NEWS FROM THE FRONT.

Taranaki Herald, Volume LXIII, Issue 144712, 22 June 1915, Page 8

NEWS FROM THE FRONT.

AN AUCKLANDER’S LETTER.

Letters giving details of the stories brought by the wounded to Alexandria are now beginning to roach New Zealand. A letter from Corporal' Rex Heskoth, of Auckland, to friends in the city, written from Zoitoun on May 6. contains’ sonic remarkable information.

“I think,” states Corporal Hesketh, ‘‘that.this will be my last letter before 1 get info the firing line. As you know our boys are now at the Dardanelles, and wo have boon ordered to join them without our horses, no doubt as third or fourth reinforcements. This is Thursday night, and we have orders to bo away by Saturday. By the time this reaches you you will have, experienced some shocks,- for the Now Zealanders have already put up a glorious fight in a glorious cause. I Thank God, they have nroved .themselves men. Poor old Trip was killed outright, and was shot before hp ever landed. Major Stuckey, was shot through the stomach, and, bravo fellow that ho was, held on for two days before ho gave in. “These Turks .are beyond human endurance. They are there to kill, and Prisoners a.s a rule have no chance, bu can guess what happens to them when I toll you of the case of a wellknown officer. He was severely wounded when they landed, too seriously to be removed without the aid of a stretcher. The Hod Cross men bandaged him as best they could, and then went to get a stretcher, but when they returned ho was dead. His throat had been cut from ear to ear—the work of a wounded Turk. But our fellows are playing them at their own game, a thing they never expected. A crowd of our boys, with the 4th Australians, were rushing a trench, and up to within ten yards those Turks kept firing. Then they threw up their hands and asked for mercy, but no mercy was shown, and so it will go on till they respect us a bit more. “Noel Ross is horo in hospital, and the poor fellow is paralysed from the body downwards, A shell burst beside him. Luckily lie was not hit, but the shock, which must have been terrific, knocked him but. I think he will bo all right later on—they say so at the hospital. Me have not been able to ascertain yet who are killed amongst the non-coms, and troopers. Only a list of tho wounded is available. • The fighting is terribly severe, and the boys who have arrived hero amongst the wounded state that the Turks have some very excellent sharp-shooters, who pick out any of our men wearing stripes of any sort. They are up to all sorts of tricks, and cases have been reported of men who foign to be dead and who, after our officers and men have passed them, shoot them frorp behind. Tho German officers have actually been known to don our uniforms and get into our trenches, where they give orders to cease fire. Ou one occasion, at night time, German officers in this way nearly succeeded in getting the men to obey an order to cease fire on the flank line. , They called out that tho Indians were coming up the hill to help,. Our outposts discovered the ruse just in tirao, otherwise the whole lot would have boon annihilated. ‘ ‘Wo are all Very excited at the op- ■ portunity to get away, and by the time this letter roaches you we should bo in tho fighting-line. May you soon have nows of further brilliant New Zealand ' achievements,”