The Fighting at Gallipoli.

Horowhenua Chronicle, 17 September 1915, Page 2

The Fighting at Gallipoli.

HOLDING THE GIIOUND AT AKZAO (From Malcolm Ross, War Correspondent with the Sew Zealand iorces.) Auzac {Jove, lUth July. Since i lust wrote there lias been little or no change in the position. AVo remain in statu quo. and, though each day lias its incidents and incidences, there is necessarily a great deal taat ■the war correspondent cannot at this junction be permitted l to discuss. Wβ are all expectantly looking forward to approaching events. Meantime theAustralian and New Zealand Army Corps is successfully hanging on to its little bit of the peninsula, 'while the Allies are hammering away at AdiflHfch. wh'ch largely dominates the and eannob be taken without considerable losses- on our side as well as on the .side of the Turks. THE KEW ZEALAND POSITION, New' ZLiilanders will naturally bo anxious to know what their forces havo been doing of late, and i may perhaps bo allowed in' a succeeding article- to give a general narrative of itlie week's doings. They will already have gathered from the lists of killed and wounded cabled oUicially and published in thenewspapers long before this reaches tho Dominion that, though as yet no lorward move! is being made, there i« nevertheless a fair amount of activity being displayed day by day and night by night in the liring line. Not only is this the ease, but the whole position is daily under .shell lire. Meantime our defences, though they are repeated' ly shelled by the enemy, are being materially improved and strengthened. The rugged nature of 'the country on our front, however, gives the enemy great facilities in regard to the position of his artillery, and mak'es it extremely difficult for us to locale his guns or to knock them out once they have boon located. With his wider terrain also, he has the advantage of moving his batteries either Ly night or by day from one position to another. So far the Turk has "played tho game .and the fighting ha.s been clean. An exception may perhaps be made in regard to the first few days of the campaign, but it is certain that the tales one heard about atrocities weve greatly exaggerated. The question wo are now concerned about is whether, under German precept and example, the Turk will condescend to use. or be forced to use. tho.se diabolical aids to warfare that for the first time in the -world's history and in defiance of all convention were used in Europe by the modern Hun. One feels almost certain that., if left to his own devices, the Turk would not descend to the use of such methods. (Note.—-The remainder of this arTHo h.v; been bodily cut out by the censor). CONTINUED TRENCH WARFARE STILL HOLDING THEIR GROUND 2ith July

til lieu my lust letter was despatched, there lias been no material change in ih : situatiuii and Turks and Australians are still lacing each other in the trenches they have occupied lor some time past. Ihe operations at Quinn's and 'Courtney's continue to 'be the most 111tcrc.stiiijj;. Indeed, they are fascinating, for, as has already been slated, they are really unique in warfare. As you walk through trench after trench and sap alter .sap at Qiiin'jj or creep doubled u pthrough dark mining galleries, your interest i.s quickened, anil though you never quite know •when a bomb will come hurling over the parapet or when a mine may be exploded above or below or ait the hide, you be-

coino so interested that fear vanishes.. The genial colonel who is in charge and shows you round was a well known Taraijaki barrister, and Ids motto is that the art of war lies in the cultivation ol the domestic virtues. Therefore no is transforming Quinn's into a model workshop iind dwelling place wherein you can even drink a cup of tea in peace! Seriously speaking he haa worked wonders at Quinn's, and tho Quimi's of to-day is safer and moro habitable than was the post of earlier days. It is only when the gallant colonel gets one of his men to throw a bomb across the very few yards of intervening fvpace between you and the Turkish firing line, and there is a loud explosion, the while you wait expectantly for a like favour from the Turks, that yon realize that you aro "up against it." It is a still stranger sensation at the end of a narrow dark tunnel to listen to some solitary Turk ■working industriously .with his pick only a few' feet away from •where you are crouching. Ak you hear him taptapping like a woodpecker in a hollow tree you begin to wonder what he is thinking about, and what will be the end of all his hard, uncomfortable labour. Generally speaking, it is the miner, and not who wins out in the end in these 'attacking operations. This particular fellow has had his tunnel blown in upon him three times, yet here he is again picking away in the hope of undermining our position. DEAD TUIIKS. Another important post that it> iutoreating is held by the New Zealandem and a (section of fclfe Australian Light Horse. Here you End yourself in a perfect labyrinth of deep trenenes with, at intervals, sandbagged parapets. The position is in charge of a iwell-known JJrigadier-Geiieral from the HawkeVs Bay district. Deeply carved shelters are cut into the earth from the trendies, ami in _these tho men can rest and sleep in safety, if not comfort. The "fshelters" are all numbered. Along the terach.es are

also little niches, such as you might eee in a church wall for saored images. These, with their lolaoliened clay, aro the little recesses, where, uiiiler tiny fires, the men do their • cooking in thcTr "dixies." \ou come "upon "'Main street," "Broadway," and "White-lane" and one sigu points to "Happy Valley." •which is, no doubt, a haven of rest for weary troops. All this is on Russell's Top—a prolongation of Walker's Ridge. Telephone wires and barbed wires and wire-netting en<tor juto the scheme of defence. Tho trenches are clean, but the smell of tho dead killed in the last Turkish attack .hangs about them. Wo havo come w a place where we are wiitliin a few yards of the enemy's rifles, and you dare iot show an inch or two 01 your head abovo the parapet for fear ol being sniped. Our friend the enemy has to he equally careful. Wo take a periscope, and putting tho t'l "glass above the eruch carefully examine the ".Turkish position. Rotween our ifcsneh and theirs are :i number of empty tins that the Turks have thrown away, and in amongst these and quite near us, are some Strange little heaps that look like the discarded clothes of a ■number of tramps. .Looking at them more intently you not that some of the ragged bundle's have just a suggestion of human shape. They cover the bodies of dead Turks, the attenuation of which in this everylasting hot sunnier 6un proceeds somewhat rapidly, if unpleasantly. They are the remams of Turks shot d<vwn in the last attack, and neither side dare go out" and hring the bodies in or bury them. In the end they will become skeletons, and eventually one side or the other, after an advance, will gather tho little heaps together and consign them to a common shallow grave. A WOUNDED TURK. It was at this spot, some few days ago, that one of our staff—a member of the House of Commons—did α-athor a daring thing. A wounded Turk had lain for some time in trout of our trench, and our men dared not go out to make him prisoner nor his friends to rescue him. The M.i'., who speaks Turkish, essayed tlie task; and brought tho man into our lines. A BUGLER jJDV. j The other day some ol our men came upou a small skeleton beyond one ol oiu - trenches. The identification disc showed that the khaKi uniform contained the remaius of a bugler of 'he Canterbury Regiment. Ho had been posted as missing. T-ne remains were gathered together, and New Zealand soldiers gave him a decent burial on. the hills of Gallipoli, far away from his home and his native land. It was strange that this boy had not been discovered before, especially during tho armistice. Poor lad, lie must have fallen nobly in the front lino during those critical days when our men gamed a footing and hold their ground. From another position we gain a glorious view across a bit of level iand and a beautiful curving bay to Sulva Point. The sea is a deep blue, lm■brus and Samothrace lie not far across the water in tho haze of a summer noon. Here, for the first time, our Maori friends have come into the firing line. They look fit and well and their discipline is good. AT any moment now they may be called upon to defend their lines or to make an advance against the enemy. The colonel in command is confident that they wil! fulfil tho traditions of their race.