GALLIPOLI RECALLED

Dominion, Volume 9, Issue 2730, 27 March 1916, Page 3

GALLIPOLI RECALLED

LECTURE BY CAPTAIN CHAPLAIN ; . BLAMIRES. By .Telegraph.—(Special Correspondents Wanganul, March 25., ' Captain Chaplain Blamires, wlro has just returned from the front, delivered a very interesting lecture last night dealing with the fighting at Gallipoli, He said that although the colonials lost heavily, he bad good reason to believethat the-Turks lost a. great many rao.ro. The flower of the Turkish army was practically wiped out in that fighting This could be seen from the class ol . men taken prisoner or buried. Tho Turks at first, were fino strapping feh lows, well clothed and armed, ,but towards the end they became weedy and badly clothed; The lecturer stated that after a time on the peninsula men became callous to shell-fire and bullets, but the thing that upset them most was the bombs dropped from German aeroplanes. He considered the evacuation a wonderful feat. As soon as the evacuation bad been completed stormy weather set in. The authorities had prepared for 25 per cont. of casualties, and had hospital ships, surgeons, nurses, and everything in readiness to receive 10,000 casualties. ' The evacuation was carried out at a cost of only a few casualties. Apart from the bombing of the artillery, the'bursting of bombs, and the.'hiss of bullets, the most impressive feature' at Gallipoli was the great silenoe. He had never heard a command given in more than a whisper; he had never heard tho native birds whistling, and'there was no sign of native life, except a few turtles. These the "boys" used to catch and write on the shells on their, backs the name of some officer or other well-known person, or perhaps paint on tham a red cross to protect them from the enemy's fire, and then let them go. .