LATEST WAR NEWS

Hawera & Normanby Star, Volume LXIX, Issue LXIX, 1 July 1915, Page 7

LATEST WAR NEWS

A CHEAT EXPLOIT. !I»PORTANT GAINS AT THE DARDANELLES. GENERAL HAMILTON'S REPORT. FULLER DETAILS. «T CABLB—PBEBB ASSOCIATION—COPYBIGHX. _ „ LONDON, June 30. Ihe Press Bureau states that Sir lan ■Hamilton reports that his plan of operations on ihe twenty-eighth was to tnrow forward the lett of his line soutJi-east of Krithia, pivoting upon a P°mt a mile from the sea, and after advancing on th c extreme left for about naif a mile, to establish a new line racmg east on the ground thus gained. Ahis plan entailed the capture in succession of two lines of Turkish trenches to the east of th e Saghirdere, and five lines to the west. The Australian , corps was ordered to co-onerate by a l^igorous demonstration. '£he action opened at nine by bomJardmjjnts with heavy artillery, the French rendering most valuable assistance. The field artillery at iten twenty effectively cut the wire in front of. the Turkish trenches, and the Taloofc, Scorpion and Wolverine kept down ihe Turkish artillery'fire near the sea. We, at ten forty-five, assaulted a; «mall Turkish advanced work in Sagehir Dere. called the Boomerang redoubt. This was a very strong site, protected by extra strong wire entanglements, and had long been a source of trouble. After the- redoubt tad been specially bombarded by trench mortars, and while bombardment of the surrounding trenches was< at its height, ;jart of the Border Regiment leapt from the trenches as one man, poured out like a pack of Bounds from cover, and raced across and took the redoubt most brilliantly. The artillery bombardment increased in intensity until eleven, when the range was lengthened and infantry ad%*anced to the attack, which was carried out with great dash along the whole line.

Three lines of trenches west of Sagher Dere were, captured with little opposition. The trenches were full of dead Turks, and many were buried by ihe bombardment. A hundred prison-

ers were cap,tiured. / The Royal Soots, east of the ravine, made a fine attack, capturing their two lines of trenches, but the remainder of ihe third brigade on the right met with severe opposition, and were unable to get forward. The Royal Fusiliers at eleven thirty led a brigade in the second phase of the attack west of the ravine. The brigade advanced with great steadiness and resolution through the trenches already captured and across the or>en. taking two more lines of trenches, and reaching the objective. The Lancashire Fusiliers inclining half right formed a line to connect with our new position east of the ravine. The northernmost objective had now been attained, but the Gurkhas, pressing on under the cliffs, captured an important knoll still further forward, and actually due west of Krithia. This they held at ni^ht, making the total gain on the left a thousand yards. We during the afternoon attacked a small portion of the trenches on the right, which were not captured, but the enemy held on stubbornly, supported by machine guns and artillery, and our "attacks did not succeed. The enemy during the night counter-at-tacked the foremost trenches we had gained, but they were repulsed with heavy losses. A party of Turks who retired from the flank* between the two lines of captured trenches were subjected to ma-chine-gun fire at daybreak and suffered heavily. The survivors were taken prisoners, except, a small portion in the trench already mentioned. All that was hoped from the operations was gained, and the line on the extreme left was pushed forward to a soeciallv strong point, well beyond the limit of advance originally contem-1 plated. ! All engaged did well, but the chief factor in the success was the snlendid attack of the Twenty-ninth Division, whose conduct on this, as on previous occasions, .was beyond praise.