HOT FIGHTING IN GALLIPOLI

Dominion, Volume 8, Issue 2461, 14 May 1915, Page 6

HOT FIGHTING IN GALLIPOLI

9 DESPERATE BATTLE. NOW IN PROGRESS QUEEN ELIZABETH SUPPORTING THE TROOPS TURKS HARD PRESSED (By Telegraph.—Press Assn.—Copyright.) Athens, May 12. A desperate battle is proceeding between the towns of Gallipoli and Maidos. The battleship Queen Elizabeth is firing from the Gulf of Saros on the Turkish reinforcements. TURKSBEING DRIVEN INTO THE SEA CAUGHT BETWEEN CONVERGING FORCES. (Rec. May 14, 0.15 a.m.) London, May 13. The "Daily Telegraph's" correspondent at Mitylene says that the Turks on Friday were fighting desperately to prevent their ranks being pushed into tiie sea between Maidos and Gallipoli. The Allips from Sedd-ul-Bahr and Gaba Lepe, in the Gulf of Saros, are converging on the enemy. THIRTEEN HOURS OF HEAVY GUN FIRE ... Athens, May 12. Monday's bombardment of the Dardanelles was unprecedented in violence. It lasted thirteen hours. All the largest battleships participated. THRILLING STORY OF THE BRITISH LANDING CLEVER STRATEGY TO COVER DISEMBARKATION ("Times" and Sydney "Sun" Services.) ■ ( " London, May 12. "While the Australians and' New Zealanders were fighting gallantly against heavy odds, the' British troops crowned themselves with equal laurels at the southern end of the peninsula. The story of the successful landing of the 29th Division is one of devoted heroism and self-sacrifice. Already their line stretches from the southern end of the whole peninsula, to the lower slopes' and heights of Achi Baba. , Both flanks are secured by the artillery of the warships. - "The Army faced a heavy task, and now holds a fine tract of flat country, with convenient landing _places. enjoying immunity from the enemy's guns; The southern landing was different from that of the -.north, which was successfully solved by the Australians and Now Zealanders. ■ There is no fores'hote, and jagged rocks appear at intervals along the stretches of beach. Desperate' All-nay Struggle. "Where the Britis'hers disembarked under -cover of the warships the enemy was holding heights of an altitude of 700 feet, commanding the landing. Nevertheless; the landing was effected, but with heavy losses, after a desperate day-long struggle. At certain points the British troops literally clung to the cliff edge, exposed the while to a raking fire from the fortified hedges. •' "There were barbed-wire entanglements on the beaches, and while the naval units were attempting to cut the wires they were shot down by concealed, Maxims. The engineers and Royal Navals rushed on, however, and swarmed up the cliffs, capturing the outlying trenches and checking the enfilading fire from the foreshore. The Turks did not dare to leave their trenches. "There were serious developments during the night time. The Turks, heavily reinforced, savagely attacked the beach parties, and tho officers commanding the bluejackets, engineers, and naval men, disembarking the stores on the foreshore, were ordered to rush' up their men_ to the firing line. Others carried mp ammunition. After all-night fighting the Turks were driven, off with heavy loss. Transport Beached to Provide Cover. "Another landing on April 25 was made memorable by the novel experiment of running a transport ashort to facilitate the disembarkation of the troops and avoid exposure'from the enemy's fire. The transport's steel sides acted as cover, saving hundreds. The men disembarked through doors cut in the rides- of the vessel. Twelve Maxims had been mounted in the bows, their fire covering . tho landing. "The transport swept in preceded by pinnaces and boats for the landing. . She' grounded in deep water on a rocky reef. A lighter was brought up to assist in the disembarkation, the men holding the lighter under a hail of'bullets. Meanwhile the Maxims and pom-poms were raining, a tornado on the transport. "The first landing party, numbering one hundred, was almost annihilated, and the disembarkation of the rest was deferred. Two hundred men were packed like sardines in the 'tween decks, and the troops landed under cover of darkness,, in safety, ct 11 o'clock. A furious Turkish fusillade swept the beach, , but did no damage. "An advance was made on April 26. and after a desperate fight t'he trenches were won. The Turks fled from the beach, and this cleared the way for an advance inland. "There could be no finer tale than that of the landing of the Australian, New Zealand, and Britisti troops." BOSPHORUS FORT DESTROYED BY THE RUSSIANS. • Bucharest, May 12. The Russian Fleet destroyed an ultra-modern fort in the Bosphorus. GREAT DEPRESSION AT'CONSTANTINOPLE. (Rec. May 14, 0.15 a.m.) „ , , . . A „ , . Athens, May 13. Great depression exists m Constantinople owing to the number killed in the recent battles, which exceeds the most severe actions in the Balkan War Popular alarm has been intensified by the news that a British submarine has entered the Sea of Marmora. Enver Bey and Liman Pasha are credited with having ordered tie troops not to take prisoners. The Turks are proposing to mount batteries in the European quarter in order to draw the fire of the fleet, if the Allies penetrate the Dardanelles. . The Germans have decided that if the worst comes to the worst to take the Goebcn, Breslau, and Hamidieli, eight destroyers, and the best of the merchantmen to a neutral port by, running the gauntlet of the Russians in the dark ot the night, whe:i the north wind would .prevent the Russian flotillas from Hearing the mine-relds; ,