TURKS DRIVEN BY GERMANS.

Taranaki Daily News, 28 September 1915, Page 5

TURKS DRIVEN BY GERMANS.

EXPERIENCES OF THE AUSTRALIANS. London, Augui? U. <> An interesting account of the eqwrih eases of the Australians in the QtlHpoS Peninsula has been written by Jfir. 1% Mackay Millar, a young journiufct, whd went to Australia to study farming , methods and volunteered for active *as> vice. .Writing on July 28, he said:-* "A corporal called me to do an hootf! observation on the Turkish trenches ini front. As I took the trench per)acop«i and mounted the sand-bags that sened as a platform is the little obeerattoa dug-out) I became awaro of tht gnss stillness that had settled over the opposH ■',- ing lines. The fellows in the trench bfc > hind rqe were dozing and brushing ftWa-JJ 'the flies.

"The Turks behind the sandbags* just; ; fifty yards away, must aiso haw lift their loopholes to sleep in the warmth of the afternoon. 4s I looked into'tbs glass of the periscope and moved i(j'. sEghtly to either hand I saw the reflee.' tion of all tte long curving line. *I *ane> hags. Just in front of us wu • Oer- . man officer's trench, fairly hriitlutt, j)m we knew, with machine-guns. TjftQut, 200 yards down on our left the opposing' trenches were scarcely thirty yards •apart. This place is known as Qtrhra% Post, and tie fighting for its peeseesioa , has' been particularly fierce and sJmosl/ constant. "It was very surprising to find thct silence was now predominant over thk spot, the scene of so much fierce hand* to-hand fighting and endless bomb duels.. Time and again the-AustralkfiH at Quinn's Post had nuhed up tile stops] and drivto the Turks out at the b«y*t' net's point, fort had never been stik tg consolidate the position owing to eleven ly hidden enemy machine-guns widen ev filaded that trench. "One night about a hundred Miami of my company (of whom t made oatt had rushed across toe moonlit ipaef between the trenches ao qutekry that the Turks had not been able to fir* a shot. We went over their parapet ia 'a body, and after toyoaetinj tbe> fe* Turks wiho attempted to defend <tha|B guns, proceeded scientifleafly to fettle, these guns for s time.

"Then the Turks came down tMr communication en. mac**., tb* foremost of them throwing' hud grenades. We had done oar work, tied wer* ordered to get back to our tre*ea*e; The Turks were not able to do tatt* damage. Then we lined oor pemptt, expecting, and very dajriroog of, » coun-ter-attack. The Turks, lwmwr,-w«N afraid of the moonlight, and would noil leave their trenches, although no doubt urged to do ao by tn«b German officer*. Instead, they contented themselves with a heavy and utterly unless rifle fire, which they kept up till dawn. "Strange it ia, but a fact neverth* less, that something serious happens M the Turkish morale when they behold £ rush of men with gleaming brafntte. They seem to forget the beautiful tap. nets presented to then. It become* necessary for some of the German officers to get behind them to steady thei* nerve and inspire them with courage bjl training machine-guns on them! "1 have seen a regular band of Turk* ish prisoners being marshalled in one of our gullies by a group of Australians, and it came qut when the interpreter arrived that they were all of the belief that their laat hour had come. The looks of amazement and relief on their faces when gathered behind a barricade of sandbags in the gully, to protect theh from their own snipers, were' Bttrtmely edifying." • '