WAR NOTES.

Taranaki Daily News, 3 May 1916, Page 3

WAR NOTES.

LIKE A VOLOAXO. | THAI 1 THAT KILLED 400 AI'bTTAASH j A letter from an Italian officer gives interesting- details of a tragic incident 'briefly referred to by General C'adorna in a recent official communique. A detachment of 400 Austrian Alpinsjager were ordered to climb the small but precipitous wooded heights- of Tofana, and occupy the summit, whence they would have been a-hle to dominate an important Italian position. The Italia nj, foreseeing this movement, had can-fully prepared a trap by mining the whole of the summit of Tofana, but, in order that the Austrians might not suspect the trap they feigned resistance to' the movement. When the whole An-;-' trian detachment had reached the r;ii;;> mit, and were raising cheers for the '•success'' they bad achieved, the I (aliens exploded the mines, the summit of the hill went up like a voic-ano, and the whole of the 400 Austrians .vere precipitated into a ravine 800 metres lielotv ' At the same time the great explosion i started a huge avalanche of s;iou. i.eneath which the bodies of the Austrian : detachment were buried. Onlv a mere' handful of them escaped with. tlul. | lives. ' <

TRAGEDY OF GALLTPOLI. A remarkably vivid account has been given by Seaman W. Trotter, late of H.M.S. Cornwallis, of. the tragic fate which overtook'a boatload of men who attempted to land at Gallipoli. .Seinian Trotter says in the course of a letter: "We were all in lively spirits, smoking and laughing, and saying what we would do when we landed in Gallipoli. Six sailors sat in the middle of the boat, oars in their hands, ready to pull the boat ashore the moment ilia picket let us go. I myself sat next to the officer. Suddenly the order came, 'Out oars. Give way together!" the picket boat being unable to take us any further on account of the shallowness of the water. I believe we bad gone about 50 .yardwhen—well, I did "not know what to think at the time, bullets and shells began flying about, shrapnel shells, and those large explosive bullets all burst in the boats at once. The sailors .vere hit first, being in bine, which made us very conspicuous among the khaki. I remembered seeing four of my chums killed. Then the officer next to me was hit. The next moment a terrific explosion took place, and a large shell, probably a 0.2 exposive, exploded in tjie middle of the boat, killing .1,1 men instantly. One large piece shattered mv right knee completely. The boat by this time had grounded on the lxucli. and only five soldiers got out of it. I lay on the bottom of that boat fur a whole week, smoking two cigarettes and having a drink of water from a dead soldier's water flask. I remember gazing round the .boat's sides, which resembled the lid of a pepper-box. I was unconscious for four days, and when 3 was found, I was the only survivor in the boat, lying under 35 dead men, whose 'bodies were being identified. The doctors have saved my leg, but I am a cripple for life."