AT THE DARDANELLES

Wanganui Herald, Volume L, Issue 14745, 26 October 1915, Page 6

AT THE DARDANELLES

TIMELY PLEA FOR OPTIMISM. SPLENDID REPLY TO THE CROAKERS. SIR A. CONAN DOYLE'S VIEWS. Press Association.—Telegraph—Copyright LONDON, October, 25, “Have we failed at the Dardanelles?'' is the question Dr. Conan Doylo undertakes to answer in a striking article in the Daily Chronicle, in a pie.a for optimism and the cessation of unreasonable pessimistic criticism. He writes: There is a great contrast between the German and the British Press in the last few months, yet in our heart of hearts w<; are as certain of victory as that to-mor-row’s sun will shine. Look at the work of fourteen months. We have annexed the German colonies and swept the German flag, imperial and commercial, from the ocean. We have repelled the sub marines, conquered southern Mesopotamia, and, greatest of all, raised in enormou ; voluntary army. The most severe critic in the whole world can only point to one place where wo have failed—namely. th n Dardanelles. But has there been a failure there? I believe that if we never force the straits the enterprise will neverthc less have been worth the undertaking. We have held up a great body of th 1 best troops who otherwise would hjn v • been operating against us or against th' Russians. Sir lan Hamilton has taken oC the pressure from General Maxwell on the one side and General Nixon on the other; but the greatest result is that it has thoroughly united us with Russia, vlv knows that we have spent blood and ship'' in trying to force the gates enclosing her. Again, we have drawn the Central Power i on to a southern advance, the immediate result of which has been to bring in tip Servians, who for nearly .a wear hav ■ been practical!v neutral. Could the Cen ti.il Powers advance to Constantinople with the Allies entrenched on their flank ' Would the Turks welcome an armv of Bulgars and other hereditary enemies: and if we even assume them to be in Con rtantinople. how can they cross tin Egyptian desert? It is too early to sav that wo hare failed at the Dardanelles. Mr Churchill was criticised for saying wwere only a few miles from victory. Ve' that is obviously true. Had he said " few months from victory, the criticism might have been intelligible. What hj > meant was that if we had victory th > prize would be immediately in our hands. Mr Churchill did not under-rate the formidable task. It is surely top early 11 write off the Dardanelles debt as a sidi account.

“ REMARKABLY FEW MISTAKES.” SPLENDID TRIBUTE TO KITCHENER. M) ( ATSK FOP PESSIMISM. Perched October 20, 8.20 a.ru. LONDON. October 25. After tracing, the operations on the west front ami the, sea, Sir Arthur Conan Doyle adds:— “It seems to me that wo have made remarkable few mistakes, and have been wonderfully fortunate in our leaders. It we search the glorious pages of British history we will not find a man so fitted by nature and training as Lord Kitchener. His cold, mathematical brain power of thinking in terms of the year after next, and his enduring and inflexible will make him an ideal leader. Unreasonable criticism tends to dishearten our best men. Wo have no cause for pessimism.” TURKISH TALES. < IXSTAVTINOPLE, October 1’.,. A communique states: We bnmbarded a barricade at Anafarta, destroying three machine-guns. A\ e also silenced artillery tire on land and sea at Arihurnu. , The enemy at Seddnl-Bahr tired some thousands, of shells on our left, but did r ■ dam ego. AMSTERDAM, October 20. A Turkish communique states: Our (runners damaged an enemy torpedoer off Djugbair, and she was towed to Imbrrs.

THE LANDING AT CAPE HELLES. MOST TERRIBLE IN. OUR HISTORY. THE SUVLA BAY FAILURE. LONDON, October 25. Mr Nevinson. war correspondent, in a lecture on Gallipoli, said the men were shot down so quickly in the landing at Cane Helles that spectators on hoard the ships inquired why our men were resting, not realising that their fighting days were over. The landing was one of the most terrible in our hiatorv and in this wav. The French beat us in laying out stores, trendies and encampments. Everything was beautifully engineered. They also beat our organisation. The sight of the Australians and New Zealanders filled him with new hope for the race the world over. One of the reasons for the Suvla Bay failure was the staff work, although he was inclined to attribute it to the use of new troops. Unaccustomed to the country, thev were hurriedly landed and rushed into a tremendous battle, not know ing what hardships meant, or anything abm* bloodshed, wounds and death. Water «-?.s scarce and the men almost died r.f thW. Thev behaved gallantly for the first ni'/ht and morning, hut then suddenly failed.

THE KARACHAU LANDING. MERELY A FEINT. LONDON, October 2.V The landing- at Karnchali (cabled on August 11 111) wai merely a feint, and van carried out by 380 Cretan volunteers who had volunteered for service in the Froach army previously, and saw hard service in France. They advanced inland, cutting the telegraph and telephone wires. Tliev penetrated a considerable distance. The Turks sent a large force in pursuit, being unaware of the number of the invaders. They surrounded the Cretans in a wood, which the Cretans ignited, and escaped under cover of the smoke. They foue'ht as they retreated towards (ho beach, and a small force halted at the cliffs and kept the Turks at bay while the rest embarked on the warships. Their twentv comrades ashore were either kill 'd, wounded or t-ken prisoners. THE ATTACK ON CHUNUK BAIR. THE MEN WHO RETURNED. A TALE OF HEROISM AND ENDURANCE. BACK FROM THE VALLEY OF THE DEAD.' GALLIPOLI, PENINSULA, Aug. 1. The other day three men of the Wilts haggard and worn, and with their eyes bulging in their sockets, came back literally out of thy valley of death. For a fortnight following the attack on Chnnnk' Hair they remained in the Valley of the Sazli Beit, living on what food they could get from dead men’s haversacks and water drawn from a Turkish well. The st. ry <hey tell is one of enthralling interest. To begin with, they got food from a dead Ohurka’s haversack, and. afterwards" soma biscuits from the haversacks of their own dead comrades.:. They stated that a sergeant of the North Lane.,-wounded in both arms, and four men of the Fifth Wilts Rifles were still alive in the valley. They were pretty certain that there were no others aliyei in the valley. An officer, a corporal, and. five of their comrades, they said, died from starvation and thirst. Originally there were 200 of them, hut most of them jot out on the night of the Ulth-llth August. During the stay of these men in the gully they saw Turks on several occasions. During the last three days the Turks were busy putting barbed wire and sandbags at the top 1 1 the gully. TJie Turks refused to take, them or to give them water. On the night of the llth-12th the Turks took away a Ipt of arms and ammunition, A major, a captain, and a lieutenant, tin men stated, were dead in the gully. Tin Turks stripped one of their wounded of all hut his body hylt and left him in the sun. They shot a private of the Sixth North Lane, who was very far gone, but it seems pretty clear that his case win hopplpss, and that they did this simply to put him out of his misery.

Tiie men reached a trench which at on time had apparently been in the hands of the New' Zealanders. A private of the Fifth Wilts got wounded while trying to escape on the night of the 10th. He was shot in both legs. His comrades did the best they could for him and bound up his wounds, but after njne days be succumbed. As soon as possible after the return of these men, one of them was mounted on a donkey and guided a search party in the night time. Tho party found the trench as stated, with tho articles inside it exactly as described by the returned men, and also the body of the dead Ohurka. They also found the body of the major, but did not find any of the other men.

On tho day following their return, when the men had somewhat recovered, they were able to give some further information. One man was killed and one wounded in trying to escape towards the sea. For three days nothing more was attempted but looking after the wounded. Then one of the men suggested to the lieutenant that there was no use waiting any longer, but the lieutenant refused to go, saying it would be murder to leave the wounded. This brave fellow seems to have sacrificed bis own life through staying on to assist the wounded. At his instance, the three men remained for three more days in the valley. Once the men tried to get out of the valley by way of a precipitous slope leading to Rhododendron Spur, but were fired on by half a dozen Turks on the opposite side of the valley, and once from their own trenches, out men evidently mistaking them for Turks. Turkish patrols were beard on the niodit of the 2oth-26th. their voices being .distinctly audible, but they did not ■see'the British soldiers, who sub-s-cuently escaped as stated.