Redemption - Leon Uris [236]
“My boat was a mess,” Jeremy huffed. “We got caught on a sand spit, had to wade in from chest high. Lost three men and several reels of wire. Chester said Johnny Tarbox didn’t make it.”
“He’s gone.”
“Beach is under control,” Jeremy said. “We’ve stacked the barbed-wire reels up against a little knoll. It should be safe. Rest of the platoon knows where to dig in. Right now, they’re trying to get the wounded back to the hospitalship.”
I nodded.
“Well so much for naval gunfire obliterating the Turks,” Jeremy said. “I can’t locate us on the map.”
“Neither can I,” I said, “and I don’t see any place here to set up a paddock.”
“Look!” O’Rourke cried, pointing uphill.
Coming over the rise above us, the walking wounded dragged their way back from the front. Litters holding the more seriously wounded were being hauled by two to four men, most of the walking wounded helping someone or trying to carry a part of the stretchers.
I flagged down a captain, arm shattered at the elbow.
“Give us a drink,” he gasped.
“Can you talk?” Jeremy asked.
“Captain Huddleson, C Company, Otagos…what’s left of it…over this ridge there’s a deep gully, then a real high hill…it’s not on the bloody map…can’t see it from here…but you won’t miss it. The Turks are dug in with a sweep of the entire field…they’re kicking the shit out of us….”
He began to tremble and his eyes rolled back in his head. Huddleson mumbled he had to get his men to safety. We tried to calm him, assure him they would make the beach safety. Up ahead, a dead man was rolled off a stretcher. O’Rourke brought the litter to us and we set the Captain on it.
About twenty yards uphill was a nice big boulder. The view of things would be better from there. “Let’s go upstairs and take a look. O’Rourke!”
“Here!”
“Come up to that rock with us! Happy Stevens of Palmerston North!”
“Yo!”
“You’re in charge of the machine gun. Sit tight. Do not help with the wounded unless they fall on you!”
“Yo!”
One by one we made the sprint to the boulder and tucked in, our backs uphill to the front lines. The view to the coastline from here was better. While we studied it through our field glasses, wounded still poured down from the front and newly landed troops were passing through them on their way up.
“North,” Jeremy said. “They’ve landed us north of Brighton Beach.”
“North,” Chester agreed. “We’re more than a mile from where we should be. Down there is the Plain of Maidos. We’re supposed to be crossing it.”
“Jesus Christ,” I muttered. “We’re going right into the jaws of the Turkish defenses. We might be heading right into Chunuk Bair.”
“Damn!” Jeremy cried. “First the naval gunfire draws a nil and now this. Isn’t anybody talking to anybody in our command?”
“Hell, don’t worry, it’s only the first day,” Chester said.
“Fucking funny.”
“Well, I guess I’d better find us a paddock,” I said. “Right off the beach over there starts up with gullies and ravines. Chester, want to keep me company?”
“I’m coming, too,” Jeremy said.
“You’re the one they sent to beach master school with Johnny. You better get back there and give some direction to the incoming boats and get those fucking piers lashed up.”
“Are you giving me orders?” Jeremy demanded.
“Yes,” Chester said. “It’s your beach, Jeremy. We’ll find the stables.”
Jeremy grumbled acquiescence.
“We all want to go up the hill and fight Turks,” I said, “but on the other hand, we seem to be the only ones here who know what the hell we’re doing. I’m taking the machine-gun squad with us. If we can locate a paddock by, say, 0330, I’ll send one of the men back to you. Get as many men and barbed-wire reels up to me as you can. If we go past 0400, we’ll have to dig in for the night.”
“Do you have flares?”
“I’ve got a pair. No time to look for more.”
“There’s a meltrami blowing,” Chester said. “Look, a reverse wind. Everything in the sea is being pushed north. We’ll be scouting that region over there.” He pointed. “We’ll try to stay within a couple of hundred yards of the beach.”
“See you later or first thing