he
ground gained consolidated and prepared against counterattack.
Thousands of Turkish troops were by this time pouring along the road
from Maidos and by the middle of the afternoon it was calculated that
there were fully 20,000 of them before the Australian and New Zealand
troops. The latter, in the meantime, had been further reenforced by
two batteries of Indian Mountain Artillery. The pressure of the
constantly increasing Turkish force compelled General Birdwood, who
came ashore about this time, to contract his lines and to reach a
decision that, at that time at least and until the arrival of more
troops, no further advance could be made. The Gaba Tepe landing had
not been the surprise that was expected and the Turks had proved to be
in unexpected strength.

About three o'clock the Turkish counterattacks began. Absolutely
regardless of human life, they threw themselves in dense masses
against the Second and Third Brigades. The British battleships, the
_Queen_, the _London_, the _Prince of Wales_, the _Triumph_ and the
_Majestic_, posted close inshore, poured a devastating fire on the
advancing Turkish troops as they came into the open.

About five o'clock the Turks, after repeated assaults upon the British
lines, massed for a final attempt to drive the invaders into the sea.
On and on they came, concentrating on the hard-pressed Third Brigade
as the weak spot in the British defense. Fighting gamely against heavy
odds, this Australian Brigade which had borne the brunt of the landing
attack and which had been almost continually counterattacked all
afternoon, gave way slowly, selling every inch of ground dearly.
Hundreds of the brave Turkish troops were mown down by the machine
guns which the Australians had by this time brought ashore. At
nightfall, however, General Birdwood, as a consequence of the
persistence of the enemy, had to contract his lines further.

As night settled on the battle field on the ridge above Gaba Tepe and
Sari Bair, and the two forces rested from sheer exhaustion, the
British troops, who once were well inland toward Maidos, their
objective, were barely hanging onto the ridge overlooking the shore of
the Gulf of Saros. All their water and food and munitions and
reenforcements had to be brought ashore across the exposed beach,
while the landing of the necessary artillery in the face of the
Turkish fire was a feat to appal the bravest. But though their hold on
their position was precarious it w