LEAVING THE APEX

Otago Witness, Issue 3239, 12 April 1916, Page 57

LEAVING THE APEX

HOW THE NEW ZEALANDERS GOT

AWAY

THE FFRST PHASE,

(From Malcolm Rosa, Official War Cor respondent with the N.Z. Forces.)

The evacuation of the New Zealand Infantry Brigade was spread over some 10 days. To begin with, the Otago Infantry Battalion, which was in reserve, together with all the siok and feeble from the other battalions, was assembled under cover of darkness and shipped off from Walker's Pier, presumably to a rest camp at Imbros. They found themselves next morning at Mudros.

The getting away of the guns was a very clever bit of work. Half tho guns and half the personnel of all tho NewZealand batteries disappeared in a night. If you had listened intently in your dugout just behind the old No. 2 . Outpost you might have hoard 19 guns rumbling pest in tho darkness. Next day, if you were strolling down to Anzac, you would have seen Uiem all "'parked" under the ridge near the pier. The next day all the other guns were turned on to Russell's Top, and were fired at twice their usual speed, to make the enemy believe that we still had all our guns in position, and that we still meant business. It was rather an amusing "stunt," because one half-battery that had been turned on never registered on those trenches, and its shells kept dropping into the ilex bushes at the head of a little gully, where there was neither trench nor soldier. The Turk must have thought that for once British gunnery imagination was playing itself a trick. Another gun shot dangerously near our own position; but many of the shells burst magnificently, right in tho Turkish trenches, smashing the works, and filling the air with smoke and debris. Shells that were before hoarded as being worth their weight in gold wero now, like Dukes in Gilbert's libretto, "two a penny." So the gunners banged them in for all they were worth. It gave one cause for thought of all that might have been.

Meantime our aeroplanes had spotted the enemy making concrete emplacements for the big German and Austrian howitzer batteries that had come down through Servia and Bulgaria. Great teams of oxen had been used to drag them across the rough Gallipoli country. They had arrived a day too late for the fair. One can imagine the chagrin of the German gunners when they found the birds had flown, and that all the strenuous labour connected with their Herculean task was in vain. At the very last they did get a few shots in, but to this day these guns remain innocent of the death of a single Anzac soldier ! Sunday, December 12, was rather a quiet day; church was held as usual in the open air:, The impending departure seemed to add solemnity to the words of the lesson and to the singing of the hymns. To the closing National Anthem there was added a new fervour. One listened with pent-up feelings to the voices of these war-worn soldiers from the Antipodes raised in the grand anthem, borne on the breeze across the hills and dales of Gallipoli for the last time.

During the day two field ambulances got orders to pack up and get ready "for the Rest Camp." The Rest Camp was becoming rather a joke. We asked the artillery brigadier-general when he was sending his next lot of guns into the rest camp. The question produced only an inscrutable smiie from the general. A sarcastic remark that his guns were so tired that they needed a rest was not any more successful in producing an answer. It is too long a story to tell in detail, but every New Zealand gun was got off. A team of horses was left behind to gallop the last gun in on the last night when darkness had made effective shooting no longer possible. Even the horses, which we had reckoned on killing, were got off. On the Monday, some members of the battery, who had been ordered to leave for tne Rest Camp, came in to say they did not want to go. They would rather remain on the peninsula. In the afternoon, after some shelling, I went round the deserted hospital, which had been the scene of memorable and stirring, though sad, incidents. The empty bivouacs stared at one like socketless eyes. The deserted tents, with their litter of odds and ends and their sides flapping idly in the wind, seemed strangely forlorn. The Turkish artillery in our immediate none was now wonderfully quiet. We could see a few shells bursting over the Suvla position, and a small Turkish gun was spraying the " Dero " and the little flat just below headquarters with shrapnel that hurt nobody. On the path in front of my dug-out a man was hit on the chin with a spent bullet. The wound bled profusely, but did not appear to be serious. That evening there wore comfortable dugouts around us "to let." Units and details for embarkation were assembled in the dark on the little flat near the deserted hospital, and, after long waiting, marched off. The Otagos, some of the Maoris, and a few Aucklanders spent nearly all tho night in the sap—a slow column creeping along, inch by inch, yard by yard, like a wounded worm—yet failed to gain their objective. We had only one motor bargo and one water barge—the former holding 400 troops and tho latter 200—with which to carry out the embarkation. The men were packed liko matches in a box, one man breathing into tho next man's faco or down tho back of his neck, according to the way in which he was packed. Out in tho offing were some dim, blurred shapes which we took to be ships. The barges went and came, gorging and disgorging, till dawn threatened, and all work was stopped. Then tho blurred formless shapes suddenly faded into tho outer darkness. Secretly and by stealth they had stolen away on their journey. Before dawn they had disappeared completely from the face of tho waters. But next night, and on each of tho succeeding nights, tho blurred shapes were back in the same place, awaiting their cargoes of khaki. In time there were left only the fit fighting men of tho remaining three battalions — Canterbury, Wellington, and Auckland—holding' tho Apox. Chesliiro Riugo to the left, and a bit of the ridge on the right. Tho strength, roughly, amounted to 1400 all told with 15 machine-guns. About seven days be'fore tho event tho commanding officers wero informed approximately of the dato of tho evacuation. They wero. not told what wero tho last two nights, but wero told to bo ready. All officers' kit and other

impedimenta had to be sent down to the beach on tho off-chance of its being evacuated. Everything went well, and on the Wednesday the officers were informed that the last two days would be the following- Saturday and Sunday. But none could be sure even of this. Jupiter Pluvius in the skies, the British Navy on the seas, and the Turk on the land—each and all might yet take a hand in the game, and at any moment there might bo a halt or a breakdown. " Beachy Bill" had been firing all mght, evidentl'v searching for the jetties at Walker's Ridge, and not fihlhng them. He fired each time four shots at half-hour intervals throughout the night. On tho Wednesday there was half a gale that prevented anything approaching or leaving the shore. The suspense grow. Had we only been able to take advantage of those preceding calm five days! Were we about to bo threatened with another storm? Would ihc Turks, attack now? With these and similar questions our minds became obsessed. Meantime " the wireless" was buzzing in our ears the news of the war —telling us how they had gained a yard at Hartmannswcilerkopf, or how the enemy were dislodged from a crater by a counter-attack in the region of Villc-sur-Tourbe or some other place. It was always the same old story! It even began zzz-ing out something about ourselves. There was "nothing new" in Gallipoli. Great heavens ! Nothing new in Gallipoli! That whs all they knew about it, and which was just as well. Towards the close £6OO Worth of stores, that our artillery had paid for with their own hard cash, and which they had been anxiously awaiting for weeks, arrived. That was a bitter blow. Many others suffered in the same way. Good whisky, formerly almost priceless, became a drug in the market. Cabbages and potatoes rotted where they lay. Yet none grumbled. It was all in the day's_ work. By this time the minutes* details of the evacuation had been worked out with singular clarity and comprehension. All notices or guide marks likely to be of use to tho enemy were to be destroyed on tho second day. After the first day the Divisional Commander removed to Anzac and assumed command of the Army Corps Rearguard, three thousand strong. Thirty ambulance personnel from the whole corps were to be left with the brigades to assist regimental medical officers, but no attempt was to be made to get off large numbers of wounded on the second day. An engineer, who, by the way,_ went to Samoa, was to see to the erection of a cheval de frise of barbed wire in one of the deres at the very last to block the oncoming Turk, should he_ come on. The troops were to embark with 150 rounds of ammunition and two "iron" rations. On the final night they were not to be hampered with kits, blankets, or even waterproof sheets. They were to carry only greatcoats and pack, with, of course, their rifles and ammunition. These and a hundred other details had been thought out and attended to. And all the time the watchword was "Normality." In the trenches care was taken to display the usual number of periscopes, especially on the day of the final" night. Men were even sent to walk up and down the "deres." Fires were kept burning amongst the deserted bivouacs. THE LAST PHASE The weather became fine again, and men and guns and mules were got away. We knew now that Saturday and Sunday were to be the "last days." On the Saturday 600 men of the New Zealand Infantry Brigade went off in three parties. Thus, on the last day, we were holding the trenches with fclOO picked men and 15 machine guns. I have already written of the spirit ot the men; it was magnificent. Practically the whole brigade volunteered to stay to the end, so that, after all, it fell to the officers to detail the men for the post of honour. Sunday was a beautiful day. The Turks shelled tho Apex for 40 minutes with some new guns from tho direction of Anafart.a or the W. Hills. In the 40 minutes they dropped about 45 shells on the Apex position. They were using high explosive of an excellent quality, yet not a single man was scratched, so excellent were the trenches and the underground cover provided. The new brigadier-general in command had for the past five weeks been worrying his men to dig and dig and dig,' and they had dug to some purpose. They almost had an underground village. Night and day they had dug. Their work was beyond all praise. There was even an underground kitchen, and all ammunition and bombs were stored 20ft underground. In those days of strenuous digging tho men, no doubt, oursed their brigadier; but on this equally strenuous day of shelling they probably blessed him. The underground passages were connected with each other, so that the air force of a high explosive could escape right through, thus minimising its effect, or, if a shell burst at the mouth of one tunnel and blocked it up, the men could escape by another exit. The Canterbury Battalion, on Cheshire Ridge, was the first to complete its underground terraces. In this terrific bombardment on the (Sunday it was the Auckland Battalion that would have suffered most had it not been well d'ug-in underground. An Auckand journalist, going back to his bivouac, found it obliterated, and all his papers and effects buried beyond recall. It has often been said that the colonial soldier is devoid of discipline. In regard to the mere outward signs and observances of discipline, no doubt this is to some extent correct. But in all that pertains to the higher attributes of discipline he was a shining light. If ho were told to go forward and take an almost impregnable and impossible position, ho would do so, and he seldom came back from a position he had once taken. And now in this matter of the evacuation another great test in discipline was being made. There were no signs of shirking, the test. On tho contrary, the men displayed a pathetic eagerness to engage in it. That evening the brigado had 800 men and 15 machine guns to get away. They were divided into three parties of different strengths, called A, B, and C. At 5.30 p.m. the A party, comprising 340 of all ranks, moved out down the Chailak Dere and along the main sap'to tho beach at Walker's Ridge to embark at 6 p.m. Between 9 p.m. and 9.30 p.m. the B party, 300 strong, left along the same route with Brigade Headquarters. This left tho line, extending over 1135 yards, to bo held by the "Die-hards," numbering 160 with seven machine guns. This party was composed as follows: Auckland 44 men Wdlington ... 67 men Canterbury 45 men Brigado Headquarters ... 4 men Total ... 100 men

Every man of. this party was to be thoroughly fit and carefully selected. Machine gunners had to carry rifles. The idea pervading the operations was to get away the maximum number at the expense of tho few. There was, therefore, to be no question of fighting a rearguard action or of maintaining covering positions in rear to protect troops in front as thej withdrew. Thus troops in rear were withdrawn before those in front, this plan giving more freedom of movement to those in front.

Bandages, first-aid dressings, and other things necessary were left, not only with tho doctors and officers, but also in the tents of the abandoned hospitals. The doctors chosen to remain to tho last were those with a knowledge of French, so they could converse with tho Turks This might have been necessary, in case the complete removal of the wounded had become impossible. There is no doubt that if there had been fighting they would have helped in attending to each other's wounded. If the skeleton line now left in the trenches was to be attacked before departure, 1.5-3 a.m. on the night of day-Monday tho- withdrawal was still to continue, the remaining men concentrating their fire on the threatened point. If attacked by an overwhelming force there would of course bo no use in offering a strong opposition, and the whole force was to be ordered to withdraw. The colonel of the Canterbury Battalion was in command of 'The Diehards," and his staff officer was the adjutant of the battalion. He took up his position at Brigade rieadquartcrs, so that the former brigade communications were still maintained with the headquarters of the three infantry battalions, and four signallers fully armed and specially selected for their efficiency and ability were to remain to the end. They were under a corporal, who had landed on the first day and had never been absent a single hour owing to sickness! During the whole of this night it was reported that the Turks were improving their trenches and erecting additional obstacles, indicating how secret our preparations and movements had been, and how much their intelligence was at fault. They were really under the impression that instead of evacuating we were landing two extra divisions for an attack! Included in the 160 men who wero to see it out, no matter what happened, were 24 picked officers. Every man of the 160 had a watch set to time that was checked every quarter of an hour day and night. Tho normality of the situation was maintained up to the very last, and to prevent the Turks from suspecting that anything unusual was happening, a big mortar was fired every half hour, and other mortars every 20 minutes as usual. The men were numbered in groups of 1,2, 3, 4 all along the line. At 10 minutes to 2 a.m. all tho No. l's slipped quietly away with the remaining seven machine guns—six of which were light Vickers guns. From beginning to end there was no question of "Slauve qui and every movement was carried out with the utmost coolness and calmness. At 2 a.m. all the No. 3's moved off and at 2,15 a.m. the whole of the remaining numbers. The men were so distributed that they were able to fire so that the enemy should think the trenches were still being held by thennormal strength. After all had gone there were 20 automatic rifles still left behind to fire at intervals. These were worked by means of dripping water, and candles burning till they severed a piece of string that dropped a weight and pulled the trigger. Old disused rifles that would be of no value to the enemy wero requisitioned for this purpose. The sights and the magazines had been removed. By 3.30 a.m. the last man had got down to the pier. The whole movement, though carried out at right, went with the regularity of a parade. Some detachments were even ahead of time. The officers knew every man of the 160. Each man as he arrived was ticked off. Not a man was missing. Thus it was that from these heights from a position running into a sharp salient, and dominated by enemy positions on the right and left and in front, the New Zealand Infantry Brigade got scathless away down the steep "Deres" and through the long .winding sap to the .sea.