THE GLORY OF THE COLONIALS.

Taranaki Daily News, 27 November 1915, Page 10 (Supplement)

THE GLORY OF THE COLONIALS.

BRITAIN'S GREAT DEBT After the first German gas attacks we were permitted to know something about the magnificent behaviour of the Canadians. Tilings trickled through the censorship. Gradually we learned here —it is the only way of learning things—how heroically the Canadians held their ground, with what elan they had fought; how they, indeed, saved a peculiarly difficult and dangerous situation, caused by the suddenness and novelty of the German gas. But to our surprise little was said in the press. It is only indirectly that we came to hear of one of the most splendid achievements in the war, and, to tell the truth, we were not a little surprised—wo who had rather resented the debonair conduct of the Canadians on our shores, we who had rather sniffed at their (shall I say?) apparent want of discipline.

Yet when the shock came these were the men, these were the heroes. Their conduct on the field was by common consent magnificent. And wiiat about the other colonials—the Australians and New Zealanders in Gallipoli 1 Almost the same secrecy has shrouded their doings, their comings and goings, and even their conduct on the field. Until quite recently, when we had an official account of the terrible fighting on the peninsula, we had no reason to believe that the colonials had done anything extraordinary in this war of surprise and multitudinous feats of personal heroism. But gradually we are learning a little about the Australians and New Zealanders. One is not allowed to say much, for fear the censorship may regard it as of some military value to the Germans. We can only, therefore, refer in general terms to their military acts, and this we can say right away, that their conduct on Gallipoli has Been one of unexampled bravery, moral and physical tenacity.

HEROES EVERY ONE. Somewhat like the Canadians, they began by being a little bit unruly and rather offending our notions of military conduct in time of peace. In Cairo they larked a bit boisterously; perhaps one may say to-day that they did get a little bit out of hand. However, there were reasons for this, which, perhaps, it is desirable not to enter into here. Then came the opportunity, and off they went. They are there to-day, hanging on to the crests, heroes every one of them, and we are not allowed to know about it.

They are giant men; tall, spare, bigboned, broad-shouldered, gorgeous specimens of men, as the result of an open-air life and rough conditions. To look at them one would say they hate fighting, and yet, according to the tostin/ony of all who have seen them at wdrk, they fight as if they loved it. We may say this: Gallipoli has been held by the Australians and New Zealanders, and in the great fight at Suvla Bay their conduct stood out and will live in military history for all time. The difficulties were stupendous. It is hard to imagine a more desert, rugged, and precipitous place for an offensive than the narrow peninsula of Gallipoli, defended by a maze of machine-guns of the very highest quality and manned largely by Germans.

The great enemy is want of water, all of which has to be landed in boats. When the flies came life to the men out there was literally a plague, and no more trying conditions can be conceived than those of the Army holding out under constant fire of the enemy—a fire which goes on night and day, searching every corner, from which no single man can he said to be free. The New Zealanders on the great occasion at Suvla Bay carried oil the honors, I understand, with the Indians. The impetuosity of their attack, their superb courage, their endurance and indifference to suffering and death, have certainly never been surpassed in war. I don't know why these, things have not been told us in detail. I cannot imagine why some Australian has not been allowed to write about the achievements of these men, to tell us the story. But there it is. We have only the official despatches, with an absence of the very personal note, which makes it very difficult for us here to realise the nature of the proceedings, far less the positively stupendous deeds performed bv the colonials on that occasion.

The Galltpoli expedition has, indeed, never been understood by the general public, who fail to understand that we are there engaged in absolutely develish ! conditions, of which thirst plays an allimportant part. Though it is a secondary campaign, far from the main* seat of war, it is a war in itself of a magnitude such as we have never been engaged upon, and, as we know, the casualties have been enormous. The Germans have always spoken about it as an adventure. They do so because they are well aware of the enormous military difficulties, the necessity of frontal attack, the impossibility of manoeuvre, and the great military advantages in the hands of those who dominate the hills and points of observation which are still in possession of the defenders. The Gallipoli war is in its way unique. To break through will be a feat unparalleled in war The public are greatly deceiving themselves if they think that the Turks are a second-rate army incapable of fighting. They have fought with great defensive bravery and endurance, and on the whole they have fought cleanly, far cleaner than the Germans in Europe.

But war there is very bitter. Men who go out to pick up a wounded comrade are sniped at. Each side knows what failure means, each side has taken an estimate, of the other, and we may picture the scene there as one of hourly give and take, every livng thing shot at, a matter of sheer bloodshed all the time. This is the kind of life our colonials have led there from the beginning. Perhaps no other troops would have stuck it in the way that they have; sometimes almost mad with thirst, with bread as a luxury, holding on there as we Imagine some story of mediaeval romance. We can never repay to them what we owe thorn. We can never be grateful enough for the great fight they have put up. But it seems to me we ought to know something about these men. We ought to realise what they are suffering for us and for the EmpireW T e cannot be sufficiently proud of our Australians and New Zealanders.—Austin Harrison, in the Sunday Pictorial.