CAMPAIGNS
Signaller Ellis Silas, 16th Battalion
“The noise now is hell…now some of the chaps are getting it – groans and screams everywhere, calls for ammunition and stretcher bearers, though how the latter are going to carry stretchers along such precipitous and sandy slopes beats me. Now commencing to take some of the dead out of the trenches; this is horrible; I wonder how long I can stand it.”
Reid, Richard. Gallipoli 1915. Sydney: ABC for the Australian Broadcasting, 2002, p35.
Image: Portrait of Private Ellis Silas. http://cas.awm.gov.au/item/P02801.001
“The noise now is hell…now some of the chaps are getting it – groans and screams everywhere, calls for ammunition and stretcher bearers, though how the latter are going to carry stretchers along such precipitous and sandy slopes beats me. Now commencing to take some of the dead out of the trenches; this is horrible; I wonder how long I can stand it.”
Reid, Richard. Gallipoli 1915. Sydney: ABC for the Australian Broadcasting, 2002, p35.
Image: Portrait of Private Ellis Silas. http://cas.awm.gov.au/item/P02801.001
Private AM Simpson
“I got a Turk in the neck…made me feel sick and squeamish, being the first man I have ever killed…I often wake up and seem to feel my bayonet going into his neck. Ugh! It does get on a man’s nerves.”
Gammage, Bill. The Broken Years; Australian Soldiers in the Great War. Canberra: Australian National UP, 1974, p116.
Image: Bodies of dead Turks 24 May 1915. http://cas.awm.gov.au/item/P02649.027
“I got a Turk in the neck…made me feel sick and squeamish, being the first man I have ever killed…I often wake up and seem to feel my bayonet going into his neck. Ugh! It does get on a man’s nerves.”
Gammage, Bill. The Broken Years; Australian Soldiers in the Great War. Canberra: Australian National UP, 1974, p116.
Image: Bodies of dead Turks 24 May 1915. http://cas.awm.gov.au/item/P02649.027
Athol Burrett, 3rd Batallion, AIF, on The Lone Pine Offensive
“The slaughter commenced from the second we emerged from our trenches. Machine-gun and rifle fire came from the direction from and enfilade from both flanks. Men fell thickly on the way over. Imagine our surprise when instead of finding open trenches we saw only holes in the ground at intervals of 10 yards or so…each hole spat fire. However, a few men managed to get down the holes into the trench. Many of us just rushed over the front line and got into the rear trenches right among the Turks. Then started the most gruesome, bloody, and fierce hand-to-hand fighting of the whole war.”
Pugsley, Christopher, and Lockyer, John. The Anzacs at Gallipoli: a Story for Anzac Day. Auckland: Reed, 1999, p22.
Image: Lieutenant Colonel Athol Frederick Burrett. http://cas.awm.gov.au/item/H19202
“The slaughter commenced from the second we emerged from our trenches. Machine-gun and rifle fire came from the direction from and enfilade from both flanks. Men fell thickly on the way over. Imagine our surprise when instead of finding open trenches we saw only holes in the ground at intervals of 10 yards or so…each hole spat fire. However, a few men managed to get down the holes into the trench. Many of us just rushed over the front line and got into the rear trenches right among the Turks. Then started the most gruesome, bloody, and fierce hand-to-hand fighting of the whole war.”
Pugsley, Christopher, and Lockyer, John. The Anzacs at Gallipoli: a Story for Anzac Day. Auckland: Reed, 1999, p22.
Image: Lieutenant Colonel Athol Frederick Burrett. http://cas.awm.gov.au/item/H19202
Arthur Leeman, 8th Light Horse, AIF, on The Attack of The Nek
“Only a few men reached the Turkish trenches and they were blown to pieces with bombs…I can say that I was one of the lucky ones, for as soon as I was hit, I fell back into our trench…I had a real good mate – we were like brothers to one another – who got hit on the left side just below the heart…He died early on Sunday morning.”
Pugsley, Christopher, and Lockyer, John. The Anzacs at Gallipoli: a Story for Anzac Day. Auckland: Reed, 1999, p24.
Image: Arthur Leeman is on the far right of the back row. http://cas.awm.gov.au/item/A03049
“Only a few men reached the Turkish trenches and they were blown to pieces with bombs…I can say that I was one of the lucky ones, for as soon as I was hit, I fell back into our trench…I had a real good mate – we were like brothers to one another – who got hit on the left side just below the heart…He died early on Sunday morning.”
Pugsley, Christopher, and Lockyer, John. The Anzacs at Gallipoli: a Story for Anzac Day. Auckland: Reed, 1999, p24.
Image: Arthur Leeman is on the far right of the back row. http://cas.awm.gov.au/item/A03049