FIGHTING THE TURKS.

Auckland Star, Volume XLVI, Issue 147, 22 June 1915, Page 11

FIGHTING THE TURKS.

AUSTRALIAN LETTERS.

TtTEIKS SKOOT GERMAN. Colonel Bryant, in command of the' hosp l3 ' on tnp ' s '° "' Lemnas:— "The Fren.-h brought back many prijoner?. Thrt«e all surrendered in one / ca?p niter shooting their German offrer. | who had shot one of them."

TURKISH MACHINE GUNS.

Pprrp.int \V. .1. Host. »ho has been wmindcd at the Dardanelles. j n n letter to his parents. Mr and Mr. L. Host, in Berry. say P : —"! dou't know how [| e.-Mi-o 1 nitli only a bullet in tlie left upp r arm: it did not even break ,t bone, but went -trn.u'ht through, leaving only a nasty hole. I s ot hit about 12 o'clrvic on Sun lay. ! thought that a horse had kicked mc. It numbed all niv ;irm and left side, and 1 had to lie in'the firingline for two hoars, and every minute expected another bullet The Turks had about ten maehino-pruns to our one. and ■nh "never we mounted a gun it pot blown to pieces before it had tired 100 round.'. If we had had our own artillery to help us the Turk? would have be.-n finished the first day we landed. We saw more lighting or ' that Sunday than three month: during the South African War."

. OFFICER HIT IN THE BOAT.

"I QUIVERED LIKE A RABBIT." Lieutenant A. R. Heighway. to his fatner: — "When within 20 yard* of the shore they turned a machine-gun cm u>. one ol my men was hit first through the neck, then 1 was the next to jet it through the chest. It nearly knocked mc out oi the boat. 1 quivered up like a rabbit, bu; pulled myself together at once. soon .1? we bumped the shore they Fframbled out, except myself, three killed and =pven wounded. The Turks kept up a continuous fire on the boats. While I was lyinir in the bottom of th" boat one just t-ook the Skin ofT my r-htfulder. nn,] another ripped my haversack. When the bullets cut through ;he ?ide-= of the boat yon could smell the burning paint. . . . One thousand yards from our land-inz-plnee they found that the Turks had ■wire entanglements underneath the water, and several other obstacles.

FOOTBALLERS IN BATTLE.

Private T. Gregory, a weil known member of the Sydney Football Club (Australian rule*.. \rAxt-~ tn the l:on. seerftary of tiie Mozart Juvenile Harriers from Mena House Hospital:—"! receive lan injury to my wrist in the early of our engagement at th<' Dardanelles, which put mc out of action, ani 1 am now hoping to ret-over toob£gl did not-feernl&asßti about it, because wheajJie doetoir feiiiidased my arm, he would not allow mc to return to the fightinjr. it would only be suicide, so they put mc on board again, and "1 watchisd"th* e-ngac«nient for a day and a-hall. The work ut our boys and the navy was splendid. an,i mv word you -houM see the pi;n.- the warships working; they do blow things about. You have by now heard of our l.ind;ng. but I must say that where we went a.-hore the \va.~ considered impregnable by the Turk-. who showered lead from and rifles at us, and shrapnel was (lying all around. < nir boys pharjred throujrh with fi.xei bayonets, taking up a position i which they ha\e held ever since. Even; man who went under «:is a hero, andl most or ;ijp boys here are ready to re-' turn, and do a bit mure toward- the! freedom of the Empire. M<">ntie Metalman liad a bullet through his cap with-! out touching his head, but another went through his pack and penetrated hi.back. while another bulict simt through his l,ec!. He is nearly fit again for the front. There are a lot of Australian footballers with >i? —Grantie. Martin. and Divire were all well when I *aw them last.' , (The lastnameJ has since bren reported killed.)

LIKE A LION ON A CHAIN.

The following extract* are taken from a letter sent by Lanee-t orpor.il V. F. Marshall, of Paddinston. Sydney, who ■Has uounded in the recent action at th.- Dardanelles: — "The bugler i= one of the well-cureed members of the contingent—he stand? for ietened punctuality-. The reveille at 6 a.m. annoys the men into wakefulness, and Im lights out at 0 p.m. snuffs the light in the middle of a love]v book. ''Although the bujrler represents punctuality, he does not always fulfil his portion a* completely as h< 1 should. The romantic idea of reveille—the awakening of the p.ill-ant regiment from its slumbers by the stirring notes of the Imgle ie quite wrong. The bugler invarifl-bly likes sleep, and will reina-in under the waterproof -sheet until he ie drasced j forth into morning a:r at the last niom<"iit to join in creating a joyful din. "As yon know no doubt by now I I have been in action. The Turks took n gre.it fancy to mc, and on the close of J the -«-oni:,-i day a sniper put a bullet i thrivirh my left shoulder, and it went exploring down among my ribs, and J cau-od ii'.vful pain. in'.Tnal bleeding. ami cmiphin?. The bullet has not been I located yet, but I am going under rlie Xr:i-.- tin- week. It if nothing to worry about: I feel like a lion on a chain, and I will be in the firing line very Soon. At 4 n.m. !a.=t Sunday week numerous transports heavily laden with troop 6, and f.iarded jealously by ebipa of the j British Navy, including 'Lizzie' (Queen Elizabeth i, glided slowly and without Heh:-. up the coast of (Jallipoli. Dawn showed mi awful surpr>r for the Turks, an: t!ie 211ns of the navy bepan to show; their teeth. The din was awful, and all] tin- t m. the troops were beinp landed j th( lurk- were shelling them with shrapnel. The enemy here has a l"t of: giT?. and the navy- is having great difficulty in smashing them, but it will all Come rich! in time. It is awful country. and the Turks know it well. The shrapnel and t:ie .-nipers ore the mam trouble: they pick off the officers and K.f'.O.'f iike'wildfire. The boy.= fought wonderfully well. It was a great sight; the Liz?ic' and others were bombardinf all the time. 1 often wonder if you can hear the 'Lizzie' at Sydney. She make? such a row. and when she speaks everything vil.rnles. ' 1 war shot at hcadquartere while dbpmeh carrying."