GALLIPOLI MEMORIAL

Evening Post, Volume CII, Issue 32, 6 August 1921, Page 5

GALLIPOLI MEMORIAL

INTERVIEW WITH SIR A. HUNTER-,

WESTON

CHOICE OF THE SITE.

AFTER SIX YEARS.

(«•* ADR oirN cqMiISPOttMHT.)

LONDON, 21st June.

Lieoitenant-Genfral Sir Aylmer Hun-ter-Weston, K.8.E., who recently returned from Galli.poli, is full of admiration for the members of the Imperial War Graves Commission—Australians and New Zealandera—who are forking on the Peninsula. s. "It is extraordinary the good work they have-done," ale his words. "It is refreshing in these days, when so many are out to take it easy, and to do bhe minimum of work compatible with drawing their pay,, to .find these live men giving their best from early morning to late at night. With'no thought of their own individual advantages, they are anxious to get'the best value possible for the State, and are thoroughly imbued with the sacredness of the work they are doing in thus tending the graves of their dead comrades, and erecting the me-' morials ill honour of the fallen." G-eneral Hunter-Wesrton (who, by the way, has a brother in South Canterbury) is now an active politician. He has given up soldiering, at any rate until the next war. In Parliament he is a member of the Empire Development Committee and the Inter-Parliamentary Union, and he has a verys^fl spot in his heart for the Dominions, especially for Australia and New Zealand, whose 1/roops fought under his command at the great' attack on Krathia on Bth May, 1915. It /was probably this feeling of comradeslup which he has for the men of Anzao which induced him yesterday to tell mo the story of his recent visit to the Dardanelles. It will be remembered that he was asked by the authorities here to form one of a committee to advise on the best site for the national memorial at Gallipoli. It is expected that N.ew Zealand,' along with other Dominions, will participate..in the scheme, in spit© of the fact that a special New Zealand memorial will be erected at Chunuk Bail-, and it is only right that the'people of the Dominion shoaild know the .reasons for the choice of the particular site suggested. The War Office is in possession of General Huntei'-Westan'is report, and no doubt it will be published shortly. In the meantime, he has given me the substance of his report, and incidentally some interesting impressions of Gallipoli as it is to-day. MYSTERY SHIP. Admiral Sir J. M. do Roebeck, who is in command of the Mediterranean Station, was to have been made a second member of the committee. His duties, however, prevented him from making the trip personally, and a naval officer of high rank acted for him. Admiral Roebeck provided the transport from Athens, and the party sailed to the Dardanelles in the sloop Bryony. 'In that description "sloop, however, there is something 1 concealed. The Bryony is one of the mystefy ships whose crews did such gallant work during ,the war. Built in exact imitation of an honest merchant Vessel, amidships gunwales could be lowered automatically at a moment's notice, disclosing heavy guns to deal with the submarines which had .thus been lured to destruction. Many of these have been convertedinto merchantmen, some, like, the Bryony,-have had their big guns removed and comfortable quarters installed, and are mow included under the comprehensive description "sloop." They first sailed into Mudros Bay on the Island of Lemnos. '"My thoughts naturally went back to my first entry into Mudros six years ago," said the General, "when there were gathered in this great harbour every variety of battleship and transports from so many parts of the world. To-day there was not a vessel but our own." He visited the several cemeteries on the island and found them in\ excellent order—the wopden crosses in place and flowers blooding where flowers would grow. Hero there are caretakers undeV the Imperial War Graves Commission, and officers from that unit visit the island from time to time. Moreover, the Greek priests take an interest in the cemeteries. -jSome of the old camps are being used by the Russian refugees of General Wrangel's army, and are under the charge of the French.Lemnos, however, is off the track of vessels, few people visit it, and it is not a suitable place for a national war memorial. DEEDS OF ANZAO. A visit was then mado to Kephalos, on the Island of Irabros, where Sir lan Hamilton had his headquarters. Here, too, the few sma.ll cemeteries are well looked after. As a place for a memorial this, too, was ruled out. Remembering that tb« Peninsula is sparsely populated, and the only people likely to visit it in the years to come will be war-grave pilgrims 1, the committee came to the conclusion that a national memorial must be erected in suoh a position as to be visible to, and to attract the attention of, those making use of the great waterway of the Dardanelles. A cursory inspection of the chart giving the ordinary sailing cqjirses shows that Suvla and Anzac lie so far to the north of these courses that they would not be possible sites for any memorial to arrest the attention of those who pass by, and it is omly_ some position at the south of thel Peninsula which would fulfil the necessary conditions. "It was with regret that the committee came to that decision with regard to Anzac," said General Hnnter-Weston, "for the deeds that were done by the Australians and New Zealamdels are deeds whose memory wiN last as long as the English race, but it was consoling to the committee to see : that the cemeitsries which have been mad© at Anaac have been placed' in extraordinarily well-chosen positions, which, for the most part, mark the historic sites, ancf the memorials that have been designed for these are,certainly most,suitable and' beautiful., / " * "There remained then the south of the Peninsula; Achi Baba, the well-known hill that looked down over the trenches in the south, is} 700 ft, but it is almost sbus out by the lower ranee of hilTs near the coast. Added to this, it is six miles from the southern coast, and, consequently, a memorial on it would have to be very huije to attract attention. Moreover, Achi-Baba was never in our hands." THE HOUSES OF BONES. In the south then there was a possible site at De Tots or Esk Hissarlik, at "S" Beach, on the east of Morto Bay, which the South Wales Borderers captured on the first morning and heid so gallantly. This, however, was later held by the French, who have now erected in -the locality two ossuary chapels. Here the bones of the undentified dead have been collected, now bleached white with the sun and cleaned by the vultures. They are stacked in bins all round the chapels, each type of bone having a comportment to itself. Thus the visitor may see a pile of skulls, a pile of tibias, a pile of femors, ribs, and so on. It is a gruesome sight, but t doubtless, the prinefplo of 'tbn* lu'eßsrvmg the mortal remaini of the unknown dead hi* iti

advantages. The two chapels ~are named Gannoval and Masnau, after two of the French generals. GUEZJI BABA Finally, the party examined the range of hills on ,the south-west corner of the Peninsula. Here there is Tekke Burnu • Hill, Beyaz Tepe- or Hunter-Weston Hill, Ciuezji Baba and Sedd-el-Bahr Hill. Observations were taken from the tops of the hills themselves and from thej sea, and in the end Guezji Baba, just above Cape Helles, was chosen. In the first place it is 155 ft, the highest of the four, the foundations are solid. There is a road running up from the beach, and although most of the piers along "W" and "V" Beaches are now washed away, here there is a very considerable part of a substantial pier remaining. It is the most visible from passmg steamers. The Turks realised its value as a strategic point when they placed a long-range gun there after the evacuation. This'point too, has its historical value, for it was here between "V" and "W" Beaches that the troops first, landed; it was this part of 'the Peninsula where most ground was won, and-It was from here that the last, of the troops finally evacuated. Bearing in mind these facts the committee had no hesitation in making the selection. VVHY THE CAMPAIGN FAILED. While in Constantinople Sir Aylmer had the interesting experience of discussing the campaign with the Turkish i War Minister and the chief Staff Officer of the army which foughj the Allies in Gallipoli. "What strikes one very much," said the General, "is not that the campaign was an apparent failure, but that so much was done -with the materials we had, and at the time the enterprise was sfct on foot. The landingl never had any real chance of succeeding, and yet it was a great strategic conception—to get to Constantinople to enable munitions and armaments \to be given to the Russian army, which, with arms would have been a powerful ally, without arms the impotent, inert ma« 3 it afterwards became. This purpose, as well as to procure the food that was rotting at tht> Russian porta, was a great conception. My subsequent reading, my observations, my conferences at Constantinople, have led me to be convinced of this: that if proper preparation had been made secretly the Navy' nnropported might, and probably would, have got through to Constantinople. Once there the power of the Union and Progress, or "Young" Turk Party, would have been overthrown and the sensible Turks, who were in the vast majority, would have prevented the project of joining Germany. Certainly, a combined military and naval assault, if it had been secretly and properly and thoroughly prepared, would have succeeded in capturing the Dardanelles ports, but the chances were injured by the naval bombardment in November, 1914, and another bombardment in the early part of 1915. In addition to this, certain of our politicians and many of our newspapers began to talk about what wo intended to do and entirely destroyed any possibility 'of success. There will never be another landing like it though in the history of war."