First Bedfordshire Casualties at Gallipoli

Scenery near Suvla Bay

Sunday 15^th August: We have heard from the adjutant of the 1st/5th Bedfords that they have taken their first casualties. They happened whilst the men were digging trenches under heavy shell fire. He reports: “Lieutenant Chaundler and Private Barton were both wounded. Upon that occasion the young officer from Biggleswade furnished a striking example of the splendid discipline which the Bedfords have built up through the long months of training in England. He sustained a most painful wound and, though unable to stand, stuck to his post and continued to direct the work of his platoon until he was sent down to the first-aid dressing station, a hospital tent erected on the beach”.

The adjutant continued: “The men suffered much fatigue from the intense heat, while the extremely salt bully beef, which, with biscuit, comprised their ration, created an exasperating thirst”. He went on that the mood brightened considerably when it was understood that 10th (Irish) Division have been ordered to advance, with the co-operation of the 54th Division, and to seize the crest of a hill called Kiretch Tepe Sirt. Lieutenant-Colonel Brighten then spoke to the men and instilled in them the importance of upholding the honour of the Regiment, rained on the blood-soaked plains of Flanders. He ended by stating that their watchword should be “What we take we hold!”

It is thus likely that, as these lines are being written and read, the Bedfords are in action for the first time.

Private Barton

Source: X550/6/8; The History of the Fifth Battalion Bedfordshire and Hertfordshire Regiment (TA) by F A M Webster