Alexander Bastin McColl. Diary entry for 25-26 April 1915,MSX-8204, Alexander Turnbull Library
At 6 am this morning a move was made. We pulled anchor and moved slowly out. The warships and fleet left a little before us & presented a great sight. We are following two big barges. Absolutely magnificent scenery. Everyone greatly excited.
At the time of writing can see the warships bombarding & the Tommies landing under cover. A magnificent sight. We are landing further up. Half the Coy landed about 4pm and I with the other half did not get ashore until 11pm. About 7pm they commenced fetching wounded aboard our ship as all the hospital ships were full.
The Australians who landed first performed brilliantly but lost heavily so also did our Auckland & Canterbury boys. We got about 100 wounded before leaving some of them being awfully bad.
At midnight we got orders to line a ridge just above headquarters & we have here all day. Fighting has been continuous for 15 hours but we have been lucky enough to have only [shrapnel bursting over us & a few bullets.]
War diary. McColl, Alexander Bastin (Captain), 1892-1916 : War diaries. Ref: MSX-8204. Alexander Turnbull Library, Wellington, New Zealand.
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