THE WAR

Otago Daily Times, Issue 16519, 20 October 1915, Page 6

THE WAR

THE FIGHTING AT GALLIPOLI. AN ATTACK THAT FAILED. SPLENDID QUALITY OF NEW ZEALAND TROOPS. Tho following interesting extracts are taken from a letter received by a member of our staff from a soldier oil active service at the front. Its cheery optimism is in strong contrast to the belief held in somo quarters that the Gallipoh campaign may havo to bo abandoned. Xho letter reads as follows:— " Tho big attacking movement that was organised here about the middle of August w'as a very ■ cleverly worked out operation; and, in my humble opinion, would have been a startling success had a little m'oro attention been given to some vitally important points of detail. It is the most difficult country imaginable in which to launch a big attack, especially in the dark, and the officers of the different battalions were often in doubt as to their positions— whether they were, too far forward or not far enough. The maps, our officers have of'the country are real Chinese-puzzles. I could never make head nor tail of them, and I'vo seen officers arguing half the night over them. " Another factor which lessened our chances of success in tho attack was that the colonials who had been in the trenches in the Anzao region for three months without being relieved were far from fit to undertake the storming of .a hill like 971—an important position held by several thousand , Turks. However, the four New Zealand battalions were brought Up to about threequarters fighting strength and put at the bill. They got further, up than anyone, and, to their everlasting credit be it said, they stuck to it like heroes until endangered by the retirement of eomo of the noncolonial regiments. It -was heru that the camago began, and the-Turks-mowed our fellows down with their machine guns,; of which they seem to have an inexhaustible supply. On account of the retirement our company was unable to do its work, so I put m most of the morning helping wounded Gurkhas out of the fifing line. There were some terrible scenes. There were dead and dying on all than the ambulance corps could cope with. We went round with our water bottles, doing what we could for them. The Gurkhas are magnificent little fellows, and so patient when wounded. After the retirement we strengthened a position on the ridge of the hill, and that night the Turks counter-attacked, but. were met with such a heavy fusiladp that they thought better of it. "Notwithstanding'these little:.setbacks we are gaining ground fast, and will soon be across the Peninsula and have the Turk hemmed in on the bottom end. I wouldn't be surprise -to see it all go flat any day.Tho Italians' are sending a force to help us, so the Turk will soon see the futility of the argument. Of course, he is fighting for the safety of Constantinople and the existence of the Ottoman Empire, and, as Enver- Pasha says, he may fight to the last man, but I hardly think so. "I reckon that the Australian and New Zealand infantry are the best troops on Gallipoli, and the Light Horse and New Zealand Mounted Rifles a good second. The Australians are out on their own, and the Turk holds them in holy dread. There are about 50,000 British troops: here —'but none of them are the regulars, being sections of Kitchener's army —and the Scottish units are the best' of them. The Royal Scots, for instance, -would stick at nothing." One of the participants in the fighting early in.August writes as follows:—"Un August 7 we took part in a, big_ advance away to the left of our old position. I shall never-forget the awful sights of; that day. It started •by our bombarding the Turkish trenches, about 4- p.m. on August 6. Our regiment moved off about 9.30 in support of the South Canterbury Regiment, and when day broke we, landed right amongst the Turks, having, by: an all-night march, completely surprised them. .For a time it was just like a day's rabbit shooting, as when we got to pretty close quai ters the Turks took-to their heels., and, we pumped lead into them for all we were worth. I don't know'how we would have got on if they had stood up to it, because, we were only about 400 strong, whereas, according to the lowest estimates, they numbered between 3000 and 4000; but they did not wait to see." :

FIGHT FOR SARI BAHR. TWO HUNDRED YARDS FROM GREAT . ... .. yicTORY. ' !■; : In the opinion of those -who took part in the great attack from the ; -Ansae zone, the greatest importance is attached to the capture of Hill 971 (Sari Bahr), and this was almost accomplished: A special correspodent at Alexandria cabled tnat a wounded Australian ollicer said: "If only the night had been two hours longer' we should have had all.the Turks off thehill, but when day dawned we were 600 yards .distant from the foot, and the enemy rained down, a merciless fire upon us, and we were forced' to entrench." "It was very dramatic," said another officer, describing the silent night march, which preceded the attack, "marching along the sea in the dead of night. Occasionally, we heard the gurgling sound that indicated that a Ghurka was busy using his kukri. Not a shot was fired; it ■was all silent knife and bayonet work. The use of the rifle would have given the alarm, which was to be avoided at all costs.' By dawn we had reached a point some 500 or 600 yards from the hill, having up till that time met with no serious resistance. We had surprised the Turks everywhere. When day broke the whole situation was revealed to the enemy, who must have been very surpr.sed to find' us so near. They', were soon pouring a deadly fire into us, and wp had no option but to entrench, ;and to possess our souls in patience until njght, when we again attempted to move forward. The Turks again fought most stubbornly, but our troops rushed them from their trenches in fine style, and it was not long before we had possession of a ridge. The New Zealanders were supremely good, and although, the men must have been very weary . they obeyed the . order to charge .with wonderful courage and spirits. It was on this ridge that I was wounded, and my participation of fighting came to /an end. The New Zealanders in pushing one position came up against a; difficult ascent, but to their great astonishment' the Turks, entrenched above, loaned over and helped the New Zealanders up, kissing their hands as they did so. They then' surrendered in a body., The fighting for the crest on a portion of the Sari Bahr position was very fierce indeed. The Turks were strongly entrenched, and their numerous machine gun's were well concealed in the scrub,- but here again our troops were not to be denied, and although many a _ brave fellow was killed, the enemy was dislodged from hie strongly-held positions after magnificent charges-with the bayonet and the crest occupied, the Turks fleeting down the opposite slope. The gallantry and dash of the troops 'in this fighting was beyond all praise. The brigade participated in this: struggle. They had left Anaac at 10.30 a.m. on Friday morning, August 6, and they had been on the go continuously for 20 hours when they were ordered . to . charge. The men we're very fatigued, but pulling themselves together in wonderful manner, they stormed the hill in splendid style, and got to within 200 yards of the summit. Wounded men speak of the inspiring sight of seeing their comrades struggling for possession of the hill, which, it is hoped, will give the British the master hand. Once Hill 971 is in. our hands the Turkish communications will be cut, and the' control of the Narrows will then bo a question of time. All the wounded men speak very well of the Turk. They say throughout he has fought very fairly, and has shown that he boars no animosity against the British. .They take the greatest care to avoid hitting our dressing stations or hospital bases, and there have been further instances of Turks dressing our wounded men and oarrying them into our own lines.

A FIGHTING FAMILY. Mr George Tall, who left Nelson: for Trentham on Tuesday, was,' prior to his departure, the recipient of a presentation from a few friends (says the Mail). Mr Tall belongs to a great fighting family. There are 14 sons in the family. Mr and Mrs Tall, sen., are residing in Dunedin. Six of the sons served in the _ Boer war, and there are already six serving the Empire in the present war. Mr George Tall is an old soldier, having served for 15 years with the Horse Artillery (England). He has been stationed at Cairo, Hongkong, Gibraltar, Sierra Leone, and Capetown. He secured three stripes in the Boer war; in which he was wounded after four months' fighting on the border of German West Africa.

ALLEGED HOSPITAL NEGLECT. A SERIOUS COMPLAINT. A member of the Australian Expeditionary Force, writing to his parents ill Dunedin, makes a serious complaint regarding the conduct of one of the English military hospitals in Egypt. The writer of the letter was wounded through the explosion of a Turkish bomb in the trench in which he was. Ho did not take much notice of the wound for a week, until his leg became unbearably sore. He was then ordered down to the Field Ambulance base, where he was promptly placed under chloroform and the offending piece of bomb was removed from against his bone. As the wound had become 6eptio, he was placed on a hospital ship, which left for Alexandria two days later. The treatment on board ship by Indian doctors and orderlies, with Aus-* tralian nurses, was splendid. "Our Australian doctors," the writer proceeds, " are excellent, but the English doctors seem to think they are too much above us colonials to trouble about us- On arrival at Alexandria I was placed in an Imperial hospital in which about 2000 English 'Tommies' were patients. I was there from Tuesday of last week until Monday of this week. Without going into details, it is sufficient to say that a doctor or nurse never looked at my wound from the time of arrival to time of departure. The i wound was dressed by an Egyptian student. On Monday I asked to bo sent to an Australian convalescent home, and still, without looking at my wound, the doctor consented. Thank God! Here we are treated like lords." RELIEF: FOR THE BELGIANS. TRENTHAM CAMP. THE OVERSEAS CLUB'S FUND. Of the sum of £626 2s 3d forwarded by the Dunedin branch of the Overseas Club for tho,relief of Belgians, £150 was, as has previouslv been mentioned, allotted to the National' Committee for Relief in Belgium and : £150 to tho Belgian Soldiers' Fund. Mr J. K. Macfie, hon. secretary of the branch, has now received advice that £200 was allotted to tho Comtrsse van den Steen de Jelray, who directs the Hospital Elizabeth at Poperinghe. The comtesse, in acknowledging the receipt of this amount, writes:—

" I am writing to thank you most sincerely for the splendid gift you are making to our. funds. I cannot tell you how much we appreciate the support that is given to us from all quarters of the British Empire. Plunged as our poor country is into misery and sometimes almost in despair, these tokens of sympathy from far away come as rays of sunshine breaking through stormy clouds. I db ; not know if you have 6cen the report of bur efforts, so I am sending you one now. There is very little to add to it except that the work seems ever to increase as we get to know more about the distress amongst the refugees. We are constantly finding villages far behind the lines where the .homeless have settled down in tens and twenties and hundreds to a life—rather, an existence —in stables and outhouses; overcrowded, poverty-stricken, and ill, without means and without the possibility, in many cases, of ever returning to their homes. Many a peaceful home has been broken up, never to be reunited. Many a child has" been made an orphan, dependent on the generosity o"f good friends like yourselves Worse, there are scores who have died from privation • and ■ disease: But all this you know. It as just - that that has prompted your friends at Dunedin to give their help so generously. I feel sure they would be well satisfied could they knowmore fully than I can tell the wrongs they are helping to right, all the misery they are turning into comfort. With the dreary Flemish winter before us, the gift has come at a very opportune moment. Already we have had to pause and look round for the means to go on with the work! I hate to 'think that even the smallest branch of the work should suffer. ' '

"Please tell your Dunedin branch of my very deep gratitude for their sympathyvery practical sympathy.. • "May I also congratulate the v Overseas. Club on the part they are taking, in this great war?" ' ,