The 28th: A Record of War Service in the Australian Imperial Force Part 5

[Ill.u.s.tration: THE CITADEL.

As seen from the Moqattam Hills. Cairo and the Nile in the distance.

_Photo. by Sergt. Arundel._]

On Sunday, 29th August, a visit was received from a party of Western Australians who were friends and relatives of some members of the 28th, and were making a short stay in Egypt. The party included the Rev.

E. M. Collick, Archdeacon of Kalgoorlie; Mrs. Campbell Wilson; Mrs. and Miss Montgomery; and Mrs. Makeham.

About the middle of August news of the heavy fighting, which had been going on at the Dardanelles, began to dribble through. It was gathered that the results had not been entirely such as could have been hoped for, and that the casualties--particularly of the 10th Light Horse, the 11th and 16th Battalions--had been heavy. Information was also received of a disaster to the Yeomanry on the 21st August.

Hospital trains began to arrive and discharge large numbers of wounded into the hospitals. From the less seriously injured some idea of the last advance was obtained, and it seemed evident that the 2nd Australian Division would soon be called upon to play its part. In the third week of the month the 5th Brigade marched off _en route_ to the front, and was followed a few days later by the 6th Brigade.

These indications caused some stir in the Battalion and, although definite orders had not been received, preparations for another move were commenced.

On the 24th August were issued the colour patches which were to be worn sewn on to the upper part of each sleeve of the jacket. In the case of the 2nd Division the patch was diamond in shape. The 7th Brigade colour was a light blue and the Battalion colour white. The "28th" therefore wore a blue and white diamond, and by this badge was ever afterwards distinguished.

About this time a slight change was made in the Battalion Staff. W.O. J.

Gettingby was promoted to be Quartermaster and Hon. Lieutenant. His position as R.S.M. was filled by C.S.M. P. T. C. Bell.

On the 28th August orders were received that the Battalion would be relieved on the following Monday and march out to camp. On the 30th August the 5th Australian Training Battalion, commanded by Major J. S.

Lazarus, took over the garrison duties and the 28th, after being photographed in ma.s.s formation, moved by way of the desert road, through the Tombs of the Khalifs and Abbasia, to Aerodrome Camp, recently vacated by the 5th Brigade. Only tents were available here, and the camp was very dusty. As the tenancy was likely to be of a few days duration only, these inconveniences were submitted to with a good grace.

Wheeled transport and riding horses could not, at that stage, be either safely or profitably used on Gallipoli, so to the bitter disappointment of Lieut. Graham and his section, the Divisional Commander ordered that they be left behind--later on to be grouped with the rest of the Divisional Train, exercised, and held in readiness against being required.

On the 1st September a message from Brigade Headquarters directed that the Battalion would proceed "overseas" on the 3rd September. All surplus stores were at once got rid of, and spare baggage collected to be handed over to the care of the Australian Base. The Regimental Orderly-room Clerk, Staff Sergeant S. S. Thompson, was detailed and departed for duty at the Australian Headquarters in Egypt, where he would be responsible for the proper keeping of Battalion records.

The 2nd September witnessed the departure for Alexandria of a small advance party, under Lieut. H. E. C. Ruddock, charged with the duty of making all necessary arrangements for the reception of the troops when arriving at the wharf. Tents were struck that afternoon and a bivouac formed for the night.

After the evening meal on the following day the Battalion fell in, and a check of the _personnel_ was made. Previously a number of sick, and the few men in detention, had been struck off the strength and shown as transferred to the Training Depot. It was now found that three or four men were missing. As time did not permit of a search being made, a report was sent to the A.P.M., and the additional names were also removed from the roll.

Late that night the move commenced to Qubba station, where the train was boarded. Each man was bearing a heavy burden. All ranks were fitted with web equipment, carrying in their packs great coats and a few necessaries and personal belongings, and bearing a blanket, waterproof sheet, three days' rations of biscuits and preserved meat, together with an emergency ration in a sealed tin, and (for those with rifles) 200 rounds of ammunition. Officers carried revolvers, field gla.s.ses, prismatic compa.s.s, and various other extras. They were also allowed to place their valises on the train but, according to rumour, it was doubtful if they would ever reach them on Gallipoli.

The entrainment was expeditiously carried out and, with the usual amount of discomfort, the journey to the quay at Alexandria was completed by daylight on the 4th September. Here Lieut. Ruddock was waiting and, after some delay, the Battalion embarked on the transport in a similar manner, minus the sympathetic crowd, to that witnessed at Fremantle.

CHAPTER V.

GALLIPOLI.

At this stage it is necessary, in order that the future environment may be fully understood, to give some account of the Gallipoli Peninsula and of the events of the 25th April, 1915, and later.

The Peninsula forms the European side to the Straits of the Dardanelles and is about 53 miles in length. On the north-western side it is washed by the waters of the Gulf of Xeros and on the western side by the Aegean Sea. Near its northern end, at Bulair, it is only two and a half miles across. At Suvla Burnu[G] it broadens out to about 12 miles, but narrows again between Gaba Tepe[H] and Maidos to a bare four miles. Gaba Tepe is about eight miles south of Suvla Burnu and h.e.l.les Burnu--the southern end of the Peninsula--13 miles further. Cliffs of marl or sand, rising very abruptly and varying in height from 100 to 300 feet, mark the greater length of the sh.o.r.e. These are broken here and there by the gullies which bring away from the interior the waters of the heavy autumn and winter rains. From Gaba Tepe northwards to Suvla Bay there is an almost uninterrupted stretch of beach from which, opposite the latter feature, a somewhat marshy plain runs back to the foothills of Tekke Tepe.

Groups of hills are marked features of the interior, the most prominent being known as Sari Bair[I] which rises to a height of 971 feet at Koja Chemin Tepe and is the one most familiar to the Australians. These hills possess very steep--even precipitous--slopes which are much excoriated by wind, rain, and frost, and broken into an amazing tangle of gullies and hollows. Firs and stunted oaks, brushwood, oleanders or rhododendrons, and other shrubs are thick wherever they can hold, and form no inconsiderable obstacle--two to four feet high--to anyone's pa.s.sage.

Before the war a very small part of the land was under cultivation. A few miniature olive and currant orchards, attempts at vineyards, and trifling patches of beans and grain, represented the sole efforts at tillage. There were no railways, and the few roads in existence were in poor condition. In or near what afterwards became the British zone, the only communities were those grouped around the fortifications near h.e.l.les and the villages of Krithia, Kurija Dere, Biyuk Anafarta, and Anafarta Sagir. On the side nearer Asia, Maidos, Galata, and Gallipoli boasted the status of towns. Between these last-named points and into the Sea of Marmara the communication and trade were mostly carried on by means of boats.

[Ill.u.s.tration: SHOWING ALLIED LINES AT THE TIME OF THE EVACUATION.

_Map by Australian War Museum._]

The Gallipoli Peninsula formed part of Thrace of the ancients. Through it Xerxes, the Persian king, after crossing the Dardanelles, attacked the Greeks with an army and followers estimated at over 2,000,000. This was about 480 B.C. It also lay in the route of Alexander the Great in his march on Egypt and India commenced in 334 B.C. Later on it was overrun by the Gauls, recovered by the Greeks, occupied by the Romans in the 2nd century A.D., pa.s.sed into the possession of the Venetians 1,000 years later, and was finally held by the Turks as a result of their invasion of Europe in 1356. In 1807 a British naval squadron forced the pa.s.sage of the Straits but suffered considerable damage, when returning, from large stone shot fired from the guns of the forts. Again, in 1853, the British and French fleets sailed into the Sea of Marmara in support of the Turks who were on the verge of war with Russia. At Bulair, in March and April, 1854, the British troops on the way to the Crimea landed, and, in conjunction with their allies, constructed across the neck of the Peninsula the fortifications known as the Bulair Lines.

Following the outbreak of the great European War, Turkey, on the 31st October, 1914, definitely threw in her lot with Germany. In order to deal with the Ottoman, and at the same time restore communication with Russia through the Black Sea route, the French and British Governments decided to force the Straits. A bombardment was opened on the 3rd November, 1914, but lasted for a few minutes only. On the 19th February following, and succeeding days, a heavy bombardment was carried out and small craft were engaged in mine-sweeping up towards the Narrows. Again, on the 18th March, the attack was renewed--some ships penetrating the Strait eight or ten miles--but the Turks loosed some large mines which floated down and sunk three of the battleships. Now it became obvious that the aid of land forces must be sought in order to deal with the enemy defences. That task was committed to an army already a.s.sembling in Egypt and on Lemnos Island. This army was under the command of General Sir Ian Hamilton and was composed of a French Division, the 29th British Division, the Royal Naval Division, and the Australian and New Zealand Army Corps; the last-named formation being commanded by Major-General Sir William Birdwood.

Very early in the morning of the 25th April, 1915, the attack was commenced. The French troops landed at k.u.m Kale--on the Asiatic side of the Strait; the 29th Division, and part of the R.N. Division, at five places at the southern end of the Peninsula; the Anzac Corps at a cove about 3,000 yards north of Gaba Tepe; whilst the major portion of the R.N. Division was sent under convoy to make a feint in the Gulf of Xeros near to the Bulair Lines.

The Australian attack was led by the 3rd Brigade (including the 11th Battalion). After a week's heroic fighting (in which the 16th Battalion took a prominent part) under conditions never before experienced in warfare, and the loss of 9,000 killed, wounded, and missing, a position was made good which extended in an arc from the foot of Walker's Ridge, on the north, up to Russell's Top, across the head of Monash Gully, to MacLaurin's Hill, continuing to Bolton's Ridge and resecting the beach about 2,000 yards north of Gaba Tepe. The base of this arc measured about 2,700 yards and the enclosed area did not exceed three-quarters of a square mile.

During the next three months the Corps was reinforced by various drafts, and four brigades of Light Horse dismounted. Attempts were made from time to time to improve and extend the Australian position, but little progress was made. At the same time the Turks were by no means idle for, apart from fortifying their positions, they frequently attacked in endeavours to drive us off their soil. The heaviest a.s.sault was on the 18th May when 30,000 fresh troops were flung at the 1st Division and the New Zealanders. So effectually were they repulsed that the Turks begged for an armistice for the purpose of collecting and burying the dead.

Sir Ian Hamilton, who had been strengthened by several new divisions, planned a fresh attack for early in August. On the 6th of that month the 1st (N.S.W.) Brigade stormed Lone Pine. On the following morning attacks were made from Steel's Post, Quinn's Post, Pope's Hill, and Russell's Top, but all of these were unfruitful and caused heavy losses. The main attack in the Anzac sector was, however, delivered from the left. This commenced on the night of the 6th August and swept up the Sazli Beit and Chailak Deres,[J] over Big Table Top, Bauchop Hill, and Rhododendron Spur, to a position--afterwards called "The Apex"--within 400 yards of the summit of Chunuk Bair.[K] A portion of the force detailed for this advance moved up the Aghyl Dere and endeavoured to take Koja Chemin Tepe from the west side but, after many casualties, had to entrench on some of the under-features (Cheshire Ridge-Warwick Castle).

During the progress of this fighting the IX. Corps made a fresh landing at Suvla Bay (6th-7th August). The combat was heavy and eventually a junction was effected with the Australian left, but not one of the real objectives was gained.

The operations were continued until the 29th August, on which date the 10th Light Horse, sent north to reinforce there, stormed Hill 60. This was the last Australian attack on the Peninsula. Henceforth attention was given solely to holding and strengthening the positions gained. The 2nd Australian Division took no part in any of these operations, but one of its battalions--the 18th--arrived in time to join in the fighting for the hill feature just mentioned.

The net result of the August fighting gave to the Anzac and IX. Corps a continuous line of about 12 miles. This ran from the Brighton Beach to the Gulf of Xeros. Behind this the depth did not average more than 1-1/4 miles but the Anzac area was enlarged from 300 acres to 8 square miles.

This gain cost the Australasians 18,000 casualties. The exhausted troops remaining were gradually relieved by the 2nd Division pending the further development of the British plans.

To return to the record of the events with which the 28th Battalion was concerned after leaving Alexandria.

The knowledge gained during the voyage of the "Ascanius" enabled the troops to settle quickly in their new quarters. In addition to the W.A.

Battalion there were on board two companies and the headquarters of the 27th Battalion. The transport, the "Ivernia,"[L] was a comfortable ship of 14,000 tons register belonging to the Cunard Line. The captain and officers at first displayed a rather cool and curt manner towards their new pa.s.sengers but in the course of a day or two visibly thawed. The captain afterwards, in explanation, stated that from information he had received in regard to the Australians he had expected to find in them an absence of discipline and a tendency to "smash things." He was now agreeably surprised to discover them so tractable and well-behaved--comparing them in a most favourable manner with other contingents he had carried.

[Ill.u.s.tration: CHUNUK BAIR.

Taken from Table Top--looking East. Corner of Rhododendron Spur at top of right-side.

_Official Photo. No. G. 1830c._ _Copyright by Australian War Museum._]

Routine was quickly inst.i.tuted. Special precautions had to be taken in regard to enemy submarines which at this time had become very active and had lately torpedoed the "Southland" conveying the Brigadier and portion of the 6th Brigade as well as the G.O.C. and Staff of the 2nd Australian Division. News of this occurrence had reached the Battalion just prior to embarkation and naturally excited great interest. However, the voyage proved uneventful, the weather good, and the colours of the sea and evening skies a never failing attraction.

Heading towards Crete, the transport skirted its western coast and thence wended its way through the Grecian Archipelago. Arriving off Mudros Bay, Lemnos Island, on the evening of the 8th September, it was found that a boom was across the entrance and the harbour closed for the night. Nothing remained to be done but to stand on and off during the hours of darkness. To cast anchor would have rendered the ship an easy prey to the underwater craft. The sight of the "Southland" on a neighbouring beach lent point to this possibility.

Shortly after sunrise the appearance of a British destroyer coming from the direction of the Bay indicated that the entrance was now open.

Threading its way between numbers of British and French men-of-war and other vessels the transport came to rest something less than a mile from the sh.o.r.e.

Anch.o.r.ed in the vicinity was the R.M.S. "Aragon," now used as quarters for the Inspector-General of the Line of Communications and his staff.

From this source orders were received to disembark the Battalion on the following day. The arrangements necessary were few, consequently there was little to do and most of the afternoon was spent in bathing at the ship's side or in writing letters. Word had gone forth that the last mail before reaching Gallipoli would close that night. So numerous were the missives that it was found necessary to make every available officer a censor for the time being in order that delay might be avoided. The writings, as usual, were apropos of the occasion but it was found that one man, antic.i.p.ating events, had informed his mother that he was writing his few words "by the light of the bursting sh.e.l.ls."

Disembarkation was to commence at 2 p.m. on the 10th September but the movement proved to be merely a transhipment to the Weymouth-Channel Islands packet boat "Sarnia" which arrived, after a delay of one and a-half hours, and tied up alongside the transport. Coincident with this there appeared several staff officers delegated to "a.s.sist." The Senior Naval Transport Officer, a captain in the Royal Navy, endeavoured to make up the 90 minutes lost by urging speed in the move from one ship to the other. When the futility of expecting fully equipped men to move quickly over the solitary 15-inch plank laid down as a gangway was pointed out to him, he showed signs of irritability and threatened an adverse report on the handling of the troops. On being informed that it was his privilege to make such a report he left the ship. However, he was later observed in altercation with the skipper of the smaller vessel and eventually a second gangway was rigged. When this move was commenced there was room on the main deck for two companies only. The other two were kept clear and their officers took refuge on the boat deck. There they were found, reclining in chairs, by another staff officer duly be-tabbed, trousered, brogued, and carrying a cane. He seemed to be amazed at the indifference of the Australians to their impending move and burst out "I say, you fellows, do you know that you've got to be off this ---- ship in half an hour?" Being greeted with roars of laughter he disappeared down the companionway calling plaintively, "Where's the Colonel? Where's the Colonel?"

Within ten minutes of the time originally allowed, the Battalion had pa.s.sed over to the "Sarnia." As she sheered off loud cheers were given for the captain of the "Ivernia" and groans for one of his officers whom the men considered had been, on the voyage, over n.i.g.g.ardly with the rations. The packet boat, her decks rather tightly packed with troops, moved down the Bay between the lines of the warships, whose crews cheered and cheered again those now leaving for the front. Darkness was falling as the transport entered the open sea and steamed at 17 knots in the direction of Anzac--60 miles away to the north-east.

Some two hours elapsed and then star sh.e.l.ls, bursting over Achi Baba, near the Southern end of the Peninsula, gave the newcomers a first glimpse of the "real war." Later on the guns could be heard and sh.e.l.l explosions witnessed on the plain of h.e.l.les where the VIII. Corps and the French had been for the previous five months. Keen were the watchers on the deck of the "Sarnia" and keener still they became as the rugged ma.s.s of Sari Bair loomed out of the sea. It was then known that the end of the journey was at hand.

Nearing the Peninsula at this point--opposite Williams' Pier--resembled somewhat an approach to Mt. Eliza on a dark night by boat from Perth Water. Lights shone out from dugouts constructed in the steep slopes, moving lights were discerned on the beach beneath, and the crest line was in darkness except when now and then illuminated by the flash of a bomb, sh.e.l.l, or gun. The simile could be pursued no further, for to those who had not yet been in action the noise going on seemed to indicate that some fierce fighting must be in progress. The dull but powerful thud of exploding hand bombs, the sharper crashing explosion of sh.e.l.l, the report of a discharging gun and the roar of its projectile, echoed and re-echoed, in its flight along one of the numerous ravines, induced belief that very little time must elapse before the 28th would be "in it." It turned out otherwise, however, and subsequent experience showed that these signs and sounds were the mere accompaniment of a "quiet night."