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The Auckland Regiment

X. The August Fighting—Sari Bair

page 54

X. The August Fighting—Sari Bair

"So all day long the noise of battle rolled
Among the mountains, by the … sea.
Until King Arthur's table, man by man,
Had fallen in Lyonnesse about their Lord."

"We have seen him flung in rank,
Across the morning sky;
And we've had some pretty shooting,
And he knows the way to die.

Yes, we've seen him dying there in front
Our own boys died there, too
With his poor dark eyes arolling,
Staring at the hopeless blue.

With his poor maimed arms astretching
To the God we both can name.
And it fairly tore our hearts out,
But it's in the beastly game. "

All attempts to break through in the Cape Helles sector had failed—Achi Baba was by this time a hill impregnable. So Sir Ian Hamilton turned to Anzac and prepared to strike the final blow of the campaign on the slopes of Sari Bair. His strategy was superb. A feint at Helles was to hold the enemy in force. A pretended landing on the Asian coast was to draw his reserves. On the right of the Anzac position the Australians were to make a holding attack against which the Turks would be compelled to concentrate. Bulair was threatened. The New Zealanders were to smash the "Anzac Ring" on the left, unmask the Sazli Beit and Chailak Deres, advance and clear Chunuk Bair, seize the dominating crests, and by so doing open the way to decisive victory. Two fresh divisions were to be flung ashore at Suvla Bay to fall on the exposed flank of the out-manoeuvred enemy, and so complete his ruin.

The most careful preparations were made. Water was brought from great distances, put into petrol tins and stored away. Shells, and rifle ammunition, were quietly piled up. Fresh men were brought ashore and hidden in carefully pre-pared hiding places. The greatest precautions were taken to page 55conceal all signs of preparation from the Turkish airmen, who were continually flying across.

The country over which the advance was to take place was extremely rough. There were no good maps of it to be had anywhere. Aeroplane reconnaissance was only in its infancy. It was not easy or even possible for the greatest scouts to pass through the enemy's line at will. Nevertheless, there were some who did wonderful work in this direction. Warden was the finest scout the Auckland Regiment ever produced. A quiet, somewhat reserved man, he had not been at all conspicuous as a parade-ground soldier; but as soon as the fighting started, his exploits on the day of the Landing had brought him the immediate recognition of his superiors. At first with Colonel Plugge, and afterwards with Captain Wallingford, he was given great freedom of action. He always went about armed to the teeth. On one occasion, donning Turkish uniform, he penetrated great distances into the enemy territory. It is said that he once went over the hill and into Maidos itself. However that may be, he knew the whole of the Suvla Bay flat, and all the foothills of Sari Bair, on the left of the Anzac position. The information he brought in was quite invaluable.

The Turks, also, were preparing for a great battle. They had mustered all their available forces. There was a feeling of expectancy in the air. Both sides realised that the supreme hour was at hand.

In the last days of July the Aucklanders were busily employed carrying and digging. They relieved Otago in Quinn's Post August 2nd, remaining there until the night of the 5-6th, when they were relieved by Australian troops. The same night they marched across from Monash, beneath Walker's Ridge, along the great sap leading to No. 2 Outpost, and so to "Happy Valley." It was a long, hard tramp, and at that time very few were feeling in the mood for long marches. Practically every man was suffering from diarrhoea or dysentery. Many were on the verge of collapse. All were terribly weak. The physical condition of the New Zealand soldiers page 56who fought through the great struggle on the slopes of Sari Bair should never be forgotten by anyone who reads the story of their fight. It is one thing to go into battle as the Main Body went, on the day of the Landing, superbly trained, magnificently fit, and quite another matter to go in worn out Fy hard work, want of sleep, and weakened by disease.

Once in "Happy Valley," the Battalion stowed itself away in the scrub, with strict orders to show no sign of movement during the day. The sun blazed down with intense heat. The scrub was not high enough to give proper shade. It was abominably prickly, particularly as nearly everyone had bare knees. A plague of flies made sleep during the day almost impossible. The one redeeming feature of "Happy Valley" was the fact that a mail was served out. Mails always brought everyone to life again. Parcels, papers, and, above all, letters, were greatly prized. He was a happy man who had left behind him in New Zealand some good woman who remained steadfast and true, despite time and distance. Many a man went into battle with courage that was steeled by the letters of the day before.

During the day officers and N.C.O.'s went out along the great sap to Sazli Beit Dere and the Outpost, to view the heights of Chunuk, across which the advance was to sweep, while the men fastened on back and arm the white bands and patches which were to serve as distinguishing marks for our own artillery.

Lieut.-Colonel Young was in command of the Battalion, with Major S. Grant, of the Fourth Reinforcement, as his second in command. Lieut. Mooney was adjutant. Major Hume commanded the 3rd Company, Capt. Sinel the 6th, Capt. Algie the 15th, and Lieut. Gillet the 16th Company. Most of the 3rd Company were detached as escort to various Indian Mountain Battery Guns.

At four o'clock in the afternoon of the 6th, the 29th Division attacked at Cape Helles, and had soon joined battle in a desperately fought contest, which not only tied down thou-sands of Turks, but also, so vehement was the onslaught, page 57compelled them to draw upon their reserves. At half-past five the Australians went over the top to the storm of Lone Pine, one of the key positions of the Turkish left flank. The enemy trenches were of enormous strength and desperately defended. For five days the struggle for Lone Pine never slackened, until in the end the Australians were victorious.

So in two places the assault had swelled up in fury, and it may have appeared to the hard-pressed Turk that the battle was fully joined, and that, if he could but hold, all would be well. But it was his right flank at Chunuk Bair and Suvla against which the real menace was to develop, and so far everything was quiet in that quarter.

Amongst the rough tangle of hills, ridges and ravines in that locality were three long valleys, the Sazli Beit, the Chailak and Aghyll Deres, all winding up toward the heart of the mountain. These natural approaches were covered by the foothills of Sari Bair, No. 3 Outpost, Big Table Top, Sniper's Ridge and Bauchop's Hill, all of which were strongly held by the enemy. It was the task of the N.Z.M.R. to clear these hills, and by so doing open up the way to the infantry battalions, which were to pass on through them toward Rhododendron and the heights of 971.

The mounted troops attacked at nine o'clock in the evening, and immediately afterwards the leading battalions of the Infantry Brigade were on the move. Canterbury went by way of the Sazli Beit, while Otago, Wellington and Auckland proceeded up Chailak. At 10 p.m. Auckland wound out of Happy Valley, and with the 6th Company leading, followed by the 15th and 16th. connected up with the remainder of the column. The distance to be traversed was not so very great—a little over three miles—but a distance which, under the conditions of the night of August 6-7th, was very terrible. The ground was all new and strange. Once the long file had left the sap, passed over the little strip of level ground beneath No. 2 Outpost, and crossed the straight trench which led down to the Outpost Well, there came one long succession of blocks and halts. First of all the covering troops were held up by the page 58wire entanglement which the Turks had built across the en-trance to the valley. This meant delay. The scrub, the uncertain track, the darkness all hindered the advance. There would be a move forward of perhaps fifty yards, then a block in front, a crowding up behind, men standing wearily beneath their loads, expecting to move any second and not moving for five, ten or fifteen minutes. At last, tired of waiting, they would lie down, but no sooner had they done so than the file in front was moving, and they must race to join up again, and then, having done this, there was another halt. Nothing is harder than marching in this fashion at night, especially when men are loaded up with ammunition and weakened by privation and disease. The Otagos, leading, found the Dere still largely occupied by enemy troops. Rifle shots rang out from both flanks. Little groups of the enemy commenced firing. They were easy enough to overcome in detail, but each little affair cost a few men and, even worse, ate into the precious time. The passage of the Dere took nearly six hours. The Turks were commencing to realise what was happening, and long before dawn the rifle bullets were falling thickly. Prisoners were passed down. The Aucklanders even found a few more hiding in the scrub. All the way up there was a thin trail of dead and wounded of both sides lying beside the track. During the halts Dr. Craig was busy doing all that could be done for the men he was able to reach. The opposition at the head of Chailak grew fiercer. There was further delay. At dawn Otago were fighting hard for the lower slopes of Rhododendron, and it was not until 5.45 a.m. that the Brigade assembled on the ridge.

Auckland concentrated in a hollow, which was apparently dead ground, and commenced to make the best of a cold break-fast. After a few minutes, however, there came a burst of fire from snipers and machine-guns. Bunched together as the men were, casualties were numerous. Breakfast came to an abrupt conclusion, and there was a very hurried scatter.

All opportunity of surprise had now passed. Away to the left the Bay of Suvla was seen to be full of ships. Files of page 59men were moving over the Suvla Plain. It was now evident to all what the plan and scope of the battle actually was. The Turks were aware. They realised their danger. The first sudden surprise, the loss of so many points of tactical importance, had bewildered them, and for a while they had shown signs of demoralisation. But they could not afford to lose Chunuk. Hastily the thousand yards of crest-line were manned with what rifles and machine-guns they could muster. The volume of fire became greater every moment. Men were falling fast on Rhododendron and the Apex. At any cost an attempt had to be made to pass the hollow and obtain a footing on the slope beyond. The Auckland Battalion was detailed for the task. Orders came before the machine-guns of the Brigade had deployed out. Wallingford offered, if he were given but half-an-hour, twenty minutes, less even, to put up a barrage that would beat down the Turkish fire, so that the advance might stand a reasonable chance of success. He was told the advance could not stay.

The Battalion was drawn up, 6th Company in front, and informed roughly of the objective. Many of them were survivors of the Daisy Patch, most of them had seen something of the work of machine-guns in the open against advancing troops. They had a complete and clear realisation of what was being asked of them. The moment came. The word was given. For an instant there was anintaking of the breath, a tension, the hesitation as of one who nerves himself to leap into ice-cold water. What? were the leaders baulking? From behind came an indescribable growl and murmur. Then Major Grant rushed out in front with waved arm and a call to follow on. The mass moved, Lieut. Dittmer's platoon of the Hauraki's leading. Twenty yards of dead ground, and then a hail of fire—fire from a thousand yards of Chunuk; fire from Battleship Hill; rifle fire and machine-gun fire from front and flank. Two hundred and fifty yards to go, and every yard of it raked with fire. There was no faltering; every man went straight forward, running up the hill as fast as he could go. Killed and wounded, they went down in heaps, but the survi-page 60vors pressed on. The trench was reached, a small, narrow drain, and the foremost leaping in took what cover it afforded. It was soon too full to hold more, and the remainder lay down in rear. There was nothing to be done except wait and endure. The task was done, and at a great cost. All the way back to the Apex the ground was a tangle of dead, dying and wounded. For most of them nothing could be done, as the ground was so terribly swept with fire. The men in front scraped a little cover, but it would have been impossible to dig in, even if picks and shovels had been available. No movement was safe, and to stand up meant certain death. An order to get into the trench was passed round, and more were killed while endeav-ouring to do this. In the blazing sun the torment of thirst became very great. Heat, thirst, and flies—the wounded suffered hell tortures lying out on the slope. "God! Oh, God! When will it be night, and when will the stretcher-bearers come ?"

The heroic Major Grant fell half-way. He lay out all that day and the next, and when at last picked up he made light of terrible wounds, saying it was only his leg, and that he would be back in six weeks. He died the same night.

If the Turks had counter-attacked immediately, they might have regained the lost ground; but in a short while their opportunity passed. As soon as the attack was ordered, Captain Wallingford had worked with all his energy to get the machine-guns placed. Now they were in position—too late to assist the advance, but in time to safeguard what had been won. After an hour's heavy fighting, the Turkish fire from the heights was beaten down, and superiority passed to the New Zealanders. If only the attack had been delayed until this time, how much slaughter would have been saved!

As yet the Suvla landing had not taken off the weight. All day our men lay flat in the tropical heat, waiting for the crash of firing from the left. It did not come. After dark the 6th Company held the trench while the 15th and 16th went back on working parties.

Very early in the morning Warden had guided a column page 61of British troops to their point of attack, taking them up in the darkness through a valley which no other British soldier save himself had ever trodden. His task finished, he had rejoined the Battalion on Rhododendron, and there fell fighting. He was buried that night by Father Dore. One thinks of the little cemetery at Coigneux in the pleasant fields of Picardy, the band playing the "Dead March," generals standing by the grave-side, the crash of the last three volleys, the sad wailing of the bugles as Sergeant Richard Travis, V.C., D.C.M., M.M., Croix de Guerre, the greatest scout of the New Zealand Division in France, was borne to his last resting place. When Private Richard Warden was buried, the stillness of the night was broken by the cries of the stricken in their agony. Carrying parties and stretcher-bearers toiled up and down with their heavy loads, the scrub breaking and crackling beneath their feet. The bursts from the Turkish machine-guns whizzed venomously overhead. Bullets fell everywhere, with the sound of heavy, slow drops before a thunderstorm. The night was full of noise, yet within a small space it was very still and quiet. Here in a shallow grave they placed the body of the great scout of Anzac. Two or three of those who loved him for his great valour stood round while the heroic priest recited the words of the Eternal Hope. The short service over, the mourners turned once more to the fighting front.

Succour from the left was slow in coming, but still the battle could not stay, the pace could not slacken. At dawn on the 8th, the Wellington Battalion, with some help from the Gloucesters, passed through and stormed Chunuk Bair. The key position was ours. If the force from Suvla would only press forward, the result was inevitable. But would help come? Wellington fought a most valiant fight. Their line was frightfully torn. Men scraped for themselves shallow pits and flung a little earth in front. The Turks crept up to bombing range, and along the whole line the fighting was hand to hand. Every moment our men grew fewer and fewer. Still they held on. Heat, thirst, wounds and death could not daunt them. "Hold on! Hold on!" If they could page 62but hold on for a few hours longer surely the English would come from Suvla, and all would go on over the crest to Maidos.

The English did not come.

So the manhood of New Zealand dwindled hour by hour through all the long day of August 8th, Wellington in front on the crest, Auckland in support in and about their captured trench. This day Captain Sinel was wounded.

The great flanking movement from Suvla had now been definitely held. Twenty-seven thousand fresh troops had been baffled by three thousand Turkish gendarmes. In the centre, although the casualties had been frightfully heavy, the attack had been successful. The door of opportunity was still open. One last effort might still clear the whole crest, and all would be well. The attempt was made at dawn on the 9th. All reserves were hurled into the fight. The crest was reached and passed along its whole length. Below lay the Straits of the Dardanelles and the town of Maidos. Victory seemed secure, when of a sud-den a terrible thing happened. By some mistake the guns played for too long on the ridge, and the attacking columns were torn to pieces by their own artillery. The Turks saw their opportunity, came back and fell upon the shaken survivors. The supports were a few minutes late. The reeling line was pushed back, and the whole of Chunuk, with the exception of the south-western part held by the New Zealanders, was lost.

The fight had raged for three days, and the New Zealanders were utterly spent. They were withdrawn to the Apex and Rhododendron, with the exception of some of the 16th Company, who were holding a trench constructed a few yards behind the one captured in the Auckland charge.

As darkness fell on the 9th, the hope of victory had almost vanished. If the remnant of the crest of Chunuk could still be held, another attempt might be made after a rest and general reorganisation; but first it was necessary to obtain more men and more ammunition. It was now four days since the beginning of the struggle. The Turks had called up all their reserves. Thousands had crossed from Asia, and other thou-sands had come down from Bulair. All night they were massing behind Sari Bair, and on the morning of the 10th the whole mass was in motion, moving with the power of an avalanche page 63and the speed of a landslide. The English battalions in front broke and swept away the 16th. The Turks came on. The hill-side was brown with their charging battalions. On toward the "Farm," and the Deres below, and the margin of the sea! It was a bold stroke, executed with determination and courage. For a moment it seemed that no power on earth could stop the moving mass, but the target they made was a good one. Aucklanders on Cheshire Ridge were firing—firing as fast as they could load and fire—and with them now were the Fifth Reinforcements. The Turks came on, three hundred men in a line, and twenty lines, following at a little space one behind the other. They stormed forward, crying on the name of God, calling aloud the proclamation of their faith; for them it was victory or the fields of Paradise. If fanatical valour, if contempt of death could win, then surely the host of the Turks would break through.

Wallingford had ten machine-guns in action, six of them well forward, two of the six, Auckland guns. They were trained across the line of the Turkish advance. The men behind, cool and resolute, set up a zone of death. The first line of Turks charged into it and went down to a man. The next line melted away on the same spot. But still they came on, line after line, and the leaden sweep reaped them in swathes. No hesitation; no faltering; the last line charged on with the same high courage. They also fall. Now the artillery have picked up the range, and the great heap of death and agony is torn and blasted by the bursting shells. The wounded Turks who were able to crawl back were unmolested, so full of admiration were the machine-gunners for the charge they had made. The Number Ones of the two Auckland guns who did so much to beat off this attack were Jack and (unknown).

Once more on the same day the danger became very pressing. On the Apex was Brigade Headquarters and also the Auckland Aid Post, which for seventy-two hours had followed the advance, working ceaselessly to succour the hundreds of wounded. Suddenly, twenty-five yards away, a party of the enemy showed up and commenced firing. They had crept up through the valley. More were climbing up every moment. It was a time of deadly peril. Most of the New Zealanders were on Cheshire Ridge, further back on Rhododendron, or in the page 64Deres below. On the Apex itself were only machine-gunners, some of the 3rd Company, and some men of the Fifth Rein-forcement. Major Hume led on the men of his company. Lieutenant Ellis joined in with the new men. Lieutenant Jack and Captain Wallingford sprang in with some machine-gunners. In all, some fifty-five men, they raced for the threatened point, and went straight in with the bayonet. The Turks were caught in time, and after a moments fierce fight, they were pushed back and into the valley below. Major Hume and many others of that gallant band were killed.

The sufferings of the wounded during these days had been very dreadful. A man hit on the slopes had as often as not to lie all day in the blazing sun, tormented by thirst and tortured, by the swarming flies. To attempt to move him would have meant certain death. At night he might well be missed, and so be doomed to another day of agony. Many were never found, and died amongst the thick scrub or in some tangle of rough and broken country, where no man passed once the first charge had gone forward. Even when the stretcher-bearers had found the sufferer and bound up his wounds, there was the three-mile carry to the sea-shore. The first stage was down a precipitous slope, where a man without a load was hard put to it to keep a footing. Imagine the difficulty of carrying a stretcher! The second stage was through the long and winding Dere. Here the foothold was better, but the path was jammed with traffic. Ammunition was going for-ward, also water, rations and all that was urgently necessary for consolidation. Line after line of mules plodded stolidly backward and forward towards the firing line. Shrapnel burst at all times and in all places. Bullets fell like rain. Imagine what a journey this was for a poor wretch with a fractured leg, to whom every jolt of the stretcher meant a spasm of intolerable agony! The New Zealand wounded were wonder-ful in their patience and self-restraint. Through all the terrible journey there would be no word of complaining, usually only expressions of regret "for causing the stretcher-bearers so much bother." One might have thought the wounded man was not in pain if it had not been for his drawn and twisted features. At last, after a journey of something like three page break page break
Brigadier-General R. Young, C.B., C.M.G., D.S.O.

Brigadier-General R. Young, C.B., C.M.G., D.S.O.

page 65hours, the shore was reached. Close to the sea was one sap much travelled by all who passed No. 2 Outpost. This sap for nearly two hundred yards was crammed with badly-wounded men—all stretcher cases. For three nights they lay there without blankets; for three days they were scorched by the merciless sun. They had no food except scraps of hard biscuit, and no water save what was given them by passers-by. They were not even out of the fire zone, for many were hit a second time while they lay, waiting and waiting for the bearers who could not come. Some were killed, and to them death came as a merciful release. All wounded had to be evacuated by launch or lighter, and there had not been enough of these available. Remember, too, that it took four men three hours to carry from the slopes to the beach, and that stretcher-bearing is the hardest work, and taxes even the most powerful and courageous men to the uttermost. One trip was enough to tire anyone—the second brought a man to the limit of en-durance, and after that the bearer staggered on, utterly spent physically and sustained only by that deeper spirituat side of human nature which gives victory over the flesh and its frailty. Remember, also, how many thousands of wounded men lay in the valleys and upon the mountain slopes. Was it any wonder that many a poor wretch died before succour reached him?

The great Turkish counter-attack was the last act in the terrible struggle for Sari Bair. Much had been gained in the territory of great tactical importance. The Turks were shaltered and beaten to their knees. Another blow, even a weak one, would have broken them utterly; but the effort had been too great, and it was impossible to strike again. The high places remained with the Turk. Again he brought up fresh troops and fortified the blood-stained hill, until at last opportunity passed for ever.

The night of the 11th was a confused one. English trcops were now holding the Apex, behind them were the New Zealand machine-gunners, and behind again the remnants of the New Zealand battalions. It was a sad wild night, and next morning Hamilton sent the New Zealanders back to the Apex and Rhododendron with orders to entrench and "hold on for ever."