TURKS USE GAS.

Sun (Christchurch), Volume II, Issue 564, 30 November 1915, Page 8

TURKS USE GAS.

THE GALLIPOLI CAMPAIGN. MARKED ARTILLERY ACTIVITY. ' v / PARIS, November 29. An official communique says:— "There is marked artillery activity at the Dardanelles. "The Turks, in attacking the British, used asphyxiating gas for the first time, but without result." THE EARLIER OPERATIONS. LORD SYDENHAM'S VIEW. LONDON, November 28. Lord Sydenham, in a letter to "The Times," commenting on Mr Ashmead Bartjett's recent article, says the information available does not indicate that any except naval opinion was sought, yet the fateful February decision was one equally for the artilleryman and the engineer. There was ample information to save us from a blunder of the first magnitude, but apparently one set of expert opinion was never consulted. Lord Sydenham recalls looking at the old forts at Sedd-el-Bahr andKum'Kale and thinking them excellent targets, but the real defences of the Narrows were absolutely impregnable to naval attack. A conscientious study of the chart made the fact obvious that extreme minesweeping was impossible, because of the concealed Turkish guns. The attack on March 18 was a gallant enterprise, but it should never have been attempted.

Cabinet needed the assistance of the Council of Imperial Defence, which Lord Sydenham says lie advocated 24 years ago. If it were now in existence it would have saved the heavy sacrifices and the great anxieties of the Dardanelles enterprise. The idea of sending the Fleet into the Sea of Marmora was excellent, and could have been carried out successfully if it had been based on the experience of war.