was just
discernible in the gloom. The engines were stopped, guns were manned,
and the powerful searchlights made ready for use if required. The tows,
which up to this time had followed astern, were ordered to advance to
the shore. The battleships took up positions somewhat further out on
either flank, for to them was assigned the duty of supporting the attack
with their guns as soon as light allowed.

Very slowly the snakes of boats steamed past the battleships, the
gunwales almost flush with the water, so crowded were they with khaki
figures. Then each lot edged in toward one another so as to reach the
beach four cables apart. So anxious were we on board the battleships
that it seemed as if the loads were too heavy for the pinnaces, or that
some mysterious power was holding them back, and that they would never
reach the shore before daybreak and thus lose the chance of a surprise.

The distance between the battleships and the boats did not seem to
diminish, but only for the reason that we steamed very slowly in after
them until the water gradually shallowed. Every eye and every glass was
fixed on that grim-looking line of hills in our front, so shapeless, yet
so menacing, in the gloom.

At 4:50 A.M. the enemy suddenly showed an alarm light, which flashed for
ten minutes and then disappeared. The next three minutes after its first
appearance passed in breathless anxiety. We could just discern the dull
outline of the boats which appeared to be almost on the beach. Just
previously to this seven destroyers conveying the other men of the
brigade glided noiselessly through the intervals between the battleships
and followed the boats in shore.

At 4:53 A.M. there suddenly came a very sharp burst of rifle fire from
the beach, and we knew our men were at last at grips with the enemy.
This fire lasted only for a few minutes and then was drowned by a faint
British cheer wafted to us over the waters. How comforting and inspiring
was the sound at such a moment! It seemed like a message sent to tell us
that the first position had been won and a firm hold obtained on the
beach.

At 5:03 A.M. the fire intensified, and we could tell from the sound that
our men were firing. It lasted until 5:28 and then died down somewhat.
No one on board knew what was happening, although dawn was gradually
breaking, because we were looking due east into the sun slowly rising
behind the hills, which are almost flush with the foreshore, and there