6th Battalion South Lancashire Regiment August 1915

When you read through the entries for August you will see that the 6^th Battalion (6^th Btn) was broken in with a relatively easy July compared with what was to come. August was a different matter and saw the battalion locked in several engagements with heavy fighting and increased loss of life, the 10^th August in particular saw 94 men killed in action on a single day.

August 1915

1^st – 4^th August – the battalion were bivouacked in Mudros. On the 4^th August they boarded onto the HMT Osmanieah and sailed at 9.30am arriving at Anzac Cove at 11pm. Once the men had disembarked the battalion marched south eastwards through the night to Victoria Gully.

The HMT Osmanieah was a passenger liner requisitioned as a troop ship in 1914. A mine just outside the harbor at Alexandria sank the ship on 31^st December 1917 with the loss of 28 lives.

Figs 1 & 2 - Anzac Cove above and HMT Osmanieah below.

5^th August – the men of the battalion were tasked with improving the terraces on the slopes of the gully.

6^th August – there was heavy Turkish shelling of the gully. The battalion left bivouac at 10.45pm and marched to Chailik Dere arriving at 4.30am on the morning of the 7^th.

7^th August – the men marched up the Chailik Dere and were ordered to join the 39^th Infantry Brigade arriving with them at 2.30am on the 8^th.

8^th August – the men were ordered to follow the Royal Warwick Regiment and at 9.30am, advanced up Ashyl Dere to join in with the ongoing attack there. However when they arrived the attack had ceased in the night. This is just one instance of lack of communication that is seeded throughout the Gallipoli campaign. Bearing in mind the amount of marching the men had done and the lack of sleep they would have had they could have rested before advancing up the Ashyl Dere if it was relayed that fighting had ceased.

Once there the various companies of the battalion were deployed to take up positions. The entrenchment of the men was delayed and the process interfered with for over three hours due to naval searchlights from allied ships lighting up the area.

9^th August – At 1.30am orders were given to creep up the hill and attack the Turkish encampments. The battalion joined forces with the Gurkas and also the Royal Warwick Regiment. Initially the various detachments were able to take ground away from the Turks but due to the delayed arrival of support troops were unable to hold onto the gained ground and were pushed back.

The 6^th Btn South Lancs lost 34 men in that one encounter.

10^th August – the battalion, along with the Ghurkas and the Royal Warwick Regiment came under sustained heavy bombardment and then heavy rifle fire from the Turks. At 4.45am the Turkish army doubled their attack and regained a large part of, what had become known as, Ghurka Hill. The cause became lost and eventually the 6^th Btn, Ghurkas and R. Warwick Regt. all retreated (or ‘retired’ as the war diary calls it) back to the second line.

The battalion suffered very heavy casualties on this day losing 94 men from the rank of Captain down through to Private.

11^th August – the regiment received a new commanding officer in Major G. Mott and relieved one of the lines held by the 14^th Sikhs.

12^th August – the battalion consolidated their position. Water had by this time become very scarce and had to be rationed. The men also had to contend with a serious outbreak of fever amongst the ranks.

13^th – 15^th August – the battalion held their position in the trenches. On the 15^th they came under heavy Turkish machine gun fire resulting in more casualties.

17^th August – the battalion received its first set of reinforcements of 450 men, some from Mudros and some directly from England. In the evening of the 17^th with reinforcements in place the 6^th Btn were sent back for a very well earned and no doubt much needed, albeit brief, rest period. Rest Gully as it had been christened was an area where a temporary field hospital had been established and where several field ambulances were stationed. No doubt wounds were treated and the men tried to relax as much as possible from those incredible nighttime marches and the fighting they had endured in the preceding days.

19^th August – the battalion was back out again to relive the King’s Own Royal Lancaster Regiment in trenches on the Argyl Dere.

20^th – 23^rd August – rejoining forces that had been deployed elsewhere in the preceding few days swelled the regiment.

24^th August – the regiment was relieved by the Royal Warwick Regiment and the 6^th Battalion went into Brigade Reserve allowing the men time away from the front lines.

25^th – 31^st August – the battalion remained in Brigade Reserve and received a new commander, Major Fairlie, the previous commander having been removed from position due to injury. Also over these few days the battalion was consolidated (merged) with the 6^th Loyal North Lancs Regiment in order to increase its strength.

The battalion lost men almost every day during the month of August. At the end of the month’s diary the recording officer stated that, out of the 700 men in the battalion on the 1^st August, nearly 500 men were either killed, missing or wounded by the end of the month.

Acknowledgements – all credit goes to Stephen Nulty who transcribed the battalion’s war diary and www.prescott-rollofhonour.info where the transcription is lodged.