LEAVING ANZAC.

Auckland Star, Volume XLVII, Issue 10, 12 January 1916, Page 2

LEAVING ANZAC.

POSITIONS OF THE REGIMENTS.

'2001. SUNS AND "4500 MULES, (From CAPTAIN C. E. W, : BEAN, Official Correspondent with the Australian Expeditionary Porces: Copyright by the Crown.) OFF ANZAC, December 23.. I The poaitinn.pf tlie.various;battalions •sn'd'iregirß6Kta' , iif "the' Anzac firin'g~line during the operations of retirement and the names of the posts which they occupied may now, for the first time, be safely stated. From south to north the line ran as follows:—At the extreme south where the line ran into the sea were the splendid trenches dug by the 2nd Light Horse Brigade, which, when offered relief after six months in the trenches, liad balloted and by a great majority had decided in favour of staying on lest these trenches should be occupied by someone else. Counting from the south, Chatham's Post was held by the oth Light Horse, and then the sth, 7th arid 4th in that order. The last few men left these trenches at half-past 2 in the.morning. THE LAST PARTY. Next northwards catne the Ist Infantry Brigade of Lone Pine fame, occupying a line northwards in tills-order: 4tli Ist 3rd, 2hd. Then "the" fth Battalion and other...units of. the 2nd Brigade in reservo. Tlie 3rd Brigade was : resting after seven months in the trenches. Next, northwards, came the. 2nd Australian Division; which held the line from Lone Pine to the Nek. Tliis was the Section of the line where the Turks were nowhere more than 1000 to 1200 yards from the landing stages. It was strongly held by the Turks, and the trenches, in many places, were" within 25 arid even 15 yards of pne another. Lone Pine was held by the 24th, 23rd, and then part of the 21st and 22nd. MeLauriri's Bidge "was held by the 13th Light Infantry; Courtney's Post by the 18th' Infantry; Quinn's, by the 17th; Pope's, by the 18th; Russell's, 'fop—that is our trenches opposite the the 20th. A small rearguard on Plugge's Plateau, which retired last of all, consisted of a party of the ISth Battalion, With the new .iricn frOm the ist Division.on the right, and from the New Zealand arid Australian Division on the left.

Tlia;chief responsibility, therefore, was givi>n'to the 2nd' A'ustraliari Division, Who provided the fifth company of engineer -which blew up the Nek, arid the 2nd Division of • Signallers, who maintained communication all over the position up to the'; very -last moriient. The rear party was in a sniall position, where it had seven days' food in case Of need. NEW ZEALANDERS..WERE. "North from" "Walker's Ridge, wliich was .a.;SpUr xunning ffoin'the sea tO the Nek, were, the Ist Light Horse Brigade in No. b; post; ;an isolated hill on the flat; the 3rd Light Horse Brigade on Destroyer Hill, so-called because it was a spur of mitiri range, which foririerly was nightly shelled- by destroyers; the New Zealand Infantry > Brigade on Rhododendron Spur, which .was" a higher .continuation of the same spur reaching at a point called the Apex, almost to the:summit...of Chuniik Bnir. Here the-'-New Zeala'nders were within 50. yards "sf"tllfe Turkish trenches, and had to retire" three miles to the j place of eriibaTkation, 60 that the last ! party left three miles; of empty valley bej'Hind it before it reached the boats;

north wards' were the 4th Austr,a,lian.?rigade on.Cheshire Ridge, where, within the last month,- - they turielled through the hill"--and transformed tho whole interior of it into a barrack, into which they could 'march a whole battalion arid live there—the ifibst wonderful of all the \Vdhderful trenches I had seen at- Anzac. Northward from here came the New Zealand Mounted Rifles and some YeOmanry, and finally Indians from Hill 60 to the fiats where Anzac ended and Silvia began. ONLY TRIFLES LEFT. Exactly 20 hours after the last troops left the weather changed to south-west-erly'; the' wind 'gradually increasing-in force. •As it was, weather conditions could scarcely have been better., The loss at Anzac was -three wounded, and at Suvla two, which is many times less than the casualties in one ordinary day. Two hundred guns were got off. Those actually left were three field guns,. 2-inch iricierit .howitzers, and one , naval gun; dating-.back from lS?o,,all.bf which were: destroyed. Of over 5000 niules all except 50 were cleared 1 . This 50 were destroyed. A few spades, picks, and odd trifles whicli were lying about or probably overlooked, were left, but lib animiihitiori, and very little elfie of any value.