e officers cannot see their men, who, the moment
they move forward in open order, are lost among the thick scrub.

In the early part of the day very heavy casualties were suffered in the
boats which conveyed the troops from the destroyers, tugs, and
transports to the beach. As soon as it became light, the enemy's
sharpshooters, hidden everywhere, simply concentrated their fire on the
boats. Then they got close in. At least three boats, having broken away
from their tows, drifted down the coast, under no control, and were
sniped at the whole way, steadily losing men.

All praise is due to the splendid conduct of the officers, midshipmen,
and men who formed the beach parties and whose duty it was to pass
backward and forward under a terrible fusillade which it was impossible
to check in the early part of the day.

The work of disembarking went on mechanically under this fire at almost
point-blank range. You saw the crowded boats cast off from the pinnaces,
tugs, and destroyers, and laboriously pulled ashore by six or eight
seamen. The moment it reached the beach the troops jumped out and
doubled for cover to the foot of the bluffs, over some forty yards of
beach. But the gallant crews of the boats had then to pull them out
under a dropping fire from a hundred points where the enemy's marksmen
lay hidden amid the sand and shrubs.

Throughout the whole of April 25 the landing of troops, stores, and
munitions had to be carried out under these conditions, but the gallant
sailors never failed their equally gallant comrades ashore. Every one,
from the youngest midshipman, straight from Dartmouth and under fire for
the first time, to the senior officers in charge, did their duty nobly.

When it became light the covering warships endeavored to support the
troops on shore by a heavy fire from their secondary armament, but at
this time, the positions of the enemy being unknown, the support was
necessarily more moral than real. When the sun was fully risen and the
haze had disappeared we could see that the Australians had actually
established themselves on the top of the ridge and were evidently trying
to work their way northward along it. At 8:45 the fire from the hills
became intense and lasted for about half an hour, when it gradually died
down, but only for a short time. Then it reopened and lasted without
cessation throughout the remainder of the day. The fighting was so
confused and took place among such broken ground that