WITH THE COLONIALS.

Taranaki Daily News, 24 June 1915, Page 6

WITH THE COLONIALS.

MEN UX-DER HOT FIRE. )ASH FOR TRENCH KS AT ti ALiLIBOLI ~ (From Captain p,ean, Official Correspondent with the Australian Forces). The following cable message, dated Alexandria, June 8, was sent- Irom Claba j Tepe. on Mav 31: —■ 1 -Fighting lately J.as been almost con- j t fined to that jiortion of our line known < as Qiiinn's I'or-t, . where the Turkish i ti'enche.-i and our own arc within a lew yards o .f each: other. It was here that . the Tunes temporarily rushed a acl-tioß | oi a trench early on May 2'J. 1

'Liiat night the 'i'uixs sapped uj) to two holes,"or craters, which had been uiiisc;! by an explosion of our countermines during the previous week. These craters were within three or four yards of our trench-. By morning the enemy bad turned them into bomb-proof shelters at the middle. Our artillery bombarded the enemy's trenches. Two small parties of Light Horse dashed over tiie parapet. and could bo seen thro-whig lioiii'bs like cricket-balls do\«n into the craters, and lunging with, their bavonets, although falling right and let't. Then they hopped down into tin; | craters. A furious bouilmnimeufc <>,■> Turkish boirJbs followed. One -party came back in four hours all wounded, < The other party, although all wounded i except two, reinaiiHil till nearly mid: ! ni'flit. and fortified the crater,_ which we ! p J}] retain. During tliis action it heI came the duty of some of our machi::--1 gunners to keep down the fire ot the , Turkish uiailiine guns. •<.

Yorwi orxxEß's bravery. fine ftmiier. a young h°»i ?. al " main engaged two Turkish machine cum of which he knew the .position, and wiped out t'he crew of ope.. The TuriS obtained a second crew, and-for. me minutes .endeavored to hit our gunner, j Whilst the Turkish gun gradually felt 1 for him—'witli shots creeping up on one i side of the loophole, then below, thei; across the top, ripping the sandbags, to i bits—h.e continued firing without -paying i the slightest attention to the danger. Finally tlie- enemy's machine guns I blew the sandbag <>IT the parapet, and I presently reached the gunner, who tell ; wounded witb another member -of the

gun's crew. The "eneral connmanilins. ■ who happened to be. present, saw the whole, epir sode, and told the youngster, as he lay wounded that he intended to recommend him, for the. Distinguished ConductMedfil., -Tlie youngster raised himself v.*. best he could and saluted. \ T EAV ZE-ALA'NT-ERS IN - HOT - CORNER. Tlie trench beyond; our left, which the >V,v Zealanders took and held for- 4.8 hours, was afterwards enfiladed-by Turkish artillo-y, and 'became rntpnable. The iiitorilanders therefore retired during tlie dark to the old position. lAU the troops here are in splendid fettle and well fed. The enemy's at. tack of May ID was directed by General yon Sanders. I have heard men sa.y that, they only hope that he directs some more attacks. In a despatch dated Caoa Tepe, Jnr.3 | 2, Captain Bean says:— | I It is now possible to state that the brigade whiclv made the .magnificent. I charge described in my cable message j i dated May 0, was the 2nd Australian

Infantry Rrigado. (.UK (Ith, 7th and Btli battalions, from Victoria), commanded by Colonel J. AV. McCav. (In his previous cable Captain Bean described how a. brigadier, with sword drawn, had led his -brigade of 4000 men in a great charge across bare shrapnelswr>t country. flu- brigadier is now identified as Colonel ,1. TV. McCay. Victoria, who >vas wounded in the thigh). On the same day the New Zealand infantry advanced most gallantly, in the face of a very hot fire, -losing nearly as many men as the Australians did. "YOU HAVE MADE HISTOKY." MajorGeueral Godlev, eoninmndin'g portion of the New Zealand and Aus-. tralian forces, addressed the 4th Australian Infantry Brigade (which includes t'he 14th -Battalion from Victoria), commanded by Colonel J. Mon.

ash. The men were sitting over the whole hillside, which resembled the gallery o* a theatre, and they were enjoying their first well-merited rest. "You have heen." lie said, "five week's in the trenches, fighting continually the Whole time, and have never been free from shells and rifle fire, to say nothing of bombs. You have always been in utmost din and turmoil. You have made military history for Australia as fine as any troops in -the world could have made.'' . 1 The Turkish work in the second crater ' outside. Quinn's Post was blown up by j us last night.

LATE GENERAL BRIDGES. GRIOAT WORK AT A CRITICAL TIIME. Tn a cable from Alexandria dated June 0, Captain Bean states: — The los-a of General Bridges eame as a real shock to the wdiole of the Australian -foivcs. I believe few peonle in Australia, even those in the military forces who knew him well, realise what a great soldier he had proved himself when it came to the teet of a very critical and difficult operation. He was ifiown to be an able, administrator and a good organiser, but many of tbor? who admired his ability and capacity for hard work in the time of peace scarcely expected him to rise to the level of a great general in the operations of war. From the first, critical hour of landing Ocr.eral Bridges showed qualities rot merely of a capable general, but of a great soldier. During the firs't operations, especially in the morning and afternoon of the first day, administration was naturally carried on under conditions which might easily have resulted in the utmost turTOoil. 'Every unit which -went into the hills sent down at some time that day urgent appeals for reinforcements. Sometimes. even, companies sent down direct to headquarters -messages that they "ould not hold on much longer if not reinforced. Some units, hard pressed, and cut off from their brigade or bat. talion, did not know where else to apply except direct to headquarters. Similar requests were* all day coming from- .some of the larger units. There was -no daub*. that all were urgently needed, hut. only few could be granted, because landing troops is a most difficult military pro cess." Able officers, whose opinions lio one here Would question, tell me that I looking back on that first dav, even with all the knowledge. -wWh tliev now have, they cannot think of one .-asc a' through those critical h'ur - . General Bridges allotted tl'" 0 " '-ei-fo'c, mcnts wrongly. All through Hie tumultuous dav. vrt-h the beach a spcthins mass of hindiiur troops, nnimals and supplies, the "i-n-r-'l w°s absolutely unperturbed. The da- he was in sole coniman' 1 ashore, the New | troops' landing was temoornri]- allotted to him. He never showed the least si"n of fuss or hurry. He allotted one company here and a battalion there—considered each case as it came in the light of the farts .before him.