enfiladed the beach with two field guns from Gaba Tepe and with two
others from the north. This shrapnel fire was incessant and deadly. In
vain did the warships endeavor to put them out of action with their
secondary armament. For some hours they could not be accurately
located, or else were so well protected that our shells failed to do
them any harm. The majority of the heavy casualties suffered during the
day were from shrapnel, which swept the beach and the ridge on which the
Australians and New Zealanders had established themselves.

Later in the day the two guns to the north were silenced or forced to
withdraw to a fresh position, from which they could no longer enfilade
the beach, and a cruiser, moving in close to the shore, so plastered
Gaba Tepe with a hail of shell that the guns there were also silenced
and have not attempted to reply since.

As the enemy brought up reinforcements toward dusk his attacks became
more and more vigorous, and he was supported by a powerful artillery
inland which the ships' guns were powerless to deal with. The pressure
on the Australians and New Zealanders became heavier, and the line they
were occupying had to be contracted for the night. General Birwood and
his staff went ashore in the afternoon and devoted all their energies to
securing the position, so as to hold firmly to it until the following
morning, when it was hoped to get some field guns in position to deal
with the enemy's artillery.

Some idea of the difficulty to be faced may be gathered when it is
remembered that every round of ammunition, all water, and all supplies
had to be landed on a narrow beach and then carried up pathless hills,
valleys, and bluffs, several hundred feet high, to the firing line. The
whole of this mass of troops, concentrated on a very small area, and