EVACUATION OF GALLIPOLI

North Otago Times, Volume CII, Issue 13462, 5 January 1916, Page 3

EVACUATION OF GALLIPOLI

THE MEN WHO FOUGHT AND / ' DIED. ' "AN'OTHEK LUMINOUS PAGl'],"' (Ptt C»bl». —Pr«n Awociation.—Copyright) LONDON, .lanuiily S. The chief Rabbi of (lie (Ireek Synagogue says that the men who I'oiight aiul died at Gallipoli set a new standard iu human courage, and added another luminous page to British history. v : WORE TURKISH REPORTS. AT SEDD-UL-BAllli. CONSTANTINOPLE, January :i. A Turkish oflicial report states: Our artillery have been active near fcSedti-ul-Bahr. An enemy cruiser ami a monitor' were obliged to retreat. A Turkish hydroplane dropped bombs on the enemy camp. ' A GRAPHIC ACCOUNT. • ENEMiY.,'COMPLETELY TAKEN BY . " SURPRISE.. . ' OPERATION CAlil! I El) OUT • WITHOUT A lIITCJI, , •: WELLINGTON, December 31. : Thc following dispatch has been received- frqm Mr Malcolm Ross, the New •Zealand Official "War Correspondent.:—" ' ANZAC BAY, December .19. ...Three 'miles away, across the grey, silky seal' lies the dark shape of the land. Eight months ago, just as the first lemon" groy of dawn was breaking over that long, lizard-shaped mountain, If- watched such signs-as were visible of--tliß landing of the Australasian troops iu Gallipoli. Now, as night falls gradually down upon the same historic hills, l am watching for the signs of their departure, .For 'to-night tho Ist and 2nd Aus-tralian-Divisions are leaving their old' position •of Auzac. The New Zealand arid Australian Division is leaving the slopes and foothills of the range further 'north. Tho Indian' Brigado is leaving Hill GO, whore-for months ithas overlooked tho Suvla Hats. And, further north still, from across the same Hats, and Chocolate Hill, in the middle of them! and, tho distant slopes of Kirccteli.Tcpe, far away by the shores to the north of us, the British are retiring from the positions which the world"'knows as Suvla.

The moon is just beginning to ilootl the sea -and land with light so clear that you can scarcely notice the change from twilight into night. This brightness of the. moon is one of our chief anxieties,- for if the enemy sees what wc .are doing and attacks during certain stages of . the embarkation before towghtMs over, then nothing can prevent , ouo of the most sanguinary and despcrato fights in the hisjtory of this orany other war.

\ Constant Possibility of a Great - Tragedy.,

.'But at present—although every6iie's nerves are oil edge with the proximity of,the'constant possibility of a great tragedy before to-morrow's" daybreak —yet, there is nothing whatever iu the grey shape of the land there to suggest that' tho Turks have the least hint of what is going forward. 1 know that, as a matter of fact, certain movements of troops have been taking place during the last half hour, which, if carelessly carired out, would insult in - ' the discovery of our pla/i'. !i " But 1 lo'oking dn ; with ' all the apprehension initli'o' Avtrld,-one cannot make'out the Ic'SSE-fllfferfciiie'. in 'tile "scene. The srey mountain is sleeping under tfie mtftjii; The red pinpoints of the incinerator fires*are winking exactly as usual on hill' and -valley all over our position. The grey smoke of the evening fires curls upwanls from the gullies. T'rom tho <crest'of the ridges comes the lav-.v "pick, pock" of desultory rillc lire, It is an ordinary night's sniping, the Turks firing at our loopholes and we at theirs. l'Vom far to the south, at Holies, comes more than the usual rumble of guns; we made an attack at llclles this aftcriioon. Politicians and the Evacuation,

'A# everything is so silently qtiii't, I chose tlie moment for going down below to the cabin of this hospitable cruiser, in order to. make a tentative start with this article. During 'the later stages of the night there will be no opportunity. For it can be stated without harm that the movement- which is at this moment going on was the one which from the day of landing every--0110 here most dreaded, I heard it said oil the' day of landing, and if lias been a commonplace ever since, that, though tlio 'experiences of lauding -were-bad and rough, one (thing would lie worse, and that was if it ever fell to our lot to .have to get off again. One raids

in tin 1 papers speiches uf members of. I'arliaiuciil, asking li^lit-iiciirfcdly why tlici forces were not withdrawn from the. Dardanelles, as if the process "was merely ono of picking up baggage ami walking .ofl". ' IVojile talking like that, one lineup could not have the faintest conception of the condition!*, under which we have liecn holding on for eight months at Auzac. -.Dili they realise Unit the main lieacli, from which alinost all the work of supplying Auzac had to be done, avus within nine humlred yards of the main centre ami-pivot of the whole Turkish line; that if the Turks could fight their way for three hundred yards they would reach the e.dge of the. cliff, from which they would look down, as from the gallery of n theatre, upon the narrow lliit containing nearly all our stores, our ordnance depot, and all the paraphernalia for landing and embarkation. 1

•Six hundred yards below them would be the north beach itself—that is the beach just north of Ari Biirmi Point--with three of our live landing stngcn and a solitary sunken steamer, which served us for a breakwater. Just south of Ari Burmi Point, in Auzac (,'ove, or the South Beach, is AVatson's Pier, built by the (Australian signallers soon sifter the binding. . But this socalled pier is within sight of the.t.Oalm Tepe promontory, and the enemy' can see it so well that- the guns of his batteries to the south of us can put shells'on to any part of that beach at any moment .they wish,-as easily as you can strike any letter on a typewriter. There arc fourteen guns in tlioso particular batteries, but they all go by the name of "Beachy Bill," ami "Beachy" has made Watson's Pier and Anzac Beach easily the most unsafe place on the Peninsula. ' •

Majority Glad Enough to Get Away. The only chance is to yet the troops away without the enemy, of whom there, are 85,000 at Anzac and Suvla', having a suspicion of it.' Continuing his story of the withdrawal from Gallipoli, Mr M'alcalm Boss says:—

The North Beach is better hidden lluiii '/Watson's." The enemy cannot actually sec from any where I lie ground round the landing ]>ui)it,.' lad there is an ofl'shoot from I lie main ridge lo llie north, from which lie could look over the inner ridges into Ari Burnu l'oinl, am] half the North. Beach. It is known as "Snipers' Nest," because w<> have been habitually snijjed front there by night with ut machine gun. From "Snipers' Nest" we can see, the tip of one of the lauding steps and. the boats moving to or from them. Those are the two little, patches of beach over which the whole of our supplies have to come, and tliey aro the only two portions of the beach at Anzuc which are protected from direct view and rifle fire.

Complete secrecy is the only condition which can prevent the most terrible conditions on the beach. Every limn knows this, and it can be imagined with what feelings they read the' airy speeches and airier articles discussing the probability of our evacuation. The only consideration has been that the. enemy would probably consider that not even the British' would be fools enough to talk so nuidi about evacuation if they were really thinking of undertaking it. It is only a few days since we ourselves heard of the evacuation, although, possibly, it' was decided after the visit of Lord Kitchener.

Suvla and Anzac arc not, like Cape ILelles, of any value in themselves. They are only useful stepping-stones for further advances, and sinco this failure of the Suvla attack the 1 only •chance of a further advance would bo the landing of a very large additional force.' Tlie-. # concentration 'of oui' forces,: ! 'aiid not a further scattering, .seems clearly necessary, and it'is obvious that another army is scarcely likely to be spared >for- Gallipoli.

I have hoard tlio chances of ov»cim j tion discussed amongst tlio man for some weeks, so that when the news of the-decision-was. spread it was not altogether unexpected. 1 have heard every sort of view expressed. A few men were very depressed at tlio idea of leaving Aiizdc, but tlie majority nro glad enough to. accept fate .as it comes to tlieiu, and to get away from the peculiar dilliculties aiul especial,labours of this position before it's. hardships are doubled by the winter. The upperthought iu every man was one of regret at leaving. Ju the mountain cemeteries, ■which every valley and hillside, contains, for a week past any time of the day tine could see small parties of men carefully lettering in the. half obliterated name of sumo comrade on the rough wooden cross, or carefully raking lip tlio mournl ami bordering it neatly with I'nso caps from fallen shells. The demand for ordnance wood for crosses has been .extraordinary, I have noticed some chaplains sowing wattle and manuka on tli|> graves of the men. T believe- the Turks respect' tlio grave'yards.

Many Australian solnierx have, been writing letters to leave iu I heir dugouts for Abdul," telling liiin what a dean' lighter they think he has been, ami .wishing him "mi revoir." Jt is dillicult to say whether there has lieen any sign that the Turks have heard of our intention, but one would have been inclined to think that the action of his guns shows that lie knows something is in the air, aad it is noticeable that daring the last three days "Beachy Bill" has left oil' shelling the South Beach and has been' trying to get the exact range of the Northern Beach, but the only man who can see it for liini is this observer at "Snipers' Nest," or on part of the same ridge, who can see the mast of the breakwater steamer and probably the extreme end of the beach, Luckily, the enemy's practice, has not been good, for thousands of troops will have to pass this way. What may have given the enemy an inkling, and what must certainly have made 'him think, is an occurrence the night before last. About I o'clock in the morning, on looking out, I noticed with horror that the whole sky to the north,ward was Hushed witli au orange reflection from a great lire. The lire clearly came from within our lines, and not far from the North Beach, and it seemed to "be probably either an ordnance dump or a supply dump burning. As one knew that no stores were to be, on any account, burned till after everyone liail left, this occurrence looked like a tragedy, biit nothing iiniportant followed. On reaching the place it was found that a huge supply stack was flaming, with biscuit boxes, meat jtiiiSj ami oil drums exploding and being hurled through the air, and men, from generals downwards, perspiring in an attempt to isolate the outbreak. Tho stack became igiiitedby accident, but "Beachy Bill," who was throwing shells near by, clearly ■thought it wus his doing, for uh soon as lie, saw the glow lie began to throw in., more shells, which fell about one Jwiidred yards to one side. The; accident seemed unfortuuate al the time, but the enemy can hardly think we •are such fools that we should deliberately biyn our stores two or three nights before . attempting' a secret evacuation.

'lie knows we have been usiug every arlilioo lately to try to tempt him to attack, and probably 'thinks this is ouo of them. Indeed, if lie,had attacked any time up to now, we should have been only too glad to receive him. . To the sou'tli of us there is, stealing off through the night mist, which fortunately hangs low over tho surface of the sea,"a dark shape, and frdiri ashore comes the ordinary "pick pock" of the rifles.

The moon is so bright that I can easily see as 1 write another distant grey shape, passing outwards for the southward. They arc clearly getting away without the least hitch, and actually ahead of time, ' Thank God that it is so, and that many thousands arc clear', at any rate!' A big monitor has just been stealing in past us—a ship I have never seen before. She must be going in there to enfilade tho'Suvla trenches if nnvthing goes wrong. On the forecastle'below me, 1 can sec the whito tops of the caps of about twenty-five sailors, gazing intently. They arc intensely interested in and hospitable, to any soldier, of whom there arc two or three on board. ' The ship's officers are straining in the leash to be of any use tliey can. This-ship has for some time watched over the interests of Anzac on the sea, and the whole company is only too eager to help the Army to-night. "If anything goes wrong, well, wo. can go in and pick them off, if .it comes to that," say? someone, :The one'tiling that comes hard is evi-dently-tliut as long as everything goes well, thciiy is to bo no call upon them, except in the actual arranging of the transports. . Otherwise, tliey can only lire the few normal rounds on the llauks.

"'What's that fellow up to down there?" says the officer of the watch, looking critically at a rival. "l,can Kciii'iioly silo tlie beggar's searchlight. Why doesn't lie ginger it up a bit?" The Guns Loft Behind, fc'omi guns has .flashed down .near our beach. Probably it is one we are leaving behind, so that they can be fired up to the very Inst moment." The old Anzac position is so small that a Held gun, if placed in the valleys where it' would be hidden 'from' the enemy, eiuinot lire at the enemy's front trendies. Tlmy could (ire at position* four thousand yards away, lmt from the first, iu order to enable the Australian field gnus to lire on the enemy's trenches, it has ibecu necossary to place them right on top of the hills. The men''dragged them'there by solid muscle in the'early days. Eight of thenr u : we actually in tlio old firing line, almost all the rauuimlcr on the hill crests, in full view of the Turks, also two >M howitzers, witji sights so shaky 'i,!tt they were nearly as dangerous' to us

as (6" th'e'.Vnemy, will lie IcftvUi "the last, and possibly the "mounted guns on the very exposed positions. A 4,7iueh naval gun, made in ISIUi, and reputed to have, been at. y Liidysinith (though I cannot vouch for this) wits 'blown u)i some days ago, ' • Heavy Rifle Flro at Holies."

II is half-past nine. . Very, heavy lire has suddenly broken nut down there. It is ten milcsawny, at the least, from where this cruiser lies, and yet I cjiu distinctly hear the ripple of rifle, lire and .machine guns, puiictutiled by the thud of bombs. It is the tirst lime t|iat I personally have ever heard riile lire 1 at' llelles from • Auzne, although I have twice heard others say liny did.' But there is no mistaking it now. It gave One a very big heart thuiup nt lirst, because it sounded almost l.ike an attack on Anznc. right. But there is the casual "pick, pock-" of our i'illcs oil. the right, nmlible clearly nbpve it, and quite tjistinrt.

Tho British nuide aa attack this afternoon at llelles, The -I'-'ml and !)2nd Divisions, that is," the Manchester and Lowlands Divisions, made.,a ijjiarge—we could see the Turkish shrapnel bursting over them—Navy and land guns helping the liritisli by one of the most tremendous short bombardments I'ever listened to. I wonder if this iille'Jire. means that ,we took some trenches..(town there, jiud-. (Ik; Turks are cquiitei'-attackin,gi ' 'Everything ashUiv, is; ((uite normal; :, Now and then _ut bomb Hashes at'places, wlierc the lines ure vcry'close, siiclflis Hill (id in the north',•' or The Apek/'or The Neck, or Lono Pine, or' fai' south, where the'2nd Light Horse Brigade are holding Chatham Vl'ost on' tlie extfcmi right. ■ - ■ ' ; ' .

Wholo Plan; Works Oiit.gplqiididly,

. 0.55 message lias'.jiifit;'bcen jeeeived by our captain iu charge, .to say that (he -wliofo plan is .working splendidly.' . A lighter is. moving :in towards the shore, about halt' a .mile from us. IVo an hear, the voic.e of ils captain from .here, asking, for instructions. .'l'ho.ioflicer of the watch stamps iinpatioiitly on the bridge. HJ.fi p.m.—There..is a sound ; of v.qry heavy tiring itywn. : soulh. -.1 can distinctly hear their machine guns, tirst one, then two together, then the con-tinuous-rattle of rifles. • •:■''••

I know thai the troops why arc now noming off uro using not''only Hie North Beach, but' nisei Hid beach in Annai! Cove, on to' ivhieh ■'"Bench,v Hill" can put a shell whehcver he likes, lie can make that-beach almost impassable at any moment lie likes. "Occasionally, when some small increase in tjiiipiiifr ifrom trenches makes one hold one's brenth for a moment-,' T remember that "Bcaeli.v'i? has so far only fired four or live, shots during tlio whole night. Ami that is certain- proof that he cannot -even suspect that thero is any unusual lnovCiiient on,

11.40. —A ' bright light shows for ut few foments down near the.south of the line, at Brighton Beach. A naval ollii'cr says it is the Hare from the funnel of .some steamboat. A collection of a few cutters, with a steamboat, is-to gather nt Brighton Beach in order to bring . off the latest party. We often land... stores nt Brighton Bench, so "-Beach,v.'' 1 will notice nothing unusual.iu this.

Inshore of us there are 'just about the usual, number of.'fnuvlcrs and small craft lyiiig. . Bright. Hashes of occasional bombs, casual firing {ill along the line, the occasional rattlo of anchor chains, sparks of ..incinerator tires every now tlieu fanned into a bigger flare—everything is exactly as usual. , • >

lA message lias arrived from the officer commanding tlio-jcmainiug troops to say that, the enemy 1 lias ai'tuully been seen strenuously, employed milking trenches and putting up barbed wire; ' , He must surely'think that our activity means an' attack by ,us.