_Trooper Bluegum_ _at the_ _Dardanelles_ DESCRIPTIVE NARRATIVES OF THE MORE DESPERATE ENGAGEMENTS ON THE GALLIPOLI PENINSULA By OLIVER HOGUE (Second Light Horse Brigade) Preface by the Hon. J. A. Hogue "When cannons are roaring and bullets are flying, The lad that seeks honour must never fear dying." SECOND EDITION LONDON: ANDREW MELROSE, LTD 3 YORK STREET, COVENT GARDEN, W.C Printed June 1916 Reprinted August 1916 DEDICATED TO ALL THE BRAVES Who fought for Australia and the Empire in the GREAT WAR; The Dead who yet live, And the Living who bear their Battle scars upon them, or, scatheless, thank God for His Mercy. ACKNOWLEDGMENTS The Author desires to thank the Proprietors of the _Sydney Morning Herald_ for permission to incorporate in this book the "Trooper Bluegum" articles which originally appeared in that journal, and the Proprietors of the _Passing Show_ for permission to reprint the verses "Anzac," by "Argent." He desires to thank many friends in Australia, previously unknown to him, for kind letters sent to him whilst fighting (and writing) in the trenches on Gallipoli; and also that little band of Red Cross workers in country towns of New South Wales who, in appreciation of his stories from the Front, knitted him socks and Balaclava caps and scarves to ward off the winter winds. Especially does he desire to thank his esteemed colleague on the _Herald_, Mr. Farmer Whyte, for valuable assistance, generously rendered, in the preparation and arrangement of the contents of this book for publication in their present form. PREFACE Among the legacies, good and evil, tragic and inspiring, which the Great War of Nations is destined to hand down to posterity, one of the most valuable and permanent in its influence will be the LITERATURE which this Armageddon will have brought forth. In that fountain of knowledge the world will have command of vast stores of intellectual treasure--History, Poetry, the Drama, Philosophy, Fiction--which will continue to fascinate, to appal, to instruct, so long as books are read and the crimes, the virtues, the calamities and follies of mankind are subjects of human interest. Such a literature, sanctified by the blood of millions of heroes--the world's best manhood--and by sacrifices and sufferings that have literally staggered humanity, will comprehend and crystallize events, compared with which all former world-cataclysms will seem but passing ripples on the ocean of life.