Tha War on Gallipoli.

Stratford Evening Post, Volume XXVIII, Issue 69, 20 November 1915, Page 5

Tha War on Gallipoli.

NOTES BY A RETURNED NEW ZEALAND SOLDIER. UNTHINKING FAULT-FINDING. (By C.S.K.) It is the easiest thing in life to find ) fault, and that, perhaps, is the reason j why so much of it is done by so many ! people: if I'ault-linding was a hard job , we would find it always left to the j vigorous or tfie willing, but as it is, it i is as easy as falling off a log, and any- j body who has the inclination to do so is never at a loss for the ability. It is the duty of every citizen to watch everything, to see that all his interests 'are conserved, to agitate where he hinds a fault and to tirelessly labor |to remedy defects and deal with those | whose lack of intelligence or morality unfits them for the direction of his 1 affairs. So much must he do. Hut iu , the doing thereof there is danger, bej cause the citizen may not have a clear l idea what constitutes agitation and • labor. Too often it happens that a citizen discovers an imaginary fault, and agitates and labors' in a manner 'calculated*not to remedy the fault, but 'to generally damage the cause j welfare of which he agitates and lajhors. And even if the fault be a real one, misdirected agitation and labor may still do harm. An objectionable feature of fault-finders is their eagerness to have somebody to blame and disparage in connection with everything that goes wrong; and in a loud voice, in a public place, they will blame some person, losing sight of the fact that their exaggerated condemnation of this other person tends to damage the cause for which both are fighting. Among the soldiers on the Peninsula there were naturally some fault-finders. At Cape Helles the British soldier blamed the I reach if an operation in which both were engaged was not successful. A common remark is; “We went forward and took our trench, but the French on the right couldn’t take their piece, and we had to fall hack.” Always it was presumed that the French should have come up, and the British soldier who was complaining never thought fit to consider that the French may have had a piece of trench to take which would .have been tqo much ; even for the best British solders. It must be galliiig to take a trench, and then . have to , fall back because, other's, on tjie Hariks fail to get forward, and it is natural to feel not too kindly towards the men on the flanks; but in forming an opinion all the circhmsthnces should be taken into account* and the stamina and de* termination of troops should be the last and'not 'the'first thing to pick on as lacking—one should consider the kind of country fought over, the amount, of fire encountered, and numerous other things, and not jump at once to the conclusion that the tioops failed for lack of stamina or determination. Even among the New Zealanders there were those who, for lack of thought, unjustly condemned theii partners,"solely for the purpose of having somebody well blamed for something which had gone wrong. In the big operation early in August, many things did not turn out as expected, owing to the fortune, of, war, which no created being can control, and the New Zealanders considered they had a grievance. One heard of the grievance on all sides, and according to who the narrator was the vehemence and uncharitableness of the views expressed varied. But there was always a blaming of the other fellow. On the inp home I met one man whose story varied from the usual run and it was a very welcome change from the chorus of condemnation, which,, even if deserved, was.not only uncharitable, but impolitic. The man in question spoke as follows:—“In reference to the August attack one hears too much against the men of Kitchener’s, army, the most frequent remark being that they were all lads of very tender years and were unfitted for the tough operations characteristic of the Peninsula, they certainly were young, but personally I believe the battalion spoken of would, under the right conditions, give as .rood account of themselves as any battalion of New Zealanders.” The Xew Zealanders had won a good position on Hill 971, and in turn a battalion ijiad held on to it against frequent counter-attacks. “Then, pio ceeded most of the accounts, “a Kitchener’s army battalion was sent up to replace the ’’New Zealand battalion, and in next, to no time the Kitchener men were turned out and the position was lost.” These unofficial accounts were never lacking in blame ot the Kitchener men, who were freely stated to have hit out foi* the beach on the first sign of activity on the part ot the Turks. The soldier who spoke to me (I hope he had first-hand kmw-

ledge—l forgot to ask Idm) put tilings quite differently, absolutely absolving the men of the Kitchener battalion of the charge of lack of stamina. He said; “The blame properly belongs to the officer in charge of the Kitchener men manning the firing line. Under the impression that they were in a reserve trench (that is, with another trench between them and the firing trench, he gave instructions- to his men to discard their equipment, dig themselves in and make themselves comfortable; Naturally equipment and ritles were thrown down anywhere. The Turks, there being no fire iiom our trench, crept up and opened an attack with bombs. You can imagine the shock to the soldiers, and how they were entirely at a loss to, defend themselves, their rides and equipment being all over the place. The position of affairs was one to try to the utmost the resources of the most seasoned soldiers, and these Kitchener lads cannot be blamed for believing that in the circumstances flight was the best policy. “The officer,” concluded the narrator, “was at once sent back to the beach to look after some more peaceful operations there.”—lt is not easy to come at the exact facts regarding any operations during a big advance, but it is to be hoped that the version here given is substantially correct—it is much better that one man should get the blame for an altogether inexcusable mistake, than that a battalion, and with them a large section of Britain’s soldiers, should he accuser* of a hick of that stamina and doggecluoss which is a characteristic of the person of British extraction, no matter where he happens to be born.