"OVER AT LAST."

Sun (Christchurch), Volume II, Issue 593, 4 January 1916, Page 2

"OVER AT LAST."

THE GALLIPOLI WITHDRAWAL.

A HISTORIC ACHIEVEMENT.

THRILLING STORIES OF THE GREAT SURPRISE

By Cable.—Press Association. — Copyright,

LONDON, December 31. Dir Ward Price, official correspondent with the Gallipoli forces, \vritcs: — "Off Suvla Bay on the morning of December 20. It is over at last! Only six guns were left behind, and that was done intentionally in order that they could be fired until the last minute and then be destroyed. "The British Army and Navy working hand in hand has achieved a triumph by their joint organisation, which will become historic. Every preparation was made for lighting a desperate rearguard action, but nevertheless everything was deliberately carried out. "Under the unsuspecting gaze of the Turks, masses of men and material were brought down to Anzac and Suvla Bay in an extraordinarily short space of time. When a tally was taken, it was found that the only loss sustained was of a relatively small quantity of bully beef, biscuits, and rice v Not a single mess-room cat was missing.

"Several battleships then smashed the breakwaters, with shell-lire at short range. The breakwater had been built of old hulks. Though the marching and embarking of the troops was stealthily done, every Turk on the Peninsula must have seen the burning of the stores, and the smashing of. the piers, yet even then the puzzled Turks, never realised that anything unusual was happening. It was only when the ships were steaming away that their gunners, in erratic fashion, shelled the beaches and places. Kitchener's Decision. "The final decision to evacuate Suvla Bay and Anzac was due to Lord Kitchener, who visited the whole lines and climbed the observation posts at every point, until the whole geographical ■ and military problem was before his eyes. He found it was a front that twisted and turned into all sorts of awkward angles, making a bewildering series of unscientific salients and reentrants almost along Ihe whole line. The advantage in artillery position was with the Turks. Suvla was a place of broad snaces, commanded by long-range artillery fire. Anzac was cramped and small, and under the fire of snipers. The necessity for evacuation was therefore apparent. The Last Job. "The last job ashore was setting fire to the abandoned stores by volunteers. They used time fuses, which were only lit when the news was telephoned from Anzac that all was clear, because it was expected that the conflagration would immediately apprise ■ the Turks of what was occurring, and prompt a furious, if futile, bombardment. Things proceeded as smoothly as if it had been a perfectly-rehearsed and businesslike programme, yet amongst the Anzacs there was a distinct thrill, which it was easy to understand. Their success seemed to hang by a hair.. It was not thought that an infantry attack was likely. There were only 20,000 Turks in thejrenches on the Anzac and Suvla Bay fronts, with 60,000 close behind in reserve. The Turks were anxious to avoid a light. A deserter who surrendered was disgusted with Ihe apathy of his countrymen, declaring that it was difficult even to persuade the Turks to enter their trenches. Our generals would have welcomed an infantry attack, as our lines were so strong. We could have done great execution with our machine guns, and the ships would have had'a splendid opportunity of using their heavy shrapnel and many other ingenious and deadly surprises which had been prepared for the Turks. An Revoir, Johnnie Turk.

"The Australians and New Zealanders left many letters of kindliest farewell, assuring 'Johnnie Turk,' in colloquial Australian, that he was.a good fellow and a clean fighter, and expressing the.hope that they would meet again some day. As a crowning testimony of good feeling, a gramophone was left in a conspicuous place on Walker's Ridge, set ready to play the 'Turkish Patrol.' "It was .a night of brilliant moonshine. There was little activity at Anzac and Suvla Hay. A Turkish 3in gun was desultorily bombarding the beach at Lala Baba, and a vigorous action was proceeding at Capo I Idles. The Hardest of All. "There was a fantastic variety of equipment lying at Suvla Bay, including helmets, the relics of summer, woollen helmets in readiness for winter, and hundreds of wideawake hats. The troops came down the hillside at a steady, slouching gait, everyone feeling that he was lucky to he. alive, and to he able to leave the place, where so many■.thousands of his comrades were lying in the little barbed-wire-enclosed cemeteries, which were the hardest of all to abandon. The mountains stood out black and stern against the sky, a milk-blue mist covering the lower ground, (lev Salt Lake, and the smooth water of the hay, which both shimmered under the moon's rays. Everything else was dark, except the points of golden .light where the fires were burning in the desert-. cd camp, and the empty dug-outs. Off Anzac a hospital ship blazed green like a brilliant emerald liner. The Final Round. "Our guns thumped out a final

j round. The Turks were peppering 'away with their rifle-fire, and intermittently indulging in a splutter from their machine guns, but there was no unusual energy. Standing on the beach, I had a splendid view of the live great fires springing up, one after another, at 4 in the morning, when the store-dumps leapt into (lames. They soon became a mighty bonfire 200 yds long. Further along the coast the forsaken bully-beef of the Anzacs was burning fiercely. There,was a sudden spurt of flame and a violent explosion on the crest of a ridge, where a giant Australian mine 45ft under the Turkish trenches had been sprung. This was the. Australians' final act of hostility. The mine was fired by electric contact, when the last Australian soldier was leaving the beach. It is believed that the explosion killed 100 Turks. A Groat Achievement. "The "withdrawal was the greatest tiling of its kind that the British Army had ever attempted. The Navy co-operated magnificently. The King telegraphed his congratulations to General Birdwood, who had constantly visited Anzac directing the preparations, and had remained on the spot for the whole of the last day and night in the staff ship, it is a mistake to regard the withdrawal as a confession of entire failure. It ■wa- not a defeat, although the German Hag next morning was Hying on the top of Lain Baba. Anzac will lake a proud place in the list of battle honours of those widely-separated Empire troops who fought, not only the Turks and Germans, but the disease and thirst and heat of summer, and the deadly winter blizzard. The arrival of new German guns had not yet bothered us. We consistently dominated the Turks along the whole front. We were not driven off, and, therefore, our evacuation means the pulling of ourselves together, enabling us to make, a concentration on sure ground, which is vital!', important here, at the crossroads of the Empire. By cutting our losses on Gallipoli we have done something towards acting with greater deliberation and with better organised strength elsewhere. At Anzac the biggest bluff in history has been brought off. Everyone expected desperate rearguard actions, but the masses of men and stores were brought down with extraordinary quickness. When the tally was made it was found that not a man had been left behind. The Turks were puzzled, but did not fire a gun until our ships had steamed away."

BLUFFING THE TURK. ENEMY COMPLETELY IN THE DARK. ANTICIPATION AND REALISATION. LONDON, December 31. Renter's correspondent states that the -withdrawal from Anzac and Snvla Bay was the most difficult and most dangerous operation yet undertaken in this campaign. At extraordinary hazards the infantry, dismounted cavalry, guns, horses, mules, motor lorries, the Indian transport carts, the entire reserves of ammunition, and nearly all the stores, were removed under the guns of the most powerful Turkish army, which did not realise that the operation had begun until some hours after the last officers and the naval beach parlies had slipped into their picket boats and steamed away. The Turks Hoodwinked. "The Turks counted upon the difficulty and danger of the operation deterring us from attempting it, and with reason. The probable loss of life was the gravest care of the British High Command, and none believed that it could be done without loss. The problem to withdraw armies occupying a front of 20,000 yards, which was hardly anywhere beyond 500 yards from the enemy's trenches, and at some points only 50 yards. The main Australian embarking beach was overlooked by the Turks upon Sniper's Ridge, only 1100 yards away. If the retreat was discovered, it was certain that the Turks would hold up our men and force their rearguard to fight a bloody action all the way to the shore, where wounded stragglers would necessarily have to he abandoned, besides guns. The army managed to hoodwink the Turks, despite the Parliamentarians at Home who announced that it was common knowledge that Sir Charles Monro favoured the evacuation of Gallipoli. "The second problem was the weather. Fortunately the weather in the /Egean Sea can be calculated with remarkable accuracy. After the November storms, come three weeks of line weather, lasting until Christmas; then a violent southerly gale ushers in really bad weather. The line December weather obligingly gave us a margin of liS hours. Thirdly, it was essential that there should he an adequate supply of lighters, steamboats, tugs, and trawlers, and abundant support front our naval guns. The troops were in good fettle, despite the November blizzard. "Everyone grudged leaving the place to the Turks, but was exultanl over the manner in which we 'diddled' them. The Turks fired their

THE TURKS' HERITAGE.

usual daily quantity of shells. They dropped half a dozen 5.9 in high explosive shells on the West Beach on Sunday morning, and then gave Lalla Baba Beach a dusting. They continued tiring at the usual intervals throughout the day, and our guns replied. All Away. "By 4 in the morning everybody was off the Peninsula. Stragglers who had lost their way in the labyrinth of trenches were fetched off from Anzac as late as 8 in the morning. The doctors and their orderlies, who had remained with one hospital to receive wounded men, of whom, fortunately, there were none, were fetched off with the men who had stayed ashore to set fire to the piles of boxes containing our abandoned bully beef and biscuits. By daybreak every transport had departed, and only the warships remained. They began to fire on No. 1 Beach, breaking up the pier of sunken ships and the water tanks, on the principle of leaving only charwood to the enemy. Then the Turks woke up. Their -artillery blazed away at our fires, several big shells falling into the burning stores on West Beach. When they saw our battleships shelling our own position they perhaps thought we had gone mad and were killing one another. Our only regret was that the Anzacs were unable to wail and witness the chagrin of the Turks when they learned the truth. The Final Shot. "The Anzac troops at 2.30 in the morning exploded a huge mine between themselves and Ihe Turks on Russell's Top, the neck between two ridges along which it was not desirable that the Turks should follow the troops. The Turks thought the Australians were attacking, and kept up a furious rifle fire for 40 minutes. "Soon afterwards a tongue of flame shot up from C Beach to the south of Suvla, where a great pile of food and stores which had been soaked in petrol, had been fired. Then more flames appeared on the rest of the beach. During the last two hours of the night huge waves of flame reddened the sky and sea for miles around, and columns of thick black smoke towered for hundreds of feet in the windless air. "Surely, we thought, this will wake the Turks. However, it did not matter, and the Turks are welcome to make the discovery now." THE LAST TO LEAVE. HEROES OF THE LANDING,

LONDON, December 31

Eye-witnesses of the Anzac evacuation slate that the calmness of the weather accounted for an immense part of the success of the undertaking. When the order was received from Home winch set the evacuation machinery in motion, the moon was within two days of being full. The only lighting in connection with the embarkation occurred between the Australian and New Zealand Brigades in order to determine who was to have the privilege of staying to the last. Many men paraded before their officers in order to protest against boarding the transports while men who arrived on the peninsula after themselves were allowed to stay an hour or two longer. The 200 men who formed the ultimate rearguard at Suvla Bay were the first to land there in August, on the very same spot where they held the final barrier until the embarkation of the last details was completed. Shelling Empty Space. The 85,000 Turks on the peninsula were so ignorant of the true position that they shelled Lalla Baba and Chocolate Hill, where there was not a single soul. They were still plastering the hill, which was the home of a much-bombarded battery of 18poundcrs, with high explosives when the battleships left the bay at 9 o'clock. The enemy did not realise the painful truth at Suvla Bay until 11 o'clock. The Turks were a little spryer at Anzac. They climbed out Of their trenches and peeped into ours soon after daylight, but a few shells from our ships sent them back* Our casualties were one officer and two men wounded at Suvla, and two men wounded at Anzac A tremendous southerly gale sprang up on Monday night, flooding the trenches. The landing stage at Anzac was washed away. Our heritage to the Turks consisted of a few picks and shovels and a number of hospital tents, but these were so conspicuous a feature of the landscape that it was impossible to remove them without exciting suspicion. The guns destroyed were three field guns and two worn-out howitzers.