r rifle fire and charged up the heights with
a cheer. The Turks fought bravely against a stronger force, but by
four o'clock Hill 138 was in the hands of the Worcesters.

Less than a mile down the coast, almost to the old fort and village of
Sedd-el-Bahr, was what was known as V Beach. There a landing in great
force was attempted. Largely because of the scale of the operations,
but also because of the difficulties and the accidents of warfare,
this landing was made with great losses.

The beach and the shore in the immediate vicinity form a most regular
amphitheatre of a radius of about 400 feet. The beach is about 10
yards wide and 350 to 400 feet long and it runs into a slightly
concaved, grassy slope that rises gently to a height of a hundred
feet. Little or no real cover was to be found on this slope and the
defenders were able to sweep it from all angles with a devastating
rain of all kinds of shells. Just at the edge of the strip of sand,
however, was a continuous escarpment about four feet high, which
afforded a cover in which troops once ashore might be re-formed. As a
result of the early naval bombardment of the tip of the peninsula,
much of the village of Sedd-el-Bahr and the fort and the barracks had
been reduced to ruins. The ruins afforded, however, excellent cover
for the Turkish troops and proved a serious obstacle to the advance of
the British when they reached the shore.

In addition to the natural disadvantages under which the attacking
party had to work, the Turks had constructed two lines of barbed wire
obstacles--one at the edge of the beach and the second two-thirds of
the way up to the top of the ridge. These two lines of barbed wire
were more stoutly constructed than were any others with which the
British had to contend. Just beyond the second obstacle the Turks had
built their first line of trenches and beyond the ground was scored
with innumerable covers for the defenders.

The force assigned to the attack upon V Beach was composed of the
Dublin Fusiliers, the Munster Fusiliers, half a battalion of the
Hampshire Regiment, the West Riding Field Company and a few minor
units. The action opened with a short range bombardment of the enemy's
trenches and such parts of the fort, the village and the barracks as
were still standing and believed to be affording cover for riflemen
and machine-gun batteries. Then three companies of the Dublin
Fusiliers were towed ashore. At this point one of the great