This page has already been transcribed. You can find new pages to transcribe here.

Transcription

[Page 612]

down by writers of text books on war. It has been the commonest amongst them to have paragraphs to the effect, that men would never again be able to face the fire of the modern rifle and its ally the machine gun, that battles would have to be fought won & lost in extended formations, & that it would not be possible for me[n] to get within striking distance of each other with the bayonet. It was all belied on this memorable 25th of April, and by men, from far away Australia, who had never in their lives handled a rifle in anger with intent to kill any man. Yet they not only climbed these hills, but rushed beyond them in pursuit of men, amongst whom must have been many war-stained veterans, who had been through the late Balkan war, and other fighting for which like lesser troubles of the Ottoman Empire give opportunities.

During the whole of the morning and the afternoon I wandered over the positions whereon our men and the New Zealanders fought on the 25th of April, and the 6th of August. On The latter date was marked by a great fight to the left of the crescent of held land, then the nature of the ground & its covering of shrubs was well known, the water courses and the summits were familiar men knew what they had to expect, four months of experience on the land of the peninsula had taught them what to avoid & how to do so, which was the best way to counteract this difficulty and that, where the enemy was situated, what his

Current Status: 
Completed