In the early part of the day very heavy casualties were suffered in the
boats which conveyed the troops from the destroyers, tugs, and
transports to the beach. As soon as it became light, the enemy's
sharpshooters, hidden everywhere, simply concentrated their fire on the
boats. Then they got close in. At least three boats, having broken away
from their tows, drifted down the coast, under no control, and were
sniped at the whole way, steadily losing men.
All praise is due to the splendid conduct of the officers, midshipmen,
and men who formed the beach parties and whose duty it was to pass
backward and forward under a terrible fusillade which it was impossible
to check in the early part of the day.
The work of disembarking went on mechanically under this fire at almost
point-blank range. You saw the crowded boats cast off from the pinnaces,
tugs, and destroyers, and laboriously pulled ashore by six or eight
seamen. The moment it reached the beach the troops jumped out and
doubled for cover to the foot of the bluffs, over some forty yards of
beach. But the gallant crews of the boats had then to pull them out
under a dropping fire from a hundred points where the enemy's marksmen
lay hidden amid the sand and shrubs.
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