LEAVING THE APEX

Marlborough Express, Volume L, Issue 82, 6 April 1916, Page 3

LEAVING THE APEX

HOW THE NEW ZEALANDERS

GOT AWAY

No. 3.—THE LAST PHASE.

(From Malcolm Ross, Official War Correspondent with N.Z. Forces). The weather became fine again, and men and guns and mules were got away. We knew now that Saturday and Sunday were to be the "last days." On the Saturday 600 men of the New Zealand Infantry Brigade went off in three parties. Thus on the last day we were holding the trenches with 800 picked men^ and fifteen machine guns. I have already written of the spirit of the men; it was magnificent. Practically the whole brigade volunteered to stay to the end, so that, after all, it fell to the . officers to detail the men for the post of honor. Sunday was a beautiful day. The Turks shelled the Apex for forty minutes with some new guns from the direction of Anafarta or the W Hills. In the forty minutes they dropped about forty-five shells on the Apex position. They were using high explosive of an excellent quality, yet not a single man was scratched, so ex-? celjent were the trenches and the underground cover provided. The new brigadier-general in command had for the past five weeks been worrying his men to dig and dig and dig, and they had dug to some purpose. They almost had an underground village. Night and day they had dug. Their work was beyond all praise. There ~ was even an underground kitchen, and all ammunition and bombs were stored 20 feet under •grouud. In those days of strenuous digging the, men, no doubt, cursed their brigadier, but on this equally strenuous day of shelling they probably blessed him. / The underground passages were connected with each other, so that the. air force of a high explosive could escape right through, thus minimising its effect, or if a shell burst at the mouth of one tunnel and blocked it up the men could escape by another exit. The Canterbury Battalion, on Cheshire Ridge, was the first to complete its underground terraces. In this terrific bombardment on the Sunday it was the Auckland Battalion that would have suffered most had it not been well dug in underground. An Auckland journalist going back to his bivouac found, it obliterated and all his papers and effects buried beyond recall. ,It has often been said that thecolonial soldier is devoid of discipline. In regard to the mere outward signs and observances of discipline, no doubt this is to some extent correct. ' But in all that pertains to the higher attributes of discipline he was a shining light. If ho were told, to go forward and take an almost, impregnable arid impossible position ho would do so, and lie seldom came back from a position he had once taken. No more ! trying test of discipline has ever been made, /than the attack on the Nek by the Australian Light Hor.se. They knew absolutely that they were going to certain, death. But they went. It was the same at Lone Pine; the same on Chunuk Bair —on more than one, occasion. And now in this .matter of : the evacuation, another great test.in discipline was being made. There were no signs of shirking the test. On the contrary, the men displayed a pathetic eagerness to engage in it. While this very bombardment that I speak-of was at its height, the cook of die Auckland officers' mess entered the underground vault and calmly announced, "Luncheon^s now, served, gentlemen." A few"minutes later the shelling ceased as suddenly as it» started. Probably the Turkish gunners had been told that their luncheon,.also was-- ready. About the same time Hill 60 was violently shelled for two hours. '■' That evening the Brigade had 800 ( men and 15 machine guns to get away, j They were, divided into three parties | of different "strengths called A, B, and C. '■■'At 530 p.m. the A party, comprising 340 of all ranks, moved out i down/the Chailak Dere and along the main sap to the beach at Walker's Ridge to embark at 6 p.m. Between 9 p.m." and 9.30 p.m. the B party, 3-00 strong, left along the same route with Brigade Headquarters. This left the' line, extending over 1135 yards, to be. held by the ''Die-hards," numbering 160 with 7 "machine guns. This party was composed as follows •— .-.'■', Auckland ... 44 men J Wellington ... ... ,;. 67 men I Canterbury ~ 45 men Brigade Headquarters 4 men

Total ... 160 men Every man of this party was to be / t thoroughly fit and carefully selected. Machine gunners had to carry rifles. The idea pervading the operations was to get away the maximum number at +he expense of the few. There j was,' therefore, to be no question of fighting a rearguard action or of maintaining coloring positions in rear to protect troops in front as they withdrew. Thus troops in rear were withdrawal before those in front, this plan giving more freedom of movement to ihose in front. Bandages, first-aid dressings, and other things necessary were left not { only with the doctors and officers, but ( also in the tents of the abandoned hospitals. The doctors chosen to remain to the last were those with a knowledge of French, so that they could converse with the Turks. This might have been necessary, in case the complete removal of the wounded had become impossible. There is no doubt that if there had been fighting they w'Diild have helped in attending to eacn other's wounded. If the skeleton line now left in the trenches was to be attacked before the time of departure, 1.50 a.m. on the night of Sun day-Monday, the withdrawal was still to continue, the remaining men concentrating their fire on the threatened point. If attacked by an overwhelming force there would of course oe no use in offering a strong opposition, and the whole force was to be ordered to withdraw. The colonel of the Canterbury Battalion was in command of "The Dichavds," and his staff officer- was the adjutant of the battalion. He took up his position at Brigade Headquarters, so that the former brigade communications were still maintained with the headquarters of the three infantry battalions, and four signallers fully armed and specially selected for their efficiency and ability were to remain to the end. They were under a corporal who had landed on the first day and had nei'er been absent a single hour owing to sickness! During the whole of this night it was reported that the Turks were improving their trenches and erecting additional obstacles, indicating how secret our preparations and movements had been, and how much their intelligence was at fault. They were really under the impression that in- ; I stead of evacuating we were landing | two extra divisions for .in attack! " | Included in the 160 men who were to see it out, no matter what happened, were 24 picked officers. To show the extraordinary foretliono-lit

thai had been exercised, I may men- : tion that every man of the 160 had a . watch set to time that was checked ;' every quarter of an hour day and ■ night. The normality of the situation, [was maintained up to the very last, •and to prevent the T U rks from s'usi pecting that anything unusual was . happening a big mortar, was fired | every half-hour, and other mortars ! every twenty minutes as usual. The men were numbered in groups :0f1,2, 3, 4 all along the line. At ten minutes to 2 a.m. all the No. I's slipped quietly away with the remaining seven machine guns—six of which i were light Vickers guns. From be- : ginning to end there, was no question jof ': Sauvo gui peut," and every I movement was carried out with the S utmost coolness and calmness. At 2 i a.m. all the No. 3's moved off, and at j 2.15 "a.m. the whole of the remaining i numbers. The men were so distributed that they were able to fire so that the enemy should think the trenches were still being held by their normal strength. After all had gone there were twenty automatic'rifles still left behind to fire aWintervals. These were worked by means of dripping water, and candles burning till they sovered a piece of string that dropped a weight and pulled the trigger. Old disused rifles that would be of no value to tho enemy were requisitioned for this purpose. The eights and the ! | magazines had been removed. By ! 3.30. a.m. the last man bad got down to Ihe pier. The whole movement, though carried out at night, went with the regularity of a parade. Some detachments were even ahead of time. The officers knew every man of the 100. Each man as he arrived was ticked off. Not a man was missing. Thus it was that from these heights from a position mnning into a. sharp salient, and dominated by enemy positions on the rigltt^'and left and in < front, the New Zealand Infantry Brigade got soathless away down the steep "Peres" and through the long winding sup to the sea.

I Tho speech, which was delivered before the New York State llepublioaii Convention, is a terrible arraignment of the Administration- of Wood row Wilson, and the widespread j enthusiasm with, which it has been received is ominous of defeat for tho Democratic, national ticket next November. ' It has been hailed in many quarters as tho greatest American speech that has been delivered since the days of Webster and Oalhoun. Owing to the doubts held in other parts of the world as to the true sentiment of the majority of the American people regarding our

foreign policies, it may be well to give a substantial extract from this important address.

Said Mr Hoot: "The American people were entitled not merely to ieei but to speak concerning the wrong done to Belgium. It was not like interference- in the. internal affairs of Mexico or any other nation for this was an international ..war. The law protecting Belgium, which was violated, was our law and the law of every other civilised country. For generations wo had been urging on and helping in its development and establishment. Wo had spent our efforts and our money to that end. In legislative resolution, and executive declaration and diplomatic correspondence and special treaties and international ■ conferences and conventions we had played our part in conjunction with other civilised countries in making that law. Wo ha*l bound ourselves by it; we had regulated our conduct by it, and we were entitled to have other nations observe it. That law was the protection o. c our peace and security. ft was onr safeguard against the necessity of maintaining great armaments and wasting our substance in continual readiness for wac. Our interest in having it maintained as the law of nations was a. substantial, valuable, permanent interest, just as real as your interest and mine in having maintained and enforced the laws against assault and robbery and arson which protect our personal safety end property.

"Moreover, that law was written into a solemn and formal convention, signed.and -atified by Germany and Belgium and France and the United States, in which those, other countries agreed with us that tho law should bo observed. When Belgium was invaded Unit agreement was binding not only morally but strictly and technically, bocause there ■■■was then no nation a party-to jth© war which was not .also .a party to the convention. The invasion of Belgium was a breach of contract with us for the 'maintenance of a Jaw of nations whksh, wns the protection of our j>eace, am] th») interest which sustained the fxmtrrirct, justified an objection to its breach. lTn;re was no .question here ■of interfering *in the j quarrels of Europe., We had a right to be neutral, and v/o wore neutral as to the quarrel, between Germany jiofid. France, but when, as aiii incident to tho prosecution .of "hat quarrel, Germany broke the law which Are •vere entitled to have preserved and which she had agreed with us to preserve, we.were entitled to be heard in the assertion of our own national right. With the right to speak came responsibility, and with responsibility came duty—duty of Government' toward all the peaceful mon and women in America not to acquiesce in the destruction of the Jaw which protected them, for :f the 'world assenta to this great and signal violation of the law of nations, then ~\\ c have no protection save., in .subserviency or :n force. "And with, the right to speak there oaDie to this, the greatest of neutral nations, the greatest of free democracies,, another duty to the cause of liberty and justice for which America stands, duty to the ideals of America-'s nobler nature, duty to the | honor of her past and the hopes of ! her. future, for this law was a I'bulwark of peace and justice to the I world, and it was. a barrier to the | spread of war; it was a safeguard to j the independence arid liberty of all | .-ir.»aJl, weak States. It marks the ipi ogress cf civilisation. If the world I consents to its destruction the world turns backward towards savagery and America's, assent would- >>c America's abandonment;of the mission of democracy. Yet the American Government acquiesced in the treatment of Belgium and the destruction! of the Jaw of ;»iatioiis.. Without'ono word o." objection or dissent to the repudiation' of Ja,w or the breach, of our treaty, or the violation of justice'and humanity in the treatment of Belgium, our Government enjoined .upon the people of the United States an undiscriminating and all-embracing neutrality, and the President admonished the people that they must be neutral in all respects in act and word .and thought and sentiment. We were to be'^aot merely neutral as to the quarrels of Europe, but neutral as \o the treatment of Belgium, Wieutrul between justice and injustice, neutral between humanity aaid cruelty, neutral between liberty and oppression. ■,A single official .expression by Ihc Government of the United States, »< single sentence denying assent and recording disapproval of what Germany did in Belgium would havo given to the pe"opl© of America that leadership to which they were entitled in their earnest groping for the light. It would have ranged behind American leadership the conscience and morality of the neutral world. It wo old nave brought to American diplomacy the respect and strength o? loyalty to a groat cause.

"But "it was not to be. Tho American Government failed to rise to the demands of the great occasion. Gone were the old love of justice, the old passion lor liberty, the old sympathy, with the oppressed, the old ideals of America Helping the world toward' a better future, and there remained ?n the eyes of mankind only solicitude for trade and profit, and prosperity and wealth. Wo have not been following the path of ponce. Wo havo been blindly ' stumbling along the road that continued will lead to inevitable war. ' Our diplomacy has deu.lt with symptoms and ignored causes. The great decisive question upon which our peace depends is the question Avhether the rule of action applied to Belgium is to bo tolerated. If it is tolerated by the civilised world, this nation will nave to tight for its life. There will be no escape. That is the critical point .)f defence for the peace of America. When our Government failed to tell the truth about Belgium it lost the opportunity for leadership of the moral sense of the American people, i:nd it lost tho power which a. knowledge of that leadership and a sympathetic response from the moral sense of the world would have given to our diplomacy.'"