um these had on should have been enough to keep
them on their way till they grounded ahead of us, drawing but very
little water as they did; but somehow or other this part was a
failure, they grounded too soon, then broke away from each other. The
men had then to get ashore in open boats manned by the marines we had
on board. This was at once pushed on, boat after boat left the ship's
side for the beach, perhaps 30 yards off, terrific machine-gunfire
sweeping each boat.

The first few loads escaped with comparatively few casualties, but
soon the fire was so hot and accurate that practically not a man got
to the shelter of the 10 to 12-foot high sandbank beyond the narrow
strip of sand. About 300 yards to our left was a high projecting rock,
a continuation of the high ground that closed in that side of the long
slope of V. Beach, and from here came that infernal shower of bullets
that was causing such terrible havoc. From the "Clyde" one could
easily tell where the bullets were coming from by their sputter in the
water.

A constant stream of shells was being kept up all the time on this
rock from the ships. The whole rim of V. Beach, as it stretched
backwards for 500 or 600 yards, was searched time after time by high
explosives, each shell bursting with accurate precision 5 or 6 feet
under the crest. But the mischief was not coming from this crest, it
was from that infernal rock alone, but in spite of all their efforts
our guns could not silence this machine-gunfire.

It was an extraordinary sight to watch our men go off, boat after
boat, push off for a few yards, spring from the seats to dash into the
water which was now less than waist deep. It was just on this point
that the enemy fire was concentrated. Those who got into the water,
rifle in hand and heavy pack on back, generally made a dive forward
riddled through and through, if there was still life in them to drown
in a few seconds. Many were being hit before they had time to spring
from the boats, their hands were thrown up in the air, or else they
heaved helplessly over stone dead. All this I watched from the holes
in the side of the ship, but when not otherwise occupied, from the
deck where I could see on all sides.

But soon we of the Field Ambulance had other work to do. Many of the
boats had all their rowers killed and never returned, others were able
to push back, generally with most of their marines laid out, but with
sufficient left to man a boat. Bac