On May 28, at 9 p.m., a raid was made on a Turkish post overlooking
the beach 1,200 yards north of Kaba Tepe, H.M.S. _Rattlesnake_
co-operating. A party of fifty rifles rushed the post, killing or
capturing the occupants. A similar raid was made against an enemy
trench to the left of our line which cost the Turks 200 casualties, as
was afterwards ascertained.
[Illustration: MAP 3. (_To face page 64._)]
From May 28 till June 5 the fighting seemed to concentrate itself
around Quinn's Post. Three enemy galleries had been detected there,
and work on them stopped by counter-mines, which killed twenty Turks
and injured thirty. One gallery had, however, been overlooked, and at
3.30 a.m. on May 29, a mine was sprung in or near the centre of Quinn's
Post. The explosion was followed by a very heavy bomb attack, before
which our left centre sub-section fell back, letting in a storming
party of Turks. This isolated one sub-section on the left from the two
other sub-sections on the right.
At 5.30 a.m. our counter-attack was launched, and by 6 a.m. the
position had been retaken with the bayonet by the 15th Australian
Infantry Battalion, led by Major Quinn, who was unfortunately killed.
All the enemy in the trench were killed or captured, and the work of
restoration was begun.
At 6.30 a.m. the Turks again attacked, supported by artillery, rifle,
and machine-gun fire and by showers of bombs from the trenches. The
fine shooting of our guns and the steadiness of the infantry enabled
us to inflict upon the enemy a bloody repulse, demoralizing them to
such an extent that the bomb throwers of their second line flung the
missiles into the middle of their own first line.