THE JOY OF BATTLE.

Gisborne Times, Volume XLV, Issue 4001, 6 August 1915, Page 3

THE JOY OF BATTLE.

MORE ABOUT THE TURKISH ATTACK.

AN AUSTRALIAN’S NARRATIVE By Telegraph—.. ••'■oial Correspondent. AUCKLAND, Aug. 3. “There were those who explained the dash, dare-devilry .and tenacity of the first four days fighting* as being only what one might expect from fresh inexperienced men, reckless, to a fault, blindly unconscious of the dangers of ' the - inferno confronting them,” writes a correspondent of the “Sydney Morning Herald” from Gallipoli Peninsula under date June 10“Would they come again? What, was the true fighting spirit of our infantry? Three weeks passed save for a brief spell on the beach which was raked remorselessly with shrapnel each day.- The men had little rest day and night. They were either making or digging trenches —digging often under heavy fire. They had seen 'the rows of graves where the fallen lay, seen the most dreadful sights of the ■battlefield. Many of them had grown thin and hollow-cheeked under the strain and were not easily recognised now wearing short boards. I will attempt to visualise the scene in our trench. About an hour before {lawn oil .May 19 the air was electrical. The enemy machine guns and rides had broken out into a furious rattle before midnight This was the grand drama in real life soon to bo enacted. We knew that since nightfall the enemy had been disposing his thousands of reinforcements making ready for the assaults. We .had been sending hack a hot fire at their flashes through, loopholes. With bayonets fixed we stood eager and expectantshoulder to shoulder in the body of the trenches. Behind us wore the supports. At last at a given signal the attack was launched all along our line. ADVANCE OF THE ENEMY. ’i'he din was terrific but nob in the least disconcerting and our artillery from left and centre joined in. Every rifleman in the trenches fired incessantly but now their shots were flying high and the machine gun bullets were hissing in unbroken streams well overhead." They had thus hoped to keep our heads down. As the attackers came on observers almost siimdtanpous'y reported the enemy advancing in large numbers at -100 yards and 300 yards. Our rifles were pumping rapid 'fire from every loophole and our machine guns were sweeping the scrubby stretch. ••Enemy advancing on masse,” said an observer. Then from an officer came the order. "Get into _ them, hoys!” Thus were the men. unleashed and instantly over the parapet a line of bayonets gleamed. We struggled and jostled for a footing. No human being unprotected bv a hailWneh coat of .Joel could have lived in the late of the fire that followed. No man nulled wi'dlv but obeyed the colonel’s instructions: “Make -sure ol your mark." “Shoot to kill. ’ Here was the fanatical enemy, exposed at last coming on to do or die. BLAZE OF DEATH. That the Turks had been primed to hold us in contempt we knew and we knew too that- the odds were in their favor. Could they break through by flinging themselves at us? No one was conscious of a feeling of extreme exhilaration. When miles ran hot the Kiipnorts handed ut> their own. 'Urey did this quickly, if grudgingly. Still the masses flung themselves on into the blaze of death. On the extreme right some few actually reached the parapet but were bayonet ted or shutdown before they could use either their steel or hand grenades. At last they wavered and veered off to the right of our trench to take shelter in a 'gully. Our fellows grew more excited with tin’s turn of events and leaned their bodies well put on the parapet-. It was breaking day and m quick succession two of our men rolled back with dreadful head wounds. The enemy machine guns were getting a clear field from . the trenches in. front. The word was quickly passed down : ' “'Off the parapet for your lives.” Some obeyed, others-staved to pelt the. retreating Turks. So -far as could bo soeii more of our nieu fell badly or mortally -shot and slowly the those at least- who had not lost a dear chum —were in the highest, spirits and breathed freely again.as if they had just been participating in some big athletic contest. Each rifleman in the firing line had loosed hundreds of -.aids and the -bodies in rows or in piles ail along our Trout- were, contemplated' with grim satisfaction. They spoke- too eloquently for the lighting spirit- of the “Australian cannibals!