THE DOMINION'S PART.

Taranaki Daily News, 30 October 1915, Page 7

THE DOMINION'S PART.

TRENCH FIGHTING. TALES FROM GALLIPOLI. BY THE TOPUA'S MEN. (From Our Own Correspondent.) Wellington, Oct, 28. Tales of life in the trenches were to be had in plenty from the returned soldiers who reached Wellington today, with brief accounts of the fierce bayonet rushes that have varied the monotony of sniping and being sniped. The New Zealand soldier can hardly be said to have taken kindly to trench fighting. Frankly, he does not like it, and he looks forward to the day when it will be possible for him to fight across country, and put into practice, to the discomfort of the enemy, gome of the field training that, he received before his departure from the' Dominion and during his stay in Egypt. But in the meantime he takes matters as they are philosophically enough, and the modest narratives of the returned men make it plain that the colonial soldier is supremely adaptable. The troops who took part in. the original landing at Anzac Bay settled down to trench warfaro as to tile manner born, and successive reinforcement drafts have joined them there and learned the art of living underground amid the bullet-swept ridges and valleys of Gallipoli. The incident that looms large in the minds of the men who reached Wellington after transfer from the transport Tofua is the big battle of August C-10. The "Anzacs" had clung for months to the shallow semi-circle of country, backed by the sea coast, that they hart wrung from the Turks in the original attack. A trench had been won from the enemy here and there, and many gallant efforts had been made, but the battle that began on August C was the first reallv big effort that the Australi-

is and New Zenlandcrs had made. Tim result was a brilliant victory at a terrible price, and the net gain was very great, though the failure of supporting troops at another point robbed the colonials of part of the fruits of victory. The men wore not surprised to learn that (lie retirement of the general who had directed the Suvla Bay operations had been announced.

'•'We had known for some days that big events were in the air," said one of the returned men. "We got an idea afterwards that the Turks had known it too. They were surprisingly well informed about our movements. Shortly before the attack our officers explained to us clearly what had to 'be done, and' we waited for the signal for the initial night attack. I can toll you it was nervous work waiting for the order to get out of the shelter of the trenches and push an attack that was to be earned far beyond the limits of the ordinary bayonet charge. We were to do no shooting in the night work, partly because of tile danger of killing our own men and partly brcause it was hoped that the Turks would not realise at once the full extent of the attack. I looked at my bayonet with new interest before we started. It. did not seem a very big thing to stand between me and an unknown number of hcfl.V Turks, who were going to be disturbed at the hour when tempers are short. ''Well, the order came, and we surged forward. My memories of that night are a trifle confused. We seemed to have been scrambling over - rocks and round bushes for quite a long time before we met the Turks, though I heard some shooting and shouting on either side. Then we were into a trench, pushing and jabbing in the dark, and not thinking about anything much except the necessity for getting there quickly. The training manual lays down the rule that a half-hearted bayonet attack endangers nobody but the attacker, and we had learned the truth of that. The colonials, as a matter of fact, alwavs had the best of the bayonet fighting, and the Turks seldom waited to try conclusions. The morning found us in temporary entrenchments, still a good long way from.the big hill (Hill 9"1) we were making for. The artillery was banging away on both sides; we. had lost a lot of men, and generally the position was hot and uncomfortable and rather exciting. And we went on fighting that day and the next day, until finally the position was consolidated. We had gained something over two miles and made the position a lot more secure than it had been before. Some of our men had got to the top of the main ridge (Chunuk Balir) and had seen the Dardanelles, but we had not. been able to hold tiiat position, and we had not taken Hill 971. We learned afterwards that supports had failed on the left, owing- to some miscarriage of plans in connection with the .Suvla Bay landing. I don't know the truth about the matter, but I see it has been mentioned in the cable messages."

ft was at Chunuk Bahr that the Maori force suffered very severely. The Maoris had been about' six weeks on Gallipoli when the big attack was made, and all accounts show that they acquitted themselves in a manner worthy of the finest traditions of their race. "They were gluttons with the bayonet, find they didn't stop for anything," said one admiring pakeha soldier. But the conditions of tile fighting were terribly severe, and the ranks of the Maoris thinned with appalling rapidity. Forty of New Zealand's brown warriors went down in one charge over less than fifty feet of open country swept by the enemy's rifk fire.