BACK FROM GALLIPOLI

Dominion, Volume 8, Issue 2503, 2 July 1915, Page 6

BACK FROM GALLIPOLI

NEW ZEALANDER INTERVIEWED AT FREMANTLE. By Telegraph—Press Association—Copyright Fremantle, July 1. Private Darby, of the Main New Zealand Expeditionary Force, was a paß--6enger by the Malwa. He is the first man who has returned of the actual force which landed at the Dardanelles. He says that the landing was accompanied by most sanguinary battles. He thinks the British General was not 'aware 'ho)v thoroughly the Turks were entrenched. There were trenches even on the beaches, and the Turkish gunfire was a marvel of accuracy. The Australians soon found themselves short of ambulance men, and he was selected to take the wounded back to Cairo. The scenes were pitiful aboard the ship, but they were the most cheerful body of men he ever 1 saw. A hundred and sixty of the wounded offered to return to the trenches immediately, and 129 were chosen. The British ■ officers were amazed at the gallantry of the Australians. At the bottom of a hill he saw three hundred Australians and Turks in a ghastly heap. He also witnessed two bayonet charges; they were fearsome experiences. Private Darbv is returning owing to hemorrhage of the lungs.