THE NIGHT MARCH

Dominion, Volume 9, Issue 2593, 15 October 1915, Page 6

THE NIGHT MARCH

AND THE MORNING FIGHT

THE NEW ZEALANDERS IN BATTLE

GENERAL GODLEY'S REPORT

. 1 1 e . s j <lr }' of tlie fight early in August tLmwf 1 ? CW glanders acquitted ?|S a ,« bravely is told in a letter from 1U Uc ,{ enco "lister has received in° flip n en £ i R< ! dle y> Commandite at Gallipoli ,vere eoromoncecl on the 11 ght of Friday, August 6, when the Otago Canterbury, Wellington, and Auckland Mounted Rifles (acting as iuminJi f a n • J , laons > l »ider comn , Bngadier-Geueral A. H. Russell a Now Zealander, and the 4th South Wales Borderers and sth Fusii' el ?'T U1 o e m CoUlmaml of Hrigadier-G0n-,,.1a ' Travel's, formed the covering force for the general attack on Sari mir, says General Godley. "Under com of the night this force advanced upon the nearer Turkish posts, and great gallantry and determination succeeded in driving tho enemy out of * t ™'. clles a* the point of the bayonet. ibis successful initial effort paved the way for the general attack upon 1° "jan l iurlnsh positions. Tli o right assaulting column, which consisted of tho New Zealand Infantry Brigade, a company of_ New Zealand Engineers and an Indian Mountain Battery, was commanded by Brigadier-General F. E. v « i Zealander (of the rvortb Staffordshire Regimont). The left assaulting column, which was commanded by Brigadier-General H.- V Cox, consisted of his own Brigade of Indian Intantoy, the 4th Australian Iniry I SV gade ', consisting of the 13tli, I4th, 15th, and lOtli Battalions, under command of Brigadier-General John Moliash, a field company of New Zealand Engineers and an Indian Mountain Battery.

"Both these columns, after a night march through extremely difficult country, consisting cf scrub-covered 6purs, preeipitous cliffs, and narrow, "™Ei. deep ravines, succeeded in establishing themselves in spite of the iurkish opposition at the front of the massif of Cliunuk Bair, a commanding the mountain range 886 feet high. Meanwhile, throughout the night the Ist and 3rd Australian Light Horse Brigades, under command of BrigadierGenerals Chauvel and Hughes respecLad, by fire and bomb attack, contained a largo number of Turks in of Qninn's and Popo's Posts, Walkers Ridge, portion of the Anzao position, which were held by their brigades. _ At 4.30 a.m. they dashed forward with tlio greatest elan and imt)eUl°sity, and occupied and cleared out a Turkish, trench closp. to them, but more than 'this they were unable to accomplish, and tlioy then withdrew to their own lines, ...

''The enemy wore now in strong force, and our troops mot with obstinato resistance, but, in spite of this and of heavy losses, the Now Xealanders and •Gloucestors scaled the cliffs and scrubcoverod heights, and gained a footing on the summit ridgo of Cliunuk Bair. Under terrific bombardment, tho Ghurkas, gallantly led by Colonel Allenson, succeeded in mounting tho heights of the neck between Chunuk Bair and 'Q ; (tlu> centre spur). From this vantage point tkoy looked down- upon the Dardo.neUes, and saw ' tho Turkish motor-cars and several transports cornnig and going alone; tho main, roads to the eastward; Unfortunately, how-' over, owing to the difficult nature of tho country to be traversed, General Baldwin's column had been dolayed,. and before it could arrive to confirm tho success already attained a very strong counter-attack was delivered by the enemy upon the Ghurkas, who" were also heavily shelled, and so compelled to retire. The New_ Zealanders, howover, maintained their ground, and by the end of the night we still held our footing—rather a precarious one it is true—oil tlio crest of Chunuk Eair. In this fiqhtui" the New Zealand Infantry wore heavily attacked throughout the entire day, and as tlioy had been fi<rhtine for three nights and three days with no sleep and with littlo food and water, it became imperatively necessary to relieve them on tlio Monday night. . . By Tuesday evening our line "was firmly established on the heights a few hundred feet below the summit of Chunuk Bair."