FROM EGYPT TO GALLIPOLI.

Taranaki Daily News, 22 June 1915, Page 6

FROM EGYPT TO GALLIPOLI.

TflK A LI.IK!) EXPEDITION. ' 1 A MIGHTY FLEET OF BATTLES] lll'S AND TRANSPORTS. Thr following is the diary of Lieut. !!. I). Ilardic (Pahncrston N'orlh section! • of the pitof (he Allied expedition , against the Turks at Gallipoli J'enin-[ iiula: — I Friday, April !). 1 ' Left -Zeitung Camp for Cairo; caught early train for Alexandria. I am ad- . vance transport, officer. Train journey from Cairo to Alexandria very interesting; sealery en route laautil'ul along the delta. Alexandria full of British regulars and French. French soldiers net a patch on ours; they pay m; great respect, saluting our X.C.O.'s. The harbour is crammed full of transports. Went aboard our ship, Itonus, and had dinner in town in the evening. Alexandria is similar to Cairo, only not so gay. i SAIL FOR LEMNOS. Saturday, April 10. Troops arrived at daybreak, and vc embarked immediately, and left in the afternoon for Lemnos, where all the troops' rendezvous for the Dardanelles. Towing two big barges and a steam launch for landing. Sunday, April 11. Beautiful day; Mediterranean very calm, Hoyden McDowell is on our ship. Had church service. TIIILiSA'KGEK BREAK AWAY. j April 12. fjpecial drill for submarine attack; taking no risks. Passed numerous islands all day oli' Creek coast. Barges broke away at, dusk. Lowered boat fully manned, but weather too rough to get same and captain refused to let men leave the ship. Tuesday, April 13. Circled round all night to keep near the barges. Very dangerous sea owing to so many small islands. Sighted barges at daybreak close to big island. Had a very exciting time trying to get them. Two officers and crew put off to them and got them, but they broke away from us again with the men on, and drifted towards the shore. We followed, and got rather close inshore and had a very exciting time. We rolled 'heavily, tossing all tho furniture and crockery all over the place, and throwing men to the deck. Of course, we had to keep stopping and turning in all directions. Our biggest roll was 31 degrees by the, engine room indicator. We hid difficulties in picking up the officers again, - and another ship appeared and stood by us, thinking we were in difficulties, as we, were getting so close inshore. We got the men aboard at last and abandoned the barges, and all wore relieved from anxiety when wo were under way again. * | l TIIE GREAT ELIZABETH. j Wednesday, April 14. Arrived at Lemnos. Met during the night by warships and escorted to harbour, and anchored at 7 a.m. Lemnos harbour is full of transports (about 40) I and warsjhips of all classes (about 30 1, 1 besides torpedo destroyers and submarines, including 81l (which penetrated t<> the sea of Marmora), and a host of mine sweepers and small craft, also seaplanes, etc. All the. men-o'-war a> ■ French and English, with one Russian. The Queen Elizabeth, our latest Dreadnought, is here and is anchored quite near us. She is wonderful. Her funnels show where shrapnel has hit hey. We rowed all round her to-day. The sights we are now witnessing cannot have been surpassed by any other during tho war so far. We are waiting for another French division. AT TIIE RENDEZVOUS. Saturday, ApHl I!). This last day or two we have been I ashore, route marching. Tin; villages ) are quaint, and the peasants (Greek) are most homely and simple. Olelfashioned windmills tin* grinding corn are all over the island. Crops are only fair; the soil is sandy. A TRANSPORT TORPEDOED. j To-day we received news of a trans- I port having been torpedoed in the Med-1 iterranean en route here from Egypt, j A Turkish torpedo boat, under a Ger- 1 man skipper, fired three torpedoes. Two missed and one struck, but failed to explode. Every man for himself was the order, and the boats wen; lowered, some capsized, and GO werp drowned, j 1 I he torpedo destroyer had no more j ; ammunition, and departed, and was later finished oil' by a British cruiser. The troopship concerned arrived to-day. j THE ARMADA SETS SAIL. j Lemnos Harbour, Sat., April 24. During the last week we have been Making preparations to proceed to the 1 Dardanelles, by practising disembarking, 1 etc. To-day Ave havo been issued witn 1 maps and had the, orders and plan of action explained. Every man has to 1 carry three days' rations, and 200 rounds ' of ammunition, as supplies will not be 1 landed until sufficient ground is gained, liming tho afternoon all cruisers, e?tc., and transports left the harbour in their turn to take up their positions. It was a grand sight to see the transports . leaving, and cruisers and Dreadnoughts ' sailing majestically past, with bands ' playing, and in their battle array. Great 1 cheers were exchanged with the 'ships in ! harbour. In all there must he 80 transports and 40 incn-o'-war, exclusive of ' submarines, and a host of torpedo destroyers and other small craft, such as - mine-sweepers, etc., We have a most ' important part to play in the attack. ' We land in a small bay north of Gaba 1 Tcpe point on the western side of the i peninsula. The British and French land in the south and attack and join up with us later. [On. the next day (Sunday) the New Zealand and Australian Brigade flung < itself ashore on the beach at Oaba Tep<? 1 and captured the dominating heights bv 1 assault. This portion of Lieut. Hardic's 1 diary was published in yesterday's issue. • Fighting continued on Monday.] ' ■ 1 CREEPING UP THE HEIGHTS. Monday, April 20. Heavy bombardment, and fighting started again at daybreak. Our balloon ! and sea-planes, reconnoitred at dayliglit, -

and then a most terrific bombardment followed from our ships. It was found that tiie Turks were reinforcing and strengthening on our left. Tons of earth flew into Lire nil' from the Tnrkn' trei:e:ies on toj. and face of the big hill (in our left, and our men could he. seen creeping up steadily and pouring a murdeynii" lire on to the enemy, j. dkaojinu up /rjiK <irxs. The Turks evacuated their pnsili about midday, wlieu our cliap.s <.. ii■ >.. ; ', the main top u.oir right, ami.' the artillery now ash.,re was seen beiiu; ! draped by the men to the. top of a low ridge „n our Hank. Four guns were 8 „t j/oiiyf, aiid went like mad all day, doing great work, Dm- itifantr,. scurried up )i u , hill-fiiee, and could > S"cn entrenching. More t ,. ouj)S v . (l|v »<>»' as],ore, and our ri-lifc wi„,r, wm , seemed to he well eslubUXIMAOIXABLE THUNDER OF Ti'V (jUN.S. The thunder and screaniitu: of the Sims was unimaginable. Tile Queen Elizabeth and other ships came up lo us today, and knocked things about over the other side of the hill, where the Turks are reinforcing, and also on the topmost high hill on our left where Turkish wellconcealed batteries are worrviri"' us The Queen Elizabeth just about sdiifts the ■whole hill when she starts. I. am a.'ivfully anxious to get ashore and Stive a hand, hut we canot discharge until 'Ae li ive taken suilk'ient ground to enable lis to land stores. We are anchored (piite close, in. so I am forced to : be an eye- witness. Casualties are not so numerous to-day, although a great many wounded have cvtr.e aboard. I A lurx OP smunxET;. To- night the Tniiks are sliellijf our batteries now established on our right and it looks as though our chaps must'be getting it had. Shrapnel is falling like ruin all down the face of the hill and 011 the 'beach where our reserves arc duff in. Oar -diips are replying at intervals, and are paying attention to the Hiill on our right where the Turks have some batteries, which are annoying us, and threatening our left, and which arc haril to locate. Several shells have been fired at the transports, but they hare all fallen round us into the water, and no notion lias been taken of them, being only shrapnel. 1 IS'I I BLL'S AiMOXG TILE TRAXBPORTS. Tuesday, April 27. During the niglit t-he Turks continued a heavy shrapnel fire all down the hillside. searching it laterally and forward, paying particular attention to the rise with our howitzer on. They must be ibringiiig guns from the forts on the other side. At intervals our ships replied. This .morning, before daylight, we were awakened, on board by a tremendous explosion right near us, and found huge shells, evidently coming right over from the forts, falling amongst the transports. .Several dropped very near lis. The scream of shells coming was very weird. They were huge shells and must have ( been coming from the forts. All transI ports shifted at onee further out. Our i aircraft went up to observe, and immediately our ships started a terrific bomibardment, wSiich lasted all day. The Turks must have received substantial reinforcements during the night, as they are shelling our men very heavily from the high hill on the. left, and occasionally Turks can be seen on thin hill. They are there in. force, making > a desperate effort to turn our left, but our slhi'pa are giving them fits. AVEIJjIXCTQX INFANTRY LAX IDS. The Wellington Battalion, which has liee.n dug in on the beach in reserve, were launched this n\orning to support our left wing. We could see them scaling the hill under heavy shrapnel fire. Oh, | to be there ! Our howitzers on the right, -wihic.h were dragged to the top of the hill yesterday, were lighting continuously, although they were shelled all last night, thev must have done good work, as they were firing right along the ridge to the left, where the Turks still had some well-concealed batteries on the high hill. Our aircraft have been up all day directing fire, and there lias been one prolonged war—ceaseless cannonading—on both sides, but the Turks trying to turn our left are suffering tremendous losses. , The forts from the Dardanelles continued all day to shell our warships and transports, and we have all had some narow .escapes. Their observers must • be good, as everytinie we move out the shells (follow. ' BACK TO ALEXANDRIA. 1 More wounde/1 have been brought , aboard, and general Walker came, aboard and ordered our ship to return to , Alexandria immediately, and then come back. We are much disappointed, but as stores cannot be unloaded, T have to return with the battalion stores, etc., nnd come back, which will mean a mat- , tor of six days. To-night, as we leave, ' the bombardment has slackened somewhat, but the Turks still continue to rain shrapnel down our side of the hill. ■■ 1 ■ ■ 1