THE CHURCHILL MEMOIRS

New Zealand Herald, Volume LX, Issue 18348, 14 March 1923, Page 6

THE CHURCHILL MEMOIRS

INNER HISTORY OF THE WAR

BF THE RT. HON. WINSTON S. CHURCHILL.

(COPYRIGHT).

Coming to the entrance of Turkey into the wat Mr. Churchill looks back over our previous relations with Turkey, and describes the doubts which existed as to the Intentions of Turkey and the hopes that were vainly entertained of keeping her out of the war.

Not till long after did we learn the blasting secret which would have destroyed all doubts. Already in the crisis of July the leaders of the Young Turk Party were in vital negotiation with the Germans, and on August 3 the German Admiralty telegraphed ».o Admiral Souchon. on board the Goeben, that an alliance had been signed with Turkey, and that he was to proceed at once to Constantinople. Thus all this time we were deceived. After describing the Turkish attack upon Russia in the Black Sea, and the consequent Allied ultimatum, be proceeds:---Russia declared war on Turkey at the expiry of the ultimatum ; and the British and Foreign Ambassadors, in company with their Russian colleague, left Constantinople on November I—the same day on which, at the other end of the world, the bat tie of Coronal was being fought. Naval orders to commence hostilities worn sent, in concert with the Foreign Office, in conformity with the expiry of the -ultimatum. Admiralty to All .Ships October 31, 1014. Commence hostilities at once against . Turkey. Acknowledge. ' j On November 1 two of our destroyers, ' entering the Gulf of Symrna, destroyed a, | large armed Turkish yacht which was ly--1 ing by the jetty carrying mines; and late : that same day Admiral Garden was in- '! structed to bombard the outer Dardanl; .'lies forts at long rangd on the earliest j suitable occasion. This bombardment was ' ' carried out on the morning of November I 5. The two British battle-cruisers, firing . from a range beyond that of the Turkish | guns, shelled the batteries on the Euro- ! pean side at Seddul Bahr and Cape Helles. I The French battleships hied at the Asiatic | batteries at Kuril Kale. About' eighty . rounds were fired altogether, resulting m I considerable damage to the Turkish forts ! and in several hundred casualties to the ! Turks and Germans who manned them. The reasons for this demonstration have been greatly canvassed. They were I simple, though not important. A British i spuadrcm bad for month:; been waiting '< outside the Dardanelles. War had been | declared with Turkey. It was natural ! that fire should be opened upon the enemy I as it would be on the fronts of hostile, I armies. It was necessary to know accur- ; ately the effective ranges of the Turkish guns and the conditions tinder which the I entrance to teh blockaded port could be j approached. It has been stated tibat this bombardment was an imprudent act, as it ; was bound to put the Turks on their ! guard and lead them to strengthen their j defences at the Dardanelles. At the Ad- | miralty we did not think it would have • this effect; nor were we wrong. When. I three and a half months later (February ! 18, 1915), Admiral Garden again bom ; barded these same forts, the Ga.llipoli ' Peninsula was totally unprepared for de- | fence, and was still weakly occupied; ! and small parties of marines were j able to make their way unj opposed into the shattered forts | and a considerable distance beyond them. i That no harm was done can therefore be i plainly proved. On the other hand, valuj able data were obtained, We had now to provide against dhe imi pending Turkish attack upon Egypt. I scraped the oceans ,for every available ship. Admiral Pierse and the Swift sure reached Suez early in November, and in the next few days his squadron entered the Canal, lor the defence of Egypt. The Turkish j attack proved, however, to be only of a i tentative character. Finding themselves i confronted with troops and ships. they i withdrew into the Eastern deserts, after J feeble efforts, to gather further strength. Toward the end of November it was found possible to allow the Wessex Territorial Division, which had been temporarily stopped in Egypt to meet the emergency, to proceed on its journey to India. j AlPthis time the great Australasian j convoy, carrying the Australian and New j Zealand Army Corps. 'A.N.Z.A.C./' has been steaming steadily toward France j I across the Pacific and Indian Oceans. Preparations had been made if necessary to divert them to Cape Town. But before the convoy reached Colombo General Botha and General Smuts had suppressed the rebellion in South Africa. The Australians and New Zealanders, 'therefore, continued their voyage to Europe with little escort, since the oceans were now clear. By the middle of November then transports were, entering "the. Canal. As the Turkish invasion of Egypt was still threatening, the need of resolute and trustworthy troops in Egypt was- great, and at the end of November Lord Kitchener, in the fateful unfolding of events, disembarked the whole Australian ana New Zealand Force at Suez for the double purpose of completing their training and defending the line of the Canal. ***** At this point we may leave the Turkish | situation for a time. The German grip i on Turkey was strengthening every day. The distresses of her peoples and the improvement of her military organisation were advancing together. Under the guns of the Goeben and Breslau, doubt, division, and scarcity dwelt in Constantinople. Outside the Straits the British squadron maintained its silent watch. Greece, perplexed at the attitude of Britain, distracted by the quarrels of Venizelos and King Constantine, had fallen far from the high resolve of August. Serbia stoutly contended with the Aus- | trian armies. Rumania and Bulgaria | brooded on the past and watched each i other with intent regard. In Egypt the I training of the. Australian and New ZeaI land Army Corps perfected itself week by : week. Thus, as this act in the stupendous | world drama comes to its close, we see i already the scene being set and the actors j assembling for the next. From the utter- j j most ends of the earth ships and soldiers* ] were approaching or gathering in the j Eastern Mediterranean in fulfilment of a | destiny as yet not understood by moita. : man. The clearance of the Germans from i the oceans liberated the fleets the 1 arrival of the Anzacs in Egypt created the nucleus of the army needed to attack the heart of the Turkish Empire- The deadlock on the western front, where all was now frozen into winter trenches, j

XVI—OPERATIONS AT THE DARDANELLES.

afforded at once a breathing space and large possibility of further troops. While Australian battalions trampled the crisp sand of the Egyptian desert, in tireless evolutions, and Commander Holbrook, in his valiant submarine, dived under the minefields of Chanak and sunk a Turkish transport in the throat of the Dardanelles, far away in the basins of Portsmouth the dockyard men were toiling night and day to erect the 15in. guns and turrets of the Queen Elizabeth. As yet all was unconscious, inchoate, purposeless, uncombined. Any one of a score of chances might have given, might still give, an entirely different direction to the event. No plan has been made, no resolve taken. But now ideas are astir, new possibilities are coming into view, new forces arc at hind, and with them there marches toward us a new peril of the first magnitude. Russia, mighty steam-roller, hope of suffering France and prostrate Belgium —Russia is failing. Her armies are grappling with Hindenburg and Ludendorff. and behind their brave battle fronts already the awful signs of weakness, of deficiency, of disorganisation, are apparent to anxious Cabinets and Councils. Winter has come and locked all Russia in its grip. No contact with her Allies, no help from them is possible. The ice blocks the White Sea. The Germans hold the Baltic. The Turks have barred the Dardanelles. It needs but a cry from Russia to make vital what is now void, and to make purposeful what is now meaningless. But as yet no cry has come. (To be continued daily.)