THE FAILURE AT SUVLA BAY

Dominion, Volume 9, Issue 2848, 12 August 1916, Page 13

THE FAILURE AT SUVLA BAY

In the February number of . "Blackwood's Magazine" there . appeared an article on the miscarriage of the mili- ' tary operations at the Suvla Bay'land- . ing. The writer commented- on tho . breakdown of the water' supply for the'/,, newly landed troops—a. mishap which | I evidently had much to do with the ; failure of those ■ troops to accomplish , . ; the task set them. He wrote as fol- . lows: —"Someone, had.blundered. The; naval transport staff , undertook the '■ safe arrival at Suvla Bay by 7 o'clock : on the morning of the' tending of all the transirorts, containing water, stores, mules, and. carts. When it was found that those £>hips had not ,turned up, the telegraph discovered most of them still lying at Mudros, sixty miles or more away." Admiral do Robeck, according to a note in the' Juno issue of tho magazine, has asked the editor to make known in the interests of the naval officers concerned that , the fiavy was not responsible for the breakdown of the water supply, and that the transport programme was carried out "punctually and precisely." As the editor observes, the matter will doubtless form the subject of investigation, and tho blame bo put upon tho right shoulders. In tho meantime it is satisfactory to learn from the admiral commanding that tho untoward incident was not due to any inefficiency on tho part of the navy. Confidenco in the navy has boen the one great consolation of the British people through all tho vicissitudes of the war.