Eight or ten of its men managed to penetrate a covered area of our trench number 21, from where they rained an uninterrupted salvo of bombs upon a trench, as a result of which this trench was emptied of its occupants, having all been killed, and taking this occasion they occupied a section of the trench equivalent to two squads, and threw stones to their rear to ask for reinforcements, but all the same very few of them, and of those who came to their aid, managed to escape, with the remainder being killed.
The squadrons had captured three lines of trenches, but holding on to them would be the problem. Major Reid was wounded early on, and it was said that when he was shot in his right hand he changed his revolver to the left and carried on fighting. With casualties high, and bomb stocks low, efforts were now concentrated on holding on; but unsupported for over two hours and under constant showers of Turkish bombs, this was proving impossible. Glasgow realised now that their sister units’ attacks at The Nek and Turkish Quinn’s had failed and so, with no other choice, ordered the withdrawal. It was about this time that Reid, standing alongside fellow officer Lieutenant Burdett Nettleton, was killed by the same Turkish bomb; they were left behind in the trench for the Turks to bury.
Lieutenant Colonel Şefik Aker, commander of 27 Regiment, wrote about the event in his memoirs:
The enemy was not successful. The Australians managed to capture only the small trench named 21 of the 27th Regiment, commanded by me, and that was only because all its defenders had either been killed or wounded. They planted their flag to indicate to their rear that they had taken the trench. However, following a brief counter attack, we took back the trench, including the Australian dead, who made up almost all the attackers, and their flag. These corpses were buried in a special location.13
Şefik Aker mentions later the bodies of two Australian officers, as does Major Halis, who wrote:
... various weapons, digging utensils, two sacks of bombs and a map of the trenches, which had been abandoned by the enemy, were found. Two enemy officers, of whom one was a captain [sic], were buried. I submit also the information that the artillery fire towards our trenches, following the repulsion of the adversary, resulted in the partial destruction of our trenches and caused a great part of our fatal casualties.14
The two Australian officers would have been Major Reid and Lieutenant Nettleton. Both bodies were lost in later fighting and today are commemorated on the Lone Pine Memorial.
Casualties were heavy for the Light Horsemen, with the loss of 154 officers and men, killed and wounded, out of 200, which is higher in percentage terms than the casualties suffered at The Nek. Glasgow was the only officer who came out unscathed. 27 Regiment suffered 217 casualties, most of which were attributed to the Australian bombardment of the slopes following the withdrawal.
The Queenslanders from 2/LHR were also going to fail as they attacked Turkish Quinn’s. Their plan was based on the basis that the New Zealanders would be attacking the Turks’ rear, that German Officers’ Trench would be captured and that the artillery would have thoroughly bombarded the opposing trenches. None of these had happened. After the explosion of a mine, the plan was for four waves, each of fifty men, due to the narrow frontage, to storm the Turkish positions opposite.