ON GALLIPOLI HILLS.

AUGUST FIGHTING DESCRIBED

DOINGS OF NELSON SQUADRON

Captain J. G. McCallumi in a communication received- by Mrs! McCallum, of Motueka, describes some of the fio-hting. on Gallipoli dearly in August.. H<> says, in part:—r .. By nightfall on August sth we were all ready and at 8.30 the Canterbury Mounted Rifles followed by. the Otago MR moved silently out across the plain. The C.V.C. squadron led at first, but soon halted and were passed by the Nelson squadron. Out on the plain we lay down as pre-arranged while the warships bombarded the Turks' positions. This was nothing new, for they generally dropped a few f.holls there durirg the cvenins;. and the circumstance did not alarm the worthy Mahommedans in the least. But whether the Otago boys were noisy or what happened I don't know, for suddenly the Turks discovered them and opened fire at them with rifles, trench mortars. And band prrenndes. Although we were beyond the Otagos they did not see us, and we lay "doggo" behind a small ridge plantea with olive trres. As we bad pre-ar-ranged, our squadron formed into two columns for the attack. Lieutenant Mayne led the left .and. I the right and as Major Hntton, turning round or.ietlv. sniri, ' 'Oqtojb■ oru Tenth." ever;.' man sprang to his feet and rushed rapidly and as -silently as possible forward. We-had not left the friendly shelter of the .little, ridge ten yards when we were discovered, and a perfect, hail of metal greeted us. Tlk range was about 100 yards, and liny; we escaped -with the few casualties tb<>+ wp flirl TWR-se-s r/iv coThprt-benpiOP. The flat was crossed, and the first hill reached ancl tip we went as' hard as we could go, scrambling up steep faces and thrcragh the prickly bushes that clothed the slopes. Two maxims opened on us and we could see the continuous stream of sparks from their muzzles. "Make for the maxim, shouted the Major, and straight as a die both columns converged on it. Then we began to see Turks everywhere.. They mostly fled, Tor mir silent quick advance unnerved them, but some pluckily stood their ground The Major engaged one, and several of us rushed to his assistance, but the Turk eluded us and popped through s small bush. Here cne of our fellows carrying a trenching spade, promptly flattened him out .with tha*..ilsesul but unusual weapon, much to the amusement of his "comrades, and a /rust' ot Fomf-riV laughter went backwa.rd. ; QOWTi the column. . .; . ... ; ..... We were right under the maxim now, which is the safest place to. be, for tvpnoraHy the mvzzle. cannot be defletted mwh, wMch of course' wo knmv. Its nttendnnt wo.rri-nr«i. evidently knew it too. find hooked it off as bard as they could go, and two seconds later it was ours. A deep trench ran behind it. .but this v-!< eTravcfi. quicker 'ifc-jan T tell it. Nevertheless it cost us several men, including little Alan de Castro^ well known to many in Motueka and 'Tliwaka. Ho was the h^ppiost and tn< A best of comrades and the keenest n< •soldiers, and bis loss will-be deeply felt by a.ll who knew him. My brother was hit here too in two places, but aftsi lMi.ilda.2ing liis 'wounds p-c^s-prl on to tbe ton before he would go'back to tbe hospital. Back, of the maxim, as I have said, was a dee™ trench, n.nd.wben we, ban cleared it W had to find a way out of it, which was more difficult. Eventually we "legged" and hauled each other up over the back, and away we went again. # There was . quite a crowd or the enemy in a small xiip in the bill, but as we scrambled down the steep face they managed to escape out .at the side, and it was tso dark we cou!3 not see them further. From here to the top of the hill which was our objective was but a short way, and we emerged with •' three ringing cbeers. On our right similar cheers came in answer from the Wellington' and Auckland Mounted Regiments, arid we knew tbpt the brigade had been successful. The Otago M.R. bad been delayed by their bombing at the first,, arid emerged puffing on top a few mimites later, considerably ch"agrined to find us there first. However, they had captured the trench mortals that had annoyed them and a pom-pom as well, so they, bad no reason to worry. Wellington, v>e afterwards learnt, had had preat luck. They were given a difficult hill to tackle, a hill with frightfully* .sleep face;; gncl round it doen ravines ; but while the Turks were looking over thp froni of it expecting them to-conbp"'on in the eood old conventional Britd«b' style the wily Wellingtonians corkscrewed round to the rear and walked in the back door, capturing 80 of them without a casualty.

On the right of th» Wellington M.R were the N.Z. "Infantry and though they wore rather, too 'far ajvay..fW us to know what they were, rdoina, I know they-fought n<? the- infantry. 9!^ nys do. • like g,ond old English game cocks, a_nd-l they c,ainec! their objective too. . - . I "Now came the inrportgrit.-task of I "disging in,"'for mir nosition bad +oj be made secure -before raorning ghonlddawn and rev.eal us to the enemy's rifles and guns.

Oi'i mum i"rlnflfd .C-olotj^l Findlov wounded, Major Overton and Lieutenant Davlson killed., and Li^titpnim+s Doatis, Free and Jebson and Cnptain Hammond wonnded." The folJowiro; day we had "the oreat misfortune to losp I-ieutennnfc Mayne. He was out with a small reccuribitririg party' and mcL some English Territorials who had lost their officers and were becomingden'.orali«ed. He rallied them sucressfull, but was Jiirnself killed while doi'mr sn. Of him it it necessary to say little, for he was well known, but apart from his .kindly personal qualities, Us keen soldierly instinct, devotion to duty, and capacity for leadership ill

make his loss a severely felt one to us. . ' ■

friends of the Maori Contingent, - A r-timber of them we're in-support of our regiment, but 1 ani afraid tluir notions of tho duties of a support are a "trifle unconventional, for-wo hud not .gor;oi far before we, found them tip ar* bi'g&tms and pushing ahead with lihe front, rank.. They,shared our victory and5 our losses, too. - Several day* more fighting continued intermittently, and by that time we were mighty glad of a rest. We have gained command of some miles of coast line, a considerable plain and the hills adjacent thereto. —"Star."