The Dangers of Bathing Gallipoli, June 1915

Bert arrived at Gallipoli in the heat of summer on 22 June 1915. Dead allied soldiers lay at the edge of waterholes, testimony to the lethal Turkish snipers who lay in constant wait. Despite an amnesty on 24 May when both sides buried the dead, subsequent actions had resulted in more dead, who still lay where they fell, bloated and covered in flies. The stench was unbearable; an affront to the senses. Flies and lice were a constant irritation, as was not being able to wash or shave, or delouse themselves and their clothes. Most craved a swim.

“June 26th - Noon - Had swim down on beach when we finished work at 12 last night. My first wash for five days. We got some water from pot holes on our way back. Had good nights sleep and up at 9a. Feel very fresh and fit after swim. Germ aeroplane up this morning.

3:30pm - Artillery been a bit active today. Turks fire at us mostly from Anafarta on left and Olive Grove on right. We call shrapnel “Iron Rations”, high explosives “Hard Tack”. The guns on left “Anafarta” or “Lousy Liz” and the one on the right “Beachy Bill”, while we speak of the Turks as “Jacko”. I am quite used to shell & rifle fire now...

June 27th - Beachy Bill shells our beach a lot and often gets our men while swimming there in daylight. It is only safe there when guns are quiet after dark; but many of our men risk it. Not me tho’. 

Our Bttn dead are not buried yet. Poor Beggars. Never know whose turn is next here...

Good deal of bomb throwing by Jacko last night & we thought he was going to attack once. Think a sniper had a pot or two at me yesterday before dark, as several shots came close.”

16th Battalion Sapper Ellis Silas was an artist who recorded his life as a signaller on Gallipoli in 1915 through a series of sketches (see his beautiful painting, hanging nearby). He wrote of Dead Man’s Patch, below:

“It was across this exposed spot that many times I had to run despatches. The ridge on the right, where shrapnel can be seen bursting, was thick with snipers, who had this patch so well set that they rarely missed their mark. The poor chaps seen in the drawing all got caught when trying to get across. I wondered if I was to join them.”

By Shannon Lovelady
Story from A Signaller’s Story Exhibit