LEAVING THE APEX.

Pukekohe & Waiuku Times, Volume 5, Issue 165, 14 April 1916, Page 2 (Supplement)

LEAVING THE APEX.

HOW THE NEW ZEALANDLRS GOT AWAY. No. 2-THE FIRST PHASE. (From Malcolm Boss, Official AAar Correspondent with the N.Z. I'orces.) The evacuation of the New Zealand Infantry Brigade was spread o\ cr some ten days. To begin with, the Otago Infantry Battalion, which was in reserve, together with all the sick and feeble from the other oattaf ens, was assembled under cover of darkress and shipped off from Walkers Pier, presumably to a rest camp at lrnbros. Tney found themselves next morning at Mudros!

The getting away of the guns was a very clever bit of work. Half the guns and' half tin personnel of all the New Zealand batteries disappeared in a •night. If you had' listened intently in your dug-out just lieiiind the old No. 2 Outpost you might have heard nineteen guns rumbling past in the darkness. Next day, it you werj strolling <lown to Anzae, you would have seen them all "parked" under the ridge near the ;iier. The next day all i lie other guns were "turned on to Russell's lop, and were tired at twice their usual spee'J, to make the enemy believe that w e still had all our guns in position, and that we still meant business. 1 watched the operation with the General from a convenient observation post. It was rather an amusing "stunt,' because half-bat-tery that had been turned on liad never registered on those trenches, and its shells kept dropping into the ilex bushes at the head of a little gully, where "there was neither trench nor soldier. The Turk must have thought that for <mce British gunnery imagination was playing itself a trick. Another gun shot dangerously near our own position; but many of the shells burst magnificently, right in the Turkish trenches, smashing the works, and filling the air with smcke anil debris. Shells that were before hoarded as being woith their weight in gold were now, like Dukes in Gilbert's libretto, "two a penny." So the gunners banged them inloi all they were worth. It gave one cause for thought of all that might have been. Meantime our aeroplanes had spotted the enemy making concrete emplacements for the big German and Austrian Jiowitzer batteries that hael ceme down through Servia and Bulgaria. Great teams of oxen had been used to drag them across the rough Gallipoli country. They hat.' arrived a day too late for the fair. One can imegine the chagrin of the German gunners when they found the birds had flewn, and that all the strenuous labour connected with their Herculean task wv. in vain. At the very last they did get a few shots in, but to this day tlies- guns remain innocent of the death ot a single Ar.zac soldier!

Sunday, the 12th December, was rather a quiet day ; church waf held as treual in the open air. The impending departure seeinec.' to add solemnity to the words of the lesson and to the singing of the hymns. To the casing National Anthem there was added a newfervour.

(Jod save our gracious Kiu&, Send him victorious, Kappy aud glorious, Long to reign over us, God save our King!

One listened with pent-up feelings tc. the voices of these war-worn isoidiers from the Antipodes raised in tire grand anthem, borne on the breeze across the hills and- dales of Gallipoli for the last time. During the day two held ambulances got orders to pack up and get ready "for the Rest Camp.'' The Rest Camp was becoming rather a joke. We asked ths Artillery Brigadier-General when lie was sending his next lot of guns into the rest camp. The question produced only an inscrutable smile from the Gen--eral. A sarcastic remark thai his guns ivere so tired that they need, a rest was not any more successful in pi educing an answer. But, as Harry Lauder .says, we knew; and lie knew that wo knew. It is too long a story to tell in detail, but every New Zealand gun was got off. A team or horses was left behind to gallop the last gun in on the last night when darkness had made effective shooting no longer possible. Even the horses, which we lia.i reckoned upon killing, were got off. On the Holiday, some members ol the Battery, who had been orufi-d to leave for the Best Camp, came m to .s.iy they did not want to go. They would rather remain on the Peninsula Jn the afternoon, after some shelling, I went round the deserted hospita., which Jud been the scene of memorable and stirring though sad incidents. The •empty bivouacs scared at one like socko {.leas eyes. The deserted tents, with their litter of odds and ends and then sides flapping idly in the wind, ;.eeme.! strangely forlorn. One imagined thorn peopled only >v.th the gnosis of the dead. From under that flapping canvas many a brave and 1 sorely-stricken man had set out on lut> lin.i! journey—the journey that leads liiiu down the hist sap into the Beautiful Kingdom where there are 110 trendies and where ail is peace.

T.ie Turkish artillery in our immediate zone was now wonderfuliv quiet. \Ve could see a few shells bursting over the Suvla position, anil a small 'lurkish gun was spraying the " Dere ' and the little flat just below Headquarter.-, with shrapnel thai hurt nobody. On the path in front of my uig-oa 1 a man v. as hit on the chin with a spent huhet. The wound bled profusely, but d.d not appear to be -erioiis. That evening there were comfortab'e d..g • • ntai. 1 1 us " to let". 1 slipped int.. one th I'. had an iron roof and put;.res 0:1 the walls. I ee.ts and d. tail.-; for embarkaiem we .:s- ( ■ 1 > 11111 1! in the dntk on t! hUle fiv ar th" •!> -vi!' d bospit.i: anc.'. idt : long ua.tiag, marched o:i. The Oe._os, some of the Maoris, ar.u a few Ae 'klandera sp«.ut nearly all the night in the sap a .slow column creeping .along, in h by inch, yard by \ard, like a v.: ended worm-yet failed to gain th objective. \Ve bad o::'\ t.iie liv t ir-harge and one water-h.i-g-* -the fou..:r ho'ding IM) troops an 1 t:: I.• tt 1 2' 0— with w I' .cli to 1 ar; I t -e cn.h.irkation. The men V \vr » ,;.-d like match* s in a box, 1 lie ma 1 ■ ailing Ulto the next mail'S i',<. • n" .• I .\ tie- 1 ',ll k ol iii.s 1 <•.•!», a-- .in!;:. : ... 'dm wag ;.<• was paikid. Out in t! .- lebnj. v. ■'■ - -on;.' ihiM. ■ -! 1.1 red -ha; - v,' we t- 1 k to be -bill-. I he ba! _ ■ \. a>;,i Mae, gill and disgn: 1 <J:'" threatened. and all •' •• ; d. Tin 11 tin- binned '• -- sbn>t.'. sijiblenh iadi - into t i- 0 •*.>r d.'a Seer, lly and l.\ -tc ' i' > v lied i'llen niviii uii their juiirr Be foj ■ 'lav. 11 they laid ill -app'- : ' d ' pi; ' 1 i v 1 ruin the j,a .• u| i he V at s - i!:;S re:-:: night. am! on each of th • -■ •< dintr f'Jito. the blurred sha,,- . line'-: in tin s.iin • p!a< e n-A.vt ti care (of klmki. T" tine there v. r • 1 ■ ■ 11 oil' e '' ■ <tl fl ;d't'." / I- I-'! o! i he t 1.'.-e ' I 1" 11 1 ■ 1 I tt'lliree Canterbury. Welhimi' • Air idem! 1 ohling tl <• .-.pox, Cheshire

Ridge to the left, and a bit of the ridge on the right. The strength, roughly, amounted to 1400 all told, with fifteen machine guns. About seven days before the even the commanding officers were informed approximately of. the date of the evacuation, l'hey wer e not told what were the two last night, but were told to be ready. All officers' kit and ether impedimenta had to be sent down to the beach on the off-chance of its being evacuated. Everything went well, and on the Wednesday the officers were informed that the last two days wouid be the following Saturday and Sunday. But none could be sure even of this. Jupiter Pluvius in the skies, the British Navy on the seas, and the Tur„ on the land—each and' all might yet take a hand in the game, and at any moment there might be a halt or a breakdown. "Beachy Bill" had been firing a'i night, evidently searching for the jetties at Walker's Ridge ana not finding them. He fired each time four shots at halfhour intervals throughout the night.

On the Wednesday there was half a gale that prevented anything approaching or leaving the shore. The suspense grew. Had we only been able to take advantage of those preceding calm five days! Were wo about to be tl i eatened with another storm-' Would the Turks attack now? With these and similar questions our nnnds became obsessed. Would the furies come howling at our heels, or would Oberon take us gentlv by the hand and lead us quietly and safely away? Time alone weuld tell. Meantime "the wireless" was buzzing in our ears the news of the war —telling us how they had gained a yard at Hartniannsweilerkopf, or low the enemy were dislodged from a crater b.v a coun-ter-attack in the region of Ville-sur-Tourbe or some other place. It was always the same old story! Parenthetically it also asked where ana how Bill Jones had died ! It was busy with matters of big import which of course were in code and with maters of small import which were not. It even began zzzing out something about ourselves. There was "nothing new" in Gallipoli. Great Heavens! Nothing new in Gallipoli ! That was all they knew about it, and which was just as well. Toward.", the close £6OO worth ol stores that our Artillery had paid for with their own hard cash, and for which they had been anxiously waiting for weeks, arrived. That was a bitter blow. Many others suffered in lie same way. Good whisky, formerly almost priceless, became a drug in the market. Cabbages and potatoes rotted where they lay. And how we had craved for those luxuries in the days of the pre-aramite army biscuit and the resilent bully beef. Yet none grumbled. The one simply laughed at the other's misfortune. It was all in the day's work. By this time the minutest details of the evacuation had been woikeu out with singular clarity and comprehension. All notices or marks likely to be of use to the enemy were to bo destroyed on the second day. After the first day the Divisional Commander removed to Anzae and assumed command of the Army Corps Rearguard, three thousand strong. Thirty ambulance personnel from the whole corps were to be left with the brigades to assist regimental medical officers, but no attempt was to be made to get off large numbers of wounded e nthe second day. An engineer, who, bv the way, went with us to Samoa, was to see to the erection of a eheval de frise ot barbed wire in one of the deres at the very last to block the oncoming Turk, should He come on. The troops were to embark with 150 rounds of ammunition and two

"iron" rations. On tha final rrght they were not to be hampered wuh kilts, Mankets, or even waterprojf sheets. They were to carry only gnat-coats and pack, with, tf course, their rifles ?nd ammunition. These and a hundred other details had been thoug"t out and attended to. And all the time the watchword was "Normality." lu the trenches care was taken to display the usun number of periscopes, especially on the cay of the final night. Men wore o.en sent to walk up and down the "deres. Fires were kept burning amongst the deserted bivouacs. No. 3—THE LAST PHASE. The weather became fine again, and men and guns and mules vere got away. We .knew now that Saturday und Sunday were to be the "last days." On tiie Saturday, 600 men of the NewZealand Infantry Brigade went off m 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 tstay to the end, so that, after al' it fell to the officers to detail the men for the post of honour. Sunda;' was .t beautiful day. The Turks shelled tha Apex for forty minutes with some new guns from the direction of Anafarta oi the W Hills. In tho forty minutes they [.Topped about forty-five shell on the Apex position. They were using high explosive of an excellent qtu-lity, yet not a single man was scratcheu, so excellent wer 0 the trenches an:l the underground cover provided, Ihe new brigadier-general in command had for the past live weeks been woriying Ins men to dig and c.ig and dig, and they had dug to som e purpose. They almost had an underground village. Night and day they had dug. Their work was beyond all praise. There was even all underground kitchen, and all ammunition and l bombs were stored 20 feet under ground. In those days ot 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 tha, the an force of a high explosive coxa escape right through, thus minimising its effect, or if a shell burst at lUc mouth of one tunnel and blocked 't up the men conlc. 1 escape by another exit. The Canterbury Battalion, on Cheshire. Bidge, was the first to complete its underground terraces. In this terrific bombardment 0:1 the Sunday it was the Auckland Battalion that would have suffered most had it not been well dug ill underground. An Auekla.i 1 journalist going ba'k to his bivouac found' it obliterated and all his pape-s and effects buried beyond recall. It has often been said that the colonial soldier is devoid of d s -.piine. In regard i-i the meres outward signs nnd observances of discipline, no doubt thn

i- to some extent correct, Jut in all that pertains to the higher attributes of discipline he was a shining light, 'if he were told to go forward and take an almost impregnab'c and in possible paction he would do so, and be seldom i am,, back from a position he had once taken. No more trying test of disci-

;ihne has ever been made tha i the attack fill the Nek by the Australian T.ieh.t Horse. They knew absolutely i*ilit they were going to certa .i death But they went. Il was the same at hone F'uic : the same on ( i.unui; Hair - on mure than one o'-casie'i. And now in tlii ■ matti r of the ovacuatuin, an-f.tlif-r ereat i'-st in d's' inline was beia'f siia-le. Tiiera were no .sojns cf shirking tin. test On the oontrary, th" mt-n rlisjilaved a i">nth"fie eagerness to eticai'e in it. While this very bnmbardmeiit that 1 -peak of was at t- height, ike cook of thp Auiklnnd officers' mesa

entered the underground vault and anounced, "Luncheon is 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 00 was violently shelled for two hours.

That evening the Brigade had 800 men and 15 machine guns to get away. They were divided into parties of diffferent strengths called A, B, ancj C. At 5.30 p.m. the A party, comprising 340 of all ranks, moved out down the Chailak Der 0 and along the main sap to the beach at Walker's Ridge to embark at (3 p.m. Between 9 p.m. and 9.30 p.m. the B party, 300 strong, left along the same route with Brigade Headquarters. This left the line, extending oyer 1135 yards, to be held by the "Diehards" numbering IGO with 7 machine guns. This party was composed as follows : Auckland 44 men Wellington 07 men Canterbury 45 men Brigade Headquarters ... 4 men Total 100 men Every man of this party was to be thoroughly fit and carefully selected. Machine gunners had to carry rifles. The idea pervading the operations was to get away the maximum number at the expense of the few. 1 here was, therefore, to be no question of fighting a rearguard action or of maintaining covering positions in rear to protect troops in front as they withdrew. Thus troops in the rear were withdrawn before those in front, this plan giving more freedom of movement to those in front. Bandages, first-aid dressings, and other things necessary were 'left, not only with the doctors ana l 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 they could converse with the Turks. This "might have heen necessary, in case the complete removal of the wounded had liecome impossible. There is no doubt that if there had been fighting they wou'd have helped in attending to each 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 Sunday-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 be no use in offering a strong opposition, and the whole force was ordered to withdraw. The colonel of the Canterbury Battalion was in command of "The Die-hares,' 1 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 main-

tamed 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 lanced on the first day and had never been abseiit 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 instead -f evacuating we were landing two extra divisions for an attack! Included in the ICO men win were to sec it out, no matter what happened, were 24 picked officers. To show the extraordinary forethought that had been exercised, I may mention that every man of the 160 had a v.atch set to time that was checked every quarter of an hour di.y and night. The normality of the situation was maintained up to the very last, and to prevent tihe Turks from suspecting that anything unusual was happening, a big mortar was fired every half hour, anc. 1 other mortars every twenty minutes as usual.

The men were numbered m groups of 1, 2, 3, 4 all along the line. At ten minutes to 2 a.m. all the No. 1' slipped quietly away with the remaining seven machine guns —six of which were light Viekers guns, i'rom beginn. ig to end there was no question of "Sf.uve qui pent," and every movement was carried out with the utmost coolness and calmness. At 2 a.m. all the No. 3 moved off and at 2.1 "j a.m. the whole of the remaining numbers. The men were so distributed that they were able to fire so that the enemy should think the trenches were still being he'd by their normal strength. After all had gone there were twenty automatic rii'es .still left behind to (ire at intervals. These were workc .' by means of dripping water, and candies burning till they covered a piece of string that dropped a weight and pulled the trigger. Oh! dis-usrd rifles that would be of 11.■ value to the enemy were requisitioned for this purpose." The sights and tut" magazines had been removed. By 3.30 a.m. the last man hat. got down to the pier. Tiie whole movement, though carried out at night, went with the icgularity of a parade. Some detachments were even ahead of time, lire officers knew 1 verv man oi the HiO. I'.ach man as iie a 1 rived iv;;,; t'ehed off. Not a man was missing.

Thus" it was that from th. se h.-adits from ,1 position runmng into : sharp sa'ient and dominated by enemy poi t Kins on ib > r* if 111 and left and in front, the New Zealand Infantry IJrieade cot M-atliless away down the steep " Peres" and through the long winding -up to the sea.