The Dardanelles.

Taranaki Daily News, 21 June 1915, Page 5

The Dardanelles.

: roSITIOX AT COXSTAXIXOPLE. ; Times and Sydney Sun Services. London, June IS. . , llm « correspondent at Constantinople says that Turkish families arc emigrating to Asia. The recent success of a 'British submarine lias alarmed tlic Council of War, and several Turkish destroyers have been specially detailed to pursue the submarine. The activities of the Turkish ileet have teen markedly restricted as a consequence of the exploit, and if the attacks are renewed it lias been decided to sink several old ships in the narrowest part of the Dardanelles, so as to restrict the passage. 'Factories are closing owing to the lack of coal, and the Anatolian railway will shortly cease running, the print pal cause being the destruction by tl Russian fleet of the collieries at Zun: ueddac. There are four German submarines s Constantinople, one large and thr< small. The former arrived via Gibra tar. tllie others being brought overlaii' German diplomats are trying to pe suade the Turks to cede Dedeagatch 1 Bulgaria, in the hepe of avoiding rupture. NAVAL PRISONERS IX TURKEY. Received .Tune 2!. -i p.m. Melbourne, .lime 20. Official advices received from the oil "c-ers and men of the submarine AK2, pi soners of war in Turkey, sav tliev ai all well. THE POST OF HQ:WR. GALLANT BROTHERS IX ARMS. THE FIRST CLASH WITII THE TL" 111 Dr. Deakin, of Perth ('W.A.), one Ithe Australian Armv Medy.-al Corp writing from the Darilancllos, says tin 10 tue Australians i*iV,;l the. Xe-.v landers was given the hardest job of a They had to land on a beach overlook! by hills, and after landing they we exposed to fire from botli flanks. "How they did it," he adds, "is a ma vel, as no troops should have b.:en a-b live it. Lots were lost landing, especially officers; and thS im on scrambling ashore with fixed bay nets had practically no officers. Oi battalion lost twenty-one out of twent, nine in four days, and these most! in landing. From the shore you go u the side of a cliff by a winding tracl This was covered by the enemy's rif] and gun fire, and so nil the rcinforci ments and everything else have to ru the gauntlet. "The general staff is living in duf outs at the foot of the cliffs. It is really steep hill, and bullets are comin over and down the hill. Shrapnel an spipers account for a few of them ever day. Similarly, the hospital on shor and the wounded coming off in boat get pattered round with shot, and oeco sionally some are killed. Altogethe it is a warm spot. The Turks arc play ing the game all-in. The white flag i abused, and their men dressed in khak and with Red Cross bands on the! arms use rifles. A number of thes were surrounded, but they were not tali en prisoners. Our men have come aeros our wounded bayoneted to death am some mutilated. "Our men have had the highest tri butes paid them by naval men at tli Dardanelles. They say they are wonder ful fighters, but at present rather rash They want to get to the bayonet ever time. They say there arc about <loo< Germans with the Turks, mostly wit! machine and other guns. I could tel you lots of tales of lieroUni, of ,t!n wounded helping the wounded, of mei fighting on after the,- were serionsl; (injured, and of men blinded bv ham grenades staying in the trencher <tiggiii{ dugouts for (heir mates for two day, after their injury. One man apologias for being a coward when he groaned ; little when I first dressed his eye. It bad had neither si ep nor food for forty eight hnur ; . ''You've read accounts of the groan: and shrieks of the wounded lint tile? are untrue of our men. Australian am British alike bear most frightful in juries uncomplainingly. The en'y one: who groaned were unn.iwimi •: Un>« ivho Were slightly wounded were np oi deck smoking, laughing ami playim mouth organs next (lay. The "The Australians and New Zealand ers," lv.' repeats in "have tin hottest sped in the war."