The Dardanelles.

Stratford Evening Post, Volume XXVII, Issue 69, 21 July 1915, Page 7

The Dardanelles.

DARING NEW ZEALANDER. SWIMS TO BULAIR AND LIGHTS I FLARES. (By Malsolm Ross, Official War Correspondent with the New Zealand Forces) Ist June. One of the most extraordinary and daring feats in the war has been accomplished by a young New Zealander, who, however, is not serving with the New Zealand Forces. Many people in the Dominion will remember "Tiny" Freybei'g, who. as a schoolboy, was a champion swimmer. He is now a fullblown major, has been wounded three (times, and has been twice mentioned in despatches. He was evidently born to be a soldier. Home time ago be went out to Mexico ami offered his services to Hnerta. Huerta did not want him, so he went and fought with Villa on the opposite side. Returning to England be joined the Naval Brigade; fought at Antwerp ; was wounded; received his captaincy ; and was mentioned in despatches. Afterwards lie came with the Brigade to the Dardanelles. When an attack - was about to be delivered further down the Peninsula, it became necessary to make a demon-

titration opposite tli<> Bulair lines, .so that reinforcements would not he sent from that quarter. It was decided to despatch three boatloads of men ashore to light flares on the beach, so as to draw the fire of the enemy in the Bulair lines, and engage their attention while the marines landed at Capo Helles. Freyberg was to command the landing party. He, however, pointed out to Major-General Paris that this meant sacrificing the lives of the men, not one of whom would he likely to return alive, and he suggested that he, himself, should be allowed to perform the mission by swimming ashore. It was therefore arrangied that on the '2 lib April he was to go in the destroyer Kennet and.make a reconnaissance. This was done, the destroyer being fired at by the Turkish field batteries and maxims. Oil the following evening three cutters and two picket boats were loaded with men as if for a night fending, and Freyberg, having had his skin painted khaki, got into the Kennet, which was to drop him in the sea about half a mile from the shore. By this time night had fallen, but there was faint moonlight. In the uncertain light it was not easy to judge distance, and young Freyberg found that he was in for a swim of two miles, with three oil flares and two Holmes' lights, which he carried in a waterproof bag, with sufficient air in to support the weight in the water. He also carried, attached to his belt round his waist, a 'small revolver, and a sheath knife. Ho was put into the water sometime after midnight, and he. judged that it took him an hour and a half to swim ashore. He had to dodge the ordinary landing-place.where there were barbedwire entanglements, and landed on a rugged bit of beach. From there he crawled inland for a quarter of a mile to a place where on the previous day he had noticed some trenches. They proved to be dummy trenches, and lie could hear the Turks talking and see jthem striking matches to light their (cigarettes in the lines higher up. The water,had been bitterly cold, and he 'now felt symptoms of cramp, so he J crawled back to the beach, lit one of his flares, and dived back into the sea. The alarm was at once given in the Turkish trenches, and firing commenced. He swam further along the beach, landed again, and lit a second flare. He repeated the performanace a third time still further along the shore, the Kenuet meantime having opened fire over the lights with her 12-pounders and maxims. Having safely accomplished his mission. Major Freyburg I started to swim back on a line due south, as arranged, steering by a compass on his wrist, to a spot where it had been arranged the Kennet would pick him up. The Kennet, however, was not there, and he hud to float about for nearly an hour. The day before they had seen a shark following the destroyer—several of these brutes

I having no doubt been attracted by the deud* bodies from the transport Ma niton, which met her fato in these wafv ors—iind when a };roat porpoise rose

beside him about lmlf way across, lie

admit.* that lie gni mi awful fright. Aitcr floating around for about an hour, and all firing liimng by that tiiuu ceased, he started to vvini in the direction in which he thougnt th? Ken(lit't might be, and, presently, in answer to his "coooes," the dostro/T came 'along and picked him up. This uncertain floating around in the dark—the moon having gone down—was the worst part of the whole adventure; Subsequently Major Freyberg was sent for by the General, who thanked him, and told him he wou'd bear more al-ou'. bis very plucky act : on. In the fighting it Antwerp, young Freyberg was wounded in the right arm. and alter this last adventure he was twice wounded at Cape Holies !while leading bis men. One bullet entered bis forearm and came out near the elbow, severing the medial nerve. He was also hit in the leg. Such was his story, quite modestly told. When 1 saw him he had lost the use of his left hand, but he was off back to the Dardanelles by the firM steamer. In company with him was "Sammy" Chrystal, whom recent Christ's College boys will well remember. Chrystal was out in Africa somewhere when the war broke out. hut he promptly threw up his job.joined the Naval Brigade, and came out to the Dardanelles. He was also wounded at Cape Holies. By all the ordinary laws of direction the bullet should have gone through his stomach, but it cut a track from one side right round the front of his body, and came out at the other side. Chrystal also was convalescent and was again en route to the Dardanelles to look for more fighting. It was in this same "show" that young Lieut. Asquith. the son of the Prime .Minister of England, was wounded while fighting under Major Freyberg, the young New Zealander. Colonel Richardson—formerly Master-Gunner Richardson, in Wellington—is the D.A.Q. M.G. of the Brigade, and has done splendid work. He has proved himself a clever organiser. He, also, has been mentioned in despatches, and his promotion has been rapid. . THE PENINSULA PRESS. JOURNALISM UNDER FIRE. June 2nd.

Tlio Britisher, in whatever part of the world he-may be, must have his own newspaper press. Scarcely had the Xow Zealand troopships left Wellington Harbour when The Tahiti Times and other journals began to appeal". Some cranky old hand-press and type of a more or Icsss nondescript and dilapidated character wcrv pressed into the service, and in the narrow confines of his cabin the editor, printer, and publisher—throe single gentlemen rolled into one—in making a supreme eifort to maintain his equilibrium during rough weather, would find himself grabbing an inked roller of making "pie" out of his latest leading article. Some of these troopship newspapers were illustrated, and well illustrated. It is, how. ever, a far cry from Wellington Harbour to the. Dardanelles, and in such stirring times sis the present one would not bother about printing newspapers for themselves, l'et the Gallipoli Peninsida has its own newspaper press. Tinder the fire of the Turkish shrapnel and high explosive shells at least three newspapers are published in the vicinity of Gaba Tepe and Cape Helles. One of.these is in French—"Traduit a Tillage des troupes francaisos par orare du General commandant en chef le Corps Expeditionaire Mediterrancon." It is a small one-page double column sheet, and concerns itself mainly with the news of the dav from Paris.

The English newspapers are a little more ambitious, and it may bo added, a little more humourous, not to say frivolous. THe Englishman can no more curb his sense of humour amid the grim realities of war than lie ran fail to drive home a bayonet clnrge against the enemy. And so it happens that we have The Dardanelles Driveller t price one drink), making its appearance on 17th May. 101."). It has the usual Births and Deaths notice; for instance:— i Birth. On 10th May. at Gladstone Villa, tho wife of John Jones, of twin

sons. i. .. DEATH. On 10th May, at Gladstone Villa, John Jones. Then there is a Theatrical Notice: "V. Theatre; twice daily. 'Annie from Asia," a screaming farce." This however, requires explanation. At regular periods, one a day. a Turkish gun used to hurl two shells right across the Peninsula from the Asiatic shore. These shells made a lot of noise, but seldom did any damage, and "Annie from Asia" became known as a screaming farce. They fell over a beach marked on the map at "V." Another beach is known as "Y" Beach. It was a very tough proposition for the 29th Division, as may be judged from the following poem : "Y Beach the Scottish Borderer cried, While panting up the steep hillside

"V" Beach ! To call this tiling a beach is stiff, It's nothing but » cliff, Why beach ? In a previous article I referred to Anzac Beach, which the Australian and New Zealand Army Corps took and held in the I nee of tremendous odds, and to the coining of the name out of the initial letters of the corps. Apropos, the following advertisement from the Dardanelles Driveller is worthy of a wider circulation : Anzac! Anzac! ! Anzac! ! ! The Great Stickfact!

Linian von Sanders writes:—"lts glutinous powers exceeded :ill my expectations." Knver Pasha writes:- "The bottle yon kindly sent mo suffices all my needs. I do NOT want any mure. I find a little goes a long way." No Army Should bo Without it ! 'Try it To-day. Anzac : Ansae I !

There is a new song advertised : "Itchy Koo." To anyone who has been in a campaign—especially in the East—the advertisement convoys a little world of meaning. The Dardanelles Driveller no doubt fulfils its mission. The Peninsula Press adopts a more serious style. Jand, incidentally, it gives some interesting extracts from a Turkish newspaper. The Taine. seized in a captured trench. In these one can «ee the crooked hand of the German diplomatist. For instance, it is reported that our troops have been driven into the sea! and that the beach near Sedd-el-Bahr has been purged of their presence. The following paragraph, translated from the Turkish, will interest and no doubt amuse New Zealanders: —"The enemy having suf-

fered a complete defeat, cannot make any fresh attempt. He can neither bring up fresh troops nor try to accomplish anything with bis demoralised soldiers, in a word, another (similar decisive defeat will close tho question of the Straits for good. The Greeks will congratulate themselves on having escaped this disaster. Information is still lacking as to the composition of the enemy's forces; but it appears, from indications received from Europe, that they must consist .chiefly of black men from Africa and Australia. Thus the Straits, for tho first time in history, have had to cnidure an attack by cannibals." I This was written presumably before the Turks asked for an armistice Ito bury between 4000 and 5000 dead iu front of the Australian-New Zealand trenches. The Tanine, however, seems to have changed its tune a few days later. "The obstinate British," it says, "have not admitted their defeat in spite of the blows they have received. They have come on again. In this we recognise some of the peculiarities which have been noted by the Germans in Flanders. The British, when fighting, show an as-

tonishing persistence and obstinacy which are peculiar to them. In the most desperate situations they will not allow that they are beaten, and persist to the end. This useless obstinacy has usually caused them such terrible losses in Flanders, that the English newspapers from time to time utter" complaints. As for the

present useless persistence, it is not for us to complain of it. The more obstinate they are the worse blows they will receive, and that will assure the final result."

In its first leading article The Driveller editor anticipates his critics by giving certain reasons why he should be allowed to remain alive. He says the literary supplement will be oh a level never yet attained in Sedd-el-Bahr. and that the poetry avill bo such as can only be inspired by the Aegean or the Plain of Troy. One paragraph announces the reason tho Turks had no rearguards during the retreat from Sedd-el-Bahr was because they could not trust them ! There is also as a matter of course a printing press at work at General Headquarters. In the issue of General Routine Orders by General Sir lan Hamilton appears the following:-—"ln order to mark the good work done by the Ist-Gth Battalion Gurkha Rifles in capturing the bluff on the coast west of Krithia, the General Commanding has ordered that this bluff will in future be known as 'Gurkha Bluff.' " Other new names are constantly appearing on the map in connection with these operations.