ast, I hope, even the Navy has discovered this for themselves, for
land operations they are of little use. Then we must rely on our field
guns and howitzers, and these only. Another 5-inch howitzer battery
arrived last night, I hear, and we have 9.2-inch guns somewhere, but
I fail to gather whether these had been actually landed.

_July 10th._--We had an unusually good dinner last night, a feast fit
for the gods to one who has had nothing but camp rations for three
months, where the staple diet is bully beef. We had various liqueurs
before dinner, and excellent cocktails made by the General's A.D.C.
But I never enjoyed anything so much as a bottle of Bass the night
before. The A.D.C. is a jovial fellow, always happy, with plenty of
foresight, and with a fatherly interest in everybody. General
Hunter-Weston has been spending the night at Imbros with Sir Ian
Hamilton, and the Staff had asked several of their friends to dine
with them. I was able to find out from one of our visitors that there
is absolutely no truth in a most persistent rumour we hear, that the
whole of the 29th Division is going home to be re-equipped, after
their almost complete annihilation. He says we are to get a rest, but
we only go to Lemnos. Why send troops away in the meantime?

The Turks for some days back have been making a huge excavation on
this side of the actual peak of Achi Baba. Its purpose is a great
puzzle here. The first object one would think of is that it is a big
gun emplacement, but, as they say at H.Q., they have made it on the
wrong side of the hill. Still I cannot see why not, if they front it
with a big enough mound. But there could be no advantage in making it
on this side, where we could so easily "spot" our shots.

We, too, are making a big excavation on one side of the aerodrome, but
when the first aeroplane enters it for the night I am mistaken if the
Turks do not knock it out within an hour. It is intended for a
monoplane that can fly 113 miles an hour, and its special purpose is
to give chase to the first Taube that appears.

That Achi Baba excavation makes one suspicious that the German
officers with the Turks are to be up to some form of frightfulness. It
cannot be gas, but, if it is, we have been prepared for that for some
weeks, and every man has his respirator. To-day I was asked by the
A.D.C. about a paper dealing with gases, with which we are to
retaliate should the Turk use these first, but it contains names