ON the afternoon of February 28th the 3rd Brigade moved out of Mena Camp and, in the cool of the evening, marched the ten miles to Cairo where it entrained. Next morning at daylight the soldiers were again on the wharves at Alexandria where they embarked on five ships, and on March 2nd sailed "under sealed orders".
Two days later, at daylight, the ships entered a large land-locked harbour, which the soldiers were told was Mudros in the island of Lemnos part of the Grecian Archipelago. Lemnos was the base for operations against the Turks on the Gallipoli Peninsula, 30 miles away, where the British Navy was bombarding the forts at the entrance to the Dardanelles. The huge harbour was surrounded by steep hills which were quite bare; there was not a tree to be seen, but patches of cultivation could be distinguished on the hillsides and in the valleys.
Soon after they arrived at Lemnos the troops, who continued to live in the ships, went ashore every morning for drilling and training and returned in the late afternoon. They were thus able to make closer contact
with the Greek inhabitants, who lived in the most primitive style in small
houses built of rough stone. Many of the men were clothed in sheepskins, and went bare-footed or wore rough shoes or sandals made from sheep skin.
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Their ploughing and cultivation was done with primitive wooden ploughs drawn by oxen; grain was ground into corn by windmills fitted with picturesque sails. The people
had little money and exchanged goods in a form of barter, as was done in the very early days in Australia. The inhabitants looked in wonder at the fine big sturdy Australian soldiers, climbing their hills and marching along their rough roads, and must have wondered what it all meant.
As the weeks went by, more and more ships entered Mudros Harbour until, by the beginning of April, 1915, there were perhaps more ships in
the harbour than had ever been in any harbour of the world before. There were hundreds of them from small tugs to the largest ships afloat at that time, the "Aquitania" and the "Mauretania", each of which carried 7000 soldiers. Among the warships guarding the harbour was the mighty "Queen Elizabeth" then the most powerful warship in the world.
The other Australian soldiers had arrived from Egypt to join their comrades of the 3rd Brigade and the New Zealand troops were also amongst the new arrivals. It was now evident that the troops were soon to see real active service. Although the rank and file were not given much information, it was learned from their officers that an attack was to be made on the Gallipoli Peninsula, at the entrance to the famous Dardanelles Straits, leading to the Turkish capital of Constantinople.
Some indication of what was ahead of them was given when the Anzacs carried out, on April 22nd, a full-dress rehearsal of the landing operation. As the destroyers came alongside the transports, the soldiers, carrying their full equipment, clambered down rope ladders on to their decks and were taken quickly to a point 100 yards from the
shore, where they got into ships' boats and were rapidly rowed ashore and formed up on the beach.
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The next day, April 23rd, a message from General Birdwood, who had been appointed to the supreme command of the Anzacs, was read to the soldiers. The General said (in part):
"In conjunction with the Navy we are about to undertake one of the most difficult tasks any soldier can be called upon to perform. That we will succeed I have no doubt, simply because I know of your full determination to do so.
"The success of the operation will be a severe blow to the enemy. It will go down to history to the glory of the soldiers of Australia and New Zealand."
The part of the attack allotted to the Anzacs was at Gaba Tepe, on the left flank of the landing operations. The landing at Cape Helles, at the entrance to the Dardanelles, was to be carried out by British troops, whilst French troops were to carry out a feint attack, that is an attack to distract the attention of the enemy, at Kum Kale, on the Asiatic side of the Dardanelles.
In the attack to be made by the Anzacs at Gaba Tepe, the 3rd Brigade, commanded by Colonel Sinclair Maclagan, was given the honour of leading
the attack. They were to be the covering party to drive the enemy from the beach and clear the way for the other brigades and the New Zealanders.
- The date of the landing was fixed for Sunday, April 25th, 1915.
On April 23rd and 24th the ships prepared to leave Lemnos and go to their allotted stations in preparation for the landing operation. John
Masefield, the Poet Laureate, who was at Lemnos at the time, has described the scene in these words.
"The transports lay in tiers well within the harbour, the war-ships nearer the entrance. Now in that city of ships, so busy with
picket boats, and noisy with the labour of men, the getting up of
anchors began, ship after ship, crammed with soldiers, moved slowly out of the harbour in the lovely day and felt again the heave of the sea. No such gathering of fine ships had even been seen upon this earth, and the beauty and the exaltation of the youth upon them made them like sacred things as they moved away. All
the thousands of men aboard them gathered on deck to see, till each rail was thronged. All that they felt was a gladness of exaltation that their young courage was to be used."
It was now time for the Australian troops to move towards the battle area. At dawn on April 24th, four ships carrying the 1st Brigade sailed from Mudros Harbour and moved round the coast of the island into the Bay of Purnea, on its northern side. They were joined here at midday by five more ships carrying the 2nd Brigade and the Indian Mountain Batteries. All day they lay at anchor there, their beads facing into a stiff breeze. |
