FIGHTING AT THE DARDANELLES

Taihape Daily Times, Volume 7, Issue 348, 16 December 1915, Page 4

FIGHTING AT THE DARDANELLES

THE CAMPAIGN ON GALLIPOL!. A NEW SITUATION. WORK OF THE TRAWLERS. WAR CORRESPONDENTS. (From Malcolm Ross, Official War Correspondent with the New Zealand Troops.) GALLIPOLI PEN., Oct. 23. Apart from the incidents mentioned in yesterday's letter, it Jag sa-uned fj: some some time past as if the war correspondents would have the thankless task of endeavouring to make bricks without straw, cr to revert to the weather and the crops. Crops thore I are none within the sphere of our opi erations; but the weather, at least, is ' a frequent and important topic of con- | versation. Tow other subjects also cni gage our attention. One is the change I in the command; the other the position | in the Balkans and the Austro-German I onrush into Servia. By this time Sir '. lan Hamilton is in England, and Generi al Monro, who is to take ever the command, is no doubt well on his way to

headquarters. Whether the change in the command will mean a change in polliey we do not know, and we shall not be likely to kno wtill the last moment; but there can be no doubt that the intervention cf Bulgaria against us, together with the attitude of Greece, have put quite a new complexion on the situation here. The position i s probably more interesting than ever. The landing of French and British trocps at Salonika has added to the interest in the eastern operations. Meantime, the winter is already upon us. Fcr days a cold nor'-westerly wind has been sweeping across the hills and dales of the GaKipoli Peninsula, and lashing the Gulf of SarOs into foam. Yesterday, a light driving rain came down on the wind and made matters uncomfortable in the trenches. On the heights of Rhcdodendrcii Spur the wind is bitter cold, but the trenches there, and, indeed, along the greater part of the Anzac position, can be kept tolerably dry and well-drained. Already, for weeks past, our engineers have been at it, and they have already accomplished by the scientific draining of saps and trenches and the making of sidling reads up the narrow ravines, the beds of which, when the heavy

rams come, must be raging torrents. Communication by sea—always difficult—must become mere arduous still. "We had a taste of it the other night in getting off a battleship. We climbed down a perpendicular narrow ladder on to a heaving picket-boat, which had to tow a barge to shore. It was a matter of no small art to get the tow-line aboard, and the men on the barge had to watch for a favourable moment, when, in the darkness, and at the risk of a broken limb, they had to jump from the barge to the boat. Meantime the spray was dashing over us, a7id we had to hold on like grim death. One minute the torugh of a sea, and the great on-coming barge won d he looming overhead on the crest of a wtve and ready to crash into us. The bumps made our little craft shiver from stem to stern. Half-way -across the stout tow-rope snapped like a piece of string, and while we continued our journey at accelerated seed across what Harry Lauder would call the bounding deep to the shelter of the little wharf built under the lee of two purposely sunken steamers, the barge, lost in the darkness and adrift beyond recal, went surely but slowly toward the rocks. Even in the sturdy trawlers the pilgrimages that we have to make across the troubled Saros Sea to Suvla, Anzac, Helles, Lemnos, and Imbros, are far from leading to that peace of mind usually associated with pilgrimages! The seas sweep th e decks, and it is impossible to find a dry spot. If you travel by torpedo-boat it is worse.

You are in danger almost of being swept right overboard. Throughout all you begin to cherish an affectionate ( regard for these hardy sailors of the ISTorth Sea. Some of them havp arrived at a time of life when they might very well, expect to be employed in less strenuous work, yet day and night, in fair weather and foul, they plough their lonely furrows across and along ! the Sea of Sa"ros, keeping up the lines [ of communication, helping the Fleet at ! sea and the Army on shore. They are hospitable, too, and the steaming bowl of tea which we sometimes get from the galley after a start from our camp in the cold early dawn is a drink to be remembered and appreciated more than tliQ finest bowl of Sannan wine that ever Greek or English poet sang of. Like most sailormen, they are fond. of animal ets, and scarcely a trawler or a sweeper but has one on board. Two little black retriever puppics played about our feet the other day coming \x pfrom Tenedos. Then another, handsome and intelligent, adorned the bridge of another trawler. But the strangest of all is a friendly hen that Sedately walks .the deck a ad aiakes friends with anyone. She will pick the matches One by one out of a t>ox hold up to her by some recumbent Toioiny on the deck, and on o.

hut day you will will see her go up to the mate and draw his attention by pecking at his leg. That means that she is thirsty. They both walk for'ard, the mate fills her dish, and she has her drink. Most of the trawlers at one time or another have kit by shot or shell, but they are rather a small target for distant guns and the enemy, now that he is rather short of shell, generally leaves them alone. Still, one never knows the moment a shell may come screeching on board. At Suvla, Anzac, and Helles the tralwers lie some distance offshore, nad you finish the journey in a picket boat, into which you hurriedly scramble with your scanty belongings. It is then that, in addition to the shells, you have an added interest in listening for the whistle overhead, and the phut in the water of the bullet of the sniper or the "overs" form trench warfare beyond the rim of the distant, ridge. In such circumstances you trust to your luck —you have long e'er this become a fatalist—and take comfort in the thought that the casualties have not been numerous. You have in your time seen more than one sunken picket boat, by a shell, along this shore, and your esteem for the careless j unconcern with which these naval men ! go about their work in such circum- ! stances increases your admiration for ! the British sailorman. You know that | the Turk may shoot and shoot again, ! but you know al'se —and he must know jit by this time—that so long as we Remain on the Peninsula the trawlers ! and the picket boats wiU go their J ways in spite of all the shell the I Turkish batteries can send their way. I Letters take a long time to arrive, and sometimes it is the last written one that arrives first. Even cable messages are subject to strange delays. To-day, for instance, I learn that a cable message that I sent to the Prime Minister of New Zealand on 30th September is stO at Tenedos! It was sent that way tc give it quicker despatch! What has happened to it in ' the meantime, heaven knows! Can-

teens. The difficulties in the way of establishing canteens hr.ve boon great. On shore it is almost impossible to find a spot where they would not be umlc* fire. A few weeks ago a ship arrived with a few thousand pounds' worth of goods. The whole cargo was bought up in a day by the New Zealand and Australian Division. }[orc recently the War Office has taken steps to establish a canteen on one of the islands, and the eople on the Peninsula are allowed to send across for the littlfe luxuries that mean so much to officers and men in the trenches. Tinned sausages, fruits, chocolates, milk, pickles, cake, . and such like eatables are sought after, and many cargoes T|ould be quickly sold out. Wrist waWhes also are in great demand; a thousand went in a week; ten thousand would find a ready sale. The watch in war gets some hard knocks, and the domaud is always greater than the supply. As I write, a second canteen ship has come in, and is unloading in the shelter of a headland into a smaller vessel than can get in to the wharf. There is a probability that later on canteens will be established on shore at Suvla, Anzac, and Helles. This will indeed be a boon to our heroic soldiers, who have for months past been fighting both disease and the enemy under very trying conditions. The prices of these canteen goods are very reasonable. Of the first lot, hoewver, a

large percentage was stolen en route. In such matters there was certainly room for better management along the lines of communications. Of late there lias been considerable improvement. THE AVAR CORRESPONDENTS. For some months there were five war correspondents on the Peninsula, but the number has* recently been redisced to three. Mr. Ashmead Bartlett,| representing the London dailies, wag recalled to England, and Mr. H. W. Nevison, representing the provincial papers, has left on a month's furlough. There remain only Mr. £. Lawrence, representing Reuter's, and the official correspondents with the Australian and New Zealand forces. Tow of our number have been wounded; one was received from a torpedoed warship, and all have had thei narrow escapes, both from shot and shell. Mr. Ward Price, of the Daily Mail, is coming out, instead of Mr. Bartlett, and a. Russian correspondent may also appear on the scene, so that a corps will be in a few weeks be back to its ordinary strength.