MOUNTED INFANTRY IN ACTION.

Taranaki Daily News, 25 October 1915, Page 6

MOUNTED INFANTRY IN ACTION.

CAPTURE MORE TURKISH TRENCHES. AFTER HEAVY BOMBARDMENT. Gallipoli Peninsula, Aug. 28. The New Zealand Infantry Brigade has not been doing much fighting lately, but a section of the New Zealand Mounted Rifles Brigade was again in action yesterday on the left flank. They participated in a hot fight, and again acquitted themselves well. The fight was in the vicinity of a low hill —known to us as Knoll 60—situated in the broad valley to the westward of the Anafarta villages. At this point the Turks held a strong position, and it became necessary to dislodge thein from =.ome of their forward trenches. With Iheni wfxe associated in this advance a force frjin the 4th and sth Australian Biigades. In all there were probably net nioie than 2000 of our troops engaged. The fight was preceded by a bom- 1 bardment from land, artillery, and the guns on the ships off the coast. Our own artillery, which had been to some extent redisposed to meet the situation, did effective work. The bombardment started at 4 o'clock in the afternoon, the guns of the ships and destroyers, the field guns of the 9th Army Corps, the howitzers of the 69th Brigade, the New Zealand field guns and howitzers, and the Mountain Artillery participating.. In the preliminary bombardment, which lasted for an hour, our howitzer batteries rained high explosive shells to the number of about 500 upon the Turkish trenches, the great bursts of earth that the registering had been successful and sand giving clear demonstration and the sustained fire accurate. The effect was seen afterwards in the enemy trenches strewn with dead. Meantime, the field guns had been busy sweeping the approaches to the objective by which the enemy might send reinforcements, and aslo in shelling the Turkish trenches farther along the ridge to the southeast.

The enemy artillery was kept well in hand until the actual assault was launched. Then the firing of one battery of "seventy-fives" was effective, the observation being good and the shrapnel bursting low and generally ai the right spot. The New Zealanders during their advance captured one of the enemy machine guns, and 10,000 rounds of previ-ously-captured Turkish ammunition was sent up to be used on the enemy per medium of their own guns.

ARTILLERY AT WORK. At 5 p.m., after a brief pause, the artillery switched on to targets right and left and farther ahead, and the infantry advanced to the attack. Throughout all this bombardment, the enemy had held his fire in restraint, and there was scarcely a Turk to be seen. Now, as our men clambered out of their trenches there was a great burst of rifle and machine-gun fire, and shrapnel from the unseen Turkish guns also began to burst above thevn. They; made a very gallant forward dash and gained the trench on the left, but they were heavily bombed, and after a good deal of fighting found that they could not hold it. The Australians on the right, turning a corner, found a Turkish machine-gun playing on them at close range, _and were unable to make much headway. The New Zealanders, however, to the number of 300", assisted by 100 men from the 18th Battalion of the Fifth Australian Brigade, advanced gallantly and detreminedly in the face of a hot fire, and captured three of the Turkish trenches. The Auckland and Canterbury men were in the first line, the Wellington and Otago men in the second line. The New Zealanders found the first trench still held by Turks, and these were mostly disposed of with rifle fire, a few being bayonetted. In the second trench there was scarcely a Turk to be seen, but the third trench, which captured a machine gun, was captured only after very severe fightimr. One young New Zealand officer had a hahd to hand fight with a sturdy Turk, who, before lie was finally disposed of, succeeded in wounding the New Zealander. The officer had had his rifle shut away and the Turk on his entering the first trench bayonetted him in the leg. They fell upon one another at close quarters. The Turk, using a sharp pointed table knife, wounded the officer in the arm. Meantime the latter was feeling for his revolver, but, the case being a new one, he had some difficulty in getting it out quickly. After a little more of, the knife and the rough-and-tumble the revolver was unholstered, and then—"mafeesh" the Turk! The officer carried on for several hours, and then his leg gave out.

In such narrow quarters as a captured trench the fight, when it has passed the stage of ruse contre ruse, often becomes oue of pure physical superiority. The jab from the bayonet, and even the bullet from the rifle are interdicted by the limitations of space. In this particular contest one stalwart Australian who was minus his rifle and bayonet, had a Turk jambed up in a corner and was sailing into him with his flats in-truly orthodox style. Needless to say it was the Turk who eventually went under, he also being minus rifle and bayonet.

COLONIAL LOSSES. Our losses were considerable, but the Turkish losses appear to have been much heavier. There must have been nearly a thousand Turkish dead in the trenches before the evening was far advanced. In some places they were piled two and three deep, and our men advancing up the trench, had to scramble over their prostrate forms. This was in quite the early stages of the night, and was a tribute to the accuracy and effectiveness of our artillery. Our machiue guns and the rifle fire acounted for a good many more, 'so that altogether the Turkish casualties must have been severe, especially for a defending force in a strongly entrenched position. This afternoon when General Godley went out to review the position, the Brigade was formed up and in a few words lie congratulated them upon the excellent work they had done in this campaign. He referred to what they had accomplished on Walker's Ridge, and also to their particularly brilliant performance in capturing the nearer Turkish positions and covering the attack of the assaulting columns on the night of the fith August. Their exceptional gallantry in the hand-to-hand fighting that took place in the darkness in most difficult country on that occasion would for ever rebound to their credit, and would, he felt sure, be looked upon as a stirring page in New Zealand military history. He feelingly referred to the death of Colonel Bauchop, who was mortally wounded while gallantly leading the Otago Regiment, to the lost

of Major Chapman, who was killed while leading the Auckland Mounted Rifles, and also the loss of Major Overton, of the Canterbury Mounted Rifles, who just previously had made a difficult and dangerous reconnaisance of the country to be traversed in the darkness by one of the assaulting columns. The regiment had fought with great courage and endurance. Notwithstanding their reduced numbers' owing to the heavy casualties, he felt sure the spirit of the Brigade was as keen as ever, and he knew that if he wished to call upon them for any special effort there were no troops that he could call upon with more confidence than those of the New Zealand Mounted Rifle Brigade. Last night the New Zealanders and the Australian Light Horse attacked again in the darkness and got to the top. of the hill, capturing further trenches. The brunt of this attack fell on the Australian Light Horse, who fought splendidly. The fighting was largely with bombs. MAHENO ARRIVES. Yesterday, the graceful lines of the two-funnelled luxuriously appointed Maheno, the New Zealand Hospital Ship, appeared in the Gulf of Saros, and she quickly steamed to an■ anchorage beside a sister hospital ship. She arrived just in time to enable those on board to form some idea of what a battle on a small scale is like. Doctors, nurses, and crew, were spectators of the afternoon's bombardment. All night long her blaze of golden light gleamed on the calm waters, awaking memories of their own dear land in the minds of many a New Zealander. All long the doctors and nurses and attendants were busy with the wreckage from the battlefield. This morning, with a full cargo, she lifted her anchor, and, the foam flying from her propeller, disappeared across the horizon.