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[Page 10]
Gallipoli
26:9:15 – work more congenial, though the days drag somewhat at times. In fact, the same dull routine is repeated every day and the country has acquired an air of quietness relieved only now and again by retaliation rounds which are the only indication that we are actually at war.
There are two things worth living for in this world – love and war. The worst of it is that you cannot materially enjoy both at the same time. Experience has taught me the bitter truth of all this. When I talk of war or its attractiveness, I don't refer to gay and happy regiments marching along to the accompaniment of brass bands or the soul-stirring notes of the bugle and the medley of fife and drum – I allude to the roar and thunder and clash of arms of the battlefield, of the silent secrecy of bayonet attacks under cover of darkness, when cold steel finds a resting place in the quivering breasts of a thousand an one of our enemies, to the shambles of death which a bright morning reveals in some quiet verdant hollow where the bodies of our brave comrades and those of our enemy lie inextricably mixed, to be tossed into a common grave "unhallowed and unsung". It may appear somewhat paradoxical that these things should be so loathsome and yet so attractive – the answer is simple, yet irrefutable: the men go on and they love it all. The ethics of it I cannot explain. Considered from the true Christian standpoint war is bad: there is nothing in it compatible with biblical law. In battle the savage beast is uppermost and our one desire is to slay. We are urged to kill and so legitimate murder goes on. On the other hand, considered in the practical light of these practical times war is inevitable and right. And so long as the German and any other of his kidney are allowed to wallow in the mire of their own conceit that they can rend and subdue the nations of the earth by rapine, pillage and the murder of innocent souls, so long will it be our duty to teach them otherwise – and that can only be accomplished by means of cold steel and shell and all the dread implements of modern warfare.
A redeeming feature about this love of war is that it creates a love for home and dear friends so far away that one has hitherto unknown. It certainly teaches the lesson to appreciate the comfort and serenity of home life, and is an excellent appetizer for the good things that a safe return will bring. Home will be like entering the gates of Paradise after a long sojourn in Hell. I often sit and think of the things that have been, the things that are and well – the chances of the big gamble of life and death ahead. Daily association with modern war is a strict censor of a man's soul and brings the best out of him, if he be willing.
This stupendous task in Gallipoli is a nerve-trier unparalleled in the history of warfare. Isolated from all civilisation, living in holes like rabbits in their burrows, with none of the comforts of the "billeted" soldier in France or his opportunity for relaxation, and not a moment of the day secure from the enemy's aggressiveness, we live on and hope – there is no backsliding, sickness is rife and danger is on every hand, but the morale of the men is unshaken. Victory is ahead, and it is their sole objective.
We received a 'peppering' of shrapnel at teatime. It knocked out the wireless and killed one poor chap instantaneously, not a dozen yards from where I stood.
27:9:15 – (See Eiffel Tower report and War Office Telegrams dated 27.9.15 re French and British successes in France). All this good news sent me whistling about the 'Office', but I was promptly hauled up by the Major (Pinwill), who fired at me, "Stop that, Rhodes, it disturbs the equanimity of the Office." And I was not surprised, for whistling was never my forte.
30:9:15 – Ordered some Turkish Delight per favour of our Greek interpreter who is visiting Imbros.