the 29th Division within a week it might be
worth my while to fly in the face of K. by grasping the Peninsula firmly
by her toe: or,--had my staff and self been here ten days ago, we could
have already got well forward with our plans and orders, as well as with
the laying of our hands upon the thousand odds and ends demanded by the
invasion of a barren, trackless extremity of an Empire--odds and ends
never thought of by anyone until the spur of reality brought them
galloping to the front. Then the moment the Fleet cried off, we might
have had a dash in, right away, with what we have here. The onslaught
could have been supported from Egypt and the 29th Division might have
been treated as a reserve.

But, taking things as they are:--

(1). No detail thought out, much less worked out or practised, as to
form or manner of landing;

(2). Absence of 29th Division;

(3). Lack of gear (naval and military) for any landing on a large scale
or maintenance thereafter;

(4). Unsettled weather; my ground is not solid enough to support me
were I to put it to K. that I had broken away from his explicit
instructions.

The Navy, i.e., de Robeck, Wemyss and Keyes, entirely agree. They see as
well as we do that the military force ought to have been ready before
the Navy began to attack. What we have to do now is to repair a first
false step. The Admiral undertakes to keep pegging away at the Straits
whilst we in Alexandria are putting on our war paint. He will see to it,
he says, that they think more of battleships than of landings. He is
greatly relieved to hear _I_ have practically made up my mind to go for
the South of the Peninsula and to keep in closest touch with the Fleet.
The Commodore also seems well pleased: he told us he hoped to get his
Fleet Sweeps so reorganised as to do away with the danger from mines by
the 3rd or 4th of April; then, he says, with us to do the spotting for
the naval guns, the battleships can smother the Forts and will alarm the
Turkish Infantry as to that tenderest part of an Army--its rear. So I
may say that all are in full agreement,--a blessing.

Have cabled home begging for more engineers, a lot of hand grenades,
trench mortars, periscopes and tools. The barbed wire bothers me! Am
specially keen about trench mortars; if it comes to close fighting on
the Peninsula with its restricted area trench mortars may make up for
our lack of artillery and especially of howitzers. Luckily, they can be
turn