IN THE TRENCHES

Dominion, Volume 8, Issue 2521, 23 July 1915, Page 5

IN THE TRENCHES

A CHAPLAIN'S LETTER FROM GALLIPOLI

SERVICES UNDER FIRE

' In the course! of an interesting letter to the Rev. Dr. Gibb, Chaplain-Major Grant, who is with the Main New Zealand Expeditionary Force at the Dardanelles, says:—

I am sending you a few notes of recent experiences, hoping they will pass tho Censor, and give the folks at home some idea of how our boys are making history, and covering themselves with glery in the doing of it. I am writing m the trenches on the crest of a hill 600 feet high which rises abruptly from tho beach; in some places as a sheer bluff which could not be scaled. But the spurs flanking tho bluff were scaled by —— and oil that never-to-be-forgotten day that you have heard of. We have gloried in the deeds of our fathers "in the brave old days," but this that, was dono in the light of the sun is surely worthy to stand beside the doughtiest. Temiyiion tells us 'how "all tho world wondered." at' the charge of the Light Brigade, but the worjd well may wonder at this. splendid achievement of untried _ troops in the face of a .deadly enfilading fire of ma-chine-guns and rifles. The charge of the Light Brigade was child's play to it.; This is but the sober truth. They not only made tho charge, but they took the crest abovo the; bluff,' and later dug themselves in and held it. The s took the cliff like lions and the highest praise we can give our own boys is that are worthy to stand beside them fighting shoulder to shoulder: Before their infantry_ and ours went to the front the feeling between them wasn't too cordial, but since the recent fighting our men can't speak too highly of their magnificent charge, and they on their part are lost in admiration of the manner in which our boys extricated them when through their reckless'daring t'hoy (the s) got into a. tight place. A "week to-day we entrained at cainp for' , and after "sailing .over slimmer seas" ,we woke one morning.to find ourselves in a fleet of battleships aiid transports. After months of sunshine we made our first experience of a lowering ; sky ana a cold, drizzling rail). Coming over from , sky and sea, lapped m brilliant sunshine, with scarcely a ripple on the water, made it.hard to believe that we were to close to the horrors of war. As the day wore on tho mists lifted, revealing more clearly the contour of the-land and enabling us to .watch the operations ..of the' fleet. We watched an aeroplane leave the deck of a- battleship and make a graceful flight, evidently spying the movements of the enemy or directing thefire of tho battleships, and presently the deep-throated boom, boom of big guns called to one another as they searched the trenches of the Turks and reduced their defences to powder. Further up tho field of vision a captive balloon directed the fire of one of the naval leviathans, which was not, however, firing her biggest guns. 11l the afternoon we weighed anchor and proceeded further'-up the coast, where we were to land, and here we found another crowd of transports and battleships, this was the- scene of the famous charge that I have referred to. We could see the enemy's'shells falling over our own trenches, and to the right of the landing 6tage, and the: situation promised to be ■lively. Two torpedoboat destroyers ranged alongside the transport, one on either 6idc, aiid took off the first lot of troops. Thev were landed in daylight, and two were slightly wounded. It was quite ' dark by the time that we were taken off the' transport, and four different searchlights from as many'ships were directed upon certain sections ot tuo heach. When we drew near the landing place we wero transferred, to punts, and the-din of musketry fire was terrific, io our . uninstructed minds it seemed as it the enemy was making an attack in force upon our fellows to drive them into the sea, and expected' presently to hear, the bullets whistling, round our ears. Things were not quito as bad 'as they seemed, and'although we got a few 6tray bullets, no one was injured. Un landing we were marched along the beach in the direction of the enemy, and then turned to the : —up' > some places climbing on our hands and knees and sweating at every pore. the men, besides their field kits, earned — rounds of ammunition,' with their rifle. You may be sure that all were glad to have the word passed along the line to halt and camp wherever they happened to find themselves. Yours truly, along with others, found himself on a slope that in the darkness seemed, to be well nigh ' straight up niid down, but by bracing our feet against the shrubs we managed to keep .jiosition, and presently to the music of the enemy's guns, and with the bullets whistling overhead, we soon fell into a dreamless sleep. In the morning we woke to the Eame fusilade, and found *vo had a position ——. While we were safe enough from the rifio fire we were by no means safe from tho enemy's shrapnel, wliich presently began to fall and burst on our left front as we looked out to sea. I took a "snap" of the bursting shrapnel, but have no idea, how it will turn out. It began to get uncomfortably'close and at 10.30 wo were moved out of the.gully and up the hill to occupy the trenches vacated by the ■ If we marvelled at the charge of the — on looking at the hill we marvelled all the more as we climbed the spur leading into the trenches. Our 1 —• have made a, now, but even yet the gradient on tho average is or at the least.l in 8, and when they climbed it, in some places it was ——. Some of tha obscure heroes of that engagement are the ambulance men, who toiled up and down that • awful track with the woupded until their knees bogan to crack I,

An incessant fusilade goes on hero allthe? time. They have some very clever snipers, and so have wo. The enemy is always searching the beach aud the landing place with shrapnel, and there are some casualties every day, but so far they have landed very few shells here. It is thought that they cannot get the angle witlrthoir guns, or that tliey are afraid of hitting their own men. But the other evening when I was , at' tea my oiderly came in great excitement to say that a shell had burst in our trench, and covered my bed with debris! Three men were standing m the trench and were uninjured. The shell itself lodged in the bank opposite our- dugouts,. and a shirt and tunic lying on that bank were riddled with bullets. Looking through a periscope in the firing trench we can see our puns making frightful havoc at the Turkish trenches. There are some things that cannot be written about. .Tliis is a lovely Sabbath morning, and earth and sky and sea, as you look seaward, constitute a vision of peaceful beauty. Pacing us on the slight haze on the horizon are two islands. Ou our right front a tongue of Hat land, under cultivation, and running into a point to the sea. A fanner, who is probably a sp>'—giving information to the Turks behind, of where and how their shells are falling—is ploughing with two oxen —a black and a white —while another feeds peacefully near by. They constitute the only signs of life down there. Our men do not venture near the flat, as it is believed to be heavily mined, but it can be swept if need be by tho naval snin's, and is watched night and day. But for tho thunder of the guns 'and the crackle of the rides it would be an altogether peaceful scene. "Wo held a. church parade this-morning with some' of the officers and men and jLtransemgnts ate being for a sijniv

lar service with the this afternoon. It was an unique service lor us all, and was held in a portion of the rcservo trench, which has been widened. We sang "To Know Theo is Eternal Life," "0, God of Bethol," and "Fight the Good Fight With All Thy Alight." The 4Gt'h l'salm was 'read rcsponsively, and afterwards tho preachcr spoko somo Helpful things from l'salm 27-12. Y/o knew that in all probability before another Sabbath dawned some of ns would be lying yonder, on . the slopes whero our comrades sleep bo well, and tho thought would intrude which will it be ? And to hearten and inspire ns for living .or dying we took the Psalmist's great thought to our hearts, and reinforced it with that of tho Apostle in Rom. VIII, "For 1 am persuaded that neither death nor life."

As I have been writing this morning shell after shell is passing directly overhead on its way to the beach, and several have landed not many yards from Here. Happily we have heard of no casualties, so far, this morning. P.S.—I open this to say that I liavo just buried E. M. Stewart) of Nuhaka, one of tiio church committeemen there. He was looking through a loophole in the. firing trench, when a bullet caught bim and killed him instantaneously. The trench fell in upon liim yesterday and ho was nearly buried alive. When tlicy dragged him out.he remarked that if he was to dio he should prefer to dio from a bullet. He sleeps well, at the back of the trenches, where you have a. magnificent view of land and sea. There have been fifteen other casualties to-day so far.—Sv.tr.