LETTERS FROM THE FRONT

Dominion, Volume 8, Issue 2496, 24 June 1915, Page 6

LETTERS FROM THE FRONT

SHRAPNEL AND SNIPERS EXPERIENCES IN THE TRENCHES Writing on board the Hospital Ship Goorkha, at Alexandria, on May 4, Sapper Lestock H. Reid, of the British section of the Engineers with the Now Zealand Expeditionary Force, and a son of Mr. A. J. liekl, of Hoathcote Valley, says "1 saw the first four days of the lighting, which was very hot stud'. Tho Australians and our infantry were the first to land, and they drove the Turks • back in great style. The Engineers went ashore about five o'clock in the afternoon, and we were, started right away to make reserve trenches. One of our officers was hit that bullet through his leg. We hardly stopped working from the time we got ashore till I came away. It was getting better then. The enemy had made repeated counter-attacks to try and drive us back into the sea, but they'could never face our bayonets, and always turned and fled at the last moment. Our men held a ridge of hills right round the place where they landed, and we (the Engineers) were strengthening the trenches in the centre position. "One night when I was in the trenches the enemy kept coming forward. Their ougles would blow, and then wo would hear shouts of 'Allah I' Our boys would warn each other along the line, and then we would wait, while tho yells got louder. In some places they were only fifty yards from our trenches when our commanders gave the word to open fire, and there would be a rattle like hell let loose. The Turks could not stick it. All night long they kept crowding up in twos and threes — one of them was shot within a yard of our trench, and we could have touched him by putting out an arm. Some of them got through a gap in our lines and hid themselves. They dug a hole and when daylight came they caused no end of trouble. Several ot our chaps were shot by them. The rotten beggars would pick off stragglers—wounded men returned to the beachr—but they wouldn't fire on a body of troops, as they knew they would be hunted down. Several of them wore caught, and then it was short shrift for them. Our chaps got one with 800 rounds of ammunition and a week's provisions. When I was going down to the beach a party of our men were going over a patch of ground whence a shot had laid one of them low. They looked like a lot of terriers nosing after a rat, and I pity that Turk when they got him. "We found the shrapnel the most trying part of the ordeal. Tho shells whistle and scream overhead, and then burst, and a shower of lead bullets and pieces of shell fly in all directions. The only thing is to get back under cover as quickly as possible—a bank, or anything like that, and then one is fairly safe, but out in the open a chap hasn't a chance. When the trenches are properly made and are deep enough it is surprising how few men are hit, even with this beastly shrapnel playing on them all day, though it is fearfully trying on one's, nerves for the first time. Thousands of Turkish shells fell into the sea, and did absolutely no harm, and I don't think they hit a warship the whole time I was there. "We had just had a short rest and sonio food, and had arranged reliefs, each N.C.O. in charge of twelve men. I was to come on at 5.30 p.m. with my shift, and the sergeant and I were up at a trench finding out just what had to be done, when I felt a blow like that of a sledge-hammer. J could see the hole through my pocket, so I knew I had been hit. I lost no time in getting nnder cover, and was soon bandaged. We each carry a first-aid bandage attached to our tunics, and they are splendid. An Australian chaplain brought me to the dressing station, and that night I was sent off to the ship. The doctor said this morning that my wound was healing splendidly. This is> a splendid ship, most beautifully fitted up and kept wonderfully clean. We all have proper beds to sleep in, and sheets and pillows, which just seem a luxury after being without them for so long. Everyone is so kind. Yesterday two ladies came witli hot tea and dainty cakes, and, my hat! it was all right. The weather is beautifully warm, and we just sit about in the sun. It_ is marvellous how sleepy one gets doing nothing. We may be leaving hero shortly for England."

AWFUL CARNAGE WHAT GENERAL SIR lAN HAMILTON SAID. In a letter, written to liis mother in Dunedin, a soldier serving iu the Canterbury Battalion, writes of the landing at tho Gallipoli reninsula.; —"Earlv on the Sunday morning several boat-loads of troops attempted to laud on tho bcach, and before thev got out of tho boats they were raked by machine-gun lire. What was left of them waded ashore, and in a magnificent' bayonet charge, which must go down in history, drove the Turks up the steep face. As these were the first lot ashore they had a great task until others arrived, when they, too, paid the price to reach that hilltop. However, that hilltop was reached by Australians supported by our Ist and 2nd Canterbury Regiments (the 2nd being our Regiment). AVhen wo reached the shore, the wounded commenced to come in, and had to be placed on boar 3 the hospital ships. By this time there were scarcely enough ashore behind the firing line to attend to tho wounded, so we who were left assisted them on board, and started our task of dressing and attending to t'hem. Ido not want to try to give a description of the awful carnage consequent upon such an attack —that must De told at some other time—but, although it will mean saddened homes in New Zealand to-day, let our people at home derive consolation from the fact that when this fettle's history comes to be written, the bravery of the New Zealand and Australian boys must ever stand as a monument to British bulldog tenacity and daring. After tho first two days, GenI eral Sir lan Hamilton said in all his career he had never before seen such a display of bravery, daring, and tenao fty as shown by the New Zealand and Australian troops. I know that to-day, as I write, many New Zealand homes are mourning tho loss of dear ones, but may God give them strength to make that sacrifico as willingly as their boys mado it in that fight."