o escape for a time. After
half an hour I found him in our cook house, when I took his number and
name to report him to his C.O. The man was in a state of funk, and
declared that the Turks would certainly break through before morning.
Believing that there might be some reason for his alarm I made sure
before starting that my loaded revolver was at my belt, in case of our
having to beat a retreat.

By 3 a.m. I was able to lie down for a short time, but another furious
attack by the Turks commenced at 4.15. Later in the day I was relieved
by Fiddes, and about 11 o'clock set off with Agassiz who had ridden
out from our base. On reaching Gully Beach we took the high road for
home, but opposite X. Beach the explosions of high explosive shells on
the road in front of us were too terrifying, and we descended to the
under-cliff road.

W. Beach had had the worst bombardment it had so far experienced
during the morning, hundreds of shells falling. Many horses and three
men were killed. At Corps H.Q. and V. Beach the same went on, and no
doubt with similar results.

_June 21st._--The A.D.M.S. Col. Yarr, called at 9 a.m. and asked me to
relieve him for the day, and I am now in his dugout at H.Q. of the 8th
Army Corps, perhaps the hottest place to shell fire on the whole
peninsula. I found six aeroplanes drawn up waiting for messages, and
before 10.30 we had twenty-nine shells all within a few yards of us.
Only very few exploded luckily, but the others buried themselves at
least six feet in the earth. H.Q. is a network of deep dugouts with
communication trenches, but a direct hit will pierce any one of them.
Already two have been struck since I arrived, and the wings carried
off a French biplane. They had 200 shells here yesterday, one of the
orderlies being killed and another has been showing me how his tunic
was riddled by pieces of a shell that exploded. The aeroplanes are
really the target aimed at. Two have just ascended, but as long as it
is daylight they will come and go. We usually get less fire when a few
of our planes are up, when the Turks' guns lie low not to give away
their positions.

Corps H.Q. is on the east side of the aerodrome, while our camp at W.
Beach is on the other. When I entered the mess for lunch the only
person there was an officer in a half faint, seated in a corner
glaring at a shell on the floor. This had come through the roof that
very minute and was luckily a "dud". The roof is made of heavy b