World War, 1914-1918 -- Campaigns -- Turkey -- Gallipoli Peninsula; World War, 1914-1918 -- New Zealand
In the moonlight, about an hour after midnight, the Turk, calling on
his God, surged forward to the attack on No. 4 Section. In the half
light the machine gunners found the range, and mercilessly cut up
the attacking waves. But they were not to be denied. On and on they
pressed, right up to the parapets. Several Turks bravely jumped into
our trenches and were killed. They certainly were game. Around Pope's,
too, they threw wave after wave, which faded away under the hail of
lead.
On the Nek we had constructed several trenches, which were not yet
joined up. Down between these new trenches came the enemy, only to be
assailed with a cross-fire which almost annihilated the attack. Further
to the left, General Russell had an excellent secret sap--a trench with
no parapet to advertise its existence. Working round our left flank,
the enemy blundered into this concealed trench, and lost over 250 men.
Nowhere was the line broken, and the attack melted away.
[Illustration: A CROSS-EXAMINATION.
The officer on the left of the group is Capt. the Hon. Aubrey Herbert,
M.P., our divisional interpreter; the one with his back to us is
Colonel G. J. Johnston, the C.R.A. of the Division, an officer loved
by his subordinates for his fairness and his enthusiasm for the guns.]
What a sight No Man's Land presented that morning of June 30! The
majority of the three fresh battalions of Turkish troops lay dead or
wounded out there in the open; and of the dead men on the parapets,
each had a rough haversack filled with dates and olives, the
ever-present Turkish tobacco, and filled water-bottles. The prisoners
taken said that their orders were to break the line at all costs. Enver
Pasha himself was reported to be present, but prisoners' statements in
matters of this kind are always open to doubt, as there is a certain
amount of temptation to answer in a manner calculated to please the
interrogating interpreter.
This was the last attempt the enemy made to break the Anzac line.
The Soldier and His Clothes.
Two factors worked a change in the Army's clothing. The first was the
Turk. His snipers picked out anyone wearing distinctions, with the
result that officers cut off their conspicuous badges of rank and sewed
small worsted stars or crowns on the shoulder-straps; otherwise, ranks
were indicated on the shoulders of the shirts by indelible ink pencil.
The N.C.O.'s and men took off their metal badges, the ink pencil being
again in request to draw the badge and unit indications on the cap.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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