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ANZAC WITHDRAWAL

j-.'v. .v. \ ' ••• ( 9 ■' — WITH THE NEW ZEALANDERS ; A GRAPHIC ACCOUNT TURKS COMPLETELY BLUFFED ■ The following is a . continuation of ; the. dispatoh received- by the Governj ment from ,Mr. Malcolm Ross, -New i Ifedand official correspondent with the i; Forces.. It' is'dated Anzac Bay,' Decernbor 19, and deals,with the withdrawal i. of; the troops from the .peninsula-(the first portion, of -the story appeared in ' Uta Dominion of Saturday last). [ .: . .Thei bell of soma ship across the i, water.,has just struck .midnight—just f ' the same clear ,sound that wo used to ' hoar over the water at nights, and : whioh reminiscence of bells in ft country p church long remembered. ■ A bomb flashes at the. Neck. The rifle lire seems to me to inorease ever so little opposite Lone Pine, but it may ■ have been; imagination. Beachy has ifired one shell.' I cannot ! see the flash, so it probably went into tlio sea. The destroyer on the right is firing a few rounds. . ; . A bomb, is fired at the Apex. J A bomb at Chatham Post replies. ' . Two bombs at the.Neck are followed i. :-by,'a certain' amount of Turkish firing, i . exactly as on ; other nights, i 12.39 a.m.—The moon has_ been ;■ clouded for somo time, hut it is still so bright that I can read what ! am ? writing. i Last Demonstration. V ' 1 a.m.—A transport is moving in .and ?. iinother stealing out. It is getting very f ' neiir to the time when the withdrawal ; of tlio last''party from certain portions ,of. the line''will begin. - , : "1.28 a.m. —Bomb on the Apes. i *1.29 a.m.—Bomb on the Apex, i 1.30 a.m.—Bomb on the Apex. •That is evdently the last. denionstra- ■ tioii of the party at the Apex. From this moment the Apex, the highest point on the ridge in our line, which • was won by the Wellington Battalion on August 8. and held—though it cost ' Wellington 712 out of its, 763 men who /. went into that fight—from this moment -i-7 the Apex. is free to tie enemy. His <■ fire trench there is 59 yards from ours. 1.45 a.m.—Beachy has fired again. The shell burst in the supply depot near f Brighton Bench. , So he is at. his old old game; That supply dop'ot is tlio ; • . fr-vourito. target of Beachy shells at i' night.;. This is the first night they will .find no one there. 1 ■' ' : ' t An Extraordinary Ending. " ' Two bombs afr'the Apex. Our. men : : . have, gone from there a quarter'of an ■ hour. Those-' bombs have just been thrown by tbo Turks at our empty . trenches. ' : 1.55 a.m. —There has just steamed sidelitly past us the small warship which :. I know contains the commander of .our army corps. General Birdwood was : .'.ashore at Anzac amongst• our men to-. : - day- They were in' splendid heart.: It ■ ■ lias been a snlendid time for the.men '■ of-Anzac lately. ' All of small *■ luxuries to eat, because messes add stores wanted to set rid of their stocks. 157 a m.—Another bomb at the Apex. We had two tunnels' out far 1 beneath the Turkish trenches there, in case of need, and into these the Engineers have put. what explosives re- | main with them. The biggest mine wo ' ever fired before contained less than--sewt. of explosives. This mine of ; tons, if we decide to fire it, should rend tho neck to pieces. i It is an extraordinary ending to a fme piece of history. Quinn's—the ' trench that the Turks could never take, ilz-'nt whatever cost '-they tried—we have quietly left in the night. It lies, open to them now. 3.25 a.m.—The trenches onnosite the Neck;;,have at this moment been' left. • The- old Anzac line is now ioperi to tie Turks along every'part. Desultory fire ••• continues" exactly; as on other nights V .; from far right to far left. A Huge Red Cloud. 3.26 a.m.—A great finale, just now a huge red cloud rolled low across the L -Neck.' There was a low -rumble. Pre--1 sently; a. still larger cloud ourled low : across .the further, stone of these same ■ ■ ridges, the angry revolving fumes.glow- : ing orange for an instant, then fading ; • into the , night. Tliey wore tho two mines at the Neck,, where, our Lipht i Horse once charged. A rattle of riflo fire has started from the centre, and it , is spreading ouickly to the flunks,', tpwh ' iiig steadilv into a roar. The Turks evidently .think they are being, attack•'od,:.ancl have started firing all along ! tbo lino. ■ | ;3.30; a.m.—Firing is heavy right .to f; tlie extreme .southern end of the line. A messago has been received to say that the: Anzac wireless station has been closed, and -the last party on the left ! is safely in the boats. 3.45-. km .-Firing- -is still heavy, and i . includes machine guns. The Snvla wireloss station is closed also. The, Navy must, have timed tlio embarkations p'er- ! fcctly. t • -4 a.m.; —Tlie fire at- Anzac h»s slwost : ceased, except for the normal sniping - '>v Turks along"the whole line: but with I ' . the exception of Sniper's_ Nest I can ■ see no flashes from, their rifles, so they i -rinust bo in +hcir trenches. !, 4.1 a.m. —The tents..and- stores at i Kuvia-. have just begun to hurst into f flp-mes. ; Tlie Homes' are spreading swiftIt along tho line of the bench._ I can see the torch of the man who is light- • inn- them, going just ahead of the line flames.'; - Embarkation Completed. '■ , ; 4.15 a.m. —A wireless message has ; been received that the whole of tho em- '- barkation has been completed. A naval : officer next to me turns round and holds ; out his hand. "Thank God!" he says. 6, a.m.—Messages are still coming in. r iAs far as we know only one man was wounded at Anzac. Every man is be- ■ lieved to be off; but, in ease any are ■ left behind through losing their way, a T couple of iiaval steamboats and some • cutters have gone right in to tho beach near the flanks to wait till daylight. i If there had been any wounded it was intended to leave about fifty strotcher- ' bearers ashore with two medical men - and the equipment of tlie two hospitals, complete with stores, but we hear that ; all the medical units have now been : "brought off. - ; ' All this time ordinary sniping by ' Turks has gone on along the whole line. Our fires are still burning. A little lamp at. the Ncck which shows our destroyers the point beyond which to ■ ' fire is* still glowing—a light on a little j table top shining brightly. Beachy is i : still firing occasionally on tho deserted r depot. Astern of us the black shapes i of ships stand out against the red glare ; 0 f the Suvla fires reflected in tho sky. '• Surely that fire must have given our ' departure away at last. _ 7 a.m. —Day is just breaking. A ; , quarter of an hour ago'the Turkish batteries suddenly opened a furious bombardment on the ridges along which tho < old Anzac line ruus. The firing was extraordinarily hurried and wild, somo i- shells bursting low and_ others very high, i for six or ciVht at a time. I have very - seldom seen Turks indulge in such fireworks. • i 7.5 a.m.—Shelling still continues as ; ■ fast as it can be put in along the empty ' tines. Turks Make an Attack. 7.15 a.m.—Watching the ol<J Anzao 1 trenches just now through glasses I saw ; what I took to bo a lino of .small pine '■ trees growing over the crest of them. I thought tho scenery had somehow straiifiely changed, when I saw somo of

the trees move along the parapet of the trench, southwards; of Full Point.

Mr pine trees were Turks. Evidently the Turks have been making an attack. They first bombarded our emj)ty lino and then charged across against the silent parapets. They must have attacked from Johnson's GuJly, t just north of Lone Pine, or from the German officers' trench, or perhaps even from Quinn's, and worked south. They are swarming over our parapets on the sky-line, standing still for a moment, then swarming further south. 7.20 a.m. —This ship let go two salvos, straight into the Turks on the sky-line, and they have quickly disappeared into our trenches. Wo have now turned with the. rest of the" fleet to bombard the few remaining heaps of stores on the beach. The valleys are quickly filled with smoke and dust. Anzac Receding Behind. 7.37 a.m.—Our bombardment" ceases. The fleet slowly turns towards the west, and Anzac, smoking in the dust our own guns have made, is receding behind us. A huge fire is smoking at Suvla. Even now a Turkish battery is bombarding a point on the beach where cne of our batteries used to be. 7.45 a.m.—A message has been received to say that all wounded were brought off, as well as several more guns than had been intended. Only five guns were left—three Australian and two old howitzers. The picket boats which went ill to the beach did pick up one or two stragglers. One boat went straight in to Anzac beach, and steamed about, the crew calling out: "Is anyone here?" Later. —Our casualties in the retirement were two wounded at each place. December 20.—A German flag has appeared this morning, flying over Suvla.

Permanent link to this item
Hononga pūmau ki tēnei tūemi

https://paperspast.natlib.govt.nz/newspapers/DOM19160105.2.22

Bibliographic details
Ngā taipitopito pukapuka

Dominion, Volume 9, Issue 2661, 5 January 1916, Page 6

Word count
Tapeke kupu
1,543

ANZAC WITHDRAWAL Dominion, Volume 9, Issue 2661, 5 January 1916, Page 6

ANZAC WITHDRAWAL Dominion, Volume 9, Issue 2661, 5 January 1916, Page 6

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