HILL 971.

Taranaki Herald, Volume LXIII, Issue 144854, 4 December 1915, Page 7

HILL 971.

THE ATTACK THAT FAILED. A GLIMPSE OF THE NARROWS. Writing from Woodford Camp, Epsom, on October 5, to relatives .LanceCorporal H. U. tokinner (Otago Battalion), formerly of New Plymouth, describes some interesting experiences at Gallipoli. ‘‘Once more tho pen,” ho begins; "this time I hope to limsh with me firing line and perhpps to rake you on shipboard.” Sunday's doings, owing I think to some mental reaction, are a blur. 1 know I did not sleep. Major Lnxford, chaplain, came up and held service—the briefest I have ever heard. It consisted of tho Lord’s Prayer and tho prayer about the perils and dangers ol this life. Wc were told to dig bivvies and Gus Levitt and I worked together. First Gus struck a bullet, evidently lircd from Quinn s across the Turkish salient of me Chess-Board. Then I struck what 1 took to bo a relic of the stone age. a grooved pebble, apparently a weight ot some kind. 1 had a good laugh and put the pebble in my haversack. Everyone was irritable and we quarrelled violently with the Mam Body man beside us, he beginning it by tho usual relcronces to "yon reinforcement fellows.” 1 had the first horizontal rest since Friday, but it did not last nioiit than three-quarters of an hour, for at about five wo were aroused to get our water-bofties tilled and gear in order. In the dusk we were marched up tho steep track to the gully-head, where we waited tor darkness. At aeon eight we wet,' over the knoll and up the spar beyond.

Wo stomocl to ho urider Imavy hre from the upper slopes of 9/1, but I d‘ i not see anyone list. Ol cour>e it wa« dark. An unommi;.; snvnm ol wounded wont groaning and gasping and fttumhling by. Our only guide was the rd * ila.-iif.s ahead. (»us and 1 wore jenned 1»y L. U. Wilson, a corporal, and Hector I,aa lino, chap lerril/ly o.ovni with dysentery, and all four went stumbling on. separated ironi the r*vi of •■()” Company. 1 wore pair#vs, shorts, and urn black jersey whim Harry Kirkwood, son ol the artist, bad taken off and insisted on my wearing the previous night in place oi me tunic lost on iUiododciuirnn. wa* a kind act then, and later it roiuicred mo less conspicuous than I would liavo been in my light singlet. V»e wore to relieve the Otago Mounted and Wellington Infantry ami some details of Sherwood X*'orestcrs, who with tbo Gurkhas and some Australians ra brigade 1 think) iiad forced their way up almost on 10 the summit of 9/1 and had dug themselves in across and along this spur. From their hre-trcnch they could see the Narrows eight miles or more away, and the Turkish reserves and guns and mules sweating ami straining up distant roads to meet tho attack. , Where were the 20,000 men to push home the attack and finish the war on iho peninsula at a stroke M e were the sick and weary driblet on whom the task fell. There you have the history at tho whole campaign in epitome. Thev had been bombed out of their tire-trench and were holding on in the reserve trench on the reserve slope. Into this Unv furrow with its fringe of the dead who had been heaved out to make room for tiie living came tjm Otago Infantry. I was sent off by the captain of the Foresters with a message to our colonel. Stumbling along over bushes and boulders and abandoned equipment, I got at I,lst to headquarters and gave my message to a major, the colonel having, 1 believe, already gone to tho roar wounded. Ihen 1 crawled back, constantly challenged. [This is evidently tho incident for which Lance-Corporal Skinner was awarded the D.C.JI.] Wellington had had their little foretaste of hell ami wire keenly anxious to get back to reserve. They vanished loaded with wounded. Gus and I were in the extreme habitable end of the reserve trench. On onr right it continued, but had been blown to bits by bombs. Six or seven yards in rear of ns, -taeiefore, Auckland Mounted began to dig a new trench, which was .to be carried along Jihododendron on onr right. «o set to work to improve the end wo were m. On our right front, -some twenty yards awav, was a little fire. It was below tho crest and so invisible to the Turks, hut wo did not know this and thought it was drawing their lire. 1 decided to crawl forward and put it oat, and Gus, for some unknown reason, insisted on coming too. 1 passed the word that 1 was going down the Auckland lines a dozen times and heard it «go. Then 1 went on hands and knees, Gus with me. 1 lound that tho nre was a dead man hunting. middle was burnt away and Urn flames lit up iho clenched Asm and wild eyes staring at tlie stars. Hang wont a rifle in our lines, fifteen yards away, and the bullet kicked tho earth between my knees and hands, ricocheting by .Gus’s check 1 That will show you' what our nerves were, like. I throw myself Hat on mv hack into a hollow beside Gus and shouted. When our shouts had rendered matters sale again wo crawled back, leaving the hre to burn. Soon it went out. Our held of ine reached to tho crest line and was some ten yards deep. At midnight tlw Turks began the general debate which always precedes a charge. As they were just beyond tho crest we could hear all that was said. At length tho shout of “Allah 1 ' grew into a roar and they charged. All wo saw of them was a scattered Hashing of rifles, ten yards or so above us, which vanished under our “magazine rapid. Ihon out of the dark came staggering and shouting a wounded New Zealander who stopped one ot our own bullets before he established his identity. Away on tho left the Maori* were chanting a haka and calling the Turks to come on. Then a searchlight from a warship away below us turned full glare (U us, and then the lyddtto came. The shell comes screaming by, plunges into the earth —whuff—and explodes with a sound like the sudden tearing of forests by tho roots. And tho bombardment was aimed at, its! We crouched cursing m the bottom of the trench. Tho shells hit to onr left and none of the men killed were m out platoon. A man went back to tbo telephone and tho guns ceased.