THE DARDANELLES

Stratford Evening Post, Volume XXVII, Issue 56, 6 July 1915, Page 5

THE DARDANELLES

FORCING THE STRAITS.

ATTACKED DY LAND AND SEA

IT NT TR n Pnpsp A psoct <tion, (Received 9.5 a.m.)

Loudon, July 5

A delayed K.xcha'ge message from Mikyleue states: A general attack against the Straits by sea and land opened on Sunday.

STRUGGLE FOR KRITHIA.

SWEEPING BACK THE TURKS.

(Received 9.5 a.m.) Athens, July 5

All despatches agree that the struggle around Krithia has developed into the greatest land battle since the troops of the Allies landed. The concentrated armies under General Sir lan Hamilton are sweeping the Turks hack along the Peninsula in a succession of short rushes.

RECORD of good work.

■‘BLOODY SCUFFLES NIGHTLY.”

ATTACK ON BOOMERANG FORT.

(Received 9.15 a.m.)

London, July 5

Router at the Dardanelles gives the '.following details of the British victory on 28th June. The British success on the 4th left a bulge 1000 yards deep in the centre of the French advance on the 21st, and partially corrected the inequality on the right flank, but {progress on the left of his quarter was incessant since the 4th. The British drove the Turks from trench to trench j with bombs, and the Turks eounter|attacked desperately, and there were short bloody scuffles nightly. The condition of the newly-occupied trenches hear sickening witness of the desperateness of these unchronicled encounters. The main weight ot the attack on the 28th was launched against the trenches running across the plateau from the cliffs seaward to the bottom of the deep ravine of Saghir Dere preparatory to an artillery hammering. It was the greatest the Turks yet experienced, and began at nine o’clock in the morning, and lusted for two hours. A number of shins which lay at Cape Helles were fired on with deadly precision, an observation baloon directing. An enemy aeroplane attempted to bomb the balloon, but missed, and was driven off. Our field gnus opened at 10.30 with the object of destroying the entanglements, and they were completely successful. They cut gaps all along the line, as was shown by the speed of the victorious infantry attack. When the artillery work was finished, the infantry started, their first objective being Boomerang Fort in the bottom of Saghir Dere. The Boomerang Fort consisted of the main trench with innumerable saps running along the ravine. Before the bombardment began, only a few yards separated the British from Boomerang Fort, but the space was filled with entanglements, and anyone showing himself above the sandbag courted death. The task of capturing Boomerang Fort was assigned to the famous regiment which had undergone a record of splendid service since they landed. The men crouched under the parapets on platforms and ladders with their rifles at the ready, and the artillery briefly pounded Boomerang Fort with high explosives. Then at a given signal, the men sprang over with a single bound. They rushed over the intervening ground, suffering surprisingly small loss, and dropped into the main Boomerang trench.

BRILLIANT INCIDENTS.

TURKS SWEPT CLEAN AWAY.

IRRESISTIBLE BRITISH CHARGES.

(Received 11.15 a.m.) London, July 5

The Reuter message continues: Two main attacks were launched at eleven o’clock, when three battalions rushed tne first three lines of trenches on the plateau, through gaps in the wire entanglements, and carried the trenches brilliantly. The trenches were full of dead and a hundred survivors surrendered. A further advance from the captured trenches began at elevenUnity and two more lines were taken. 'lnis was the most spectacular moment of the day. The space consisted oi several hundred yards of open ground, and the men advanced magnificently, as if no enemy were near, the sun glinting on their bayonets.

During the afternoon the Turkish artillery was active but outranged by ours, which hammered the Turks throughout their retirement. The British, before evening, had carried the two remaining lines of trenches and also a small ravine beyond. Dining the night four hundred Turks worked down the Saghir Dere Ravine and ascended the plateau between the first and second lines of the conquered trenches, but were discovered and caught in the centre between maxim and rifle-fire, and only a hundred regained the Ravine.

AUSTRALIAN CASUALTIES.

Sydney, July 5. The forty-eighth Dardanelles casualty list as follows:

Killed in action, 38; died of wounds, (5; wounded, 128 (including Private J. Scott and Private G. Ramsay (New Zealanders); missing, 1. Prisoner of war at Constantinople, Lieutenant Elston, a New Zealander.

In hospital at Manchester, Private S. L. Williams, a New Zealander; in hospital at Devonport, Private Bradlev, a Now Zealander.

VIEWED IN THE TRENCHES

TURKISH DEAD AS SAGDGACS. i Received 12.J0 ji.in.) London. iiy 5. Reuter continues; R.n t of tin* Boomerang was lull of freshly-killed Turks with a dozen cricket-hall bombs lying at their feet ready for use. The Turks occupied the trenches for a week shielded by the bodies of their comrades. They must Imre been breathing an intolerate stencil and walking over the half-buried dead whenever they moved, yet they fought knowing their own bodies would sooner or later he used as a substitute for safulbags, or stamped into the reeking clay. Vast amounts of equipment and a largo number of machine-guns were captured. Flies make this an ill country for the wounded, especially for our men. We gained a mile of ground along the sea coast as the result of the battle on the 28th.