The New Zealanders at Gallipoli
The Utter Dependence on the Imperial Navy
The Utter Dependence on the Imperial Navy.
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[British Official Photograph.
The “Albion” ashore off Gaba Tepe.
The “Cornwallis” is towing her off.
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[Photo by the Author
Ammunition from every Arsenal in India.
The ammunition problem was an acute one. Fortunately for the supply arrangements, the big guns of the Gallipoli armies were on the warships, but the howitzers and the field guns ashore were often sadly supplied. At one time the howitzers were restricted to two shells daily. Everything had to be saved for the days on which the Turk decided to “drive the infidels into the sea.”
Small arm ammunition was always plentiful, and the machine gunners, thanks to the Navy, never had to go short. As far as rifles and machine guns were concerned, many of page 157 the outlying parts of the Empire were called on, and at one time Anzac Cove was inundated with thousands of small arm ammunition cases, on which were inscribed the signs of all the famous arsenals of India.
When “jams”—those bugbears of machine gunners—were at first much too frequent, we overcame these difficulties by using only New Zealand-made ammunition, which proved to be less variable and more reliable than the ordinary issue.