- The No-Conscription Fellowship holds its first national convention at Memorial Hall in London. Their intentions are to resist forcible conscription into the army and to support conscientious objectors.
- The Serbian army collapses and begins its retreat to the Adriatic Sea, where it is evacuated by the Italian and French Navies
- Severe rain and thunderstorms begin to lash the Gallipoli coast. More than 280 men die during the two-day “great blizzard”; 16,000 others suffer frostbite and exposure. Captain Robert Gee of the 2nd Royal Fusiliers records in his diary:
It was a dark night in the trenches at Suvla Bay and the 26th Nov will long be remembered and perhaps spoken of in years to come. The men had just “stood to” and the Sgt Major reported “Garrison correct, Sir” when a terrible clap of thunder, worse than a bombardment of HE broke the stillness of the night. This was followed by zig-zags of lightening which appeared to split the heavens in two and then the rain fell as only it can fall in the tropics. Within half an hour the trenches held a foot of water rushing so quickly that it was difficult to stand. At 7 pm the Barricade gave way and a solid wall of water 7ft high swept the trench carrying everything and everybody before it.
By 8 pm the flood had reached its height and the force of the water had somewhat abated so that I was able to swim from a tree to No.1 Platoon. The men were on the parados of the trench up to their breasts in water, it was the same with No.2 Platoon, only about 9 rifles had been saved. No.3 Platoon had gathered on a high bit of land and having no trees to hang on to had formed groups and were clinging to each other. No.4 Platoon were fighting for their lives, their part of the line being a maze of trenches many of which had been washed away burying the men in the mud and making it very difficult for the man to retain a footing anywhere.
At 2 a.m. the water began to subside and the men were set to work to construct a breastwork behind the trenches. No tools being available we had to do this by scooping up handfuls of earth and by dawn a resemblance of cover had been formed and we found it useful for the enemy gave us about a dozen shrapnel. To add to our comforts it began to freeze hard and a snow blizzard came down and the whole of the place was soon covered by snow; many of the survivors of the flood died from exposure. With the help of the Sgt Major I counted the Company and of the 139, only 69 remained.
It was now discovered that the ration party had been drowned and all the food and drink we had was one gallon jar of rum, this we issued out and Pte Oldfield who had swum to HQ brought up orders that the line was to be held at all costs. This order was also afterwards brought to me by the Adjt. During this time – the first night – the cheerfulness of the men was marvellous, the slightest joke or mishap produced roars of laughter. By 8 o’clock I had a few rifles in working order and we were able to return the fire of the Turks, but I gave the order to cease firing as soon as the enemy ceased and during the whole of the 27th very little fire took place. All day the weather was freezing and more men died; towards night it turned to rain and it was impossible to move.
At 2 a.m. 28th the CO brought me half a bottle of whiskey and told me that the Adjt and himself were the only live persons at the Battalion HQ. At 3:30 a.m. the Adjt brought me two Officers to help me. All my own Officers and most of the NCOs had gone under, and told me to let the men who could not fight make their own way to the Red Cross station. I passed the order on to each Platoon and about 30 men left, hardly one of whom could walk upright, most of them having to crawl through the mud and water on all fours. I then counted up and found that I had only 27 living souls in the firing line and only 10 rifles in working order. About 5:30 the order to “Retire to Battalion HQ” came along and after waiting for X Company to get clear, the Company started in the following order: No.1 Platoon, No.4 Platoon, No.2 Platoon, No.3 Platoon. I stayed with the last 4 men. We had barely gone 30 yards before the 1st, 3rd and 4th man were killed, the two first through the head, and the latter through the heart; 10 yards further on the other man got it and as I lifted him to dress his wound the breath rushed out of his body with an awful sound. I remember falling in the mud and sticking a bayonet in the ground to help me out and the next clear thing I remember was Lt Wilkinson rubbing my feet and bending my toes and they did hurt.
