we get Ismail Oglu Tepe and Tekke Tepe _now_!" To this he
raised objections. He doubted whether the troops had got their water
yet; he and Reed were agreed we ought to get more guns ashore; the
combination of naval and military artillery was being worked out for the
morning; orders would all have to be re-written. He added that, whilst
agreeing with me on principle as to the necessity for pushing on, there
were many tactical reasons against it, especially the attitude of his
Generals who had told him their men were too tired. I thought to myself
of the many, many times Lord Bobs, French, every leader of note has had
to fight that same _non possumus_; of the old days when half the victory
lay in the moral effort which could impel men half dead with hunger,
thirst and sleeplessness to push along. A cruel, pitiless business, but
so is war itself. Was it not the greatest of soldiers who said his
Marshals could always find ten good reasons for putting off an attack
till next day!

So I said I would like to see the G.O.C. Division and the Brigadiers
personally so as to get a better grip of things than we could on board
ship in harbour. Stopford agreed; nothing, he said, would please him
more than if I could succeed where he had failed, but would I excuse him
from accompanying me; he had not been very fit; he had just returned
from a visit to the shore and he wanted to give his leg a chance. He
pointed out Hammersley's Headquarters about 400 yards off and said he,
Hammersley, would be able to direct me to the Brigades.

So I nipped down the _Jonquil's_ ladder; tumbled into Roger Keyes'
racing motor boat and with him and Aspinall we simply shot across the
water to Lala Baba. Every moment was priceless. I had not been five
minutes on the _Jonquil_ and in another two I was with Hammersley.

Under the low cliffs by the sea was a small half-moon of beach about 100
by 40 yards. At the North end of the half-moon was Hammersley. Asked to
give me an idea of the situation he gave me much the same story as
Stopford. The 9th West Yorks and 6th Yorks had done A.1 storming Lala
Baba in the dark. There had been marching and counter-marching in the
move on Hill 10. The Brigadier had not been able to get a grip of his
Battalions to throw them at it in proper unison and form. A delay of
precious hours had been caused in the attack on Yilghin Burnu by a
Brigadier who wanted to go forward finding himself at cross purposes
with a Brigadier who t