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EVACUATION OF ANZAC

THRILLING ACCOUNTS A GREAT MILITARY TRIUMPH TURKS TAKEN BY SURPRISE EVERYONE GRUDGED LEAVING THE PLACE

By TeleuwiDli—Prcsa Association—CouyrisM ■ (Rec. January 1, 9.25 p.m.) London, December 31. Mr. Ward Price, the war correspondent, in a communication dated off Suvla, on tlio morning of December 25, says: It is over at last. Only six guns have been left, which was done intentionally, in order to fire until the last minute, and then to be destroyed. The British Army and Navy, working hand-in-hand, achieved a triumph in a joint organisation which has become historic, and every preparation was made for fighting a- desperate rearguard action. Nevertheless, everything was deliberately carried out under the unsuspecting gaze of the Turks. Masses of men and material wero brought down to Anzac Cove and Suvla Bay in au extraordinarily short space of timo. When the tally was taken, it was found there was the loss of a relatively small quantity of bully beef, biscuits, and rice.' Not a single messroom cat was missing. Several battleships then smashed tho breakwaters built- of old hulks by shelllire at short range. Though the marching and embarking of troops was stealth]l.V done, every Turk on the Peninsula must have seen tho store-burning and pier-smashing, yet oven tlien tile puzzled lurks never realised that anything unusual was happening._ It was only when the ships were steaming awav that their Runners in au «rratie fasliion shelled the beaches, and places liko Hill 10. Lord Kitchener's Decision. The final decision to evacuate Suvla and Anzac was duo to Lord Kitchener, who visited the whole lines, climbed observation posts at every point, until the whole geographical and military pioblem was before his eyes. He found a front that twisted and turned in all sortjs of awkward angles,* making a bewildering series of unscientific salients and re-entrants almost along the whole line. Tho advantage of artillery positions was with the Turks. Suvla, a place of broad spaces, was commanded by long-range artillery; Anzae was cramped and small, and was under the ■lire of snipers. The necessity for ovacuation was theiefore apparent. The last job ashore was the firing of tho abandoned stores. 1 Tho volunteers used time-fuses, and only lit them when the news was telephoned to Anzac that all was clear, because it was expected the conflagration would immediately apprise the Turks of what was occurring, and prompt a furious, if futile, bombardment. Like a Rehearsed Programme. Things proceeded as smoothly as & perfectly rehearsed, .businesslike proprarame,' yet with the Anzacs there ,was a distinct thrill, easy to understand. Tho silence seemed, to bang by a hair. It ■ was not thought that an infantry attack was likely, as only twenty thousand Turks were in tile trenches at tho Anzac and Suvla fronts, with sixty-thousand close behind in reserve. The Turks were anxious to avoid a fight. A deserter who surrendered was disgusted with tho apathy of his countrymen, declaring it was difficult oven'to persuado tho Turks to enter tlio trenches. Our generals would have welcomed au infantry attack, for our linos were so strong that we could have done great execution with the machineguns, and the ships would have had a splendid opportunity of using heavy shrapnel, and many ingenious 'and deadly surprises prepared "for the Turks. The Australasians left many letters of the kindliest farewell, assuring "Johnnie Turk" in colloquial Australian that he was a good fellow, and a clean fighter, and hoped to meet mm again some day. The crowning testimony of the good feeling was a gramaphone left conspicuously on Walker's Ridge, set ready to play the "Turkish Patrol." The Night of the Venture. The night was brilliant with moonshine. There was little activity at Anzac. and Suvla, the Turkish 3in. guns desultorily bombarding the beach and Lalababa with vigorous action at I-lellea. A fantastic variety of equipment was lying at Suvla. Helmets, relics of summer, and woollen, helmets, in readiness ' •for winter, and hundreds of wideawake hats._ The troops came down the hillside in a steady, slouching gait, everyone feeliug lucky to be alive to leave tlio place where so many thousands of comrades lie in little barbed wire cn-' closed cemeteries, which was . the hardest of all to abandon. ' The mountains stood out black against the sky; a milk-blue mist was covering the lower ground; Salt La,ko and Smooth Water Bay were both shimmering in moonrays; everything else was dark except the point of golden light where fires were burning in the deserted camp and empty dugouts. Off Anzac a hospital ship lilazcd gijcen like a brilliant emerald liner. Our guns thumped out a final round, the Turks peppering away with rifle-fire, intermittently indulging in a splutter of mach-ine-guns, but there was no unusual energy. Standing on the beach one had a splendid view of five great fires springing up one after another at 4 o'clock ill the morning, when the store dumps leapt into flames, and soon became a mighty bonfire two | Jmndred yards long. Further along the coast Anzac's forsaken bully-beef was burning fiercely. There was a sudden spurt of flame, and a violent oxplosion on the orest of the ridge of a giant Australian mino forty-five feet under the Turkish trenches. This was the Australians' final act of hostility. It was fired by an electric contact when the last Australian was leaving the beach. It is believed the explosion killed a hundred Turks. The Greatest Thing of the Kind. It was the greatest thing of the kind that the British Army ever attempted, tho Navy co-operating magnificently. The King telegraphed his congratulations to General Birdwood, who constantly visited Anzac, directing the preparations, and remained on tho spot the whole of the last dav and night in the staff-ship. A mistake in regard to the withdrawal would have been a confession of entire failure. It was not a defeat, although the German flag next morning was.flying on the top of Lalababa. Anzac will take a proud place in the list of battle honours. Three widely-separated Empire troops fought not oul.v tho Tureo-Germans, but disease, thirst, the heat of summer, and the deadly winter blizzard. The arrival of new German guns had not yet bothered us. We consistently dominated the Turks on the whole front,"and we wero not driven off, therefore the evacuation means pulling ourselves together, and enabling a concentration on sure ground, which is vitally important. Here, at the cross-roads of tho Empire, it was tho most dangerous strategy in the Dardanelles and Balkans, involving the fate of India and Egypt. It would be practically opportunism operating in a small detachment, aud permitting the initiative to the enemy. By cutting our lobms in Oaliipali have dono ««uaUjips .tewdfi

■ deliberation, and better organised strength elsewhere. BIGGEST BLUFF IN HISTORY BEATER'S REPORT. lteuter's correspondent at the Dardanelles reports:— The withdrawal from Anzac and Suvla was the most difficult and most dangerous operation y«t undertaken in this campaign of' extraordinary hazards, infantry, dismounted cavalry, guns, horses, mules, motor lorries, Indian transport carts, entire reserves of ammunition, and nearly all stores were removed from under the guns of the most powerful Turkish army which had not realised the operation had begun until some hours after the last officers with the naval beach parties slipped into tho picket boats and steamed away from Anzac, and the biggest bluff in history was orought off. Everyone expected desperate rearguard actions, but the masses of men and stores were brought down with extraordinary quickness, and ivhen the tally was madp not a man l®'t behind. The Turks were puzzled, but they did not fire a gun until cue ships steamed away. i The Problem of the Withdrawal. The Turks counted upon, the difficulty and danger of the operation deterring us from attempting it, and with reason. The probable loss of life was he gravest care of the high command, and none believed it could bo done without Joss. The problem was to withdraw the armies occupying a front of twenty thousand yards, which hardly anywhere was beyond five hundred yards from enemy trenches, at some points only fifty. Th e ma j n Australian embarking, beach was overlooked l>J tho Turks upon Sniper's Ridge only eleven hundred yards away. If tho was certain the links would hold up the force, and a rearguard fight and a bloody action ' l L wa s' ™ m store, and wounded -tragglers would necessarily have to be abandoned, besides the guns. Tho army managed to hoodwink the Turks despite Parliamentarians at Home who , wa ?r common knowledge ation. favoured evacuThe second problem was the weather. Toi tunately the weather in the Aegean can be calculated upon with remarkable accuracy. After November storms come for three weeks to five weeks lasting until Christmas, the.i a viollnt at k ga i e us n crs V 1 reaU y I,ad w»- . , • 1110 fill e December woather obliehours gaVO US 3 marE ' n ° f .^eeli The third essential was ah adequate supply of lighters, steamboats, tugs, trawlers, and abundant support from E uns : The troops wore in good rettle, despite tlie November blizzard. Crudgod Leaving the Place. Everyone grudged leaving the place and tho lurks, but everyone was exultant at the manner in which we diddled them. The Turks fired tho usual daily quantity of shells, dropped half a dozen o.V high explosives on West Beach on bunday morning, then gave Luliababa lieaeh a dusting, and continued firin" at the usual intervals throughout tile Say and ours replied. By four o'clock in the morning everybody was off. Stragglers who lost their way in the labyrinth of trenches were fetched off from Anzac as late as eight o'clock in the morning. Doctors and orderlies who remained.in ono hospital to receive the wounded, of whom fortunately there were none, were fetched off with the men who stayed ashore to lire the piles of boxes containing the abandoned bully beef and biscuits. By daybreak ev.ery transport had departed, and only the warships remained.. and began to fire on tho beach, breaking up the piers of 6unken ships, and water-tanks, on the principle to leave only cliarwood for the enemy. The Turks Wake Up. Then the Turks woke up. Their artillery blazed away at the fires, several big shells falling on the burning stores on West Beach. When they saw our bati tleships shelling our own positions they } perhaps thought we had gone mad, kill; ing one another. The only regret of the Anzacs was that they were unable to wait to witness the chagrin of the Turks when they learned the truth. Huge Waves of Flamo. Tlio Anzac troops at 2.30 o'clock in the morning exploded a huge mine between, themselves and the Turks on Russet's Top, a, neck between two ridges along which it was not desirable tho Turks should follow. The Turks thought the Australians were attacking, and kept up a furious rifle fire for forty minutes. Soon after the tongue of flame shot up from tho beach to South Suvla. A su-eat-pile of food and stores which had been soaked with petrol were fired. Then more flames appeared on West Beach. During the last two hours of the night hug© wares of flame reddened the sky and sea for miles around, and columns of thick black smoke towered hundreds of feet in to the windless air. Surely, we thought, this would wake the Turks, j However, it did not matter, and the Turks were welcome to make the discovery now. THE WEATHER* COUNTED FOR A GREAT PART OF THE SUCCESS. By Teleßrauli—Press Association—Copyright London, December 31. _ Eye-witnesses of the Anzac evacuation state that the calmness of the weather counted for an immense part of the success of the undertaking. "When the order was received from Homo which set the evacuation machinery in motion, the moon was within two days of full. Tho only fighting in connection with the embarkation occurred between | an Australian Brigade in order to determine who should have the privilege of staying to tho last. Many paraded beforo their officers to protest against boarding the transports while tho men who arrived on the Peninsula aftor themselves were allowed to stay an hour or two longer. Two hundred who formed the ultimate rearguard at Suvla were the first to land in August at the very spot where they hold tho final barrier until the embarkation of the last of tha details was completed. Eighty-five thousand Turks wero so ignorant of the true position that they shelled Lallababa and Chocolate Hill, where there was not a soul. Thoy were still plastering the hill which, was tho home of a much-bombarded battery of 18-pounders with high explosive, when the battleships left tho bay at nine o'clock. They had not realised tho painful truth at Suvla until eleven o'clock, but tho Turks wero a littlo spryor at Anzac. T'liey climbed out of their trendies and peeped into ours soon aftor daylight, but a fow shells from the ships sent thorn back. Our casualties were an officer and two men wounded at Suvla and two men wounded at Anzac. A tremendous southerly, gala sprang up ou Mpudax,

night, flooding the trenches. The land> ! ing-stage at Anzac was washed away. | Our heritage to the Turks consisted ; of a few picks and shovels and a number of hospital tents, but these were : so conspicuous ill tho landscape that ; it was impossible to remove them with- i out exciting suspicion. The guns de- ; istroyed were three field guns and two ! worn out howitzers.. THE DIVISIONS AT ANZAC The censor released tho following' de- t letion from the report of the evacua- ] tion of Anzac, cabled on December 31: ■ The 54th British Division was remov- • i ed prior to the eventful Sunday, leav- / ing General Godley's mixed division and the new Australian Division. j

Permanent link to this item
Hononga pūmau ki tēnei tūemi

https://paperspast.natlib.govt.nz/newspapers/DOM19160104.2.32.10

Bibliographic details
Ngā taipitopito pukapuka

Dominion, Volume 9, Issue 2660, 4 January 1916, Page 7

Word count
Tapeke kupu
2,297

EVACUATION OF ANZAC Dominion, Volume 9, Issue 2660, 4 January 1916, Page 7

EVACUATION OF ANZAC Dominion, Volume 9, Issue 2660, 4 January 1916, Page 7

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