GALLIPOLI.

Taranaki Daily News, Volume LVII, Issue 300, 28 May 1915, Page 6

GALLIPOLI.

HOW THE AUSTRALIANS FOUGHT. IMPERISHABLE FAME. j (SJy Captain C. E. \V. Bean, Australian Official ,I'nss Representative). Alexandria, May 13. The Australians and New Xcahindcrs were landed in two bodies, tlie first covering a force to seize the ridges around tin* landing plutH l , and tlie second 01 main l)ody to begin lauding about an hour later. 'tlie moon that night set about ail hour and a-haff before daylight. This just gave time for the warships and transports of the covering force to steam in and land before dawn. It had long been known that the 'lhird Australian Brigade, consisting of Queenslander*, South Australians, Western Australians and Tasmanians, had been cnosen to make a landing. I "is brigade ' consists largely of liy.ners from Broken Hill and tlie iWestem Australian goldfields. anil had left Egypt many weeks before the. rest of tlie force, and lux! landed at l.emnos Island. They were thoroughly practised at landing from ships and boats. During the second week in April tlie greater part of th« Australian and New Zealand troops from ligvpt followed, and had been just a fortnight ill l.emnos when they sailed to eil'ect a landing at a certain position on the northern shore of Gallipot! l'e:iinsula, about (>0 miles away.

THE LANDING'. The covering force was taken partly in four of or.r own transports, and partly in three battleships. The night was perfect. About 3 o'clock the moon set, and the ships carrying troops, together with three warships, which were charged with protecting their Hanks, stole in towards the high coastline. It, was known that the coast was fortified, and that there was a. battery oil the promontory two miles to the southwards, and that several other guns amongst hills inland covered the landing place. The battleships and transports took up a position in two lines, and the troops were transferred partly to warships' boats and partly to the destroyers, which hurried in-shore, and re-transferred the men to other boats. They then made by the shortest route for tlie beach, NATURE OF THE COUNTRY. It was IS minutes past 4 on the morning of Sunday, April 25, when the first boat grounded. So far not a shot had been fired by the enemy. Colonel .Maclagan's orders to the brigade were that shots, if possible, were not to be fired till daybreak, but the business carried through with the bayonet. The men leapt into the and the first of them had just reached the beach when firo was opened on them from the trenches on the foothills, which rise immediately from, the beach. The place of landing consists of a small bay about half a mile from point to point, with two much larger bays north and south. The country rather resembles the Ifawkeslmry River, in New South Wales, the hills rising immediately from the sea to a height of 000 feet. To the north of these ridges is a cluster nearly a thousand feet high; further northward the ranges become even higher. The summit just mentioned sends out a series of long ridges, running south-eastward, with stop gullies between them, very much like the hills and gullies about North Sydney. They are covered with low scrub, very similar to the dwarfed gum-tree; its chief difference is that there are no big trees, but many precipes and sheer slope* of gravel. One ridge comes down to the sea at the small bay above mentioned, and ends in two knolls about a hundred feet high, one at each point of the hay.

FIRST SHOTS. j It was from thorn that the fire first ! opened on the troops as they landed, j Tlie bullets struck fireworks out of the 1 stone along the. beach. The men did j not wait to be sent, but wherever they j landed they simply rushed strnfglit up the steep slopes. Othvr small boats, which had been cast off the warships' steam launches which lowed tliem, were digging for the beach with oars. These occupied the attention of the Turks in the first trenches, and almost before the ! Turks had time to collect their senses, I the first boatload was well np towards ! the trenches. A few Turks awaited the bayonet. It is said that one liuge | Queenslander swung his rifle by the muzzle, and, after braining one Turk, caught another and filing him over his shoulder. Ido not know if this story is true, but when we landed some, hours later there was a Turk on the beach with bis head smashed in. FIRST TO LAND. It is impossible to say which battalion landed first, because several landed together. •The Turks in the trenches facing the landing had run, but those on the other llank and oil the ridges and gullies still kept firing upon the boats coining inshore, and a portion of the covering force, which landed last, came under a heavy fire before they reached the beach. The Turks had a machine gun in the valley on our left, and this seems to have been turned on to the boats containing a part of the 12th Battalion. Three of these boats were still lying i on the beach some way to the north. The wounded men lay in them for two ■ days before they could be rescued. Two stretcher-bearers of the '2nd Battalion, who went along the beach during the ' day to rescue them, were hotll shot by the Turks. 'Finally a party waited for dark, and crept along the beach, rescuing nine men who had been in the boats two days, afraid to move for fear of attracting the enemy's tire. Tlie work of the stretcher-liearers all through the week of hard figliting was beyond all 1 praise. THE DASHING THIRD. The 3rd Brigade went over the hills with such dash that within throe-quar-ters of an hour of landing some had charged over three successive ridges. Each was higher than the last, and each partv that reached the top went over it with a wild cheer. Since that day the Turks never attempted to face

our bayonets. The officers led magnificently, but, of course, nothing like ac- , curate control of attack was possible. Subordinate leaders had been trained at \Mcna to act on their own responsibility, and.the benefit of this was enormously apparent in this attack. Companies and platoons and little crowds of f>l> to 200 men were landed wherever the boats took them. Their leaders had a general idea of where they were intended to go, and once landed each subordinate commander made his way there by wliat seemed to be the shortest road. r l lie , consequence was that the "nl Brigade reached its advanced line in a. medley of : small fractions inextricably mixed. Nev- j eral further lines of Turkish trenches I were swept through on the further j ridges. MATS' BODY ARRIVES. | Tile Turks did not wait, for tlie ha.vo- j •net, and when at sunrise the ships bring- ; ing the first poj'tion of the main body arrived, and steamed slowly i'.n'oiigh iiic battleships to unload men, those on i board coi'lrt-eee figures 011 the sky-line • of the ridges near them and the further ridge inland, Pre-ently a heliograph ■ winged from the near top of the se.-ond . hill. They were our men they could ; see walking about digging, just as you ; i:ee them any morning ni; Liverpool camp j during their annual training. The re- ■ lief which, flooded the hearts of thousands of anxious watchers on the ships can better be. imagined than described. It is imposible to say exactly how many of the enemy were holding this particular portion of the coast; perhaps there were live hundred to a thousand. They retired for an hour. During that welcome spell the men who had sc.zed the ridges were able to do sometiling towards entrenching. Meantime the main body had already begun to arrive at the beach, and sought to land tlie troops in a comparative calm, interrupted only by shells from the Turkish battery to the south. This sprayed with shrapnel tlie boats as they came from, the ships, but managed to hit very few. One boat, just as it landed, had the bottom blown out, without a single man . in it being hurt. Our men landed in very heavy kits, and accident in the boats might have, been serious. It is [ believed some of the men were drowned ■ in one or two boats of the covering force, but, except this, hundreds of boats which came to that beach under shell j fire, during the day scarcely suil'ered at . all.

TURKS ATTACK. liv this time the first part of the main body was forming up on the beach. The Turks had brought up their troops from the other side of the peninsula, and a fierce attack began, which lasted all day. As fresh troops arrived oil the beach they were generally sent straight into the firing line, either on one Hank or the other of the covering forae. These troops went straight into the firing line where the Turks were already attacking in a force too great to allow the digging of trenches. The only possibility was to hold on in the scrub and dig in after dark. ■BAPTISM OF SHRAPNEL. In that first afternoon the Australians, and, later, the New Zealanders, obtained their first experience of shrapnel in this war. During the first day when they had rushed a position rather like a section of the Blue Mountains, full of winding gullies, it was naturally difficult to discover the position of all the enemy's guns. Those on a promontory to the .south were soon placed, and. three were silenced almost at once by a cruiser, which put lier nose round one side of the point, while a battleship shelled from the other side One gun there continued to fire most of the afternoon, but was hit before sundown, and lias not been fired since. TROUBLESOME BATTERY. Hut there was a battery in the ranges inland which, during tlie whole afternoon, it was impossible to place. From 2 o'clock until sundown it fired continuously a salvo of four shells about twice every minute on to ridges which our troops were holding, for the mostpart without any protection. Some of them were in a deserted Turkish trench, of which the Turks had the exact range. Hour after hour one watched shrapnel bursting over the flank ridge along which our infantry were lying. The navy could do practically nothing to help because we could not tell them where to fire. The first relief was when a small force of Indian mountain artillery, which landed with us, managed to drag its guns into position just behind a part of our line, which was suH'ering especially, and began firing salvos over their heads in the direction from which the shells were coining. The mere sound of our own guns answering the enemy's came like a draught of fresh water to the infantry. Of course, our guns drew the enemy's shrapnel like a magnet oil to themselves, and part of the firing line around tliem. "It's those guns that's bringing it this way," I heard 'one of our men say. "They're doing blooming good work', anyway," said this man later. It would not luive mattered whether mountain guns were doing good work or not; the mere sound of them was enough. One of tlie British ■oilicers, wdio was out in an exposed position, observing for this battery, was hit through the cheek, the bullet taking away all the teeth on one. side of his mouth. He went down to the beach, and had the wound dressed, and returned to his post. OALLANT OFFICERS. During the whole of this trying time il one thing cheered the men more than another it was the behaviour of their oilicers, I saw one ollicer in charge of a machine-gun. who one knew for certain must be killed if the fight lasted. I lis men were crouching under the cover of a depression a few inches deep on the brow of a hill. He was sitting calmly on the top of the rise searching for targets through his glasses. Presently three or four salvos of shrapnel burst right over that group, ending with' a round of common shell. With its terrifying flash and scatter of loose earth a kihout from somewhere in the rear, -'Pass the word to retire." The ollicer in question turned round. '•W here does that -order come from?" he asked, sharply. ''Passed up from the rear, sir," was the answer. . P ilss back, anil find wlio gave it," said the officer. "Vs; who says retire?" said several of the con. Next moment an order came lip. "Line to advance and entrench oil forward slope of the hill." I here was a moment's delay galherin" up rifles, and then over the hilt tliev

went. Dusk was just falling, and the enemy's battery happened at that moment to switch off in order to lire a few last salvos towards the bench. The ollicer in. question was there at his post next morning. When it became ncccs- I sary to send a man down the hill on , some business, bcloro the man had gone ) •20 yards he was wounded. The ollicer ( walked down the hill at once to pick | him up. Within a couple of seconds the Turks had a machine-gun on liim, \ and he fell, riddled with bullets. , GALLANT DEAD. j Australia has lost many of her best oilicers this way. The. 'toll has been ' i really heavy, but. the British theory is, . volt cannot lead men Irom the rear, at I any rale, in attack of this sort. It I would he absurd to pretend that the life | of an ollicer. like that one, was wasted. ■' No one knows how Jong tlie example will ; live on amongst his men. There were others T will mention later on, when the casualties have all reached Australia, l who died fighting like tigers. Some of • tliem knew fully they would, die, One ■ was sometimes inclined to think that > this sort of leading is useless; but none who heard Ihe men talking next day ; jrould doubt ils value. '< "illy flod. our oilicers were splendid." one Australian told use. "Wherever 1 went ' I hoard the same. ENTRENCHING WORK. During the night lines were straightened. and the men dug ill as best they could. The Turks attempted several charges on the extreme right. The charge was generally preceded by a cos- : s.ation of firing, Then could be heard j arguments between the Turkish oilicers and men going oil just over the edge of ■ the hill, just such arguments as used to | take place whenever you tried to suuer- | intend natives loading a, cart at Mena Camp, 'Finally, over the ridge came, a I line of figures shoutimr, ''Allah! Allah!" j Our troops waited till the' enemy were I within about 70 yards, then jumped out of the trench with bayonets fixed and began to charge. The Turks have never once waited so far, and have always turned immediately or flung themselves flat and allowed the. machine guns to fire, over their heads at our men. By 1 morning our line was widl 4ug in. , Water "had been sent up during the night by every possible means chiellv in. , petrol tins. It was carried on donkeys, mules or by hand. The troops' stoics were constantly arriving on the beach from the huge' fleet of transports until the place looked like, a great busy port. : Some New Zealanders were, caught during the night out in the open by a welli trained Turk machine gun, anil lost many. The Turks are well trained in : German methods, and orders have ceri tainly been given to the men in the , trendies by strangers. Possibly in scrub : near a trench there is one -who gives an , order in perfect English and manages to ■ get it passed along the trench. I have • see, personally, one clear example of ■ this. i IMPERISHABLE TALE. 1 There has been hard fighting since, I which I will report later. I would have reported it before if I had been able to •ret leave from the Admiralty. But . when all is said, the feat which will go | down in history is that first Sunday's ( fighting when three Australian brigades , I stormed, in face of a heavy fire, tier ; 1 after tier of dill's and mountains, ap- ; parintly as impregnable as Govett's . Leap. The sailors who saw the Third - Brigade go up those heights and over successive summits like , whirligig with . wild cheers, and witil bayonets flashing, , speak of it with teal's of enthusiasm in i their eyes. .New Zealanders are just as i ' generous in their appreciation. It is . hard to distinguish between the work of the brigades. ' They all fought fiercely ' and suil'ered heavily; but considering that performed, last Sunday, it is a feat which is -fit to rank beside the battle of the heights of Abraham, i I believe that the British at Cape . Ilelles fought a tremendous fight. Of i Australia it may be said that Austra- . lian infantry, and especially the Third ; Brigade, have made a' name which will I never die. Around me as I write, guns ] of half-a-dozen warships are shaking the . hills. The evening is a quiet one From the ridges above conies the continuous rattle of musketry. As no bullets are . whistling overhead, the firing must be : j by our men. The issue cannot be in : doubt, but one knows that even if it were, nothing would take away from ; the Australian and New Zealand infant- . 1 ry the fame of last Sunday's fighting.

QUEEN ELIZABETH'S PART. On Monday, the second day of tlie landing, the enemy again pumped shrapnel on to the ridges. They must have also lireil 000 .shells at the landing-place, but scarcely hit anyone. Shells on the ridges were far worse. But this time tlu/battleship Queen Elizabeth was scut to support us. During the morning the effect of her shells was enormous. Standing several miles out, .she shelled the enemy opposite the north-east corner of our position. The effect of ller shells was like a tonic for our tired, men. Huge yellow clouds burst from her side, and some seconds later there, came a crush as if the sky had fallen in. This was followed almost immediately by a tremendous roar somewhere on the land". 'Looking in the, direction of the Turkish position you saw a vast elouil of earth and green smoke rise skyward. MONSTROUS SHRAPNEL. The Queen Elizabeth had been provided with monstrous shrapnel sent out specially for this job. The shell weighs nearly a ton, and, on bursting, leaves in the air not a woolly little buff of ordinary shrapnel, but a miniature thundercloud. Early on the second morning the Stli Australian Infantry repelled four Turkish charges. The 4tli Infantry made a most gallant attack with the bayonet, and drove tin; Turks back through the scrub until they came on the Turkish camp. The 7th and 10th went straight through that nntil they were faced by three machine guns in a ■position further back, and came under the fire of a battery. This battalian afterwards was ordered to retire somewhat, as the position was dillicult to support.

The Turks next attacked the left and right of the 3rd Brigade. The Queen Elizabeth's fire, and that of the other warships, soon settled the fate of the former attack, but in the latter caafl the fierce fire of machine guns sweeping down a ridge, which was peculiarly exposed to shrapnel foe. 'troved too trying for the battalion holding it. There had never been an opportunity of digging trenches at this spot, the fire being too hot. The battalion had been yjut straight into this nasty corner immediately after its arrival, anil was subjected to a heavy strain for a time. The ridge was left almost, clear for our troops. The Turks began to creep up to t.lie of it. and almost to (he rear of the 3rd Brigade. This was towards evening. The 3rd Brigade had

licon ill the trenches, continuously lightin},', oi'ton without any fond. Kvory man brought ashoiv with him three days' i';ilions, but in the lierce rusJi up the hills oil. Sunday morning many had left tiioir food behind. TUIC NIXTII AXI) TENTH. On Holiday afternoon an endeavor was made to take some battalions of this brigade out of the trendies to rest and to collect the portions which were scattered through tile Bring bile, i'art of the !)th and 10th wore waiting down the valley at the rear when the Turks began to take this ridgo. There was nothing for it but to send tile tired Dili and 10th to take the ridge again. I saw til at adv.tnce from a fen- hundred yards away. At lirst one very gallant ollioor of the retreating regiment came through the scrub, and collecting odds and ends ol his battalion from hollows, and waving them forward, standing up all the time, he succeeded in rallying a lew men, and leading them forward several hundred yards. There the effort rested, but I saw this particular onicer running up and down in the firing line in his macintosh, hopping over 'Jr. seriiii amidst a deadly firej when every other living thing upon that plateau was ilat upon its face. Presently up came the Dth and luth, line alter line, in very good liues of -2(1 or 30. They went through the scrub, rushing for all they were worth, and dropping every hundred yards or so to take breath; then up again, ami on towards the end of ;he rid..,.. About <.hrce rushes covered it. 'They were facing shrapnel and machine-gun lire, but reached the required point Three I times tluy were driven oil' the ridge; : three times they came ami took it, and . the last time remained there. Wllcn the Brigadier asked them afterwards what they wanted to retire for, "We retired iu very good lines, sir," said one stalwart, grinning. I "And so they did, the beggars," added the Urigadier. . TriJKfSU TKICKKKY. Just after the two battalions had begun their first charge across this hill an order was passed along the trenches to a point where the writer was. "Pass along order to cease lire. The British ,are getting round at the back of the Turks, and there is a danger of hittin" them." . " Some of the men ceased firing automatically, but the olliccrs around me questioned the order. 'Unore docs the order come from?" they asked This was 'passed down, and presently the answer came bads. "Order from gen--1 oral headquarters; cease firing. The French and Indians are within two miles of the back of the Turks. We are afraid of hitting them." Our officers knew then! were no French or Indians, and the British, they believed would be at least ten miles awray. 'But before firing could bo begun-again the Turks had two or three minutes during which they could raise their heads with impunity to fire into our undefended men. Kxactly the same trick was played at another part r f the lino two hours earlier. A very few days has put oflicers I and men wise to these ruses.

RESTLESS DAYS. There was little or no rest for the men in the trendies on Monday night, and on Tuesday the lighting was still in parts heavy; hut between Tuesday and Thursday it was at last possible for the tired troops who luul gone up the hills on that first Sunday morning, and had been lighting hard ever since, to be relieved and sent down to the rest camp. Then was the first time when any estimate could be made of the losses. Men and officers supposed to be dead or wounded turned up safe and sound from various parts of the line where they had mixed ill with other battalions. ■BATHryO UXDKR FIRE. ' Almost all of them enjoyed a bathe during the warm hours of t'ne afternoon, and for a time the beach in the midst of the liereest battle ever fought in the Dardanelles look more like Manly on a holiday. Hundreds of men were bathing together out in the roadstead, while nine or ten warships were constantly tiring salvos of lingo guns ten miles away. Along the sunny shore, were men diving, splashing and enjoying a sun bath. Occasionally shrapnel flicked up the water, but very few men were hit. Only one, as far as I know, was killed during the whole day whilst bathing. This accident had not the least effect on the bathers. Practically all our men have now had a, day's rest and gone back to the trenches. They are attacked somewhere every night and most days. Last night for example, in their attack tile Turks did not reach the trenches, and their dead were lying thick on the ground this morning. To-day they attacked another part of the line, and reached within 51) yards, but none got near. A machine-gun mowed them down. Twontv or so can be seen lying within a small space.