ANZAC IN WINTER

Otago Daily Times, Issue 16537, 10 November 1915, Page 3

ANZAC IN WINTER

A TIMELY WARNING,

PRAISE FOR NEW ZEALAND TROOPS.

(Fbom Ooe Own Cobbespondent.) LONDON, September 24. Renter's special correspondent, writing from tho Eastern Mediterranean on September 4, adds his tribute to tho bravery of the New Zoalanders, and also gives, a word of warning with regard to Anzac in winter time. It seems to bo admitted that there will be a winter campaign in Gallipoii, and, according to Renter, much will have to bo done in Anzac before the rains set in. " During tho last week of August," he writes, "tho gallant Australian and New Zealand troops were called upon for yet another effort, and responded with their wonted courage and devotion. There were rumours that the enemy meant to try a general attack about now, but it has* nob materialised, and it is improbable that the Turks feel disposed to risk an attack after the enormous loss they have sustained on, this front during the past month. They cannot yet have forgotten the Lono Pine trenches, where they left 700 of their dead to be buried by our men. Still less can they have forgotten their descent upon tho ' Farm ' from the towering ridges of Chunuk Bair on August 10. The New Zealanders, who—all honour to them—' did all they were asked to do' during these terrible days, failed nowher.e and yielded nothing after the\- had won a footing on the ridge. "No discredit attaches to them; tho position was insecure, and the numbers against them overwhelming. After them the Turks, 12 battalions string, swept over the crest down into the tremendous ravine below. Coming do\vn_ the steep side they came under our machine gun fire. Ten machine guns, under the command of Wallingford, of Hytho fame, rained bullets on them until the last remnant of them had got back over the ridge into safety. 'They came down in thousands; they went back in hundreds.' said a staff officer of the New Zealand BriVado, describing tho affair to a superior. Tho machine gunners claim 5000 killed. • OVERSTRAIN AND WEARINESS. " Danger at, this part of trie line could come, I think., only from physical overstrain, from the bodily weariness of the troops. The Australian-New Zealand Army Corps ha-s held the Anzac position since April 25. During all that time the men have been cramped into a ep&ce sonic 20Q0 yards wide by 1200 deep. " How they have fought, the world by this time begins to realise. What it does not know is how they have dug, and heaved, and carried when they were not fighting. The enemy's trenches overlook our posi-

tions at many points, and not only hasthero been the ordinary trench digging, but innumerable saps, communication trenches, and covered trenches that make one wonder how it ever gets done. Along tho beach at a part where it is open to the enemy's snipers from above, there is a sap that must bo half a mile long. That is the kind of job our Australian and New Zealand soldiers have had to tackle in their spare moments. All this has been done under a broiling sun and on a diet which, while nourishing and abundant, sorely lacks variety, and therefore in the long run tries the digestive OTganS- THE WINTER PROBLEM.

"How Anzac will bo in winter it is difficult to eay. When the great rains come vast quantities of water will stream- off the hillsides, and the doeo gullies' that score them will be converted into torrent beds. In many places one can see from a casual glance that the water must havo washed 2ft or 3ft deep over the ground where one stands during last winter's storms. The angles of the ground, however; are so steep that the skill of tho engineers should be able to devise- something like a practical drainage system. The trenches and dugouts will neoessarilv become soaking wet. and here lies a danger for the health of the troops, that can only bo averted by putting in flooring and roofing wherever needful, as well as. revetting the side of tho trenches."