HOW THE AUSTRALASIANS LANDED.

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

HOW THE AUSTRALASIANS LANDED.

A GRAPHIC DESCRIPTION

Cabi Tepe, Callipoli, May 2. I've got a dug-out, and a powerful big one it is, too. One must 'Wow deep in order to escape being frisked off the hillside by the heavy guns in front of us, and on the ether side of the Gallipoli Peninsula—Chanak fort and the Dardanelles. I turn to this chronicle as a diversion from contemplating the prospect of a more tlian usually brisk demise through one of the Goebon's shells, which frequently burst close at hand. Well,.as I say, I hare a "dm'-out" comparatively-sate, as such mole holes go, and f«to it I will endeavour to give you some idea or tue glorious feat of arms perfcrmed^by the Australian and New Zealand army corps between last Sunday and to-day— a fortnight of shrapnel and bullet dodging on our part. For two months—the last two weeks on transports—a great proportion of the Australasian troops had waited, the prey of rumour and delay, fcr the opening of the campaign against the Turkish and German forces which bar the passage of the Dardanelles by our fleets. All the ' irksome halts, however have been justified, and not a nut in the whole Allied military machine seems to have been left loose. Colonials, Englishmen, Palestine Jews. Senegalese with their ebony skins, Frenchmen from Europe and Algeria, marines who fought at Antwerp, Gurkhara, Sikhs and Punjabis, the pick of the later Indian divisions: all were coached and trained by practice to perform the feat of landing the largest force on record on hostile territory. The secret service, the staff, and the commissariat department could hare known no rest. While the routine of landing practice, and the transferring of troops from transport to battleship seemed monotonous, if was amply justified by the perfection of - these operations in the whirl and roar of reality. I know nothing of "the Varidus French and English landings, .-which were effected at other portions of the peninsula. General Birchwood commanded the Australian and New Zealand corps, and he selected the 3rd Brigade, under Colonel McLaughan, for the post of greatest responsibility—the covering party. This meant that the 3rd Brigade, consisting cf the Queensland, South Australian, West Australian, and Tasmanian battalions, 'were to land first, advance to a certain position and hold it while the rest of the troops were brought ashore. The brigadier in his turn chose the 9th (Queensland) Infantry Regiment to lead the van of his brigade. (Just now a chance shot killed No. 283, Bob Aird, in the next dug-out to me.)

"IN THE FIRST BOAT." Our colonel sent B Company with the first tow, and fate juggled me into the first boat to touch the beach, so through no desire of my cwn I was pitchforked into a position to make a fairly close. examination of the proceedings. On Saturday, April 24th, the 3rd Brigade lay in Port Mudros, Lemnos Island, and little concern was evinced at the announcement that during tht» day a certain portion "of each battalion would go on board a warship and leave for the scene of the landing, while tho rest would follow in transports for a certain distance, and then tranship to torpedo boats. This statement, however, proved to b1 p one of fact, and at noon the battleships Queen/ Prince of Wales, London, Triumph, and the cruiser Bacchante steamed out into the Aegean Sea with the chosen companies on board. The squadron pursued a vagrant course till dark, in order to disguise its destination. The authorities reckoned ei;en with th-e possibility of concealed wireipss stations on the islands of the archipelago giving warning of our approach. Seven miles from the coastline the five vessels "stood by." KINDNESS OF NAVY MEN. The hour was rio^ 1.30. on Sunday morning, and since midnight all troops , liad heeri, - ij^qw^^/Tnaldift'^.^^y-^rttter ,' vvhil^ ' with ;the 'i?ai,lors v; >hosor feeling; jfehe ■;^c6oks''\prbdi^Diis.".effortißj.1'.iio load y into the- innerH..ari ■'threes weeks': fill of; the primest rations, arid into their kits bounteous stores of tobacco. At 1.30

up the.various, eompaniouways j>oured suent streams of the 3rd Brigade. Over tJi© side they went, the sailors marvelling at tho celerity with which they negotiated^ the rope ladders with the 601b. kits they earned on their backs.i It was not until 3 a.m. that three pinnaces, each trailing three boatloads of men, steamed for the shore. Not a word to be spoken; not a match to be struck; every nerve keyed * high; at it at last. At 4 o'clock the coastline loomed against the paling gloom. Twang f The centre pinnace's tow rope had parted. The naval lieutenant flashed- an anxious look to see if the tows on either hand fail.d to notice the accident, and so lose touch with him. The mishap is observed, and a new line passed, and the journey continued. Now comes the final dash. Every pinnace dashes forward at full speed until 200 yards from those frowning crags ahead, casts off, and the Navy nas finished its first job as far as the covering Rarty is concerned. , THE LANDING. It now remained for the soldiers to pull hard for the shore, where a narrow strip of sand skirted the cliffs. Calm prevailed for half the distance; in the next half all the hydras arid dragons of the dark ages seemed to be loosed upon us. A solitary bivouac gleam was doused, and in clea*r English' this surprising prologue was shouted from the heights: "Come along you.kangaroo ." Then came torrents of bullets from machine guns, while Turkish and German fingers emptied magazines as fast as charges could be jammed into them. Thank heaven for the indifferent light of breaking day! The gloom just then saved the first boatloads from the annihilation which visited several twenty minutes later. A sailor held our tiller, and rose shouting oncouragment to the rowers, then toppled over the stern—shot through the face There was no refuge; men just eat tight while others sank down gasping, or AvitlV clenched teeth clasped a wounded Hmb. No sooner did the cutter's keel graze the sand than the troops sprang over the side, shoulder deep in the brine, and dashed for the shore. Around them the white Versailles was mimicked by the little fountains the leaden stream threw up. Out of the water, and a few more strides to the cliff face, where only rifle fire reached us. Alas, many never reached this Goshen. The hail never fell in Goshen at all, did it? But once out of the1 reach of those machine guns one did not notice the rifle fire. So far so good. The "Kangaroo ——" have come'en, and have landed on Gallipoli. THE COUNTRY DESCRIBED.

Some idea of the country ahead must now be conveyed. Having since viewed the coastline through a telescope and field glass, it seems to me that where the colonials were put ashore is quite the roughest uiece of Gallipoli 'n the European side. To reach the position which eventually was heldit become necessary to storm the precipitous ridges. Between these lay two steep gorges, falling abruptly to sea level. The "razor-backs" ranged from 400 to 600 feet in height, and offered but the most precarious foothold in the clay faces enwuntered near the top of each. The two gorges contained thick scrub, affording excellent cover for snipers, and masking for the time three lines of trenches the enemy occupied. Country of tlm character fronted the sea for 1£ miles. To the right, a mile across a bay, lay a promontory strongly fortified, and protected by an extraordinary system of barbed-wire entanglements/ Wide | belts of it surrounded the fort itself,! sometimes ankle, other times from neck to 10ft. high, in impenetrable and insurmountable masses. The wire wa-s closely interlaced for 200 yards out into the sea. It is generally considered that the Turks thought the actual lauding place would be the last one! chosen by the British General Staff; and that the trenches and troops the Australians encountered were intended really for heavily enfilading a landing; on the country on either side, or' smashing in the flanks of a'landing; force. The trenches, however, were! well placed to meet a frontal attack, and were strongly manned. The foregoing, therefore, lay in front of the now rapidly increasing party, which filled magazines and fixed bayonets under the partial shelter of the first cliff face. THE AUSTRALASIAN TEMPERAMENT. An extraordinary temperament has the Australasian soldier. Once his pack had been discarded, his magazine was • full, arid his rifle supported' his 14 inches of cold steel, almost alb the strain of the situation seemed to fall from him. A spirit almost approaching levity took possession of him. No [ words of command were waited fcr, but like a drove of rock wallabies the Antipodean .Touynies sailed up that cliff. Crawling, scrambling, swearing, and laughing: up they went in the teeth of the pelting rifle fire. Nor had the, situation eased permanently. iPehon was piled upon Ossa as machine guns from farther along the range enfiladed the clambering khaki figures, , and the fort opened fire with a- shrapnel battery. All.around men and officers were falling. The only halts were | those made to drag a wounded man on ;to a ledge, or when, breathless with exertion, some care free individual would pull up for a "smoke-oh." A wag well in the lead, recalling the Cairo street hawkers' cries, wended his way upwards to the tune of "Cako, cake, Cairo," "Eggs-a-cook," "Oringis—two for a Half piastre." This was taken up with the characteristic Egyptian intonation right along the line, and to this lay the first row of bayonets bristled over the front ridge, and fire was opened on the leading trench. The defenders here "went for the lick of their lives"-to the next trench, and the istorming party had cleared the first ridge. The Navy took the time—l 9 minutes from the boats' grounding. From the position now a clear view was obtained of the beach. Fresh companies were pulling through the shrapnel-churned water, and torpedo craft'dashed in with their decks crammed with supporting troops.

BOATLOADS WIPED OUT. From this point of vantage, too, was witnessed the wiping out of two boatloads of the 10th Battalion. Machine guns played along the seats, arid row after row of sitting soldiers were mowed down. Here and theje skeleton naval crews pulled empty cutters out of the danger zone. Several tars were seen to be winged, but with one arm they used their best endeavours to get their craft back for more men to come ashore. Dawn had now broken., and the eye could discern a cutter full of a reinforcing platoon fill and sink alongside a torpedo boat. Loaded with their packs arid 200 rounds of ammunition the occupants had no chance of escape, and practically ail went straight to the bottom. All this seen on the beach had to be gleaned by a quick survey. There was no holding back; but almost without a breather the\ Vanguard, push^ ed;ori into the.gqrges^iQiir rifles^bei garitd; tell 'amongst tm 'siiiper^aptf wounded and; dead 'Tjfrks^ were- enedti-h-j ter£d. -a One.*iisniper: &&**&'# np brink 'of a\ ■•'laWror::rfiViiie^;;'firetl'i''avf6^: rounds, clasped "his breast with one hand, saluted with the other; and piteff--ed. down 200 feet—a corpse. :;.:., ;

TURKS ON THE RUN.

So along that panting line scurried. Such language! Soon the second line of trenches was arrived at. The cry went up, "See, they're off like the hammers of Hades. After them, boys." 'Twas a gr^at.day for the old Imperial soldier wno had re-enlisted in our ranks. With his steadiness and knowledge of old campaigning dodges, combined with the dash and grit of the born and bred colonial, those Turks were kept on the run. Pat Murphy, late of "de Munsters," and Larry O'Grady, late of "de Dublins," vied with each other in picking off the enemy sniping at "Mulga Cornstalk" slithering down a declivity, and "Mulga" would arrive opportunity a little later '"with his bayonet to return service in kind. In the second gorge a German arid Turkish officers' encampment was found, and it was the old soldiens who preivented the hasty youths at his side from diving into the tents to rout out any loiterers therein. All the tents were mined. Though the fire on our flanks was still very, heavy, iihe irresistible nature of the 9th.Battalion's onslaught had destroyed the moral of the hostile force in front. Their fire slackened, they threw their rifles and equipment .aside, and seS off for the other side of Gallipoli like hares before the hounds.