IN THE BATTLE LINE

Dominion, Volume 9, Issue 2602, 26 October 1915, Page 7

IN THE BATTLE LINE

CHARGING TURKS WITH THE BAYONE

"THE BEST FUN OUT;"

Private A. J. Hunt, son of the Rev. Archibald Hunt, of Wellington, who has been wounded for tho second time, at Gallipoli, was lying partially paralysed when he wrote the following letter in the Florinna Hospital, Malta, on August 19: — "Now for some Dardanelles news. I was a bit moro fortunate this time, and was there seventeen days before I got smacked; but my luck seems to be out. Some of our fellows have been thero right from the landing and haven't been hit yet, They were all very much surprised to see me back, and thought I was dead and buried long ago. It was awfully decent seeing the Timaru boys again, or what was loft of them. Most of them had been killed or wounded, and I didn't know half the company. They were nearly all reinforcements. Well, as soon as wc got there we went straight to the trenches to do our bit.' It was real grand fun. It was jolly hard work certainly, but we don't mind that when we know it is necessary. We were oil the go all tho time. Aftor wo.finish 48 hours in the trendies, wo come out and do fatigues for another -18 hours; then back to tho 'for another stretch, and so on. The bayonet charges are the best fun out. Tho Turks don't like them at all. It is very seldom they charge with the bayonet. . . . They' did once while I was there, but as soon as we charged, hopping out of our trenohes to meet them, they stopped dead, and didn't know what to do, with the result that we took 130 prisoners. "I had a great bit of fun with a Turk one night. I was on sentry at one end of our trench, with the Turkish trench only fifteen yards away. A Turkish sentry was on duty by himself, and I did my best to blow his head off.At first I tried to crawl up to him with tho bayonet, but I got such a reception with bullets that I had to come back. Then I tried potting him. The first shot missed, and'ho at once fired back, but lio missed, too. It was quite dark, and we couldn't see properly, and for two hours we were sniping at. cach other. He hit my rifle three times, but missed me. At last, as it began to grow lighter, I fetched a hand grenade to throw at him. I brought another fellow with mo with two moro bombs to make sure of him. After a few more shots with the rifle, we got impatient, as he ducked evory time ho fired, and wouldn't show himself. We were just preparing to send a grenade, when a shell burst not far from us. Wo looked up just in time to see parts of the Turk about twenty feet in the air. That day they, made a big attack, but we drove them back with our artillery.

"Tho day of the armistice was great. They must have buried about 3000 Turks in front of our trenches. Somo of their men came over and spoke to us, and gavo us cigarettes and tobacco, and. we gavo them somo. ' We all had to be properly shaved and dressed, and loot as clean, as possible. Generally we • wear short pants and shirt 6, and no puttees because of tho heat, but that day we had new uniforms and everything. The Turks were tho same, but some we saw in tho trenches looked just awful. Tho German officers, we noticed, would not come and speak to us 'colonial dogs/ as they call us. Woll, as soon as tho armistice was over, back wc wont to our ".trenches and started shooting at each other again. Mad sort of game this war, isn't it? —no referees or anything. Well, for the next few days it was protty mijch the same, nearly all trench fighting, with an occasional bayonet charge to oapture a trench. Then my turn came again. AVe had just been relieved from the trenohes, and were going down to Rest Gully, as we call it, for something'to eat. Wo had only eaten two biscuits in the 48 hours, so you may guess we were pretty empty, and we got careless of taking cover. We were all so done that we didn't seem to care what happened so Ion" as we could got something to eat and drink. I think New Zealand has something to be proud of with the boys she has sent to the front. If you could have seen those fellows as they sat there waiting for some food to bo brought to them after such a hungry spell, and then to be told that they wouldn't be able. to get anything for another twenty-four hours because the transport had been blocked, it would have done you good. There was never a oomplaint uttered. Someone just 6aid, "Well, that is hard luck!" and that was all that was said. If that had been in a training camp thero would have been a riot.

"Well, ivc were just going to settle down to a gamo. of bridge, but they all were so drowsy they fell asleep, and I decided to follow their example. I got a spade and dug a-liolo to mako myself comfortable in, when a shell came whizzing along and exploded right in the middle of us. How I didn't get killed is a miracle. Two of tho fellows wore killed outright, nino others were wounded, and • twenty-three were buried alive. Of course, I was knocked silly, and when I came to, I found about twenty Australians digging away as fast as they could trying to rescue tlie buried men, but I don't know how they got on. I got up to give them a hancl, but as soon as I moved my leg I fainted again, and was unconscious for two days.- Whon T regained consciousness I was on my way back to Malta. My leg was quite numb, and you could have stuck a knife into it without my fooling it. It is getting better now. I have it massaged for three hours every day, and the sister says I shall bo able to to use it in a week or two. At that rate it won't be long before- I am ablo to get back again. I wish I knew how tho'other fellows got on. I foar most of them are killed. I do not see how they could help being hit."