The Story of the Great War, Volume 4: Champagne, Artois, Grodno; Fall of Nish; Caucasus; Mesopotamia; Development of Air Strategy; United States and the War
History
The Story of the Great War, Volume 4: Champagne, Artois, Grodno; Fall of Nish; Caucasus; Mesopotamia; Development of Air Strategy; United States and the War
World War, 1914-1918
"Meanwhile the combined Australians and New Zealanders braced for the
desperate night attack that had been decided upon. The men had long
been waiting for this hour to arrive.
"Strict orders were given that not a shot was to be fired; the bayonet
alone was to be used. Exactly at ten o'clock on Friday night a brigade
clambered over their trenches and furiously charged the Turkish line
amid loud cheers, bayoneting all the enemy found therein. The Turks,
taken apparently quite unawares, fired wildly and were unable to check
the advance.
"Thus in a few minutes all the enemy nearest the sea were in our hands
and the way was thus cleared for the main advance. The New Zealanders
stopped only to take breath and then pursued their victorious career,
rushing in succession the old No. 3 outpost, 'Bauchop's Hill,' and
other Turkish positions. The native Maoris entered into the charge
with great dash, making the darkness of the night hideous with their
wild war cries, and striking terror into the hearts of the Turks with
the awful vigor with which they used their bayonets and the butt end
of their rifles.
"The darkness of the night, the broken nature of the ground, and the
shell fire with which the enemy had smothered every available bit of
ground, with his deadly snipers, delayed the main advance somewhat
after these preliminary positions had been successfully rushed, for
every hill and spur had to be picketed to keep down the fire from
lurking marksmen left in the rear of our advancing columns. The
fighting throughout the night was continuous, for amid these gloomy
ravines the Turks offered courageous and despairing resistance to the
Australians, the New Zealanders and Maoris, and many bloody
encounters, the details of which will never be known, were fought in
the dark hours which preceded a still more eventful dawn."
CHAPTER XLIII
AGGRESSIVE TURKISH MOVEMENTS--OPINION IN ENGLAND--CHANGE IN COMMAND
With the withdrawal of the allied troops from Anzac Cove and Suvla
Bay, the Turks were free to concentrate all their forces in the
Gallipoli Peninsula in the south against the British and French forces
that were still intrenched on a line running roughly from Y Beach on
the Aegean Sea to Kereves Dere on the Dardanelles, skirting the slopes
that led up to the town of Krithia and the heights of Achi Baba.
Immediately the Turks began to transfer the guns and men that had been
used against the northern position. Obviously such a transfer in
difficult country with few roads and a restricted front took
considerable time. In the meantime the British and French in front of
Krithia were not inactive. They countered constantly against the
ever-increasing pressure of the enemy. Although few infantry attacks
were engaged in, bomb and mine warfare for the improvement of the
allied positions and the prevention of fresh inroads by the Turks was
an almost constant affair.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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