Sunday Apr 25/15 Lemnos

The Itonus
& other transports left in
harbour weighed anchor 6 am
& put to sea. Sound of big
guns firing can be heard
from Dardanelles about 40 miles
away, so some other troops
must be in action. It is
a most glorious morning and
perfectly calm at sea. Everyone
on board is in high spirits &
eagerly awaits coming events.
10 am.. As we draw nearer
the zone of operations the
constant boom of big guns page 40 is heard. At 9 am we
held divine service & the
solemnity of the occasion
was rather increased by the
din of the bombardment across
the water. Operation orders
are now in our hands and
we, (the Australasian Army Corps)
are to land (covered by naval
artillery) just North of KABA
TEPE on Gallipoli Peninsula
and operate against Turks
defending MAIDOS. The 29th
(British) Division landed at
Cape HELLAS at dawn &
operates towards MAIDOS on
the KALID BAHR plateau.

I understand the French
troops are to land on ASIA
MINOR side. The intention
of military is to assist the
Navy in forcing the DARDANE
LLES by occupying important
land positions.

4 pm ITONUS arrived off KABA
TEPE and at 6 pm. began disembarkation
in destroyer “Bulldog” ^{at ANZAC Cove} Right ½ Tararaki

See over

page verso of page 40

^Re ANZAC Cove. This is so
named as that forms the initial
letters of Aust. & N.Z. Army Corps who
landed and established their
base at this point, North of
KABA TE PE Cape.

WALKER'S RIDGE that now
well known razorback up which a
road has since been constructed
is named after Gen. Walker who
commanded that section of
the operations during our attack, on
Tuesday Apr. 27th.

page 41

coy under major Brunt went off
in first party & more ordered up on
right of position on shore to
reinforce Australians Lighters[gap — reason: illegible]
occasionally subjected to shell
fire during landing but not
many casualties occured. Severe
fighting was going on ashore by
sound of incessant blast of rifle
fire & roar of guns (principally
ours). Before the Destroyer returned
for us (about 11 pm) numbers of
Australian wounded were brought
off to our ship (the hospital
ship being full) I landed with
left ½ Tar. Coy shortly before
midnight & entrenched in a position
covering Army Corps H.Q. The
landing of Aust Forces commenced
about 4-30 am and heavy losses
occurred as Turks opposed them
with machine guns & rifles besides
sharpnel fire. Really a wonderful
performance obtaining the
footing we have as men had
to charge up steep[gap — reason: illegible]
hill sides. Fighting continues day and
night.