PROUD OF NO. 2 BATTERY

Dominion, Volume 9, Issue 2603, 27 October 1915, Page 3

PROUD OF NO. 2 BATTERY

LETTER- FROM LATE GUNNER GRIFFITHS. In the course of a letter dated July 26 to Mr. Hector M'Leod, Gunner A. H. Griffiths, Wellington, whose death at tho. front is reported, in this morning's casualty list, writes.— "Just a line to let you know I am ill tho best of healt'h, and liopo this finds you the same. We have seen a great deal since leaving New Zealand, and always expecting fresh developments. ' Our run from Egypt to Lemnos Island was full of excitement as a wireless message had come through while on our journey that the Manitou, a transport, which was a few hours ahead of us, was torpedoed. We stayed at Lemnos until such timo as the authorities deemed right for our landing. "About three or four hours' run brought us to our landing place. While passing. entrance to the Straits the troops wjie lauding under cover of warships, ana a terrific bombardment was kept up. Tho warships seemed., to bo trying to sliriolc above th& forts, and you would often imagine they were afire.

"A very short run then brought us to Kaba Tepe, or Anzac Cove, just above the K. Tope Peninsula. Little did we know what part ( this _ little stretch of country was to play in tho future operations of the Now Zealanders.

"The warships had commenced to demolish the forts, and everyone was mad to get ashore to take part in the show. It was a glorious sight to see the way our fellows tackled fch-j landing, every man filing off the boats into the punts as cool as though he were going • on parade. Yet from the ship you would occasionally see men being shot down. The rifle and artillery fire were deafening, while the cliffs in front of us appeared as though hundreds of volcanoes had belched forth, the fire from the ships throwing earth up everywhere. We saw a boat load of chaps trying to land, and every man seemed to be shot before reaching the shore An ambulance party tried to rescue the wounded, but were shot down immediately. It was almost impossible to land artillery at this stage, so we had to be content to wait until the joyful news' came through 'Parade' for disembarkation.' Once tho guns and ammunition wero lowered into our'punt we quickly followed. It was dark, and as. all available boats were occupied with landing parties, and wounded coming back' to ships, we did not get ashore till daylight. When day broke a heavy rifle and artillery fire was directed on .us, but our trawler (or tow) luckily kept us fairly covered. We were very cold as we had been lying on the bottom of the harge all. night. However, the sailors on the tug made us coffee before she left us. and we had to man huge sweeps and pull ourselves ashore. The fire was still 1 heavy, but little we cared, our main ambition being to get our guns ashore. The beach was fairly heavy shingle, but' it seemed no trouble to run the guns ashore— every one was so keen to do his bit; and proud we were that No. 2 Battery was the first New Zealand hattery to land.

"We w r ere soon in action, and during the next'' few days some pietty heavy work was done. Very few mules could be landed, and all ammunition had to be carried up the rcliifs by hand under heavy fire. Some good shooting was done, to, which the Turkish batteries did not fail to respond heavily, but the empaulments we had built under cover of darkness served us in good stead, and our casualties were very lightthree killed and; twelve, wounded.-, -We have now settled down to "a sort "of trench warfare. Occasionally the Turks attack and make things lively for a bit, biJi it is dreary business otherwise. Wo get shelled every day at irregular intervals. Very little damage was done on our position, but the beach below gets a fairly hot spin at times. Yesterday morning 25 men were hit by one shrapnel hurst. Our rations are of fair quality, much better than we expectcd to get on the field, and altogether things are very, satisfactory. ' Wc were all very pleased at the manner in which the news of our first fight in the Dardanelles was received. "We are continually getting 24 hours' notice to quit from the Turks, with a threat that we will either do this or be swept into the sea. Well, the only men I see who have any chance of being swept into tho sea are the men who go down to got a bathe. "AVe have to be able' to continue the good work, and make a cloan finish. Everyone is very keen, and the next advance is eagerly looked for."