ere he was going to fix up a flight over the Asiatic
shore, as well as select a flat piece of ground near the tip of the
Peninsula's toe to alight upon.

Saw Hunter-Weston: he is quite happy. Touched on "Y" Beach; concluded
least said soonest mended. The issues of the day before yesterday's
battle seem certainly to have hung on a hair. Apart from "Y" beach
might-have-beens, it seems that, further inland, detachments of our men
got into a position dominating Krithia; a position from which--could
they have held it--Turkish troops in or South of Krithia could have been
cut off from their supplies. These men saw the Turks clear out of
Krithia taking machine guns with them. But after half an hour, as we did
not come on, they began to come back. We were too weak and only one
Battalion was left of our reserves--otherwise the day was ours. Street,
the G.S.O.I. of the Division, was in the thick of the battle--too far in
for his rank, I am told, and he is most emphatic that with one more
Brigade Achi Baba would now be in our hands. He said this to me in
presence of his own Chief and I believe him, although I had rather
disbelieve. To my mind "a miss is as good as a mile" should run a "miss
is far worse than a mile." He is a sober-spoken, most gallant Officer.
But it can't be helped. This is not the first time in history when the
lack of a ha'porth of tar has spoilt the ship of State. I would bear my
ills without a groan were it not that from the very moment when I set
eyes on the Narrows I was sent to prize open, I had set my heart upon
just this very identical ha'porth of tar--_videlicet_, the Indian
Brigade.

Our men are now busy digging themselves into the ground they gained on
the 28th. The Turks have done a good lot of gunnery but no real
counter-attack. Hunter-Weston's states show that during the past
twenty-four hours well over half of his total strength are getting
their artillery ashore, building piers, making roads, or bringing up
food, water and ammunition into the trenches. This does not take into
account men locally struck off fighting duty as cooks, orderlies,
sentries over water, etc., etc. Altogether, it seems that not more than
one-third of our fast diminishing total are available for actual
fighting purposes. Had we even a Brigade of those backward Territorial
reserve Battalions with whom the South of England is congested, they
would be worth I don't know what, for they would release their
equivalent of first-