GENERAL WAR NEWS.

Taihape Daily Times, Volume 7, Issue 252, 15 July 1915, Page 7

GENERAL WAR NEWS.

AT GALLIPOLI.

TURKS SUFFER LOSSES.

7,000 KILLED; 15,000 WOUNDED

LONDON, July 13

The Lemnos correspondent of the Daily Chronicle states that on the 11th inst. occurred the heaviest fighting since the Allies landed. It began in 1 darkness on Tuesday, and lasted well into Wednesday. It resulted in the swinging forward of the southern line five furlongs, with staggering losses to the enemy. It is estimated that 7,000 Turks were killed and 1,000 wounded. The Australians and New Zealanders also played a part in the victory, which marks a definite stage in the initial work of encircling Achi Baba, which is now one of the strongest fortresses in the world. For some little time the Turks had abandoned the offensive, but they resumed under somewhat remarkable circumstances. Towards the end of the first Week in July a lucky shell from a Turkish battery blew up a small French ammunition depot. About the same time the French liner Carthage was torpdoed in sight of the enemy’s lines. These incidents, combined with glowing ■accounts of German victories elsewhere, put fresh heart into the Turks and implied them to depart from the more discreet waiting policy. The fact that the Allies’ entitre line was rsting in comparative tranquility in spired the Turks with the belief that ■the Allies were short of ammunition. They therefore proceeded to drive them into the sea. A destroyer's searchlight detected heavy masses of enemy ; troops moving from beyond Achi Baba towards the Turkish lines, with the object of attacking the French. The latter were warned, and their artillery ' was quickly reinforced, until a perfect wall of heavy and light guns was in position. The British, Territorials, In- • dians, and the Naval Brigade were also on the alert in the event of the attack : being directed on them also. An interval of oppressive silence was suddenly broken by a tremendous burst of Turkish shells and shrapnel on the French front, accompanied from the straits by the guns of the Goeben, which pounded our right with 11-inch shells. Many did not burst. They were apparently of Turkish manufacture. , The hail of shells lasted an hour, then a great solid mass of. Turks leaped to the attack. On they came. The silence was unbroken save for their shouts, until they reached within 60 yards. Then well-placed machine-guns poured devastation, and 20,000 rifles spoke. Big guns flared and lighted the lurid scene at intervals. With fine bravery the Turks came on without hesitation in this inferno of death, and in terribly cut up conditions reached the entanaglements, only to find that their artillery had not demolished the wires. The slaughter here was terrible. Yet at three points the enemy managed to invade the French trenches and even succeeded in turning some French weapons on the defenders. But the second French line hurled itself instantly on the foe. "We w r ero so closely mixed up,” said French soldirs, “that it was almost impossible to use the bayonet, and we had to clear ; the way simply by pushing the Turks' feck into the trenches, where we fell i upon them, running the bayonets into. their solid mass. We rushed forward, I and the Turks, badly supported , fled, i Into their struggling masses our max- j im» poured streaks of death, mowing i down heaps. Meanwhile, the naval j .men sustained a portion of the attack and turned their machine-guns on the wreck of the attackers, the ships’ searchlights illuminating the ghastly Scene and providing a ghostly target for out deadly guns and rifles. The field soon presented an appalling spectacle-. Soldiers who have fought in the fiercest fights in France and Flanders were sickened at the awful sight. Twilight presented the bodies lying four and five deep, in all positions. Men wore mixed up with the entanglements, while many stood erect, propped up against masses of stricken comrades. Farther and farther, amid yells and groans, the battered rabble retreated, followed ~ by relentless death, ; The sight was fto teiifibis that many of k

men did not fire, so much did the terrible vision of slaughter make the men tremble. At last a poor remnant of the Turks reached the shelter trenches on the slopes of Achi Baba. Throughout the morning our warships harried the Turkish positions. The Australians and New Zealanders in the Sari Bahr region threw out a wedge, as though to threaten the Turkish communications. This alarmed the enemy, who began to withdraw. Meanwhile the headquarters of the enemy was attacked by aeroplanes dropping a score of bombs. After a bout with the artillery, our counter-attack was launched, and rushed across the death-strewn area with difficulty, so thickly was it covered with bodies. Our bombardment in many places obliterated the entrenchments. The melinite shells were terribly effective. We easily carried the first trenchs, then our second line put the Turks in headlong flight. The enemy’s guns were active, and threw 7,000 shells in two hours. The Turks hurled themselves seven times on our new lines, but were drivn off with heavy lossese. The British loft swung smartly forward out of two additional lines.

Our losses were comparatively light