GALLIPOLI

New Zealand Times, Volume XLI, Issue 9256, 25 January 1916, Page 7

GALLIPOLI

THE “DIE-HARDS”

HOW THE EVACUATION WAS AC-

COMRLISHED

(By Captain C: E. W. Bean, Official Wat Corresriondent for Australia.)

LONDON, January 15

So it is over. When the Australasian troops left Anzac, no one had the least idea whether Holies was likely to be evacuated; but everyone realised that it might now be much harder to evacuate it than ever before, because the Turks would keep tho closest possible watch. I was at Hellos on Christmas Day. iyid then the Turks were bombarding the beaches more heavily than before. Eight-inch guns from Anzac were appearing on the southern front. The only advantage at Hellos was that it was more difficult to observe. But evefy day since Anzac and Suvla were evacuated, one or more Turkish aeroplanes flew low down over tho British position at Holies, obviously seeking signs of abandonment. How it was carried out will bo intensely interesting to learn. Now that Helles is evacuated, it may be permissible to explain the general method of evacuation at An. zac. The Anzac .evacuation cannot ho repeated elsewhere, in this or any other war, because no other position similar to Anzac over existed. As 1 pointed out in my last dispatch, tho Turkish centre, which lay on tbe famous “nock,” was actually within 900 yards of tho north beach piers, from which the majority of the troops embarked. If the Turks had realised our lines had .been weakened, and had broken through our trenches on tbe neck, they needed only to advance 300 yards in order to reach the edgeot the cliff, from which they could have looked down, as from the gallery ot a theatre, on to the whole Process ot 'embarkation, going on 400 ket beta, and'6oo yards away. It was obviously necessary to. hold these central parts of the line, while troops irojn the extremities of the line, miles away to the north and south, crept ..in through the long communication trenches, almost under tho nose <« «« -rnemy, without giving him the least hint of what was going on. THE PREPARATIONS.

In tho .first place, all the non-essen-tial corps were sent away during n» previous week.. Night after night on the beach, one found trooping by long covered routes down to the am balances/ hospitals engineers apiy service corps—all the. men in fact, elccpt those actually carrying nflea Reserve battalions of aU guns'that-oould. be spared and , al f l fillery that" could be substracted from Anzac without the enemy noticing it, were sent away nightly, until there remained* in Anzac only the infantry actually necessary for holding the fine onoueh guns to make a show of keep ing up the usual fire, and sufficient stores and tents to avoid attracting tho attention of the enemy, lu manner half the -.force., had., already been withdrawn before the real evaoua Although these movements took place actually- under the nose of the enemy, the trench digging, at Anzac bad been so complete that., everything passed unseen through .deep- sunken roads to the actual beach. Mule trains had been used to go out with water and ammunition nightly, and except for_ what appeared to ho tho ordinary nightly movement the enemy saw no movement at. all, except a constant service of boats and lighters all through’ the night to the trawlers and transports, .which used to steal in and lie, dimly outlined, a mile or two from shore. It had been quite normal of late at Auzao to move away during the night several battalions to the rest camp, and to land numerous reinforcements; and any fine •night was always consumed m hurrying load after load of stores and ammunition from: the transports to • the beach. During this week, of course, tho import of stores was all stopped, .and it is doubtful if tbe traffic visible amounted to very much more than an ordinary night’s movement across tho anchorage. Indeed, the first sign which made me realise that anything unusual was in the wind was when I happened to notice, in passing along the beach, that cases of big gun ammunition were going out on, to the pier instead or coming in. A great part of the force did not realise what was being done till some days after this. AN ATTACK DESIRED. Such was tho situation up to the last two nights. Up to then everyone at Anzac would .have been only too glad if the Turks had 1 attacked. For months we- had been hoping they would do so, and no one had the least doubt that if they had attacked while the firing lino waa still held by the normal number of rifles they would have received such a smashing blow as to make evacuation afterwords a perfectly safe operation. The Anzac hills during that month llad been so undermined by galleries of. magnificent tunnels, 20ft underground, that there was very little danger, even from tho biggest guns, along the great part of tho line. In some places a whole battalion could have matched, by a dozen-entrances, straight into the bowels of the hill, and have remained in perfect safety during .the bombardment by any guns in the, world. . But one know that by the night before the last it would be necessary : to withdraw at least half of the rifles by whom the trenches were ordinarily garrisoned. For tho whole of the next day, Anzac would .be garrisoned by ono-lialf the number of rifles normally considered necessary, though a greater number of machine-guns were still left. As for artillery, only a few old howitzers, • whose wobbling sights had long made them almost as dangerous to friend as foe, and a few Australian field guns, which were practically in the ''firing line, remained to - keep up appearances. It was an exceedingly anxious time during - the long hours of that last day. One had seen roads and paths ashore on the previous day as empty and desolate as those of a deserted city. Special “smoking ■fatigues” had been told off, whoso solo duty it was to loiter round tho places 1 which are visible to Gaba Tepo. These duties wore much enjoyed, until they were so successful that ‘ ‘Beachy” planted three shells right on to the path where the fatigue was lounging.

So the day was safely passed, and darkness began to fail on the last night. THE ’PLAN ADOPTED.

The plan at Anzac, which was quite different from that employed, or is ever likely to be employed elsewhere, was us follows: —-’I he whole normal garrison of every section of tbe firing liuo was divided into three parties ■ A, B, and C. C party, amounting possibly to a thousand or two, would bo left holding the whole five miles of tho outside line, faced by 40,000 lurks. Everything depended bn them keeping up the appearance of a normal nigbtAt tho same time, the extremes of the line, and especially those on the far left, were as much as throe miles away, up steep, tortuous, and empty gullies. The men would have to leave them at least one hour, and in some cases two hours, before they left the centre. The scheme at Suvla was quite different. At Anzac it depended on the last sidall party sticking to the whole outer line to the very last, not trusting to any inner line, but hoodwinking the Turks into thinking that the whole garrison was still there. That last party was known as tho Die Hards. They were not asked to volunteer, They were deliberately chosen, because the authorities wanted to get the men whom they themselves thought suitable. The result was quite extraordinary. Competition to stay behind in this batch was very keen, and in some unite the commanding officers ■were, flooded with complaints from men who had not been chosen, asking if there was anything against their record which had caused thorn to be overlooked. "I was there with the first lot,” they argued, “and I consider I have a right to be chosen for tho ‘Die Hards.’” This last party itself, small though Jt, was, divided, into sections, to steal away, ono after the other, in the last hour.

As diisk fell on the last day one realised that tbe position opposite to one on that low, dark shape of mountain, which loomed in the moonlight over the milky sea, waa already held by cnly a handful of bold men. Personally, when I said good-bye to them the day before, I had only the very faintest hope of ever seeing them again. The palpitating anxiety of that long night will best he understood from the following extracts from my diary. DETAILS FROM A DIARY. 6 p.m.-—Nothing whatever in the grey shape of tho land -to suggest than the Turks have the least hint of wha>. is going forward. Lknow, as 3 matter of fact, that at this moment, and for the last- half-hour, some parts of our line have already begun -to be held weakly) and that, the men- who formed part of their garrison should at this instant bo stringing towards certain concentration points, deep in tho gullies. Party after party will bo filing down from all directions. I happen to know that just at, one or two places, where reliefs to and from trenches ordinarily pass at this time of night, the Turks w'H actually see them moving, if the moon is bright enough. But tho grey mountain is sleeping, under the moon, and the .red pin-points of the incinerator fires are winking exactly as usual. , The grey smoke of the evening fires curled upwards from the gullies. Froni the crest comes the lazy “pick, pock” pf desultory rifle fire. 8.10 p.m.-—Some of the ships which were to carry the “A” party are getting away .without tho least hitch —actually ahead of time; Some gun has flashed down' near our beach. Probably it is the one which we are leaving behind, so that they can be fired up till the very last moment. The plan involved leaving nine guns at Anzac, and- possibly a few a/t Suvla, but we are leaving no ammunition anywhere. The guns will, of course, be destroyed the last; thing before leaving, - 10.5 p.m.—l know that troops of “B”. party are now coming off. They are using not only the North Beach piers, hut also tho pier in Anzac Cove, on. to. .which- “Beachy Bill” can put shells: whenever he likes. The Sell of some ship across tho water has just struck midnight. 1 know that from this time onward the whole Tine at Anzac is held by about 2000 men. Mile after mile of it, along those dark ridges and right up to the apex, the whole five or six miles of the trenches are empty, except for a handful of bold men, who are busying themselves in keeping up ordinary appearances. For down every gully is hurrying a section of the mam garrison, apd as its padded feet . pound round the last corner to the beach there remains nothing behind that thin line, of watchers, in the trenches high on the ridge, save tho vast empty valleys and dark, silent scrub that clothes, thorn. A bomb flashes at- the ,“neck.” The rifle fire seemed "to mo to increase ever so little opposite Lone Pine, but it may be imagination. ‘ “Beachy” has fired one shell; One transport is moving in, and another stealing out. It is getting very near to the time when "Uho withdrawal pf the lats party from certain portions of the line will begin. 1.30 a.m.—A bomb on Apex. That is evidently tho last demonstration,of the party there. From this moment the apex is free tc the enemy’. 2 a.m.—The first lot of" “Diehards” must be leaving Quinn’s Post. Oh the left, just now the greater part of the line must he absolutely deserted. 2.30 a.m.-r-The last lot of, “Diehards’” is ap present leaving the extreme right; exactly one hour after’ those from the ektremp . (eft. Tbe right has not nearly so far to go to the beach. In Quinn’s Post there can only be 20 men left, and a mere handful in Lone Pine. The Turkist. trench is Within fifteen yards of ours at- both places. ■Wo still hold —find mil have to hold it to the very last—the trenches opposite “the neck.” A thick mist has gone over the moon. There is quite a fair amount of firing from the centre. Both wings are silent as death. TRENCHES EMPTY.

3.5 a.in.—A solitary Turkish rifle or two, firing both on the'right and left, where ho one has been in our trenches for over two hours. We are purposely firing off no mines, and leaving none, except in one place only, and . that is opposite the “neck.” The firing of the mines before we leave would only put the Turks on their guard, but the “neck” will be the last place left by our troops, and if the explosion of the mine can hold the Turks back for fifteen minutes from our trenches, in that place overlooking the beach, then all will be safe. For that reason - , our engineers have put SJ tons of explosives right beneath the Turkish trenches on the “neck.” We had two tunnels out far beneath the Turkish trench .there, in case of need. This mine of three tons, if we decide to fire it, should rend the “neck” to pieces.

, 3.15 a.m.—Lone Pine is now empty.

3.20 a. m.—Quinn’s and Pope’s are abandoned. It is an extraordinary ending to a fine history. Quinn’s —the trench that the Turks could never take, at whatever cost —we have quietly left in t£e night". It lies open to them.

3.25 a.ni.—The trenches opposite the “neck”, have at this moment been left. Old Anzac line is now open to the Turks, along every part. A desultory fire still continues, exactly as on the Other nights, from the far -right to the far left

3.26 a.m Just now a huge red cloud rolled low across the “neck”— angry, revolting fumes, glowing orange for an instant and then fading into night. They were the two mines at the “neck.” A great finale to the history of Aimac.