THE VALLEY OF DEATH

Hawke's Bay Tribune, Volume IV, Issue 242, 26 September 1914, Page 4 (Supplement)

THE VALLEY OF DEATH

A VERITABLE INFERNO

(By I.J.W. in “The World’s News”.)

Face to _<iee with the grim realities of war, as Australians now are, there is rnueh to encourage them he the recollection of the gallant deeds standing to the credit of the forebears in tho historical record of past struggles. Descendants of the men who charged up the slope of th© hili at Balaclava in th© face of a murderous battery fire, ar© now side by side with their French friends, with the gallant Belgians, and our erstwhile Russian enemies of more than a century ago, striving to check the German aggressor who is plunging Europe into a carnival of blood and misery. “ Tho Valley of Death” comes back to th© writer as a memory of the horrors connected with th© Anglo-Franco-Rus-sian war of tho years 1854-SS. The socalled valley was one’ of five steep ravines in the descent from the plateau above ftobastopol to the city and harbour. Standing on the plateau and facing the sea, the one to ilie right, at th© head of which th© battle of Inkerman was fought, was Careening Bay Ravine; about a mile to the left of it was the Karabelnaia Ravine, and between th© two, at the lower end, were those almost impregnable earthworks, the Re* dan, Malakhoff, and Mamelon, th© reduction of which caused such an enormous sacrifice of life.

To the left again, and at a distance of about half a mile, running nearly parallel, with the former, was the Woronzoff Ravine, through which ran the Woronzoff Road, the main thoroughfare connecting the besieged city with the north. Yet again to the left, at a somewhat greater distance was “ the Valley of Death,” a branch of the “Great Ravine,” which terminated at th© head of the inner harbour. At the head of these various ravines and scattered over the barren landscape of the plateau were the camps of the allied forces of British, French, Sardinians, and Turks. Facing the line of the Valley of Death were tho Flagstaff Garden, and other formidable Russian batteries, and from the formation of the ground on each side of this valley enormous quantities of spent shot and shell rolled into it in addition to those it received from the direct .fire from the batteries. Throughout its whole length the eoloqr of the ground was only discernible in isolated patches, being covered with these deadly missiles to. a great depth, and here and. there, lying in heaps, checked in their rolling by huge fragments of shells which had already exploded. Down this terrible ditch relief parties of men on duty, in the trenohes had to find their way going and coming, under fire the whole time, and always in expectation of attack from overhead on either side. Sixteen hours out of the twenty-four on this duty, under arms and wearied out for want of sleep, the statement of on© of the officers engaged in it created ne surprise. He said: “The poor beggars are so worn out that they will actually fall asleep while they are scrambling over those slippery heaps of metal, to get back to camp tor a feed. One of my fellows dropped behind one day and fell asleep in this infernal hole without being missed. We picked him up some hours afterwards, s€Hl snoring, though a big shell had burst close to him, scattering the fragments all around and ne knew nothing about it.” Great masses of rock shattered by shell fire from the sides of the ravine added to the confusion of ths place, and in one spot a bursting shell had tapped an underground spring at which the men need to drink os their way to and fro. This was summarily put an end to by a round shot, wh’eh sTOslied th 6 Head of a >4dn who was Btdoping over trie Koto for a drink, leaving his body jammed in thd opening.

“Th© Valley of Death” well deserved, the name conferred upon it by the troops to whom it was a familiar track, and a common answer to the o.uery when the relief roll was called >ver was “Killed last night in the Valley coming off duty.” "Stormed at with shot and shell,” as Tennyson wrote of the Light Brigade at th© Balaclava charge, was th© constant lot of those unfortunates whose duty led them through this valley to th© trenches. It was raked from end to end at all hours of the day and night, by. tiie merciless fire from the Garden and Flagstaff baterics at its southern end, and from it there was absolutely no shelter.

After tho evacuation of the south side, and the retreat of the enemy to the forts on the northern shore of the harbour, the number of sightseers who applied to headquarters for passes ip visit the abandoned portions of the city and defences was considerable, aiid almost daily added to by arrivals of tourists from English yachts and passengers from Constantinople and Mediterranean ports. One of the first questions usually asked was, “ Which is the best or quickest way to ‘the Valley of death’?” Many were doubtless attracted by the name, which had been brought into prominence through constant repetition in the newspapers. Others there may have been in plenty who had cause to remember it in connection with some sad loss of friend or relative and as four nations were concerned in the slaughter that had taken place, it ftray well be nndenstood that inquiries for different localities were numerous.

Still the firing was continued in a desultory fashion from the north side, and many a narrow escape from shot or shell fire was the subject of conversation among those whose curiosity had induced them to stray beyond the line of protecting sentries. The French were allowed to loot at will, and took full advantage vf their opportunities, and wherever any of it was to be met with in the British camps it had in every case been purchased at absurdly low prices from some of our more fortunate allies. One seemingly well authenticated story wont tho rounds, of two sailors from an English man-o’-war who got past the French sentries by some deviltries of their own, and succeeded in reaching their ship Jaden with plunder. On tile way home the secret leaked out and reached the ears of the captain, who commandeered at least one of their prizes in the shape of a geld statuette of some heathen goddess of considerable value. The details of rhe presentation were never published, ns far as known, but the fact remains that a work of art identical in every wav with the looted image, occupied/ and probably does co still, a bracket in one of the private apartments of Windsor Castle. Reports current at the time asserted that Jack was amply compensated for the loss of what he termed his “golden gal,” but on that point doubts may possibly be entertained.