GALLIPOLI TO-DAY.

Taranaki Daily News, 11 January 1921, Page 8

GALLIPOLI TO-DAY.

CHANGES SINCE 1915, CEMETERY OF UNKNOWN DEAD, 'A special correspondent, who has just returned from a visit to the Near East, sends us (says the Times) an account, which we give below, of . recent changes on the Gallipoli Peninsula, including the (construction of a motor road from Kilid Bahr (overlooking the Narrows), by Anzae Cove, to the left flank of the old British battlefront on the slopes of the j Aegean. A description is given of the j progress of the work of providing per- j manent cemeteries fo'. those who fell in I the great battles of 1915. Down the slope from Point 971, the • key position of the Gallipoli battlefield, there is just one indication of the pride '■ of the Turks in their successful defence : of Constantinople. It is a rough rubble : and concrete monument which stands about 14 feet high. Rising from the top are a dozen nnexploded shells, of which the bases are set firmly in the concrete. One of the blocks of the monument is faced with a sniper’s steel plate, upon which is scratched in Turkish characters a message of victory. They raised one other monument in memory of their dead. It was built of ammunition boxes overlaid with concrete, but the Greeks, who are now., in occupation, have long since levelled it to the ground. While staying at Smyrna I took the opportunity of visiting Gallipoli. Re | membering tKe rumor that we had paid the Turks £2,000,000 for an uninter-, rupted evacuation, I was interested to find that there is to-day an ulmost unbroken double line of barbed wire running along the coast'from Suva Bay to Cape Helles, a distance of 2 miles. This was placed there by the Turks after our troops had left. Moreover, at a point known as Baby 700 riiey mounted a sixinch naval gun on a concrete emplacement. This remains, though it was put out of action with an explosive charge by the naval authorities after the • Armistice. At least it seems that the Turks took no risks after the Imperial and Dominion troops had withdrawn. THE CEMETERIES. Having completed their work of con-! centrating the bodies of those who fell i in the campaign into 26 main cemeteries, I the members of the Graves Registra-; tion Unit have now handed over the | cemeteries to the Imperial War Graves j Commission. This body, composed of j 13 Australians and a New Zealander, is ; directly responsible to the Imperial au- j thorities. They went out under Colonel ; C. E. Hughes, an Australian offices, in ; September of last year, and so far their : work has been in thp nature of prepara- j tion. They are there, however, to con- I struct the permanent cemeteries and to erect the headstones and such war mem- ; orials as may be decided upon. . During the past summer an excellent ! motor traffic road has been made from ; Kilid Bahr (opposite Chanak. which lies*! on the eastern side of the Narrows) i along the waterfront to Kelia Bay. • From here it is continued across Kelia ; Flftt, through the Olive Grove (which < was to have been the objective on the ? memorable day of the landing), on to Brighton Beach. Thence it is tarried along the waterfront past Anzac Cove to No. 2 Outpost, the left flank of the old battle position. Headquarters have been erected at. Kelia Bay, where t here is good anchorage and a jetty. It was here that all the Turkish stores were landed during the campaign. The commission has a motor launch, by which it obtains its supplies from Constantinople, and several ears and lorries. The 15 miles of roadway have bo<s» made with the aid of the resident Greeks, who work as day laborers. WHERE THE CANTERBURY MEN LIE. I visited the Beach Cemetery, one of the largest, just off Hell’s Spit, one at Hill 60, and one at the Farm, below Point 971, Walker’s Ridge and Shrapnel Valley Cemeteries, one at Shell Green, and tlie Canterbury Cemetery at Suvla where the Canterbury men of the New Zealand forces lie buried. One other at Chanak Bair I saw, and from there one obtains an uninterrupted view across the Dardanelles to Chanak. The spot is sacred to unknown heroes, for though many bodies have been gathered there, not one has been identified. There were originally 28 main cemeteries, two devoted to the Indian dead. By arrangement with the authorities the Indian troops, two companies of whom are stationed at Chanak, cam* over to the Peninsula a few weeks ago, disinterred the remains of their compatriots, and took them out to sea for burial. All the remaining Dominion and British cemeteries have temporary wooden crosses, and are being kept in good order. The work of constructing the flgrmanent cemeteries will probably take three years to complete, but there seems no reason why arrangements should not soon be made for civilians to go on pilgrimage to these battlefields. i MEMORIES OF 1915. There is still much to remind one of the terrible days of the past. The trenches at Lone Pine are intact, and even the tunriels have not fallen in. The trenches of othef parts of the line, though overgrown with grass and weeds, have not greatly deteriorated. One comes i across great dumps of meat tins, but ' the meta) has rotted and the contents have long since been consumed by insects. There is something in the air or in the soil which subjects material quickly to decay. Shoulder plates and other ’metal trophies are corroded and , ready to fall into powder. The metal . of old rifles can be broken easily, and the wood has rotted. A substance which seems as enduring as anything efee is the cloth of which the Australian uniforms were made. I Sunken ships lie around the coast, slowly breaking up in tip? calm waters. One is struck with the great beauty ’ of the surroundings. Memories of 1915 ’ and the impressive silence of the place ’ to-day leave one’s emotions strangely ' stirred.