Berkshire and The War: the "Reading Standard" pictorial record. Volume 1. pg179

Lynda Chater. Edited 12th October 2015

BERKSHIRE YEOMANRY continued

SOME MEN OF D (WANTAGE) SQUADRON.


ANOTHER SELECTION FROM D SQUADRON.

ASSAULT ON BURNT HILL.

BERKSHIRES WIN UNFADING GLORY IN
FIRST CHARGE.

At last the Berks Yeomanry moved from
Egypt to Gallipoli, to be used as infantry
against the Turks. The regiment sailed from
Alexandria on Friday, August 14th, and
reached the Peninsular in four days. British
battleships were bombarding the Turks, who
held trenches of the strongest construction.
For a few days, already under fire, the regiment
made roads and carried water, each of
them a hard and dangerous task. On the
afternoon of Aug. 21st the 2nd South Midland
Mounted Brigade, comprising the Yeomanry
of Berks, Bucks and Dorset, went into
action. They moved out from the little
eminence of Lala Baba in open formation and
under searching fire crossed the dry bed of
Salt Lake in order to take up a position of
readiness behind Chocolate Hill. Shrapnel
swept the advancing lines, fully exposed as
they were in the open, but the newcomers
observed perfect steadiness. To quote General
Sir Ian Hamilton, Commander-in-Chief of the
Mediterranean Expeditionary Force at that
time, "The advance of these English Yeomen
was a sight calculated to send a thrill of
pride through anyone with a drop of English
blood running in their veins. Such superb
martial spectacles are rare in modern war.
Ordinarily it should always be possible to
bring up reserves under some sort of cover
from shrapnel fire. Here, for a mile and a
half, there was nothing to conceal a mouse,
much less some of the most stalwart soldiers
England has ever sent from her shores. Despite
the critical events in other parts of the
field, I could hardly take my glasses from the
Yeomen; they moved like men marching on
parade. Here and there a shell would take
toll of a cluster; there they lay; there was no
straggling; the others moved steadily on;
not a man was there who hung back or
hurried. But such an ordeal must consume
some of the battle-winning fighting energy of
those subjected to it, and it is lucky indeed
for the Turks that the terrain, as well as the
lack of trenches, forbade us from letting the
2nd Mounted Division loose at close quarters
to the enemy without undergoing this previous
too heavy baptism of fire."
"Sent forward in the hope that they might
yet restore the fortunes of the day," after
other brigades had failed to shake the
enemy's defence, the 2nd South Midland
Mounted Brigade, with the Berkshires as
leading regiment, made the final charge in
conjunction with the 87th Brigade - which
resulted in Hill 70, or Burnt Hill, being
occupied despite severe loss, and abandoned only
when the Turks were heavily reinforced and
the position was deemed quite untenable in
daylight. The charge was a glorious achievement.
"Come on, Berks," shouted the Yeomen
as they dashed forward with flashing
bayonets and took the enemy trenches. To
again quote the Commander-in-Chief, "This
brigade, in action for the first time, encountered
both bush fires and musketry without
flinching, but the advance had in places to be
almost by inches, and the actual close attack
by the Yeomen did not take place until night
was fast falling. On the left they reached
the foremost line of the 29th Division, and
on the right also they got as far as the leading
battalions. But, as soon as it was dark,
one regiment pushed up the valley between
Scimitar Hill (Hill 70) and Hill 100, and
carried the trenches on a small knoll near the
centre of this horseshoe. A strongly-held
semi-circle of Turkish trenches (the
enemy having been heavily reinforced) still
denied us access to the top of the hill. As
the men were too done, and had lost too
heavily to admit of a second immediate
assault, and as the knoll actually held would
have been swept by fire at daybreak, there
was nothing for it but to fall back under cover
of darkness to our original line."
So the possession of Burnt Hill was only
temporary. Nevertheless, in the words of
the war correspondent who gave the story to
the world weeks before the official dispatch
was published, "nothing will lessen the glory
of that final charge of England's Yeomen.
The attack seemed to hang fire when suddenly
the Yeomanry leapt to their feet and as a
single man charged right up the hill. They
were met by a withering fire which rose to a
crescendo as they neared the northern crest,
but nothing could stop them. It was a stirring
sight watched by thousands in the ever-gathering
gloom. One moment they were
below the crest, the next on top. A moment
after many had disappeared inside the Turkish
trenches, bayoneting all the defenders who
had not fled in time, while others never
stopped at the trench line, but dashed in
pursuit down the reverse slopes."
The Yeomen tell of the tortures of heat and
thirst, to say nothing of wounds, suffered by
those heroes who were caught in the fierce
rain of fire that fell day and night. Shells
set alight the scrub-clad slopes, and the
regiment picked their way through blazing
patches, which were the grave of many
a brave fellow. And though to-day
Gallipoli is but a shining memory, a lasting
regret, it is haunted by the spirits of men of
matchless courage and indomitable resolution.