BEFORE THE LANDING.

Colonist, Volume LVII, Issue 13825, 21 July 1915, Page 4 (Supplement)

BEFORE THE LANDING.

READY FOR ACTION.

XSpecially written for /The Colonist" X ■ by C. L. C, Smith.)

From "The Colonist/ July 2.) Trooper C. L. C. Smith, formerly of the. "Colonist," who joinec the 3rd Australian Brigade at Brisbane* gives one of the best accounts that has yet appeared in print of thelanding of the Australasian -forces and then; subsequent fighting on the Galhpoh Peninsula; Trooper Smith Bays:— H.M.S. Queen April 24. Just a word from a battleship cleared for action and on its way to land us in the liveliest corner the war has. seen yet. (Such it will be is the opinion of the great military authority who guide* things in General Headquarters). In two hours' time we will be plunged into a night attack on the Galhpoh Peninsula, where Sir Ian + Hamilton's army muSb turn the key to open the way into Turkey. The position of Protest honour-in the Allied forces has been assigned to the 3rd Australian BiSade, which forms the covering party for the whole corps- The-9th Battalion lead* the way for the brigade, and my company* having the senior officer, goes first in the battalion. By an odd shuffle of fortune I am in the first platoon of the company and therefore in the first boat to touch sand. As we land 200 yards from a German-manned battery Protected ty three lines of trenches and with wire entanglements (electrified) ahead, we will have to make the pace a merry one from the start. .Our brigadier isi a real soldier, and in a special address to the covering party made no bones about telling us that it. was success or extermination. With the splendid -staff of officers we have, and all the boys keyed right up to altissimo you may bet a guinea to a gooseberry'that the pace wUI be a welter The Navy boys sre the keenest fellows to mix it with the Turk that you could find, ana with biT "Queen Lizzie's" 15in. and many other guns of lesser calibre supSgour advance in daylight there Solid be rather a clatter in.a few hour tme-worse than 40 bagpipes all taowwom and all playing different lunes. (By the way, tins ship has a really clinking military band, and it has discoursed Harry Lauder and Handel during the evening to the general satisfaction of divided tastes ) Our principal concern is to tuck m as much nourishment as we can now, as the commissariat won't land for several days after us. The co-operation of the ■Navy and the Army in this affair is said* to represent the pinnacle of scientific warfare. One must see itto appreciate the marvellous staff woik that makes an undertaking like this possible. Personally I feel. m the-fit-test condition I could desire. This letter will be left in the hands of the naval authorities, being posted in the ship's box. Its length is inordinate, but I hope it reaches you.