ON ANZAC BEACH

Dominion, Volume 8, Issue 2553, 30 August 1915, Page 9

ON ANZAC BEACH

SHELLING AND SNIPING (By Malcolm Ross, Official War Correspondent, N.Z. Forces. Imbros, July G. July opened with tho usual morning shelling of the beach, but the Turks, had tliey seen,the result, must have been disappointed with it. lil the trenches also our men wore proving moro than a match for the Turks. Their greater intelligence and ingenuity make them a more effective force in trench warfare. Men are told off to watch a certain number of yards of enemy trench, and as each man is provided with a periscope he can do this in safety. Sueli men will observe the slightest alteration in an ' enemy, trench—the removal of a sandbag or the withering of a branch that has been green. Jleiiind such a -branch there will occasionally be a Turk, and an accurate marksman may pick him off. Good shots are told off.to lire at the loopholes in tho Turkish trenches, and this shooting lias been so effective that the Turk now, as a, rule,, does not take careful aim through tho loophole. He is afraid of getting one in the eye. Therefore he simply holds his rifle tip. above his head and blazes, away. Such shooting is, of course, ineffective. > By various ruses our men stir the Turks up at all times of the day and night. They have done this to such an extent that tho somowhat raw and inoxperienced troops that have recently been opposed to us have got "jumpy,". with the result that they waste a great deal of ammunition. Tho destroyers—one on the right flank, and one on the left —also make.the life of the enemy trench-holder miserable by flashing their searchlights and training their big guns upon his position at uncertain periods of the night. The young commanders in the destroyers are fine fellows, who will take 'on anything. They have never had such shooting before in all their lives, and it splendid practice for them. It has improved their gunnery to a degree that was not anticipated. Shelling the Beach. Recent orders found on Turkish prisoners indicate that there arc a considerable number of young and untrained troops, in the field, or about to enter it, and that many of these do not laiow even the elementary principles of drill and musketry. At the same time, there are quite a number of seasoned troops on tne Peninsula, and as they are. well entrenched it would be a mistake to hold the position too.cheaply. > j" After a couple of days' partial immu-' j nity from shelling, our friend with the I high explosive started in from the south again, and, considering tlie iiumber of uien who were about on the beach, work-' ing and bathing, it was truly' amazing to note the small amount of damage he did. _ While this shelling was on we watched some men coming ashore from a. bargo. A number grabbed their accoutrement and ran for it, but others' calmly walkc-d along the wharf as if they wero strolling down Lambton Quay on a Sunday morning. On the whole, quite a number, of us aro beginning to think that such incidents add interest to what otherwise would be rather a monotonous existence. • ,1 A Millionaire Soldier. One day I went with the General to one of our outposts whero the men were X>utting in some excellent .work on trenches, .tunnels, and gun emplacements. Amongst the lot wero six Australians, all weir to do. Their time to bo relieved had come, but they asked to be allowedl to stay on and finish the * 19b! They wanted to say that-that par- ■ ticular bit of work was theirs; One was the Eon of a well-to-do Western newspaper proprietor,' and the' others also were wealthy men or the sons of wealthy men. "You spw that fellow with no shirt?" said the 0.0. to the. General. "Yes; what about him?"- asked the General. ■ 'Well, he's a millionaire," replied the O.C. The shirtless millionaire just at that moment was at work on a bit of tunnelling that would have done credit to an experienced miner. Near this spot we crept warily along.a shallow trench, because a head shown above the" parapet would have drawn the Turkish fire from an adjacent trench, and l looking across the slope we could see a dead Turk hunched up as if he had been shot while running forward. A couple of yards away was his rifle. All *t'his we'could see through the branches of a bush growing on the edge of - .the trench. Much, as either side would have -liked to bury the man no one dare go out to do so, even under cover of the night. As we were returning our guns opened fire upon some Turks who were 6een moving, and a waterplane flew along the coast. A submarine had made its ?p----pearance ill the Gulf," and our destroyers and trawlers were on the qui Vive. On Monday, July 0, one of our sections reported being shelbd by heavy guns, and we at Anzac had a new 11mch guu turned on us. The shells from tho latter mostly hit the sea harmlessly, throwing up great geysers of water, which subsided 1 into a' great ring of foam; other shells that burst in the air sent great chunks of iron hurtling through space over a wide area, and our men ran to get them as trophies. I saw one man carrying a piece, still uncomfortably hot, on his shoulder, from' tJio crest of a ridge where it had landed. Some of our men thought they could see this gun firing from the KilidBahr plateau, but later and more reliable information led to the. conclusion that it was a naval gun. Some hundreds of pounds' worth of ammunition was blazed away by this. gun during the. forenoon, but the results -were practically nil, though we all agreed that the new shell was i, nasty; brute., j At Quinn's Post. • At 6.45 a.m. on July . 4 the enemy opened fire 011 the lett of Quinn's Post with a mountain gun firing nine ' rounds without-doing any damage. Three enemy 8-inch shells were also'exploded oh another position in the evening, but did littlo d'amage. ~ AnotherTurkish gun on the north-western hills fired for two hours. There was very little rife fire from the Turkish trenches. Our guns, and also tho destroyer Choi-, mer, replied. During the week a determined attack was made on our left centre, hut was repulsed with heavy loss to the enemy. In this attack practically none of the New Zealanders were engaged, it being met by the Australians attached to our division. The Turks commenced. with heavy rifle fire and then charged with tho bayonet. They, also used bombs. Our men replied with cheers'and fire from rifles and machine-guns. Some _ Turks who broke through into our saps | were soon dispatched, and by 2 a.m. 9 the remainder of the enemy who had 1 left their trenches turned and fled. In 1 places there were numbers of Turkish | dead in front of our trenches, and the enemy losses must have been considerable, while ours were slight. Prisoners stated that the ' attack had! been ordered, by Enver Pasha, who visited the lines that uight 011 his .way south to Capo Helles.