The Soldiers' Mail-Bag.

Free Lance, Volume XV, Issue 800, 29 October 1915, Page 18

The Soldiers' Mail-Bag.

•""^XXS^

' Excerpts from Letters from the Front.

A HEADQUARTERS Staff Officer at Gallipoli writes graphically of the,-brave- doings of the Royal Scots in the fighting against the Turks. He says: — "I have seen many fine sights in this ■war, both in France and at the Dardanelles, but nothing so fine as the way in which the Royal Scots advanced to the attack on the Turkish position in the last fighting. At one stage the Scots were nearly outpaced in the rush for the enemy position by one : of the Lancashire Fusilier battalions, but somebody called out, 'Royal Scots, remember, you are second to none.' The Scotsmen answered with a ringing cheer, and they swept' forward with a rush. "The .enemy concentrated a withering fire "from a score of different points, and the hillside seemed to be one mass of little fortresses, each vying, with the others for the honour of raining the greatest amount of fire on the attacking force.;- The losses of the Scots were heavyL Every few minutes they stopped to dress their ranks as best they could,- but. they were always on again, and each rush carried them nearer to the hidden, foe. From ledge to ledge they jumped like so many mountain goats, and. the more they were fired at the more they, seemed determined to ■win through. V, "For a few seconds they disappeared from view, lost in-a hollow of the hillside, and then they appeared in front of a bluff rising up like a wall. If they could scale it the next stage of the journey would be comparatively simple, and we waited dn suspense to see what would happen. On the shoulders of comrades, a party of the . Scots were hoisted up, and then these assisted their .comrades to the same level. ''High up in the sky-line the magnificent line of heroes re-formed, and. with levelled bayonets, swept forward to the .first line trenches of the enemy. Shell and machine gun fire quickened at . every point, anl the whole hillside .seemed wreathed in /the flame and smoke of bursting shells,. while hundreds of / machine guns kept barking away at a terrific rate. It seemed to us that our brave lads up there had taken on an

impossible task, but they did not think that. On they swept, and, as they came up -against the Turkish first line, we could see the enemy stand up to receive the onslaught. "Rifle fire crackled and sparkled all along the crest where the enemy were, and the Scots were roughly handled. But their task was now nearly done. ■For the last time they halted, just a few yards from the enemy's trenches. They made no atem.pt to answer the rifle fire, but with .bayonets still at the charge, they went forward with one mad rush, and then we saw the enemy stretching away over the crest in full flight. The Scots had achieved the impossible, and from the thrilled onlookers down below a cheer of relief and exultation went,up though it was obvious that the Scots were out of hearing." * * * * The entente cordiale is well expressed in the following, taken from the letter of one of our soldiers fighting the Turk at Gallipoli:—-"The British Tommies and their French comrades freely mix. We get along fine together. T have seen us go over to their lines at night and make a swop of nam and rice.. The French don't seem to get iam, and we don't get rice, and. the change is welcome to both of usi" # #' * * ' 'We were relieved' that night by an English regiment, and just before we left the Turks . counter-attacked, and were mown down like corn. One chap was sitting behind a Maxim gun. right on top of the parapet mowing them down in dozens, and singing at the same time, 'You made me slosh you, but I didn't want to do it.' " —From a wounded soldier's letter. "We are having a, church service tonight before leaving in the dark, at 8.30 —the second time since we got here. We have just had rum, 7i30, so imagine the atmosphere at church! , Fancy a whole churchful of ,inen breathing rum! There is going to be 'something doing' to-morrow, so God help the Turk. He always gets the worst of it, poor devil of a catspaw. Where we were yesterday we counted (and smelled) roughlv

500 dead Turks in front of our trenches, and it is more or less the same all along the line." —From a sergeant in the 4th Royal Scots, fighting alongside our New Zealand forces at Gallipoli. •*'''■'*''.« '*'~•'" "When you see the names and numbers of the men we lost, read them with pride, for they died like men, and never flinched. So cheer up again and again, and if I should-fall youi will have the satisfaction of knowing I have done my duty, and my best to keep the Huns from your home and let you live in decency."—From the last letter before he was killed of an English private to his wife.