ON FAR GALLIPOLI

Dominion, Volume 8, Issue 2558, 4 September 1915, Page 6

ON FAR GALLIPOLI

NEW ZEALAND CORRESPONDENT'S DISPATCHES SAPPING AND MINING AT QUINN'S POST ' [A- number of dispatches, covering. . the period from June 19 to 30, have come to hand from Mr. Malcolm Boss 'official correspondent with tho Now Zealand Forces), and from tlieso ■\vo have selected several interesting Motes.] ,«««■'• . ' AnzaCj June 19-30. When one considers the difficulties of Supply here it is really wonderful to note how. well the men are fed. Tea and bacon are brought up into the trenches in the firing lino every morning. Tea is also brought up at lunch, time. For tho evening meal the menu is tea and stew.' Each mail is allowed a quarter of a lb. of jam and half a loaf of bread a day'. During the long vigil of twenty-four hours jn these trenches tho men begin to feel tho strain and the want of sleep most between midnight and three ill.tho morn- - ing, and that is a very important time for a display of vigilance. Our . men as a rule keep very ■ quiet m these trenches that are so close to the lurks. Occasionally they can hear. tho_ enemy talking. Sniping goes on all day, the, Turks firing more at random than our men, who do not w/iste their ammunition unless they have something . to aim at. Various ruses are thought out and adopted to draw the Turkish firo, and for a long timo these were very successful/ and tlio Turks wasted thousands of rounds of ammunition. ; Now he is more wary, but still at odd times some new ruse on our part lias the desired, effect.' ' , - ; • How the Men Rest. • When our men oomo out of the firing line they usually go into one .of tlie gullies close by. There they can • rest from the strain of trench warfare, with its bombing, and mining and . countermining and bursts of rifle and shell fire and swollen corpses and innumerable flies. In the rest gullies the moil sleep most of the time in tho open; and', in the day-time they rig up their blankets to shield them from the hot' sun.Tho stretcher-bearers still have very., hard work;' though it is not so deadly as it wafc in the early days of tho fighting; but they now have to carry the' wounded for a much longer distance, up hill and ■ down dale, before they get to the clearing Then, there is the . business, of the. sick, and wounded on to the hospital ships. The wounded are still .wonderfully plucky and uncomplaining. Most of the bandsmen have now been turned into stret-cher-bearers. Like-the men, the officers, here are doing splendid work. ' Some others, who. have been only 'slightly' wounded, we hope seon .to see once more-in the firing line at Anzac.- -The Duntroon boys have maintained a_ high- standard, and\ everyone speaks in the highest term's of their courage, leadership, arid initiative. Several liave been killed and woiinded, and there have been* individual deeds of pluck arid heroism, but in these article's one must not, of : course) mention mam es. - Both - New Zealand and Australia, however, have reason to bo proud of their Duntroon boys.' Wonderful Gunnery. The trenches at. Quinn's Post aro so. close to each other that' neither side: dare shell. In the earlier stages of the fighting, however, seme xondeiful work was done by one of our . batteries, which in tho darkness poured;shell after.shell only four feet over' the "heads of our own men into the Turkish trencli only forty yards beyond! Our men could see the shells l'rom tho muzzlo to tho .burst coming through.,the darkness with the golden ' glow of an orange!' They seemed" to ' be coiiiing right at their faces, but they, went just over their, heads, and. bursfc amongst tho attacking Turks in, massed formation. The .battery fired 600 rounds that night, and there were only two short bursts. But that is not all.. Tlie range, of these field guns is usually from 3000 to 4000 yards, : but here' the firing had to be, 'from 950 yards, air almost point blank, range, so that .tho slightest error in shortness would have, been disastrous. It was a piece of the most marvellous shooting that had, ever been 'seen, and the , Australian ; infantry afterwards stated that the, New Zealand artillery that' night saved Quinn's Post. .Sinco my arrival here i. have-liad the pleasure of meeting the major in command of that -battery.'' He is a great chap—a dark-haired Englishman;' of the Royal Horse Artillery, with, an eye-glass in' his' left eye, a. fine sense of humour, and a vocabulary, that is at times as picturesque as it is effective. He camo with battery from ■ New Zealand,, and: has nothing but praise for the .quickness and intelligence of the New Zealand gunners. In writing thus about this battery it must not for one moi ment be thought that the others also have not done magnificent Work.' Indeed, both Howitzers arid Field Artillery have excelled themselves, and have received a special letter of commendation from the Divisional General* Jumpy Work. Just at present the great: featuro about Quinn's Post is the sapping and mining that is going on thero: day and .iiiglt.- The other day tho young,engineer in charge dropped in on us- with a map and a quaint description of, what is (taking place. "Well, it's frightfully funny work," he said, in reply to our request for information. "Last night we heard them -working very close to' lis, but we did not want to burst a big charge for various reasons. Tlie officer asked us to put in a few pounds to frighten tliem. That charge made a holo in the roof of our tunnel, and j there was tho Turkish' tunnel ou top, of.us! The officer could put his hand'j through the hole, so; he went off and got a revolver. When he came back he could see a light. shining' through, | and could hear tlie Turks talking above him. They could not, however, go on' without danger of being . shot, so they started rolling bombs along towards us, as if it were' a bowling alley under- i ground. I arrived iu the , middle- of this in the. dark, but I got a candle. Immediately a bomb. went off with a bang; but we stood round a corner out of harm's way. I told our men .to Work on at another gallery, and keep a. sentry at the' hole so that tho Turks could do nothing. When, they got this along a few feet wo blew in our own mine, arid cut them off. Had tliev still j come on we had another one ready for them. In doing this wo did' not damage our own arrangements in any wav." In anothor place tho New Zealaudern from one of their listening galleries heard tho Turks working close at hand, so they blew up their tunnel at midnight, apparently successfully. In one place the rival parties go so close in their tunnelling that they could hear tho Turks talking r ound a corner. It is very'jumpy work this underground warfare in a tunnel only 4 feet by. 2 feet, when you never know when you will be blown'up or buried alive. The officer 111 charge of tho actual'work, .an En<rlish-! man, is a pluoky fellow. When he thinks tho men aro gettinc a-bit juinp.v he goes in and sits there: himself to give them confidence. At this game mr men can givo the Turk points, for wo have working underground picked New .Zealand-' ers and Australians, who have been used j to underground work, both in gold l and I in coal mines. Too much praise cannot be given for tho heroic work that these brave fellows have undertaken. What will finally happen at Quinn's Tost cannot he. predicted, but it is seldom thnt! >j?a miners do. not euoeedj

and we, as the defenders, have the hardest row to lioe. Such are some of the happemiings at Q.inm's Post. Quinn, after whom the position was named, was last seen alive standing up .and throwing bombs at the enemy. Subsequently, his dead body was found by his comrades. His name will live ill history. . Attack on the Colonials. , On June 29 wo had rather a quiet time at Amine, but soon after dark there was a great burst of rifle fire from the Turkish trenches nearly all along our lines, and it was apparent that the enemy intended an attack _ in some force. Abous midnight—while the reliefs to tlio sap-heads where the miners are at work wcro being changed—the Turks left their trenches and. carno on with fixed bayonets on our salient position between ' certain saps. Tho first rush was 1 of a. vory determined nature, sixteen of the enemy being shot doivn and bayonetted as they reached tho sap. Owing to a mistaken order thirty actually sucDceded in getting into and over one of tho saps, but were instantly killed. Some tried to work round our left flank. Tho Australian Light Horso bore tho brunt of this attack, but tho 6th Manawatu Squadron, of tho Wellington Mounted Regiment, who are in the trenches, were also slightly involved; Repeated charges wero repulsed by, tho Australian Light Horso with bombs and rifle fire. Flares ■ also .were used .with some success, and a destroyer by lighting up the ground in front of our ] trendies did useful work. Tho enemy artillery must have fired about 300 rounds over o'nr position, but their shells did littlo damage. Some of tho Turks got over from another, position' into the head of what is as Monash Gully, and two troops were sent to drive tlioin.J out. Tweuty-fivo. of their. dead have sinco been seen lying in front of Pope's I Hill. 'By 1.45 a.m. tho attack against No. i section practically ended, but tho ground in front was not cleared! of the. enemy till 4> a.m.' At 3 a.m. some of the enemy- again opened firo and . thirty Turks charged up. to the parapet in front of Quinn's Ridge. They were stopped by our rifle fire, and over twenty of their dead were counted next morning in front of. our. trenches. ! .