GALLIPOLI MEMORIAL

Otago Daily Times, Issue 18324, 15 August 1921, Page 7

GALLIPOLI MEMORIAL

INTERVIEW WITH SIR A HUNTERWESTON. CHOICE OF THE SITE. AFTER SIX TEARS. (Fbom Oub Own CoaßssroHDinr.) LONDON, June 21. Lieutenant-general Sir Aylmer HunterWeston, K.8.E., who recently returned from Gallipoli, is full of admiration for the me.nbtis of the Imperial War Graves Commission—Australians and New Zealanders — who are working on the Peninsula. “ It is extraordinary the good work they have done,” are his words. “It is refreshing in these days when so many are out to take it easy, and to do the minimum of work compatible with drawing their pay, to find these live men giving of their best from early morning to late at night. With no thought of their own individual advantages they are anxious to get the best value, possible for the State, and are thoroughly imbued with the sacredness cf the work they are doing in thus tending the graves of their dead comrades and erecting the memorials in honour of the fallen.”

General Hunter-Weeton (who, by the way, has a brother in South Canterbury) is now an active politician. He has given up soldiering, at any rate until the next war. In Parliament he is n member of the Empire Development Committee and the Interparliamentary Union, and he has a very soft spot in his heart for the dominions, especially for Australia and New Zealand, whose troops fought under his command at the great attack on Krithia on May 8, 1915.

It was probably this feeling of comradeship which he has for the men of Anzac which induced him yesterday to tell me the slory of his recent visit to the Dardanelles. It; will bo remembered that he was asked by tlu> authorities here to form one of a committee to advise on the best site for the National Memorial at Gallipoli. It is expected that New Zealand, along with other dominions, will participate in the scheme, in spite of the fact that a special New Zealand memorial will be erected at Chunuk Bair, and it is only right that tho people of the dominion should know the reasons fori the choice of the particular site - suggested. The War Office are in possession of General Hunter-Weston’s report, and no doubt it will be published shortly. In the meantime, he has given me the substance of his report, and, incidentally, some interesting impressions of Gallipoli os it is to-day. MYSTERY SHIP. Admiral Sir J. M. de Roe beck, who is in command of the Mediterranean Station, was to have made a second member of the committee. Hiu duties, however, prevented him from making the trip personally, and a naval officer of high rank acted for him. Admiral Koebeck provided the transport from Athens, and the party sailed to the Dardanelles in the sloop Bryony. In that description “ sloop,” however, there is something concealed. The Bryony is one of the mystery ships whose crews did such gallant work during the war. Built in exact imitation of an honest merchant vessel, amidships gunwales could be lowered automatically at a moment’s notice, disclosing heavy guns to deal with tho submarines which had thus been lured to destruction. Many of those have been converted info merchantmen, some like the Bryony have had their big guns removed and comfortable quarters installed, and are now included under tho comprehensive description “sloop.” They first sailed into Mudros Bay, on tho Island of Lemnos. “My thoughts'naturally went back to my first entry into Mudros six years ago,” said tho General, “ when there were gathered in this great harbour every variety of battleship, and transports from so many parts of the world. To-day there was not a vessel but our own.” Ho visited the several cemeteries on the island, and found them in excellent order —the wooden crosses in place and flowers blooming where flowers would grow. Hero there are caretakers under the Imperial War Graves Commission, and officers from that unit visit the island from time to time. Moreover, the Greek priests take an interest in the cemeteries. Some of the old camps are being used by the Russian refugees of General Wrangle’s army, and are under the charge of the French, Lemnos, however, is off the track of vessels, few people visit it, and it is not a suitable place for a national war memorial. DEEDS OF ANZAC. The visit was then made to Kephalos, on the Island of Imbros, where Sir lan Hamilton had his headquarters. Here, too, the few small cemeteries are well looked after. As a place for a memorial this, too, was ruled out. Remembering that tho peninsula is sparsely populated, and tho only people likely to visit it in tho years to come will be war-grave pilgrims, the committee came to the conclusion that a national memorial must be erected in such a position ns to be visible to and to attract the attention of those making use of the great waterway of (he Dardanelles. A cursory inspection of flic chart giving tho ordinary sailing courses shows that Buvla and Anzac lie so far to the north of these courses that they would not be possible sites, for any memorial to arrest the attention of those who pass by, and it is only some position at tho south of the peninsula which - would fulfil tho necessary conditions. “It was with regret that the committee came to that decision with, regard to Anzac,” said General Hunter-Weston, “ for the deeds that were done by tho Australians and New Zealanders are deeds whoso memory will last os long as the English race, but it was consoling to the committee to see that tho cemeteries which have been made at Anzac have been placed in extraordinarily well-chosen positions, which for the most part mark the historic sites, and tho memorials (hat have been designed for those ore certainly most suitable and beautiful. ‘‘There remained then the south of the peninsula. Achi Baba, the well-known hill that looked down over the trenches in tho south, is 700 ft, but it is almost shut out by the lower range of hills near tho coast. Added to this, it is six miles from the southern coast, and consequently a memorial on it would have to bo very huge to attract attention Moreover, Achi Baba was never in our hands.” THE HOUSES OF BONES.

In tho south, then, there was a possible site at De Tots or Esk Hissariik at S ” Beach, on the oast of Morto Bay, which the South Wales Borderers captured on the first morning and held so gallantly. This, however, was later held by the French, who have now erected in the locality two ossuary chapels. Hero the bones of the unidentified dead have been collected, now bleached white with the sun and cleaned by tho vultures. They are stacked in bins all round tho chapels, each type of bone having a compartment to itself. Thus the visitor may see a pile of skulls, a pile of tibias, a pile of femors, ribs, and so on. It is a gruesome sight, but doubtless, tho principle of thus preserving the mortal remains' of the unknown dead has its advantages. The two chapels are named Gannpval and Masnuu, after two of the .French generals. GUEZJI BABA. Finally, tho puny exuinimAl the range of hills on the south-west corner of the peninsula. Here tnerc is Tekke iiurnu Hill, Beyaz Tepo or Hunter-Weston Hill, Guezji Hnua, and Sedd-el-Bahr Hill. Observations were taken from the tops of the hills themselves and from the sea, and in the end Guezji Baba, just above Cape Helles, was chosen. In tho first place it is 155. feet, the highest of the four, tho foundations are solid. There is a road running up from the beach, and although most of the piers along “W” and “V” Beaches are now washed away, here there is a very considerable part of a substantial pier remaining. It is the most visible from passing steamers. Tho Turks realised its value as a strategic point when they placed a longrange gan there after tho evacuation. This point, too, has its historical value, for, it was hero between “V” r and “W” Bpaclies that the troops first landed, it was this par! of the peninsula where most ground was won, and it. was from here that, the last of the troops finally evacuated. Bearing in mind these facts tho committee had no hesituiipn in making the selection. WHY THE CAMPAIGN FAILED. While in Constantinople, ffir Aylmer.had the interesting experience of discussing the campaign witn tho Turkish War Minister and the Chief Stall Officer of the Army which fought the Allies in Gallipoli. “What strikes one very much,” said the General, "is not tnat the campaign was an apparent failure, but that so much was done with (he materials we had, and at the time tho enterprise was sot on foot. The landing never had any real chance of succeeding, and yet it was a great strategic conception —to get to Constantinople to enable munitions and armaments to ba given to (he Russian army, which with arms would have been a powerful ally, witfiout arms the impotent, inert mass it afterwards became. This pgrpose, as well as to procure the food that was rotting at the Russian ports, was a great conception. My subsequent reading, my observations, my conferences at Constantinople have led me to be convinced of this: That if proper preparation had been made secretly the Navy un-

supported might and probably would hare got through to Constantinople. On pe.theca the power of the Union and dr “Young” Turk Party would have been overthrown and the sensible Turks, who were in the vast majority, would have prevented the project of joining Germany. Certainly, a combined military and naval assault, if it had been secretly and properly and thoroughly prepared, would have succeeded in capturing the Dardanelles ports, but the chances were injured by the naval bombardment in November, 1914, and another bombardment in the early part of 1915. In addition to this, certain of our politicians and many of our newspapers began to talk about what w© intended to do and entirely destroyed any possibility of success. There will never another landing like it, though, in the history of war.”