TALES FROM THE TRENCHES.

Colonist, Volume LVII, Issue 13826, 22 July 1915, Page 2

TALES FROM THE TRENCHES.

GERMAN METHODS ON GALLIPOLI.

(Specially written for "The Colonist' " J>y C. L. C. Smith.)

To the rank and file on Gallipoli it is patent that the Allied troops are confronted by German methods and systems; to the staff officer, with his greater discrimination and experience in military service, it is all the more obvious. Many features of warfare are now being practised in the Mediterranean which the Germans gave prominence to in tho western theatre. Recalling the army notes and correspondents' accounts of the last Balkan war, we see no trace of the Turks employing many methods which are now •extensively-used. Apparently Marshal yon der Goltz has isince that Avar put his Turkish' charges through additional courses'of. instruction. It did not require the confirmation of the Turkish prisoners to apprise the headquarters of our armies that the Germans are paramount in the'control of the Gallipolcan defences. Incidentally, had the Australian and New Zealand Army Corps been compelled to wait for prisoners to inforn; them of this, they would have remained in ignorance till an army corps order instructed that prisoners should be taken whenever possible. This order was issued some ten days after the landing at Gaba Tepe. The reasons why practically no prisoners were taken during the first days ashore were primarily, that the colonial soldiers were the victims of hoaxes, which in some cases cost them dear, and they soon learned to take no risks whatever; secondaz'ily, for the reason that, though not on a large scale, certain of our men suffered mangling at the hands of the enemy. It must be remembered that, except in the case v of snipers, who received no mercy, Turks who desired to surrender had to approach our trenches in the dark. Who was to know if a party approaching^ was? not the leading one of the numberless fruitless counterattacks made against us? If thejjiad come forward, in the day time the German gunners behind them would have fired upon them. Such, prisoners say, are their orders cveii in case of an ordered retirement. However, this is a digression. TRACES OP THE TEUTON. In the small encampment over the first ridge from the beach the first traces of the Teuton were found, in the German names upon the kit therein. On a precipice on our left, where three machine guns played havoc with the landing party in the early morning of April 25th, two German soldiers were found dead. No doubt they were in charge of the machine guns, which weapon is now used on the same large scale by the Turks as it is in France and Belgium by the Germans. Observation through glasses has shown that most of the Turkish gunners have been supplanted by instructors in the Potsdam creed. Several Turkish officers have fallen into our hands, and they make no secret c-f their objection to the high-handed conduct of their taskmasters. One officer, in fnct, went :so far'as to say that if he were granted parole for 24 hours he would briNg in two and one battery of artillery. These troops had, he said, been the victims of continual kiv!7tn?ifw at the hands of the Germans —both officers and soldiers. That officer had, however, "seen the position of three guns before being blindfolded, ho had to stay in our midst. The German privates apparently can do as they like with the Ottoman non-coms. ."Kultur" wears no velvet, glove when handling its Eastern puppet. DAE ING TRICKS. Let us revert to the ruses (tried in some cases with success, in others with disaster to the perpetrators), which before this war the Turk was at any rate not an adept at. The shades of night naturally lend themselves to the guileful schemer, and it is under this protection that they are usually essayed. A fluent knowledge, of English, and. strange to say, a painstaking study of bush slang, seem to be part of the mental equipment of the German officers. Nc little confusion was caused at first owing to three men, whose knowledge of our units and their commanders was astonishing, and no doubt

the result of secret service work at Cairo, penetrating our lines, and assuming the 'role of colonial officers. It < must be understood that this did not signify guilelessness on our part, nor confusion in cur ranks. We must not lose sight of the fact that owing to , the1 -desperate nature of the conflict, | the great mortality amongst our commanders, 'and th© rapid transference of t intermingled troops from one point to ' another, the various units faded into one fighting whole.' Nothing was easier than for a daring man. to pass orders along the line, having clothed himself in thel garments of one or our dead officers, and learned his name from the identity disc around his neck. I will enumerate, for instance^ various orders that I passed along; perfectly satisfied at the time r of their bona fide^s. "Indian scouts returning on our left; right flank fire rapid to protect them." Immediately turbaned figures appeared, and before we realised the position they- got a maxim into position in the dark, and poured in a hot fire. They had collected the' uniforms of the dead Sikhs. Once bit, twice shy! A Sikh was ,a.t once posted here and there along the line. Soon the same trick was attempted further along the line. A German, in front this time, called: "Don't fire, we are Indians." A Sikh called a few words. No reply. Perhaps three of thirty odd masqxieraders got back, and without their machine gun! Another order came along: "French advancing on our left, and English en our right; only fire in centre." From mouth to mouth we sent it along. In. five minutes] heavy counter-attacking parties got right up to our trenches before the position was realised, and the bayonet had to be resorted to. Steps were taken as i soon as possible' to prevent these daring Germans fooling us again like this. No order was permitted to be passed along save in writing. This served as a safeguard against another danger as well. It begame that keeneared scouts would creep up in the scrub, and listen to orders being passed along, and gain much that was. of use to their side. If "Ammunition running I short" was called too loudly, it was move than an even chance that, if an attack was on the way towards our line then, the trench short would bear the brunt of it. Of course, when, at the earliest possible moment, the different i units were reorganised, much of the

danger mentioned above was eliminated. An authenticated story is told of a German who, one moonlight night, succeeded in worming his way through the scrub unobserved (that was before our engineers put down the wire entanglements), and sauntered along in front of cur lines exhorting our fellows to "keep your pecker up." A voice queried fromfthe trench: "Where from, matey?",.. "Broken Hill." "Who runs tho ; big " two-up joint?" No answer. Bang! Yes, the lads in the trenches get shrewder every day, and they wero not Simple Simons when they arrived. ' NOT TO BE CAUGHT. In the matter tf mines, too, the Prussian tried, his hand, but with, indifferent .success. We had a good sj>rinkling of old soldiers amongst us, who "fought shy" of comfortably constructed crossings and newly turned earth. We have been told that both, the beach encampment, and the larger one further back were mined in several places. The disturbance of the troops' rest at night is another phase of Geri many's influence on Turkish ideas of I war. All night long an extravagant expenditure of ammunition goes on, serving- no other purpose than to keep those manning the trenches alert. The general character of the night attacks is reminiscent of what we read of the doings on other fronts. The enemy advance frequently in close formation, making all manner of wild noises on their bugles, and with their lungs. Our men, when they hear the shouting, call out "Taiaahena** (Egyptian1 for "Com© here"). An incident which caused the entrenched line to meet one night attack in a mirthful spirit was when "Cook-house" was blown frantically by the approaching foe. Appariently is was a mistake for the "Retire." Ottoman buglers made nerve-racking slaughter of cur bugle calls, and all to no purpose, because not a bugle was taken ashore on our side. The old Prussian Guard scheme of advancing in two or more lines of close formation, with machine guns carried in the rear, was nearly^—but not quite—successful. On the occasion on which the ' Turks tried their luck with it, the front line lay flat I just as on 6of our battalions was I preparing to leave the trenches to wield the bayonet. As it happened, our men _ were, ordered back, and our machine guns played havoc with that party before it could do any damage.- : TURKISH ARMY EFFICIENT. From what we saw on dead Turks they seem to have a fairly good tsupply (f food. In fact, several have admitted that such is the case. Others, however, make hunger the plea of giving themselves up.

In the use of dummy guns and figures the Turk (or German') does his best, but rarely deceives tho Navy or our artillery. As regards concealment op guns,'and the construction of frontal screens and head cover, cur gunners give him credit for no mean craft.

Without doubt, the German military autocracy in Turkey has raised the efficiency of the arniv the Allies have to fight. <®