RECENT FIGHTING ON GALLIPOLI.

Manawatu Herald, Volume XXXVII, Issue 1474, 18 November 1915, Page 4

RECENT FIGHTING ON GALLIPOLI.

SPECIAL ORDER BY SIR lAN

HAMILTON

WARM PRAISE FOR OVERSEA TROOPS.

THE SINKING OF THE

SOUTHLAND

("From Malcolm Ross, Official Correspondent with the New Zealand Forces.)

Gallipoli Peninsula, Sept. 9, Since the brilliant capture of Knoll 60 there has been little fighting on the grand scale in the Anzac zone. The contending forces have been engaged mainly in a desultory shelling of each other’s guns and positions, in bombing and sniping from the trenches, and in strengthening the positions taken on the one hand and still held on the other. On some days there is practically nothing doing, and the war seems to have taken on quite a gentlemanly aspect. But all the time we know that the rival forces are caiefully watching each other, and are making all possible preparations lor eventualities.

An appreciation ot the excellent work recently accomplished by the Australian and New Zealand troops has been conveyed to them in a special order issued by Sir lan Hamilton, the text of which will be read with some degree of pride in New Zealand. It runs as follows :

General Headquarters, Mediterranean Expeditionary Force, 7th September, 1915.

“ The Commander ■in - Chief, Mediterranean , Expeditionary Force, desires formally to record the fine feat of arms achieved by tbe troops under the command of Lieut.-General Sir W. R. Birdwood during the battle of Sari Bair.

“The fervent desire of all ranks to close with the enemy, the impetuosity of their onset, and the steadfast valour with which they maintained the long struggle—these will surely make appeal to their fellow countrymen all over the world.

“The gallant capture of the almost Impregnable Lone Pine trenches by the Australian Division, and the equally gallant defence of the position against repeated counter-attacks, are exploits which will live in history. The determined assaults carried out from other parts ot the Australian Division’s line were also of inestimable service to tbe whole force, preventing as they did the movement of large bodies of reinforcements to the northern flank. “The troops under the command of Major-General Sir A. J. Godley, and particularly the New Zealand and Australian Division, were called upon to carry out one ot the most difficult military occupations that has ever been attempted a night march and assault by several columns in intricate mountainous country, strongly entrenched, and held by a numerous aud determined enemy. Their brilliant conduct during this operation, and the success they achieved, have won lor them a reputation as soldiers of whom any country must be proud. “To the Australian and New Zealand Army Corps, therefore, and to those who were associated with that famous corps in the battle of Sari Bair —the Maoris, Sikhs, Gurkhas, and the new troops of the 10th and 13th Divisions from the Old Country—Sir lan Hamilton tenders his appreciation of their efforts, his admiration of their gallantry, and his thanks tor their achievements. It is an hour to command a force which numbers such meu as these in its ranks, and it is the Com-mander-in-Chief’s high privilege to acknowledge that honour.”

W. P. Braithwaite, Major-General, Chief of the General Staff