A GALLANT CHARGE.

Grey River Argus, 3 July 1915, Page 2

A GALLANT CHARGE.

NEW ZEAL ANDERS UNDER HOT FIRE. TURKISH TRENCHES CLEARED,. (From the Melbourne Age Special Correspondent.) LEMNOS, May 10. When the second attack war 1 made on the village of Krithia and Achi Baba, or Tree Hill, which lies at the southern extremity of Gallipoli Peninsula, a fortnight after the troops landed, the Victorian brigade, under Colonel MeCay, and the New Zealand brigade, under Colonel Johnston, were transferred from, the Gaba Tepe front to this new situation, which has developed rapidly. On May 4th British and Indian troops, with French soldiers, who were on the inside of the straits, had already advanced up the peninsula from Cape Hellas and Sedd el Bahr, after meeting fearful opposition. Krithia, which lies at the foot of Tree Hill, had been burned several times, and was nothing but a heap of ruins. The village is now in our hands, and in taking it the Australian troops played a glorious part with the New Zealanders and French, who regained their old position. It is the story of a charge sustained over the whole front for 1000 metres in the face of a withering fire of shell and bullets. Hard handled as the brigade had been in the first week of the fighting, in this second great action, it had lost none of its daring and dash. TRANSPORT WORK AT NIGHT. Colonel McCay, of the Third (Victorian) Brigade, ami toe New Zealand infantry, under Colonel Johnston, had orders to secretly embark on the sth for a destination unknown. ,' The troops left the trenches at dusk, and in absolute silence made their way to "Brighton" pier, where lighters were waiting to take them off to mine-sweepers, tugboats, and destroyers in x'eadiness to receive them. At 8 o'clock the pinnaces and tugs began to tow the lighters with the silent troops aboard out to the destroyers. Two hours later the men jyere disembarking on either side of the headland at Sedd el Bahr. When day broke on the 6th they were safely in bivouac half, a mile from the shore, and some four miles behind the firing line. Silent only as long as there was necessity for silence, the troops soon showed they were eager for the new attack. The country was very different from that they had ust left. It was quite open, with isolated clumps" of trees and very little scrub. The brambles and heavy sand to which the troops had grown ac customed were absent. It was evident they were in the midst of a considerable camp, which they had noticed on landing A landing stage had been made by run ing ashore an old tramp steamer and sink ing her, engineers having stripped hei decks, and then cleverly built her into a wharf. All day the men rested. On the 7tb they moved up, passing the guns, dug in and hardly visible, to within a mile and a-half of the firing line. Here they were exposed to a fearful shell fire from the Turkish guns. They "dug in" all that day, and finished only when darkness came on. At midnight they began to move forward, and next morning began a general attack all along the line. THE SHELLING OF KRITHIA AND TREE HILL. On the previous evening the warships and the French and British guns on the peninsula had commenced a terrible bom bardment of the village of Krithia, whero t'e Turks wei % e entrenched, and of theit positions around the front of Achi Baba. Lyddite was dropping among the houses, and soon the village was in flames. The French "seventy-fives" were ..putting fifteen shots a minute over the Turkish trenches, searching for their guns. The enemy was replying with furious bursts of firing. During the night . the fire slackened, but in the morning it recommenced. Every available gun — and the number ran into hundreds — was directed on the village and the Turkish position ahead. • . ■ AUSTRALIANS' GREAT CHARGE. Under cover of this fire the troops commenced their great charge. The Turkish bullets "dame like a flood/ one officer said to me; "it was just one continuous stream,' 'another said. The Turks did not fire so much shrapnel as on the day of our landing. But now that the khaki line could be dimly seen in the smoke, they trained machine-guns on them and concentrated their -rifle fire. The line of the Allies was stretched across the whole of the peninsula. The French, supported by the warships, were threatening the hill on the right, and they looked as if they would sweep into the. village from that side or around the base of the hill. In the centre were the Australians, and on the left the' New Zealanders, supported by British and Indian regiments. SEEKING FOR COVER. The sixth and seventh battalions were sent ahead, while the fifth and eighth were held as supports. There was no chance of firing at the enemy. Each mail, besides his lifle, had to carry an entrenching tool— a pick or a shovel. Our troops^ "sought what cover they could in the beds of the creeks, and kept .on steadily moving forward with fixed bayonets. The firing line was pouring bullets on the hill some distance away. The Australians found the first trenches filled with Indian trqpps, evidently in reserve. As our lads came on at the double across the zone of death, some haltSd here and there for a breather before'advancing again. The Indians signalled to them to keep down as they ran, but there was little chance' of running low and fastas well, and meifwere dropping in dozens. It was noticeable that the Turkish fire was low— men who fell were hit principally in the legs and feet. Describing the next trench reached, one of the Fifth Infantry said :— "We went on up a creek for a bit, and then over a rise, and came on some more trenches. They were filled with English Tommies and wounded, and there, was no room for us. They sent us on with a cheer, and at length we had to take a spell lyiug in the open. -We were almost up to the original line now, and the Turks were getting back to the village. I ran I on,- puffed, and found I was doing little more than walking. I got about 20 yards beyond the deserted Turkish' trenches, when a Bullel got me and I dropped. Fancy all that rush and never firing a., blooming shot. Though we were not supposed at first, to be in the front, most of ; us managed to get there." '■ ■ ~> NEW ZEALANDERS ADVANCE. ' •The Canterbury and Auckland batta-. lions were in the leading line of the New Zealanders, with the Wellington men onthe extreme- left, their flan^ resting on the beach. They were supported by British troops, with the Otago Regiment in reserve. TMaor Harrow ell, of the Auckland batI talion, describing the advance, said,: — "The Turks' machine-gun fire was sustained and deadly. Wo just went pn, jind on, sonic of us going out at every step.

Quickly the reserves and supports came up and joined the firing line, but the attack went on. I don't know for how long — it seemed ages." COURAGEOUS OFFICERS WOUNDED. In the great charge Colonel McCay, brigadier, was up among his men, urging them to fresh efforts, reckless oi his own life. If words and invective could do anything to rouse the > men further, hia furiously expressed opinion of the enemy should have sufficed. It is told of him that, smoking a cigar and twirling his cane, he was keeping the troops ever on. the advance, always urging his men to keep down and take cover, he himself watching the enemy's wavering line ahead, and refusing to take the advice which he had given to the soldiers. In other parts of the advancing line Major Cass and Lieutenant Hastie were passing from unit to unit, helping the men in a score of." ways to advance. All three were wounded in that glorious charge. The wounded soldiers, who got "back as best they could to the dressing stations, recounted the terrible anguish of Colonel Bolton when he found his regiment disappearing before his eyes —the men seemed to melt away before that levelling hail of bullets. It is impossible to give any description ot the hardships which, the wounded endured before reaching the shore, four miles away. Many received further wounds as they crawled back from the firing line. In order to cope with the casualties doctors ' from warships had been sent on shore ; still they were not enough. The Turks' plan, both here and at Gaba Tepe was to keep the stream of bullets pouring just over the top of the trenches, so that if «any man tried to look out he would "be struck, but the men who were coming up into the firing line were hit mostly in the legs. The Turks seemed to have an almost inexhaustible supply of men and ammunition. It was more difficult for snipers to work in this country, but some were found in the trees. When the officers went down the non-coms, and men led on their parties. A Corporal Brester gathered up a handful of the Eighth Infantry, who were joined by some Marines, and they pushed on, holding consultations here and there as to the best way to proceed. Just as the corporal reached the advanced firing line he went down, and he is cursing now that he had his ran for nothing. Tha Germans try. to get the Turks to come to close grips with the Allies but they will not themselves face the bayonet charges. Our lines of gallant men came on on a front of five miles without a break. The Turks remained in their trenches till the leading men were within a few hundred yards. Our men were not firmg — just rushing on, and they could see the Turks dodging about the scuttling along midst the exploding shells from our guns, which were inflicting fearful' losses. We occupied their deserted trenches, and waited there to strengthen our line, but the respite was aL too . short, and the troops again faced the line from. the trenches on the hill above the village and from among the ruins of the village itself. The line reached to within 200 yards of the outskirts of Krithia, and there the troops hastily began to entrench. The New Zealanders- weref threatening to get around and take the village from the left. The French had already taken with magnificent gallantry a hill to the right of Achi Baba. THE VILLAGE ENTERED. On the night of the 9th or the 10th, in a final grand charge, the Allies entered the village. The details have not yet reached me, but the sacrifice was great and the cost to be reckoned more than even that of the first days of fighting. GENERALS IN THE FIRING LINE On all fronts General Birdwood has been constantly in the firing line- He takes a rifle, and enquiring for the- enemy's trenches, sets an example to the troops^ He has had many narrow escapes. On one occasion he, General Bridges, and General Walker were t l| lk ing with Major Burgess (oE Tasmania) in a battery, when two shells penetrated a gun shield-, and buried themselves in the sand without bursting. General Bridges is found in a khaki shirt with his sleevqs rolled up, walking along the trenches or inspecting preparations for getting up sirpplies from the beach. Colonel Kosenthal and Major Burgess were studying a plan in a dugout bomb-proof shelter, when a shell crash ed through «nd exploded, and both were wounded. TURKISH THICKS. It is generally recognised that the enemy has some system of bonuses for the men, for the Turks take the identification discs from our wounded ami dead, ami presumably present them (<i their officers, One nuui \v« captured had forty of those discs. ThY» Turks are terrible plunderers ; many who wore taken prisoners had their pockets full of coin. There is every rotison (o believe that the Turkish lassos fur oxo«o<l those of the Allies. Our gunlhv, both from the ships mihl tho tU?HI batlortos, was particularly acourato, niul shells bursting in Turkish trwnehos wimnl out whole lines of iiumi. In tlunr ulYorts to retake- the positions wo had so-donr-ly won they sustained appalling losses from our muchi tie-gun Mid ruU> tiro. Our men stand steady until tho Turks come within twenty yards of tho trenches, and then they swoop their lines with fierce gursts of fire. Tho ground in front of our trenches was thickly strewn with th«ir doad. It has been impossible to bury the bodies, and the battlefield is becoming horrible in the extreme. A correspondent of » neutral country estimates the enemy's killed and wounded at 50,000. Our total losses, including those of the French troops, may be set down at 20,000 men. The enemy has certainly lost 39,000, and probably 40,000. Ovet 60 per cent, of the Australian and New Zealand wounded 5 will be fit to return to the firing line ; in fact, a large draft is leaving Egypt this week. The officers are hurrying back to their companies. "I have trained them from the start, seven months ago, and I want to take them into action. I only had a few hours of it. I know it's a terible proposition, . but that was why we came;" Thus an officer spoke.