KELSON BOYS AT GALLIPOLI

Nelson Evening Mail, Volume XLVIII, Issue XLVIII, 15 July 1915, Page 3

KELSON BOYS AT GALLIPOLI

HOW THE GUN'S WERE LANDED. Corporal Lucre, of the 2nd Battery of the New Zealand Expeditionary Force at the Dardanelles, writing, to his sister ; {Mrs E. E.. Boyes, of iN'eison) says : l I want to tell you of tiiie interesting ' time wo had on IdiadiLnig, which, to me, 1 will ever be remembered', as it happened •on my birthday. At about nooni on tlie i 25th. we anchored, and' all that afiterI noon and evening watched tne wan-ships bombarding tike sea coast, extending over a front similar- to what, extends from OlcJnaan's Creek to the Ziig-Zaig-. That afternoon boast-loads of in faultily effected a lam-ding, arid met with a- very hot reception—some showing su'oh keenm'css that they did) not wait for the .boats to ! get ashore, but jumped into the water ; waist-high andi rushed, the enemy with • keen deteiimiiiation, resulting' in. turning ' the tide and driving .tlie enemy hack over ' the hill-top. This is reckoned as being ' a graaid piece of work, and no one could possibly think otherwise when it was seen how thorough the enemy had made their trenches, wihich oniust have taken • weeks to complete. You have, no doubt, iby this time had news of ail that has happened', and) as you would see that we sustained onaaiy losses, it must not be ' forgotten that the glorious feature was 1 in routing the enemy, thus enabling us ! to establish a base; and' to-day would take -all they have against us to drive us out. The 2nd Battery, in fact, not any of tne batteries, landed on this day, but the 26th. At 7 p.m. -a number of us were told off, guns were lowered into a punt, or ponftoon, and' witli just six Mien pear gjuira, a> few specialists, and iihe heads. A tug took us in tow, and awaywe made for the beach. Here we remained until daybreak, a.nd even though not so exciting as the day previous, wo ■had bullets whizzing about, with an occasional burst of shrapnel near our heads. During tne afternoon of the 27th, our guns were placed in- .position on the hii'llside, and tnat night we got to work letting itilie ene-rny know what we had come for. We have been here now three weeks. For the first 10 days we remained in the position already mentioned', after which our gains were taken over a road cut by the engineers in something like 12. hours, and, as illustration', extending from. Washington Valley up as far as the top of Britannia Heights, and in places steeper. Tihe work of dragging guns up was done by something likie 200 to 300 (men, both Australians and. New Zeaianders, each putting their strain, on tJhe 'drag- ropes. It was a great sight. Each, day sees us on the job, the enemy (replviimg. I 'cam you the safest place is in my little .... £-otut, which is my home. We do not have tents here, but make the best of it by digiging down about sft., and there we live—not at all bad, considering-, and! just the sort of life that would make one live that of tihe hermit. I am v/ell, and. feel that this open air treatment is just the tlhimg. AH the Nelson artillery boys with us are well. No use for gran horses here, so they have been .taken off the boat elsewhere.