IN THE THICK OF BATTLE

Dominion, Volume 8, Issue 2490, 17 June 1915, Page 7

IN THE THICK OF BATTLE

A VIVID STORY. Sergeant B. Newson, of -Hip 3rd Battalion? N.S.W.. and late arcbiintaiit at tbe B.mk of New South Wales, Wagaa Wa<«»a, relates bis experiences with the landing party at Oallipoli. Writing from Kasr-rl-ainy Hospital, Cairo, on May G, lie says:— "We were at sea, just, off the Island of Lemnos, wbore we liad been for some time . . . when the colonel informed us that ive were In land rest morning. Great excitement! Before daybreak we had steamed into position, and when we were havinrc our last breakfast, 011 board the warships all round lis were blaziiin away. "On reaching the shore we found pars floating about, hits, dead and wounded bodies strewn about, but the Turks, except for occasional snipers, bad none. The mil. I believe, simnlr (lew at the Turks, who had all the advantage of cover and numbers, and drove them w : tti the baronet, up and over the hills. AVo bear of the noble 'Six Hundred' and other Brent rloin"s. but had the IK!t not I.POII tile men iT'ev were, and had the Turks the detern'ination " r our men, not one of our fellows would have been loft to tell the tale. 'Hie only other supposition is Mint, the Turks wanted them fd land and then draw them into the h'lls. On the fccond day 1 Ihink only about, six men of (his battalion were left standing. The 2nd and 3rd cot rri-r rnived I'p • in fact. all enmfanies j and battalions did, tho country being ]

very difficult to travel, and the excitement of being under fire for the first time told its tale. "Crack! and a man would roll down tho hill, right alongside of you, with a bullet through his head, and then you would hear, 'They havo got me. 1 Our chaps were 'pilled' in almost every conceivable pari of the body. Row tlio doctors and the A.M.C. worked! Dl'. liraii was doctor to Hie 3rd. Tie was doing good work, but only lasted a couple of hours, when he was knocked out, and they had to take him away on a stretcher. Only an A..M.C. man was left, and lie, t.oo, soon departed; but lie worked, oh, so well while thore, caring nothing for tho bullets Hying past him while dressing tlio wounds. "About 2 o'clock word camo that they wanted reinforcements on tho left (just near us), so Major Bennett sent all tlioso who had strayed who had collected there along. Altogother there wc-re two of our officers, a sergeant, and a few men from other regiments, and wo made for tho thick of it. The platoon of tho 3rd was in reserve for the firing line on top, and lie would not let thom go, of course. On the way I had to give a hand to a man who had been 'hit badly, so I lost the rost, and when I started off again they were gone. 1 didn't get very far. I found myself alongsido a young captain. Ho said he was exhausted, and, tolling me to take charge, crawled back. I managed to get my entrenching tool out, and scooped a couple of inches away for my head—it was all I could do—and waited. Fortunately, I wasn't hit, and at dusk about a dczen New Zealanders came along, under a sergeant-major, and so between us we did our best. Hell I It was a death-trap. "I made a mate of a fine little chap —a bugler. He had a brother in our company. Together we dug ourselves in. Nothing much happened in our quarter that morning. The ships' big guns were booming away and smashing tilings up, and machine-guns rattling and rifles firing the whole time, and every few minutes tho word passed along, 'Stretcher-bearer wanted,' or 'A.M.C. man wanted.' Oh, how those fellows worked, and often went right into the firing line for wounded. "When dark a dozen of us went into the firing lino to bring down dead and wounded. In the morning my little bugler went off down the gully with a sergeant after snipers, and I havo not seen'him since. "In passing I must stop to tell you of a corporal I handed over to m the battle outpost trenches. He had been there for three days, yet did the work tvith the grit and ability that few officers would show. Corporal M'Grogor —he was splendid. AVhen morning came, between 4 and 6 o'clock, some Turks wero retreating on our left. I ordered a volley from the men on my loft, 'Phil Gaiiick' joining in. 1 only put my head up for just a second, when—ugh! a sniper got mo through tbe jaw. I thought I was done. I didn't know I had so much blood in my body, and don't think there is much there now. I had a horror of losing my reason, no hnng on. I knew it was useless to expect anyone to come for mo —it would mean death for sure, so I crawled backwards on my stomach to the next lot of trenches and fell in one of them. I couldn't speak, so I got my pencil to work. At last a pal gave me a hand down a little further, and thoy shot him, poor chap. 1 was done—couldn't go any further. And at last, with desperate efforts with my notebook and frantic gestures, ono gcod chap from tho stretchcr-bearers or A.M.C. came along, and, with a volunteer, they hauled mo down the bank still further. With -two rifles and a gieatcoat they made me a stretcher and started on the march down the gully to tlio ship. All th'e while I was thinking, 'Can T see it out?' My lovely shattered throat made me afraid I would choke —a most awful experience. For two nights I had a great deal of trouble with it, and was always dreading I should fall asleep and choke.