SCENE IN TURKISH TRENCHES.

Poverty Bay Herald, Volume XLII, Issue 13717, 22 June 1915, Page 3

SCENE IN TURKISH TRENCHES.

In a letter received by the itev. A. Jv. Hunt, x>i Wellington, ' from his son, Private A. ( J. Hunt, of the' Canterbury Battalion, wlio > was badly wounded and is now m hospital, at Malta, the writer states :— - '■ ■•■.'*. ;;•■ • . . ''; '- "After we got ashore we at once took our packs off, and went straight into it. It was something awful climbing that cliff. There was only a narrow path; and everyone had to keep to it, becauseall the bushes were mined. At last iwe got over it, after continually . ducking our. heads ta dodge the hail of shrapnel and bullets that were flying round. First of all we went into one . of the Turks' ti'enches. The first' sight that met. our eyes was a Turk with his head blown.. off. A bit further on we saw another with, both his legs lying beside him. We were m the -trenches, for about an hour and a-half when the order came, 'Reinforcements wanted on the; right flank.' We had to double out of the trenches 'and go for our lives across an open space that was being swept with phvapJneJ. We got across all right. Three of our men were killed, but we kept on, and' at last got behind the firing line that required more men.. We were, crawling along oh. our stomachs, when one of our men saw three snipers hiding behind some bushes. We told the lieutenant, and he ordered four of us to fix bayonets and charge them. We couldn't fire because' of pur chaps m front, so we crept back, fixed our bayonets, and waited till the shells stopped buzzing a bit, and then we 'up and at 'em.' We took them by surprise, and' when we were on top {Of them they dropped their rifles and \ yelled for mercy. They got a lot of it, too. Our bayonets went m up to the hilt about a dozen times. Then we took the bolts out of their rifles; threw them away, and left them. They are the biggest cowards. When once they see they are caught, they will not make a fight for it; they want 'mercy.* They know that word well enough."