Redemption - Leon Uris [230]
74
March 16
To First Lord of the Admiralty Winston Churchill from Admiral HH Harmon Commander, Naval Forces Mediterranean—
At 0500 operations commenced to conclude minesweeping operations. Previous sweeps have looked extremely clean but intelligence cautions that Turks continually seeding new fields plus individual strays.
Our forces entered Narrows with forty-two class LM sweepers, 15 French sweepers plus following.
Eight Beagle class refitted for minesweeping.
Six River class.
Four torpedo boats as spotters with light sweeps.
One flotilla of picket boats with explosive creeps.
Marine sharpshooters aboard all vessels.
Operations will continue until 0900 March 18 when all-out assault into the Dardanelles will commence.
March 17
Seventy-four mines blown. No damage inflicted on our vessels.
We have ventured past Fort 20 with no fire from Turkish forces.
Ceased operations at dark, boats withdrawn.
March 18
0530: All minesweepers have entered Straits for a final go-round.
Attack on Dardanelles Narrows commenced
1045: Queen Elizabeth, Inflexible, Lord Nelson, Triumph and Prince George enter Straits.
1222: French vessels Seffern, Gaulois, Charlemagne and Bouvet now in Dardanelles and engaging Turkish forts.
1325: Turkish forts numbers seven, eight, eight A, thirteen, sixteen, seventeen, twenty and twenty-one appear to be silenced.
RED ALERT RED ALERT RED ALERT RED ALERT
1354: French vessel Bouvet smoking-in distress.
1358: Bouvet has heeled and sunk in 36 fathoms before assistance could reach her.
1359: Hull, Implacable, Lon Don and Prince of Wales ordered into Strait to reinforce fleet.
1430: Relief ships enter Straits and engage ports. Minesweepers in reserve ordered in.
RED ALERT RED ALERT RED ALERT RED ALERT
1604: Irresistible listing to starboard.
1614: Inflexible has struck mine, quitting line and proceeding out of Dardanelles.
RED ALERT RED ALERT RED ALERT RED ALERT
1730: Irresistible abandoned under Turkish fire, sinking fast.
RED ALERT RED ALERT RED ALERT RED ALERT
1850: Ocean has struck mine, listing, ordered abandoned, sinking fast.
1851: Roundup of smaller vessels indicates seven minesweepers of various classes sunk and ten more hit.
RED ALERT RED ALERT RED ALERT RED ALERT
1900: Gaulois seriously damaged by gunfire, is sinking.
RED ALERT RED ALERT RED ALERT RED ALERT
All vessels ordered to disengage and retire from Dardanelles immediately.
The Second
Interlude
Gallipoli
By Rory Larkin
I
ANZAC Cove
Among the precious gifts my beloved uncle, Conor Larkin, bestowed upon me was knowing the luxury of bending my face into an open book and sopping up its pages until my eyes were more red than white.
Because of this, I have been able to attain a measure of coherent thought when I put words on paper. Conor taught me that the most ancient of human compulsions, one that sets man apart from all other creatures, is an insatiable desire to leave behind him the story of his times, from drawings on cave walls to the masterpieces of literature and, in this case, one soldier’s memory of a battle that should never have taken place.
This urge to remember began the day the Wagga Wagga entered the ship-filled port of Mudros on the Greek Aegean island of Lemnos.
Some of the campaign returns to me in snatches. Some of the things I heard or learned. All is branded onto my soul. Events become intertwined, as the dead bodies of Turks and Anzacs lay intertwined in on-man’s-land, each man’s bayonet having done its stick and then they die together, falling to their knees, then sleeping forever in one another’s arms.
Lemnos, a browned-out outcrop of some ancient volcano, arose from the sea sixty miles from Gallipoli and was to be our expedition’s forward base.
In the Mudros harbor and on its beaches we went on constant maneuvers trying to refine the clunky business of getting down the ship’s rope ladders and into landing boats, then rowing onto the beach.
The Seventh Light Horse was fortunate