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AUSTRALIA IN ARMS A NARRATIVE OF THE AUSTRALASIAN IMPERIAL FORCE AND THEIR ACHIEVEMENT AT ANZAC
AUSTRALIA IN ARMS A NARRATIVE OF THE AUSTRALASIAN IMPERIAL FORCE AND THEIR ACHIEVEMENT AT ANZAC
BY PHILLIP F. E. SCHULER Special War Correspondent of The Age , Melbourne WITH 9 MAPS AND 53 ILLUSTRATIONS LONDON T. FISHER UNWIN LTD. ADELPHI TERRACE First published in 1916 ( All rights reserved ) TO THE MOTHERS OF THE HEROES WHO HAVE FALLEN I HUMBLY DEDICATE THESE RECORDS OF GLORIOUS DEEDS TO THE MOTHER COUNTRY...
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PREFACE
PREFACE
One hot, bright morning early in the Dardanelles campaign, so the story goes, Lieut.-General Sir William Birdwood was walking up one of the worn tracks of Anzac that led over the hills into the firing-line when he stopped, as he very often did on these daily tours of the line, to talk with two men who were cooking over a fireplace made of shell cases. General Birdwood wore no jacket, therefore he had no badges of rank. His cap even lacked gold lace. Under his arm he had tucked a periscope. But t
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CHAPTER I THE TOCSIN IN AUSTRALIA
CHAPTER I THE TOCSIN IN AUSTRALIA
It is impossible to look back and recall without a glow of intense pride the instantaneous response made by the young manhood of Australia to the first signal of danger which fluttered at the central masthead of the Empire. As time goes on that pride has increased as battalions and brigades have followed one another into the firing-line; it has become now a pride steeped in the knowledge that the baptism of fire has proven the young nation, has given it an indelible stamp of Nationhood, has prov
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CHAPTER II THE ASSEMBLY
CHAPTER II THE ASSEMBLY
While it was general knowledge that the First Australian Contingent was about to leave its native shores—26th September—no exact date was mentioned as the day of departure. For one very sound reason. The German cruisers had not been rounded up and some of them were still known to be cruising in Australian waters. They could be heard talking in the loud, high-pitched Telefunken code, but the messages were not always readable, lucky as had been the capture early in the war of a code-book from a Ge
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CHAPTER III ADVENTURES ON THE CONVOY
CHAPTER III ADVENTURES ON THE CONVOY
Now the course set by the Minotaur , once the Convoy was well clear of the Western Australian coast, was not the ordinary trade route to Colombo. In the first place we steamed farther west, and then shaped a course to pass some 60 or 70 miles to the east of Cocos Islands. This was on the opposite side of that group to the ordinary track of the mail steamers. The reason for the change of route was to ensure protection. Other courses were open to us; for instance, the one which would have led us a
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CHAPTER IV THE FIRST PAGE OF AUSTRALIAN NAVAL HISTORY I. From the Decks of the Convoy
CHAPTER IV THE FIRST PAGE OF AUSTRALIAN NAVAL HISTORY I. From the Decks of the Convoy
Taking events in their chronological order, I halt here in the narrative of the advance of the Australian Contingent into Egypt to deal with the incidents relating to the chase and destruction of the notorious raiding cruiser Emden by the Australian cruiser Sydney , which, together with her sister ship, the Melbourne , at the time of the action was part of the Convoy. It was singularly significant that this first page of Australia's naval history—a glorious, magnificently written page—should hav
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CHAPTER V THE FIRST PAGE OF AUSTRALIAN NAVAL HISTORY (continued) II. The Destruction of the "Emden"
CHAPTER V THE FIRST PAGE OF AUSTRALIAN NAVAL HISTORY (continued) II. The Destruction of the "Emden"
It may indeed be considered a happy omen that the first chapter of Australia's naval history should be written in such glowing colours as those that surrounded the destruction of the German raider Emden , for whose capture no price was deemed too high to pay. Hearing the recital of that chapter by Captain Glossop in the cabin of the Sydney two days after the engagement, I consider myself amongst the most fortunate. In the late afternoon I had come on board the Sydney , then lying in the harbour
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CHAPTER VI UP THE RED SEA
CHAPTER VI UP THE RED SEA
At Colombo the Australian troops found the sight of quaint junks, and mosquito craft, and naked natives, ready to dive to the bottom for a sou , very fascinating after coming from more prosaic Southern climes. Colombo Harbour itself was choked with shipping and warships of the Allied Powers. There was the cruiser Sydney , little the worse for wear, and also several British cruisers. There was the five-funnelled Askold , which curiously enough turned up here just after the Emden had gone—the two
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CHAPTER VII THE CAMPS AROUND CAIRO
CHAPTER VII THE CAMPS AROUND CAIRO
Mena Camp, when I saw it at daybreak on the morning of 4th December, consisted of a score of tents scattered about in a square mile of desert, and perhaps a thousand men lying in their great-coats, asleep in the sand, their heads resting on their packs. The men of the 5th Battalion—those that are left of them—are not likely to forget that march out from Cairo on the night of the 3rd-4th, and the subsequent days of settling down to camp, and the greetings they gave to regiment after regiment as t
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CHAPTER VIII RUMOURS OF THE TURKS' ATTACK
CHAPTER VIII RUMOURS OF THE TURKS' ATTACK
News in Egypt travels like wildfire. Consequently, during the end of January, just prior to the first attack on the Canal and attempted invasion of Egypt by the Turks, Cairo was "thick," or, as the troops said, "stiff," with rumours, and the bazaars, I found from conversation with Egyptian journalists, were filled with murmurs of sedition. It was said hundreds of thousands of Turks were about to cross the Canal and enter Egypt. The Young Turk party, no doubt, were responsible for originating the
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CHAPTER IX FIRST SUEZ CANAL BATTLE
CHAPTER IX FIRST SUEZ CANAL BATTLE
The Turkish Army, gathered under the direction of General Liman von Sanders, the German Military Governor of Turkey, was composed of Turks, Bedouins, Arabs, refugees from Asia Minor, and a few Germans. About 20,000 men in all, under the command of Djemal Pasha, they crossed the peninsula, dashed themselves vainly against the defences of the Canal, and fell back broken into Turkey again. Very briefly, or as concisely as is consistent with accuracy, let me review the Canal and the approaches to th
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CHAPTER X THE PLAN OF ATTACK
CHAPTER X THE PLAN OF ATTACK
The first bombardment of the Turkish forts at the entrance to the Dardanelles by British and French squadrons started at 8 a.m. on 19th February 1915, and at dusk the warships had to be withdrawn, with the Turkish Kum Kale batteries still firing. On the 25th operations were resumed with the Queen Elizabeth , Agamemnon , and Irresistible in the fight. By 4th March the outer forts had been silenced, and the way lay clear to the inner ring of forts in the vicinity of Dardanus. Meanwhile, the Turks
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CHAPTER XI THE DAWN OF ANZAC—THE LANDING
CHAPTER XI THE DAWN OF ANZAC—THE LANDING
Anzac! In April—a name unformed, undetermined; June—and the worth of a Nation and Dominion proved by the five letters—bound together, by the young army's leader, Lieut.-General Sir W. Birdwood, in the inspired "Anzac"—Australian, New Zealand Army Corps. In reality, the first battle of Anzac began when the transports commenced to steam out of the great harbour of Mudros on Saturday afternoon, 24th April. All that was needed for the swift commencement of the deep-laid plan was a perfectly calm sea
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CHAPTER XII A TERRIBLE THREE DAYS
CHAPTER XII A TERRIBLE THREE DAYS
Dawn on the 26th came stealing over the hills beyond the Straits and snow-capped Mount Ida, showing her pink peak above the dark grim fortifications of Kelid Bahr, and along the Dardanelles Straits. Dawn awoke to hear the thundering boom of the guns from the fleet in amongst the valleys and gullies of Anzac, the rattle of muskets and the rip-rip-rip of machine guns. It spread with an echoing roar to the beach; it was taken up by the ships that lay one or two miles off the coast; it was intensifi
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CHAPTER XIII A BATTLE PANORAMA OF GALLIPOLI
CHAPTER XIII A BATTLE PANORAMA OF GALLIPOLI
This narrative is devoted to the deeds of the Australians, but on that account it must not be judged that the scanty reference to the part played by the British troops indicates that part was but of secondary importance to the Dardanelles operations and the Gallipoli campaign. On the contrary, the position may be best summed up by the words of General Sir Ian Hamilton, who said to me on Imbros one day: "We [the British] have occupied the end of the peninsula, while the Australians are a thorn in
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CHAPTER XIV AN UNFULFILLED ARMY ORDER
CHAPTER XIV AN UNFULFILLED ARMY ORDER
It is impossible to contemplate the position at Anzac on Wednesday, 28th April, when the fighting for a foothold on the peninsula had finished and the Turks had been crushed back, without feeling that the battlefields of France and Flanders had not taught the lessons that were only too startlingly obvious—that success was only won by adequate reserves being ready to hurl against the enemy in extremis . Granted that two or three days—Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday—were necessary for the reorgan
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CHAPTER XV VICTORIANS' CHARGE AT KRITHIA
CHAPTER XV VICTORIANS' CHARGE AT KRITHIA
While the Australians' position at Anzac was being made secure, preparations were pushed forward at Cape Helles for the storming of the loaf-shaped hill of Achi Baba, on which the Turks had, after the fortnight's fighting, been forced to take up a defensive position. There they had strongly entrenched themselves behind line after line of trenches. Their actual first resisting line, however, was by this about 3 miles from the toe of the peninsula on the right, at a point near De Tots battery, the
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CHAPTER XVI TURKISH MAY ATTACK AND ARMISTICE
CHAPTER XVI TURKISH MAY ATTACK AND ARMISTICE
The Turks' strongest attack of the campaign was made in the middle of May, when they attempted an assault all along the Anzac line. Both sides had had time to reorganize, and both had received reinforcements. The Turks probably had 35,000 men in their trenches at this time, while the Australians had 30,000. During the first fortnight of the month the enemy had brought up guns of bigger calibre, and had placed in the Olive Grove, from which they could enfilade the beach from the east, a six-gun b
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CHAPTER XVII ANZAC COVE
CHAPTER XVII ANZAC COVE
The evolution of Anzac was as the growth of a mining settlement. Little had been done by the Turks in their defensive preparations to disturb the natural growth that spread from the crest of Maclagan's Ridge almost down to the water's edge—a growth of holly bush, a kind of furze, and an abundant carpet of grasses, wild flowers, poppies, and anemones. Round Ari Burnu their line of shallow trenches had run along to the Fishermen's Huts, but there were no tracks, other than the sheep or goat track
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CHAPTER XVIII THROUGH THE FIRING-LINES
CHAPTER XVIII THROUGH THE FIRING-LINES
Anzac was divided into two parts by Shrapnel Gully, which ran from Hell Spit right up to the very apex of the position, at the junction of the ridge that the army held and the main ridge of Sari Bair. Thousands of men lost their lives in this great broad valley during the early days of the fighting, when the Turkish artillery burst shrapnel over it. That was how it got its name. It was there that General Bridges met his death, in this Valley of the Shadow of Death. In its upper course it merged
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CHAPTER XIX LIFE AT QUINN'S AND POPE'S
CHAPTER XIX LIFE AT QUINN'S AND POPE'S
It is doubtful if the true history of Quinn's and Pope's positions will ever be collated. But any soldier will tell you that these two posts made Anzac, for it was on the holding of these precarious and well-nigh impossible positions in the early days of occupation that the whole Australian line depended. The names will be for ever bound up with the gallant officers who defended them, though it will be only meet that their subsequent commanders should have their names inscribed on the roll of th
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CHAPTER XX JUNE AND JULY PREPARATIONS
CHAPTER XX JUNE AND JULY PREPARATIONS
There is no doubt that operations in May convinced General Sir Ian Hamilton that neither at the southern nor in the northern positions on the peninsula was his force strong enough to push back the Turks, though he held what he had won strongly enough. Consequently he cabled to the War Office, urging that reinforcements should be sent. But in the middle of May the withdrawal of the Russians from the Gallipoli campaign was declared from Petrograd, and the Commander-in-Chief found it necessary to i
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CHAPTER XXI THE AUGUST PHASE AND NEW LANDING
CHAPTER XXI THE AUGUST PHASE AND NEW LANDING
It will have been gathered from the fighting that followed the terrible May attack of the Turks, when they lost so heavily in trying to dislodge the Australians from Anzac and British from Helles, that nothing would have satisfied our commanders better than for a Turkish attack to develop during the end of July. This, I feel certain in saying, would have been repulsed, as others had been repulsed, and would have left the Turkish army weak, just at the moment when General Sir Ian Hamilton had com
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CHAPTER XXII LONE PINE
CHAPTER XXII LONE PINE
Lone Pine was the first big attack that the 1st Brigade had taken part in since the landing. Indeed, it was the first battle these New South Welshmen had as a separate and complete operation. It was, perhaps, the freshest and strongest infantry brigade of the four at Anzac, though barely 2,000 strong. The men had been in the trenches (except for a few battalions that had been rested at Imbros) since April. They were ripe for a fight; they were tired of the monotony of sniping at a few Turks and
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CHAPTER XXIII THE HEROIC LIGHT HORSE CHARGE
CHAPTER XXIII THE HEROIC LIGHT HORSE CHARGE
So far as the 1st Australian Division was concerned, their offensive in the great battle of August began with the capture of Lone Pine, late on the afternoon of the 6th August, and ended with the desperate, heroic charge of the 8th and 10th Light Horse Regiments on the early morning of the 7th. Lone Pine had started the whole of the operations, and the Australian Division throughout the night was to carry them on by a series of offensives from their trenches right along the line. All this fighti
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CHAPTER XXIV THE BATTLE OF SARI BAIR—FIRST PHASE
CHAPTER XXIV THE BATTLE OF SARI BAIR—FIRST PHASE
It must be recognized that except for the 4th Infantry Brigade the offensive of the Australians was completed on the morning of the 7th. Part had succeeded—part had failed. Their further advance rested entirely on the success of the second phase of the great scheme, the assault of the Sari Bair ridge. This terrible task fell mostly on the New Zealanders, but partly, too, on the new British army and the Indian brigades. The Australians were the connecting link between this greater Anzac and Suvla
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CHAPTER XXV THE BATTLE OF SARI BAIR—THE CAPTURE OF THE RIDGE AND ITS LOSS
CHAPTER XXV THE BATTLE OF SARI BAIR—THE CAPTURE OF THE RIDGE AND ITS LOSS
As night fell on the 7th August, death and destruction was spread around the hills by the guns of the warships. It began on the farther deep-tinted purple mountain ridges overlooking Suvla Bay; it continued in a series of white shell-bursts on to the Sari Bair ridge. Grass fires lit the sky and smudged the landscape in the valley of the Salt Lake. After midnight the assault of the highest peaks was to commence. New columns had been organized. The New Zealanders, supported by British troops, were
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CHAPTER XXVI HILL 60, GALLIPOLI
CHAPTER XXVI HILL 60, GALLIPOLI
In the days immediately following the halting of the 4th Infantry Brigade in the Asma Dere, it would have been possible to have walked on to the top of the steep knoll marked "Hill 60" on the maps. From the ridge that the Australians then occupied there was only a small ridge in between, and a cornfield joining a valley not many yards across. Then came the hill—not, perhaps, as famous as Hill 60 in France, nor even as bloodstained, but one that cost over 1,000 men to take—that commanded the broa
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CHAPTER XXVII THE EVACUATION OF THE PENINSULA
CHAPTER XXVII THE EVACUATION OF THE PENINSULA
While the days dragged slowly by on the Anzac front, and the armies had been brought to a standstill at Suvla Bay, events at the seat of the Allies' War Council were moving rapidly. After the last fight and the failure of the great adventure, General Hamilton estimated his force at 95,000 men. He was 45,000 men below his normal strength for the units he held. Sickness was wasting his army at an alarming rate. He cabled to the War Office for more reinforcements, pointing out that the enemy agains
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APPENDIX I DISTINCTIONS FOR GALLANTRY AND SERVICES IN THE FIELD
APPENDIX I DISTINCTIONS FOR GALLANTRY AND SERVICES IN THE FIELD
The following awards for services rendered in connection with military operations in the field were made by His Majesty the King to members of the Australian Imperial Force. THE VICTORIA CROSS Captain Alfred John Shout , 1st Battalion, Australian Imperial Force (New South Wales). For most conspicuous bravery at Lone Pine trenches, in the Gallipoli Peninsula. On the morning of 9th August 1915, with a very small party, Captain Shout charged down trenches strongly occupied by the enemy, and persona
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APPENDIX II MENTIONED IN DISPATCHES
APPENDIX II MENTIONED IN DISPATCHES
DIVISIONAL ARTILLERY INFANTRY BRIGADE AUSTRALIAN ARTILLERY AUSTRALIAN ENGINEERS AUSTRALIAN LIGHT HORSE First Regiment (N.S.W.). Third Regiment (S.A. and Tasmania). Sixth Regiment (N.S.W.). Eighth Regiment (Victoria). Ninth Regiment (Victoria and S.A.). Tenth Regiment (W.A.). INFANTRY. First Battalion (N.S.W.). Second Battalion (N.S.W.). Third Battalion (N.S.W.). Fourth Battalion (N.S.W.). Fifth Battalion (Victoria). Sixth Battalion (Victoria). Seventh Battalion (Victoria). Eighth Battalion (Vict
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