Archive for May, 2016
Leaving Gallipoli 2
Roland Sherwin was eighteen years old when he enlisted in February 1915. He was appointed to the 7th Light Horse and landed at Anzac Cove, Gallipoli on 24th October. He told of his experience at Gallipoli in a letter to his father, dated 28th December 1915. (The letter was published in ‘The Braidwood Dispatch and Mining Journal’, 18 Feb 1916, p. 4.)
“I am back in dear old Egypt, feeling none the worse for my eight weeks on Gallipoli. What a relief, though, to feel you are safe when you go to bed at night, with the soft desert sand beneath and the b…
Leaving Gallipoli
In December 1915 the Allies finally realised that they could not defeat the Turks on the Gallipoli Peninsular so, they quietly left. Of the evacuation Richard Bassett wrote-
“The afternoon before leaving Gallipoli I was passing one of the cemeteries, and I saw a chaplain busily engaged in apparently attending to the graves. I looked at him questioningly, and he said, 'I am just planting a few wattle seeds. There will be something Australian when we are all gone.' I must confess to a lump in the throat as I made my way, for the last time, to our trenches. One does not, you see, lose al…
Gallipoli Letters 4
Those in the 8th Battalion did not form part of the attack on Lone Pine. Rather they held the line of trench further north towards Johnston’s Jolly. They continuously fired on the Turkish trenches opposite to deflect their interest from the attack at Lone Pine. For a day and a night, their trench was very heavily bombarded with over 300 shells. Parapets were destroyed, nowhere was safe. At the end of two days, 25 men had been killed and 101 wounded. Richard Bassett survived. He was promoted to the rank of Lance Corporal. After the battle, on 19th August, Richard wrote…
Gallipoli Letters 3
When young Australians first set foot on the Gallipoli Peninsular they were full of enthusiasm. They had a real sense of adventure. By July this had changed. Now the War was just work that had to be done. In July this is the reality of Richard Bassett
On 29th July he wrote – “We are indulging in what may be termed the monotony of war just now, if you can understand what that means. It is a wearisome life, and I quite understand the necessity of a little diversion at times, and we rarely get it here. The shelling of our trenches is enlivening on occasions, but the Tur…