elightful it is to have to deal with men
who are confident!

This success of old Cox's is worth anything. The well alone, I suppose,
might be valued at twenty or thirty thousand a year seeing it gives us
beautiful spring water in free gift from Mother Earth instead of very
dubious fluid conveyed at God only knows what cost from the Nile to
Anzac Cove. If we can only hold on to Kaiajik Aghala, then the road
between Anzac and Suvla will be freed from the sniper's bullet.

Went on to Suvla and landed with all my posse, remaining in consultation
with Corps Headquarters till 3.30.

Our attack on Hill 70 and Ismail Oglu Tepe has failed. The enemy has dug
himself well in by now and, therefore, we depended far more on our gun
fire than we did on the 7th, 8th, 9th and 10th. Unfortunately, the
bombardment seems to have been pretty near futile--not the fault of the
gunners, but simply because, on the one hand, the mist interfered with
the accuracy of their aim, on the other, shortage of shell prevented
them from making up for inaccuracy by quantity. Then the bush fires seem
to have come along in the most terrible fashion and interposed between
our brave 29th and the Turks. The ancient Gods fought against us
yesterday:--mist and fire, still hold their own against the inventions
of man. Last but not least, all are agreed the fine edge of the 11th
Division has been at last blunted--and small wonder: there is no use
attacking any more with the New Army until it has been well rested and
refreshed with new drafts.

So far de Lisle has no clear or connected story of the battle. The 29th
Division say they were shouldered off their true line of attack by the
11th Division, then driven in by the fire; the 11th Division, on their
side, say that the Yeomen barged into them and threw them off their
line. Had we been able to dig in we would have made good a lot of
ground. But Marshall, not showy or brilliant but one of my most sound
and reliable soldiers, decided, although he knew my wishes and hopes,
that the troops had got themselves so mixed up and disorganized that it
would be imprudent. So orders were issued by him, on the battlefield, to
fall back to the original line. There was neither use nor time to refer
back to de Lisle and he had to come to the decision himself. I am quite
confident he will be able to give good reasons for his act. Many of the
men did not get the order and were still out at daylight this morning
when they were h