FIGHTING AT THE DARDANELLES

Taihape Daily Times, Volume 7, Issue 319, 25 October 1915, Page 3

FIGHTING AT THE DARDANELLES

THE TIGHT FOB CHUNT7K BAIB. DELAY ON THE LEFT FLANK. NEW ZEALANDERS RELIEVED. 500 TURKS CAPTURED. (From Malcolm Ross, Official War Correspondent with the New Zealand Forces.) Gallipoli Peninsula, 10th August.

The conclusion of my last despatch left the New Zealanders on the summit ridge of Chunuk Bair, upon which, however, they seemed to hold rather a precarious footing. Led by their gallant colonel, the Wellington Regiment had, in attaining the ridge under determined Turkish opposition from superior positions, brought off a feat of arms that will live for ever in the history of the Dominion. With them, sharing the honour of the attack, were some of the Gloucester Regiment of the new armies. The men gained the crest of the ridge with a cheer. The officers shook hands with each other. The Left Flank.

On the left the Australian Infantry reached the Abdil Baman Dere, below Koja Chemen Tepe, a ridge slightly to the north and eastward of the position stormed by the New Zealanders and a little higher than the Chunuk Bair spur. They, however, found this position very strongly held, and were met with a withering fire on their front and flanks from both the rifle and the deadly machine-gun. In consequence of this they had to retire upon their original line. In the meantime a position on the north of the range—known as Q—was attacked by a column of the new armies in co-operation with the New Zealanders on the right and the Gurkhas in the centre. This attack was made after a heavy bombardment which we watched from 4.30 a.m. till 5.20 a.m. When it ceased we could sec the Gurkhas advancing up the stee] scrub-clothed slopes. Led gallantly by their colonel, they gained the heights between Chunuk Bair and Q. From their vantage ground they looked down upon the surrounding country. Eastward they beheld the Turkish motor tranport moving atong the dusty roads and. beyond that, the beautiful, but still unconquered, Dardanelles. Their officers also shook hands on the crest of the ridge. Unfortunately, however, t 1 British column had been delayed owing to the rugged nature of the country, to which they were quite unused, and the Turks, presently developing a fierce counter-attack with some unexpected shelling, forced the gallant little Gurkhas to retire.

On the right we could see the New Zealanders still' on the crest and endeavouring to dig themselves in under shrapnel, maxim, and rifle fire. From dawn till eve they were strongly attacked, and as they had been fighting continuously for three days and three nights they were now relieved by two battalions of British infantry about midnight. Never could men'be more

desirous of rest and food and sleep than those plucky follows, who had won the heights,and held them so well. The wounded, who presently began to arrive, declared that they had passed through a veritable hell upon earth. The Evening Scene. That evening the scene in the vicinity of the clearing station was one of enthralling interest. From the steep knolls above, now dotted with dugouts and sandbagged bivouacs, we could note the mule-trains coming and going along the sap and the new beach road. The wounded were coming in—some walking, others carried by the heroic stretcher-bearers. Most were cheerful though tired, and as they limped along they had tales to toll of brave deeds and heroic endurance. Occasionally »ne heard one’s own name called, and met a. friend limping in, and the most one could do was to give him a cigarette or a drink of water—the latter a scarcer commodity almost than the former in this arid land.

Coming in under a guard were numbers of Turkish prisoners, with an occasional German amongst them. Our men had captured a whole machine-gun section, and at their head was a German gunner. He was just getting his gin’ into action when a Gurkha cut off his nose. Another moment and it would have been the Gurkha who would have been put out of action. The Gurkha is at his best when bringing in a prisoner. There is an air of conscious pride about him that is decidedly amusing, and as he looks at you and you at him you both smile as if there was a thorough understanding between you. Of all the fighting men with whom the colonials have come in contact they admire the Gurkha the most. His sturdy build, his light quick step on march, and, above all. his bravery and dash in the fight, combined with a cheerful disposition, have earned him a unique place in the, estimation of our soldiers fighting on Gallipoli. In this fighting we have captured between 500 and 600 prisoners. Occasionally a dozen Turkish prisoners would be marched in in charge of three or four Indians. They are a strong-look-ing lot, and they seem to have been better fed in this than in some other of their campaigns. No doubt the Germans are seeing to this very important detail. For the rest, they have a slouchy walk, with bent knees and rounded backs. In this respect they ore quite unmilitary. They look as if they were used to hard manual labour. They are clad in ratlier thick woollen garments of varied colours of grey and khaki, and their headgear is as variegated as their uniforms. Frequently they are badly shod. Though there is no gainsaying their bravery, they seem quite glad to be out of the firing line once they know that they are going to be well treated. One can scarcely blame them poor devils —catspaws of Germany—when one has seen the tornadoes of high explosive shell and shrapnel that so frequently burst about them, to say nothing of rifle and machine-gun fire. Our men boar them no ill-will—except, perhaps, in the case of the sniper, whoso legitimate sport, for some reason or other, they will'not tolerate. ■

On the little flat below us are crowds

of soldiers going and coming; lines cf I mule-carts and all the other paraphernalia of modern warfare. Over the promontoy that ends in Nibruulsi Point, to the south of Suvla Bay, there is a forest of masts and smoking funnels, the result of the new landing. We caii see shrapnel bursting on the chocolate hills away to the north, where the now army corps is steadily at work, but still meeting with considerable resistance. The balloon that lias been spot ting - for the guns has been hauled down. Opposite us are hospital ships, cruisers, destroyers,, and various small craft, either at anchor or moving up nul down or across the Gulf of Saros. And behind it all is one of the most wonderful sunsets imaginable. That such scones should be defiled bv war is

a sad commentary upon German culture and civilisation. But all night lonp the guns flash and the bullets whistle over our heads with an eerie sound tell ing us that the Reaper is at our elbow.