Within Range: Gallipoli 1915 - 1916
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The document appears to be diary entries and correspondence from Cuthbert Lucas, a Brigade Major with the 87th Brigade of the British 29th Division, chronicling his 260 days serving on the Gallipoli Peninsula from the initial landing in April 1915 through to the evacuation in January 1916. It includes details of battles, casualties, living conditions, criticisms of commanders, and reflections on life in the trenches while under fire from Ottoman artillery.
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Within Range: Gallipoli 1915 - 1916
- 7. The landing of the 87th Brigade headquarters differs from some others. I recollect a bright, sunny morning, dead calm sea, not a shot fired. I had a bag in one hand, a coat over my arm, and was assisted down a plank from the boat by an obliging sailor, so that I should not wet my boots. The only thing missing was the hotel.’ The Story of the 29th Division OnXBeach 25thApril1915
- 11. I heard two shells go over, thought they were shrapnel and did not worry. The next one burst in the room I had left, the front portion came through the wall between my servant and myself as I was handing him my razor, a bit hit him between the eyes and penetrated just short of the brain. The shell had come through the roof 2’ above where I was sitting a moment before. The general’s servant was kneeling in a corner of the room making his bed and was not touched except for torn clothes etc. UNDERFIRE: Diaryentry May2nd1915
- 13. Early casualty
- 14. “Col Casson has been very seedy lately” Diaryentry June24th1915
- 16. At 11.30 inspected the 87th Brigade of the 29th Division. Lucas, of the Berks Regiment, commanded. Saw …. the renowned Royal Inniskilling Fusiliers under Major Pierce, the full strength of the Battalion on parade “all present” was 220!… The men were in rags and looked very tired. This is the first time in the campaign our rank and file have seemed sorry for themselves. Ten days of rest had been promised them and now they are being hurried back to the trenches before they have had a week. My heart goes out to them entirely. Were I they I would feel mad with me. IanHamilton’sGallipoliDiary October1st1915
- 17. January 5th 1916 The 29th Divn hd qrs get a lot of shells round them... There was quite a lot of shelling during the afternoon. I don’t know who started it. It was mainly confined to a section of the line & caused very few casualties. January 6th 1916 The Turks have not shelled much today. January 7th 1916 The Turks started the heaviest bombardment I have ever seen at about 3pm on the 13th Divn on our left & and on the extreme left of our brigade, and damaged the trenches a good deal. They then were supposed to attack but very few showed themselves. We only had 3 casualties. Two men of the KOSBs were buried one for 2 ½ hours and one for 2 hours, both were alive when they were dug out.
- 18. The new ground we have got is in a filthy state with rotting bodies, and Turkish dirt and there a lot of bodies out in front we cant get at; and they don’t improve with keeping in this tropical sun. There must be an epidemic of some sort here sooner or later. The flies are getting bad and cover the food…. Tell Dorothy to send me linen shorts …Send me a mosquito curtain and rods, if possible a frame that will stand on its own on the ground, so that one can get away from the flies in the daytime…. It is getting very hot here now, and the scenery is being spoilt by being burnt up and by the dust…
- 19. The new ground we have got is in a filthy state with rotting bodies, and Turkish dirt. There a lot of bodies out in front we cant get at; and they don’t improve with keeping in this tropical sun. There must be an epidemic of some sort here sooner or later. The flies are getting bad and cover the food…. Tell Dorothy to send me linen shorts …Send me a mosquito curtain and rods, if possible a frame that will stand on its own on the ground, so that one can get away from the flies in the daytime…. It is getting very hot here now, & the scenery is being spoilt by being burnt up & by the dust…
- 21. They were very active with their guns all day. It is hopeless sitting here and hardly being allowed to fire a gun because of shortage of ammunition, it is that we want, not men. If we had it, we could get along all right. We are still sitting in the same place, and are getting very tired of it. there was a lot of talk when we came out that the Turks were short of ammunition but they certainly have a good deal more then we have. Excerptsfromlettershome June1915
- 23. CRITICISMOF HUNTER-WESTON, HAMILTON&DELISLE Hunter Weston: a ‘theoretical’ not a practical general and responsible for rushed offensives delivered without proper planning Hamilton: ‘fatuous’ communications wit the troops that Lucas censored De Lisle: prone to ‘tinker’, occasionally guilty of inflicting his bad moods on subordinates and capable of irresponsible ideas and actions
- 32. October 15th 1915 Stoney killed by a 6” shell which fell in the KOSB mess. Rather a shock to everyone as everyone knew and liked him. Mills, a boy who had just joined was killed at the same time. They were buried this evening. Major-General Lawrence, Brigadier- General Indway and a large crowd of officers & men were present.
- 33. When I was just short of the Inniskilling Hd qrs, they suddenly opened with a shower of shrapnel which lasted about 10 minutes… The Inniskilling Sergt Maj was just in front of me, and before we could reach a place of safety he got a bullet (shrapnel) through his clothes just across the chest… Going out after dark… a bullet passed somewhere under my chin and buried itself in the parados. Kelly had his arm grazed by a bullet this morning throwing a bomb , his arm showing over the parapet. Morgan was hit by a spent shrapnel bullet this afternoon, no harm done. Diaryentry December11th1915
- 41. The Turks desert at the rate of about 2 a day, but it will take a long time to catch the whole army at that rate… DIARYENTRY DECEMBER14TH1915
- 42. SEPTEMBER 12th 1915 There is as usual no news. The same thing happens every day. In the morning I go up to the trenches and walk down the line, go to all the battalion head quarters, where one generally finds some one to talk to, and sometimes finds a paper one hasn’t seen, and then back to lunch. After lunch read & sleep till tea time. From tea to dinner spent in loafing. After dinner the supply & the transport officer both turn up with the next day’s food and water and amuse us with beach rumours. Then to bed. One gets very sick of looking at the same trenches every day, they never seem to get any better as they are mostly being blasted out of solid rock.
- 43. STANDARDS & A ‘TEACHING BRIGADE’
- 44. WITH FRIENDS LIKE THESE… Lucas had a view of soldiering that had been fashioned in the 20 years prior to his deployment to Gallipoli. Sandhurst, a commission in the Royal Berkshires, service in South Africa, secondments in Egypt and Sudan, service in India and then into Staff College… before a Flanders baptism of fire in the Autumn of 1914… all meant that he had a very skewed perspective about other services, Allies and Territorials and Kitchener’s Army…
- 45. APRIL 25th The covering fire from the ships’ guns was not nearly helpful as we could have wished, it is not accurate enough, difficult to regulate from the shore and no good against trenches.
- 49. ‘Lucas was, in fact, an ideal staff officer, capable, determined, and cheery under all circumstances’ General William Marshall
- 50. When I, unfortunately had to relinquish command the choice fell on Major Lucas, and that without a dissentient voice, though there were many officers senior to him serving with the brigade. I mention this (probably an unique instance of a Brigade Major succeeding to the command of a Brigade) as showing the degree of confidence placed in Major Lucas by his seniors and juniors alike.