CIRCLING ACHI BABA.

Taranaki Daily News, 19 July 1915, Page 6

CIRCLING ACHI BABA.

ADVANCE OF THE ALLIES. At:NT!'tdk ok the task. AN AUSTRALIAN CHARGE. ir.ucADi: MA-IHR'S Tin' latest i'. ]!<>rt i:T D.ird.'.m Hi s up-r.i-tions reacned here l.y 'I hr.r-.l, t y s mad anil is dated .Jnut l 1. ]n it ii csrrospimdent of tin' Melbourne Ago furtli-r information regarding what is known a:the battle of Aeh' l'ulm oil May <>, 7. ai.,l S. and tells ill" the aib-sequent operations. Tin* rliarjj" »f Australian troops pvit open ground and a: ross a slope swept !>y a liot lire from umrliini'-jjuas. iiatt r's -, and liiddeii Turks in the trenches described. The charge was support! d mi till' right by the French forces, and »u the left I'.y the British and N'ew Zealand brigades. The front jriven to the Vk*J«»r«;ni lads was approximately 1 yards wide. The rijibt Hank lay oil the road into Krilhia. a. mil" : : >',:ay. anil (lie h-u in the dry b.'ii oi a i reek. Towar i ti; - load direilrd lie.- l-hgnth ih'.Uii ii-n under C.iptaiu I : - -Mc, vho wounded e:li iy in Ike 'e._V . ' til" > ill 1' half llie front, ciwrhj; "H) yard-. ••••;•, llnSixth liaitali'-n. Tiie reservi s. w'.o \ ery soon bog,in tiring. v.ri'e the l-'ii'tli a,ad Seu ntii Hattalii.a-.

>.IKX UTTKTU.Y KXliAl'S'i'Ki). The ground had beer thorougM" re ciinnoitrcil during the luorniu". and at •J p.m. en Amy S the brigade moved ir.t < a depression, where, for the second time during the last two days, they dug themselves in. lb)"d!y had the bil.talionsettled down when messages at "> i>.'e. ordered the attack with the remainder of the line, which stretched acres:- th" peninsula. Tile regiments moved out in isolated, close!,'-formed sipaads at I'm yards i ntorva's—a format ion specially adapted to facing artillery fin l . Th" Turks were dropping sh'dls qmmg tlx advancing columns, but tlu-ir formation was such that it save the troops a maximum anio'int of safety. When they commenced to mtnv 'forward move rapid!' - and deploy iiita skirmishing order, bullets began to F.iul their limrk. In addition to a ritle. each man had an entrenching tool, and the weight curried was i-r SOIb. Men dropped from .-dicer exhaust ion jn that charge. Doctors have treated many e-is.-s. of men v ho had i.o wounds on their Ix.dics a! all. The fir.-t line laclt'-d lirr:!'. - . but th.' advance went en. The rerervi s swept over the Inst r.rUish trench. The Australians wear forward with tie- elicerof the l'riri-h so'diers in th. -1 trcnchc.. ringing ir. their ears until they found the Turks Their old position was still held by frdhni and ISriliili tveoi>;. The Australians then entrenched on the "round tin y had won, and that ground thev held awiust all attacks.

VICTOiUAXS IX DAXidust as the advance was t" a (dose Urijzade Major Cass, who wv.s leading the right flank with the utmost gallantry ar.d ci olncss, w as several times wounded, ai:d fell on his face, injured internally. A bullet had shattered his shoulder. The rcsirves by this time had passed into the living line to till the gaps which the enemy's bullets hud made. Oneo again the centre troops iiad pushed ahead of those on the right and l-ft flanks, 'liiey had not yet reached their objective—no troops couhl have done .-o and lived-but they were Hearing it. The French on the right y ere still in the trenches, and between the road and left, flank was a gap of t 'lof) yards. Major Cass gleaned something of the situation as he lay on the ground unable to move. lie belie;cd the Turks were firing up the gully. 1 almost, parallel with the road, into the British, and were advancing to enfilade the Australian line between tin- French and our right. H was when n bullet pierced his other shoulder that ho felt sure our position was critical. A brother officer came up and found Major Cass scribbling a note. He could not move either shoulder, but , his forearm , and hands were uninjured. Three messages—two of them verbal, and all telling the same tale- were sent back from the firing line by him to th. l brigadier- who was himself wounded '.iy this time— ami to the ofliccc command ing tlie "])r:tKe"' (the naval brigade!, which the Australians had passed iiv their advance. Emphatically, the note showed tint danger threatened, and that ahc Turks would cut off the Victorian section unless the French came up in support, or ether troops were thrown into the bnaeh. Two companies of the "Drake" brigade therefore advanced, and made the bnc secure, while the Krencli crossed iu on tlie left. Not until reassuring messages were sent him on this point did Major Cass cease his ell'ort io make good the fault, although he was hit four times. He was rescued aid carried back o:i a stretcher, improvised' with an overcoat and two rides, to a dressing-station, where he gained sum; relief from the "burning irons." as he describes the sensation of the bullet' wounds.

EFFECT i'F CLOSE RAXGK FIKK. During the night the encm.v tried li) repeated counter-attacks to win back the lost trenches, but they never go witlru -0 yards of the line of bayonets. Knowing the value of fire withheld for close range, our troops, strengthened bv reinforcement.-,, waited and then literally swept the enemy before them. The worships from the flanks and the Kreneh '•seventy-fives" from the rear were shelling the Turkish positions and m xt morning, when the line was further advanced and the whole position acros= the peninsula was consortiatu'i, it wi.s seen what fearful execution our fire had done. The Australians and Sew Zen* landers hud suffered heavily. Thiir regiments were reduced to the .strength of companies, but the enemy left thousands 011 the field. The Turks evacuated the village of Kritliia, but we could not then to take or hold it. Meanwhile the French, by a bayonet charge, lu.d gained an important hill on the right, and were holding it against all attacks. On May 10 reinforcements begin to unv.e for the British trooos On the night "of the 12th there was a further attack on the exi:em-> U ft. of the position along the edge of the dill's. It was the commencement of ». new (dan of the Allies to envelop the hill of Achi E'iha. and for the present to lav asHe the idea of taking it by direct assault, floneyeoinbed with trenches and tunnels, and with tiin. guns mounted near the crest, the hill is a formidable objective. The first move around the right flank was carried out by a strong party of

Curklias, who established themselves under cover of darkness in the eliifs directly west of the town of Kritliia, where there was a eleft in the wast, When tile Australians left on the I'.ltli it wanot possible for the troops to advance alonjf the peninsula further to til I '.!' Krithia and Aehi liaba by direct assault. The French had gained a hill on tic riiilit of our line, and were threatening the enemy on their left Hank. Where the warships were supporting them tic Krencli were holding the Turks in check, .but they were unabl" to silence the tiia. J Willis mounted behind Aeh' Haba.

SLOWLY PIIIvSSIXO l-OllWA!!!). "It will be a rather tedi'UH w-b we a'inj dov.'ii (he lor.g-prepal'ed Turkish defences," writes the correspondent. "Surely. li»u!i,'.!h slow ly, the Allied line is forward. They are diji.Lriuu their way up to tin. l TurkA pushing tnr\vard 111e communication trenches teiidinn' at anii ,, Meanwhile t 11" warships and the heavy liuns which hive lieen landed are s"archii!;r the hi 1 .!, une can wo from the battleships riiVe after rid";- of the enemy's defence*. ITom a.n aeri'plane can be detected th; l places where the Turks' Gin. jiiuis d;sa;>pe:ir under-iround. l!ow far tliev are run into the tunnels it is impossible vo but they cai;not be rcaclu'd by our lire, (bi this the enemy ba-'.v his belief that the hill is impregnable. The whole (ontnur of the hill is clrueied by shell-lire. Closing thus (;n both Tr.rki.-h fhmks. the Allies are fl l re 11iin;; Ids communications. Kach day the line creeps nearer, cbi.siry like a vl" 1 on the pi .^;':.ioi!. "The Allies' arlillery wrnl; has ber-i jna;iniiicent. One wlio watched tin* I'Tcitrli advance on the lit li and lliih t"!U me that as the blue line of' the Krc:vh Ie;:ion went on, shells from the 's< venry]>urst about oO yards in fro:it of them, clearing the way as mine-sweepers do for battleships. Military oilicers declared that they (piite appnviate thf magnitude of the task in fro; t of them, and that it is to be a hin<; one."