World War, 1914-1918 -- Campaigns -- Turkey -- Gallipoli Peninsula
[156] As to these seventy prisoners (who were caught and disarmed in
one tunnel) and the Turkish wounded, Major-General Walker, commanding
the division, and my old schoolfellow at Shrewsbury, told me shortly
afterwards as we stood on the spot that, until they could be brought
safely across the open, they were carefully placed lying down in line
under the shelter of that white loopholed parapet as the most secure
place the Australians could find for their comfort.
[157] _Australia in Arms_, p. 238.
[158] Captain C. E. W. Bean, in the Australian papers, October 4, 1915.
[159] Captain C. E. W. Bean’s account in Australian papers of October
4, 1915. Phillip Schuler (_Australia in Arms_, p. 241) says his
words were: “Men, you have ten minutes to live,” and “Three minutes,
men.” But this is an unlikely utterance from so good an officer.
[160] Captain C. E. W. Bean in the Australian papers of November 2,
1915.
[161] The arrangement of these forces is given in Sir Ian’s dispatch.
[162] Captain Bean, Australian papers, October 14, 1915.
[163] See “From Quinn’s to Rhododendron,” in the _Chronicles of the
N.Z.E.F._, August 8, 1917.
[164] It was either on this position or upon a neighbouring knoll
known as Destroyer Hill that the following peculiar event occurred, as
narrated by Captain Bean (Australian papers, October 25, 1915): “The
Otago Battalion, which was clearing out the small trenches ahead of it
as its head wormed up the Chailak Ravine, swung up the slopes of this
hill. The battalion had just reached the shelf below the Table Top, and
was pushing up its line for the final rush over the hill when there
arose a strange uproar on the top above them. There was the sound of
the piling of arms, followed by vociferous cheering and wild rounds of
applause and hand-clapping. It was the Turks on the top of the hill who
had decided to surrender, and who did not want any mistake to be made
as to their intention.” The Otagos alone are said to have taken 250
prisoners that night (_Australia in Arms_, p. 253).
[165] Captain Bean, Australian papers, October 25. He adds: “I believe
that fifteen men actually managed to reach the Turkish trench on the
summit. They never came back.”
[166] Captain Bean’s account in Australian papers, October 25, 1915.
[167] Fortunately for the brigade, the Turks had withdrawn their guns
during the night (7th and 8th) owing to the Suvla landing, and had not
yet brought them back to W Hill.
[168] Sir Ian’s dispatch quotes the order.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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