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[Page 6]
hardly credit the statement that the British Regt's nerve failed, but it is the gospel truth, and the worst of it is that it has happened before and it happened again this morning, as I will tell you later on. But about the "Lancs." it is only fair to state that it is really a territorial regt. similar to dozens of other regiments in Kitchener's new army, of which 110,000 men are on the Peninsula. The sight of the Turks unnerved the boys (of which the Regt. largely consists) and they came right down the hill on which I was seated, calling out "They're coomin in thousands. Oh; they've broke thro, we can't stop 'em". Many of them threw their rifles away, and despite all efforts to stop them, they bolted through the Wiltshires, who by now had got into their dug-outs, down to safety.
The Australians and New Zealanders were in the trenches to the right of the position previously held by the Lancs. and their position was now full of peril. Once the Turks gained our ridge, they would have been enfiladed and wiped out, so the retention of our hill and the beating back of the Turks was an absolute necessity. The task of driving them back was assigned to the Wiltshires, but (this is the gospel truth) the men did not leave their dug-outs and face the shrapnel which was now bursting on the crest of the ridge. Their Colonel and Major were frantic, but it was no go – they would not fall in, so a Staff Officer called "where are those New Zealanders? send them up." Lieut. Ellisden was sitting just a few yards away from me talking to Capt. Wallingford, Major Hume and Lieut. Jack, and called out to me "corporal hurry down and tell our men to fix bayonets and be ready". I rushed off and in about three minutes we were marching in single file through the Wiltshires in their dug-outs. Prior to this I felt like a lump of jelly, but when those curs "turned it up" something seemed to calm me and I quite forgot all fear, as we charged the crest.
The Turks were charging up it from the other side, but we got there first and then "What Ho she bumped". There were only 55 of us in one place (All Aucklanders) and we gave John Turk something to remember. Soon they retreated to a ridge 200 yards away and opened on us with machine guns and I can tell you old William John Rusden got a funny feeling in the region of his gizzard, when those old guns got the range. We were absolutely without protection of any kind and the bullets just swept the ridge like hail, sending up showers of dust and pebbles and hitting anyone foolish enough to raise his head 8 inches. We just had to wait till the stream passed on, bang away and then bob down like lightning.
Soon Geo. Lloyd, one of my Samoan Pals, who was next to me got it through the head, and then Chiller Sinton-the swimmer- stopped another with his head. Wally Riley was the next to go, shot through the stomach. It was hell, absolutely hell, I can tell you, and when the 75 centimetre gun on Annafarta got the range, well it was indescribable. There we were practically in the open peppered from the front by machine gun and rifle fire, while from the side, came the shrapnel from Annafarta.To make matters worse the big guns from our warships in the roadstead below began to talk and as we were only 200 yards away from they enemy, you can imagine how difficult it was for the gunners to land their shells without hitting us. Quite a number burst right over us, killing a number besides wounding others. You can't imagine how awful it was to lie there when those shells burst. it scared the very devil out of me and I am not ashamed to admit it. Still, however I had to keep up my fire and despite the fact that my rifle was almost white hot, I managed to bag quite a few Turks. In all I fired 220 shots and I