WAR NEWS.

Taranaki Daily News, 7 August 1915, Page 10

WAR NEWS.

■MORE HCimxC THAN THEY TllOUntlT I'OS.sOULK. "STILL RIGHT AFTER IT." "I am writing this from my luxurious 'dug-c.nl,' guaranteed bomb-proof and with everv convenience," sav» Private .1. 11. llilbu'rii, late with Mr.' ('. 11. Prow. lYciv Plymouth, in a letter to a friend in Wanganui. The writer has been through a lot of lighting. Landing on the .Sunday night, they were "marched straight into it." and bv Mondav night had seen more lighting'than thev ever thought, possible." lie -ays: "Wc reached the ring Kite at dusk, pacing on the way a considerable string of wounded,bringing home to us the seriousness of the whole business. That night we made Mime shallow dug-outs, smil waited all night for an attack. It, came in the morning, when the enemy at lacked in force. At lirst out particular sector was unmarked, and we were able to do coib-ider.i'bie damage, but after a while wc got it hot and strong, both with riih- lire and shrapnel. We. however, now (May Lit) injoyiug a well-earned

rest. "I'por old .lack went under on the u'cl'.t of Alav -. when we were altaalciug a hill held very -trongly by 'the enemy. lie appareiiliy .stood up fur just, a second, but that was enough, and he was shot through the ', hesl. My chiiin was shot a few davs later, and a couple'of days after 1 heard (hat my brother in the Canterbury regiment had gone under along with all hi- chum-,. " "In spite of all our los,cs wc are still ■lied,l after il.' and ready at anv lime to show what N',-w Zcnlandcrs can do. 1 am so far unhurt, but have to '-unless ; that at time., I feci rather lonely with-i-nut my chums. I am not afraid of being hit, for if a man can come lb rough under a luckv star. •■.lust a few davs a-o (he Turks made a. big attack, but 10.-l thou-and-. and ye-terday was a great, day-an armistice being arranged to dear awav the bodies which were everywhere scattered around, the enemy leaving their trenches and we ours, and meeting halfway." In a later me -age Private Milburii re-fe-s to (he worn:.line- of hi- chum (W. T. Oriihths. sou of Mr. W. (irillilli.-. oi' Cllen D.u.ci. since reported as having died oi wounds mi May tf. The writer -a,vs: " 'iii!!,' (wo other- i„,,l niv-c'f w'crc .■•■os.-ing a si'ebt bill in order („ ~,-„. cure sacks which were urgently needed for the trench. We knew the place was carcinaly lUingeroii-. and lunseunenUv doubled aero-,. We were ju.-t ell lop of a slight, rise when the enemy turned a machine gun on us. Why thev didn't jhag the lot of us t don't know, but they caught Bill- We immediately lay down, So that the enemy were unable (<v : ee us, and set, to work to get Rill out as host we could. He was quite conscious in spite .uf the fact that he was shot in three different places, ami helped us to

Hii> best uf liis ability. By dove, he was game,! We liiid to lio down all the time and pull liim along the ground, ami pretty rough it was, The doctor said-it wr.s a had case. A short time afterwards a chap in the same regiment— Tlmrlow by name—attempted to cross the same spot and got seven buUK-holes through His grave is just alongshlc where 1 am sitting now. Later on in the afternoon we had to go back Hie seme war, fortnuateh' without, accident."'

LIVES SOLD DKARLY. _. ; OYER 1700 TURK,LSI! DEAD. Writing from the Dardanelles under date May 2S. I'rlvalc. \V. J. Henry, of the Medical Corps, says:—''These has not been any heavy engagement lately, though, of course, i.asualties <ome in at wiy time, as the fighting continues miint'eriipledly. \Vo had an annistica a few days ago, for the enemy had been terribly punished dining an .attempted charge. One of our officers snys lie counted 1700 dead in the area of an acre before our trenches, and that was not all. "When our chaps went over the ground to bury our own.killed, lliey found one or tw 0 incidents worth telling. Two men were found dead, and one was clinging to the hack of-the other—they, were chums. Perhaps both Were wounded, and the other was trying to crawl with tin- other on his. hack, when the ma-chine-guns got them. A New Zealander was found with a Tark transfixed by his bayonet, while, four Nor.' /ealandcrs 1 was told this by a padre who saw it—"Th,. New Zealand" hoy'-', as well' as Ihe Au.traliau.vare go: cough soldiers for me. The Curkha- I'l.'.ilation has not Mill'ero.l. either. .v,me of (hem went mil one night to liud two snipers, but ,-1.111,1 not |;ej them: but found a niii'diim-giin. Next uighl they went out for two machine-guns and returned with six. The weal her is wvy -pleasant, and. a- the organisation for -ending up stores and water is very good, no one'sull'ers. Ibon in the trenches (he food i- hot The wounded are able to bo seen to at once and operated „,, „ the beach within halfanhour of injury.'' - WORK 01.' THE MONITORS.

'I lie appearance cf llio Severn :iikl the Mor.vy in i|„. |;,|(lsri !tivt-j-. Kast Africa, l» wreck tin. IvoiiUi-bcn,:. is one more ■U-.-tiiiiuiiy io (he »f the move mi the part, of Hi,. Admiraltv when it !<■"- »vrr tin-., (.wi, vcsscl-ami 1 li.-iri-mi--:'H. the Number, al II inbreak c!' ihe war. 'l'lic three ships had ju.-t been constructed in Kmjhind for the'lirazilian Ihivorwiioiil, and Ihev wore at. llio time imi(|ii.. iu the warship line, Thcv were lniilt for river work, ouch having a dis plaecmoiil of about \2M tons, niid (hoc arc so Hat that Ihcv draw only r< feel of vvalcr. Air. Archibald TTii'rd, in do-s-c.iiliing (hem. points out that about onethird of the displacement is represented by armor; in oilier words, each vessel carries just over -illl) tons id' protective ■"■■'"l'ial defending her tubs and her

guns. They mount, moreover, an armament of two Gin guns, with 1001b shell, two howitzers with 4.11b shell, four three-pounders and six rifle calibre guns. Hnth monitor can discharge evgry minute no less than one and a-half tons of metal. Nor is this all. They have a speed of 111 knots, and thev carry su.'lieient coal to enable them to travel 4(li» miles at economical speed. It was, of uiuise, never imagined when they were designed that these vesels would be as-L----ed to traverse the sea inure than uncoon their way to lira/.il; yet during the trials uf one of (lion) the water was so rough that ."iflOO-ton merchant- vessels had to seek ■shelter—and (he monitor, built for river work, held her own. (hi; fact about the monitors was particularly galling to the Hermans when they were operating oil' (be lielgian coast, and that was that they were'able to defy Cue submarines. Their immunity was probably due to a technical diliiculty. which baulked the enemy. As a rule'the Herman torpedo is set to run at about 12ft below the surface; "mil (he draught of the monitors is only li feet, consequently the torpedoes passed harmlessly beneath them. There were six of these monitors ordered in ISrita'ii by life I'.ra/.iiian (•'overument.

The -tore ,<f a daring exploit is told in a letter from i metnber of the :ird Au-tralian Ih'igade. ('. 'L. V. Smith, son of Mr-. .1. Siui'tli.'llrigliton road, llemiiera. "t'nder cover uf darkness." writes the soldier, "the Turks drove two sans to within live yauls of our line-, The dawn revealed the two danger points, strongly protected by sandbags. The .situation being report'ed to brigade hoadi|ui.r(crs. an instruction came hack that tiic -ap.s should I'l- destroyed forthwith. S-ecia! men \wvv .selected to form the two assaulting parties, which carried picks au,| -iio'vcls for o,'molitiou work. At 1 o'clock in the afternoon :«) men swarmed over the trench (up, and were

gr,-ted with a withering lire. lialf-a-dor.eii I'eli back dead or wounded, and the red endeavored t n nicer the pallrv few yard- to (he sap heads. -Another 12 w.re knocked over in the .scramble across t'e.- beans of dead lying on that V-.IT. One party turned the Turks out of a -an and were then compelled (o retire, h-eving the demolition work to be done leiev. The second uarlv bavouctled the occupants of (he point il assaulted, de--ir..ye,l (lie sap. and occupied the head. No word came from tile nine or ten men lore for s, vcral hours. Firing at all points was iuees-aiil. and communication by word of mouth an impossibility. At li-i a written message was thrown back in a cartridge ea-e from (lie lieutenant ill charge, savil;- thai lie had several wounded niee. whom he would endeavor (■•« gel back afler dark. The „|M or had th ■ satisfaction of accomplishing his pur-pc-'r.

As is e.onorallv known, the Kid f'anal Was designed Io enable the (".Vninui lie d to operate olfectivdv and .piir-klv in cither the North Sea or the Haiti.-. When the locks at the entrances became 100 small for the newer tvpes of battle, ships and cruiser.' the canal lost imah of its military importance, and it was decided to widen it and construct eTc.iter

locks. The work was undertaken in 1901), and was completed fully half n year ahead 'of schedule time, owing '.<! the army of workmen employed and organisation of the highest order. At on" time the entire, sixty miles was a. continuous workshop. The most difficult and costly part of the whole scheme was the rebuilding of the locks. Kadi measures 11,'illfl. in length, ÜBft. in width, and 40ft. in depth, being larger in every way than the Panama Canal lochs. The Kiel Canal lochs can be, if required, converted into dry .docks, there being two at each end.