LETTERS FROM THE FRONT

Dominion, Volume 8, Issue 2492, 19 June 1915, Page 6

LETTERS FROM THE FRONT

thrilling experiences / WHAT THE TROOPERS HAD TO FACE Mr. W. M'ConcJiio, of Nelson, lias received from his son, Private Charles M'Couchie, letters containing a graphic account of the landing of the Australasians at tho Dardanelles, in which he participated, and during which he was wounded. Private M'Conchie writes from a hospital at Cairo, and states that his wound is ill the left buttock, and that it was caused by an explosive bullet. He landed on April 25, and was wounded on April 27. The lauding was in front of a steep hill, running right from the . water's edge. Private M'Conchie says he got his bullet "just as we woro retiring. Our officer, the last left in the firing-line, was shot at this'time, so I with threo others, left tho lino to get nim. We put him'on an oil sheet and started on our journey, when three of the four got one each. So we had to leave him once again. After dark some stretcherbearers went for him, and towards morning found him dead. Had we succeeded no doubt he would have still been with us. Tho Depths of Hell. v In another letter, describing tho landing, Private M'Conchie says:— At last away, from the din of the battle-field, one finds time to think of ones far across the water. Anyone who has never been on the field of battle cannot in the least realise what it is like. We have chaps who were fn South Africa, and they say it was only a flea-bite to this. It is, plain speaking, awful. In fact,' it is like being ill the depths of Hell itself. We landed on Sunday, April 25, under heavy fire of cannon,' machine gun, and , rifle. Those if ho were lucky ill not being shot in landing in the boats jumped iiito the water up to their waists, fixed bayonets, and from there charged on .the beacli and up the hill. Tho hill is almost straight up and down, covered with, scrub about sft. 6in. high, and the Turks were entrenched in this. The odds were gainst us, but nothing held us. No word of command from officers—all on our own is how the Australasians did their part. If they had hesitated wo should have never done our job. As soon. as one of the boys saw a Turk you would have laughed. They were after the poor devils like a mad horse, and I tell you in most cases our boys reached the top, and the Turk laid down for one long test. The Turks are brave enough chaps, but they can't come up to tho British, Naval Men Impressed. If we show them the bayonet the Turk 6 fly in all directions. The; men oil the. Queen Elizabeth,' the biggest battleship afloat, said the Australasians have succeeded in the impossible, and one officer said they. all deserve the .0. ; We have won the heart of the British Navy, and this is a big thing x'or tlie Australasians. I was fighting alongside" different chaps as they were being wounded, and several were shot dead, and yet I fared all right. In fact, most of our company were cut up. I should eay the best part of the Wellington Battalion is gone. I may have still been there if I had not gone out for our officer. Anyhow, it was worth the chance, especially" when it happens to bo a good man such as lie was.

Harold Robortson was all right pumping the lead in on Tuesday, about 4 p.m. I have not heard of him since, .because I got my wounds at about 6 p.m. I expect he is still with the boys. Andrew M'Concliie was all right on Tuesday morning. Some of No. 2 Battery were ashore, including Jack Stringer and W. Lucre; but Andrew was not expected till Tuesday evening. We would be all Tight as soon as the artillery was ashore, because big guns would have to engage big guns; but at the start we had only rifle fire and machine-gun v. cannon, machine-guns and rifles. True, the warships were spitting out lead; but the artillery would answer better. The Turks have German, officers, who possess a lot of cheek. They pass along orders, or try to, from just in front of our tiring line, but they cannot trap us, for not a move from ug unless ive have a l ' written order from one of ourhead nobs. A trick they tried on Monday was for a couple to advance toward our trenches carrying a stretcher with a supposed wounded .man. One of tho Germans said in broken English, "Don't fire—wounded man." Like a flash we let them have it. The supposed wounded man, covered with a blanket, was nothing more nor less than a macliinegun and ammunition. If they had succeeded in getting , through they would hare mounted the gun behind us, and perhaps wiped four or five hundred men out before being* spotted. A little New Zealand boy from the South Island was near us. Australians and all mixed up, and a machinegun was annoying us all day. We could not locate it, so this lad calls out, "Watch, boys; I'll get it." He out or his dug-out and ran like a deer to where we thought it was. He only went about 30 yards and dropped. It cost him his life, but we got the gun and pumped some lead into it, and put it out of action. Then two lads went out and brought the boy in. H© had seven bullet wounds on his left side. He lived a quarter of an hour after they got him. If he had not gone out no doubt a dozen or so other lads would Have had the same end as himself. _ I have had Norman Miller up to see me this afternoon. Hie Mounted ltifles have not left Egypt yet, and they don't like it at all, I can tell you. Well, have just received ' word that tho New Zealand boys are going to he shifted to Abbasia Hospital, so as to get. them all together. Here we have Australian, New Zealand, and . English Tommies all mixed. Word has just come that our old Colonel Malone has been shot dead. He was in charge of the Wellington Infantry. My wound gives me a little trouble -when 1 sit up. I. was down for an operation, but that is off, as I am making good progress. The bullet wont'in and out-plucky for me. It just missed tho spine by the fraction of an inch, so I can shako hands with myself.

OAININC A FOOTINC. TERRIFIC SHELL AND RIFLE FIRE The following letter, which, gives a graphic description of the Now Zealanders' landing 011 the Gallipoli Peninsula, was writen 011 the hospital ship Soaiicclioon on April 27 by Private W. H. Rhodes, of Amberley. "Well, to begin with, wo New Zealanders, especially the Auckland beys, have been badly cut up. My company, the 16th Waikatos, is in an awful iuess. 1 do not Know where they all are, but some are on each hospital ship out hero off the Dardanelles. The ship I am on, tho s.s. Seangehoon, is just about t-o leave for Alexandria with about 1000 wounded 011 hoard, mostly. Australians and a few New Zealauders. Tho Auckland Battalion left Lomnos early on Sunday morning in tho Lutzow for tho Gulf of Sa.ros, Dardanelles, along with other transports, accompanied bv tlio warships. The Landing. "Wo had to wade through the suit to the shore waist deep with our rifles held up over our heads. Immediately after landing wo saw what, eomn of, tbe AusalcßuxLx dona ja, jao iaca of

immonse odds. They had scaled cliffs hundreds of foot high and dislodged the Turks at the point o ftho bayonet, a brilliant feat. How tlicy did it Ido not know, as they wcro scrapping four hours beforo wo landed. At last wo were ordered to advanco and support tho left flank on the cliffs, which, b.v tho way, is covered with bush and scrub about tlirce or four feet high. Wo ha<l just passed over ono hill into n. gully and then hell commenced. ' The Turks opened a terrific shrapnol firo over us, and here we were ducking and diving for cover as we adavneed. j "Hp, up we went through the gully 1 on to tho next hill, and it was here wc suffered from shell and rifle firo. Our officers wore soon shot down, and then we got mived up with Australians, and we all let go at tho Turks, whom most of us could not see. Our men fell fast, but stuck to it. A bullet got mo in tho abdomen, and I sang out to my mate, 'They have landed _ me; I'm "mafish"' (Arabic for finished). I managed to crawl away and soon had a bandage on and taken down tho gully towards the shore again. "When I got down tho sight was awful. Australian and New _ Zealand wounded lying on the beach in all directions, being attended to by our good ambulance boys." Extracting a Bullet. "The doctors were very chary,about me at first, as they thought my bullet was lodged in the stomach, but I was in good spirits and after a number of hours lying on a cot I complained of a pain on my left side some few inches from whore the bullet went in. On examination the doctorc found that it had not penetrated the stomach, but on striking me it had turned its sharp nose and lodged between the muscles and intestines of the stomach. Ihey operated cfli me and got it out, and here rifght now I am getting on A 1 and want to get back ana give the lurks and their German officers some change. I am sending you the bullet to keep for me till I get back, when I will get him bored.. The devils here have been firing explosive bullets. How the Waikato Regiment Suffered. "To-day is tho third day of the battle, and we have gradually pushed thorn back. Tho first 'day (Sunday) was awful. I cannot describe it to. youOur major was wounded, our captain shot through the lungs, Lieutenants Allen (shot dead)., Badley (missing) supposed to be wounded in the tyush some-. where smy pl&tooii LiGUtontint W cstrnticott (an old Canterbury boy) seriously wounded in arm and back, and Lieutenant Peake, arm torn nearly off, so you see all our officers are out. IN early the whole of the Waikatos have been killed or wounded. My word, the men were game against great odds. "A lot of us could not see the Turks, but on came the bullets, downing first one and then the other. The shrapnel was the worst, and nearly drove many to distraction. There will be no doubt about the final issue of the great battle, as we mußt win, for Lord Kitchener 6 last message to General Sir lan Hamuton was, 'Once you set foot on Gallipoli Peninsula you must fight to a finish.' I believe further up the French one one side and the Tommies on tho other are giving the Turks hell. "My word, the Navy is doing wonderful work. You should see them planting rosettes on the Turkish hills. The 3rd and 15th Auckland, and 6th Haurakis have also had a terrible time, both with officers and men. I expect to rejoin my regiment soon. Tho wound is doing fine."

KNOCKED OVER A CLIFF. BY A BURSTING SHELL. Writing to a friend in Christchurch from the Kasr-el-Aini Hospital, LanceCorporal Noel Boss says;— "You will probably be surprised to learn that I havo seen the Turk, and he got me down and worried me. Gal-lipolij-even at the best of times—is not a nice place, and when a shell bursts almost in the small of one's back and one is knocked over a cliff by the concussion it becomes less and less like a health resort. That's what happened to me up there, and as a result I came back here with a whole skin, but minus a good'deal of my memory and with nerves jangling like bell wires in a attic when rats run over them. Hie week after our landing was just plain unvarnished hell, and I'm' not going to speak about it for a long while yet. Apart from my hurts I am well, cheerful, and r unusually hungry, so am not doing so badly. I go to a friend's place- at Gizeh to-morrow to convalesce, bo will be even better there." '

. A WONDERFUL CHARGE. GALLIPOLI CAN NEVER BE FORGOTTEN. The "Wangaaui Chroniclo" publishes the following interesting extracts from the diary of Chaplain Captain H. L. Blamires,_of Trinity Methodist Church, Wanganui. _ Mr. Blamires, who wont with the Main Expeditionary Force, is at present senior chaplain at the Cairo base, and his diary, which came to hand yesterday, refers to the return of the men who were wounded on the occasion of the Galipoli landing. April 28.—Have just been writing letters for some of our wounded men, after a,long and busy day. Now I have to break the sad news to one of out officers of the death of his brother, who died of wounds, and was buried at sea while on the way back from the Dardanelles. Trains are coming in daily, and wo are kept very busy looking after the sick and wounded. Much of it is ghastly, but our men have done bravely. It was a wonderful charge, and opened the way for others Gallipoli oan never be forgotten. Now Zealand lost in landing on the Gallipoli Peninsula 150 killed and 700 wounded— a total exceeding our losses during tho South African War. This is part of tho cost to be paid for victory. Auckland and Canterbury lost most heavily. Om troops fixed bayonets while in the watci neck deep, and charged over the. hill ai. the Turks, yelling Arabic cries. We took no prisoners. They fled from the cold steel and tho fierce onslaught, but a flanking fire killed many of our men, Chaplain Captain M'Kenzie, of the Sail vation Army, Australia, is reported killed. while encouraging his men. April 29. —Our reinforcements soon go forward. News has reached us of heavy casualties. The hospitals' are all prepared for the wounded, who are expected to-morrow. Sad news for some New Zealand homes. Chaplains' work is increasing. Had a conferenco pf chaplains to-day. Threo mo'ro chaplains are wanted for British regiments, on loan for hospital work. It sooma I am required as base senior chaplain to administer chaplain's work hero for a time. April 30. —This evening I visited the Heliopolic Hospitals. All visitors, including staff officers, were excluded. As oliaplains, we went through. Most of tho men here have shrapnel and shot wounds in tho arms, legs, and feet, and are not very serious. At 10.30 p.m. I met a trainload of fresh arrivals. Our men are very cheery. The train stops at the hospital gates. We do all wo can to care for the sick and wounded, and arrango social enjoyment and sport for tho spare hours of tho morn fit. Letters may be brief now.

Lieutenant-Commander Herbert- Clyde Evans (lato of Gisbonio ami Oamaru), wlio was killed in action at the Dardanelles last- Tveels, has eleven brotlierß and sistors living in different parts of New Zoalnnd. One of his sistors is "Mrs. Arthur S. Howard, of 25 Repton Strost, Merirale, Clinstcliurcli, „ SimoiW Storekeepers bsH iThernol, l^