Fresh Light on the Gallipoli Campaign.

Pukekohe & Waiuku Times, Volume 5, Issue 199, 11 August 1916, Page 2 (Supplement)

Fresh Light on the Gallipoli Campaign.

A remarkable book on Gal'ipoli, and, from the Australian standpoint, an in. tensely interesting record, entitled, " With tho Zionists in Gallipoli," by Lieut.-Colonel I. H. Patterson, D.5.0., author of "The Man-eaters of Tsavo," throws new light on many episodes ot that glorious, if unfortunate, campaign. Colonel Patterson organised and took to Gallipoli a corps of Russian Jews, who had been domiei'cd :n Palestine, and these men and the:r mules were engaged in carrying water, supplies and ammunition to the troops in tho front-line trenches. In the course of this fascinating book, the author makes some very important and very intelligent observations on the campaign in general. SHOULD THERE HAVE BEEN A DAKDANKU.ES CAMPAIGN? Dealing with this important question Colonel Patterson says : A successful war against the Ottoman Empire had immense possibilities in : t; the way to Russia would be opened, guns and munitions would have streamed in to her through the Bosphorus, while wheat for ourselves and our Al'ies would have streamed out—but there was a good deal more than that at stake. . . • Some of the Balkan States were trembling in the balance . . . they wished to join tho Allies if they saw a reasonable chance of the Allies' success. . . • What, therefore, could have been more calculated to gain them to our side than a smashing blow, which would crumple up Turkey, and give us direct communication with Russia ? Had we succeeded (and we ought to have succeeded) it is certain that Greece and Roumania would now be fighting on our side; the, astute Ferdinand wou'd have seen on which side his bread was buttered and have either kept Bulgaria neutral or made common cause with the Allies; and those unfortunate little States, Serv'-a and Montenegro, would not have been betrayed and ground to dust. . . The fall of Constantinople was of vital importance.

STRATEGY AND TACTICS. Now, having recognised the tremendous issues which were involved in the fall of Constantinople, it may lie asked, "Did tho Government provide a weapon sufficiently strong to carry out its policy':" In tho opinion of the author it did—it only the weapon had been rightly handled. Uf course., whoever s tc» blame for the Bedlamite policy of the first disastrous attempts by the ■navy alone, bears a heavy responsibility. Beyond knocking the entrance forts to pieces, all that this prematura attack by the fleet effected was to give tho Turks ample warning of our intentions, of which they took full advantage by making the Peninsula an almost impregnable fortress, and the Dardanol'es a network of mines. Colonel Patterson points out that even this initial blunder might have been rectified and the Narrows forced had the Expeditionary I*one not been divided, but thrown with all its sledgehammer force at the key to the Narrows, that portion of the Gallipoli Peninsula which extends across from Anzac on tho Aegean, through the heights 11 Sari Hair, to toe Dardanelles.

That the Expeditionary Force could have been landed here is proved by the fact that the two Australian and New Zealand Divisions did land here, and these dauntless men, by themse'vox almost succeeded in taking Sari Baiiv and getting astride the Peninsula. For eight months' they held their end up. and more than held it up, against overwhelming odds. Had they been backed up at tho time of the first landing, on April 25, 1915, by the "incom parable 29th Division," one of the best the British Army lies ever seen, together with two r'r.ench Divisions, with their hundred celebrated .75 guns, and the Royal Naval Division, no Turkish troop* at that time in the neighbourhood could for a moment have stood up against them, and with our grip once established on the Peninsula, nothing could have shaken us off—not all 'h? soldiers in the Ottoman Empire. . . Once astride the Peninsula, where our length of front would be less than seven miles, with over six men to the yard holding : t. nothing could have shaken off our strangling hold. It would only then have been a question of directing tho fire of the heavy naval guns on the forts in the Narrows, which would, of course, be done by direct observation, and these strongholds wou'd have been pounded to dust by H.M.S. Queen Elizabeth and other battleships within a week, thus leaving open the road to Constantinople. Such might have been the glorious- ending of the Gallipoli campaign, if only sound, strategical methods had been employed.

DIVIDING THE FORCES

This plan, unfortunately, was not put into operation, instead, t?tie force was split up into no less than nine parts, and practically destroyed in do* tail or brought to a standstill by jfta Turlcs. Having described the various landings and what was done by tho troops engaged therein, Colonel Patterson adds: — Meanwhile, the two Australian-New Zealand Divisions were engaged in the perilous enterprise of forcing a landing m t'he face of a largo Turkish force, at a place now known as Anzac (this word being formed from the initial letters of Australian-New Zealand Army Corps). In tli. 1 dark hour before the dawn, some four thousand of th.ese splendid lighters were towed in silence towards tinshore., and here again it seemed as they would meet with no opposition; bin not so—th. 1 Turk was not to he ea.ug'iit nipping, and, while the boats w.'ve st : !l some way from land, thousands of Turkish soldiers rushed along the strip of beach to intercept the boats, and the heavy tiro which they opened caused very severe casualties in the ranks. Nothing, however, could daunt Colone l Mai lagan and t'he men of the 3rd Australian Hrignde; the moment the boats touched the slier.' these dare-devils leaped into the water, and. with irresislihle fury, drove the Turks before them at the point of the bayonet. Nothing could stand up r.giiinst their onslaught, and by noon, liav'ng been reinforced, they "hacked"

their way some miles inland, put several Krupp guns out of action, and had they been supported by even one more Division, the road to the Narrows would undoubtedly have been won. As it was. owing to lack of sufficient men to hold what they had made good, they were compelled to retire to the ridges ovcr'ooking the sea, and there, ior eight months, they held the Turks at bay, end hurled back, with frightful losses, every assault made on their position. O'ii, if only the 29th Division iiad also been laded here, what a sweeping victory we should have won ! HOW THE MULES BEAT THE TURKS. Hut it wasn't and all Australia and the world at large knows what such mistakes meant. Meanwhile Colonel Patterson and his Zion Mu'e Corps did groat and gallant service, amid aJI sorts of dangers, and with death staring them in tue face every few minutes. On ono occasion, whilst the concoy was unloading, a tremendous hail of shrapnel from the Turkish guns frightened 40 unladen mules, and they ga'loped off into the darkness. Th'R turned out to be n. providential diversion, for they helped to save the British Army that night, in much the same way as the cack'jng geese, once saved Rome, for, all unknown to us. masses of Turks were at that very moment creeping up in the dark just before the rise of the moon. They were in three lines, the first line being without ammunition, as it was their particular business, when they got near enough to our trenches, to rush them with the bayonet. The Turkish General Staff, however, had not calculated on the Zion mules! The terrified animals, scared and wounded by the shrapnel, careered over our trenches, and clattered down with clanking chains on the stealthy foe. The Turks undoubtedly took them for charging cavalry, for they poured a vol'ey into them, and thus gave away their position. Our men instantly lined the trenches and opened such an intense fire that the Turks were utterly routed, and those of them that were left alive fled back to I'll- rover of their own trenches.

THEY FEAR NOT. And so the course of this uneven campaign went on, and Colonel Patterson saw ail pliases of it. He has nothing but prais e ior the gallant conduct of the troops engaged, and speaks most enthusiastically of the French seventy-lives." Here are a couple i' good stories about the Anzacs: — On one occasion, while a dignified and very portly British staff officer who had been having a swim was drying himself, an Australian came by, and, giving him ii hearty smack, said, "Hello, old sport. you look about ready for the knife. Have you been getting at the biseu.ittin?" The very fact that the Australians framed a footing on these precipitous crags in the face of a desperate resist'anco shows that they were a race ot Mipermen. In va ; n did the Turks time alter time hurl themselves at them in :u attempt to drive them into the sen. The Turks wou'd charge, crying, "Altar, Allah!'' The Australians would respond by leaping on tne parapets ot their trenches, shouting, "Come on, you blighters, and bring him with you." They fear nothing—God, man, death, or ilevil. When we eventually plant our tlag triumphantly on Gallipoli, the flag oT Australia and New Zealand must float in the p'ac-e of honour upon the Anzac peaks, for here in their shadows, at peace for ever, lie thousands of their bravest sons.

NOT ALL IN VAIN. Although Colonel Patterson was not present at too evacuation, having been invalided home :•: England before this, 'lie has something to say about it in his final pages, and this is the conclusioa he arrives at ;n regard to the campaign :--

Let it not be supposed that our tot■ rible losses and disastrous failure n the Dardanelles have been altogether fruitless. By our presence there we held up and almost destroyed a magvificent Turkish Army, and by doing this we gave invaluable aid to our Russ;an Allv.

H:ul it boon possib'e for the Turk :-|, Army which we hold fast in Gallipo'i to have taken part ;.n Enver Pasnu's groat push in tlio CaucasiiSj there is no doubt that the Turks would have crushed t'ho Russians in those ivgions. and hav? made things look very black indeed for our Ally. As it is, I consider it greatly duo to the Gallipoli campaign that Russia, during her time of stress and shortage of munitions, was able to hold her own in the Caucasus, and, wl, >n she was ready to assume the offensive, it resulted in her brilliant capture of that great T.akis'h stronghold in Asia .Minor. Krzerum. The knowledge that this effort ol ours lias nftor all, borne some fruit tends to assairie our grief for the loss or tlio-." d'ar friends and good comrades who now I : <> buried by those purple Aegean shores. We can well imagine that the spirits of those heroes of Franco, and Britain, i'lid Greater Britiain, u'ho have fallen in th.- fight, ar" eagerly watching ami waiting for th? hour of our victory : and when our fleet sails triuinphantlv through the Dardanel'cs, as it surely must, and thunders forth a salute over the mortal remains of our mighty dead, liicir shades will bo at peace, for the. - will th.-n know that, r.ftor all. they have not died in vain.

*'' With The Zionists in Gallipoli." iy Lieut.-Colonel .1. H. Patterson. D. 5.0.. author of "The Maneaters of Tsavo." and "In the Grip of the Nyika." Published uy Hutchinson and Co.. London. ( From the •'World's News.")