World War, 1914-1918 -- Campaigns -- Turkey -- Gallipoli Peninsula; World War, 1914-1918 -- New Zealand
Every night, as soon as it was dark, the destroyer "Colne" stood in and
went through the performance of throwing her searchlight on the heavily
fortified slopes of Old No. 3, and commenced a half-hour's bombardment.
The light guns of the destroyer did not cause much material damage to
the carefully constructed overhead cover; but it became the custom
for part of the garrison to leave their trenches and retire to their
dugouts in the rear of the post on the southern banks of the Chailak
Dere. Now, a searchlight beam, while it illumines everything in its
path, makes the surrounding darkness appear blacker and even more
intensified. As the bombardment continued, the Auckland Mounted Rifles
crept up the Sazli Beit Dere. In fifteen minutes the party was lying
quietly at the foot of the fortress. Squadron commanders got their
final instructions, and a small party of strong men, picked for their
skilled work with the bayonet, crept up through the scrub towards the
crest. Led by a scout, this party dodged from bush to bush until they
came to a sentry post of the enemy. Silently closing in from every
side, the four New Zealanders sprang upon the sentries and overpowered
them. "Crack!" went a rifle. One sentry had discharged his rifle
harmlessly in the air as a New Zealand bayonet did its deadly work.
So far we had no casualites. Up on the crest the destroyer's shells
were crashing into the barbed wire and the heavy wooden beams of the
overhead cover. In a few minutes the attacking party was lying all
round the crest on the southern side. Presently the guns stopped, and
the searchlight faded away. This was the signal! The Aucklanders rose
and, spreading fanwise, went straight for the post. Into the covered
trenches dived the Mounted Riflemen. The garrison fought gamely enough,
but there could only be one end to it. The main body of the garrison
came pouring back from their reserve trenches towards the post; but,
caught in the open, they were no match for the men from Auckland. In a
short time the whole work was completely in our hands. There was now
time to closely examine the post. The trenches were roofed, just like
those of Lone Pine, with heavy baulks of 8 x 3 sawn timber covered with
sand bags. The guns on the destroyer had made no material impression on
this cover, as shells striking it had glanced off and buried themselves
uphill. In the front trenches was discovered a dugout with a complete
equipment for electrically firing the 28 small square iron mines placed
in front of the posts. Without the destroyer ruse and the quick, clean
work of the attackers, the casualties would have been very heavy; as it
was, we had only twenty casualties, while close on one hundred Turks
lay dead within the Post and in its neighbourhood. The Auckland Mounted
Rifles had signally avenged the Mounted Brigade losses at the end of
May.
The Capture of Table Top.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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