hen proceed to walk into the M.G.O. I
can't do that; a bad tempered cable is useless; I have no weapon at my
disposal but very mild sarcasm:--

"(No. M.F. 343). From General Sir Ian Hamilton to War Office. Your No.
5537, cipher, M.G.O. Please send the battery of 6-inch howitzers. Your
admonition will be borne in mind. Extra howitzers will be most useful to
replace pieces damaged by enemy batteries on the Asiatic side of the
Dardanelles. No doubt in time the ammunition question will improve. Only
yesterday prisoners reported that 14 more Turkish heavy guns were coming
to the Peninsula."

Have written another screed to French. As it gives a sort of summing up
of the state of affairs to-day I spatchcock (as Buller used to say) the
carbon:--

"GENERAL HEADQUARTERS,
"MEDITERRANEAN EXPEDITIONARY FORCE,
_17th June, 1915._

"MY DEAR FRENCH,

"It must be fully a month since I wrote you but no one understands
better than you must do, how time flies under the constant strain of
these night and day excursions and alarms. Between the two letters there
has been a desperate lot of fighting, mostly bomb and bayonet work, and,
except for a good many Turks gone to glory, there is only a few hundred
yards of ground to show for it all at Anzac, and about a mile perhaps in
the southern part of the Peninsula. But taking a wider point of view, I
hope our losses and efforts have gained a good deal for our cause
although they may not be so measurable in yards. First, the Turks are
defending themselves instead of attacking Egypt and over-running Basra;
secondly, we are told on high authority, that the action of the Italians
in coming in was precipitated by our entry into this part of the
theatre; thirdly, if we can only hold on and continue to enfeeble the
Turks, I think myself it will not be very long before some of the Balkan
States take the bloody plunge.

"However all that may be, we must be prepared at the worst to win
through by ourselves, and it is, I assure you, a tough proposition. In
a manoeuvre battle of old style our fellows here would beat twice
their number of Turks in less than no time, but, actually, the
restricted Peninsula suits the Turkish tactics to a 'T.' They have
always been good at trench work where their stupid men have only simple,
straightforward duties to perform, namely, in sticking on and shooting
anything that comes up to them. They do this to perfection; I never saw
br