEYARD.

In the centre, however, a fierce battle raged all day up and down a vineyard some 200 yards long by ioo yards broad on the west of Krithia Road. This vineyard played somewhat the same part in this last battle of Krithia as the farm of Hougoumont played in the battle of Waterloo. It was the scene of some of the fiercest hand-to-hand fighting that has occurred during the war. Captured by the East Lancashires in the first dash,- it was fiercely counter-attacked throughout the next two days by the Turks. Their assaults were especially heavy in the early morning of the 8th August, but the gallant Lancashires stood to their ground with the bayonet and held off the enemy hordes. 

Both sides appeared to attach symbolic value to the position, and to regard its possession as an emblem of final victory. Throughout the long night of the 9th, the Turks hurled bombs upon it; but the men of the Lancashire Regiment stood their ground, and held it for four splendid and terrible days; at the end of these "the enemy made one more sudden, desperate dash for their vineyard - and got it ' But, on the 11th, our bombers took the matter in hand. The Turks were finally driven out, the new firing trenches were wired and loop-holed, and have since become part of our line."

The retention of this position was largely due to the heroism of Lieutenant Forshaw, of the Manchester Regiment. A school teacher of delicate constitution and upbringing, he had always been a keen Territorial Officer. When tried by the ordeal of battle he emerged triumphant. He stuck to his corner continuously for 41 hours, "treating bomb throwing as if it were snow-balling," refusing to budge when his Detachment was relieved, and "being largely instrumental in the repulse of three very determined onslaughts." For this intrepid act he was subsequently awarded the V.C,

Although the attack at Helles added very little to our lines, it had amply justified its end, it had not only held up the Turkish forces already at Helles, but had lured heavy reinforcements from the northern to the southern arena.

LONESOME PINE.

We may now pass north again to Anzac and the operations which had been arranged in this zone to distract the attention and forces of the Turks from the main attack.

The forces under General Birdwood amounted here to 37,000 Rifles and 72 Guns, together "with naval support from 2 Cruisers, 4 Monitors and 2 Destroyers." The greater portion of this force, including the newly-arrived detachment, was devoted to the main attack upon Sari Bair; the remainder, make the task of this force easier, delivered a series of attacks from the Anzac lines. The greatest of these took place at the exact hour at which the first attack had been delivered at Helles. It was launched from a point on the right of the Anzac line against a position whose name, Lone, or Lonesome, Pine, will live for ever in Australian history.

The plateau of Lonesome Pine rises some 400 feet above the "Brighton Beach," flanked on the left by that formidable Turkish position known as Johnston's Jolly. For many weeks the Turks had been fortifying it, and they had succeeded in converting it from a mere firing trench into a tremendously strong position, supported by a perfect labyrinth of cuttings, tunnels, saps and communication trenches. The enemy had been always very anxious concerning this position, which commanded one of the main sources of the Turkish water supply, and also the main line of communication between Anzac and Kilid 4ahr Plateau.

The Australian Army was aware that the trenches of Lone Pine had been very strongly fortified, but it was only to learn after the attack was delivered that they had been roofed with pine logs and railway sleepers and huge planks laden with earth, which protected them almost completely from shell fire.

For several days before the attack the Fleet had been bombarding impartially the chief Turkish positions opposite our lines, and the Lonesome Pine trenches had come in for their share. To facilitate the attack, the Australians drove out from their own trenches several parallel tunnels running about 30 yards forward and connected toward the Turkish position by a drive. This work was performed by skilled Newcastle and South Coast miners, who then burrowed upwards till there was only a thin crust of earth remaining above this subterranean stronghold. 

Into its recesses there were crowded nearly 1,000 men, destined to form the advance guard of the attack on the Turkish trenches 50 yards ahead of this extended position. Running further outwards from these towards the Turkish lines were two other galleries specially prepared to counter the enemy's mining and create a diversion from the main operation. A few hours previous to the main attack these galleries were fired, throwing up a tremendous amount of earth and debris into the air. 

During the lull which followed the Australians prepared themselves for the ordeal to come, while the warships and land artillery subjected the Lone Pine to a terrific bombardment. The roar which followed was indescribable, and it seemed as if every gun on the Peninsula and the Fleet were concentrated upon this one vital point. The bombardment lasted for an hour, then ceased as suddenly as it had begun, and was immediately succeeded at 5.0 by three quick blasts on the whistle from Colonel King, who called out, "Come on, give it to them."

The men concealed in the tunnels immediately broke ground, and raced for the Lone Pine, which was shrouded in the dust and smoke of the bombardment. Almost at the same time the main attack was launched from our trenches 30 yards to the rear, and the whole force swept forward towards the Turkish trenches. The machine guns from Johnston's Jolly could hardly be brought to bear upon the Australians in time to do much harm, but the Turkish shells burst incessantly over the whole stretch and between the trenches and the shrapnel broke thick and low over the racing lines. When the men arrived at the first trench, they had expected to be able to take it in the approved fashion by leaping down and bayoneting the Turks hand to hand. 

To their great surprise, however, they found that the whole position was so strongly roofed with planks and earth that there seemed hardly any way of ingress, while the Turks were firing all the while from their loop holes in the woodwork. Though nonplussed by this discovery, the soldiers never thought for an instant of retreat. Some of them swept on to the second and third trenches, which they found normally constructed, and took them by storm after fierce fighting; others remained at the first trench, and some of these tried to dislodge the Turks by firing down the enemy loopholes.  

It fell to others to perform an act of heroism and gallant adventure thoroughly typical of the great tradition which the Anzacs had already created for Australia. It was noticed that, in parts of the wooden roof over the first trench there had been left certain man-holes and gaps. Down these the indomitable Australians wriggled feet foremost into the darkness, bent on death or victory. A terrible struggle resulted underground, mainly with the bayonet, the Turks fighting with ferocious despair like rats caught in a trap. 

Meanwhile our men had seized the communication trenches leading to this stronghold, and attacked it from the flank. The fighting continued incessantly both here and in the three lines to the rear. By this time the whole position had become a shambles, but the Australians could not be beaten in hand-to-hand fighting, and in two hours the whole position was theirs.

The slaughter had been terrible on both sides; in one sap there were found 1,000 dead, who were chiefly Turks. All that day and night there was fighting with bombs and bayonets throughout that underground labyrinth. The on-rushing Australians would come upon little nests or pockets of Turks at intervals along the trench, and then there would be a fight to the death. Even when these men had
been accounted for, victory was far from assured, for the initial success was only the first act of the terrific drama. The Turks regarded it as incredible and intolerable that the position should remain in our hands, and for the next six days they launched determined counter-attacks against our men,
who had strongly fortified themselves, and had converted the Lone Pine into a portion of the Anzac trenches, extending 8o yards beyond the original line. 

Every kind of Turkish missile was rained incessantly upon the devoted defenders, and under this attack the Turks flung line after line of fighters and bombers against the Australians. But these were determined that nothing should tear from them the latest laurel they had added to their crown. Their machine-guns mowed down the Turks as they raced forward, and those that survived were finished with the bayonet or the bomb. For 70 hours the Turks were hurled down from the ridges to the Lone Pine, but all to no avail. 

The position had been won and held, and a great Turkish force had been diverted from the northern zone. The Australian casualties were very heavy, but the Australian Army knew that this sacrifice
had not been made in vain, and that it would ensure life and the hope of victory for those other gallant Australians now storming the Abdul-Rahman V heights away to the north.

It is difficult to exaggerate the heroism of everyone who took part in this charge. It has been said with truth that each of the men who dropped down into the first trench at the Lone Pine merited the V.C., and would have won it in any campaign of lesser magnitude. The coolness of the troops when they found that the sap was, really a fortress was in itself almost miraculous, and shows that the Australian soldier can act and think for himself under danger with perfect resource and coolness. The underground fighting and the tremendous counter-attack which followed was a terrible strain on the nerves even of the strongest-a strain which the Australians felt intensely, but transcended through sheer valiancy of spirit.

Particularly gallant was the work of the signallers in this charge, who carried telephone poles 5 times across the shrapnel-swept space and renewed the line each time it was cut by the Turkish fire.

The officers in this attack fought and led magnificently. A soldier present at the charges gives the following description of one of them :-

"An officer of the 3rd Battalion in the great charge on Lonesome Pine stood on the parapet of a Turkish trench and directed his men, stopping every now and again to pour the contents of his revolver into the groups of Turks who had not been reached by the Australians. He was shot through the leg but still maintained his position. One of our machine-guns went wrong. He climbed down and fixed it up: he then hopped back on the parapet and fired with good effect. Another bullet buried itself in his injured leg, but he refused to give in. He cheered his men on. He was so exposed that it was merely a matter of time when he would be shot down. A bullet eventually put him out of action."

This was only one incident of hundreds, and it embodies the spirit shown by every man engaged in this great fight.

It will be noticed that the winning of this battle fell to the 1st Australian Infantry Brigade. The 3rd Brigade had had its day of glory at The Landing. The 2nd Brigade gained an immortal name in the great charge at Helles. The 4th Brigade, too, had fought magnificently at the Landing, but its great hour was still to come at Abdul Rahman. The Lone Pine gave the 1st Brigade its chance and established for it a record of imperishable heroism.

Less success, but not less heroism, attended the charge made by the 6th Battalion of the 2nd Brigade on "the mysterious and well-defended position" known as German Officers' Trench, owing to the fact that certain German Officers had emerged from it during the armistice of May. It had been hotly contested after The Landing, but the enemy had succeeded in holding it, and had gradually added to its strength till it became almost as formidable as Lonesome Pine itself. Its exact strength was unknown to our authorities, but it was recognised as being very great, and it was known that the position was fortified with innumerable saps and communication trenches protected in great part by overhead coverings similar to those which gave such trouble at the Lone Pine.

This position faced Steele's Post, which lay half way between Courtney's and Scott's Posts, and was about 70 yards away from the objective. The Turks had always been alert as to the possibility of our attempting to storm this position, and their guns were kept continuously trained on Steele's Post. Consequently we pursued the tactics which were so successful at Lonesome Pine and drove galleries out towards the Turkish position, connecting these at the terminal points by a gallery, and leaving a thin roof through which the attacking party might easily break. These drives ran about 3-5 yards out from our firing trenches, and beyond them, other tunnels had been driven, in which were deposited 300 lbs. of gun cotton.

While the enemy were subjecting Steele's Post to a terrific bombardment the mines were sprung, shortly after midnight of August 6-7, and immediately after the explosions had ceased, the men burst forth from the earth behind the craters and hurled themselves upon the trench. A great number of them fell beneath the fierce fire of machine-guns, but the survivors of the first line reached the trench and found it roofed over just as at the Lone Pine. Some 6o of them leapt into the trench, and there fought hand to hand with the Turks, but the remaining charges delivered from our firing trenches were checked by a fusillade of artillery, rifle and machine-gun fire, and very few of the Australians reached the position. Here their comrades were still keeping up a desperate struggle, but in default of supports it was impossible for them to make good, and they died, fighting till they fell.

A further attack on German Officers' Trench was meditated, but it was soon realised that this would result in mere slaughter, and the command to advance was withheld. The assault, though it did not achieve its main object, was useful as well as heroic, for it diverted the attention of the Turks from the departure of the 4th Brigade, which was thus enabled to get well on its wav to Sari Bair without immediate opposition. It will be realised that the soldiers who behaved so valiantly upon this day were the men who had already taken part in the great Helles Charge - the Victorian 2nd Brigade. It was not their fault the German Officers' Trench did not become a permanent portion of our line.

CHARGES OF THE LIGHT HORSE.

An even more heroic and forlorn hope was the charge made by the 8th (Victorian) and the 10th (Western Australian) Regiments of the 3rd Light Horse Brigade from that lofty position upon Walker's Ridge, known as Russell's Top. Their objective was known as the Chess Board, from the checkered appearance presented by its interlacing trenches. It lies midway between Russell's Top and Quinn's Post, and is so constructed as to provide most formidable opportunities for the enfilading of an attacking force. It adjoins the Turkish position known as Baby 700 which dominates the No Man's Land between it and the British trenches. (Aka The Nek)

The Chess Board has been described as a veritable nest of destruction, and it was almost without hope of victory or life that the heroic Light Horsemen sallied forth from their trenches on the morning of August 7th. A very heavy bombardment had been delivered against the Chess Board by our warships and artillery, but it was still known that the position was terrifically strong and that the Turks were in great numbers. The deadly nature of the operation was largely due to the fact that the charge was confined to the narrow neck 100 yards in width to which the plateau narrowed at this part of our lines. 

On this tongue of land was concentrated the whole of the enemy's withering fire. A further difficulty lay in the fact that, whereas the Turkish trenches in the middle of the position approached to within 25 yards of ours, on the Flanks they were some 6o yards distant, so that the attack had to be launched in "V" shaped formation, and the flanks trusted to make up with the centre during the brief and deadly period of the charge.

The first assault, that of the 8th Light Horse, was organised in four lines, each consisting of 150 men carrying unloaded rifles and relying on the use of bombs and bayonets. The Turks were evidently sure from our bombardment that an attack was pending, and while the Light Horsemen were waiting in the trenches for the word to advance, they opened up on Steele's and Quinn's Post with the heaviest bombardment to which they had vet treated our forces. 

The area through which the charge had to be made was literally thick with Turkish bullets and projectiles of every kind, but the men never hesitated for a moment; they knew that their charge meant practically certain death, they knew that victory was practically impossible; but they also knew that it was the bounden duty of every man at Anzac to hold up as many Turks as possible, and thus open the way to victory to his fellow Anzacs at Sari Bair. If their commanders considered that on this occasion the price was worth the paying, it was not for them to "reason why."

At 4-30 the whistle blew, and Lieutenant-Colonel White leapt over the parapet at the head of the first line. At least half fell before they reached the Chess-board. Those who were not killed attempted, in spite of their agony, to wriggle clear of the ground over which their comrades had to charge. A handful reached the Turkish parapet and leapt down below, locked in fierce hand-to-hand combat with the defenders. An Australian flag thrust forth from one of the enemy's loop-holes showed that they had still hope of victory could other supports reach them. 

Meanwhile, the second line charged forward, but this was almost entirely mown down by the Turkish guns, which were now focused on the position far more closely than at first. Fifteen Turkish machine-guns sprayed the whole of the neck, each with the volume and accuracy of a garden hose. The same fate befell the remaining lines of Victorians, great gaps thinning out their ranks before they had run a few yards from their own parapet.

The 10th Light Horse were now mustered in the trenches, and they, too, were hurled forward into the jaws of death. They met with no better fate, yet they never wavered, and were mown down right and left by the hail of bullets. In one of the charges every man but one had dropped before the ground had been half covered. The survivor, hard hit, staggered forward towards the Turkish trenches, as though to take them single handed, till a bullet put an end to all his hope and agony.

Simultaneously with this charge assaults had been delivered against the Chess Board from Quinn's Post by the 2nd Regiment of the 1st Brigade. These met with no better fate than that which had attended the 8th and 10th Regiments. The first of these forces was supported by a detachment of Welsh Fusiliers, who suffered equally heavy and acted equally heroically.

The ist Regiment of the ist Brigade charged the position from the slopes of Dead Man's Ridge, but their fate was the same as that of their gallant comrades. In all, four Regiments charged those death-dealing trenches.

It is difficult to say whether these Light Horse charges were justified; could they have possibly taken the Chess Board they might have prepared the way for an assault on Baby 700, which would have made possible an attack on Sari Babi from the Anzac position by a way as yet unopened. The entire value of the operation depended on the number of Turks which the attack was able to hold up; but it seems questionable whether that number was sufficient to justify the appalling sacrifices made on that day. 

As a result of these the 3rd Light Horse Brigade practically ceased to exist. Of one Regiment, including ig officers and 500 men, two officers and 53 men only were alive at Anzac after the charge, while Colonel White had been killed at the first onslaught, at the head of his men. The episode was among the most splendid and heroic of the campaign ; no more perfect example could have been afforded of the devotion and indomitable bravery of the Australian Army. These Light Horse Charges may not have been war, but they were as magnificent as any yet recorded in the history of the British Army.