Free Made in Myrtle Street (Prequel) by B A Lightfoot Page B

incessant machine gun fire to gain the shelter of the cliffs. Many had fallen on the way.
    Elsewhere, other Allied troops had met with varying degrees of resistance in landing on the Peninsula but they had failed to pursue whatever advantage they had gained. They had made the fatal mistake of waiting for communication from other forces to order an advance but it never came and the Turks gained the time that they needed to send in reinforcements.
    Over those first few days various attempts had been made to take Krithia but the heavy bombardment that was needed to give cover as they advanced towards the enemy lines had not materialised. Unfortunately, with so much weaponry now committed to the Western Front and  because there was, anyway, a belief in the higher echelons of the army that the Turks would not present a strong opposition, only three heavy guns and just a small supply of artillery had been landed.
    The few remaining members of the Battalion who had survived the carnage of the beaches had fought bravely but had struggled against the odds. These Lancashire soldiers, at the end of April 1915, had been sent to war like Trojans in a glass horse.
    Their training in Tatton Park had taught them how to march in strict formation, how to dig trenches, how to attack and kill the enemy with their bayonets and, when enough guns could be found, how to shoot more accurately. How to climb a cliff, however, or walk across an open field under enfilading fire from secure and barely threatened enemy machine guns had barely been touched on.
    By the 30 April the 1st Lancashire Fusiliers had lost a thousand men from the battalion strength of around one thousand four hundred.
    The following day the Turks had launched a night attack and had continued the offensive until daylight. The Allied troops, although initially startled by the manic ferocity of these soldiers who had come hurtling at them screaming ‘Allah, Allah’ had fought hard and had retained the positions that had already cost them so many lives to gain.
    Many Turkish prisoners had been taken during those first few days but this action marked the end of the open warfare on Cape Helles. The losses for the Allied forces had been so heavy that neither sufficient men nor weaponry remained to pursue the attack. Under the blazing sun of the day, the freezing nights and the frequent drenching rain the soldiers from both sides dug themselves in.
    It had become clear by then that if there was to be any hope of further progress they would need significant reinforcements and hence the decision had been made to transfer the 42nd Division from Egypt. Edward and his mates from Salford would be sent to stand shoulder to shoulder with the pitifully few Lancashire men in Gallipoli who had managed to survive those first landings.
     
    ***
     
    The plan, to link up with the regulars who were already there and to then advance up the peninsula and take the village of Krithia, was explained to them as they huddled together in the hold of the ship. They were also warned that they should avoid touching the bodies that they would encounter both in the water and on the beaches.
    The final hours of darkness were receding from the skies on the morning of the 5 May as the ‘Karoa’ gently nosed her way forward towards the landing beach at Cape Helles. The men had been up and preparing themselves for hours and, with the tension mounting, the Lancashire humour was a fortifying carapace.
    ‘It could have been a bit more fun if we had been pulling into Blackpool Central,’ Liam suggested cheerily.
    ‘Well, at least there wouldn’t have been all the dead bodies in the water to wade through,’ Big Charlie replied. ‘They don’t make it sound much like a holiday outing.’
    ‘No, but the weather will be better here.’
    ‘And there’d be no barbed wire ripping your legs to shreds in Blackpool.’
    ‘But you won’t have any fearsome landladies to make your life a misery.’
    ‘Aye, but I’d rather