TURKS "DIGGING IN."

Star (Christchurch), Issue 11506, 30 September 1915, Page 3

TURKS "DIGGING IN."

WINTER AT GALLIPOLL MORE SEVERE THAN IN" (•-LANDERS. (By CAPTAIN" C. E. W. BEAN.) GAB A TEPE, September 3. A Turkish labour battalion, which largely consists of Greeks and Armenians, 'has been very active lately digging and improving trenches. llu-i may mean that the Turks are piepanng for a winter _ _ r LTte winter at Gallipoli is severe, beginning with heavy rains, followed bv northerly winds that are intensely bitter. Blinding snow tall* on all tho higher hills, if not over the wholo country. During _ the final months of winter the aoa ia 6wept by fierce south-westerly 'gales. I nave not tho least idea whether a winter campaign is likely to become necessary for tho Allied forces in Gallipoli, but, if so, it is to bo traced that the Australians will seo that their troops do not go short for whatever is necessary, and that they obtain it in time. It is necessary to face the fact that winter in these hills and plains, where the Australians and New Zealandera havo boon nearly nineteen weeks under (ire in the trenches without relief, except in a few cases for three days, is likely to bo even more severe than in Flanders, where all the resources of civilisation and rest from the fire zone lie within a few miles behind the firing line. The weather, so far, has been perfect, despite the hoat_ and the rough heavy fatigue work whicli h elsewhere carried out by animals, but is here necessarily performed by men. The continuous fine weather lias probably compensated for this. But the Balkan year is divided into two halves, one exquisitely line, the other the reverse. It is still fine, but this will not always Jast. Contingents arriving from Australia have done exactly what the Australians most wished them to do, namely, bring most welcome help to tho Australians at the front. The arrivals have enabled a part of tho Australians, after nineteen continuous weeks under fir© in tho trenches, to obtain a little relief. A store ship recenilv arrived with about £2OOO worth of _ goods for tho first division, and a similar amount for other divisions. These stores were bought up within a few hours, and were eagerly consumed by the troops, who could probably keep going a store of the size of Whitdey's. _On a previous occasion, when articles from transports were collected into a trawler for sale to the troops, the quartermasters dime down from the trenches with amounts varying from £IOO to £3OO to spend for their respective units. The stores were immediately bought up, the share for each unit amounting to a few pounds.