GALLIPOLI FIGHT.

New Zealand Herald, Volume LII, Issue 16010, 31 August 1915, Page 7

GALLIPOLI FIGHT.

I • : FEAT Of ARMS, jflllEW ZEALAND ADVANCE. jpBECEDEXTED IN WAR. bush AND redoubts. . | VALOUR OF THE MAORIS. f^W^ffoblishe 4 by Arrangement.— h\ a despatch from Gala Tepe dated August 9, Captain Bean, official Commonffeal'ih correspondent, gives an account of %' r tlw' operations connected with the Suvla Bay landing. Ho writes:— • •;>• "Since Friday night, the battle which : 't started on tho Australian right at Anzac, .' with tifo magnificent capture of Lonesome pine trenches by our Ist Infantry Brigade, has rolled awav far to north. Tho battle actually started with the bombardle roe of ,Achi Baba and the attack at Helles at about four o'clock on Friday afternoon. Then came the magnificent assault of the Ist Infantry Brigade on Lonesome Ifipjno at 5.50 p.m. This was practically |§| finished :at 7.30 p.m. Two hours later our blow first began to he felt to tho nurtii- . Tho New Zealand mounted:} and tho Maoris werobmoving oat from the extremo north of our line against strongly ftf entrenched spurs opposite them. Some of these trenches were stubbornly held, but, by eleven o'clock the troops had cleared ' most of - them with it he bayonet alone. Tho Maoris are said to have fought excellently. By this time tho troops were ; already moving out- along the seashore to 'T. - extend the battle further north. As these reached certain points they turned inland, plunged into dark, deep narrow foothill gullies. "-Each column had scouts working 'a,little ahead of it. Every now and then these scouts came across small bodies of M the enemy often fleeing from the attack 'of the mounteds earlier in the night, or occupying a small outpost from which the Turks - used to annoy us during the past months. Shots constantly rang out , through the gullies ahead. ( These were almost all Turkish, as we used the bayonet ' almost exclusively v during the night. v Further north of these columns, except the. British . flanking outpost, was the 4th. Australian, Infantry Brigade; next .■•i; southwards were some Indian troops, and the southernmost position was occupied hy, the New Zealand infantry,; which last t .-i| ; turned not very far north of our position.

• Concentrated Bombardment, V V, ''The narrowness of the valleys, where : sometimes only one could walk at a time, and the contorted shapes of the hills, .• made progress slow. ■ When the'moon 'V I*oso in the small hours the heads of the •columns were in the hills and the tails mo just clearing the flats. Just at (iaivn, alter ono of the most concentrated ' . bombardments ever seen here from ships' fguns and land guns, the First and Third ; Light Horse Brigades made a most gallant ..attack from an angle of our position against the Tints immediately - north of ' our position, in order to help the New ; rZealand infantry to get a footing further ; Tiiiith. Daybreak :found our troops— Youtlh, Australian, Infantry Brigade— ■ dicing in in the deep gullies between them . ... 30'! the Indians. The Turks had managed ; "to : bring- shrapnel on to the troops as fey worked tip the valleys. That was itithe position practical!v all Saturday. Landing at Suvla Bay. "Meantime . the battle had extended . much; further north .still. In tho early | hours of Saturday morning, .about eight 1 hojorg after the battle first began to (i spread from the south, the British force made a fresh landing at Suvla Bay, ; about ■ four miles ■■. north of : ..Anzac. ,About three o'clock on Saturday morning the sound of their rifles could be beard from', the north of our lines. All tbat dry the troops could be seen landing. ■ Tie Turkish, shrapnel was ' bursting,, over ; the beach and the low hills near it. Bv • •, • • - ? next morning, .however, we noticed the .. . Turkish shell bursting, over the hill on : .the plain to the northward from. which a bat-; leiy of Turkish guns had for nearly four ~' months ■ played on Anzac. That was the position yesterday. Early this morning,' ■ after another bombardment ■ lasting about ; an boar, all directed to the northwards, : another fierce battle began which, to judge 7 tho firing, has continued fiercely ever Sines.' Tho warships are . firing constantly, ; and the rattle of musketry is absolutely -continuous. .. i t , • . Magnificently Fought Battle, , filing .on August 11, Captain Bean i '^riher stated"This morning, the sixth , °l v of the fight, there was no sound of . . or even rifle-firing.' The perfect-silky Vj'Nness of the sea _ opposite Suvla • was ; wen this morning' by two fountains of *''te foam, where the enemy's guns from • - i-md the.ridges were blindly, feeling for r . .Mips.-- Otherwise, tho scene reminds 'f. ' " 10 French Riviera on some perfect i-.' .'fnngday, or when some local watering- , -*ce up the ° aSt is celebrating its''reel 3 PP cars to bo drawing to a closo one •, 1 o most magnificently fought battles j r ® £ln , tho British race has ever taker. I i "atM , ' or -* of the desperate attacks by Tl " C ew Zcalanders fought their hfe&l .two nights up intricate val- >< irough trenches and redoubts, will, jjs 'story 01111 fully bo written, make Sj]f ° nOUS a Pago as is found in the an- ° a ?y country. Tho whole operation j 15 I am told was never vj. f attempted in tho "'story of fc , v , e a °viiig out of a number of i-fl}™ °?' Umn:l through the dark into ~r - ,' -j "'J 6 ' 1 and mountain country, •I'-"- ;j a - 5 ' benches and redoubts, 'fas * c ' v ilised enemy, is a feat which ffevf^ 0 " 0 before. The history of j, rJ ' ' as lar as is yet known, is w Mows:- *?' ' ' i Mounted ,-Rifie3 Advance, - Rbwll;' ' . ZsiUj v 111 August 6, tho New iI.JO * ouil ted Rifles, advancing about , ■tfjtf t,^rou tho scrub against- the ' 2? es ? i)osing them on the mltu. Ground some of these .: (lie '' ' 5 ?„ fighting was very fierce, but -' f ared C " Ultec k' desperate attacks, another, till their work Zealand infantry- \ ltou ß| l them by daylight, and - India s 'tion. Further northwards worV 3nC ' CUr Australian Brisl&ttfhaJ ! ."«'.; U P °t!ier gullies, reached , a & 5C d hptr' af pOsit,lon - Th e troops dug 1 j* ******* i' s r/J'T a^ e? -' till their work ew Zealar|lJ lntantryirou ,§| l them bv daylight, and Ind;!' s '^ on - Further northwards Work * OUr -' 1 Australian liri- °^ ler gullies, reached a and J? af P° s^on - Iho troops dug feisjoj, 0 { lhero ' leaving us in posfi' thg 8 alon S t'l" lower slopes iis {j re , . 8 e which wo won during , fightin &- The British We, ; at Suvla, to judge from I ts »cedl Ef . T _J, ■;® s l lcll bursts, have adh 65 ¥. and to a line about I A % the wilVv an lnva '"ablo harbour '■ '''father which rules here

m autumn and winter, This bald account is all that is .possible at present, to obtain of the battle to the northward rom Anzac.

llie desperate fighting by which the first .and Third Light Horso Brigades Horn tho apex of the position at Anzac] endeavoured- to assist k a story in itself. Further south still the First Infantry Brigade, whose splendid charge captured the Turkish trencher at Lonesome Pino, was counter-attacked day and night by Turkic reserves, the battle resolving itself almost entirely into one of bombs. The Turkish trenches were extraordinarily elaborate, counting of a perfect maze of tunnels, with ledges whereon some troops could lie whilst others parsed through, and where troops could retire from artillery fare. After the fight the Turks naturally knew the exact position of trenches they Jad just lost, and were able to drop in bombs from other trendies whose direction wo could only guess at. They also managed to retake some small portions of the trench, but were driven out again every time., and a small party of tho Ist Battalion took an additional 40 yards of a certain main communication trench During the later stages the Ist Brigade was forced by the 7th and 12th Battalions. Iho water and food supply from tho first have been splendidly carried out. One great difficulty was the manner in which the trenches were blocked by Turkish dead. Needless to say, the stretcherbearers worked throughout under a heavy are, absolutely regardless of danger." "Possibly the most harassing work of all has been that of the artillery. From Friday morning till Tuesday tho gun crews and ammunition-carriers have been working all the time without relief. Observers have to be incessantly watchful. One day for a few minutes two Turkish guns turned up at Gaba Tepo. Our guns poured in 20 rounds, and the Turkish guns had to be immediately withdrawn, but it can bo understood what this sort of watchfulness night and day for tho best part of a week means. From the whole history of this fierce fighting one thing stands clear, and that is the force did all that men could do. Tho troops were magnificently led, and when the full history comes to bo written I have not tho slightest doubt it will figure as one of the most glorious episodes in the history of this or any army."