The French troops whose actions have hitherto been followed belonged,
all of them, to the 2nd Division. But beyond the crest of the ridge
the valley of the Kereves Dere lies dead to anyone occupying my post
of command. And in this area the newly-arrived Brigade of the French
1st Division had been also fighting hard. Here they had advanced
simultaneously with the 2nd Division and achieved a fine success in
their first rush, which was jeopardized when a battalion of Zouaves was
forced to give way under a heavy bombardment. But, as in the case of
the 2nd Division, the other battalions of the 1st Régiment de Marche
d'Afrique, under Lieutenant-Colonel Nieger, restored the situation, and
in the end the Division carried and held two complete lines of Turkish
redoubts and trenches.
The net result of the three days' fighting had been a gain of 600 yards
on the right of the British line and 400 yards on the left and centre.
The French had captured all the ground in front of the Farm Zjimmerman,
as well as a redoubt, for the possession of which there had been
obstinate fighting during the whole of the past three days.
This may not seem very much, but actually more had been won than at
first meets the eye. The German leaders of the Turks were quick to
realize the fact. From nightfall till dawn on the 9th-10th efforts were
made everywhere to push us back. A specially heavy attack was made upon
the French, supported by a hot cannonade and culminating in a violent
hand-to-hand conflict in front of the Brigade Simonin. Everywhere the
assailants were repulsed, and now for the first time I felt that we
had planted a fairly firm foothold upon the point of the Gallipoli
Peninsula.
Meanwhile in the northern zone also, the Australian and New Zealand
Army Corps had strengthened their grip on Turkish soil. Whilst in the
south we had been attacking and advancing they had been defending and
digging themselves more and more firmly into those cliffs on which it
had seemed at first that their foothold was so precarious.