The landing on V beach was planned to take place on the following lines:
As soon as the enemy's defences had been heavily bombarded by the
Fleet, three companies of the Dublin Fusiliers were to be towed
ashore. They were to be closely followed by the collier _River Clyde_
(Commander Unwin, R.N.), carrying between decks the balance of the
Dublin Fusiliers, the Munster Fusiliers, half a battalion of the
Hampshire Regiment, the West Riding Field Company, and other details.
The _River Clyde_ had been specially prepared for the rapid
disembarkation of her complement, and large openings for the exit of
the troops had been cut in her sides, giving on to a wide gangplank by
which the men could pass rapidly into lighters which she had in tow.
As soon as the first tows had reached land the _River Clyde_ was to
be run straight ashore. Her lighters were to be placed in position to
form a gangway between the ship and the beach, and by this means it was
hoped that 2,000 men could be thrown ashore with the utmost rapidity.
Further, to assist in covering the landing, a battery of machine guns,
protected by sandbags, had been mounted in her bows.
The remainder of the covering force detailed for this beach was then to
follow in tows from the attendant battleships.
V beach is situated immediately to the west of Sedd-el-Bahr. Between
the bluff on which stands Sedd-el-Bahr village and that which is
crowned by No. 1 Fort the ground forms a very regular amphitheatre of
three or four hundred yards radius. The slopes down to the beach are
slightly concave, so that the whole area contained within the limits
of this natural amphitheatre, whose grassy terraces rise gently to a
height of a hundred feet above the shore, can be swept by the fire of a
defender. The beach itself is a sandy strip some 10 yards wide and 350
yards long, backed along almost the whole of its extent by a low sandy
escarpment about 4 feet high, where the ground falls nearly sheer down
to the beach. The slight shelter afforded by this escarpment played no
small part in the operations of the succeeding thirty-two hours.