FROM THE FRONT.

Taranaki Daily News, 3 July 1915, Page 10 (Supplement)

FROM THE FRONT.

«S». . COOL lI'AKI.V!;. Ji'.i'i I ,' r nn; <: ii.onuls i'\iL":;irr. I , (Special Correspondent Sydney 'Sun). I don't know iiDU- o'licial de-patche-, > talk, I,ut men \vi:u loiivjit i:; [he ra .. 5 ,,, i incuts dei-laic (!i:it ih'iii-.h onicer,, in' heji j authority Miy that, , on .iiieriug ike cni?>-nioti.-i handicaps mid:'!' which the Australia great diliiculty <u' t!:<-li- ta-d:, „ur mo,. j.ei'|-.,ru:ed seme of the bc.i, work iu-midlary hi-tor;.. that praise j <>■ too ;;:'(•;;;. but Loin what'l have heard I fro:!i the lip, of wounded fellovv-Austra- j Kt»vi".-, from tile i:ieu wia> were tilei'e. There are wouadcil ineii overV whore—-tii-y are iU , Alexandria, at tins llena ir<)'.; e Miliia.ry Do-uital, by the side „i' iriir-'f. an lieieii: at Zeiia'n, at Abafiali: nt the I.iiiin Park Skating Rink. Various ;:i,'t:,"e shows, and (he Ka.-r-e!-Nil Pan-arks Hospital, Cairo. aLo at private houses in Cairo and these wen;, at a moment's notice, turn,', i into hospitals. •''Horn-:;' ti:a.\' .muxs." when th-v retreat ',! from Mens, in Euro;:", v.a- bail. But ;l man who has nt iMmn was nl-o prcs-nt at (he lauding »f our troops at the Danianolios. and lie says that the murderous- hail o:' shvapdel and machine-gun and ri!!e lire to which the Aml.ralians v,-rc subjected outdid {he. fire „i" the Conuans at irons. Anil yet. under this awful punishment. Australians, when forcing their hod'ictliroue.li tin- liarkod-wiro entanglement* which ran out into the water at the Dardanelles landing, were cheerfully yelling tiie ragtime song. "He'd have to get under, (Jet nut and got under!'' Ana one 'Australian, as lie landed on the beach, had his knee shattered hv a. Turkisli lmllet; he fell down. and. heedless of hisfbloodv wound, looked 1111 at his mate, held ont'liis liand, and. aping tlie manlie!' of bogging Aral) boys in Cairo, said with a grin. "('Jihhit backsheesh!" IVhat avail are the shrapnel and rille bullets | of the eni'inv against spirit such as that? At ■l'cna House Hospital many woundcd told mo their stories. "On Similar morning." said Private Leonard .Brown, of the Seventh, "about four o'clock, two companies each (the others fame afterwards) from (he !!l!i, 10th.'lltli and 12th Australian Te/autw Battalions, from diil'erent ships, nut oil' ill bonis tow'd liv steam launches or rowed liv bluejackets, for a liav on the l : ;uropean side of the Dardanelles. As Wff came in to shore I noticed it was hilly and scuhby country, and T remember that there were swarms of birds living and whistling all over tiie 'place. There was one boat earning men of the nth .Battalion, which I noticed striking the barbed-wire entanglements. The boat I was in just missed the barbed Wire. "CITATUJK WE DID!" "As soon as the first boatload landed the -enemy opened (ire. They kept it up all the time as the other lioats came, and T tell you there was a row! Well, when we landed Ave took off our kit, the order was given to fix bayonets and take cover,'and'w did, and then the order was given to charge, and charge we did! We went for our lives! Shrapnel and machine gun lire was playing right along our front—right along the beach. ft was a bit awkward for us. too, because it was only itirly morning, and we couldn't see, too v.'ell. Their snipers gave it to us hot, too. These snipers were, concealed in holes, dug straight down in tiie earth, with hushes laid around the top to conceal the snipers' heads. The Turks' machine-gun lire was particularlv hot. T might -av. on the right flank—that's where the Ninth were, and as vou've no doubt heard, thev got it hot, AUSTRAL-lAN* SING •• D;>LLY (J KAY." "But were, the Australians downhearted? Not an inch, laddie boy! "Why, they were as happy as Larry. They were singing all sorts of rag-times and other songs, and one I reinon/bor they were fairly shouting, and that. was. '(food-bye. Dolly Cray!' Yes. and when we were coming to shoi-, I forgot to tell yet, before, we saw the Turks there, and our boys were, laughing and cheering, and they were calling out to the Turks like the natives in Cairo when they bid goodday, saying 'Saeda.' (Pronounced Sareedar'). STTOT UNDER WATER. ''We advanced about lire miles, and the men of the 4th (Battalion came along to help us when we had gone about three or four miles. The fourth were fresh, because thev hail had a meal, though only a small one, and a short rest, on the. beach before coming along. What annoyed me was being hit before 1 got a go on. The bullet smashed these three lingers ]'v" got bandaged up here, just as 1 was getting out of the boat on to the, beach. Curiously enough, my fingers were just under water at the moment, but that bullet got 'cm. and T was so wild that I ran on a couple of miles with the fingers almost hanging oil'. ■ 'ATROCITIES OF THE TURKS. "We took prisoners afterwards, but not at the start. The. Turks are not the kind of fellows you want to make prisoners. So unspeakable are their barbarities that you feel you've got to settle them right oil'. We'took only one prisoner from,four in the morning until throe .in'the afternoon oh-that Sunday we landed. This man was a. sniper, and he had.been iii the top of a, tree. Luckily there were few trees about. He had .fourteen wounds, and was still going strong when "we got him." Here 4'rivate B. Allen, of T) Company, J>th Battalion, who also has shattered lingers, could contain himself no longer. "That's right,'' he said. "The Turks are too atrocious for anything to take prisoners. One of our Army lledical Corps men put a, wounded man of ours behind a bit of scrub, and went to collect more wounded. 'When lie came back the poor chap's eyes had been put oat." „ TURKS ABE COWARDS. ( 'The Turks," continued Private Brown, taking up the running again, "seem to light all right so long as they are winning, or think they have an even chance of winning, 'Hut against that they seem to be cowards at heart, and T think they are cowardly. As soon as ever they see you right on them with the bayonet, (hey drop their guns and run. Or else they stand and: put up their hands and , say, Inglese, mercy! Inglese,, mercy!' They can't Btand the bayonet, yet they

have, bayonets themselves—good ones, ami longer than ours, ton. Wliru you got right tm to t!n>m with the stYci, yuu'w got iliciii dime. As for being can't shoot, with (li'.i riiio Ice four aj.chille l/lllis of inr.r. »iif lis a !>,,„ i'mee. ilia liioir mi;;.,-.-:, ale good. -,en not has a whistling fouml, ami though f .',ore to bad timing, still it, ,li,i a' ierioe Ki:.!.i-::j in tuf jwiat;. poor fimps. -Thr ..raeeort-, took us from .\lixnmii'iu. to ike Isiand of Leiruns. in tin:ir i, '.illlco, i'.la.i IVil With iill'lY for eigllt week'-, Dinning. We used to practise Sometime, at ui-lit !'ml si,ire; -illcs ill l::c liai. how we would lain! at far Gardens'. ■. Wo ii-i'd io scuule down rope do a charge up tin- shore. .Wo left the troopships at Tencdos, and t-uiiit'. up to mere '..,■ mmio our landing in from whi.-h v,o put oli' in till' sinaii in..us. as I liavr told vou. ■ ; '. "Tho-a biuciaYkets cormhi't resist the opporio-ii;, lo mac a.'-c/rap. \\ here I. was t'i'i'ia- were four hluoj.ekcis to a big?, doing .tiic rowing, an! aft.a- they hrd done a few trip:, thry rook ike riih'S and aa.'.iiuniton ui the st,!di,4s v.'an were killed as the boat was being .-owed GnilvllAS Uihr-KE.

Private Brown went on to describe l:ow, whin tk '. artiihTV was beuig put ! pulled on the rope to got a big lan along. •

Some i i' tlie 'pullers had only imi sound i arm, some only pile sound |eg,"and sonin I ware wounded' hi arm and log too. At \ ■mother tine- one Australian, shot live J Turks after he wasbadly'wounded in tins, j knee. T!ie Australians v>ec efin-coing, as they went into battle, and the j Ghurkas, who were handling guns on unties, also shouted coo-re. The 'Gurkhas ! ;l i-(> said to have behaved with, groat cool- j ness. "They went along when the lire i was heavy," said 'Private- Brawn, "just • as if tlii'.y were walking down a street in I ]ieace time." Ghastly wounds were j caused in- bullets which glanced of!" red I. pebbles on I lie beach where Private I P.rown and his mates landed. "When I one of those llattened bullets got a man j

savwh're near a vital part," remarked Private Crown, "that was pretty well the end of him." On one occasion twenty Audraliaiis are .Iclared to have charged a. trench held liv iM'ty Tiirks, and ,0111jiletely routed them.' On another, an Australian major, who was surrounded bv foes, was relieved by some of his men. '('live them what they would have given me, hols," called the major, and the lads did. Brown noticed besides Australians. New '/. 'nlaniters and Tommies, many

ilirkhas anil 'Krencl'iiTiien fighting for the \llies at the Dardanelles landing. "Ther« Here also.'' he added, "many of those big Mack chaps who light for the French— Turcos. And when we were brought luick wounded the ollicers on the battleships were terribly pleased with the work w<% had done. The wounded who were with me. were brought oil' shore in a small boat, then on to a trawler, and then on to the hospital ship Gascoyne." •• I GOT TimEE SNIPERS." Tiie next. Australian T saw was yonn • Private Olden, of the 7th. "I got three snipers," was one of his first cheerful remarks. "And I want to tell you this—you Light liorse chaps needn't bother about sharpening up you bayonets. Th.-y are quite keen enough just as tin y arc. 1 didn't sharpen mine after it, was issued to me. and it worked quite well enough. What's it like to be in the I'mng line? Well, I felt from the start that I didn't give 11 diui'ii, out souiethiiig happened, in which T was very lucky, that sent me aflrr the Turks' gor> harder than ever. I was lying down, firing, and had three chaps from the litli P.attalion lying beside me. Along came some shrapnel, and one of these chapi was practically cut. in two; tlie other was killed through being hit horribly in the stomach. The remaining one was wounded, but not killed, and I got, oil' pretty lightly. It made, me feel a bit ipieer. \\ bullet came sideways as I was going to shoot, and went through my forearm, just helow the elbow. T think it was a sniper who got me. ' "There are 110 boys amongst the Turks. From what T saw of thorn they were all over thirty, and solid and uuggetyt—just, about our size Can thev run? Wrlh did vou ever see Nigel Barker run? Some of (hose Turks simply (lew at the sight of us, and some of them are running yet! The country was rough, scrubby and hilly —too much so, 1 thin!;, for tlie Light Horse." ' '

I had a few words also with Private Arthur llibbert, who comes from' Goulburn, and was with the 2nd. He has an arm wound. '•Did yr.u hear the story about the wounded Gurkha, and the wounded Turk? They were on a. hospital ship bringing (he wounded from the Dardanelles to Ah'xand'ia. The Gurkha had received a vry bad wound iij tfyo leg.- . Tt must have caused him tcyVibKajoriy. jrnjt in the night he got out pijii-i berth and dnH'ged himself to wficre the wliundeil' Turk was IvinCr. Tie haJl-'tl*- Turk almost, strnneled to death before dhey :ouhl pull him oh*. ' e .

After we had landed in Turkey we were uning to.lnk-e'aai attractive-looking' path 'that would have saved us a hit of walking, when a Turk'dashed out from cover and motioned us ntit'tp. ' We then found that the ground along the shortcut had been mined. Had we taken that route w> would . liaVe- been" blown to pices. Anyway, theTurb was taken on nine of our ships to , Alexandria, where through a Turkish girl interpreter it was found that the man was a priest, and had been forced to ffglit against the Al-' lies. Tie saved many lives,by warning us about that, mined ground, so we should he duly thankful to him." ntTiLER AVE> T OET): One could collect from enough stories of even tlie first (lav's fighting at the. 'Dardanelles to fill sufficient book's to make a small library. They sav that one batman greatly distinguished himself. An officer leading a body of infantry wavered a moment, and iu that moment was shot. As he fell (he batman dashed up to him. whipped the officer's sword from its sheath, and doubled out in front of the men. "Come on lads." he yelled, "and we'll knock the stuffing nut of them!" The men dashed on. They Ray, too, tliat there was one big Australian infantryman who sigbted a machine gun working havoc in our ranks. Tlie big fellow extended one hure paw in the. direction of the gun. and closed the fist aa though he actually had it in his hand. With hand thus held out, and

straight up lo tl e machine gun, and got unite I'iiw' to it M'i'or.' iu- dropped to llle chorouslv knifed le a Turk vko 1r.. ; ! ,ei mri.'.:■'.• Y. oreei. Eof M.tcnginv. (::■ the bll-'ier'o wound. 'i'lii, ~ .-.'id io !::a ■ -o ior.v ..I -,..-ii.- of tile A.olraliam, that of tin: Turk, the b.iiieY