THE WOUNDED AT ALEXANDRIA.

Colonist, Volume LVII, Issue 13791, 11 June 1915, Page 3

THE WOUNDED AT ALEXANDRIA.

HOW THE LANDING WAS EFFECTED. ■.'•" ■

GRAPHIC ACCOUNT OF THE FIGHTING.

(From the Medical Correspondent of the Melbourne "Age.") * CAIRO, April 29. I hav6 just spont an hour with some of the returned wounded from th§ Dardanelles, and the. tale they tell is an inspiring one. They are full of confidence in General laii Hamilton, who has made New Zealahders Ins bodyguard, and has said lie would trust- the Australians anywhere. Before the fight General Bird wood sent round1 a circular to the effect that the- landing would be one of the most difficult poss-* ible, but success was imperative. The mou knew that .once they landed there was no getting back. The time and placo were well selected. The dolay at Lemnos had made the Turks a little uncertain as to time. The full.moon made it necessary to delay tho -attempt until just before dawn. Landing began soon after 4 a.m., and was continued all day under lire of the Fleet, one Indian mountain battery getting ashore in tho afternoon, and our artillery in the. evening. The 30,000 troops were put ashore partiv in pinnaces holding some 24 troops, towoil in sixes by motor cutters from the warships, and partly by pontoons holding 100 or more, taken near shore by torpedo destroyers. The hinding place v.as a beach about a quarter \ofa mile wide., commanded at one end by a battery and' at the other by a fort, troth of which kept up fire until silenced'from the Fleet. At one side was a gully, apparently easier of access, but protected by barbed wire, and the range accurately measured from the fort. The landing place rose into cliffs at an angle of some 45. degrees, which were covered with bushes a tew ieet high, in which were" concealed Maxims and guns, as weli as troops. Some of the boats were hit before they reached the beach, and many or those in them killed or drowned. A . perfect storm of bullets invaded it from all sides except the sea, The- splashing shells and shrapnel and the hissing ot bullets made a striking spectacle.. Tins landing was the point of danger and.or honour. ■ CII\PLATNS AND DOCTORS HEAD C BARGES. -The first attack, was given to the 3rd Brigade, who had been at Lemnos some week.3 before the rest. And, it was indeed the post of danger When they got near enough the men jumped out'into the water, waist ..high,'and fixed bayonets amidst the hail of shrapnel, Maxim and rifle bullets, rushed to the beach, threw off their piu:ks, with which they could scarcely have got up the cliffs, and then rushed up any way they could. Some took the apparently easier way up r- small gully, only to find that they were decimated by fire from all sides. Nothing could withstand the onslaught. The cheers and cries of the men were heard on the troopships and filled those awaiting} thoir turn with almost uncontrollable; emotion. Even the noise of the bullets j and shells became secondary. Many; fell before the top was reached — i some in the boats, some in the water,> some on the beach. Snipers and Maxim fire picked off officers and ambulance -stretcher-bearers. Still they; want on. Chaplains ministered to tho; dying then led the survivors on.' Medical officers rusher! from the side ot • the wounded after sufficient attention,! and headed a charge. The cliffs were, cleared an! taken, with six Maxim "■uns. Beyond lay a hill commanding what had" been gained". By bayonet attack more than by bullet fire the enemy wore dislodged Still another hill remained oh the left flank, separated by a deep valley. Into this valley of. death rushed our six hun-cli-ccl—or nil that was left of thorn. It had been the intention ot the enomy to mow all down who succeeded in getting therein, especially those who survived and tried to rush up to the summit. In vain. Nothing couid withstand tho courage, attack, determination and skill of our men. The Turks fled before the cold steel, the hill was; ours and nt tho top not less than 4 tons oi ammunition was captured, together with many largo guns and Maxims. Meantime the Second Brigade, then the First Brigade,-then the New Zealanders, had followed the gallant Third, and by 4 p.m. all wero upon the cliffs. ' That 'same night the artillery lauded, and tho position was safe. ENTHUSIASTIC WOUNDED. It would do the stay-at-home Australian good to hear the enthusiasm with which the wounded tell th"s unvarnished tale, and see; tho spirit with.; which they express their intense desire j to be back again in the firing lino as; soon as possible. They saw men. die fry ! their side, have bullets through their hats, limbs brokn, shrapnel strike tearing blows on every, part of tho •body,." hairbreadth escapes, V.C. epi-. sides*, cheerfulness in the faco of dath,. grit, determination that could-not ■■ bo ; qonquered. Proud •of their cause, proud xof their comrades, proud of tho part that they have been, able to play, they want to go back and help finish the job; And all this without minimising the danger or magnifying the performance, l.iere side by side are two brothers, one wounded in the throat, the other in tho arm. Lively as crickets, both long to get back They tell of an Indian doctor on tho Gascon whose skill in "extracting bullets was almost uncanny and a sister on the same ship for whom at least 150 men would willingly die. Hard by is a man with a 'bullet in his arm ; another has three in different parts of his anatomy. Others hiivo'been, struck in the neck, or abdomen, or in fact, any part. Horrible results ure fortunately loss common, and the details may well be left unwritten. Miraculous escapes seem the order of the day, but it must be remembered that so far we have seen only tiio less dangerous of the case. Meantime they continue to arrive: in all, they are said 1o amount to 3000. as the result^of a. few days' fighting. Australia is r now beginning to learn practically the enormity of this war. ERMAIIKABLE INCIDENTS. It is of absorbing interest -to hear tho different accounts told by the varir oils 7>;-itients to those who arc attending to their wounds. Incidents of hir.ndur. of pathos, of patriotism, and df sacrifice could be given, sufficient .to iill :'i volume. Out boys left the transports enthusiastically and advanced, singing- cheering, and some of them with Vi.roßg, l->ut to them almost natural expressions, ''There is music in the air," they, called out as the shrapnel went by. " When later on some had

—"-. - #.. • . ". . •. ':v xto advance against tbo foe, they did r to the coftnt-oiit—"l, 1, 3...out"—am, charged at the "out." At a very'bac l>laco.a V.C.1 was" "asked- to go oi "No," ho said to his comrade, "JL'vt got my V.C; go in and.get yours.' Jdo did, but was shot. dead. Aske:' .about vthe fire, another said that tht air was so thick with bullets that the. jammed, and formed a trench for yoi to get behind. A lull occurred, aiu. they found a German officer on hh knees getting &, machine-gun readj Ho did' not "live moro. than a fey seconds. One man in the first boat to get ashore being asked "how-Jong lv had been fighting said : "About as man}' minutes as it took me months to ge ready ", As they charged up bill the."called out "Imsiii." "Saida," "Give -it backshcesh," as if pear thi Pyramids. When they jumped oir waist high to fix bavoncts, they callcc out "Get out and get under.'' Left without officers at ono charge, onesaid, "Boys, this is our picuio now. coino on " And on tliey v.ent. An other lot, passing a colonel who lim told a guard at' Mena not to" do tin "kid glove" business Aihen sent t> stop a small rowj called out, "Don', make a kid-glovo business of this.'" One regimental medical officer—Cap tain Butler- -tore up coat and shirt for bandages, and then led a bayonet charge. Another—Captain Kane—wat all day on the beach under fir« attend--in» tho wounded. A t>liird--Captair Gutteridge—had his patient shot deac under him. The sniper wat: shot soon aftor. Tho chaplains did more tha: their accredited share. It is sai'. Colonel Green and Father Leahy la charges, and used strong language in doing so. An Indian officer said "Mons was not as bad f<s this." And wher •tho wounded were being landed aAlexandria, a Lancashire Tommy asked, "A' been fa-aitin'?" And the irrepressible- Australian replied. "No, we've been to a b— — football match." His I language was almost justifiableADDITIONAL- DETAILS. ' There was a machine-gun on the beach, with Turkish trenches, when the first men land-oil; ■10,000 Turks on tin hills.- The- fort had .seven guns. Ther was a disappearing gun, which was not silenced tin 2 p.m. Some say it wa not ai disappearing gun, but one skilfully fired from a distance by an electric fuse, and for a long time its e>:;u; whereabouts remained unknown. The shrapnel from the i'orf and the bai teries began to play as soon as it wa? light. One platoon was struck, anc tho men killed or drowned. The lain' batteries started about 10 a.m. Whei driven back,, tho Turks telephoned t< four Turkish battery" stations, and thej brought up the big guns. There wer. seven guns to the battery. Their rein forcements must have amounted t-i 10.000 or more. Tho mac-bine niu other nuns were all served by Germans The snipers wore everywhere.. The; liad oushes tied round them so as (« hop about witliout notice. ' The land ing place was about a quarter of a mil< long, and 20 to 40 feet, from the precipitous cliffs, which rose at an angle of 45deg. at least. Th . men had oftei: ito lift ejach other up. The ta-enchei ; 'on top were wonderfully constructed I &nd hidden withbushfts, and had barb I ed-wire entanglements.. The batteries I had their range, but our men kept oui iof them after they wero taken. Our 1 men deployed into line, on the beach, ■i'two paces "apart.- They did the same ; all the way on to the other hills, crawl--1 ing on the ground for cover. Most of 1 the officers were shot when standing up to look through their field-glasses j .The ambulance were shot because , similar]v exposed. . I My informant was in the firing Jim frcm 10 a.m. to 3 p.m., had nothing i', :. a t : ;i ne> er imought about r.. ! ! They had left with thre<s» days' pro- | visions and a bottle' of water, with ! orders'that they might have nothing j more for a week; 5000 casualties were expected, and the men knew that only one in three might come back. The;, were determined never-to. come bad. if it meant leaving their maios wound ed behind. They^kne-tf1 the/Turks'nui tilated all that fell into their hands ■ The snipers wero up trees as well as in the bushes The "Lizzie" (tho Queeii Elizabeth) * destroyed whole masses of I dismounted cavalry vrith -single shots.-. It was fine to see the-aeroplanes at; work. The shrapnel could not reach them—they often flew over our lines. ■ Throughout, we had no .support from-I the fleet, because s\ve were too close to the enemy. The .only artillery support, was from an J ndian battery (N. 1.8.). and it was worked splendidly, but was silenced by the superior guns of the enemy. Had our men landed on the level country .whert it was first intended, we would have been wiped out. There were entanglements under water as well as on the ground, and all was mined, as well as tho ranges perfectly i known to the batter'es. All over the i place there were mines. The ground j was strewn with helmets, packets of ; 1 '}•>,■: IHre to divert suspicion. A Turkish priest who had been made to -..- . is.'i showed them to our men, and they exploded hundreds. j ■ ; _;t!! t s-.iiiy wero poor shots, .but did not await the bayonet.' Had j they been sufficiently plucky they should'have annihilated the attacking party:- ■■"_ ;';'.-.": •'' ■ '■' ; ■. ;