The Battle of Scimitar Hill had taken place on the 21st August 1915 and in one day of fighting, the British suffered 5,300 casualties out of the 14,300 soldiers who participated. Even for Alfred Bush, Regimental Sergeant Major in the Royal Army Medical Corps (RAMC) attached to the 1/4th London Mounted Brigade, seasoned veteran who had served in the Army during the Boer War, it would have been a journey into hell.
The fierce fighting continued over the following days and the work for the RAMC was equally dangerous as the following abstracts from personal diaries highlight.
On the 23rd August Lieutenant George Davidson, 89th Field Ambulance, 29th Division, RAMC (who would have gone through similar experiences to Alfred Bush) commented in his diary.
"I ended my notes two days ago by remarking that we were all in good spirits over what seemed to us to be a victory. Soon after that some of us had to change our tune. Two officers were ordered up to Chocolate Hill, Towards the far end, as we neared the terrible hill, bullets were flying in hundreds- A few more hundred yards, at the double, took us to that absolute inferno, Hill 53. We got to the top through dead and dying men lined out everywhere. We at once looked up the A.D.M.S. who, along with the heads of the 29th Division, was in a deep and strongly protected dug-out. Now came the terrible and most unexpected news- Hill 72, which is separated from Hill 53 by a small dip, had been fought for all day and captured at immense cost, and was now about to be given up, it was impossible for us to hold it. "We are to give up Hill 72!" said the A.D.M.S., "And if the Turks make a night attack, as they always do after an engagement, we'll be pushed off this Hill (53) into the valley, and it is hard to say where it will end. In that case we want every stretcher-bearer we can lay our hands on to work with might and main to get the wounded back from the trenches, or they will fall into the hands of the Turks."
This sounded terrible, but we had to face it, so we sent back for all our men who could be spared, and many regimental men had to help to carry the wounded back, which was a most difficult piece of work. In making communication trenches along which the wounded have to be carried from the firing trench, the carrying of stretchers is never considered. Traverses must be made certainly, and the narrower the trenches the better while fighting, but they should be made wide enough to let stretchers along, and the corners of the traverses should be rounded. As it was the stretchers could only be carried along the straight parts with the stretcher traverses "kicked in," and even then the backs of all the men's hands were peeled to the bone. Being- impossible to get round the corners the stretchers had to be raised above the top of the trench, and as a rule the bearers soon tired of doing this at every few yards, and got right over the parapets and carried in the open. We had a terrible night, and next morning as soon as the day began to break, although we were on the opposite side of the Hill from the enemy, they knew the range so thoroughly that they dropped their shells at the exact angle of the Hill, which was but a gentle slope, and raked it from top to bottom time after time. Those of us who escaped were lucky, but it was a bit trying to one's nerves.
The men of the 89th Field Ambulance behaved with admirable pluck, and worked hard, and up to evening we had eight men more or less badly wounded-one at least fatally, poor Adams. The 21st and 22nd were spent practically without food, and hardly a drop of water was to be had, and all suffered badly from thirst.
For reference - poor Adams was Private Alexander Adams, 89th (1st/1st Highland) Field Ambulance aged 22.
As we came across the lake three more of our men were hit, bullets flying about for the first mile or so. To-day, after reaching our destination, and while in a shelter, a bullet hit another in the thigh, bringing our casualty list for this fight up to sixteen. All are agreed that it has been a very bloody affair, and the difficulty of seeing a way out of our present position has made all despondent, and a number of those in high positions are being torn to shreds. Our men are not grumbling, and look as if they could go through it again, but it was a very trying two days and nights. Fires broke out in the thick scrub almost at the very start of the battle, and after a few hours many acres were ablaze, and as it was largely from such places the men of both sides were firing many wounded were burned to death."
SOURCE: G. Davidson, The Incomparable 29th and the River Clyde (Aberdeen: James Gordon Bisset, 1920), pp.p167-170
On August 24th Captain Oskar Teichman, RAMC, Attached Worcestershire Yeomanry, 2nd Mounted Division – described the day:
"I obtained permission from the General for myself and orderly to walk over to Suvla " A " Beach, in order to fetch some warm clothes, as the nights were now cold. It was a distance of about 4 miles each way, by the route across the Salt Lake. We passed the position formerly held by the 32nd Field Ambulance, whose dugouts had been completely flattened out, and then followed the track over the lake, which was punctuated by dead mules. It had been found impossible to bury these animals, as the clay forming the bed of the lake was very hard and any party of men digging would have been immediately shelled. A tremendous thunderstorm suddenly came on, which made our progress across the lake very slow, as the dry clay became wet and slippery. In the evening an order was read out that we were to stand to arms every morning at 4.30 a.m., as that was apparently the usual time for a Turkish counter-attack."
SOURCE: Captain O. Teichman, "The Diary of a Yeomanry M.O. Egypt, Gallipoli, Palestine and Italy" (T. Fisher Unwin Ltd London, 1921), p.36.
Regimental Sergeant Major, Alfred Charles Morris Bush died of his wounds on the 25th August 1915, it is not known if his fatal wounds were received during the battle of Scimitar Hill on the 21st or in the days following the attack. He his commemorated on the Helles memorial (Stone No 199)
Alfred Bush, aged 38, was the son of Caroline Bush, of 11, Ashbourne Terrace, Wimbledon, Surrey and the late Charles Bush and was the husband of Ellen Bush of 59, Palmerston Rd. Wimbledon. He had two young children Amy (aged 7) and George (aged 5)
The attack at Scimitar Hill on 21 August was the last attempt by the British to advance at Suvla. The front line remained between Green Hill and Scimitar Hill for the remainder of the Gallipoli campaign until the evacuation on 20 December. For Alfred Bush, my Great War Ancestor, Gallipoli became his final resting place.
Sources :
G. Davidson, The Incomparable 29th and the River Clyde (Aberdeen: James Gordon Bisset, 1920), pp.p167-170
Captain O. Teichman, "The Diary of a Yeomanry M.O. Egypt, Gallipoli, Palestine and Italy" (T. Fisher Unwin Ltd London, 1921), p.36.
And with full acknowledgement of the excellent resources provided by the Gallipoli Association website.
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