World War, 1914-1918 -- Campaigns -- Turkey -- Gallipoli Peninsula; World War, 1914-1918 -- New Zealand
With the advent of cooler weather the daily sick parades became
appreciably smaller, but the men of Anzac were to have still another
trial of their endurance and cheerfulness, for on November 27, the
weather turned extremely cold. Next morning the troops awoke to find
everything white with snow. A snowstorm is not a very disagreeable
thing provided one has a comfortable home and clean streets. But at
Anzac everyone lived in a dugout--clay walls, clay floor, and a clay
track up to the door. The mud and slush made all the tracks as sticky
as glue. Locomotion became difficult. Supplies ran short.
[Illustration:
[_Lent by Lieut. Carr, A.M.R._
NEW ZEALAND TROOPERS IN THE SNOW.]
The blizzard was almost the fiercest enemy encountered on the
Peninsula. We could fight with, and often outwit, the Turk, but against
snow and slush we had very little defence.
The troops were greatly indebted to some enterprising men who
anticipated cold weather, and issued a small supply of whale oil with
instructions how to apply it to the extremities in case of heavy
frosts. This simple precaution prevented a very large number of
frost-bite cases, as far as the New Zealand brigades were concerned. In
comparison with the other troops we were more or less fortunate, as we
occupied the higher ground on the Peninsula, and our trenches drained
themselves down the slopes. But to those who had to go uphill to the
trenches, the task was almost impossible. The deres which were always
used as tracks became miniature rivers of mud, eventually becoming
frozen and covered with snow. The troops will long remember the small
hours of November 28 as they were rudely awakened by the tarpaulin
roofs of their never-too-elaborate dug-outs collapsing on top of them
with the weight of snow. The gale made playthings of the light craft in
the Cove. Barges and launches broke from their moorings and completed
their sphere of usefulness on the beach. The snow-covered hills
presented a wonderful sight. Long icicles hung down from the parapets
in the trenches. Comparatively few of our men suffered from frost bite,
but it was really a very sad and pitiful sight to see long queues of
stretcher bearers carrying the suffering men from the lower slopes.
[Illustration:
[_Photo by Col. Falla, O.M.G., D.S.O._
ROUGH WEATHER AT ANZAC: A STORM IN ANZAC COVE.]
The poor fellows caught it very badly, especially towards Suvla Bay,
as the trenches became inundated with the rushing waters. Many of
the occupants were drowned. The brigades of the 29th Division held the
trenches into which drained the flood waters from the Kiretch Tepe
Sirt. They suffered severely. The Newfoundland contingent, now attached
as a battalion to one of these famous brigades, almost revelled in the
frost and snow, as might have been expected! The casualties among the
Turks, according to those who surrendered at this period (and there
were quite a few) must have been enormous.
[Illustration:
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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