THE "GREAT AUGUST STUNT"

Auckland Star, Volume LXX, Issue 189, 12 August 1939, Page 12 (Supplement)

THE "GREAT AUGUST STUNT"

u TROOPER" LOOKS BACK

TO review the "Great August A Stunt I propose to quote from that most interesting book, "Grey Wolf,'' by H. C. Armstrong. I ii "• i rev \\ii||' is (i.|i| | |k> inl iiiniln pl"i'v "I n ilicl nl or, I In' blip Kemal Alh lurk—Hip First Turk kimuu <1 u r i ri lt < ■« Ilipi.li days us M lift ii jilui Keinal. the rn -i ii In rgelv rof | ii 111 - i I ill' Inr tlic heroic defence lII' An/ni' by the Turkish garrimil. The story us told by Mr. Arm-Iron:: is n ul lien! ic, even 'to the con \ er-u I ions, Thus, in ell'ert, i(, con - til ins I he histor\ of (hose August duvs from I lie olljif>sill<r .sido. "By hi I e duly it. wus pleur (hut the British were prepu ring for iiniilher big atlHck. .Mnnv transports with fresh rf'L'i 111 p ii I s mid ii new ty|>P of motorlijlhter lor landing troops had been seen by agents in Kgypt. ii rid the (Irppk if In ml*." sillies lint author. " From every possible source I he Turks pent. reinforcements to the Peninsula, but. us in April, l.ini<ut von Sunders could not tell the time or place at. which I lie uUiK'k would come. He must, keep hi* troops mobile. He. could not pre pure posiVions. " I lie ii II nek u u* 11 pIi \ pre*, on I he night nf Aii<ju«t ii. lis objective wus I he crest, of l lie mount ii in known as Hoja Chenicn. ... J I, was beyond tlie rigiit

M;ink (»| lUv trenches held l»v Musfjipha. K«• 1111 1. li s lower slopes wpi'p covered l»v |>i«'k<*t <4. I»111. its rre>t was not held. It tin* llrit isli i ii<*cl the rrwt tliev would cnfihidr* the ( hurmk Khir. out Hhnk nil tin* I defences and command the whole peninsula. British Straiegy " I lie British plaiinpd for one column 10 burst, out from the left of the Australian line straight at Hoja (Jiioinon, another of 2.1,1)00 to be landed five miles up the coast in Suvla Bay, drive inland, connect up with the column attacking H<>.iu t heinen. and the whole to sweep lorward, grip the neck of the peninsula 11 ml so open the Dardanelles and the loud to Constantinople.'' Mr. Armstrong continues the storv by describing the landing and concealing of fresh troo|« !( t Anzac, and the condition* surrounding the night of August • when the attack was launched from t lie re. "Directly von Sanders (the Turkish eoininnnder-in chief on (iallipoli) received the news lie ordered Kanneimies--cr, with the Otli Div isiori, which was a way on the right of Mustapha Kemal's division, to jneet the attack on

New Zealanders On Chunuk Bair

Hoja ( heinen. Hurrying across the rough country, Kannengiesser reached the crest of the mountain at 4.30 a.m. (7th). "In the faint light, 300 yards Ik'low, he saw the head ot the enemy column moving slowly and laboriously up the steep hillside. Me had with liiin only 20 men. He ordered them to open lire. Ihe British, expecting to tind organised resistance, lav down; they were worn out; the Turkish pickets" had put. up a stout resistance to them; in the darkness thev had stumbled and slipped and fallen climbing the watercourses, which had lieen very steep, full of sharp rocks, .scrub and loose shale; the night was intensely hot and there wus no water; they were glad to rest. " Rested All Day " "They rested all that day. while the I in ks brought up fresh reinforcements and dug themselves in. From the left. Mustapha Kemal sent every man lie could spare. "Meanwhile the column at Suvla had landed with little opposition and sipiatted down, also to rest." Here I invite readers to note the conditions tiruler which both parties "rested."

'J he story continues with a description of the hurrying up of troops by Liman von Sanders "to face the British at Suvla where, at the moment, he had only I.iOO men of a gendarme battalion. "All through August 7 the British lay quietly resting before Suvla when they could have walked forward without ettort, brushed the few Turks aside and won the whole battle. "On the elopes of Hoja Chemen at dawn 011 the Nth the British attacked . . . The lighting was fierce. The New Zeahinders got a footing on the crest of Chimiik Bail'. Mustapha Kemal flew at. them with a counter-attack and was dri\en Imek. His staff was in a panic; they talked of retreat, the position was lost, defeat. ".Mustapha Kemal remained eool. Unruffled, he walked about under fire . . . He was a rock of strength. His men held on. The British could get no farther either on the saddle or the Hoja Chemen, but they still held the piece of Ciiunuk Bail'."' And still the British commander at Suvla Bay, (ieneral Stopford, remained inactive. The storv will be continued next week. (With grateful acknowledgement, to 11. Armstrong, author of "Grey Wolf"—a Penguin book, and well worth reading.—Tl!< >< >I'KK.)