THE LANDING |
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- At about 3.30 a.m.,
Queenslanders from the 9th Battalion of 3rd
Brigade finished transferring from ship to small
boats which were first towed and then finally
rowed towards the beach at what was to become
ANZAC Cove. 30 to 40 infantrymen laden with
packs, ammunition, rations, water and weapons
were crammed into each boat. Due to tidal
currents and navigational error, the landing was
further north than planned, not onto an open
plain as was intended but across a narrow strip
of beach at the foot of scrub covered hills,
hills where movement was difficult, where
targets were very hard to spot, and where
co-ordination and control of assaulting troops
was almost impossible.
At 4.29 a.m. the first ANZACs leapt
ashore.Initially only two or three hundred Turks
opposed them with small arms and machine gun
fire, but by 4.45 a.m. Turkish shrapnel was
exploding over ANZAC Cove and Turkish
reinforcements were being rallied. The remaining
battalions of 3rd Brigade were landed into a
constricted area of confusion but the men had
been told that they were the covering force for
their division so they dropped their packs and
commenced to force their way upwards and inland
searching for Turks. Between 5.30 a.m. and 7.30
a.m. the 2nd and 1st Brigades began to move
ashore however by 7.00 a.m. 3rd Brigade could be
seen from the ships at sea to be digging in on
the first and second ridges beyond the beach. As
the day progressed the New Zealand Infantry
Brigade and the 4th Australian Brigade were
landed but by as early as 9.00 a.m. the first of
the Turkish reinforcements had begun to press
onto the Australians furthermost advanced.
Savage fighting followed. For almost a week
there were sudden assaults, bombardments,
bayonet fights and sniping duels. Trench lines
formed. Casualties increased.
By 30 April 1915, of the 23,292 ANZACs actually
landed, some 5,000 Australians were dead or
wounded and the Turks still held the high ground
above ANZAC Cove.
But the landing had been made.
The ANZACs had not broken.
They had proved their courage under fire.
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