Anzac and the West Compared

Poverty Bay Herald, Volume XLIII, Issue 13899, 24 January 1916, Page 4

Anzac and the West Compared

INTERESTING REPORT FRol\f ■CAPTAIN BEAN. TENSION GREATER IN GALLIPOLI J.v; • (By Telegraph.) . ". . . I ' • (Special from .Australian War * 'A. Correspondent.) (Received January 24, 11 a.m.) LONDON. January 22. By. the kindness of the British War . Office I have been permitted to pay a short visit to tho British front m France and Flanders, Avhich I Avas patticuliarly desirous of ma-king m order to be able, to draAv a. just comparison, between the conditions of the campaign m Gallipoli and those of the great struggle on the Western front. ' , My ,, experience of the officials dealing' with correspondents has . been from first to last that' far from putting difficulties iii , the way, as the common supposition is^ "Cftey have consistently gone out of the way to ''help one m the performance of- his duties to the 'fullest extent consikt(___t w with -the regulations. The trenches at Anzac were much the best, in Gallipoli and incomparably more elaborate than the best I . have seen m France.* "In France the troops making •trenches have to struggle the whole time 'against an influx of waiter. Except in-<a portion of the summer -when the "earth" is "as dry ifi Flanders as m the lower parts Of Gallippli, the troops on '- the' front 'have taken constant step--' against the encroachment of Avatter. trenches,* like those of Avhich there was -a complete system around parts' -gf' the Anzac line, would inunediaSeiy ' fill with water m most parts of the line' here, and Avould have to .be._shof.ed up heavily with wooden - props .and. rOof beams. ■ ikiOr'ay&tein. of deep dugouts into the, • heaj^l^s|he. hills, into which a great pai*ibf«iaf i»aii >4trmy corps could' be- marched ; M_9Slil_e- there as long as they wished m .perfect ■security from any kno-wn pi'ojectil&taKonld; be quite out of the- qiies- , tioij Jh iteme' parts of the Western front. The conditions at Anzac made it po§gib(]liß"to dig. there Avith the im-mediate-labor Avhat were probably some of ;jtJi_S^,-it.v ffench*w known to military . h l 4l^^anllli.ry fire m France seemed to me^fcgPut -as constant as m Gallipoli. , ThepSSpgetA f or the German guns'. liere i,s-:rap^;; fc like- so crowded and concen-tr^-fiw<aaft..xthe • closely* peopled: 1 areas of Hfߣ&id S^vla. v On the" other hand ; th^*!*«^B,iwere hot generally such good guip^fc^aiid' I, .doubt if their. explosive - AA ; q^*t|aJt*v*|tys ., the _mOst v ; moderni: The feawu^^ bombardments which -both sides adrto^?r^to the othe© m .Fiance and Fla_M»Eak.".were never approached m Gallipdjg^xjcept by the. French gunsi and on,,* few occasions by 1 our naval .guns when -they caught . the; .-. enemy ■ coming dbwii. the- seawards slope of • the hills. The Allied lines' m -. Gallipoli -were never subjected; .to/such torrents of shell as.,pr«seded and succeeded m battles like Loos .and ; Neuve Cbapelle. ATho tension; m the trenches of GalIf^oli,' espieemlly at Anzac, was consid-e^a-bty greater ,than. m France. The old. Ime at ..Anzac , priginally. hung on to the eqg_r,"of a,mlltop and .'cliffy.' and .the only Ay^^tp,, 'create /a second- and third Jnie Avasf *t<v eohsiantly push forward; and steal" gTOTnd enemy's.- rifles. Th^^^OT^ney^vlndiad froni the day . the^ ffifju&l W -119 "very; last -v e^k. ■: ' .pora_a,nt . sapping, .t_u_neljjng/ ajjd ':mi^^«|j^.^the'/ : whme w line at ,im.menW_lab*sjC- ninaUy;, produced -Avq>; . thjfee and ..finei., of, '.-wonderful' d&pHrg^hes^ md -brought onr lines yin ,&A number , p| places ' within twenty -five yards o fthe enemy, and at severalplacj^^f yards-* or . closer. ; Mining, * which was unliarnpered by water, was continuous along a -great part of the . lii^-'V -.tjtl^ey'enemy^were^iCO^t^tljp tainXngf tdvi'^a?. us- iri .order to clepriye us of ..our j^Lrr.ow. ground,; and though the ' ( :^ at the game. \th& , rpiade,. the v .normal , tension ' alpiilgjthe f|ont line greater than seemed tp ■me' to ejfigt , ih ; . the portions of the lirie\^hich'r;l'sUw m France. .-..•' ..,;■.."■.-. The AVhole great system of hinterland Avhich so impresses every visitor to the . Vy^tet-n:. line, .the immense convoys, heady # lorries camped on the roadside or trpuping- .slowly, across Ithe flats,; of course} was absent m -Gallipoli. Our hjh'terland ended half a mile to a mile and a^ljf, from- the trenches. „Th^,exaggerai»d' effects of shell -fire ".'iii. iKer^' t^nag .; was a heartrending spectacle.. r AL Gnr aliens lying face downwards m ths glitter, _ olfi women lmnning to!wards.lui^.s tifagsedy ) or- away. -from it, young. jTQvjaq, and .little children standing at epeni-dpqrways with strain . imprinted on'r.#ery line of the pale faces — Aye-, saw nbne ; of this . m Gallipoli. There 'you.'cftcT not ' feel the presence of. the real, living enmity which, ,jfo spite of cheery faces, gives a • constant sense, of serioii^ii'eSs m the trenches; in the West. T-he eoiribat at Gallipoli avus not fought Avith agencies like gas or even the newest iaiid' greatest guns and projectiles. "* The army there hjid to dp with Avhat they could ■'conveniently procure. For exaniple,\the bombs on both sides on the whole were iriore old-fashioned than 'in France. The strain of hand-to-hand bomb'fighting Avas more geiieral m GallipoTi" because the lines on the Avliole Avere^ 'dlijfeiffr. Summer m Gallipoli Avas trying oA\ang toi tlie diist and heat, and especra v ili'"tlie flies, which resulted hi far riibfe .sickness, but I doubt if the. weath^l^ 'Conditions were. so disagreeable as. the- nnid, rain', and slimy, Avet, crumbllM*. trenches of the Western front. ■-• ' The*, vrea), discomfort <>f all m the Gallipoli^caiiijiaign Avas that whatever discomforts" there were, shells, rifle fire, flles^ tfntold hard Avork of tunneling, trench-' digging, food and Ayaterr carrying, lack of Avood> iron, and last, but riot Ifeast, lack of canteen stores, such as tirin<sd"^fruit and butter, it AA-.as impossible to obtain relief; from tliem. The brigades were m. ihe Frenches for four, fiv^,, 'arid six months . without relief. The so-called rest cairip Avas often Ayijthin^jOne .lmndre<L yards, of the cfiringlirie,; «ri"d was always under shell fire^ and ithj rest consisted largely of mining arid Avater-carrying,' so tliit' tlie units honestly prjf-crre'd the trenches. - TJie A i my m Service. Corps ; . ambwlances-, arid! some > hospitals vreve always Ayitliin r'trige^parid possibly lost a higher proportion ,oii mem frorii shell fire than if m tl;n tyenches. Tlie brigade, divisional, and even the Army Corps headquarters,, \\;p' c { rriiich. cldser than many a battalion's h^a^f-liajlfCrs m France. In. short, each fielci • ' rtf^Afar has its peculiar difficulties, ftii. wnati T liave seen m France has con-~-vincec_-"n.e thai the Gallipoli campaign has been rightly estimated l as one ofl somewhat exceptional and unavoidable hardship. -T--. '■'" ■ ■ * .