GALLIPOLI FIGHTING.

Taihape Daily Times, Volume 7, Issue 290, 22 September 1915, Page 3

GALLIPOLI FIGHTING.

CONTINUED TRENCH WARFARE STILL HOLDING TH&IR GROUND. (From Malcolm Ross, Official War Correspondent with, the N.Z. Forces). 24tih July. Since my last letter was despatched, there has been no material change in th e situation and Turks and Australasians are still facing each other in the trenches they have occupied for some time past. The operations at Quinn's and Courtney's continue to be the most interesting. Indeed, tjhey are fascinating, for, as has already been stated, they are really unique in warfare. As you walk through trench after trench and sap after sap at Quinn's or creep doubled up along the dark mining galleries, your interest is quickened, and though you never quite know when a bomb wjill ( 'oome hurtling over fche parapet or when a mine may be exploded above or below or at the side you beccm e so interested that fear van-, ishes. The genial colonel who is in charge and who shows you round was a well-known Taranaki barrister, and. his motto is that the art of war lies in the cultivation of the domestic virtues. Therefore, (he is transfQrming Quinn's into a model workshop and dwellingplace wherein you can even drink a cup of tea in peace! Seriously ■ speaking, he has worked wonders at. Quinn's, and the Quinn's of to-day is safer and more habitable than was the post of earlier days. It is only when the gallant cdlonel gets one of his men to throw a bomb across t|he very few yards of intervening space between you and the Turkish firing line, and there is a loud explosion, the while you wait expectantly for a like favour from the Turks, that you realise you are "up against It." It is a still stranger sensation at the end of a narrow dark tunnel to listen to some solitary Turk working industriously with !hjs pick only a few feet away from where you are crouching. As you hear him taptapping like a woodpecker in a hollow tree you begin to wonder what he is thinking about and what will be the end of all his hard, uncomfortable labour. Generally speaking, it is the miner and not the counter-miner who wins out in the end in these attacking operations. This particular fellow has had his tunnel'blown in upon him three times, yet here he is again picking away in the hope of undermining cur position. ■ . '<:■ "'■

DEAD TURKS. Another important post that is interesting is hed by the New Zealanders and a section of the Australian Light Horse. Here you find yourself in a perfect labyrinth of deep trenches, with, at intervals, sand-bagged parapets. The position is in charge of a BrigadierGeneral, well known in the Hawke's Bay district. Deeply-carved sheldters are cut into the earth from tihe trenches and in these the men can rest and

| sleep in safety, if not In comfort The j "shelters" are all numbered. Along the 'trenches also are Tittle niches, such as you might see in a church wall for sacred images. These, with their blackened clay, are the little recesses where, j under tiny fires, the men do their eook. png iu their "dixies." You come upon "Main-street" and "Broadway," and "White-lane," and one sign points to "Happy Valley," which is, no doubt, a iuven of rest for weary troops. All this is en Russell's Top—a prolcngation of Walker's Ridge. Telephone wires and barbed wire and wire-netting enter into the scheme of defence. The trenches are clean, but the smell of the dead killed in the last Turkish attack still hangs about them. We have come to a place where we are within

a few yards of the enemy's rifles, and you dare not show an inch or two of your head above the parapet for fear of being sniped. Our friend the enemy 'ha s to be equally careful. We take a periscope, and putting the top glass above the trench carefully examine the Turkish position. Between our tremh and theirs are a number of enroc tins j that the Turks have thrown away, and in amongst these, and quite near us. ar e some strange little heaps that look like the discarded clothes of a number of tramps. Looking at them more in--1 ently you note that some of the ragged bundles )have just a suggestion of human shape. They cover the bodies of dead Turks, the attenuation of which in thii s everlasting hot summer sun proceeds somewhat rapidly, if unpleasantly. They are the remains of Turks shot down in the last attack, a id either side dare go cut to bring the bodies in or to bury them. In the end they will become skeletons, :i'.i.l eventually one side or the other, after an advance, will igather the littU heaps together, and consign them to a common shallow grave.

A WOUNDEV TURK

It was at this spot, SGme few days ago, that one of our staff —a member of the House of Commons —did rather a daring thing. A wounded Turk had lain -for some time in front of our trench, and our men dared not go out to make him prisoner, nor his friends to rescue him. The M.P., who speaks Turkish, essayed the task, and brought the man into our lines. A BUGLER BOY. The other day some of our men came upon a small ske'iton beyond one of our trenches. The identification disc showed that the khaki uniform contained the mortal remains of a bugler of the Canterbury Regiment He 'had

been posted as missing. The remains were gathered together, and New Zealand soldiers gave him decent burial on the hills of Gallipoli, far away from his home and hi s native land. It was strange that this boy had not been discovered before, especially during the armistice. Poor ilad, he must have fallen nobly in the front line during those critical days when our men gained a footing, and held their ground. Fr.cim another position we gain a glorious view across a bit of level land

and a beautiful curving bay to Suvla Point. The sea is a deep blue. Imbros 1 and Sanothrace die not far across the i water in the haze of a summer noon. Here, for the first time, our Maori friends have come into the firing-line. They look fit and well, and their discipline is good. At any moment now they may be called upon to defend their line s or to make an advance against the enemy. The colnnel in command is confident that they will fulfil the traditions of their race.