In total it was estimated that there were twenty two lines, each of 300 Turks, pouring down from the heights, enveloping Chunuk Bair and the whole saddle along to Hill Q. The Apex was next in line and was under threat of imminent loss, along with the possible collapse of the whole front line. Wallingford’s New Zealand machine guns, positioned at The Apex and strategic points on both Rhododendron and Cheshire ridges, ripped into the advancing masses. Unfortunately there was no time to distinguish between the Turks and the 300 or so New Army troops in front; both Turk and British fell together; but, at the loss of friendly lives, the Turkish onslaught had been halted within a desperate hour of fighting. The Royal Navy, witnessing the line collapsing, was firing salvo after salvo onto the seaward slopes with high explosives, completely blanketing them with smoke, earth and debris as the shells smashed into the hillside and advancing Turks. On the inland slopes the Anzac artillery began to join the dawn chorus by dropping shells onto the crest and forward slopes, catching the Turkish troops still being fed into the charge. One piece of shrapnel hit Mustafa Kemal’s pocket watch,³¹ smashing the casing, but saving his life.

The Loyals and Wiltshires who had not been killed were trapped between the lines and endured their fate. Lieutenant Walter Evans, 8/Welsh, wrote: They were obliged to abandon all their wounded and that is why there are so many missing. The wounded in the gully remained there all day, many dying, and in the evening, when it was dark, all who were able ran back over the hill to where our bivouac was on Saturday night. Some fled off the spur and into the valleys below but were trapped, later being made prisoner, whilst others were sniped, or died through lack of water or from their wounds. A few did manage to make it back to friendly lines. Behind the Wiltshires, 6/Leinsters and the Auckland battalion stood firm at The Apex, spared by not being under the full force of the Turkish onslaught. At the point of the bayonet, the few who managed to break through fought a furious hand to hand battle. Hard pressed, the men, in whatever dress they had been sleeping in, eventually stemmed the flow of the Turkish attack.