GALLIPOLI CAMPAIGN

Evening Star, Issue 19772, 24 January 1928, Page 4

GALLIPOLI CAMPAIGN

MR ASHMEAD-BARTLETT k SERIES OF WAR MEMOIRS. /Association— By Telegraph—Copyright, LONDON, January 23. "Mr,. E. Asluuead-Bartlett, in the wpify Telegraph/ has commenced a seyi.es of war memoirs of tho Dardanelles, -which will be frank comment upon tls3'Strategy and conduct of the campSSpn. The preliminary article, entitled tor Action/ describes the coining of General Sir lan Hamilton aboard the Arcadian on May 14, 1915. General Sir lan Hamilton informed Mr Ashmcad-Bartlett that he was entirely in favor of war correspondents with the army. Although their# despatches would be censored, he personally would take car© that nothing was taken out except military secrets. Captain Sir William Maxwell, a former war correspondent on General Sir lan Hamilton’s stall’, had been apf minted censor, and .Mr Ashmead-Bart-ett pays a tribute to his impartiality and his efforts to smooth the difficulties which arose between the war correspondents and the General Staff as events went from bad to worse. "Meanwhile,” says the article, ■•" about 70,000 troops had assembled. jWe aboard the battleship London were kept busy rehearsing the landing of the 11th Australian Battalion, under Colonel Johnstone, who were to go ashore from our ship. To facilitate disembarkation simultaneously a great number of wide wooden ladders were made up on hoard, down which two fully-equipped men could climb at the same time. These ladders, with the ship’s gangways, enabled 590 to 600 to embark into the boats and steam pinnaces in a few minutes. The crews of the boats wore busy nil day landing troops on the shores of the bay, and bringing them off at night. All the ships carried out similar rehearsals. This was the first time we came in contact with the Australians, and they certainly created a fine impression with their physique and general bearing. They were a truly magnificent body, but their ideas of discipline were very different from those of onr old regulars. The men seemed to discipline themselves, and the officers had very little authority. This is easy to understand because the officers lacked the experience and the authority which come from years of service. Nevertheless, they struck me as an efficient body of men, who could be relied upon in an emergency. "Whatever they lacked in discipline and experience would be compensated by native intelligence and initiative.”