THE LANDING AT ANZAC

Observation Post, Volume 1, Issue 22, 16 October 1942, Page 3

THE LANDING AT ANZAC

N.Z.F.A. IN THE FIELD, 1914-1918. (Continud from last week.) For nearly a fortnight after the landing of the C.R.A. Lieut.-Colonel Johnston, had his headquarters at the foot of Howitzer Gully, close by the headquarters of the Division, on the northern end of the Cove. But these quarters were cramped and inconvenient, and it was soon discovered that the congested and exposed.beach front was unsuitable for the location of the headquarters of the Division. Shelters were accordingly, prepared on a terrace at the head of a small gully which ran almost to the foot of the precipitous slopes of Plugge’s Plateau, where Headquarters remained from May 7th until the eve of the August offensive. Army Corps Headquarters was in a central and accessible position at the very foot' of a gully running off" the centre of the Cove where General Birdwood, living as unpretentiously as the most , junior member of his staff, directed the ceaseless activities of his soldiers.'From the very day of the landing the Cove became the hub or centre from which radiated everything that was vital to the life of i the Corps. There were located the Sup- 1 ply Depots of the Army Service Corps, the Army -Ordnance Stores qnd the Field Ambulance stations. The Cove was protected from direct fire by the steep sides ,of Plugge’s Plateau, from which two long shoulders ran down to the sea, terminating in the two points that marked the northern and souhern extremities of the little strip of beach Ari Burmu on the north, and Hall Spit on the south. Never was a force so precariously placed, clinging by virtue only of its tenacious courage to a strip of broken and barren coast line three thousand yards in length, and a bare thousand yards in depth at the centre, with the sea at its back, and hemmed in on three sides by a foe superior in numbers and guns, and lacking little in courage and leadership. — . But no one ever doubted its ability to hold what it had seized. Who could have doubted in face of such, bold confidence -.and intrepidity? The difficulties of supplying the troops with ammunition and the bare necessities of existence were enormous and never ceasing. Consider for a -moment that the country they held yielded nothing, not even a sufficient water supply, and that all supplies had to be brought by sea from the base at Alexandria, 800 miles distant, and landed on the open beaches at Anzac. The ordinary methods of supplying an army 'needs could not’ be employed; there -was no precedent which might be referred to for guidance, the position being unexampled in military history. Only the intelligent and skilful co-operation of the ■Navy made the task practicable. Between the base at Alexandria and Anzac there were but two harbours, Mudros Bay, distant 60 miles, and Kephalos, over'at Imbras; .and neither of these harbours possessed any piers or facilities for the transhipment of stores. The position became further/ complicated when enemy submarines began to make the Aegean .Sea dangerous to shipping, and it became necessary to prohibit the big transports and store ships from proceeding north of Mudros. Up to that time the . transports had stood off the coast at Anzac, and discharged their supplies or disembarked reinforcements into lighters, ; which were towed into the beach; but the advent of; the submarines made another transhipment necessary. . At Mudros'supplies were loaded into steam trawlers and minesweepers which discharged them : into lighters and arges off Anzac or across at Kephalos. At Anzac the Turkish guns commanded all the landing places so that everything had to be landed under cover of darkness. The working of the whole system was dependent on the .vagaries of the weather. Even during the summer months the broad surface of the. bay at Mudros was sometimes swept, by a northerly or southerly wind, which seriously impeded or delayed transhipment, but in the autumn and winter Anzac \ was often isolated for days at a time by gales, which swept the open bay at Kephalos, I and made the exposed beaches at An-.. zac quite unapproachable. The establishment of a reserve supply of , store.-, at ’ Anzac was the only measure which could be taken to minimise the dangers incurred by these breaks in the lines of communication. Within the first week after the landing of the force, the littlemounds of stores on the beach began to grow and expand, until the shelving beach flanking the landing places was piled high with great pyramids of supplies of all descriptions,' but chiefly bully-beef and biscuits. The bulk of the water supply also came from overseas. A certain quantity of water was to be had at Anzac, and bv seeking for water in likely places, and improving existing wells, the local supply was considerably increased. At the end of June it was estimated that there was a natural supply at Anzac of 18,000 gallons per day, a further 30 per day coming from Alexandria by transports . and store /ships. These vessels pumped their supplies into a water ship, from which it was taken to Anzac in water-barges which were moored to the shore, the water being finally pumped into tanks on the beach, where it was jealously guarded and doled out to the thirsty troops. i