MAORI BRAVES

Marlborough Express, Volume XLIX, Issue 251, 22 October 1915, Page 2

MAORI BRAVES

STORY OF THE BIG FIGHT-IN AUGUST.

A GRAPHIC DESCRIPTION

. What.-is ■probably, the most complete story that has reached New Zealand of the share taken Ivy the Ms or ifin the lig fisrht upon -the Gallipoli. Peninsula in August is supplied in graphic writing by Private Wiremu Pitama. in a letter to'his mother at Tuahiwi •■(state?, the Christchurch. Puss). Private Pitama, who was wounded', writes' on August 14th as follows: — I am just writing'■.-you these tew lines to let you know that I am slightly wounded in the left thigh, and-am progressing very well, and hope to be about "Very soon. We are getting well trerted here, so a fellow can't cpmpkin. I was hit, on the afternccn of the 7th, at about / o'clock, after we had tea. On- the night of the 6th we advanced on .the 'Turkish .position-: (I understand, that ■ it.- was a general adva'nee: alqng the whole lir.es). And, my word, the' bulkts ws-ye whirling about our oars in good style """■ Before we left the place where we were camped our Colonel gave us a bit of a speech, and wished us ftood Lick, and the veil of i.t, and said that ho :oulcl trusty iu\to .do our duty-to-the Empire and King, and "hat he woi.']d meet us on tho top of -"that hill." (He pointed- it out, but it happened that wo were *rven •mother hill to take, so we did not meet him r.t-xt day, but on the latter' one). After tho speech we were dismissed, while two pi?toons from A. Company, with two from .13. Company, went in'charge of Captain Pitt, .round to the Otago lines, >;nd had left the. remainder in camp wivh the Kick men. At about 6 o'clock in the evening tho Colonel said a few words, jnid then the person said tome, the ijroceedings concluding with the favorite hymn of AYepiha'n, and ihen we were toM to sit down and -vsi.it until "'tlark before we moved off. We got some ruin .to warm us up for the charge, and ihen we moved off to No. 3 outpost. It was pitch dark when we got there, and we went al<ng gaily enough. We did not realise what ,-was. in store for us, but; any how, it is all,over r.ow. 1 think we began to move off.at about 10 o'clock. I didn't have a watch so lam not sure what time it was; .'tiiyway, wo. went half-way up the ridge, but.had to retire owing to the heavy rifle-fire., and with the shrapnel jnd bombs flying stout, but that was nothing; the warships soon-boat ft down, and we were then able to move off again.- We got to the top of No. "3, and ihen we hugged the bits of >-and and ridges and scrub,, to afford ccyer from tiie bullets that were flying about our ears. I lost sight of Jumbo and the rest, in places, but I would" pick them up again-, and so on, as we were all mixed jup.by now, :is each one had to get along as best. lie could with safety.. We must have gone like.,this for about five or six hundred yards, in twos, and files, in places, and with fixed bayonets and empty magazines (for that was the order), when we were halted below a small ridge. THE MAORIS' CHARGE. ">

We'were then told that the ■Turkish trendies were about fifty yards in front ,and that we were to charge, and kick up v row the instant it was given, so that.was all right. We advanced over the ridge to about twenty-five yards, and the order to charge vas given. My word there was a dm il of a noise ! You can pretty well guess our dismay when we found that the Auckland fellows had raptured and were on it long before we got ihere. We were glad after, you bet. The-Turks had a lot of pits with scrub coverings. We rested there a while. Then our leader. Captain Hastings, of Wellington, moved uson-. The. time must have been about 2 o'clock in the morning. Tt was in this fight, dear, mother, that Jubart Mas badly wounded and died of his wounds Tie and 1 used to cook and eat together, all the time. Wo had a. good feed together before we left i'or the fight, vaptain Hastings szqt us together, and we advanced" in" a line towards the ne^t line of Turks. (There were Turks' in tin's time, aon bet). T-Jic-y must have heard us this tune, and began to fire !ike anything"1 at dose quarters. Bullets " were ..wliizzing round in good style. Tt's a wonder I wasn't hit. There were a lot i.t- twists in places, and with scrub, and the ground being unknown to us it made it a bit difficult for us to find them but, anyway, *.he Turks left the trencl-es What I saw left was two wounded and one killed in the trenches. ..Fl\oy nc^er gave -s a chance to have a go with tho bavonots at them.

H\K AS AX 1) Cl! EEJ{ING. We captured the trenches midst our liakas ana cheering. The other party did well; tg could hear thorn on the opposite hill cheering a,nd iiaka-mg as they went along. Captains Hastings and Dansy j'in^d v* along the treache.s, remly if the rlVnJ<s made a counter-attack ;" but they did not come. The word was passed alow our lines not to shoofc into the sully because the Wellington lot were below search in p: for snipers. We (oukl hear them quite plainly );u:-tin»- them cut one alter the other in' good style. We held the trenches, till morning. Nothing, happened, so we ha-d a bib of a l)low. I lvi Mi.ted round lor Jumbo and Fatty and Jubart, but could not find thorn at all. I didn't go far. but I fo'ind out rhat. Tally was; wounded in Iho arm ami leg and w;;s

away down at. the bendi, having walked down on his ovn. It wasn't till we were ordered to leave tlm trenches to go and rest further on below the ridge that Wellington captured, did I see Jumbo, Joe. Mussie. and Daddy save and soiyul. i asked the stretcher-bearers how Jubnrt was, and they told .mo he was stiff- when they sot him. * I got t\ bit of a sho^k when I heard it. I thought he was safe on the boat. "We made bivouac and had a good sleep after break fast. BURYING THE DEAD.

Alter dinner we wore shifted into the sully, and a party was detailed to go, and bury the dead. Jmnbo was in. charge of us. There was Bilk Johnston from Little lihov, .Hobin Fkitey, George Brass, and myself, a,nd Joe Lucas and a North Islander went back to the trenches, where the dead were. The Turks were sniping at us all tho while, and we had to rush at things to avoid the bullets about us.. it was r>re!.f,y lisky, !).>in^ open to the Turkish front. We couldn't dig a decent hole, the ground beinu; that hard that we wild only pet down about three feet. We lh«n put them into the hole., after searching them through (that was the.oruei' we uot from the colonel). . .hihart and"Pahia and four others we putinto the hole, ;».nd we buried tliein a-s they were, with their things on. Wepiha read the burial service. .We wore all crouching to avoid tho bullets. We buried anotii<-r i'urilicr down. Auotiier chap was Iviiur woiindctl in the trench, shot through tlu> lungs, but he <>ould not be shifted till dark. We came down and had tea. Afterwards wo set to work to make n slee|)ii!'.', pl:<ce !ov einvelvos. It was then T got my v.-onuds. _ T .stood up to turn my shirt the I'i^ht

way. 1 was jtist going to sit down again when 1 felt something strike me in the thigh. I the ugh tmy mate, knocked me with the pick or something. Lt wa*s a bit di-rk at the time. 1 turned round «".nd Jumbo heard the smack, and knew 1 was hit. lie grabbed me as J fell, and tho doctor bandaged it up and 1 was taken to the hospital station, and from there on to the boat, about o o'clock next day in tho afternoon.. Tho bov>: loft" their rcsting-placo' about midnight (tho day I was hit) for the big hill, which was made next day. You will probably read it in. "* TiKKI&H TkiRONIBS. . [ l'nruot to mention that we cangnfc a fe-w prisoner;-, the next day, m iho early :norning. When we took tho trendies they retired down the gully, being cut off by the Wellingtons.. They were caught next morning. Some of our fellows went down with \Yolhn.uton and rounded them up \\ka sheep. They made no attempt to light or do anything. They gave our chaps dgarotten; they had plenty, although they were in rags. Some of them have uniforms and others arc in anything. The Germans are forcing them io fight. They don't seem to care a scrao.