The Children's Story of the War Volume 4 (of 10): The Story of the Year 1915Parrott, Edward
History
The Children's Story of the War Volume 4 (of 10): The Story of the Year 1915
Parrott, Edward
World War, 1914-1918 -- Juvenile literature
A correspondent tells us that the Anzacs came down the hillside with
steady, slouching gait. Except for the moonlight shimmering on the Salt
Lake and the smooth waters of the bay, and the fires burning in the
deserted camps, all was dark. Suddenly, four great fires sprang up,
leaped into flames, and grew into one mighty bonfire. The deserted
stores of the Anzacs were blazing furiously. Then, as a finale, a giant
mine was exploded by electricity under the Turkish trenches. It was the
Australians' "Good-bye" to the Turks. An Anzac corporal thus described
the departure:--
"On the last night we kept up the usual firing, until finally
there were only sixty men from each battalion scattered along
the firing-line, and through a ruse--due to the inventive
faculties of Corporal Scurry, of our battalion--these last men
were able to get away.
"Scurry invented an apparatus by fixing a kerosene can full of
water, which was allowed to drip into a large jam tin. This
latter was tied on to the trigger of a rifle fully cocked and in
position on the parapet. When a sufficient amount of water was
in the jam tin off went the gun.
"Hundreds of these were fixed all along the line, timed to go
off at different intervals, so that the usual firing was kept up
for two hours after the last man had left the trenches.
"Some ruse--eh, what?"
"I hope, sir," said a New Zealander to his officer, as he crept down
Shrapnel Gully for the last time, "that those fellows who lie buried
along the 'Dere' will be soundly sleeping and not hear us as we march
away." Many of his comrades, however, put aside such sad thoughts.
As the last transport steamed away early on the morning of 9th January
1916, the enemy's guns began to pour shells on our deserted trenches and
on our burning beaches. A day or two later the Turks announced that they
had driven the British into the sea. Constantinople blazed with
illuminations, and Germany broke forth into loud rejoicings. So ended
the ill-starred adventure. For more than nine months we had fought not
only the Turks and the Germans in their strongholds, but disease and
thirst, the droughts of summer, and the blizzards of winter. We had been
foiled, and the British Empire was the poorer by the loss of tens of
thousands of bright and gallant lives; yet there was no murmuring. The
nation set its teeth and turned to the next task. It recognized that
there must be failures in every great war, and that one set-back does
not spell defeat.
* * * * *
The following officers and men were awarded the Victoria Cross during
the fighting in Gallipoli between 7th August and 22nd December 1915:
Lieutenant William Thomas Forshaw, 1/9th Battalion, Manchester Regiment,
Territorial Force.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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