page 50

Chapter VII The Day After.

Exhausted though the men were there was no rest for them this day. Parties were set to work to complete the gap in the centre of the line, and everyone else was engaged in making the saps into fire trenches. For a time in the afternoon, rapid fire (the only poor substitute for artillery fire) was opened on the Turkish line with a view to covering an advance by sections of regiments, ordered by the corps commander, the purpose being to destroy the enemy's machine guns. This order was countermanded, however, and fortunately so, for the Turkish line on the Nek was tremendously strong, bristling with a mass of well-concealed machine guns, and, as was afterwards proved by the disastrous attempt of the Light Horse, it was well nigh invulnerable unless battered to pieces by heavy artillery fire. But we had neither the guns nor the ammunition for such preparation, even if this part of the Turkish line had not had the security from barrage fire, which it owed to its nearness to a cliff over 200 feet high, and its proximity to our line. A surprise night attack with bombs might have succeeded, but, lackaday, we had no bombs other than a few of the home-made jam tin variety, and few there were who would not rather have trusted in their bayonets and their rifle butts.

On the 20th, the work on the defences was pushed on, many of the men having had no sleep and practically no rest for 40 hours. During the day the Turk shelled our lines more severely than page 51usual, and among those wounded was Major J. N. McCarroll, the commander of 11th squadron. Fortunately his wounds did not incapacitate him for long. He returned in September, eventually being promoted to the command of the Regiment, and gaining the highest distinctions for his masterly leadership in the Palestine campaign.

Towards evening of this day the men had one of the surprises of their lives. Suddenly hundreds of white flags were waved along the Turkish line, and then large numbers of Turks came out of their trenches, and, still waving the flags, moved towards our lines. Colonel Mackesy immediately mounted the parapet and called on the Turks to stop and state their intentions. He called first in French, then in German, and then in English, but got no reply he could understand. He then told the regimental interpreter to call in Turkish. A Turkish officer replied that they wanted a truce so that they might bury their dead. Such a request by Turks who are notoriously indifferent to sanitary safeguards sounded suspicious. However, the Turks sent forward an officer blindfolded, and he was sent to brigade headquarters while the colonel continued the parley. It was then perceived that behind the unarmed men with flags were many with rifles and bayonets, and above the Turkish parapet immediately opposite, showed the tops of a thick line of bayonets. The enemy were immediately given two minutes to get back to their trenches. It was not promptly obeyed, however, and the whole line opened fire, one of our machine guns accounting for 30 or 40 of the treacherous enemy. Never again was a ruse of this kind attempted.

page 52

The following morning the Turks sent in from Gaba Tepe, on the extreme right, an officer to arrange for an armistice so that the dead might be buried. The colonial commander was as anxious as the Turks to have an armistice for burials, for many dead heroes of the landing still lay in the bullet-swept zone, the prone forms all lying with the head to the foe, speaking eloquently of the valour of the first fierce charge. It was most important, however, that the enemy should not be given a chance of scrutinising our trenches with all their weaknesses and imperfections, and some days were spent in drawing up the terms of the armistice. It was finally agreed that the armistice should cover the period from 7.30 a.m. to 4.30 p.m., on May 24; that the Turkish burial parties were to work on one side and our parties on the other side of a line pegged down the centre of No Man's Land; that the bodies of foes found by either side were to be carried to the dividing line and handed over; and that rifles were to be handed to whatever side had owned them. Parties from each side marked out the dividing line early in the morning, and then the burial parties commenced their gruesome task. Here and there foes fraternised, and sometimes exchanged samples of their rations. But the majority of our men were too overcome at the sight of the dead, sometimes lying literally in heaps, to have much concern with the living. In front of the Walker's Ridge line lay an Australian bugler, a mere boy, with his bugle slung across his shoulders. Nearby lay the body of a New Zealand infantryman, his hands still grasping an out-stretched rifle, the bayonet of which was in the page 53body of a Turk. The agreement to carry the Turkish bodies to the centre line could not be carried out owing to their number, and it was mutually agreed that each side should bury all the dead on its side of the line. The work was accomplished by the time appointed and the parties returned to their trenches.