it is extremely
difficult to follow exactly what did happen throughout the morning and
afternoon of April 25. The role assigned to the covering force was
splendidly carried out up to a certain point, and a firm footing was
obtained on the crest of the ridge which allowed the disembarkation of
the remainder of the force to go on uninterruptedly, except for the
never-ceasing sniping.

But then the Australians, whose blood was up, instead of intrenching
themselves and waiting developments, pushed northward and eastward
inland in search of fresh enemies to tackle with the bayonet. The ground
is so broken and ill-defined that it was very difficult to select a
position to intrench, especially as, after the troops imagined they had
cleared a section, they were continually being sniped from all sides.
Therefore, they preferred to continue the advance.

It is impossible for any army to defend a long beach in any force,
especially when you do not know exactly where an attack will be made,
and when your troops will come under the fire of the guns of warships.
The Turks, therefore, only had a comparatively weak force actually
holding the beach, and they seemed to have relied on the difficult
nature of the ground and their scattered snipers to delay the advance
until they would bring up reinforcements from the interior. Some of the
Australians who had pushed inland were counter-attacked and almost
outflanked by these on-coming reserves and had to fall back after
suffering very heavy casualties.

It was then the turn of the Turks to counter-attack, and this they
continued to do throughout the afternoon, but the Australians never
yielded a foot of ground on the main ridge, and reinforcements were
continually poured up from the beach as fresh troops were disembarked
from the transports. The enemy's artillery fire, however, presented a
very difficult problem. As soon as the light became good the Turks
enfiladed the beach with two field guns from Gaba Tepe and with two
others from the north. This shrapnel fire was incessant and deadly. In
vain did the warships endeavor to put them out of action with their
secondary armament. For some hours they could not be accurately
located, or else were so well protected that our shells failed to do
them any harm. The majority of the heavy casualties suffered during the
day were from shrapnel, which swept the beach and the ridge on which the
Australians and New Zealanders had established themselve