World War, 1914-1918 -- Campaigns -- Turkey -- Gallipoli Peninsula; World War, 1914-1918 -- New Zealand
Again and again the foe came on--by their French-grey overcoats they
were identified as new picked troops from Asia. Again and again they
advanced, but, caught by the loosely-strewn barb wire, they dropped
like flies and were beaten to the earth by the machine guns. The din
was indescribable. Above the rattle of the musketry combat and between
the boom of the guns could be heard the Turk, crying on his Maker as he
advanced, yelling and squealing as he retired to the Colonial shouts of
"Imshi Yallah!" and the glorious battle chorus of "Ake, Ake, Kia Kaha!"
[Illustration:
[_Lent by Capt. Boxer, N.Z.M.C._
ON WALKER'S RIDGE.
The Field Troop, N.Z.E., regrading the road to Russell's Top.]
Down the gullies on the left flank the enemy came in the dark. A
determined attack about the Fishermen's Hut would cut off No. 2
Post and let the Turkish hordes surge along the flat beach and low
ground into the heart of Anzac. The anxious garrisons detected sounds
of men scrambling down the gully. Around the posts alert ears heard
the undertone of voices. It was some time before the listeners could
determine the mutterings as undoubtedly Turkish. Into the mysteries
of the scrub volley after volley was poured. The attackers, feeling
that they were "in the air," squealed and disappeared in the direction
of the Suvla Flats. When the sun was well up, from No. 2 Post Turkish
reinforcements were discernible in the trenches opposite Walker's
Ridge. A machine gun of the Canterbury Regiment was posted to enfilade
them. The rifles of the 10th Nelson Squadron, assisted by the machine
gun, brought a devastating fire to bear on a grey-coated battalion
of the enemy lying in the trenches and in the depressions, evidently
preparing for an advance. For a few minutes a stream of lead played
up and down their ranks, causing awful havoc. The mass heaved and
swayed convulsively, then broke and stampeded to the rear, assisted in
their flight by the ever-watchful guns of the torpedo-boat destroyers,
while the machine guns from Steel's, Courtney's, Quinn's, Pope's and
Walker's, emptied belt after belt into the enemy reserves. Now was the
opportunity of the field gunners. From Howitzer Gully, from Plugge's
Plateau, from Walker's Ridge, the New Zealand Field Artillery shells
were pumped in streams. The No. 2 Battery, N.Z.F.A., though only able
to get two guns to bear, fired 598 rounds almost without intermission.
The ships were having a day out, perfect targets presenting themselves
all along the line.
Right along the two and a third miles of front the attacks melted
away--nowhere was the Anzac line penetrated. The great attempt to drive
the infidel into the sea had miserably failed. Everywhere along the
line Turks lay dead in heaps. The mounted men--Australians and New
Zealanders alike--had demonstrated that southern-bred soldiers were as
dogged in defence as they were brilliant in attack.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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