Chapter 43 – Jayjay

Les Carlyon states in Gallipoli that the hill Baby 700 changed hands five times on 25 April 1915.

Extracts from 1st Battalion soldier Archie Barwick are included in In Great Spirits . Barwick describes how the warship Queen Elizabeth fired her eight 15 inch guns on the afternoon of 25 April 1915, stating that “without a word of a lie the whole hills shook and trembled from the concussion of those mighty guns…it put me in mind of a fast express train rushing through a deep cutting.” In relation to the Turkish counter attack late on 25 April, Barwick states “…towards evening they came at us in thousands, and we were forced to retire…” (p. 32).

Only a handful of Anzacs actually saw the waters of the Dardanelles on 25 April, but these were killed or pushed back. Charles Bean describes in Official History of Australia in the War of 1914-18 , vol I how several men from the 10th Battalion, including Lieutenant-Colonel Loutit reached Scrubby Knoll on the third ridge on 25 April, and states that “Through a gap shone the water of the Narrows...The fire which met the small party on the crest of Scrubby Knoll was too heavy to allow them to stay there.” (p. xii-xiii, 346). No Anzac soldiers reached a point where the waters of the Dardanelles were visible for the rest of the campaign.

Chris Roberts describes events of 25 April 1915 in The Landing at ANZAC . In a description of the artillery and shrapnel, he states “When the shell burst above closely grouped infantry in the open, either standing or lying down, shrapnel balls inflicted widespread casualties, with the beaten zone of a single shell approximately 20 metres wide and up to 275 metres deep.” (p. 13). Roberts also includes a quote from Private Herbert Hitch in relation to shrapnel salvos: “the pellets flew past and they sounded like a flight of parrots and puffs of dust rose here and there where [they] struck the ground.” (p. 129).

Haluk Oral describes war cries in Gallipoli 1915 - Through Turkish Eyes (p. 399). He states that New Zealanders shouted “Eggs is cooked”, mimicking shouts of the Egyptians who appeared suddenly when the soldiers training in the desert paused for a rest.

Harvey Broadbent describes how the New Zealanders were referred to as “Maorilanders” in The Boys Who Came Home (p. 16).

Dale Blair in Dinkum Diggers – An Australian Battalion at War quotes an Anzac soldier at about 4:30pm on 25 April, “Get to buggery. The Turks are coming on—thousands of them.”. Charles Bean includes an account of this event in Official History of Australia in the War of 1914-18 , vol I, in a description of the line at Baby 700 breaking at around 4:30pm, including some New Zealanders, and Australians from the 1st and 2nd Battalions (p. 315), although Bean censors the language: “Get to b——!”

Charles Bean is quoted as describing what men looked like when bullets struck them, in that “‘their knees seem to go weak like string’ or they crumpled and sank forward before sliding into the ground.” The quote is taken from Gallipoli – A Ridge Too Far , edited by Ashley Ekins, chapter 13 “Walking the Ground, Gallipoli Revisited” by Janda Gooding (p. 286).