THE FIGHTING AT THE DARDANELLES.

Gisborne Times, Volume XLV, Issue 3987, 21 July 1915, Page 7

THE FIGHTING AT THE DARDANELLES.

REINFORCEMENTS BEING SENT

,S ÜBMARIES CHANGE THE ASPECT. *

BUSY SCENES AT ALEXANDRIA

(By Maleol'm Boss, Official War Correspondent with the New Zealand Forces.) 31st May. In this war sudden and unexpected changes are continually occurring, and it is impossible to foresee what a week or a day-may bring forth.. From people in high places a week ago one heard confidential whispers of enemy submarines in the Mediterranean. One immediately began to think of our trade pouring out of the neck of the Suez Canal, the great traffic from Alexandria, aud of our battleships supporting the Australian and New Zealand Forces in the Gulf of Saros, off the Gallipoli Peninsula. A few days later, all'the world knew that the Triumph and the Majestic had fired their last shots. The deadly submarine bad got them. They wore at the bottom of the sea. The Map estie made the sixth ship that had gone under in this Dardanelles business. There are supposed to be three submarines —one German and two Austrian. Their appearance was the signal for some little commotion amongst the great and varied fleet supporting the operations, as when on the sudden appearance of a hawk a duck gathering her brood about her suddenly scurries for shelter. Only the simile is not quite accurate, for in i this case the fledglings of the fleet, arc safer than the parent shins. These latter must scurry away into the boomed or netted safety n, certain harbors, which shall be nameless for the time I cing, while llm destroyers keep watch and ward or search the seas foi the base of the lurking submarines. Meantime. Gm problem qt supplies and munition* lor the Mediterranean Expeditionary f orce must be giving the authorities a little anxious thought. No doubt it will aU be put right in time. The British can bo trusted to see that its expedition does not starve, and that its cannon do not remain silent. Moreover, there is a zig-zag course across which ships can dash with lights out, remaining safely in harbor during the daylight—-a sort of mint to point race in the dark. ft will be a little more , exciting, to say i-lto least ol it, than , was the launching forth of the great Armada from Lemnos Jmt that vital

artery of all warfare, the Hue ot <ommunieations, must be maintained at all hazards. And maintained it win be. History will tell whether or not the Dardanelles campaign should ever have been commenced, and whether having been commenced, it was commenced. in the right wav* but this is neither the time nor the place for such a discussion. The one thing certain is that having got into it- we mast see it through to a successful' issue, whatever the cost may be. It is just as well that the overseas Dominions so intimately concerned in it should realise that, and should realise also that there is tough work ahead. ■Probably by this time they already realise it The Turks under German guidance and advice have made the event stronghold of the Dardanelles doubly strong, and the glowing press telegrams we used to get about the probable success of tlio Navy in forcing the passage have not been borne out by the facts. Tlio Navy could, not successfully have forced the pa> sage without an adequate lauding force. Even with that adequate landing force, the Dardanelles must still he a hard nut to crack. Let us hope that by the time these lines appear in print the Turcp-Cornian resistance will have been broken, and that, the guns of the Allied Forces will he thundering at the gates ot btamboul. NOTES FROM A DIARY.

From the diary of Captain I'uiieliild (N.Z.A.M-C.). who has just returned on a mission from the iioiit. I am permitted to make a- few interesting extracts. “May.l2 —Arrived at, Cape Helios. Bombardment in full swing. “May 13 —Arrived 1 at Gaba lope, button 14th cleared out in a. hurry tor probably owing to the presence of submarines. Transferred to 1 ale’ka, lying in harbor, behind a ■boom of torpedo nets, and covered by shore batteries. Here wore storeships and oil tanks in large illiniums, als-o Ell and the mother .ship- “ May 15—Still in harbor. Turkish prisoners being used to land French horses. “May 16—Left for Gaba IV pe at daylight. At 11 a.m., as we approachcd, seven shells from the Gotitben, out of sight behind the lulls oi the Peninsula, splashed' into the water on our side, but did no damage. The Queen Elizabeth bombarded two Tillages and set them on fire. “May 17—Left for , where, inside a boom, was more shipping. Got on board a trawler .bound for Gaba Tepe, where I landed under shrapnel fire at 6.30. Shells were bursting on the beach immediate. y_ ui front of the Field Ambulance dressing station. With shrapnel you get a2O seconds’ warning to duck into youi dug-out. There was rifle and artillery fire all night, as the Turks were making an attack in force. They faded badly, 2000 being killed and 3000 wounded. Our casualties that nigiu. and thei ■ next d'ay (Australian am. New Zealand) were between 300 and 400- The Australians suffered more than did the New Zealanders, os i h / were on the right flank, where Cm firing was hottest, “May 18 —The enemy shells were falling just past the bca h into the sea. Seven, eight, or nine-inch shells fell in a row in the sea. One fell within 20 feet of a barge carrying wounded. It took a bluejacket who happened to he standing up, with it. •'•'May 19 —Fairly quiet. A. laube, flying fairly low, dropped a bomb, which fell close to some barges. “Mav. 20— Again fairly quiet. Ibe enemy put two out of ten shots on to a barge loaded with tins of biscuits. “May 21—‘Fairly quiet, though the Turks kept up 'their firing. Bullets flew over our positions and landed some distance out in the water. A stray bullet killed Major Bailhe, who was landing with some troops in a barge. He had lain down and had gone to sleep in the barge. It was noticed that lie lvad slipped, down alittle bit, it was not noticed that lie

bad beere bit until the men. wove out of the barge.' Then it wa-a found that he was dead. He had got a bullet through the brain'. “May 22—Heavy rain, and.the mud simply awful. At G n.m. a shrapnel shell burst just, behind the dressing station. It put 58 holes through the waterproof sheet in front of. a. ongout. ' . . .. Subsequently, Captain hairehdtl received orders to proceed l to Cairo to procure two dental 1 mechanics. He waited on the beach till 3 a.m. to ge oil board) a returning ship, and noted signals from a ship close inshore. When daylight dawned he found it was the battleship Albion ashore. In 1898 he had seen this same ship launched in the Thames, when she drowned 35 women and children). Jt. was 'another coincidence that a few days before lie met in _ one or a few days before ho met m one ot these Saros harbors, in charge of an oil tank steamer, the man who had given him the ticket for the launching. The Albion was now surrounded by trawlers and destroyers. She had lightered some of her heavy ammunition and. was firing broadsido after broadside to make her roll 1 while the Canopus, -attached to her with a tow-line, went full speed ahead. The- Turkish field guns,_ noting the situation began to rain shells at her, and at about 8 a.m. two large spurts of flame appeared on the bridge for’ard. These fires however were soon put out, and _at 8.30,..t0 the cheers of tlie sailors, the Albion was towed off. She had prob-

ably grounded in the night when endeavoring to evade the submarines, because after the first alarm the ships kept all the time on the move. LIFE IN ANZAC COVE.

The little indention just to the north of Gaba Tope, where the British and Colonial troops landed, has been named Anzac Cove, and you may note that, the name has been composed of the initial letters of the Australian and New Zealand Army Corps. It will probably be put on the new maps, and mark another milestone on the forward march of Empire. Life at Anzac Cove is worth a brief description. It is very exciting; but it is very simple. There is a beach that is from thirty to fifty feet wide. Above that the hills rise abruptly. On this beach at the foot of the cliff, the r leld Ambulance has its home, and most of the men have dug into the side of the hill. At night-time they crawl into the burrows. There is not room enough to stand up) in them, iho .hospital, which is really a clearing station, is right on the beach, and is protected by sandbags overhead and at the sides, but the operating tent is a tent pure and simple. The men t l v« liftlO' dug-outs in the fco of the cliff, ft is like some huge rabbit warren. These are used when they come down from the trenches for LT?- iterations are bully beef and biscuits, with an occasional bit of bacon and tea and sugar. Sugar was not too plentiful. k S Headquarters, which was at first on SnH,, i’’ ‘Siio'v up a fairly deep, dry General God ley and his staff are also leading the simple but exciting life in dug-outs.

This gully goes into the Peninsula, and then bends round to the left forming a kind of elbow, which gives some safety from the Turkish fire. •Just below the camp are tethered the mules, which are invaluable. They aro worked and looked after by Indians—Punjabis. Water is scarce. Indeed, it lias all to be brought in barges to the shore. Most of it has to oc condensed, ft is pumped from tile barges into water-carts, and is worth its weight in silver. You wash your face in what you have used for shaving. A bath is out of tne question, but you may get enough water into your sponge to go once over vour body.