"AS IF ON PARADE"

Auckland Star, Volume XLVI, Issue 147, 22 June 1915, Page 7

"AS IF ON PARADE"

AND OFF TO A TEA-PARTY. Private Jack Potter, of Marton, whe was wounded at the Dardanelles, ha* forwarded an interesting letter. Aftei referring to the land'ng and charge, now so well known, he says:—'"l think that tlie charge will pro down as one of th< line-st. and bravest in history. The threi I battalions that undertook it were prac I tically wiped out. but others cotac. on We took three hills, but had to retreal from one, a-s we were not strong enougl to hold it. L'p to this our company ha< hardly lost a man. We were now get ting heavily shelled by shrapnel. On thi I Tuesday the Turks put in a very heavj I attack on the left wing, which was hek by two regiments of Australians. \V( hurried round at the double to reinforc< them. We only got there in time —th< Turks we.ro nearly through. The firs: thing I remember was going for all was worth through the scrub with mi bayonet fixed, i think I was «wervin; somCj but anyhow we beat them off. W<

put in three charges before -we held them. 1 think Steve. Shadlow is dead. He went down, but we had no time to see how he was hit. We hung there all day. If a man moved he got a. warm time. Wβ started to entrench, one man firing and one trenching. At the finish I found myself with a party of Australians, s-o I -moved to get. back to the boy*. A little further along were a few more Xew Zoalanders, so wo stopped together. More shrapnel scattered round, from which we kept well under cover. An officer crept along and told us the boys were getting it pretty hot further along the line, so we moved along. I only got one in when it seemed as if I was in a butcher's shop. I got a bullet in my left arm and a dose o.f shrapnel in the forearm and liand. That was the end of mc. 1 crawled till I was out of fire, pot tied tip a bit, and at last managed to get to the dressing station. The Turks are good fighters, but they take no prisoners; so we were doing the same, killing everything that comes along, but now they are taking prisoners. The Naval Brigade, on land, are very good. I think they (British) got a big shock when they saw us form up as if on parade—no noise, no confusion, and into it as if it was a tea fight. The Australians arc just IT. They will do mc to fight alongside. Right months' training and three days' fighting—a. great record."