WITH THE ARTILLERY ON GALLIPOLI.

Taranaki Daily News, 18 December 1915, Page 11 (Supplement)

WITH THE ARTILLERY ON GALLIPOLI.

BIG SHOOTING AT THE TURKS. PREPARATIONS FOR WINTER. Some very interesting letters descriptive of the work of the artillery on the heights of Gallipoli have been received by his people from Gunner Eric A. Bloomfield, well known in Auckland, mid amongst ills fellow King's Collegians as "Bio." Gunner Bloomfield is the eldest son of Mr. W. Bloomfield, Mayor of Takapima, and left with the Main Body as a member of the No. 1 Battery of the Field Artillery. In a letter received some weeks ago the writer repudiates the suggestion that the Turks fear the bayonet, and says that they are not so frightened of tho steel as most people had been led to believe. It was the fact that the New Zealanders and Australians were so handy with that weapon that caused all the talk. "There is only one gun which engages us now and then," he continues, "but to-day her shooting is very bad, I think she is short of ammunition. We have not had anybody killed since the move started and all our guns are sound and working well. Major McGilp seems to be pretty well liked by the boys, though they are nfit all Aucklanders. We had a pretty tough time carrying our ammunition up the hill for a few days, but the column is here now, and does it for us. We have been firing with our gun a bit to-day. She's done the least of the four up till now, but we are in a new position, and get plenty of targets. I fired 49 rounds. It's the biggest shoot I have done so far, though some of the layers on the other) gun 9 have been at it all day and half the night at times. They called our gun the •Neutral' for a while. We were laid on a road waiting for a target to appear, but JohnhyTurk was too shrewd and kept off it. Another time we engaged a gun called 'Silent Annie,' and although we fired round after round at her she would open out again when we stopped. But they got cheeky, and brought her too close, so that when our infantry advanced they captured her. She was Jug in, and covered with Bin 6in timber and sandbags. No wonder we could not knock her out. 'There's one thing I miss here, and that is music. There's none. We have had none for so long that nobody ever attempts a song, and seldom do you hear even a tune whistled. The Indians sing, but they sing like bagpipes gono bung, with a bad cold in the windpipe—a high, squeaky wail, rising and falling without any rhythm or tune. A decent ragtime would cheer things up wonderfully; but no! this is war, and our music is the scream of shells and the ping of rifle bullets, accompanied by the rattle of machine guns, punctuated by the boom and clatter of artillery. It's music all right when one has become accustomed to it, and lulls one to sleep at night if one is real tired, as the sound of the sea or the patter of rain on the roof will do in times of peace. But it is not the kind of music that Tjath charms to sooth the savage beast.' '■' The rain has kept off for the last few days," Gunner Bloomfield writes in a subsequent letter, "though we feel the cold already, having been through a spell of about is months' hot weather, and our blood is pretty thin. Still, if they issue woollen underclothing we've plenty of blankets, and we ought to get on all right. I have nearly finished my winter house, though I do not know what to do for a roof. We are expecting a load of timber shortly, and perhaps I'll he able to get. some of It. lam putting a small fireplace in the show so that Til be able to keep tilings dry if they get jlMa.

"The major has not been too well lately, but I do not think it is anything serious. He battles a lot for us, and gives some very good shoots. Johpny Turk over there has not had a rest since he took over. "We are expecting to make a big attack soon, but of course nobody knows when it's going to come off. If it is a success I expect we'll have to shift our psition. More work. Anyhow, we won't have to climb this hill any more, that's one consolation,"