Lives of the First World War

August 1915 - September 1915

Twisleton took part in the bloody assaults on Bauchop's Hill and Hill 60 during August 1915. In his vivid account of the second of these actions he described the roar of battle as so overpowering that he felt as though he 'was being driven into the ground by being hit on the head'. Twisleton was slightly wounded during the initial charge, and took the opportunity afforded by a lull in the fighting to dig small pieces of shrapnel out of his leg with his pocket-knife. In the aftermath of the battle for Hill 60 he commanded a post where the stench was appalling because it was partly constructed out of the bodies of Turkish soldiers. Later he wrote, 'I felt as though I could scrape the smell of dead men out of my mouth and throat and stomach in chunks.' At the beginning of September 1915 Twisleton was evacuated from Gallipoli with severe dysentery; he did not return. For his bravery and initiative during the campaign he was awarded the Military Cross and mentioned in dispatches.

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