... And back again in 1940

Press, 5 August 1978, Page 13

... And back again in 1940

“London Gazette,” 15.10.1915: “For most conspicuous bravery and devotion to duty, on the Chunuk Bair ridge on the Gallipoli Peninsula on August 7. 1915. After the New Zealand Infantry Brigade had attacked and established itself on the ridge Corporal Bassett, in full daylight and under a continuous and heavy fire, succeeded in laying a telephone line from the old position to the new one on Chunuk Bair. He has subsequently been brought to notice for further excellent and most gallant work connected with the repair of telephone lines both by day and by night under heavy fire.”

It is just 63 years since Major General Sir A. J. Godley, then commanding the New Zealand and Australian forces on the Gallipoli Peninsula, drew up the plan of attack in which Corporal Cyril Bassett won his Victoria Cross. The main object of the plan was to occupy before dawn on August 7, 1915, the whole crest of the great Sari Bair Ridge, from Chunuk Bair on the south, northeast to Hill 971. From this ridge our forces would have gained an uninterrupted view of the Narrows — a vital tactical position. Godley had under his command 22,000 men. It was a stupendous task, for the approaches were tangled, tortuous, and difficult, consisting of a succession of deepcut gullies and wild, rugged spurs from south to north; yet it only just failed of accomplishment. The main ridge was taken, but w'as too thinly held. The great offensive, on which such high hopes had been built, failed after three days of bitter fighting at a cost of 12,000 casualties. Gallipoli veterans had won hard the right to call themselves Anzacs; to take the “right of line” at Anzac Day parades.

Oddly enough, Corporal Bassett, who may be the only man in the history of the Victoria Cross to be awarded the medal on the wrong day, almost never made Gallipoli at all. He had joined the Auckland College Rifles, later the Territorials, at the age of 17: “We were originally Gatling gunners, I think, but I, being so small, could only get in as a bugler.” Later, his unit joined a cyclist corps and was trained in signalling. He found it interesting and was promoted When the war broke out he and his fellow Territo” rials naturally volunteered — but entry into the Army was no sinecure for the 21-year-old corporal.

“When I went to join up the doctor said to me: ‘Well, you’re too small.’ 3o I went round to the end of the line and came up again. He put his tape around my chest and said “No.’ So I went around

again. The third time, he let me in. “I didn’t know whether I was pleased afterwards, or sorry, when they started to throw foundries at us.”

The scene on the Gallipoli foreshore when he landed cm April 25, 1915, set the bitter tone of his total Gallipoli experience. "When I got ashore at Gallipoli there was a line of dead or wounded as far as the eye could see. Our troops hadn’t got very far inland and were having a hell of a time from the Turks, who could see everything that was happening, and were well entrenched. There were some heroic deeds done all round the place, on both sides. “I remember being very thirsty and seeing a lot of water bottles among the dead soldiers. We were hesitant to take it from them at that stage of our journey. But we didn’t

bother so much later.” When he had recovered from the illness he contracted at Gallipoli, Corporal Bassett rejoined his unit in France in June, 1916, and was commissioned in September, 1917. He was wounded in action in October. 1917, and again in March, 1918, returned to New Zealand in December, 1918, and was demobilised in January, 1919, with the rank of Lieutenant. He continued service with he Territorial Force until he was posted to the retired list in 1929. still as a Lieutenan* Cyril Bassett had meanwhile gone back to his career with the National Bank, but with his record for volunteering he could not be expected to stay out of the Second World War. In July, 1940, he resumed service with the National Military Reserve and was mobilised with the Corps of Signals in

January, 1941, as a Captain. He was promoted Major in February, 1942, and Lieutenant Colonel two months later, retiring as Commanding Officer, Northern District Signals, in 1943. In 1951, Mr Bassett retired from the managership of the Auckland Town Hall branch of the National Bank, and has lived at Devonport ever since, leading a life notably quiet even among a band of brave men not noted for publicity seeking. The New Zealand Anzac VC winner seems still a little surprised, 63 years on, that he is entitled to wear the Maltese cross with its simple “For Valour” inscription. But he wears it with pride — not for Cyril Bassett, but for those he com siders much more brave and worthy, and whose only recognition was a cross of wopd.