TRENCH WARFARE IN GALLIPOLI

Dominion, Volume 8, Issue 2523, 31 July 1915, Page 5

TRENCH WARFARE IN GALLIPOLI

BIG AND LITTLE MINES EXPLODED BY NEW ZEALANDERS :1 r By Telegraph—Press Association—Copyright • (Rec. July 30, 8.30 p.m.) London, July 30. Renter's correspondent in the Dardanelles writes"Between the days of big things wo nro now getting little affairs of considerable strategic significance. From a littlo work commanding a gully the enemy has maintained an irritating fire sinco July 14 upon a sector of our new position. This had to bo . stopped. *Tlio French seventy-fives poured in a heavy lire, and then, in the Mazing sunshine, with dust whirling in a gale of wind, our men charged brilliantly and captured the position. "There were heavy enemy losses. Three hundred yards of trenches, forming an enceinte in our new line, were so packed with Turkish dead as to be untenable. This is the section which was taken and lost several times during the last big effort. The enemy's artillery was very activo during tho assault. The invisible War. The Exchange Telegraph Company's correspondent in the Dardanelles writes:—"This is an invisible war. Sitting on the highest observation point we can see nothing of the war, although we know that countless men and guns are under our very eyes. In the battle for Achi Baba a. long khaki lino leaps out of the holes, charges a black gap a few j;ards ahead, and disappears. It has simply gone from olio hole to another, but it means that we have captured a trench. Tho guns lengthen the range to'the second trench, ivhioh is rushed in tho same way. Yet not a Turk is visible. "There is no such luxury as resting. After a sojourn in the trenches, under rifle fire, the men come to the rear, where they come under shell fire of all calibres from Achi Baba. On the Asiatic coast tho Turkish guns always pot at the British ships when the latter are entering or leaving the harbour. "Tho Allies are achieving wonders by patience, endurance, and organisation. Naval co-operation continues, smashing villages and wrecking guns, hut now it is essentially a land campaign. Tho operations may seem to progress slowly, but a visit reveals what the immense organisation has' accomplished, while the fighting is on a firmer footing than on the/precipitous cliffs, and tho landing stage which made the name of the Australians and New Zealanders. "In this trench warfare it is a question whether snows and frost-bite in Flanders are not minor ills compared to the enervating heat and sunstroke. The men are almost knocked out before tho fighting begins. The Turkish! \ prisoners are dejected, and thisis a hopeful sign, If the 'Allies can now press their advantage, final success is assured."

HOW THE ALLIES ARE HOLDING GALLIPOLI. London, July 29. Renter's correspondent with the Mediterranean Expedition quotes a battalion commander who was crouching in a dug-out watching the shells bursting. Ho said: "For goodness_ sake tell tho people at Home what a tremendous proposition wo are up against." . ■ The correspondent continues:—"By dogged determination and Homeric courage the Allies are no longer holding on by the skin of their' teeth, but the supremo task is ahead. The fire-ravished soil is furrowed as though by a titanic ploughing competition. Every acre carries fragments of shell; in tho aggregate iron enough to build a battleship lies on the trackless waste. Barbed wire of enormous-gauge trails across the 'scorched, yellow stubble every dozen steps. ■ _ "Twelve miles up the coast the Australians and New Zealanders are holding a ■wonderful cliif-perched enclave, which compels the Turks to maintain at least two divisions-to counter this permanent, thrust at his communications. The Turks are being abundantly fed, a great factor in sustaining their war. worthiness. Prisoners admit weariness," but the Turks are still convinced that England conspired to betray them to Russia. They still regard tho annexation of Turkish battleships that were being built in Britain at tho outbreak of war as tm act of piracy, while the Germans are looked upon as benefactors foi giving them tho Goeben and the Brcslau and sending submarines to attack the Allies' .warships. ■' . THE SUPPOSED TURKISH PEACE MISSION. ("Times" and Sydney "Sun" Services.) ■ London, July 29. The journal "Petit Parisien" statesthat the supposed Turkish peace missioners in Switzerland deny that the have been entrusted with a peace mission. They affirm th'at Constantinople can hold out for a long time. It is admitted that the veto of transit of war material through' Rumania will seriously inconvenience Turkey, but tho loss will be made up by tho local factories. TURKS WELL' OFF FOR AMMUNITION. (Rec. July 30, 10.45 p.m.) Mltylene, July 30. The Turks have evidently obtained large supplies of heavy ammunition, enabling them to keep up a sustained artillery fire. ■ . ■ An Anglo-French aeroplane again attacked Smyrna, and destroyed a gasworks and petrol depot. A DISPATCH FROM GABA TEBE : MINES EXPLODED BY THE NEW ZEALANDERS.: (Rec. July 30, 9.20 p.m.) Sydney, July 30. Captain Bean, cabling from Gaba, Tepe on July 19, says: "We faced by from forty to fifty guns, about half of them fourteen and fifteen-pounders, and the rest four, six, eight, ivitli occasionally ten, and, eleven-inch guns, and a sprinkling of lighter guns, whose positions -are rapidly changeable, and which can be placed'within a few hundred yards of our trenches and quickly removed. There is also an ancient mortar for flinging twelve-inch bombs. "The amount of tunnelling which has been done by the Australians and New Zealanders may be judged from the fact that already they have blown up seventeen mines opposing Quiim's Post, in almost every case destroying the Turkish tunnel. . The New Zealanders one day threw 570 bombs from! Quihn's Post, which' tho engineers have recently, altered out of all recognition."-