At The Dardanelles.

Stratford Evening Post, Volume XXVII, Issue 56, 6 July 1915, Page 7

At The Dardanelles.

MORE TALES FROM THE

TRENCHES.

A CORPORAL’S STORY.

DEEDS OF HEROISM AND SELF-

SACRIFICE.

(From Malcolm Ross. Official Mai Correspondent with the N.Z. Forces).

Cairo, 20th May, 1915

(Continued)

|. Every evening the Turks energetic-

ally shelled the beach where we had |our ambulance dressing stations. Consequently the wounded were subjected to a fierce shrapnel fire as the stretcher parties went along the foreshore. ! This was too much of a good thing, and it was remedied by a strenuous staff officer (Colonel Chaytor). who got together a fatigue party and, himself

armed with a shovel, built a well-con-stucted path under cover of the shelteing sandhills near the beach. On Wednesday all through the big attack the word kept coming back for more ammunition, more water, and more reinforcements. As the fresh men made their way up the steep 'slopes they met an interminable string iof wounded coming down to the beach. 'And had the sight been vouchsafed ns a* few months before we would doubtless all have had the stuffing knocked out of us fo a moment or two at least. lAs it was, however, these cheerful cripples put new heart into the men, and they went into action all the more determined to make good. One mafi 1 saw shot through the groin (pulling himself along in a sitting position, sliding, scuffling down a slope. I “That’s pretty rough work,” I said, (smiling, but his answer was unexpected. “It’s damn bad for my pants,” said cheerfully. | At one stage a few hand grenades began to arrive in our trenches. They wore of two varieties, and there was one kind that smelt vilely and seldom went off. The other went off so quickly that one didn’t have time to know whether it smelt or not. One of this latter species landed in a trench alongside a corporal of the ('Wellington Battalion (A. H. Piper). •If had still an inch of fuse to burn, jso lie held it quietly until it was 'almost gone—and then threw it back. Grenade-throwing at that sector 'stopped from that moment. “That’s what’s meant by surprise effect,” said the corporal, as he resumed his rifle, j Men do queer things when under excitement. Once f saw an Australian 1 dash out after a Turk with the bayonet. He got him, too, but he tickled him with it first by way of preparation !

Over on the right on the Sunday a panting bluejacket (now in khaki) flung hiself down beside me, whispering, “Give us a smack at ’em, Tommy, afore T goes hack to my

boat.” And lie emptied two of my clips at the green hushes opposite before he went back to explain why lie had kept the cutter waiting for him.

BRAVE STRETCHER-BEARERS.

The stretcher-bearers alone did deeds of heroism that would have done credit to any army in the world. 1 saw one chap climb out of a trench j during heavy fire, and, taking advantage of all the cover he could, get a 1 wounded man under the arms and drag back to the trench. Half-way back be was shot through the arm. He then hooked his sound hand through the man’s collar and got him into the, trench. And mind you, ho did all this quite coolly and calmly. There was no mad dash about it. He msed his brain all the time. Under all conditions the stretcher-bearers were magnificent. Even as they were carrying the wounded along the beach to the base they drew the fire of the Turks. During the course of the afternoon they brought the other four men that I (old you about back from the heap of dead. These men had been lying there from half-past 4. on the Sunday morning until the same hour on Monday afternoon. I had better not give vou details of their long vigil.

THE GUNS AT WORK. We bivouacked in the trenches and in holes in the cliff, and that evening the warships below us began a terrilic bombardment. Shells shrieked continuously overhead, and burst not far from us. For a while the Turkish batteries would bo silenced, but in half an hour or so they would open up again from an entirely different position. They methodically shelled our wounded as they were being taken down to the dressing stations, and also the boats conveying the wounded to the hospital ships. Several of our men slightly wounded were killed on the beach after having been brought down from the firing line. The ships replied, but it was very difficult to locate the Turkish positions, well screened as they were in such difficult country. One of our ships in particular was loosing off broadsides almost continuously. At one time when her fire was toenssed on a ridge on our left front I saw an object turning over and over in the air fifty feet up. ft was a Turk’s leg. I could see the boot, a bit of a trouser leg. and a trail of unwinding puttee as this particular Turk was performing bis last and somewhat indelicate high-kicking act. One would think that such lire must he utterly demoralising, but the enemy took a lot of shifting. So tremendous was the cannonade that it shook down the earth in our trenches and deafened us in a few minutes, though we were y considerable distance from the ships. DEALING WITH THE SNIPERS.

On the Monday men were still being

rushed ashore, and ns they came they went straight into the firing line. Our position was gradually consolidated. Water and ammunition were to he had in plenty, and our communications were restored. Snipers were I still responsible for many of the casI unities, and I saw one queer incident, j A sniper had been worrying us during the morning, and two Australians vowed in lurid language that they would stalk the beggar, and stalk him they did. They left the trench and crawled on all fours into the bush and disappeared, one of them wearing a Turkish cap. They were lugging | something through the hushes and {they pushed it gently over the steep cliff. This was the sniper. “Did you get him allright?” we asked when they came back to the trench. “Oh, , yes, we got him,” they replied, “an” ( we didn’t hold no bloomin’ post-mor-tem, either. He kicked as he went over the cliff!” At another stage of the fighting I saw two snipers w}io had been dislodged from their hiding place rush down towards our lines in the direction of one of the dressing stations. The first was wounded and colli apsed some yards short of it. Ihe second had gone Berserk and displayed all the bravery of fanaticism. An ‘Australian stuck to him with a sheath(knife, and so stopped his onward rush. THE SHIPS AT WORK.

The Queen Elizabeth on one occasion. acting with aeroplane control, sank a Turkish transport in the strait of the Dardanelles seven miles away and out of sight beyond tbe bills «. n the mainland near Gaba Tepe. This she did with her third shot, striking I the transport amidships. I t was not known if there were ain troops on board. This game, however, was not altogether one-sided, for shrapnel began to burst round about and over the transports and warships. At night time one of the ships was using her searchlight just ahead of our trenches on some open ground in front of a Turkish position, and early in the morning this light brought fire upon our ship from some heavy guns, either on the Goeben or on the shore on ihe other side of the hills. Tremendous columns of water from the explosions of these big shells rose high above the ship, but luckily she was not hit. She promptly switched out her light, hoisted her anchor, and steamed slowly away to another position for all the world like an indignant lady who has been offended by someone beneath her notice.

Our ships and guns were all painted in the weirdest manner. It seemed as if some impressionist gone mad, had been at wok on them. They were covered with , great slabs of brown green, yellow, and any old colour that even a collier would he ashamed to put on. The guns are also indiscriminately dablied all over with a variegated colouring. The whole thing makes a blur so that it is difficult for an enemy to locate the guns nr the vulnerable parts of tlie ship. One of the ships had a wave most artistically painted on her bow so that even when she was stationary she seemed, at a distance, to be steaming at full speed. I lie field guns also in this ,modern warfare are treated with variegated colouring. It is on the principle on which Nature has clothed the zebra, the tiger, and tbe giraffe for protection against an enemy.

A TREMENDOUS ATTACK. Regarding Tuesday—though 1 must have gone all through the fighting on that day—my mind is now a blank. On Wednesday there was a tremendous attack. The enemy tried to turn our left flank. They had received reinforcements the night before and labout 9 a.m. the fire became terrific. Our right was comparatively 1 , 1 Safe, but on the left about half a mile from the beach the enemy launched company after company, battalion alter battalion, at our position, till we must have been opposed by at least irom two to three brigades. Machine-guns played<an important part in the operations. The Turks were led by Germans and bad a stiffening of German soldiers. They frequently used flatnosed and explosive bullets. A captured German officer had the night before promised us some hot gun fire, and sure enough wo now began to get it. Their shrapnel began to he most effective, and on several occasions they found and maintained the range on our howitzer gun emplacement on the beach. They seemed to have brought at least three six-gun batteries into action against one of our howitzer battery of four guns, which was under the personal supervision of the Brigadier of the Wield Artillery, Colonel G. M. Johnston. Thus -Brigade Headquarters and indeed Array Headquarters were subjected to shrapnel fire, and the harrassed staff had no place to go where in quiet and safety they could work out their tactical schemes. Not only was this so, but on occasions at night the Turkish snipers penetrated our lines and took pot shots at the place where the staff was supposed to be. Our howitzer . lire in default of a better target was used mainly against the infantry im- . mediately opposed to us, and often the • shells burst just in front of our own , trenches and uncomfortably close. At j times is was possible to see men j, blown from the opposing trench or i] others hastily leaving their position. I, With their secondary armament the !j ships must have played havoc with |* the Turkish reserves and reinforce- 1 incuts as they came up. THE SEAPLANES. I 1 Away out in the offing between our h shore ami the Island of Imhros teat \ weird-looking ship the Ark Ro'yhl lay 1 at anchor or moved up and down us ) occasion required. She was a strange- j v looking craft—the first of her kind— |] hut obviously wonderfully useful. Her a one mast ami one funnel are placed ( right aft sy that her forward deck

'is clear of all obstruction save for ' two large steam derricks. On thus dear space were the hydroplanes that she mothered. From where we were jwe could see a derrick swing round, I lift up and lower it into the water, i Then presently we would see the graceful machine skimming through the calm sea at perhaps 40 miles an hour before it “lifted’’ and soared away over our position. Then noise | of the exhaust, no matter how high i the plane flew, was clearly audible, j The two floats beneath the main planes looked for all the world like the webbed-feet of some gigantic sea j bird. The smoke from the exhaust j trailed behind in a long white streamer as the plane soared in graceful spir- | als or else climbed straight to a safe 1 altitude beyond, winging her way over the Peninsula on our front. Several | times the Turks took pot shots at her, | and the bursts of shrapnel like small puffs of cotton wool could he seen be- 1 low her. Often we thought she must lie hit, but apparently these shots were ineffective. Occasionally these plane reconnisances were conducted under great difficulties, and on one occasion a plane returned to home’and mother with 28 bullet holes in her wing surfaces. Sometimes a plane would come back so high up that even with our glasses we could not say whether site was hostile or not. The Turks were using the familiar German Taube, which, as the name signifies is made with wings akin to those of a dove. ’Hie front edges of the planes are bent backwards like the wings of a bird, and the back edges are serrated. Frequently when a Turkish bombardment was at its height one of our planes would soar away to seek out the enemy’s gun position, and then the bombardment would cease automatically. Apparently tbe Turkish guns were particularly well handled, and the observation post wherever it was must have been a good one. Away on our left was a village marked on the map as Siveleh. and there we could see a mosque with a tall minaret. It was well within range, and later casting all scruples aside it was laid low and the village sot on fire. This apparently upset the calculations and the work of the inrkish gunnel's to some extent, but only temporarily.

AN OBSERVATION POST. Far up at Cape Suvla, which is the southernmost point of a large saltwater lagoon, I could see through the range-finder a hut, some cultivated ground, and well-constructed earthworks above the beach. Matching more closely I saw a string ol camels, some horses, and with them 15 or 20 men moving about between the hut and the earthworks. If this was as I suspected—an observation post it was all that was necessary to control the Turks’ fire. Information regarding it was immediately sent to headquarters, and a warship proceeded slowly up the coast to investigate. Whether she bombarded the position or not I cannot tell—it is one of the things that 1 have forgotten. Every now and again word came

down our line s that the British 29th Division had made good progress and would connect up with our lines. At one time we were told' definitely when to expect them. Away down south we ■ould see their transports and hear mother battle raging, but up till the time d left they had not got in touch ivith ns, except perhaps by signal. Since then I believe they have joined ip. Never in warfare had any troops nore anxiously looked for support ■ban wo did at that time. The 29th Division were driving the lurks iiom lie south-west against us and wo vere acting much in the same way as i groyne thrown out into a river and inning this human tide into narrower routines, while at the same time savng the hank behind. As the Turks ■aim- north the area for them was esseaed. hut I do not think there vas any precipitate retreat on their mrt. Indeed, reinforcements seemed o arrive just as they wore wanted. A STRANGE BURIAL. During hills in the firing burial paries from cur battalion were sent out. nd Chanlain Taylor, of Nelson (since ,-oumled), managed to give decent , u rial to some -1U Australians who ad fallen in the original landing. It •as a pathetic scene. Down near the each large graves had been dug, and * the hodies were lowered into them hu chaplain read The military burial

1, I service, his voice drowned every now j J and then by bursts of shell or rifle | t fire. There on the far-away graves i where these colonial soldiers are, , sleeping their last sleep small wooden] [crosses, some of them, appropriately ; !enough, made out of the wood of am- ! jmunition boxes, tell how Private So-and-so laid down his life six thousand I miles from his home fighting a loe that ; a few days previously he had not the . slightest interest in. These graves ' are pathetic in their loneliness. They) ! will never he seen by any of the ie-1 . lathes of the men buried there, audj i all that a mother or a father in Aus-j tralia or New Zealanad will receivel . ns a memento will he a pathetic littiej . collection from the pockety of their j Lon. The chaplain collected these [relics —from one perhaps a pipe. Item j ■another a tew letters or the family j ■ [photographs, or from still another a man’s pav book, often as not stained with his own blood. 1 he last thing, 1 remember is going out on a recon-j naisance with Major Loach. altei-j wards severely wounded. He dres not i know what happened to me any more , than I do. When I regained co tsci-. uiisness after a long time I was on j a hospital ship, guile deal, and with j a spine that felt like a red-hot poker. On the ship 1 lost consciousness | several times, and also in tne hospital in Cairo. For five days and nights) sleep was impossible. 1 would not. j like to toll you about thenights on j i I

’ the hospital ship—this with tears in j i,i s oyes—l cannot trust myself to speak of them just yet. At this stage a fine-looking young j Aucklander —off to a commission in the Black Watch—came up to tell n# that a new list of casualties had come in. Amongst the killed was the natna of the corporal’s dearest friend. H« got up and walked away. And that was the end oi his story.