THE CHARGE AT KRITHIA
The men of Anzac were now called upon to take their part in a great
concerted attack, made by all the forces commanded by Sir Ian
Hamilton on Gallipoli Peninsula. Those familiar with the operations
in Gallipoli will remember that, simultaneously with the landing
of the Australasians at Gaba Tepe, no less than five landings had
been effected by the British and French expeditionary forces further
south, on points situated on the extreme southern point of the
peninsula.
A great mountain rampart lay between these forces and the Anzacs,
culminating in the summit of Achi Baba, the hardest nut to crack in
the whole peninsula. Loftily situated on the slopes of Achi Baba is
the village of Krithia, protected by a maze of Turkish trenches,
and a wilderness of barbed wire entanglements. Upon this village an
attack was directed from as many points as practicable, and in this
attack a large proportion of the Australasian troops participated.
The attack was opened by such a fusillade of shellfire from the
warships of the allied fleet as has seldom been seen or heard.
From all quarters they rained shell and shrapnel on the slopes of
Krithia, searching the ranges one by one in the attempt to dislodge
the defenders from their trenches and hiding-places along the
scrubby hillsides and precipitous ravines. The enemies' losses from
that shellfire were enormous, but the Turks are admirable defensive
fighters, and they clung to their trenches, making the most of the
shelters that had been constructed in anticipation of such an attack.
The Anzacs had been posted as reserves in this great attack on
Krithia, the Australians occupying positions on the left of the
Krithia road, in support of a division of the Naval Brigade. On the
other side of the road, and in support of the British 88th Brigade,
were the New Zealanders. The fighting had begun on May 6, and between
then and May 8 some ground had been gained; but the Turks were so
strongly entrenched, and counter-attacked so vigorously, that on the
morning of the 8th it appeared as though there were some danger of
the advantage being again lost.
It was on the evening of May 8 that the long-expected signal to
advance was received by the Australasian soldiers. Now they were to
prove themselves in the eyes of the world, for they were fighting
side by side with men drawn from four continents. Away to their
extreme right the French, with their brave Senegalese helping them,
had performed prodigies of valour during the preceding days. They
were still holding the mile of ground they had gained, hanging on
like grim death, and even pushing forward where opportunity permitted.
Nearer to the Australasian posts were Indian troops; Gurkhas, Sikhs
and Punjabis; while with them were Britons of all kinds, sailormen
and soldiers, regulars, Indian-service men, and a sprinkling of the
new Army raised by Lord Kitchener. On the warships in the Gulf of
Saros and the Dardanelles, eyes experienced in all the battlefields
of modern days were watching them critically. The cannonade from the
warships redoubled; the din was appalling, so that the very earth
shook with it. It was at this moment that the Australasians were
ordered to step into the limelight.
A quarter of a mile in front of the New Zealanders the gallant 88th
held a trench. The Maorilanders had to go through that, and forward
as far up the slope as a series of rushes with the bayonet would
carry them. Before the Australians were the sailormen, situated
similarly to the 88th. Past their trench the Australians had to
charge, and up the bullet-swept slope towards Krithia. They waited
for the signal to advance; it was given by the sudden cessation of
the deafening din that was proceeding from the great 15-inch guns of
the warships.
With a cry of "Ake! Ake!"--the war cry of the brave old Maori chief
Rewi--the New Zealanders swept forward in a solid body over the 400
yards that separated them from the trench held by the 88th. A pause
for breath was taken, and then they went on, taking with them many of
their English cousins, who wanted to be in it with the bold fellows
from the Long White Cloud. Just as they practised evolutions on the
sands of Heliopolis, so they performed them now. The solid lines
expanded, always advancing without check or pause. Sometimes they
doubled, sometimes they walked; but they moved steadily forward all
the time, a thin brown line that no human agency could stop. For
seven hundred yards more they went on, with bullets raining upon
them, and through a veil of constantly exploding shrapnel. Then
they could go no farther. But they would not go back; they flung
themselves on the ground and dug for shelter.
[Illustration: The New Zealanders reviewed at Heliopolis.]
From the warships that charge was watched by those who were there for
no other purpose than to observe and record. The great broken slope
up which the charge was made lay like the stage of some huge theatre
under the glasses of those who were watching, and with a fascination
in which intensest admiration was blended, every move of the soldiers
of the South was chronicled. Mr. Ashmead Bartlett was among those
who watched that unforgettable charge, and he has placed his
impressions on record in the following words:--
"The line entered one Turkish trench with a rush, bayoneted all
there, and then passed on into broken ground, shooting and stabbing,
men falling amid the terrible fusillade, but not a soul turning back.
No sooner had one line charged than another pressed on after it, and
then a third. On the right the New Zealanders and the Australians
advanced at the same moment, but over much more open ground, which
provided little or no cover. They were met by a tornado of bullets
and were enfiladed by machine guns from the right.
"The artillery in vain tried to keep down this fire, but the manner
in which these Dominion troops went forward will never be forgotten
by those who witnessed it. The lines of infantry were enveloped in
dust from the patter of countless bullets in the sandy soil and from
the hail of shrapnel poured on them, for now the enemy's artillery
concentrated furiously on the whole line. The lines advanced steadily
as if on parade, sometimes doubling, sometimes walking, and you saw
them melt away under this dreadful fusillade only for their lines
to be renewed again as the reserves and supports moved forward to
replace those who had fallen.
"In spite of all obstacles a considerable advance towards Krithia was
made, but at length a point was reached from which it was impossible
to proceed farther. Not a man attempted to return to the trenches.
They simply lay down where they were and attempted to reply to their
concealed enemy, not a man of whom disclosed his position. Only a few
hundred yards had been won, it is true, but these Australians and New
Zealanders were determined not to budge and proceeded to entrenching
themselves where they lay."
The simultaneous charge of the Australians was made with the same
steadiness and coolness as was displayed by the New Zealanders. The
men were led up to the firing trench occupied by the Naval division
by General McCay in person, and he gave them the signal to go forward
when they had taken breath after their first quarter of a mile rush.
"Now then, on, Australians!" he cried, waving the periscope he
carried. And they took up the cry. "Come on, Australians!" was the
shout, and there was no need to repeat it.
Through the bursting shrapnel they ran, line after line, always
forward, though their ranks were thinning rapidly. They opened out as
if on parade, they kept a straight thin line of advance. They raced
the New Zealanders on their left and far outdistanced the British
and Indians on their right. Then they too dug for shelter, and made
good their ground. They were congratulated by their British friends
afterwards on the fine show they had made, when one long bushman
drawled out, "Why, it was child's play to that first Sunday."
But they had played to a full house and the Anzac charge at Krithia
rammed home the reputation they had first won on the steep cliff of
Gaba Tepe. On the next day, May 9, the 15th and 16th Battalions of
the Fourth Regiment carried three more trenches near Gaba Tepe; and
on the following day resisted successfully a series of deadly and
persistent attacks. So they won fame, and again proved their title to
be considered soldiers of the very first rank.
It was after the fighting of these two days that General Sir Ian
Hamilton sent to Mr. Andrew Fisher, the Prime Minister of the
Australian Commonwealth, a message of which every Australasian should
be proud:--"May I, out of a full heart, be permitted to say how
gloriously the Australian and New Zealand Contingents have upheld the
fine traditions of our race during the struggle still in progress. At
first with audacity and dash, since then with sleepless valour and
untiring resource, they have already created for their countries an
imperishable record of military virtue."
The Anzacs holding the position at Gaba Tepe were naturally weakened
by the withdrawal of these reinforcements to co-operate in the main
attack, and this fact appears to have been known to the enemy. It is
at any rate certain that redoubled vigour was displayed in attacking
those who remained to hold the Gaba Tepe position, while their
comrades were employed elsewhere. All these attacks were successfully
repelled, and the defenders, now accustomed to their surroundings,
and becoming more inured to actual war conditions, gave even better
exhibitions of soldierly qualities than before. That is to say that,
while fighting as bravely as ever, they spared themselves more, and
reduced the number of avoidable casualties.
But constant and dangerous work had put a great strain upon them, and
a rest for many of them was badly needed. At this juncture a very
considerable and most welcome reinforcement arrived, and permitted
the needed rest to be taken. The reinforcement consisted of the
cavalry, who had been left behind in Egypt with their horses. The
news that their mates were in the thick of the fighting had not
tended to diminish their discontent at being left behind, and on
hearing the news from Gaba Tepe, and seeing the first wounded arrive
at Egypt, they arose and demanded as one man to be allowed to serve
in the trenches as infantry.
Those who know how close and intimate is the tie between the
Australasian horseman and his horse will recognize that this
volunteering had a special value of its own, coming from the class
of man that it did. The offer was gladly accepted, the men doffed
their mounted kit, and got into puttees and bluchers. They arrived in
the nick of time, and any difference between their training and that
of the infantry could not be appreciated, as soon as they got into
the trenches and to real soldiering work.
The coming of the "light-weights" made a great difference to the men
already at Gaba Tepe, whose numbers were sadly depleted; and the men
who had left their spurs behind got a welcome all the warmer because
they had not waited to be ordered there, but had volunteered. They
came in the very nick of time, for the presence of the Anzacs had
become so obnoxious to the German commanders of the Turkish forces
that active steps were even then being concerted to get rid of them.
These positions that they held so strongly midway between the
city of Gallipoli and the end of the peninsula, where the bulk of
the Expedition to the Dardanelles was operating were an enormous
hindrance to the Turks and their German masters. A large body of
troops had always to be kept on the spot to prevent the Anzacs from
cutting communications between the main defending force and the
depots whence they drew their stores and reinforcements. Not only
that; the actual progress of reinforcements was hampered by the
operations of these tireless Colonials, who were constantly harassing
the warrior natives of the soil.
Therefore General Liman von Sanders, in his wisdom, decided that the
Anzacs must be driven into the sea; and at the time of the arrival
of the reinforcements drawn from the Australasian Light Horse, was
gathering a strong army, which he soon afterwards directed in a
general frontal attack upon the Anzac positions.
But before that attack was delivered, the Australian army suffered
an irreparable loss in the person of its brave and skilful General,
General Bridges. This gallant soldier had been in the thick of the
fighting throughout the whole of the operations that began with the
landing of April 25. Wherever he went he set an example of cool
courage that acted as a tonic to the men, who trusted and loved
him dearly. At first he disdained to take the ordinary precautions
that were dictated by the conditions under which he was directing
operations, and with a grim carelessness walked about under shrapnel
fire, without making any attempt to seek cover.
[Illustration: General Bridges, who commanded the 1st Expeditionary
Force from Australia. Died from a wound inflicted by a sniper in the
Valley of Death on May 10.]
The warnings of his staff, and his early conviction that it was not
necessary to set so uncompromising an example of personal courage
to men so consistently brave as those under his command, caused him
later to adopt a more prudent attitude; and on the day when he
sustained his fatal wound he showed more than his customary care for
himself. He set out upon an inspection of a firing line, and for once
he consented to run through the more exposed parts of his round.
A description has already been given of the deep ravine that runs
down to the sea on the right of Pope's Hill. When he came to the
path that crosses this gully, he was warned by the dressers at the
ambulance station that the bullets were flying very thickly down the
gully. "You had better run across here, sir," said one of them. He
took the advice and reached another shelter. There he stood for a
time, and then remarking ruefully, "Well, I suppose I must run for
it again," he made a dash for the next cover. Before he reached it
a bullet struck him in the thigh, severing an important artery. He
would have rapidly bled to death but for prompt assistance. Stricken
as he was, his first thought was for others; he did not wish any one
to expose himself in helping to carry him down to the sea-front.
He was carried there, however, and transferred to the hospital ship
with every possible care. In spite of all attention and skill, he
never rallied; and died at sea on his way to Egypt. Australia mourns
him as a gallant and considerate leader, a man whose memory will be
ever revered in the Southern Continent. His command was temporarily
assumed by Brigadier-General Walker, who acted in that capacity until
the arrival from Australia of General Legge, who was appointed to
succeed General Bridges.
THE BATTLE OF QUINN'S POST