AUSTRALIANS' SORRY FLIGHT

Dominion, Volume 8, Issue 2494, 22 June 1915, Page 6

AUSTRALIANS' SORRY FLIGHT

CLIMBING OVER THEIR OWN COMRADES. l'rrr ato E. D. Floody, of tho Australian 6th' Battalion, invests tho landing and the subsequent rush on the Turkish positions, about which so much has ocen printed, with new interest:— _ "There was not a. sign of tho enemy till the first boat was within 100 yards of the_ land. Then they did dreadful execution. Of one boatload of 40 men, only two reached shore alive! But wa kept at it, and landed men enough at last to clear the beach and storm the first hill. This operation seemed more of a comedy than the tragedy it really was, for our boys, fixing' their bayonets and yelling, '11-she,' _ 'Taller,' 'Faller hend,' and hawkers' cries, such as 'Eggs aro cooked!' 'Oranges, two for a penny!' charged straight- for tho enemy. They did not bother about stopping to load and fire—the bayonet was good enough for them. No doubt tho Turks thought these were some of tho foreign devils they had heard so much about, for they tore up the hill for their lives, screaming, 'Allah! Allah!' . . . For about ton minutes wo fought and melted away under devastating fire. The din was absolutely deafening. Shells from our big naval guns screamed unceasingly over ui>, bursting with clouds of smoke and ear-splitting explosions in the position _ held by tha enemy. Maxims, with their continuous rat-a-tat, added considerably fo tho noiso, and tho droning buzz past one's ear told of the passage of tho deathdealing riflo-bullet. "But the peculiar part of it was that none of the men wero frightened. At first we were paralysed; but then, as our comrades began to cough out a gurgling moan with thoir last breath, and fell, their life-blood oozing from a dozen wounds, n mad desiro seemed to take possession of us, and wo would have exchanged aeons of blissful peace for just one moment ir. which to get a retaliating whack at the devils who were responsible for this inferno of screaming, sobbing shot, and shell. Machineguns were spitting continuous streams of lead into our ranks, and we were irie'.tins away before it, and the rain of shells from tho big gun-fire from the hills. The shells, bursting among our men in close formation, did fearful havoc. "At last our captain (who by this time had been hit thrco times) gave the order, 'Every man for himself; make back for the beach!' A few- seconds later ho was shot dead. When wo (ths few of us who were left alive) tried to retreat, wo had to wall; over our own dead, for the position was covered with them. How I came through that hellish ii:femo of shot and shell uninjured is something I cannot account for. . . . These snipers gave us . a lot of trouble right through. They were hiddeu in the low, stunted scrub covering the precipitous cliffs facing the bay, and picked off our men win by one. They were responsible for' the loss of thrco parts of our officers."

_ The Bridgeport correspondent of tho New York "Herald" says:—Eight thousand of the 20,000 men who aro making war munitions for the Allies in the arms and ammunition factories in Connecticut oro of German birth or parentage, according to inspectors who aro familiar with the various nationalities represented h.v tho employees. Many Gerwan machinists, die sinkers, tcolmaktirs, and inventors have come to Connecticut since the war began- The;; are working side by sido with English, Irish, Swedish, and French artisans in turning out tho nearly 100,000 tone a day of war material which Connecticut is shipping for the allied armies. Men who nave worked in the arsenals of Germany declare that German products cannot match in destructivctess those of tho American output, which is flowing in a daily stronger and steadier stream to tho Allies. British inspectors in this city say the most ingenious and ofßcient workmen Germany ever boasted now find employment for their talents and skill in Connecticut _ and other American factories in making war material for Germany's enemies. Somo of (hose Germ in workmen say that in helping to encompass tho defeat of the Kaiser" they aro dointr a greater serrico for the German people than thoy could if ithey should aid him in prolonging tho war. In tho backb'ocks Fluenzol is irvalnable for owing nxdisuant throat trouble.*