LINE NEARLY BROKEN.

New Zealand Herald, Volume LII, Issue 15950, 22 June 1915, Page 4

LINE NEARLY BROKEN.

THREE BAYONET CHARGES.

REINFORCING THE AUSTRALIANS.

" Eight months' training and three days' fighting has been the experience of Private J. Potter, of Marton, a member of the first reinforcements of the Wellington Infantry Battalion. " The English soldiers , got a big shock when they saw us form up i as if on paradeno noise, no confusion, and into it as if it was a tea fight. The Australians are just IT. They will do me to fight alongside. i "I think that the first charge will go . down as one of the finest and bravest in history," he continues. "The three battalions that undertook it were practically wiped out, but others came on.' We took three hills, but'had to retreat 'from one, as we were not strong enough to hold it. Up to this our company had hardly lost a man. We were now getting heavily shelled by shrapnel"On the Tuesday the Turks put in a very heavy attack on the left wing, which was held by two regiments of Australians. We hurried round at the double to reinforce them. We only got there in time— the Turks were nearly through. The first thing I remember was going for all I was worth through the scrub with my bayonet fixed. I think I was swerving some, but anyhow we beat them off. We put in three charges before we held them. We hung there all day. If a man moved ho got a warm time. We started to entrench, one man firing and one trenching. At the finish I found myself with a party of Australians, so I moved to- get back to the boys. A little further along were a few more New Zealanders, so we stopped together. More shrapnel scattered round, from which we kept well under cover. An officer crept along' and told us the boys were getting it pretty hot further along the line, so we moved along. I only got one in when it seemed as if I was in a butcher's shop. I got a bullet in my left arm and a dose of shrapnel in the forearm and hand. That was the end of me. I crawled till I was out of fire, got tied up a bit, and at last managed to get to the dressing station."

MANY WOUNDS RECEIVED. COROMANDEL MAN HURT. WORKING A MACHINE-GUN.

Three wounds were received by Private Frederick Simmonds, of Coroinandel, two i hours after landing on Turkish soil. Writing- from Luna Park Hospital on May 5, Private Simmonds states that one finger was struck by a shrapnel bullet, another bullet pierced the palm of his right hand, without breaking any bones, ■while an explosive bullet made an ugly wound in the biceps of his left arm, and grazed his chin. Advice has been received that Private Simmonds is progressing favourably. , Four bullet wounds were received by Private Leslie Breen, of the machine-gun section, Otago Infantry Battalion. Several other bullet 3 pierced his tunic without injuring him. Writing from Hasr-el-Aini Hospital, Private Breen states that on the first day the No. 1 firing man. Gilbert Crossan, of Kaikorai, was wounded, and he took the vacant place. "Early on Tuesday morning the Turks attacked," his letter proceeds. "It became too warm for us, and we had to shift to the ,left of our position. Wo obtained a good position, and got in about thirty or forty shots, when we had to shift, and while we were moving they got me. After the ambulance men attended me I lay on a stretcher from ten o'clock in the morning till four o'clock in the afternoon —couldn't get away, as the shrapnel was too severe— but pot' aboard a big liner about 6 p.m., and lay on 'trie deck. We reached Alexandria on Saturday morning, and arrived at Cairo at night.'' On the boat there were only two doctors to attend 600 or 700 men, so you can see how they worked. The hospital ships were full, and had left on tho Mondav. and we had to lie on deck everywhere with a double blanket underneath, but we w»re all cheerful. We are setting practically everything we want here, and have some grand nurses."

! TURKS RUN FROM BAYONET. NO HEART FOR FIGHTING. ' [BY TELEGRAPH. CORRESPONDENT.] CnßisxcirußCH, Monday. Writing from the Alexandria Hospital on May 2 to a friend in Christckurch i Privato 0. P. Sutton, of the First, Canter- ; bury, Regiment, says:— bullet caught me in the right breast aud travelled along my ribs, breaking two, and stopping about I Bin in, between two of the lower ribs. I happened to be lying on the ground at the time taking cover behind a bush. The lead was coming from all directions, and 1 our boys were being knocked over like ninepins. If the 'position had been reversed I am sure the Turks would never* have got an inch of tho ground that wo have captured. They could not fight for nuts. They are great big fellows, who, i if they had any pluck in them at all, ought to be able to handle a dozen of us with the bayonet, but the sight of itmakes them sick, and we only have to charge them to get them on the run. "Last Monday the warship turned her guns on a battery they had brought on to the beach, and soon their horses and men and guns were flying in all directions." CARE OF THE WOUNDED. "MEDICAL ATTENTION AMPLE." The official reports received by the Minister for Defence regarding the treatment of wounded soldiers in the Egyptian hospitals are fully confirmed by ChaplainCaptain Frank Tubman, who is attached to the sth Light Horse, Australian Imperial Forces. Writing to his sister in Dunedin on May 5 Captain Tubman declares that the comfort of the wounded men has been assured by official and volunteer efforts. ' * "The wounded from the Dardanelles are coming in shiploads," he wroto, " and are being distributed to hospitals in Alexandria for the worst cases—shrapnel wounds in chest and abdomen—and Cairo for the lighter cases. There was some confusion at first in dealing with the huge casualty list that was the price of landing, and one shipload went off to Malta for accommodation. Empty hotels and large private residences are being fitted up, and the accommodation is ahead of the casualty list. There are a fair number of New Zealand boys at Heliopolis Palace Hospital, at Luna Park, Mena House (Pyramids), Kasr-el-Aini (Cairo Native Hospital). "As my regiment is still unable to move for want of suitable country, I have been liberated in the Say to go whore I please, and I spend most of my time att .Kasr-el-Aini nursing and doing whatever comes to hand. Let it be generally known the medical attention is ample,, and the nursing staff is supplemented by Red Cross ! volunteers, mostly English ladies whose i husbands hold the highest official posi- i tions here. The food is splendid. There i is no country with more fresh vegetables i all the year than Egypt, and the wounded 1 are getting the advantage of fresh (green) : food, Australian chilled beef, and good, < nourishing milk puddings. Fowls are < abundant, and they get poultry and i so frequently that-you cease to think of I them as luxuries. I have bought and dis- ! tributed 20,000 cigarettes to the wounded, i and they were much appreciated." ;