THE DARDANELLES

Taranaki Daily News, 28 December 1915, Page 5

THE DARDANELLES

A MILITARY MIRACLE. THE SPECTATOR ON THE WITHDRAWAL. Received Dec. 27, 10.30 p.m. London, Dec. 27. The Spectator says the withdrawal from the Dardanelles was nothing less than a military miracle. Every unit and every officer must have been carefully coached and the minutest timetable arrangements made. The Gallipoli staff has shown that they can achieve the most difficult work with a precision which the Germans must envy. The hard task ahead is the smashing of the threatened attack on Egypt, where the enemy will fight at the greatest disadvantage.

TOCi OUTSPOKE' WHV ME. BARTLETT WAS CALLED HOME.'; . Receive Dec. 27, II p.m. London, December 27. An article in the Sunday Times .asserts that Mr. Ashmead Bartlett at the end of May sent home an outspoken despatch, giving the real position at the Dardanelles, which was not passul for publication. Mr. Bartlett, when in England in September, saw several leading members of the Cabinet and gave them his views. He was requested to draw up a memorandum, which he did, de< laring that the position was a dangerous iir.passe and could not am,-en! frontally, as gas attacks might drive us into the sea. He made alternative suggestions, which included securing the Bulgarians' co-operation and the Bulair landing. Mr, Bartlett, after the Suvla failure, and in defiance of the censorship, sent a strong letter to Mr. Asquith by a courier, denouncing the conduct of'the expedition. The British Consul at Marseilles seized the letter, and Mr. Bartlett's connection with the Dardanelles ceased a few days later, on War Office instructions.