The co-operation of artillery and infantry in this attack was perfect,
the timing of the movement being carried out with great precision. Some
of the companies of the New Zealand regiments did not get their orders
in time, but acting on their own initiative they pushed on as soon
as the heavy howitzers ceased firing, thus making the whole advance
simultaneous.
The steady advance of the British could be followed by the sparkle
of their bayonets until the long lines entered the smoke clouds. The
French at first made no move, then, their drums beating and bugles
sounding the charge, they suddenly darted forward in a swarm of
skirmishers which seemed in one moment to cover the whole southern face
of the ridge of the Kereves Dere. Against these the Turkish gunners now
turned their heaviest pieces, and as the leading groups stormed the
first Turkish redoubt the ink-black bursts of high-explosive shells
blotted out both assailants and assailed. The trial was too severe for
the Senegalese tirailleurs. They recoiled. They were rallied. Another
rush forward, another repulse, and then a small supporting column of
French soldiers was seen silhouetted against the sky as they charged
upwards along the crest of the ridge of the Kereves Dere, whilst
elsewhere it grew so dark that the whole of the battlefield became a
blank.
Not until next morning did any reliable detail come to hand of what
had happened. The New Zealanders' firing line had marched over the
cunningly concealed enemy's machine-guns without seeing them, and
these, reopening on our supports as they came up, caused them heavy
losses. But the first line pressed on and arrived within a few yards
of the Turkish trenches which had been holding up our advance beyond
the fir wood. There they dug themselves in.