. British campaigns in the nearer East, 1914-1918. smen. The sunlighton an August afternoon in Gallipoli is glaring, andhere it shot right up the valley. In those conditionstowards the end of the day the westward slopes of IsmailOglu showed up with a glow like dull fire, and thedefences were then best revealed. No doubt the attack had to be regulated upon a cutand dried programme as to date and time on accountof the warships which were to take part in it, but thereis always a risk in counting upon weather. It happenedon this particular afternoon that the landscape wasveiled in a luminous heat
. British campaigns in the nearer East, 1914-1918. smen. The sunlighton an August afternoon in Gallipoli is glaring, andhere it shot right up the valley. In those conditionstowards the end of the day the westward slopes of IsmailOglu showed up with a glow like dull fire, and thedefences were then best revealed. No doubt the attack had to be regulated upon a cutand dried programme as to date and time on accountof the warships which were to take part in it, but thereis always a risk in counting upon weather. It happenedon this particular afternoon that the landscape wasveiled in a luminous heat haze. The mist was denseenough to obscure the view of Ismail Oglu in any detailfrom the British lines ; it was not dense enough to hideobjects silhouetted against the western sky. Indeed,by taking the dazzle off the view westward, it vastlyimproved visibility from the Turkish viewpoint. The enemys front stretching across the higher partof the spur, relatively narrow, was to be subjected tobegin with to a concentrated and intensive fire. Under 216. [To face pagt 216. BRITISH CAMPAIGNS IN THE NEARER EAST the conditions the fire both of the ships and of the landbatteries was somewhat haphazard. General Hamiltonhad wished to postpone the attack, but for variousreasons this, he relates, was not possible. Whatthe reasons were he does not say, but manifestly, byparity of reasoning if conditions of light were so impor-tant to success, they were, being adverse, just as weightya factor against success. At 3 in the afternoon the assault was launched by anadvance of the 11th Division on the right. It was intended more immediately to gain a footingboth on Hetman Chair and on Scimitar Hill. From the southern face of the former spur lines ofTurkish trenches extended on the lower level across thevalley of the Azmak, barring the way towards GreatAnafarta. The 34th Brigade of the 11th Division tookthese trenches in the first rush and with little loss. On the left the 87th Brigade of the 29th Div
Size: 1312px × 1906px
Photo credit: © Reading Room 2020 / Alamy / Afripics
License: Licensed
Model Released: No
Keywords: ., bookcentury1900, bookdecade1910, bookidbritishcampa, bookyear1917
