TURKISH RUSE FAILS.

New Zealand Herald, Volume LII, Issue 15998, 17 August 1915, Page 8

TURKISH RUSE FAILS.

ABUSE OF THE RED CROSS.

The Peninsula Press, a newspaper which is circulated among the forces operating in the Dardanelles, contains an account of an attempt by the Turks to attack the British under cover of the Red Cross. " A Turkish staff officer, accompanied by two medical officers, approached our lines with white flags and Red Crescents, the counterpart of the Red Cross. One of our divisional commanders went out to meet them, and was told that they had come out to ask for an armistice to remove their dead and wounded. The hour and conditions were calculated to excite suspicion. Night wa? drawing near, and it was seen that the enemy's trenches were lined with double rows' of armed men. Glancing at the bristling trenches, the Divisional Commander gave his answer: Neither of them had power to arrange a suspension of arms, but if the Turkish officer would return at. a reasonable hour in the morning they might exchange letters on the subject. Meanwhile, hostilities would be resumed after ten minutes' grace. " Orders were instantly given, and stretcher-bearers —British as well as Turkish—withdrew from _ the death-strewn battlefield. . . . We had not long to wait before justification came for the suspicions that, under the cloak of humanity, the enemy were seeking to gain the advantage of darkness in order to escape the fire of our guns, which had caused them so manv losses in their last assault. From the Turkish trenches advanced masses of armed men. They came on behind a screen of weaponless soldiers who held up their hands as though eager to surrender. But the ruse could not have deceived a clu,d. Along the whole line rifle and gun spoke. The bombardment went < n furiously till dark, after which rifle and maihine gun continued the combat until four in the morning. One rush the enemy attempted, but it was not pressed with vigour and our artillery soon dun e tin m back into their own trenches At 4 a.m. the rifle.fire died down, half an hour » bombardment had reduced the enemy to silence. The Turks uj -, dearly for their attempt to abuse P ?, privileges of the Red Cross." ** tHe