eld four or five people) and came back to where I was sitting. He is
angry, and small wonder, at the chaos introduced somehow into the Corps.
He is commanding some of Hammersley's men and Hammersley has the bulk of
his at the far extremity of the line of battle. He besought me to do my
utmost to get Hill and his troops back to their own command.

I told him G.H.Q. had always understood Stopford would land his,
Mahon's, two Brigades intact at A Beach. When the naval people could not
find a beach at A, they, presumably with Stopford's concurrence, had
most unluckily dumped them ashore several miles South at C Beach. This
was the cause of the mix-up of his Division which Stopford, no doubt,
would take in hand as soon as he could. Mahon seemed in fighting form.
He said he could clear the whole of Kiretch Tepe Sirt, but that he did
not want to lose men in making frontal attacks, so he was trying to work
round South through the thick scrub so as to shift the enemy that way.
He had reckoned five or six hundred men were against him--gendarmes. But
there were more than there had been at daylight. My talk with Mahon made
me happier. Here, at least, was someone who had an idea of what he was
doing. The main thing was to attack before more Turks came down the
coast. My own idea would certainly have been to knock the Turks out by a
bayonet charge--right there. So far they had not had time to dig a
regular trench, only a few shallow scrapings along a natural fold of the
ground. If Mahon wished to make a turning movement, then, I think, he
would have been well advised to take it by the North where the ground
over which he must advance was not only unentrenched and clear of brush,
but also laid quite open to the supporting fire of the Fleet. But I kept
these views to myself until I could see Stopford; said good-bye to Mahon
and wished him luck; found Brodrick had wandered off on his own to see
the fun at close quarters; legged it, all alone, down the open southern
slope of the Kiretch Tepe Sirt and got down into ground less open to
snipers' fire from the scrub-covered plain.[7] Then, still quite alone,
I made my way back South-west towards Ghazi Baba on Suvla Bay. After a
little I was joined by two young Irish soldiers. I don't know who or
what they took me for; certainly not for the Generalissimo. They came
along with me and discussed identical adventures from diametrically
different standpoints. One, in fact, was an optimist; the other