Item 02: From Australia to Gallipoli, ca. 1916 / Dudley V. Walford - Page 62

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[Page 62]

Suvla Bay

We were on duty in the trenches night after night, doing twenty four hours on & twenty four hours off duty, viewing the barren mountains or the green fields, which appeared to be of a fertilising nature, far beyond the Turkish lines.

For months we had to endure this horrible monotony while our glorious parliament at home, probably suffering from an attack of inertia, took over three months to decide upon the evacuation of the peninsular.

Dysentery and disease were rapidly taking our men to hospital. Then came the dreadful blizzard which we had never experienced before. Hundreds upon hundreds of men became frost bitten, especially the English & Ghurkha regiments who were situated on low lying country which allowed water to flow down the trenches.

The mule transport, too, suffered heavily. The mountains became too slippery for the mules and consequently we went short of food for several days.

Lone Pine was blown up and heavily bombarded by the Turks. Our casualties were enormous. The Germans had connected up with Turkey after the defeat of Serbia, and guns of heavily calibre were being placed in position to blow us to pieces.

Was it anything to wonder at when we saw our ordnance store burning rifles, ammunition, clothing etc during December. We knew what what it meaning was. The abandonment of

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