HEROES OF GALLIPOLI.

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXII, Issue 19149, 15 October 1925, Page 12

HEROES OF GALLIPOLI.

GLORIOUS ANZAC REVISITED. SIR lAN HAMILTON'S TRIBUTE. LONDON, Oct. 2. General Sir lan Hamilton, speaking before tho Hull Rotary Club, said that recently he had revisited Gallipoli. "Entering the scene of the naval battle on March 19, 1915, I conld not believe 1 was awake," said Sir lan. "Tho theatre was the same, but where were the actors ? They already were dim as the heroes of the Iliad. I revisuaiised the crippled warships slowly steaming toward the open sea with their pumps going, and their crews standing to attention as steadily as if on parade, although they knew their ships might sink like stones. •"T passed Seddel Bahr, whose little bay once was crimsoned with the best of our bioc-d, and then through the Narrows, whose Turkish side is now dominated by the ghosts of New Zealanders, Gloucesters and Wiltshires. Their position is marked on the skyline of Chanak Bair by tho wonderful New Zealand monument. "A naval authority second to none that ever sailed the seas kept exclaiming: 'These narrows are broads. Compared with a reconnaissance off the Belgian 1 coast, sailing through here would be child's play.' World's Loveliest Cemeteries. "We anchored at Kilia, where H.M.S. Queen Elizabeth, with her third shot across the mountain range from the Aegean, sank a Turkish transport full of troops. We then inspected the beautiful monuments at Suvla Bay> notably on Green Hill. "There are more beautiful cemeteries on Gallipoli than anywhere. They are set with cypress pines, rosemary, white lilies and irises. While 1 was staff officer to Lord Roberts, the latter never missed visiting a graveyard, therefore my experience is unique. I can say that these ara the loveliest in the world. "The obliterating hand of time has been busy at Anzac, so I had difficulty in finding Field Marshall Birdwood's dugout in which I used to shelter during special 'hates.' The principal Australian cemetery is at Lone Pine. Where would any hero sconcr be buried than on the site of the most superb feat of arrns ever performed, even by those magnificent fighters'/ "I have seen beautiful cemeteries in Australia and New Zealand, but I can assure the relatives of the fallen that the cemeteries in the Anzac sector are lovelier and more glorious. We traversed Helles, where the harvest of death was the heaviest, as might be expected. Xrithia cemetery holds 10,097 brave soldiers of the Twenty-ninth, Forty-second and Fifty-second and Naval divisions. Two Enemy Memorials. "The Turks commemorated their dead differently. There are only two memorials on Gallipoli, both to individuals. The first, to a certain Osman, behind the lines at Krithin, is falling to pieces. "The second, to Mahomed Chavoueh, on the neck between Walker's Ridge and 'Baby 700,' is kept in good order. It ( consists of a concrete plinth, surmounted by blocks of concrete, one bearing a steel plate, in which there is a sharpshooter's loophole, the whole being surmounted by a she!!. The plinth has at each corner a bundle of small steel headpieces worn bv the sniper. Although an English farm labourer could have made the whole thing for £l2, the true meaning of martial glory has been captured. No Field Marshal could desire a finer memento. Turkish Bravery Personified. "Only ten men abreast could attack along the neck, for which there was a lot oi desperate fighting. Sergeant Mahomed was posted here for days and remained after his comrades fled. He had over 20 wounds and when he felt he was dying, riddled with bullets, he shouted, \My brothers! You must avenge me. I din happily for my country. Mahomed now personifies Turkish bravery and pilgrims come from Constantinople to do homage at, the shrine. "How we could sail away, leaving there, will always be to me the most profound of mysteries and the saddest, as well as the most fatal of actions. Rut Ido not wish to talk strategy. J only thank God that no graves or memorials, not at Gettysburg or anywhere else, can vie with those of our Dardanelles heroes."