all
possible. Row upon row of barbed wire had been run along the shores
and even out into the sea. Mines had been constructed that could be
depended upon to blow the intrepid first landing parties to pieces.
The ground had been thoroughly studied and machine-gun batteries
placed so that every inch of the beaches could be raked with a
devastating fire. And finally the ranges for all the great guns in the
hills beyond had been accurately measured so that the ships and the
troops would be literally buried under an avalanche of shells.

CHAPTER LXXII

PLANS OF SIR IAN HAMILTON--FIRST LANDING MADE

The broad outlines of the problem that faced Sir Ian Hamilton and his
force were comparatively simple. The assault upon the Gallipoli
Peninsula resolved itself into rush attacks upon two major heights,
leading up to a grand assault upon the key position to the Narrows.

These three positions formed an irregular triangle. The first was Achi
Baba, situated within three and a half miles of the tip of the
peninsula. The second was Sari Bair, about eight miles due north of
the Narrows. By either taking or isolating these two positions the
Allies would be in a position for a grand attack upon the third and
most important height, the plateau of Kilid Bahr, or Pasha Dagh. This
position not only commanded the Narrows and the adjacent channel but
it contained two of the great forts that successfully withstood the
grand fleet attack. It was, in the minds of the allied command, the
key to the whole situation. With Kilid Bahr in their hands, they
believed the way to Constantinople would be open and the elimination
of the Turk as a factor in the war and the settlement of the Balkan
question or questions in a manner favorable to the allied powers would
necessarily follow.

The operations as planned by Sir Ian Hamilton, then, consisted of a
number of landings--as many as possible so as to conceal the real
objectives of the allied troops and to disperse the Turkish force--and
an attempt to rush the position of Achi Baba, and to isolate the
position of Sari Bair by advancing through the low country that lay
between that position and Kilid Bahr.

On April 7, 1915, Sir Ian Hamilton, with his staff, returned to Mudros
and held a conference with the naval commands. By the 20th his plans
had been perfected and the great landing was fixed to take place on
Sunday, April 25, 1915. During the previous week the Allies had been
making feints