LETTERS FROM SOLDIERS.

Poverty Bay Herald, Volume XLII, Issue 13717, 22 June 1915, Page 7

LETTERS FROM SOLDIERS.

f » (Special to Herald.) ('HRISTC'IIURCH, this day. His friends m South Canterbury have Kueived a letter from Private R." Smith (Canterbury Infantry. Battalion), describing the hrst engagement m wliii-h the Xew Zealand troop's took part «t tho Dardanelles. The following extracts hare been made : "It is a great feeling tii be face to face with death as we all ■were -who landed the first day. for we were just lying on the ground with no cover whatever. Half of our platoon was separated from the rest of the company. We wore detached to carry ammunition for the Australians, who were running short, and with climbing up. the hills with boxes of ammunition we got a long way behind our company when we were going down the other "side of the hill. Just after wo left the beach we had bullets falling all around us, for the enemy's snipers were potting- at" us. but luckily nobody was hit. We were all right .so faa 1 , though at times it was a pretty close thing. We got down to the bottom of the hill, and. as wo could sco our company, going away uip a gully to the left we were, .following, when an Australian sentry stopped us, saying that the. gully was mined. Luckily our .company" got to the top to the right with a, lot of Australians. There were 25 New Zealanders, .-Mid our only com-DKUuk-r.s were two corporals. .1. Sullivan (the Rev. J. Sullivan) and J. Scott. We crawled through the scrub and up the hill until we were close to the firing line, which wax along the top. All this time x we worn m the midst of flying sheik jtiid bullet:,, but none of uswere hit. We rck'd here for a while, and then crawled along as close to the ground n- possible till we. got to tin- top of . the hill, where we found that the veal firing line was from 150 to 200 yards further on. We were not by any means' m close formation, and it was every man for himself. 1 lav down for a few minutes as the rifle and machine gun fire wjuv awful. It was innsafe to move, for if we had raised our heads a few inches w,« would have been riddled. I thought it would be impossible to come through it. alive, as the enemy .simply rained shells and bullets, and did their best to prevent us getting into the firing line, At last there came- a lull, and I was up and off. L don't think I ever ran. so hard before, ami I reached ike firing line, and floppt-d down absolutely beat. I just arrived m time, for I had no sooner dropped^ down than the enemy renewed the fire, turning two machine guns upon, us, the budlets cutting the tops of the grass just above our heads. As Joe Sullivan said. to me afterwards, "It was. hell on earth." A flying shell would explode just m front of us. Someone would groan, and that, would be the end of one of us. Again someone would squeal out, . and we would know another boy was hit, and I fully expected aty turn to come. At last came another lull. I spotted a Turk, and let him have it. He dropped, and I felt as happy and' proud as a. man who had a ' fortune left h<m. That set me going, and I started to get reckless, blazed away good oh, and couild swear I dropped four, and only had fifteen, rounds. Then they started a murderous five, and 1 curled myself into as small a space as possible. They started to enfilade us with machine gun* and rifle fire, while shrapnel came at us m {front. The first 1 near go ,wa.s a shrapnel shell, which ! burst about five yards m. front of me, the, explosion blowing my hat off, while on both, sides of me were killed. Then I heard a ping, and a" bullet grated my nose,, just drawing blood, and before I recovered from that I was landed m the upper -arm close to the shoulder. Thank God, it was a sharp-pointed bullet and not an explosive (of which they were using a lot), I or it would have blown my arm away. j The explosive bullets are "deadly, and { instead of turning out, as this one did, it- would have found a resting-place m my heart, and that would have been the finish. . I must consider myself a lucky man to be,, here, and, able" to write to, [you. When I was hit, J did not know |\vlwtf to do for a few minutes, whether fto sto-y them or go and get it fixed up. I was bleeding like a stuck pig, so thought I . had better: get 'this stopped a^soon as possible. I started from the firing line, and rolled like a barrel of beer over and over right across the piece of ground from the firing line to the edge of the hill behind, .while bullets flew above, but not one landed. I got over the etlicre -safely and 'vail up against an Australian officer, who took off my coat and cuit the sleeve off my shirt, and reduced tho bleeding 'greatly by bandaging the arm. He then, hunted me off down the .beach to get the wound well dressed, so T threw away my equipment, and riflt m hand started off" (Special to Herald.) CHRISTCHURCH, this day. Private O. F. Sutton r of the first (Can-, terbury) jiegimeiU, writing from thi* Alexandria hospital on. May 2, to a friend iii Christchurch, says : "Just a few lines to tell you how things are f;oing m this part of the globe. A bulct caught me m the right breast, and travelled along, my ribs, breaking two, and stopping about eight inches m between two of the lower ribs. I happened to be lying on the ground at the time, taking cover behind a bush. The lead was coming from all directions, and our boys were being \knocked over like poolpins. — ypu know when you want n two and get the whole lot. Still, if the position had been reversed, I am quite sure the Turks would never have got an inch of tho ground we have cap-, tiired. They could not fight for nuts. To look at "them they are great big fellows who, if they r had any pluck ' m them at all. ought to be able to handle a. dozen of us with tho bayonet, but the .sight -of-- it makes' them sick, and we only have to charge them to get them on "the run. Last Monday the warship turned her -guns on a battery they had brought on to the beach, and soon tljeir horses and men and guns were flying m all directions. There are' four of us hero out of A Company. 1 must now conclude, as 1 am too tired to write any more. The least exertion knocks me oat.— 1 J .S. : My tally at present is three Turks, and 1 'had only- opened my account live hours when I had to register a magpie and an inner."