PLAYING TRICKS ON THE TURKS.

Press, Volume LI, Issue 15338, 23 July 1915, Page 8

PLAYING TRICKS ON THE TURKS.

A BATTERY MAN'S LETTER. Corporal Eric Mosloy, of the Howitzer Battery, writing to his father (Mr Montagu Moslcy, of Christchurch) from Anzac Cove, under date of Hay 23rd, says:— "Both Eff and myself hare been got'•ing your iotters and papers fairly regularly, but, of course, •Wβ hare no mail delivery her© three times a day. When a mail does catch us up it is usually a fair sized one, and you ehoold see the rush for the postman. Hβ is the most popular man in the camp for the time being.. "The boys here aro getting quite old Jianda at this business now, and seem to take it as a matter of course when a few shells start buzzing about. Some day s ago, when we were drawing our rum issue, a shell burst just abovo us. Of course, everybody ducked for cover, some under the gun and limber, and others in the trenches or funk-holes. What troubled one of our gun team the most was that he would lose his rum, for you would hear his voice above everything, 'Look out, you d fools; you'll upset the rum!' As soon as the bullets had landed, everything went on just the same. "This is decent country after Egypt Although we get the* sun quite as hot, there is not the heat from the sand, and. there is plenty of grass and scrub. It is rather rough and hilly near the shore, but inland it is beautiful—nice green, undulating country, and from what we can make out from -where w are, for of course we have, not got a free pansage inland yet, it would be just tho place for a. good farm. To see anything of the country we have to go right up to the trenches in the firing line, and look over the top with a periscope. No insurance agent would issue you a life policy if he knew you were going to stand up and look over the top, for the Turks are good shots, and anyone' showing over the top of the trench gets quite a number of bullets at him. "They started rather a good gag up in our trenches when we first landed here four weeks ago. All the meri had to* , fix bayonets, and show theiu ever the trench, and the ronchine-guns got going; then all the men had to start cheering and yelling; as hard as they could.. The Turks in the nearest trenches thought our fellows were making n bayonet charge and wop Id scramble out of their trench and run back to another one. As soon as they were out in the open, our fellows would start and they did quite a lot of damage. It worked several times, but after a. time the Turks got wise to it, and used to fire like—well, worse than that —but our chaps were ■well down in their holos. "There are plenty of snipers about in the scrub, where they enn command our communicating trenches, and they do a fair amount of damage. A few of them recognise the Red Cross, but quite a number of our stretcher-bearers ftovo been shot while carrying the wounded.?'