IN THE FIRING LINE ON GALLIPOLI

Dominion, Volume 8, Issue 2574, 23 September 1915, Page 6

IN THE FIRING LINE ON GALLIPOLI

ADVANCED TRENCH IMPRESSIONS THE UNBURIED DEAD (From Malcolm Ross, Official War Correspondent with tho Forces.) Anzao Cove, July 24. "Since my last letter was dispatched there has been no material change in the situation, aud Turks and Australasians are still facing each other in tho trenches they have occupied for somo time past. Tho operations at Quinn's and Courtney's continue to be the most interesting'. Indeed, they are fascinating, for, as lias already been stated, they aro really unique in warfare. As you. walk through trench after trench and sap after sap at Quinn's, or creep doubled up along the dark mining galleries, your interest is quickened, and though you never quite know when a bomb will come hurtling over the parapet or when a mine may bo exploded above or below or at the side, you become so interested that fear vanishes. Tho genial Colonel who is in charge and who shows yoji round was a well-known i'aranaki barrister, and'his motto is that tlio art of war lies in the cultivation of the domestic virtues. Therefore ho is transforming Quinn's into a model workshop and dwelling-place wherein you can even drink a cup of tea in peace!

"Up Against It." "Seriously' speaking he has worked wonders at Quinn's, and the Quinn's of to-day is safer and more habitable than was the post of earlier days. It is only when the gallant Colonel gets one of liis men to throw a bomb across the very few yards of intervening space between you and the Turkish liriug line, and there'is a loud explosion, the while you wait expectantly for a like favour from tho Turks, that you realise you aro 'up against it.' It is, a still stranger sensation at the end of a narrow dark tuiinel to listen to some solitary Turk working industriously with his pick only a few feet away from where you are crouching. As you," hear him tap-tapping like a woodpecker in a hollow tree you begin to wonder what he is thinking about, and what will.be the end of all his hard, uncomfortable labour. Generally speak- 1 ing, it is the miner and not .the counterminer who wins out in the end in these attacking: operations. This particular fellow has had his'tunnel blown in upon him three times,, yet here he., is again picking away in the hope of undermining our position.-

"Happy Valley." "Another important post that is-inter-esting is held by the New Zealanders and a section of the Australian Light Horse. Here you find yourself in a, perfect labyrinth of deep, tranches, with, at intervals,;. "sand-bagged parapets. The position is in charge of a BrigadierGeneral well known in the Hawke's Bay district. Deeply-carved shelters are cut into the earth , from the trenches, and in these' the men can rest and sleep in safety, if not in comfort. Along tho trenches also are little niches, such as you might see in a church wall for sacred images. These, with their blackened clay, are the little recesses where under tiny fires the men do their cooking in their !dixies.' You come upon 'Main Street'' and 'Broadway' and 'White' Lane,' and one eign points to 'Happy Valley,' which is, no doubt, a haven of rest for weary troops. All this is on Russell's' Top—a prolongation of Walker's Ridge. Telephone wires and barbed wire-netting enter, into the scheme of "defence. The trenches are clean, but the smell of the dead killed in tho last Turkish attack still hangs about tliem. Wo have cpmo. to 'a place .where.-; we are within a few yards.of the enemy's rifles, and you dare no 6? show an inch or two'of yqur head above the parapet for fear of being 'sniped.'"- Our , friend the enemy has to be equally careful.