THE TURK AT BAY.

Star (Christchurch), Issue 11509, 4 October 1915, Page 3

THE TURK AT BAY.

TRENCH WAREFARE ON GALLIPOLI THE OLD AND THE NEW. (From Malcolm Boss Official War Correspondent with the X.Z. .K»m>s.; July 30. There c;mi be "no doubt, now that, mo Viavr the Turk at bay <>n hi* own Peninsula. For scmo time past he. Iras lx?o.n very quiet, and a threatened iittaik from a, reinforced lurktsh army has not-, so far, materialised- We were told that. Knver l'asha was get-ting together another army of lOO.(KX) men to drive us into the sea. We may have doubts as to whether his new army has arrived in anything like the numbers mentioned, but we know wo have no • been driven into the sea and that, wo ore nob likely to be. In the meantime, our forces also are, more or less, marking time, but before tins reaclw-,; Now Zealand you will most certainly ; have heard news of importance. Meantime, there is little for the war eoi- | respondents to write about. In modeln , warfare there are periods during which | whole armies sit down in ditches ana look at each other —generally through periscopes—over earthy or sand-bagged', parapets, neither side daring to show j a haadj or even a bit oi a head. "BORED STIFF." | We have reached th at stage on the Pen- j insula —both at Helles and at Anzac, During such times an army, to use » j colloquialism, becomes " bored stiff. I The monotony is varied only by bombthrowing in places where the rival forces aro but a few vai'ds apart, and! by bombarding on sections where hundreds of yards intervene. Occasionally, however, the shrapnel and the high explosives burst- with a diabolical accuracy on an enemy trench only a few yards beyond our own lines. At this latter game wo have a decided advantage over the Turk, lor not only have we mere guns and shells on land, but we have also the ships that patrol tl.a i.iulf of The Turk, apparently, ha;, to la? sparing of his fieldgun ammunition, and there are now also indications that he is endeavouring to exercise a. greater care in hus- . banding his cartridges for riflo fire. A refugee, who reached an adjoining island from Constantinople the other day, brought news that matters were coming to a bad pass there, and from other sources 1 learn that there is a pirit of gloom in the capital, and the ptop!o cannot understand why no British prisoners aro arriving there! The Xow Zealanders, in common with the oilier troops, are anxious to have another go at the enemy, and on ud hands disappointment is expressed that! he has not come on. Vor the time being, the safest- place on the battlefield js the trenches! That is one of the anomalies of modern warfare, Hut) a change will come over the .scene ere long. The other day T was able to inspect the remains oi' an inflammatory shell'that was fired into our area of defence. The charred case was three inches in diameter and loin Jong. Tho shell, which evidently came from a mortal", made a small hole in the ground and covered an area of 8H dia-. meter in flames. Tjie same evening, at Achi Baba, the enemy threw liquid into one of the French trenches and endeavoured uusticcessiully to sot it alight with bombs. RELIC OF OLI) BATTLE. This Peninsula, as everyone knows, has been the scene of battles dating away back to the time of the Venetian Doges, and probably even to prehistoric times, when the real troglodytes lived in habitations somewhat iniilar to those dug by tho New Zealanders on the. outer Hanks of SariBair. It- is somewhat strange that iu the warfare of tne present day, * when ail the destructive inventions of modern science, are let loose upon (he battlefield, one of oar men digging ne.ar the Xew Zealand Field Ambulance Station should come upon a relic -of tho old iighL.ng in tlxo shape of a. round stone cannon-ball. Stone .can-non-balls were, however, in existence on the peninsula in comparatively rc-C'-nt- years, for Lord Duffe-rin, on his way to Constantinople iu 18S1, states that, on reaching the. Dardanelles he paid. a. visit to th«> fort, where lie saw two enormous, guns, ih.at threw stone I balls " like those you see at the doorsteps. of country house.--.'' " Indeed." !if. 'adds in a letter to Lady Dartvcy, " [ have lour oi them at Clandeboye." Apropos. a friend here, who was in i the last Balkan war, tolls me that similar stone camion-balls in the timo of Napoleon were dug up there in the Albanian trenches, and at the old forts put out of action by our battleships at Capo HeJics there are still many such cannon-balls to be .seen. Til! [\lSfl PRISONOUS. "While the people of Constantinople at 1 ,- puzzled at the noti-arrical ol j I British prisoners there, Ihey wouldf <-.ould th-ey visit the pt-umsula—be en- J lightened" regarding the other phase of , I the question. The Allied forces have j taken quite a number of prisoners, and . there have been several deserters from i the 'Turkish lines. Such nriMjiK-rs as ; ! one has seen appear strong and hardy j and well fed, though rather down-at- | bee) in tbo matter of clothing, Tbeir j clothes are much too heavy for a sum- | msr campaign, and frequent!;/ one sees j a man with his bare' toes sticking through his boots. Most of the prisoners seem only too pleased to have got away from their own firing line. Oiie who surrendered to tho Otago Battalion the. other day complained of illtreatment. from his own uon-eommis- { stoned officers, lie said his corporal had quarrelled wall him and had bit j him! 1 iinrsi-jinf.il GOODS,.