1/6 Manchesters & 127 BDE 1-6 June 1915 Gallipoli

[Teamski]

I have photo copies of the war diaries of 1/6 Manchesters and 127th Bde for 1-6 June, 1915 during the 3rd Battle of Krithia along with the original battle order as written on note pad! Let me know if you need soft copies of these as I can create a PDF with them to upload. I also have 3 Oct 1917 for the 6th bn, East Yorkshire Regt....

I'd love to help!

-Ski

[Guest gumbirsingpun]

hi teamski,

will you be so good as to send me a copy of them to gumbirsingpun@yahoo.co.uk?

regards

tuna

[Teamski]

I'm done. I got PDF's of the following:

127th Bde (42nd Div) War Diary 1 June-22 June 1915

127th Bde Ops Order for 4 June, 1915 attack

1/6th Manchesters War Diary 1 June- 8 June 1915

They're big, about 1.8MB (except the Manchesters that's about 600K) each to keep the resolution up. Let me know when you get 'em!

-Ski

[shootdown1]

Hi, Please may I Have a copy of the following war diarys,I am researching the death of my G/Uncle and a cousin both KIA on the 4th June 1915

127th Bde (42nd Div) War Diary 1 June-22 June 1915

127th Bde Ops Order for 4 June, 1915 attack

1/6th Manchesters War Diary 1 June- 8 June 1915

bryantanthonydp@hotmail.com

Regards,

Anthony

[Tony Lund]

Private Tom Marsden was killed on June 4th, and according to the Holmfirth Express dated July 10th 1915, the 1st 6th Manchesters embarked from Alexandria on May 4th on a captured German liner called the Derflinger. They landed in the Dardanelles two days later and found things very busy.

In a letter dated May 14th he said:

“I am writing this from the trenches in the firing line, where we have been since Tuesday night. We had a very hot time getting here under cover of darkness, bullets flying in all directions, and anyone who got through that night without being hit I am sure is not intended to be hit. We have deepened the trench, so now we can stand up. We are getting decent food, but are short of water, and we scarcely get enough to drink. No bread, only hard biscuit. It has been very hard work up to now, and our army has lost many men. We are now trying to take a hill in front, nearly like Holme Moss, and at the top of which is a huge fort. With this taken the rest will be comparatively easy. The Turks are fighting desperately, and we have to be on the watch continually. This is a lovely country, a bit like the country at home for hills, but they are all covered with marguerites and poppies, and, sad to say, little mounds of earth, with little crosses, where a number of our men are buried.”

His last letter which arrived home after his death was dated Sunday May 30th, and said that on the previous Tuesday there had been a cloud-burst and the men were up to their knees in water. However, the weather was very hot and it quickly dried up. He continued:

“On Thursday night we advanced another 150 yards nearer Constantinople. Each man climbed over the parapet in front of him, carrying rifle, 200 rounds, pick or shovel, and a sand bag half filled, so we were pretty well loaded. When we got to the appointed place we put down our packs, and from 10 o’clock to dawn worked with entrenching tools, and by that time we had got a sufficient trench made. When daylight came and the Turks appeared, I think they were surprised, but they did not attack us, and at eleven on Friday night we were relived. We keep expecting reinforcements from England, and then we hope to have a rest. The Turks’ artillery seems to be very ineffective, but the bullets are continually whistling overhead.”

Tony.

[John_Hartley]

Zaccheus Holme was another who wrote a last letter describing the advancement of the line. Like many of the 6th Battalion he was a "white collar" worker, employed by the Union Bank at it's Stockport branch:-

"We are now in the firing line again and have been here now for six days, after having only four days in the rest trenches after our last spell in the firing line, so that for nearly three weeks, we have only had four days rest. We have been a night knee-deep in mud and water as the trenches were in a terrible condition, owing to a severe storm in the afternoon. On Wednesday night, we advanced 100 yards. We left the trenches we were in and advanced in the open at 9.45pm and, for the rest of the night, we had to dig in as hard as we could to get cover. Most of it had to be done lying flat and, I can tell you, it was awful work, but luckily for us the enemy did not spot us and we only got a few shots, but nobody in the company was hit. If we had been seen, it would have been frightful. The advance was quite a success as we were able to get the new firing trench dug and also the communicating trench to it. I can honestly say I have never worked harder before in my life as we were digging for seven solid hours."

[John_Hartley]

My thanks to Martin Wills for this photo

[Teamski]

This pretty much sums up the attack.....

-Ski