BATTLE STORIES.

New Zealand Herald, Volume LII, Issue 16021, 13 September 1915, Page 8

BATTLE STORIES.

THE DARDANELLES

EXPERIENCES OF WOUNDED.

CAPE HELLES CHARGE.

FIERCE TRENCH FIGHTING.

A number of stirring stories of war on Gallipoli were told by the men who returned to New Zealand by the hospital ship on Saturday.

An exciting experience befel Corporal E. A Frame, of the 3rd, Auckland, Regiment, who has returned wounded by a bullet in the foot. His injury was sustained in the Cape Helles charge.

The narrator described how on the way round from Gaba Tepe, Corporal Brian Willis, of his company, was shot through the lungs, the bullet which killed him first penetrating the peak of another man's cap On landing Corporal Frame saw a large British graveyard. His company marched three miles towards Achi Baba, got in line with the French, and bivouaced for the night. Next day he witnessed a bombardment of the Turks by the British artillery lasting for three hours. When the Aucklanders were ordered to advance they went forward in massed formation, and" the Turks opened fire with shrapneL The shells burst over them for ten minutes, and it was marvellous they were not all killed. They could feel the shrapnel pattering on their knapsacks. Eventually the New Zealanders dug themselves in. Next day they received the order to make a general advance. They had breakfast under fire, left their kits in the trenches, took up picks, shovels and rifles, and charged. They advanced over one trench which was full of dead Turks, through a British trench and on to the first Turkish trench, which they rushed. "We were then shown a position on our left and told to get to it, proceeded Corporal Frame. "We got there under heavy fire, with many casualties, and there arose many cries for the stretcher-bearers. The position we gained was on a knoll overlooking Achi Baba. We were starting to dig ourselves in when the order came to fix bayonets and be ready to charge. Ten minutes later the charge was sounded. We gave a yell and went right into it. I had charged about 150 yds when a machinegun bullet struck me in the foot. I stumbled a step forward and fell within a pace of the Turks' trench, into which 1 crawled with the rest of the boys. I found hand-to-hand fighting going on, and there was a murderous time for half-an-hour. My mate, Jack Smith, jumped into the trench beside me. and fell on top of a Turk, who got him by the throat. I caught hold of the Turk's feet, and this enabled Smith to free himself from his grip. After that matters quietened down "

Corporal Frame lay in the trench for three hours, with other wounded men, and then, as the Turks counter-attacked,

he scrambled out. A bullet pierced his haversack, but he managed to reach the dressing-station safely. It was a struggle to get to the beach, and he was there two hours before he was eventually taken off to the hospital ship. It was, however, five days after being injured that he first had his wounds dressed, owing to the shortage of doctors in proportion to the wounded.

TAKING TRENCHES.

DANGERS OF THE ATTACK.

TURKS FEAR COLD STEEL.

The subject of bayonet charges has an I uncanny fascination for the civilian, and the first question asked of many of the' men was: " Did you get a chance of using the steel? What was it like"' Usually i the reply was that the charge had been on a retreating enemy. " They don't wait for the bayonet, they * rmshi," " said one ■ man; " imshi" being a word meaning i " run away," which is affected by many of the soldiers who picked it up in Cairo. Many of the Turks were bis brawny fellows, and apparently it was much more pleasant to attack them doing an ' imshi' than the other way about. "Perhaps we'd ' imshi * if they didn't," remarked one soldier, laughingly. The common idea of rushing a trench is that on a given signal the attacking soldiers jump out of their own trenches, dash across the intervening ground, and I leap into the trench of their enemy, which gapes open in front of them. The operation is complicated, however, by the fact that the enemy's trench is often covered over with heavy timber, the only means of ingress being manholes at intervals i alone its length. In cases like that the ! attackers have to throw themselves on i their faces beside the trench which is their objective, and fire through the aperture j left between the covering and the roof of | the parapet at any Turks who have not | left. The Turks take cover in the.sap leading to the next trench, and the soldier who is engaged in firing into the trench is very lucky if he gets through without a bullet in the face. The first man who jumps into the manhole takes a huge risk of alighting on the business end of a bayonet.

"DAISY PATCH " SUBVIYOR.

WAIHI MAN'S ESCAPE.

CHEERFUL THOUGH DISABLED.

When interviewed Private R. W Thorburn, of the Auckland Battalion, and a Waihi boy, was in bed in the ship's hospital. He proved to be one of the heroes of the '' Daisy Patch." He was with the New Zealanders in 'that famous charge at Cape Hellas early in Mav, and he was within 300 yds or 400vds of the enemy's trenches when he was struck bv shrapnel. The flying metal broke one of his legs m no less than four places, and inflicted a number of wounds. " I knew that if I stayed there I would soon stop a few more," he said, "so I crawled and rolled back to where there was a trench and got into that. Later the stretcher-bearers found me." He added that his leg had been set two or three times, and was now 2in shorter than the other. Even if it could be saved, and he appeared to be doubtful about it, he would be permanently disabled, but he appeared to regard the prospect quite cheerfully.

■■■ BESTING " AT THE FRONT.

TRENCHES PREFERRED.

" I was out sniping -when I got it The | sniper sniped," said Private XI. F. Boyle I of the North Auckland Regiment, describ" I ing how he came to be sent back from the front after nine weeks of fighting He described something about the" round of the days and weeks at the front. •' You go into the trenches for a time " he said, "and the length of time you stay there depends on circumstances. In the trenches vou are pretty safe and i you see what goes on. Those times are I the best you have. Then they send yo- I back for a few days' rest. The ■ rest* always consists of digging trenches or making roads in the rear somewhere. It ' is very hard work and a sight more dangerous than in the trenches, because you are tinder shell fire all the time. Far more men are lost from day to day in the ' resting- than in the trenches* I You have heard of bathing on the beach ! I hare seen men bathing with the bullets' splashing into the water. A few davs I before I left a shrapnel shell surprised i a bathing party, and two men were killed and 16 wounded. Still thev go on. Out' there a man will do anything for a wash. I You miss that worse than anvthin? fl have been as long as 10 davs "out there without a wash." ' I