LONESOME PINE
A MEMORABLE ENGAGEMENT--TARDY BRITISH ADVANCE--SIR IAN HAMILTON'S
MESSAGE--FIVE DAYS' FIGHTING--OUR GALLANT INFANTRY--OFFICERS WHO
FELL--HOT BAYONET WORK--THE NAVY SPEAKS--LONE PINE TAKEN
August on Gallipoli will be long remembered by the Australian troops on
account of the terrific fighting in which they participated. July was
fairly quiet. But August witnessed the great flanking movement of the
British troops, which we were confident at the time would result in the
final defeat of the Turks on the Peninsula.
The new movement took the form of an attack and demonstration in front,
while under cover of darkness a new British force landed at Suvla Bay
and enveloped the enemy's flank. In the better understood parlance of
the ring, we feinted with our right, and landed a terrific blow with
our left. So successful was this feint that all the local reserves of
the Turks were hurried up to counter it, thus leaving an opening for
the main attack from Suvla.
All the honour and glory of the magnificent charge of our Australians
and the capture of Lone Pine Ridge belongs to our infantry comrades of
the 1st Brigade. We of the Light Horse can claim none of the kudos for
that gallant feat of arms, though the 2nd Light Horse Brigade and 2nd
Infantry Brigade fought like tigers day after day and night after night
to hold the line during the consequent counter-attacks.
There was some fierce and bloody fighting during those early days of
August all along the line, but the capture of Lone Pine Ridge stands
out, not only because of the complete success of the operation but on
account of the irresistible dash and daring of the lads from New South
Wales.
Just before the battle we got a message from Sir Ian Hamilton. It
was in a Special Order issued from the general headquarters of the
Mediterranean Expeditionary Force, and was as follows:--
_"August 5, 1915._
"Soldiers of the old army and the new:--
"Some of you have already won imperishable renown at our first
landing, or have since built up our foothold upon the peninsula, yard
by yard, with deeds of heroism and endurance. Others have arrived
just in time to take part in our next great fight against Germany and
Turkey, the would-be oppressors of the rest of the human race.
"You, veterans, are about to add fresh lustre to your arms. Happen
what may, so much at least is certain.
"As to you, soldiers of the new formations, you are privileged indeed
to have the chance vouchsafed you of playing a decisive part in events
which may herald the birth of a new and happier world. You stand for
the great cause of freedom. In the hour of trial remember this, and
the faith that is in you will bring you victoriously through.
"IAN HAMILTON, General."
For five days and nights the battle raged on Gallipoli. The cannon
roared incessantly; big guns, little guns, field guns, mortars, ships'
guns, and howitzers belching forth their iron hail till the earth
trembled again.
Hardly heard amid the thunderous roar of artillery were the
interminable rattle of musketry, and the spiteful snapping of Maxims.
From the firing fine to the base, hardly a square foot of ground seemed
safe from shrapnel shells and high explosives. Probably 200,000 men
were engaged, hacking at each other day and night; for this seemed the
decisive battle of the Gallipoli campaign.
It made one's blood flow faster and tingle with pride to see the
magnificent way our young Australians played the great game of war.
Hemmed in and cooped up in the trenches for weary weeks, they had at
last been let loose upon the enemy at Lone Pine. Like hounds from
the leash, they charged across the bullet-swept area between the
contending armies. The Turkish lines spat fire from every loophole,
and machine-guns seemed to revel in murderous music. On swept the
line, thinned but dauntless. Heroes fell on every side. Enfilading
volleys swept across from the side. To us on the right the men seemed
to falter for a space; but it was only to hack their way through the
maze of barbed wire. Then they scrambled over the sandbags, their last
obstacle, and bayoneted the Turks by scores. One wild mêlée on the
parapet--thrust, lunge, and parry--then the trenches were ours.
This charge was only one little episode in the long, long struggle
of those early days of August. Each time the Turks massed for a
charge Colonel Rosenthal's guns tore great rents in their ranks,
and wrought havoc in their trenches. But again and again their
bomb-throwers--hidden behind the communication trenches--massed and
endeavoured to retake the position.
On the left the Australian and New Zealand Division, with whom were our
3rd Light Horse Brigade, made a splendid advance over shrapnel-swept
ravines, defended by trenches and machine-guns cunningly hidden in the
scrub. They charged the heights like the Highlanders at Darghai, but
against a far more formidable foe. They suffered terribly, especially
the Light Horsemen, but there was no stopping them.
Hundreds of prisoners were captured, much ammunition, many rifles, and
a few machine-guns. The prisoners stated that the Australians' attack
was a complete surprise. But a far greater surprise awaited them. At
night in the offing there was only seen one hospital ship, though now
and then a destroyer sent its searchlight on to the hills. But when
the first streaks of dawn-light fell on the Ægean Sea the amazed Turks
beheld a vast flotilla, and in futile anger the German staff officers
witnessed another landing on Gallipoli. Almost unmolested, a new
British force landed at Suvla Bay, for the Turks had hurried all their
reinforcements back to stem the onrush of the Australasians. Several
warships and a score of destroyers glided into the bay or round the
projecting horns, and sent a veritable tornado of shells on to the
enemy's position.
A dozen big transports came up and emptied their khaki freight into a
hundred barges, pinnaces, launches, and sweepers. The new force landed,
formed up, and marched inland against the Turkish right. At first the
resistance was feeble, and the enemy was driven back beyond the salt
lake towards the hills. More troops were hurried up from Gallipoli,
and the fight waxed more strenuous. Nothing in the war has provoked
so much keen disappointment and vitriolic criticism as the Suvla Bay
business. We who saw the landing, mingled with the British troops and
knew how much depended on the success of the venture, are perhaps not
the best critics. We do not know all the facts of the case. We think
Sir Ian Hamilton's strategy was brilliant. We know the work of the Navy
was magnificent. We fear that after the landing, the attack was not
pushed home with that vigour and determination which were essential for
the success of the operation. Precious time was lost, and while the
British hesitated the Turks hurried up reinforcements and once more
barred the way to Constantinople. And we had hoped that August would
herald the beginning of the end.
* * * * *
The First Infantry Brigade of the Australian Division did big things
since landing on Gallipoli--glorious deeds that will be the pride
and boast of successive generations of Australians. It was Colonel
Maclagan's 3rd Brigade that achieved undying fame by the electric
daring of its picturesque landing, but it was the 1st Brigade which,
following hot on the heels of the gallant Thirds on that memorable
day, swarmed up the heights and drove back at the point of the bayonet
the successive swarms of fanatical Turks who tried in vain to drive
them into the sea. But how dearly was that victory won! How the ranks
of these gallant Sydneysiders were decimated! It was small comfort to
us to know that Constantinople reported 120,000 Turkish casualties for
the three months after our landing.
The list of senior officers killed was appalling; not one of the
original battalion commanders retained his command. Not less tragic was
the loss of junior officers. In the Lone Pine attack the 3rd Battalion
lost eight officers killed and nine wounded; while the 2nd Battalion
lost nine killed and eight wounded. We captured many prisoners, several
machine-guns, and many thousands of rounds of ammunition. But the cost
to young Australia was so heavy!
* * * * *
Lone Pine Ridge was situated right in front of the centre of the
Australians' position, and was strongly held and fortified like a
little Gibraltar. The overhead cover was so strong that our shells made
little impression on the Turkish trenches. Machine-guns punctuated
the line at regular intervals. The open space in front was swept by
enfilading fire from the Bloody Angle on the left and the Pine Ridge
on the right, while the German gunners behind Gun Ridge had the range
to a nicety. A network of barbed wire entanglements provided a nasty
obstacle right in front of their trenches, while "posies" for expert
snipers and bomb-throwers completed their defence works. To the trained
soldier the position looked absolutely impregnable.
But our lads were well trained. They reckoned they were veterans. I who
had visited them in camp and on the march round about Liverpool knew
the stuff of which they were made. Yet there were those who, ere they
left Sydney, said the Australians would only do garrison duty, as it
would be murder to put them in the firing line. Competent critics held
that General Birdwood was the luckiest man in the army in getting the
command of the Australians, for no troops in the world could do what
they have done. Is this boasting? Ask the British staff officers. Ask
the French. Ask the Gurkhas and the other Indian soldiers.
[Illustration: Entrance to Lone Pine, which was so hardly won.]
The First Infantry Brigade fired not a single shot during the great
charge. It was all bayonet work. In the ranks were many of the heroes
who landed on the memorable 25th of April, were wounded, and were now
back in the firing line. Others had been in the thick of it all the
time; no periodical spells such as the soldiers in Flanders get. Others
again were the latest reinforcements who left Sydney in June, and
landed the evening before the battle. Yet these raw youngsters, having
their first experience under fire, charged with the best, and wielded a
bloody bayonet within the hour. And many of them--Dr. Digges la Touche
amongst the number--perished in their first fight.
Prior to the charge our artillery opened a heavy bombardment of the
Lone Pine trenches. Shrapnel and high explosives rained down on the
Turkish lines. The Turkish gunners in turn opened on our lines a
devastating fire, and the resultant roar of heavy guns and screeching
of shells created a veritable inferno.
I don't know how long it lasted, but suddenly our guns ceased, and
on the instant our gallant infantry sprang from their trenches and
charged straight ahead. They were over our parapets and well on their
way before the Turks could realize it. Then rifles and machine-guns
started a murderous fusillade, while the guns in the background sent
a hail of shrapnel. Thick and fast fell the attackers. One marvels
how any escaped that hell of fire. But, fortunately, only a small
percentage of the Turks are marksmen. The German machine-gunners,
however, were very deadly, and the enfilading fire from Pine Ridge
increased in volume and effectiveness and the trail to Lonesome Pine
was strewn with khaki figures. Our Light Horse on the right had all
their crack shots picking off the Turks on Pine Ridge, while our field
guns in Hughes's battery at point-blank range helped to keep the
enfilading fire from this quarter down to a minimum.
Meanwhile the Firsts had almost reached their goal. They were checked
for a space by the barbed wire; but hacking their way through they
scaled the enemy's parapets, tore aside the overhead cover, leaped
into the trenches, and then, free from the murderous cross-fire of
machine-guns, they resolutely set to work with the bayonet to finish
the job. Since the days of Plevna the Turk has been reckoned second to
no soldiers in the world behind the trenches and parapets. I am not in
a position to dispute this, but I do claim that in the open or with the
bayonet the Turk is not a match for the Australians. Right along the
trenches and saps the Firsts fought their way, bayoneting every Turk or
German who did not immediately throw down his rifle. Here and there the
defenders made some resistance, and little knots of them would rally
for a minute or two. But the Firsts flew at them like eagle-hawks, and
a neat bit of bayonet work settled the Turks for good and all.
As to the part played by the Light Horse Brigades in the general scheme
of attack, it fell to General Ryrie's Second Brigade to hold the right
of the line opposite Gaba Tepe. We made minor demonstrations against
the enemy, cleaned out a few of his trenches, kept his snipers very
much in subjection, mined and counter-mined, and blew up Abdul's tunnel
just when he thought he was going to do the same to us. Also, we kept
each day a fresh squadron in Lonesome Pine to assist in defending
against the Turkish counter-attacks. Our losses had not been great,
considering the slaughter all along the line. Since landing we had had
just over 600 casualties, of whom 105 were killed; also we had had
several hundred sent sick to hospital.
General Chauvel's First Brigade had suffered much more heavily. They
had well performed their share of the trench fighting since May. In the
big battle the First Regiment had to advance under a murderous fire
from Pope's Hill, and take the Turkish trenches opposite the Bloody
Angle. Captain Laurie, with A Squadron, scaled the parapets and charged
across the bullet-swept interval, while Captain Cox, with B Squadron,
crawled up a gully; and then both squadrons rushed to the attack.
Without firing a shot, they captured three successive trenches,
bayoneting the defenders, and then swept on. Twelve officers and 200
troopers made that dashing charge, and without reinforcements they
withstood all the Turkish counter-attacks from four o'clock in the
afternoon till half-past six. But the slaughter was cruel. Fewer and
fewer were left to defend the hard-won trenches. From all sides the
enemy threw bombs and grenades. Our bombs were all gone. At last
the remnant had to retire. Major Reid was killed; Captain Cox so
badly wounded that he died a few days later; only fifty unwounded men
regained our trenches. Of all the officers, Major Glasgow alone was
unwounded.
A worse fate befel the 3rd Brigade, under General Hughes. In their
attack on Walker's Ridge they lost thirty-two officers and 400 men in
ten minutes. They swarmed out of our trenches and sprang forward; and
then so terrific was the hail of bullets that they fell in heaps. It
almost looked as if they had thrown themselves prone to get cover.
Machine-guns swept the area from end to end. The 8th (Victorian) and
10th (Western Australian) Light Horse Regiments just thinned out and
wilted away. About a hundred unwounded men came back from that hell.
Later on the 3rd Brigade had their revenge. When the New Zealand and
Australian Division swept forward, driving the enemy before them, and
capturing trench after trench, there remained one spot on the line
of ridges that baffled the attack. Both sides dug in, and had a few
days' respite. Then the 10th Light Horse hurled themselves on the
stubborn Turks, cleaned out their trenches, and with bloody bayonets
stood masters of the hill. It was only a remnant of the regiment that
remained, but they baffled every effort of the Turks to dislodge them.
One spot further along the line had at length given way to the pressure
of the enemy's attacks. The New Zealanders, after some magnificent
fighting for several days, had been driven back from one point on the
line. It was essential that the position should be retaken and our
advanced line linked up. So the 9th Light Horse Regiment was sent
forward to do the job, and they did it brilliantly....
The pen seems so futile a thing to depict the scene. It was the same
thing day after day. A stealthy advance through the scrub, a rattle of
snipers' rifles, then wild cheers, as the Australians scrambled up the
hill; a terrific fusillade as they neared their objective; a glint of
gleaming bayonets as they charged the trenches; then the wild mêlée of
hand-to-hand fighting, when one Australian always reckons himself a
match for three Turks; and finally the shout of victory.
And through it all the stretcher-bearers were real true-blue. Under
the heaviest fire they went right up to the firing-line, tended the
wounded, and carried them back to the field hospitals. Oh, you, who
think the Army Medical Corps is always comfortably and safely situated
at the base, pray be undeceived! Their part is just as hazardous as
that of the soldier of the line.
Soon the cheers of the victors and the cries of the Turks died down.
Above the groans of the wounded could be heard the staccato tones of
the officers ordering platoons and sections this way and that to defend
the position against counter-attacks.
Scores of prisoners were led away. Hundreds of captured rifles were
stacked. German machine-guns were faced about and manned. Bomb-throwers
were placed in position. Hot tea was served out to the men. Night fell.
Lone Pine was ours. The successive ridges on our left towards Hill
971 had all been captured by the New Zealanders, and our 4th Infantry
Brigade under General Monash and the 3rd Light Horse Brigade under
General Hughes. The big battle of Suvla Bay was over. But it was only
a partial victory. Despite our gains and our losses the Turks still
blocked the way to Constantinople.