THE DARDANELLES

Taranaki Daily News, 4 January 1916, Page 5

THE DARDANELLES

THE GREAT WITHDRAWAL A BELATED ACCOUNT. PROBLEMS TO BE FACED. [Tlic following messages were released by the Censor in London on January 3.J Received Dec. 31, 8.30 p.m. London, Dec. 31. Heuter reports tliat tlie Turks counted upon the difficulty and danger of the withdrawal operations deterring us from attempting it, and with reason. , The probable loss of life was the greatest care of the high command, for none believed that the withdrawal could have been done without loss. The problem ,was to withdraw the armies, occupying d front of twenty thousand yards, which was hardly anywhere beyond five hundred yards from the enemy trenches and at some points was only fifty. The main Australian embarking tool; place on the beach overlooked by the Turks upon .Snipers' Kidge, only eleven hundred yards away, and if the retreat had been discovered it was certain that the Turks would have held up the force, and there would have followed a rearguard fight and bloody action all the way to the shore. The wounded and ■stragglers would then necessarily have [had to be abandoned, besides the guns. But the army managed to hoodwink the Turks, despite the talk of Parliamentarians at home, who announced I that it was common knowledge that General Monro favored evacuation.

THE WEATHER FAVORABLE. The second problem was whether the weather would prove fortunate. The weather in the Aegean can be calculated with remarkable accuracy. After the November storms there come three weeks of fine weather, lasting till Christmas, and then a violent'southerly gale ushers in really bad weather. The fine December weather obligingly gave us a margin of eighteen hours. The third essential was an adequate supply of lighters, steamboats, tug,, and trawlers, with an abundant support of naval gun 9. "DIDDLING'' THE ENEMY. The troops were in good fettle, despite the November blizzard. Everyone grudged leaving the place to the Turks, but were exultant at the manner in which we ''diddled" them. The Turks fired the usual daily quantity of shells, and dropped half a dozen 5.9 high explosives on the west beach on Sunday morning. Then they gave the Xalla Tiaba Ibeach a dusting, and continued firing at the usual intervals throughout the day, to which our guns replied.

THE ANZACS GET AWAY. By four o'clock in the morning everybody was off. Stragglers who lost their way in the labyrinth of trenches wore fetched off from..Anzac as late as 8 o'clock in the morning, and the doctors and orderlies who remained at one hospital to receive wounded, of whom there were fortunately none, were fetched off with the men who stayed ashore to fire the piles of boxes containing abandoned bully beef and biscuits. By daybreak every transport had departed, and only the warships remained. These began to fire on the beach, breaking up the piers, sunken ships, and water-tanks, on the principle to leave only charwood to the enemy. Then the Turks woke up, and their artillery blazed away at the fires, several big shells falling into the burning store's and on the beach. When they saw our battleships shelling our positions they perhaps thought we had gone mad, and were killing one another. Our only regret is that the Anzacs were unable to wait to witness the chagrin of the Turks when thev learned the truth. " * A HAZARDOUS FEAT. The withdrawal from Anzac and Suvla was the most difficult and most dangerous operation yet undertaken in •this campaign, and was undertaken at extraordinary hazards. Infantry, dismounted cavalry, guns, horses, mules motor lorries, Indian transport carts, the entire reserves of ammunition, and nearly all the stores were removed under the guns of a most powerful Turkish army, which did not realise that the operation had Ibegun until some hours after the last offieei-s of the naval beach parties had slipped into the picket boats and steamed awav.

Tlie Anzae troops at 2.30 in the morning exploded a huge mine between themselves and the Turks on Russell's Top, a neck between the two ridges along which it was not desirable that the inrks should follow. The Turks thought that the Australians were attacking, and kept up a furious rifle fire lor forty minutes.

FLAMES BLAZON THE SKY. Soon after a tongue of flame shot up Irom C Beach, to the south of Suvla. A great pile of food stores, which had been soaked with petrol, had been nred, and then more flames appeared on West Beach. During the last two hours of the night huge waves of flame reddened the sky and sea for miles around and columns •of thick black smoke towered for hundreds of feet in the windless air. Surely, we thought, this will vake the Turks. However, it did not matter, and the Turks were welcome to make the discovery now.

WARD PRICE'S NARRATIVE, A REALISTIC STORY. OF A GLORIOUS RETREAT. r Received Dec. 31, 9.35 p.m. London, Dec. 31. Mr. Ward Price reports:— 'H3ff Suvla, on the morning of December 20: "It ia over at last. Only six 'guns nave been left, which was done intenl wnally, with the order to fire them until the last minute, and then they were to he destroyed. The British army and navy, working hand in hand, achieved a triumph by their joint organisation which .will become historic. Every preparation had been made for fighting a desperate rearguard action, but nevertheless everything was deliberately carried out under the unsuspecting gaze of the Turks. Masses of men and material were brought down from Anzac and Suvla in an extraordinary short space | of time, and when the tally was taken the only loss was a relatively small quantity of bully beef, boscuits, and rice. Not evon a siiigle measroonx ca* was 'milting.

THE TURKS PUZZLED. "Several battleships then smashed tha breakwaters, which were built of old hulks, by shell-fire at short range. Though the marching and enibarkmg of the troops had been stealthily done, every Turk on the peninsula must have, seen the store-burning and the piersmashing, yet even then the puzzled Turks never realised that anything unusual was happening. It was only when the ships were steaming away that the Turkish gunners, in erratic fashion, shelled the beaches and places like Hill 10. LORD KITCHENER RESPONSIBLE. ''The final decision to evacuate Suvla and Anzac was due to Lord Kitchener, who visited the whole lines and climbed the observation posts at every point until the whole geographical and military ru'oblem was before his eyes. lie found it a front that twisted and turned at all sorts of awkward angles, making a bewildering series of unscientific salients, with the re-entrants almost along the whole line. The advantage of artillery positions was with the Turks. Suvla was a plaee of broad spaces commanded by long-range artillery; Anzae was cramped and small and under the lire of snipers, and the necessity for evacuation was therefore apparent." The last job ashore was the firing of the abandoned stores. The volunteers used time-fuses, which were only lit when the news was telephoned that Anzac was "all clear," because it was expected that the conflagration would immediately apprise the Turks of what was occurring, and thev would reply promptly with a furious'if futile bombardment. Things proceeded as smoothly as if it bad been a perfectly rehearsed and businesslike program'me.

TURKS NOT ANXIOUS. Yet with the Anzacs there was a distinct thrill, and it was easy to understand the silence that seemed to hang by a hair. It was not thought that an infantry attack was likely, as there were only twenty thousand Turks in the trenches on "the Anzac and Suvla fronts, but there were sixty thousand close behind in reserve. The Turks appeared anxious to avoid a fight. A deserter who surrendered said he was disgusted with the apathy of his countrymen, declaring that it was difficult even to persuade the Turks to enter the trenches. Our generals would have welcomed an infantry attack, for our lines were so that we could have done great execution with machine-guns and the ships had a splendid opportunity lot using heavy shrapnel. THE ANZACS "AU REVOIR." Many ingenious and deadly surprises were prepared for the Turks by the Australasians, who left many letters of kindliest farewell, assuring "Johnnie Turk," in colloquial Australian, that he was a good fellow and a clean fighter, and expressing the hope to meet again some day. The crowning testimony of good feeling was a gramophone, which was left conspicuously on Walker's Ridge, set ready to play the Turkish Patrol. LEAVING THE SLAIN. The night was one of brilliant moonshine, and there seemed little activity at Anzae and Suvla. A Turkish threeincher was desultorily bombarding the beach at Lala Bnba, and there was vigorous action at Cape Hellca. A fantastic variety of equipment was lying at Suvla—helmets (relics of summer), woollen helmets in readiness for winter) and wideawake hats. The troops came down the hillside at a steady gait, everyone feeling lucky to be alive to lean, the place where so many thousands oE comrades) lie in little barbedwire enclosed cemeteries, which were the hardest of all to abandon. The mountains stood out Mack and stern against the sky, a milk-blue mist covering the lower ground. Salt Lake and Smoothwater Bay both shimmered in the moon r.iys, but everything else >vas dark except for the points of golden light where fires were burning at this deserted camp and in the empty dugouts. Off Auzac the hospital sliips blazed green like brilliant emerald liners. THE LAST SCENES. Our guns thumped out their final round at the Turks; there was a peppering of rifle fire, intermittently indulging with the splutter of machineguns, but there was no unusual energy. Standing on the beach we had a splendid view of five great fires springing up one after another, at four in "the morning, when the store dumps leapt into flames. Boon they 'became a mighty bonfire two hundred yards long. Further along the coast, which the Anzacs had forsaken, bully beef was burning fiercely, and then there was a sudden spurt of flame and violent explosion on the crest of the ridge from a giant Australian mine, forty-five feet under the Turkish trenches. This was the Australians final act of hostility, and the mine was fired by electric contact when the last Australian was leaving the beach. It is believed that the explosion killed hundreds of Turks.

THE WITHDRAWAL A TRIUMPH. The withdrawal was the greatest thing of the kind that the British army has ever attempted, the navy co-operat-ing magnificently. The King telegraphed his congratulations to General Birdwood, who constantly visited Anzac directing the preparations and remained on the spot for the whole of the last day and night. It is a mistake to regard the withdrawal us a confession of entire failure; it is not a defeat, although the German flag was next morning flying on the top of Lala Baba. Anzac will take a proud place in the list of battle honors. There, widely-separated Empire troops fought not only the TureoGermans, but disease and thirst, the heat of summer and the deadly Winfer blizzard.

The arrival of the new German guns tiad not yet bothered us. We consistently dominated the Turks on the whole front, and were not driven on", and therefore the evacuation means pulling ourselves together, enabling a concentration on a sure ground, which will be vitally important here at the crossroads of the Empire. The most dangerous strategy in the Dardanelles and the Balkans is involving the fate of India and Egypt, and it would be practically opportunism to operate in small detachments, permitting the initiative of the enemy. By cutting down our losses at (lallipoli we have clone something towards acting with greater deliberation and better organised strength elsewhere. BIGGEST BLUFF IN HISTORY.

The Anzac retreat was the biggest bluff in history that was ever brought off. Everyone' expected desperate rearguard actions, hut the masses of men and istorcs were brought down with extraordinary quickness, and when the tally was made not a man was fcund to have been left behind. The-Turks were puzzled, but did not fire a gun until the ships steamed awa&

EYE-WITNESSES' STORIES. DETERMINED AUSTRALIAN'S. ANZACS - HERITAGE TO TEE TURKS. Received Dee. 31, 0.35 p.m. London, Dee. 31. Eyewitnesses of the Anzac evacuation state that the calmness of the Weather counted as an immense part in_ the success of the undertaking. When the order was received from Homo which SK t the evacuation machinery in motion the moon was within two days of the full. The only lighting in connection with the embarkation occurred between an Australian brigade in order to determine who should have the privilege of staying to the last. Many of tin- men paraded before their officers to protest against boarding the transports while men who arrived at the peninsula after themselves were allowed to stay an hour or two longer. Two hundred who formed the ultimate rearguard at Suvla were the first to land in August at the very spot where they held the final barrier until the embarkation to the last details was completed. Eighty-live thousand Turks were so ignorant of the true position that thev shelled Lala Baba and Chocolate Hill, where there was not a soul; and they were still plastering the hill, which had been much bombarded, with a battery of 18-pounders, with high explosives, when the battleships left the bay at nine o'clock, and they did not realise the painful truth at Suvla until eleven o'clock.

The Turks were a little more spry at Anzac, and climbed out of the trenches and peeped into ours soon after daylight, but a few shells from the ships soon sent them back. . Our casualties were an officer and two men wounded at Suvla, and two men wounded at Anzac.

A tremendous southerly gale sprang up on Monday night, flooding the trenches, and the landing-stage at was washed away. Our heritage to the Turks consisted* of a few picks and shovels, and a number of hospital tents, but these latter were so conspicuous on the landscape that it was impossible to remove them without exciting suspicion. The guns destroyed were three Held guns and two worn-out howitzers.

MR. ROSS' STORV. RELATED AS EVENTS OCCUR. A VIVID ACCOUNT. Wellington, Last Night. The following is the continuation of Mr. Malcolm Ross' story of the evacuation (tin: first portion of which was published yesterday): A 'bell on some ship across the water has just struck midnight, the same clear sound we used to hear over the water at nights, and which brought some distant reminiscences of the bells in some country church, long remembered. Bomb flashes at The Neck and rifle fire seemed to increase ever so little opposite Lone Pino, but it may have been imagination. "Bcachy" has fired one shell, but we cannot see the flash, and probably it went into the sea. A destroyer on our right is firing a few rounds at the apex. A bomb at Chatham Post and two bombs at The Neck were followed by a certain amount of Turkish firing, exactly as on other nights. 12.39 a.m. —The moon has been clouded for some time, but it is still so bright that I can read what I am writing. 1 a.m.—A transport is moving, and another is stealing out. It is getting very near time when the withdrawal of the lust party with certain portions of the line will begin. 1.30 a.m.—Bombs one the Apex are evidently the last demonstration of the party at the Apex, and from this moment the Apex (the highest point on the ridge of our line, won by the Wellington Battalion on August Bth and held throughout at a cost to the Wellingtons of 712 out of 703 men) is free to the enemy. His fire trench there is 5(1 yards awav from ours.

1.45 a.m.—"Beachy" has fired again, and. the shell burst in the supply depot near Brighton Beach, so he is at his old game. That supply depot is a favorite target of "Beachy" shells at night, and this is the first night nobody is there. Two bombs have landed at the Apex, but our men had gone from there a quarter of an hour, and those bombs have been thrown by Turks at empty trenches.

1.55 a.m.—We have just steamed silently past a small warship which I know contains the Commander of our army corps. General Birdwood is ashore at Anzac amongst the men. Today they are in splendid heart. It lias been a splendid time for the men on Anzac lately, as there have, been all sorts of small luxuries to eat, because the messes wanted to get rid of stock. 1.57 a.m.—Another bomb at the Apex. 'We had two tunnels far beneath a Turkish trench here in case of need, and into these the Engineers put what explosive remains. The biggest mine we fired before contained less than oewt., but this mine is of 3 tons. If we decide to fire it, it should rend the Neck to pieces, an extraordinary ending to the fine history of Quinn's—the trench the Turks could never take at whatever cost we have quietly left in the night, and it lies open to them now. At this moment we have left the old Anzac line open to the Turks along every part. Desultory firing continues as on' other nights from the far right to the far left.

3.20 a.m.—There was a great finale just now. A huge red cloud rolled low across the Neck, and there was a low rumble. Presently a stiH larger cloud curled low across, the further slope of the same ridges, angry revolving fumes glowing orange for an" instant and then fading into the night. They were two mines at the. Neck, where the Light Horse once charged. The rattle of rifle lire has started from the centre, and is spreading quickly on the flanks and growing steadily into a roar. The Turks evidently think they are being attacked, and have started firing all along the line.

3.3s.—Firing is heavy on the extreme southern end of the line. A message itceived from Anzac saya that the wireless station is closed' and the last party on the left are safely iu the boats. 3.4s.—Firing is still heavy, including that from machine-guns. The Suvla wireless station has closed also. The navy must have timed the embarkations perfectly. 4 a.m.—The fire at Anzae has almost ceased, except for the norm&l sniping by the Turks along the whole line, except at Snipers' Nest. I can see. no flashes from the rifles, so they must be in the trenches. 4.1 a.m.—The tents and stores at Suvhave begun to burst into flames.

which are spreading swiftly along the line of beach. 1 can see the torch of a man who is lighting them going just ahead of the line of flames.

4.15 a.m.—A wireless just received says that the whole embarkation is completed. A naval officer who is next to me turns round, holds out bis hands, and says: "Thank God." 0 a.m.—Messages are still coming. As far as we know only one man was wounded at Anzae. livery man is believed to be oil', but in ease any have been left behind through losing their way a couple of naval steamboats and some cutters have gone right in to the beach near the flanks to await daylight. If there had been any wounded it was intended to leave about fifty stretcherbearers ashore, with two medical men and equipment for two hospitals, complete with stores, but I hear that all the medical units have now been brought off.

All this time ordinary sniping by the Turks lias gone on all along the whole line. Our fires are still burning, and the little lamp at the Neck, which shows our destroyers the point beyond which to lire, is still glowing. "Beaehy" is .still firing occasionally on the deserted depot, and astern the black shapes of ships stand out against the red glare of the Suvlu, fires, which is reflected in the sky and on the surface. Surely that fire must have given our departure away at lust. 7 a.m.—A quarter of an hour ago the Turkish batteries suddenly opened a furious bombardment on the ridges, along which the old Anzac line runs. The firing is extraordinarily hurried and wild, some shells bursting low and others wildly high, six and eight at a time. We very seldom have seen the Turks indulge in such fireworks. 7.5 a.m.—Shelling continues as fast as it can be put in along the empty lmes. 7.15 a.m.—Watching the old ' Anzac trenches through my glasses I saw what I took to be a line of .small pine trees growing over the crest of them. I thought the scenery somehow was strangely changed, when I saw some of the "trees" move along the parapet. My "pine trees" were Turks. Evidently the Turks have been making attacks, and then charged across the silent parapets. They must have attacked from Johnson's Gully, north of Lone Pine, or perhaps even from Quinn's, and worked south. They, are, swarming over the parapets on the skyline and are standing still for a moment, but now thev are swarming further south.

7.20 a.m.—This ship has let go two salvos, straight into the Turks on the skyline. They quickly disappeared into our trenches. We have now turned with the rest of the fleet to bombard the few remaining stores on the beach. The valleys are quickly filled with smoke and

7..JO.—At 7.15 our bombardment ceases and the fleet slowlv turns towards the west, and Anzac 'is smoking. The dust which our own guns has made ia receding behind, and a huge fire is smoking at Suvla. Even now a Turkish battery is bombarding the point of the beach where one of our batteries used to be.

7.45.—A message has been received that all wounded have been brought off, as well as several more guns than was intended. Only five guns were left, three Australian and two old howitzers. The picket boats which went to the beach did pick up one or two stragglers. One boat went straight to Anzac beach and steamed about calling, "Is there anyono here?" Later—The casualties of the retirement were two men wounded at each besides at each place. December 20.—The German flag this morning is flying over Suvla. Received Jan. 3, 11.45. Loudon, January 3. The censor lias released details of the evacuation from Anzac, cabled on Dee. 31st. The Fifty-Fourth British Division was removed prior to the eventful Sunday, leaving general Godley's mixed division and the new Australian division.