A YEAR AGO

North Otago Times, Volume CIII, Issue 13651, 19 August 1916, Page 2

A YEAR AGO

THE SUVLA BAY ATTACK. Just a year ago this mouth'the histbri.j Suvla Bay attack was at its height, and the casualty lists of the New Zealanders and Australians were swelling to enormous proportions, The great venture opened on the afternoon of August (3 with the assault oii Lone Fine trenches by the 2nd, 3rd and Oth Australian Battalions, whose object it. Was to draw off the Turkish.reserves from the main attack. Sir Inn Hamilton's, scheme for hoodwinking the Turks, in-cluding-the strategic diversions intended to draw.away enemy reserves not yet landed on the Peninsula, and secondly a- tactical-diversion meant to hold up reserves already there. The former included a surprise landing north of the Gulf of Saros .which was successfully carried out, while the tactical diversions included maintaining an attack at Cape Holies and an attack on the Lone Pine trenches. As.,:i result the Turks were put completely off their guard, and the British troops came to within an ace of total victory. . Notwithstanding the tremendous odds which faced- them, the Australians succeeded iii taking the Lone Pine Plateau and held it for six days, though their forces dwindled down to less than 2000, while the Turks had a whole division. ■ ~ • • Perhaps the biggest part of the whole .attackwas entrusted to the New Zealand troops. Their object, was to effect a lodgment along the. crest of Sari Bair ridge with- two columns of troops, The' two assaulting columns were, to work up three ravines and storm the high ridge, and these men to lie preceded by two covering columns of which the •first was fH capture the enemy's posi-tions-commanding the foot of the hills and the other was to strike out northwards until from Damijilik Bair they could guard the left flank of ■ the column assaulting Sari Bair from (lie enemy in Anafurta Valley. ■ The whole of this big-attack-was entrusted to Major-General Godlcy. . . .. ; On the night of August G, about nine i o'clock,, the movement commenced, and by eleven o'clock Brigadier-General Russell, with the Nw Zeahud Mounted Rifles, the Maoris, and a party of Engineers under Captain' Shcra,' had sealed and. taken the practically -impregnable Table Top, an achievement which .elicited the highest praise from Sir lan Hamilton. In the meantime the right assaulting column, consisting of the New Zealand Infantry Brigade, an Indian Mountain Battery, and a company of New Zealand Engineers under Brigadier-General Johnston, had, entered the southern ravines and were busily engaged in a tremendous fight for the trenches on the lower part of' Rhododendron Spur, the Canterbury Bat-, talion being in the thick of the- at-" tack, Eventually the Otago Battalion forced its way in the face of fierce opposition through the scrub of Chanak Dere, and about six o'clock on the morning of August 7 joined Canterbury on the lower slopes of the spur. The other parts of the column came up, and fierce fighting continued all day, but eventually the New Zealanders entrenched on the top of. the spur within a quarter of a mile of Chunuk Bair, which would have meant victory. However, our aims on. Chunuk Bair were not fully attained, for the expected help from the English troops which had landed at Suvla Bay was not forthcoming, though, in the words of Sir lan Hamilton.-and Sir W. R. Bifdwood, the Australasians had;"performed a feat without parallel," During the afternoon of August 7 reconnaissances were carried out on Sari Bair, and the .troops prepared for fresh advances by three columns early in the morning. At dawn Brigadier-General Johnston's column on the right, headed by the Wellington Battalion and supported by the Auckland Mounted Rifles, the Maoris, and the Seventh Gloucester, and led by Lieutenant-Colonel Malonc,' made an unprecedented charge up the steep slope of Chunuk Bair and fixed themselves firmly on the crest of the knoll. Lieutenant-Colonel Malonc was mortally wounded as he was workingout the line to be held. The capture of the hill was a presage of victory, but the expected support from Suvla Bay still hung five, and the Turks were enabled to line the crest with overwhelming numbers. The enemy then turned' their attention very particularly to the New Zealand troops, who suffered heavily, but though exhausted at the end of the day, they still kept a footing on the summit which covered The Narrows themselves. Eight hundred men held tie crest, and they held it all the next day.. At night on the 9th, half dead from fatigue and lack-of food find .water, they handed over the position which they had held so finely to the 6th North Lancashires and the oth .Wiltshires, who had at last come up from £uvla Bay. Next, morning.-the Turks delivered a grand assault at daybreak, and the newly-arrived troops were overwhelmed and only extricated with the greatest difficulty. ' The position was lost, but the New Zealander and Australian artillery, assisted by the machine-guns of the New Zealand Infantry, played such havoc with the successful Turks that only a handful of the huge force which came over the hill struggled back' to their own side. The great assault cost the colonics 12,000 men,, and the fact that the grand coup did not come off was-in no way due to them. In his subsequent despatch. Sir lan Hamilton remarked: "General Birdwood did all that mortal man could do. General Godley handled his two divisions with conspicuous ability. The troops faced death with joyous alacrity—as if it were some form of exciting- recreation—which even astonished an old campaigner like myself,''