"AT ALL COSTS"

Bay of Plenty Beacon, Volume 2, Issue 134, 11 March 1940, Page 5

"AT ALL COSTS"

WHAKATANE MOUNTEDS HOLD POSITION STIRRING STORY OF GALLIPOLI Many men from Whakatane and the immediate A'ieinity served in the Great War and did their part nobly and in presenting this extract it is not our intention to extoll the deeds of one particular group as the only indication of Whakatane's contribution to valorous history. The Whakatanians taking part formed a section of the Auckland Mounted Rifles, and it is from the official history of this Regiment that the story is gleaned. The chapter is headed "Defence of Walker's Ridge" and describes how the Regiment fought its first fight in the early hours of May 19th, 1916. It had been knoAvn that the Turks had been heaA T ily reinforced at Anzac, and that an attempt Avas to be made to 'push the British into the sea.' Accordingly ev T ery precaution was taken by the Mounted Rifles, but it Avas a most inopportune time to meet an attack oAA'ing to the fact that the 'dead ground' in the centre of the line was in the process of being 'brought in.' A sap, about tAvo chains long had been driA'en out from the left of the centre at right angles to the fire trench, and another had been started at the right of the centre to junction AAMth the other and form a neAV line. BetAveen the heads of these tAA*o Avorks there Avas a gap through AA r hich the enemy might pour doAvn on the original front line. That, then, is a picture of the ground occupied by the Auckland Mounted,. Rifles Regiment on the night of May 18th, Strain of First Action. The history states that at about midnight a tremendous fusillade broke out from the Turkish line opposite. It! Avas mainly machine-gun and rifle fire,, but it Avas so intense that it killed any observation that might have been made. The night was pitch dark, hOAA'CA r er, and in any case little could have been seen. Everyone Avas called to arms Avhen the enemy turned up, and the troops Avhich had been lying in immediate support filed into the front saps, filling them to their fullest capacity. There Avas probably a bayonet to every yard. The strain of action is ahvays trying. eA r en to seasoned troops, and it ! Avas something of an ordeal for men about to fight their first action . Finally, at 3.30 p.m., the Turkish fire slackened, and then, after an ominous silence, the enemy sprang t>) the attack.

"The Turks did not appear to have a knowledge of our position and its weaknesses," says the history. "This became palpably apparent when they failed to. concentrate upon the gap between the head of the left sap - and the position held by the Ith Squadron, to the right. They seemed to lose direction, confused, perhaps, by the angles of the line. The greatest stand of the night was made by a part of the 4th Squadron, and it should be described in detail." Whakatane Troop's Stand. "Lieutenant J. M. Roberts was in command of the Squadron. He had had only two hours of daylight in which to familiarise himself with the position and make his dispositions. He decided to put Lieutenant C. James, with his troop (Whakatane Troop), into the new front line, on the right, which, it was obvious, would have to bear the force of the attack. The rest of the 4th Squadron occupied the old line, to the right, overlooking Monasii Gully, with the exception of Lieutenant Milliken's troop, Avhich Avas held in reserve. "The Whakatane Troon was practically isolated owing to the presence of a small gap between their right and the old line, but this gap was not the menace of the gap on their left, although it made reinforcement and communication dif-. ficult. "Lieutenant James' orders were to hold the little lino for twenty minutes at all costs —and he and his men Avell knew wha: that cost would be. They knew that they would have to leave their sap and fight in the open, owing to Die fact 'hat in its present staU it was merely n deep, narrow ditch from which they could not fight. It had no fire steps and. it was so narrow I hat thvo men could not pass in it.

"As soon as the attack Avas launch ed, Lieutenant James and his men sprang over the parapet, and,, lying down in the open, poured their fire into the Turks. Soon they were at point-b'lanl< range, and dozens of Turks Avcre shot down at a distance of ten feet. The miracle Avas how the little hand of heroes Avas not; overAvhelmed. The Turks had enough men to sweep through them like a hurricane, but the fire Avas so well directed, and their demeanour so stubborn, that every rush Avas crushed, the Turks doing the fatal thing of lying down at the very time their final rush should haA-e been made. It was probably their fear of resolute steel that stopped j them. "Within a fcAV minutes two-thirds of the troop had become casualties, Lieutenant James being among the killed, but the line held. "As the first streaks of daAvn rose above the hills Avhich oA'erlook the fields of Troy, the Turks retired at the run. Some, avlio had been feigning dead* darted back through the scrub amid showers of bullets. "Flushed as they were Avith success, the Mounted Rifles did not relax their vigilance. Wearing smiles and heaven-sent cigarettes, they Avaited for the next attack, knoAving that this time the Turk Avould get it worse than before. But the attack never came. A machine-gun that had been posted on a clay peak in the gorge, on the left, Avas able to get on to a group of German officers wh.o Averc conferring in what they believed to be a safe hollow,, and this seemed to end ' the hopes of the Turks for the time being." And so ends the Whakatane Troop's glorious exploit.