THE DARDANELLES.

Colonist, Volume LVII, Issue 13825, 21 July 1915, Page 5

THE DARDANELLES.

CULLY RAVINE.

A VALLEY OF DEATH

DESCRIPTION OF THE BRITISH

ADVANCE

London, July 19,

Mr. Ashmead Bartlett reports that a successful advance of the left wing . on June 28th took place on both sides of what is universally known as the Gully

Ravine. Althougtf'ouv troops made no efforts to advance directly up the ravine, they have fallen on the enemy's trenches on either side and placed another mile of this "valley of death" in our hands. Someone described it as a "devil of a place." The description is not inaccurate. The gully varies in depth and width and security afe you pass up it, leaving the seashore. Towards Krithia it twists and turns in a remarkable n,anner. At ono point you may walk in perfect security behind a, bluff. At another you may catch a stream of bullets from the Turkish trenches in front. The Turks know every inch of the ground. Formerly they fired a tremendous number of shells into the ravine, "but ! lately there has been a distinct decrease in the volume of fire, pointing to a shortage of ammunition.

Nevertheless, there is quite enough fehrapnel bursting, especially when an attack is in progress.

The ravine lies between overhanging craggy hills, 200 feet high, covered with scrub.

The summer heat .is almost unbearable. The sun beats down on this warworn road with pitiless severity, but tli ere is plenty of good water, icy cold, which is a great boon to the crowds of perspiring and thirsty -soldiers. Under the cliffs of weary men back from the trenches fling themselves down and sleep, indifferent to the shells bursting over their heads. Occasionally a rr.an drops from a stray bxillet, yet none seek cover.

The prolonged experience is making all indifferent fatalists.

In the ravine you come across lonely graves marked with a cross and the names of those fallen in earlier engagements. Every yard we progress, the gully becovmes narrower and narrower.

Who will ever forget the scenes witnessed in the captured Turkish trenches and in the ravine itself? Day after day; our infantry occupied positions,, and with the capture of high ground, all tho Turks in the ravine were killed or had fled. The Turkish positions were invariably filthy, and if tho enemy goes through the campaign without a great epidemic, he will have undue lurk.

All through the,gully there is litter and'debris, with scattered bodies half protruding from the ground from hast^

CABLE NEWS.

[Pbess Assooiatiok •» •Cqfybxght. ]

ily. dug graves and hundreds of rifles &n(l bayonets, and thousands upon thousands of rounds of ammunition. We made a very big haul indeed in this last engagement. Great fires are burning at intervals, and they are avoided by all, as they give off a horrid sickly stench. These fires are burning the Turkish dead hastily collected. It is all important to get the dead out of tho w&y quickly in this hot climate. We have been working unceasingly for the last twenty-four hours bringing in our wounded. Our advance has been so successful that they tell yon with pride that not a man is left alive lying out in front of the line.* They are also bringing in our dead, and burying them in newlyformed cemeteries. The enemy's trenches are packed with debris, and an awful stench pervades everything. Flies swarm in millions. In one corner seven Turks with their rifles across their knees, are sitting together. One has his arms round a

friend's neck, and a smile on his face, as if cracking a joke when death overwhelmed them all. They have the appearance of being asleep. They do not show any signs of injury. Peeping carefully over the top of the Boomerang, which is being heavily Sniped by the Turks, you see how our infantry forced their way. The barbed-wire was swept away by our artillery, the gunners making a neat Job, for the uprights were cut to shreds, leaving a clear way for the infantry. ,

The field was strewn with soldiers' impedimenta. The modern soldier goes into action decked like a modern Christmas tree, and in the wild rushes gradually shakes off superfluous equipment, which is carefully gathered after the battle for further use. In front of the Boomerang was a fort called Turkey Trot, even more formid? able'" than the Boomerang, but it fell easily before the dash of our infantry. It was also full of. dead. I oamci upon a wounded Turk who bad been overlooked by the stretcherbearers, lying by himself on his chest, having his hands clenched above his head, praying to himself. He was immediately brought in, but was too far gone to live. Our soldiers are indeed extraordinary. To hear them, you tremble for the fate of the enemy falling into their hands; yet the moment a trench is taken, and the enemy, hold up their hands, they are treated with the utmost kindness, our men sharing water and rations with them.

On a small rise lie half a dozen of our men, who were killed in the final advance, and whom it had been impossible to get at to bury. The sniping is so heavy, even at night time, that it was impossible to get them.

Further up the ravine are heaps of Turkish dead, piled together in gorse patches. Further on lie a number'of the enemy mixed up with some of our men.

There seems to have been a general melee on the morning of the 29th, when our men rushed the trenches and hunted the enemy out of the gorse.