FIGHT AT GABA TEPE.

Taranaki Daily News, Volume LVII, Issue 318, 18 June 1915, Page 6

FIGHT AT GABA TEPE.

\o q;'.u:tj-: : i: i in; Tin-; \\vr.v])i-:n mkns sTiii;iiN. f;l!IM .YUPiv AT PAWN". An amount of the landing by ihe Ar lialian and \. w Zealand forces ;,i CaJ

Tepe was given by Corporal ('. R. Crock. er. of the Field Ambulate, on His re! urn in Christchurrh a few days ago. 1[ ( , had been 1.1 weeks in hu.-pit.al be fun; h;i was invalie.l home.

Corpora-l Crocker was' in camp" when ili-. New Zealand and Australian troo'p.H left for t.'.i' fro:-'!. The lir-.t ioi went away ipiietly from the back of the camp, The'others'were givca -'-'- great seud-oli'. The mounted men cheered them with the greatest enthusiasm. When it was known that flnly infantry would be taken, To per cent, of the mounted force volunteered for service on foot, leaving the remainder to look after the horses in camp, but they were told that there would be plenty of work for them latet on. and their request was refused, though' it has since been granted. RTCTriWf OF THE -WOU'nIDBD. The greatest excitement prevailed when the wom-ded began to arrive. "\V« Km- in hospital at lleliopolis, at the l'alace Hotel," said Corporal Crocker. "1 was anxious to see them, but it was a rather ditlicult thing, for they were close ly guarded. .Moreover, the New Zea landers, we heard, were not coming into IHelionolis, but /eve taken elsewhere, but where we could not find out. -Most of the wounded coming into the Palace Hotel were Australians. There were a fe.s New A'ealaiiders, too. Tim i rains brought them right into the grounds. I think there were loOfl wounded soldiers at the Palace Hotel alone. The trains were very frequently arriving, and the staff was kept constantly at work.

STORIES OF THE IjAX'DI.N'G,

''We heard all about the landing from the wounded. The Australians made the landing, and the brunt fell on the Dth Battalion—the Qneeiislaiiders. They were specially chosen for the most difficult task by' Sir lan Hamilton after the last big parade as being the best men for the job. Well, the wounded told us that they got inta the, boats and rowed as silently as possible towards tno shore. The minutes passed, and they said the suspense was terrible. They were all expecting something to happen iNiy minute, but the boats crept nearer and nearer in silence until the men felt like crying out. Then it happened. They told us that the noise of the Turkish lire was like that of hundreds of machine-guns, yet it was gladly welcomed by the men, to whom the suspense had iiron a trying ordeal. And yet afterwards they'found only lt> ma-chine-guns in the Turkish trenches.

SACK ACROSS DP LI.KT-SWEFT

JJEACH.

'The bullets simply mowed them down. And then they' struck barb-wire entanglements, even under the sea. These caught some of the boats, and shell and shrapnel blew" whole boatloads out of the water. That is where som« of the missing went. Some were -picked up, but many were lost. Amid R hnil of bullets the men .jumped ashore, trembling with excitement, and eager fot the. fight. 1 forget how many yards one of the wounded said he had to covel over a bare, ballet-s.rept patch, but it wts two or three hundred, anyway. The men -were so intent upon getting to grips that they did not fire a shot. They w«nt up the first hill like lightning, and with a grim purpose. They bayoneted every Turk they came across. One chap told us some of them threw,up their hands, hut no quarter was given; the men were made with the lust for killing. AN AUSTRALIAN' -WiAiR CTu', "To show you how commonplace phrases stick and become famous. In Egypt t'ne horses used to be taken out anil .sheltered under the palm ties. Natives used to come along and try in sell boiled eggs. Their cry was, 'Eggs a cook. Eggs a cook.' The men didn't want, them, so they used to say, 'lnishee, Tallah,' which means, alo! Clear out!' Well, the wounded told us that when the Australians charged with the bayonet they yelled at the top of their voices, 'Eggs a cook! Inishee. Tallah! Eggs a cook! Inishee, Tallah!' It had become their war-cry.

"Snipers were everywhere, it seems, and" good shots, too. They picked olf the officers, and the men say that they acted almost entirely 011 their own. After the ono hi" hill' there was a succession of smaller one, and they took three altogether. Snipers also shot the stret-cher-hearers who went to tend to the wounded.

"The wounded men stated that the Xew Zcalandors did not land till 10 hours later. The .Australians, who had obtained a footing, had to stick it out on their own all that time: the Turkish fire was too intense to allow of reinforcements landing any sooner. We heard that ,out of the Queensland Hattiilion. which is over lOitO men, only ?.S turned up with whole skins. One thin" the wounded are sure of—all of theni are unanimous in saying that, if anybody hut the Turks' had opposed the landing, not a man would have set a foot on shore alive. From what I heard, there cannot be much doubt about that, worX'W.R nmAUKKi) rom noras LATER. '•The Australians did not know "iu;h about the New Zcalandors, and T was »(>t able to see any of our men. Do you kno.w- that four hours after tin: flfjlit the transports 'were steaming back loaded with the wounded. It seems funny when you think of it. Only a few hours between health and injury. Most of the wounds were bullet and sliraipnel. One man had a- shrapnel burst near him. and a bullet hit him Ht the .back of the hat. Tt passed through the crown, and, striking the brass badge, twisted it all up and caught the bridge of his nose. He had other wounds, too. "The Turks wed the latest sharppointcd bullets. It had the star and crescent on the base of the shell. The wounded also sav that the enemy used expanding bullets. One or two men who were struck in the forehead had tie top of their heads taken away Jhe wounded looked very serious. It was not hard to see that they had been through a very trying time and had not not over their impressions 0 f war at first hand. Tam sorrv T did not see r.r.y Keirf Zealand wounded, hut it was not „„,,ible The wounded began to arrive !,, f1... en.l of April, nn.l w- left «n