THE BATTLE FRONT.

Pukekohe & Waiuku Times, Volume 4, Issue 110, 19 November 1915, Page 3 (Supplement)

THE BATTLE FRONT.

kHOW IT LOOKS. LDERING PANORAMA. iie Special Correspondent of "Melbourne Argus").

to the end of April there w«» bly no more uneventful spot on than the slice of territory on the >oli Peninsula which the Australind New Zealanders know as AnA few birds fluttered in the tre*», r lizard hero and there basked in zziing sun, and perhaps now and in ass, tired of a life of drudgery, t sanctuary in the forbidding i! or peace, perfect peace, there othing to equal this Aegean edge i Turkish Empire; it was the ideal of stillness. Now it is one of lee trie centres of a world ot war. r yard ot the Anzac valleys and » has come to teem with lnciThe moving picture flickers by unflagging interest, and soiuutie* is always ou the screen. > is so much to see, and so tittle e tocussed, that the eyes oecoint tiered, ft is nke try>ug to read a dozen books at once, or enuring to take in a three-ring cu- ; a s ngle gumc*. ay to the north lighting still goes Shrapnel puffs burst ike soapes above little knots of men, who i and run and fall and crawl, or ill, as fate decrees. The fluff ball oke which marks the explosion of upnel shell is quite different trom ung else. Its vapours are so inthat even a strong wind cannot «u» them for many minutes, and rtAje splotch ot greyish-white reiip the air as if it meant to spm into the real clouds above. But ily the twirling stops and a great Bite-smoker's ring opens out in ver-widening circle until it disl from view. As fast as one whiff toko vanishes another takes its , so that it is practically ltnpoesi--0 tell at a distance which is the id which is the new. Were it not he men who fall beneath each and the splutter of du6t around , these downy spheres against the would be oeautiful, but their ;y is of the fiend. When the high iive shell deals death it punches, were, straight from the shoulder, Hit any kind of spectacular effect. r the damage has been done there B a dirty mixture of soil and e and steam to besmirch the athere for a while, but there is Sag to admire. Tho high-cxplosivo i negro champion; shrapnel is tho bh-skinned white hope of war. 1 RHYTHM OF GUNFIRE.

ten the warships trim the hills in inemy positions the rhythm of Ire is best appreciated. A tongue me licks from the grey broadside, lirt of white smoke like steam the first effort of a locomotive foU and the fighting ship takes a step ays under the recoil. In rhythmic Mion similar flashes, similar puffs, he same staggering motion snatch •Mention from one man-of-war to almost as fast as the eye can but it is difficult for the observer is not of the navy to understand retera that controls the sequence, lowly moving crnisers appear to bain no recognised formation—to ita detached—yet the target away l/oontradicts any suggestion of \$K Following the first speck of a volcano erupts to the height of idred feet on some distant ridge, ler, perhaps a quarter of a mile tv on, springs into the air as th» i cruiser speaks; a third, a fourth thers send rocks and dust towards ky, all at equal intervals. Then ill is dropped between the first fountains of earth, another bei the second and third, and so on the line. Perhaps the spaces en are further bisected, and these ally narrowing intervals are often K am with a preoision that is m»le. It is hard to believe that tho ired ships away at sea can have iny share in this wonderful delation of control and coordinaTho mixture of lyddite fume, lust and debris that follows each ui«s in the air, like an immovably in, long enough for the sowing of rhole lmo to be completed, anu the spacing becomes close the isocolumns mingle and conjoin »o a dense screen that 6huts out the i of the view behind. > morning tho navy bombarded Jhocolate Hills with this equally *1 fire, until it seemed as if they Iw levelled down. They were oci by Turks then, and the special if the cruiser's guns was to make iable a certain line of trenches i seaplane reconnaissance had disl. A few hours afterwards I had iportunity of inspecting the edge > ridge. It waa almost useless to uid traco the ♦.•nemy position. left to right was one long succesof huge craters, soparatcd by a ards, only at these unspoiled inks the outlines of tho 6ap bo made Everywhere else it had cither i in altogether or sent rocketing he air. From a safe position the irity of the naval shooting had astonishing onough, but at close em the wonder was intensified. Tlblo m the ground was almost istant from tho next, and the hue liich the projectiles had dropped cry nearly straight. Anyway, it ear enough to have dislodged the ! and to have made tho Chocolate our own. When tho work of re■ucting the sap for defensive purwas undertaken, great unmoors id Turks were found buried nettle debris, and scattered rcmof men were picked up in nil dins. Some of the enemy had been |,v concuss-on, and were found ixed, leaning against tho |>arais if they wore about to shoot, bed legs and arms were dug out j turn Wed-in soil, but the bodies ich they belonged were nover re 4.

>TRWAY OF THE FAIXEN. tie way out I pa*?*! through a row of soldiers reclining on the gid e . When I came back tliey Ko still. 1 wondered that men wjuietly. Their position* wen, ~,„/ I walked across to where a lit lav. A smile was on hisface, Another man held h's.r He i.''M to his bosom; a third had vis tfried in the dust, and the helmet onrth was tilted over h.a eyes aprotect them from the sun. All end It was the pathway oi tne Ka-h seemed so peaceful and t dav*. They were Home of the vho'had been caressed by thobP hrapnol wbiffs that had engaged ion onlv a short while before. Z fellow held a letter he had Jadinß. The sight of the dead on ,W of battle isnotdistress-ngyt H H„B Kven the emotional who n S" looked upon death heme J ,!o rath,,' a thrill of prde that |l,trv could produce such hern* R,;i th-M. conic* the desire for

Kudvd «' l 'U ate ulwu.u theerfu!

" If you want to find Australians, look for the square-jowed fellows with cigarettes in their mouths," said a doctor at a Held dressing station, and lucre is no doubt that the cigarette is the distinctive weakness —or strength—or tlio soldier from the Commonwealth. It takes nerve to light up when a man has been badly hurt. 1 saw numbers oi our disabled troops waiting to receive attention on the field that morning. Some had been patiently lying there for hours, but the first greeting always seemed to be. "Have you got a cigarette, mate?" Men were coming m manage to struggle along at all scorning assistance. lime was when the solder who helped a wounded comrade back from the linng-line received the Victoria Cross; unuer the new order of things a court-martial is moro likely to follow. But mp&t of these brave fellows will not admit that they are badly hurt if they can help it. One Tasmanian came in using his ride as a crutch. His left leg was broken in two places, and he had a wound in the oack, but he resolutely refused to be earned. Another, shot through the stomach, hobbled to a dressing-station, with Ins arm round the neck of a comrade, whose wrist was fractured. He was putting at a cigarette, though his face was twisted in pam. He died before the ash had burnt down very tar. At the dressing posts there is no clamouring for attention. Every man waits h'S turn, or voluntarily makes way tor some other whom he thinks requires it more. The altruism of the wounded is one of the most touching and heroic sights of battle.

CHAOS OF WAR. About the dead and the wounded -s to be seen everywhere the chaos of war. Clips ot cartridges form a kind of trail behind each advancing column, haversacks and water-bottles strew the road, webb entanglements form a tangled mass. Even rifles, bayonets, and entrenching tools lie just where they have been thrown down in some pressing emergency. Sometimes boots have been tossed aside. Caps, helmets, and coats enough to stock a clothing store mark tho way the troops have gone. At one time all this material would have helped to swell the waste of war, but practically nothing goes astray now. Every useful article is gathered by special parties, and all that has not been too seriously damaged is made available for re-issue clothes, of course, excepted. Pockets are searched before attire is burnt. Pay-books are returned to the authorities, but articlos of sentimental value go to next of kin. This discovery of a hat beside a clump of saplings led to rather an interesting sequel. The ground had been d sturbed, as if by a struggle, and the undergrowth had been beaten down. Some of our skilled buehmen recognised the signs and followed the tracks for over 50ft, through the broken scrub. At one point they came upon a pool of blood, from which a crimson trad directed the way sfill further. Here they stumbled upon a Turk, pinned to tire ground with a bayonet through his chest, and the rifle standing upright. Close by were two other dead men—one an Australian, but tie had his hands clenched upon his enemy's throat. It required considerable force to loosen the stiff fingers, but when the pa:r were separated, the traces of a bullet were on the pooi fellow's chest. After meeting a small body of Turks he had evidently g \eu chase to these two, had been shot, am. paid off the score before he died. The prints of battle everywhere tell many dramatic stories 6iioh as this, but, in the shadow of bigger things, there is little opportunity to piece them together. Trusses of hay, cases of preserved meat, water-cans, boxes of ammunition, and Red Cross stores edge the way by which the supply trains pass. Here and there a laden wagon x with two dead mules between tho shafts, tells a, tale of destruction; ond, at more frequent intervals, a single animal lies by the wayside, where harness lias been hastily unlocked. In the most exposed position a party of searchers came upon an Indian who had been *hot through the head. He had been dead for hours, but still retained tho reins, and Ins patient team stood there, slaves to duty till the last. Other miles go back to their fodder lines unattended. One dragged its dead mate for over a mile to the depot. The wounded drivers are usually picked up by friends and earned in. Mules seem to be everywhere. They play crosstag in tho open, and crowd the saps. Great lines of them look like strings of black beads in the distance. When one is knocked over nobody takes any notice. His load is left till a relief comes along later to collect it. A wounded animal acts like an Australian—that is to say, it seldom murmurs. There is no time to effect repairs under lire, so a friendly bullet usually completes the task the enemy has begun.

FIGHTING TROOPS. No, 1 have not mentioned any fighting troops yet, and designedly. This is a sketch of what may be teen in n modern buttle. The only men wno move about in full view are the noncombatants, the wounded, the transport columns, and the fools. A flag waving frantically hero and there, to show that some new trench has been occupied, is the only common indication to the eye that infantry are at work. At rare intervals there is a rush for 20 or 30 yards across 6ome open space, but the cost is too great to make those cntcrprses popular with commanders. They prefer to make their advances through subterranean ways or under cover of darkness. With the white armbands it is difficult to say with certainty at a distance which are the stretcher-bearers and which the fighting troop*. Where men 6top tor a minute or two behind some protected corner, and then sprint over the next 20 yards it may be taken for granted that a sniper has the range to a nicety. The flick of the dust shows his elevation to bo correct, even if his speed allowance is fi little at fault. Some time* ono of the sprinters falls. Ho is brought in when, night comes. Above the sea full of warships and transports and pinnaces ond trawlers lazily swings a captivo observation balloon signalling to the gunners, where their shots have gone. Aeroplanes, pursued by .shrapnel, circle and cut eights over tho enemy lines, uow and then dropping a bomb, that roars above the concentrated din. At sundown tho airmen volplane dose to the Turkish positions, and climb again in spirals bforo they turn their machines away, and fly off like birds to the roost. Heal clouds come to vie with the imitation ones of the shrapnel and the lyddite sh«lls. Darkness follow?. The fighting t-hips become blurs, th>n mingle with the night. In an lsolnttG anchorage the hospital shops di»oa,' their rows of green and crinmu glowlamps, and the red cross shows up clear against the snow-white hull. The Title launches that carry out the moulded to thet,o havens of rest and comfort have only a tiny speck of light a! the bows.

After a while the searchlights play up and down the ridges, throwing them into boh I relief, flic tapering beam* aio restless an u fox's eve. Sometimes

the sweeping stops, and the penetrating rays are tocussed on a danger-spot, while the guns give a pyrotechnic display that is awtul in its grandeur. FoL lowing the tierce hurst ot tire from the warship s side conies the graoetul curve ot the shell against the darkness, the spluttering spark ot the time tuse tracmg the paranoia like the running light ot an electric sign. The fan ot name, that indicates tne point of explosion, shows up the zone tor an instant, as it it were lightning on a summer night. Often a blaze bursts out among the scrub, and, like the fatigue parties beat it down. Once a haystack became ignited and burned a beacon in the heart of the enemy territory for three whole days. A barn and later, the village of Anafarta ("the big") tinged the sky with a crimson glow. The licking ot the flames around the Turkish homes provided a brilliant picture at night, but was nothing more than rolling smoke under the sun. At frequent intervals friend and toe fire rockets into the air that project globules of light. Each oi these hangs almo-t stationary tor over a minute, illuminating the country below as it by day. Flares hash here ana there as u precaution aganst sudden attack, and wiien they lade away me ntles toss lirefl>es trom their muzzles up and down the trenches. Another noisy dawn arrives. fhe. tangle of men and things that had rained around at sunset has been obliterated. There is hut little debri6 in the held. The wounded have all come in, except for a straggler here and there, making his way painfully alonfj. The dead lie in orderly rows, with ankles and wrists tied close, as if resting after the heat .md burden of the day. The mules have been dragged to the beach, where they lay with legs pointing stiffly skywards. Men with bloodshot eyes, ajier looking old, come in, to take their turn at sleep. The flies rise in swarms, as the vultures soar indolently up and down. Identi-ty-discs and wristlet watches begin to sparkle in the si.n. The sea is still a mass of varied shipping. Then it begins all over again.