THE VALLEY OF DEATH.

Gisborne Times, Volume XLV, Issue 3987, 21 July 1915, Page 5

THE VALLEY OF DEATH.

THRILLING STORY OF THE GALLIPOLI CAMPAIGN

OUR CRM ASVAICE OP “GOLLY RAVINE”

GRAPHIC NARRATIVE BY MR ASHMEAD BARTLETT. GHASTLY SCENES IN THE CAPTURED TRENCHES.

TURKS APPARENTLY COURTINC M EPIDEMIC.

THEIR POSITIONS INVARIABLY FILTHY. (United Press Association —Copyright.) LONDON, J uiy 19. Mr Aslimead Bartlett, tlie war correspondent representing the whole of the London press at the Dardanelles, reports as •follows: — A successful advance of the left wing on J une 28th took place on both sides o'f what is universally known as Gully Itaviue. Although our troops made no efforts to advance directly up the ravine, they have fallen on the enemy's trenches on either side, and placed another mile of this valley of death in our hands. Someone described it as a devil of a place. The description is not inaccurate. The gully varies in depth, width and security as you pass up it. Leaving the seashore towards Kritliia, it twists and turns remarkably. At one point you may walk .with perfect security behind a bluff, at another you may catch a stream of bulb'ts from tlie Turkish trenches in front. The Turks know every inch of the ground. Ponuerly they fired tremendous nun' :ers. of shells into the ravine, but lately there Iras been a dist; ict decrease in tlie volume of fire, pointing to a shortage of ammunition; Nevertheless there is guite enough shrapnel burs ing, especially when an attack is in progress. The ravine lies between overhanging’, craggy fobs, two hundred feet high and covered with scrub. The summer heat is almost unbearable. The sun beats down this wav-won: load with pitiless severity, but there is plenty of good water, icy cold, which is a great boon to the crowds of perspiring, thirsty soldiers under the. cliffs. Here hundreds of weary men back from the trenches fling themselves down to sleen. indifferent to the shells bursting overhead. Occasionally a’man drops to a straj* bullet, yet none seeks cover, the prolonged experience making all indifferent as fatalists. , Ln the ravine you come across lonely graves marked with a cross and the name of those who have fallen in earlier engagements. Every yard we progress is fully as narrow or narrower. Who will ever forget the scenes witnessed in the captured 'Turkish trenches and in the ravine itself the day after our infantry occupied the position ? With the capture of high ground all the Turks in the ravine were killed or fled. The Turkish positions are invariably filthy. If the. enemy goes through the campaign without a great epidemic lie will have undue luck. All through the gully is a litter of debris, scattered bodies half protruding’ from the ground out of hastily-dug graves. There are hundreds of rifles and bayouofs. and thousands upon thousands of rounds of ammunition. W e made a very big haul indeed in this last engagement. Great fires are burning at intervals. They are avoided by all. as they give a horrid, sickly stench. These fires are burning the Turkish dead, hastily collected. It is all-important to get the dead out oi The way quickly in this hot climate. We have been working unceasingly the last twenty-four hours bringing in our wounded. Our advance has been so successful that they tell you with pride not a man was left alive lying out in front of the line. They are also bringing in our dead to bury them in the newly-formed cemeteries. The enemy’s trenches are packed with debris and an awful stcneli pervades every tiling. Flies swarm in millions. In one corner seven dead Turks with rifles across their knees were sitting - together. One has an arm around his friend s neck ate. a smile on his face as if he was cracking u joke when death overwhelmed them. All have the appearance of being' asleep and do not show any signs of injury. . Peeping carefully over ho top of fort, winch is being heavily sniped by Turks, you see how our infantry forced their way. " The barbed-wire was swept away by our artillery, tlie gunners making a neat job, for the uprights and wire were cut Ur shreds, leaving a clear way for the infantry. The field is strewn with soldiers’ impedimenta. The modern soldier goes into action decked like a Christmas tree, and in wild rushes gradually shakes off superfluous equipment, which is carefully gathered after the battle for further use. In front of the Boomerang was a fort called "Turkey Trot, even more formidable than the Boomerang, but it fell easily before the dash of our infantry. It was also full of dead. I came upon a wounded Turk overlooked by- the stretcherbearers. He was lying by himself, his chest heaving’, his hands clenched above Ills head, praying to himself. He was immediately brought in, but was too far gone to live. Our soldiers are indeed extraordinary. To hear them you i tumble for the fate of any enemy falling into their hands. But tlie moment a trench is taken and the enemy hold up their hands, they tire treated with the utmost kindness, the men sharing water and rations with them. On a small rise there would be half a dozen of our men, killed in i he final advance, who it has been impossible to get at to burv sniping being so heavy. Even at night time it is impossible to get them. Further u l ' the ta vine there are heaps of Turkish dead piled together. In a perse patch further on lie a number of the enemy mixed up with some of our men.

I- here seems to luive nee it a general melee oil the morning oi the 29th, when our men rushed the trenches and hunted the enemy out of the gorse.

tie Mmmm of the e^o.

ANARCHY REIGNS IN CONSTANTINOPLE. * PLOTS AGAINST THE GERMANS. TROOPS IN STATE OF REVOLT - ... .ROME, July 19. The “Giornale d’ltalia” states that refugees bring alarming news of the Ottoman situation. The troops at Adrianople revolted, refusing to go to Consautinople, which they, call the Turkish soldiers tomb. Enver Pasha was summoned to restore order.

A plot was discovered against Enver Pasha and the Germans, as a result of which fifty officers and soldiers were shot on Thursday without trial. Anarchy reigns at Constantinople: Private houses have been requisitioned for wounded. _ The price of bread is inflated and coal is scarce, hindering- navigation. There is a shortage of doctors and rnedioial requisites.' The persecution of Ar-, menians and foreigners continues. The- Committee of Union and Progress, seeing- the impending ruin, is sending- emissaries to Egypt, Tunis, and Libya for the purpose of fomenting crime. Constantinople ;idvices state that a British submarine sank tiie .steamer Bisgas bn the Asiatic side of.the Sea of Marmora, also two lighters and a sir-imer which were unloading in Haider Pasha harbor, A torpedo missed a steamer loading at Tophaneh quay and damaged two hundred yards of wharfiug.