GALLIPOLI.

Hokitika Guardian, 28 September 1923, Page 4

GALLIPOLI.

AN I.MPRKSSIOX JX 1923. I.OXIKIN', August IM. The visit of Sir dames Alien to Oullipoii lias 1:00m marked in tin* Kuglisli l’ross by only a short oablo rcoili.ii>' bis prog risiiiiiiio' (Inning that hi mo. Lint tin*. “.Manchester 4>mi rdiiin" lias given lis mi extraordinarily vivid noooiint by sonio visitoi tlioro which gives olio the impiessiott it is written by a Xow Zealander. For timt roasi lll wo subjoin olio or two ( Iniraoloristio <|Uolulions. “rile (i.iliipnli I’eniiisiila." il begins. "is dii t . ol' t!:e must tragic [dine* 1 know. It is so easy to roooiisinn t and envisage all the detail ol' those murderous landings as one sits on [he pleasant cliff edge and looks at ilie in(oinparuble Aegean scenery. Below, in the bays that run from (iuba Tope to tiio broad sweep id' Suvla, lie old tenders, broken ships, and old engines of ui.i. tlcir fangs barely thrusting through lb,, white sand. "Aloii.g the i idge that ittus above lJriglni.il beach past Aii Bin lull to the (inal slope above the Suvla* flats is 1 lie bile of till* Alizuc cemeteries. fi; * lie i*r*ve itself is another cemetery of i lio-e who fell at tin* landing, with 1 lie sea almost lapping at its ina-siv*.' wi'li*. Kveryv,!iei*i 1 the e.'eniteries lie "li tin. held el action. | .one I’ire lia vi m* and Shrapnel Valley am i erov, ueil by the graves of ilm-e who I .stunned their irumbling sid-**-. IXery I *■:arp and hill-top -Uial was reached j holds these grave-, bill ( banak Bait* | the sumiiii! ol' ilia Sari Bair Ridge, j which was held by British nitd'A'Vw j Zealand troops lor two days, alone ! is gaunt and empty: it- bleak summit holds lie dead. '•‘On the 1 e.o li ;■! ( i] e H.die.. 1 the small eemelviy .1 tbes. win. ieR in the. binding then*. So many who 101 l won* caught in the wire entanglements that were in the sea mid their bodies never recovered; the whole ol tin* narrow bay ran red with blood of tlm.-e who never reached the shore. All that was possible has born done to 1 Denver their banes, and the little cemetery of white -tone is a fitting memo; isl. But the nanteic.-.s graves are numerous. At Cape Belles two w-ite obelisks, erected by the Fieiieli, stand cut prominrmly on the shore at. eucii end of the loach. One is to the honour of (•eneral (loutand. who lost an arm at tin's point, the oilier I i the honour of tlm fusilicis* marines who lauded at the southern ~n d of tin* beach.

“The formaiion of tlu- cemeteries has been a long and difficult task. I*or three years our dead lay where they, had fallen in the lavines iml gullie- of these tiuhoNpitable shores. I here was none to tend or give them temporary burial. Only a few small local trench cemeteries existed. Since IBIS the (. leaves Commission lias methodically and slowly searched the length and breadth of U:e peninsula. Blit the results of that three years from 1015 to 11)18 is seen in the large proportion of nameless graves in-etibed nt best ‘An I'liknown Soldier’ or ‘An 'Unknown Sailor.’ “01 all the three battle areas on (Lillipoli, Sttvla Bay is at mice the most beautiful as to scenery, hut the most lonely and remote. From Chamtk Bair and Sari Bair the lovely

curve nt Ocean Beach sweeps round to Lain Baba. From there the white beach of Snvla Bay itself opens with the salt lake behind. It resembles the Bay cf Alarnthori seen from Mount l’entelieiis: the colouring is the same, the background of sea and a'distant coast is the same—only the history is different. Away to the south-east the two villages of Anafata lie, one at the slopes of Sari Hair, the other on the opposite hills. Between them runs the coveted road that lends through nn easy valley to the Dardanelles. Nad we broken through we should at one blow have cut off the main Turkish base at Maidos and the Gorman headquarters at A’alova and isolated till the forts. On the Dardanelles opposite C'lmtiak is our present base.”