DARDANELLES BATTLES.

New Zealand Herald, Volume LII, Issue 15998, 17 August 1915, Page 4

DARDANELLES BATTLES.

ALLIES GAIN GROUND. A DESPERATE STRUGGLE. " TRENCHES MUST BE HELD." Fierce fighting culminating in progress by the allied forces at the Dardanelles is graphically describe,! by the special correspondent of the London Daily Chronicle. The battle of June 4. he says, ended with substantial progress on our centre, although on our left and on our right, notwithstanding the most violent charges and counter-charges, we were unable to consolidate some of our initial gains. The reason of this may be found in the natural strongholds of the Turkish flanks—natural strongholds that are helped by the most elaborate fortifications. The British and : French line on Gallipoli Peninsula, from the iEgean to the Dardanelles, is confronted by rising ground that culminates in the centre with the flat summit of Achi Baba, 800 ft high. On either sido the ground falls away to the sea in ravines and dry watercourses called " deres," which the Turks have had . time to make impregnable to any except . . those "superb troops that are now fighting to pass over them. There is no room upon the Gallipoli Peninsula to find weak 6 points ; and we are now in the position of - having to storm an immensely strong fortress, the advanced works of which, by an amazing feat of arms, we already i : hold, and the glacis of which has to be crossed before we move forward to the U assault upon the bastion of Achi Babn % and beyond to the final assault upon th< |v- very walls of that fortress. Further up the coast the Australian: Mr and New Zealanders have made a lodgment ■ment upon one of the strongest advance* Is;' works of the Kilid Bahr plateau, as seei iS" from the north-west. Kilid Bahr, the Key. | • There they threaten the communica tions of the fortress, and are drawinj against them a large part of the garrison •V. This is composed of the flower of th. S»V Turkish Army, and, notwithstanding .«■ casualties that must already amount ti 70,000, the enemy troops are fighting witl :: gallantrywith desperation, indeed— - cause they realise that when the bastioi p.. of Achi Baba falls the occupation of ib Kilid Bahr plateau becomes a mere ones S;tion of time, and that when Kilid Bahr which dominates the Narrows of the l)ar t>; danelles, falls the doom of Constantinopl s is at hand. t In view of the difficulties— it tio | for the landing, one would be tempted ti jV say the " impossibilities " —which confron f our men the gain of a score of yards ii j. the Gallipoli Peninsula may fairly repre sent for the purposes of comparison a gaii of 500vds in the western theatre of war K Therefore, to find its importance, the gaii : of 500 yds on June 4 mast be measurec with affairs like Neuve Chapelle, and th. | few quiet days that succeeded may b. py accepted as repose after a violent effort, jg On the night of Friday, June 11. then I' was . a brilliant little action by the Bcrdei - Regiment and the South Wales Borderers which resulted in the gain of two trenches _ On Wednesday, June*l6, the enemy, lec ; by a Turkish officer and a German. mad« If an . assault on the trenches of the BtL Brigade, but were driven off with loss. However, that night, the trenches gained ' by the two regiments on the 11th were *j* heavily bombed heavilv that our men iL. were forced to retire about 30vds and dig ...themselves in. ? . Dublin Fusiliers' Charge. 7 At dawn we were able to enfilade with • machine-guns the vacated trenches. Then ; the Dublin Fusiliers charged with the bayonet, and once more gave us possession of our gains at heavy cost to the -Turks, whose dead filled one trench. On , the evening of the centenary of Waterloo, Friday. June 18, the enemy :J; bombarded very heavily another portion r of our trenches on this side of the line. They were evidently attempting in minia ture form our own methods of Xeuve ( hapelle and of .Tune 4, for immediately after the bombardment they were seen to he masking for an attack. However, the imitation prided rather abruptly at this point, and the affair petered out" into discretion. Glorious, Successful Attack. On the evening of Saturday. June 19, Hie lurks, by a fierce attack, managed to net into an awkward salient, which had i enia ined in our hands after .Tune 4. For some time there was meat difficult v in recovering this, but the sth Rov.il Scuts and a company of the Worcester?. l;d by Lieut.-Colonel Wilson of the former regiment, made a, glorious attack and drove out the Turks. Of the Royal Scots one can add nothing but that they are Ldinbui Territorials! brought in by the fortune of war to niakf' the 12th Regiment of the immortal 29tli Division, whose deeds since April 25 mat have stirred the ghost of Homer to si,,*,their valour. Battle of Longest Day. Mention has beep made alreadv of tlx difficulties that oppose our advance upoi the two flanks. On June 21 it was deter mined to straighten the line upon tin extreme right and at. 1.50 a.m. the ore ltminary bombardment began. Tin dawn had been clear, but- soon a curtail S.}. Of M.ver through which gleamed tin gnost of the rising sun. hunt; over tin k" Kereves Dere. T hi s was the smoke oi s ; . bursting shells. g|-= Slow! as the sun < limbed np th< g' curtain became more substantial : ' thei f f seemed to droop and sweep along th( & _ hollows . like a vanishing mist of dawn a " d during a respite the thin blue sin ok. tho bivouac fires came tranquilly ui fewV w Tl\ as r- The respite was yen ai " the bombardment began agaii -fiW C 1; fi . ercen *<« thun before. Th '"-' v 'the ")e\ ( l m,S l dr ««"«ed " ,Ka -: HENtivS** • rev erbevatiou of tlie I'AV of thevhowitsers shook th

observation post over the Kereves Dere, and beyond, upon the sloping shoulders of Aclii Baba, the curtain became a pall. The sun climbed higher and higher. All that first mirage of beauty had disappeared, and there was nothing but the monstrous shapes of giants of shell smoke that appeared one after another along the Turkish line?. All through the morning the cannonade went onBy noon, the 2nd Division of the French had on the left stormed and j captured all the Turkish trenches of the ; first two lines. Even the Haricot redoubt, with its fiendish entanglements and its maze of communicating trenches, | was in French hands. . On the right, however, the first division, after reaching their objective, had been counter-attacked so effectively that they had fallen back. Taken, Lost and Re-taken. Again they advanced, again they took the trenches, again they were driven out. It began to look as if the victory upon the left would be fruitless, that the position would become an untenable salient and the Haricot redoubt revert to the enemy. At this moment a message was sent to say that the trenches must be recaptured; and when recaptured, held. There were still five hours of daylight for this battle of the longest day. British guns and howitzers were asked for and were sent at once. The bombardment was resumed throughout that afternoon. At half-past five it seemed as if every gun on earth were pouring shells on the Turkish lines. The Third Assault. At six o'clock the third assault was ' delivered. In one trench there was a j ' temporary shortage of ammunition, but the enemy fopght even with stones and 5 sticks and fists. A battalion came hurrying up from the Turkish right to * reinforce. It was caught on open ground 1 by the drumming 75's, and it melted away. Thus 600 yds of Turkish trenches were taken; and still the bombardment continued in order to ward off the - counter-attack that was anticipated. , The smoke of the shells, which at ' dawn had been ethereal, almost translucent, was now in the sunset dun and 3 sinister, yet' the sunset was very splendid, ? flaming in crimson streamers over Imbros, > tinting the east with rosy reflections, 3 and turning the peaks of Asia to sap- - phires. It had a peculiar significance on 1 this day of the Solstice, crowning as it 5 did those precious five hours of daylight " that for the French had been fraught > with such achievement. Slowly the colour ■ faded out", and now, minute by minute, s the flashes of the guns became "more distinct. the smoke was merged in the gathering dusk, and away over the more distant Turkish lines the bursts of shrapnel came out like stars against the brief twilight. Turks Lose 7000 in One Day. One knew how anxious would be the j darkness that now was falling upon this ; 21st of June, but in the morning we 3 heard gladly that the enemy's counterattacks had failed, and that our allies » were indeed firmly established. The Turkish casualties were at least , 7000. One trench 200 yards long and 10 feet deep was brimming over with the [ dead. i They had been valiant, those dead men. French officers who have fought in the West say that as a fighting unit one Turk ; is worth two Germans ; in fact, with his back to the wall the Turk is magnificent. The French casualties were few considering what a day it had been, what an enemy was being attacked, and how much had been gained. The right of the lino now commands Kereves Dere and the profile of Achi Baba seems to write itself less solidly against the sky.