South Bend news-times. (South Bend, Ind.) 1913-1938, 1915-03-20
Eye Witness Writes
of tack on Forts
BY Special Correspondence.

BY Special Correspondence.
TENEDOS. March 2O.-After sew
eral days OF inactivity on the part Of
the heavy vessels of the fleet a cOun-
ell Of war was held by the admirals
of the allied fleets and, in agreement
with the chiefs of the land forces, it
was decided TO make an attempt TO
force the narrOws by a sea attack.
] made my way To Mount Elias. the
one eminenCe on this island. 1t IS
800 feet above sea level and a splen-
did view can be obtained of the en-
trance To the stTaits-a view extend
ing TO the towns Of Chanak and Kilid
Bahr one the European and Asiatic
shores respectively Sixteen battle
ships and large cruisers took part in
tOday's action. Twelve of these were
British and four French. At 9 o'clock
six British warships moved out from
their anchors at the foot of Mount
Elias and headed for the entrance fol
lowed at distance of three miles by
the French squadron comprising the
Suffern, BOuvet Charlemagne and
Gaulios in order named.
The British squadron passed the
entrance TO the straits, the IndeXible
leading. Then came four ships two
abreast and last the Queen Elizabeth.
After passing the entrance they
changed to a fan-like formation.
At 1910 the foremost ship fired
two shots. Three ships had disap-
peared from my view, hugging the
Erenkeu bay shore. BY this time the
French squadron had passed the
mouth and had assumed a line fOrma-
tion.
British Ships Begin Firing.
The British ships now began firing
upon forts Kilid Bahr and Chanak
but as yet their fire was desultory,
only about two shots being discharged
a minute by all six At 1915 the
British vessels began TO fire rapidly. /
This sudden intensity was caused by |
the appearance OF a Turkish warship |
from around Point Kilid Bahr She /
turned and disappeared emitting vol !
umes of smoke from funnel and de- |
noting a hurry to get away.
BY 1880 the British ships occupied |
a line extending across the basin |
starting from above Erenkeu village |
they began a sustained fire against |
forts Kilid Bahr and Chanak. Sud |
denly from the latter immense flames |
shot up, followed by dense smoke, |
probably caused by the explosion of
a powder magazine.
At 1850 the French squadron |
joined the line of British ships and |
began action. At noon the Turks |
commenced replying rapidly. I saw
six immense spOuts of water rise from |
both sides of one of our ships and ]
a little later saw the effect Of a
Turkish shell on board. 1t caused a
fire but five minutes afterwards the (
fire had ceased and flashes from this
ships guns were again discerned.
At 1910 flames and smoke arose 1
from one of the French ships. The
chaplain from the French hospital |
ship Canada. who was sitting beside !
me. thought il was the Bouvet. She
quilted the line and disappeared hug
ging the shore. At this juncture a |
seaplane left the aeroplane ship !
which was anchored below us and |
flying over the line OF ships disap- !
peared I'm the distance up the straits. |
BOmbardment Continues.
From 12:30 10 1870 the lombard |
ment continued very intens the
Turks replying vigorously Huge
should be seen all over the line Of
battleships, some evidently taking eff
feet.
From the distance at which I was
witnessing this awe-inspiring picture
it was difficult 10 discern which par
ticular ship was hit. on the other
hand the deadly effect OF the ships
fire on shore could be noted by the
volumes of black smoke rising as
each shot took effect.
The sustained activity Of the enemy
was called forth by an attempt of the
three leading ships to get in close
range At 1:30 p. m. the intensity of
the fring abated, only occasional
shots being discharged from both
forts and ships At one time there
was an entire lull in the firing from
the ships. But the Turks continued.
A third squadron of six British
ships left the Tenedos roads at 1:45
p. M headed for the entrance and
passed in There were now 16 bat
tleships and cruisers operating in the
first basin of the straits.
At 2:45 p. m. two ships appeared |
TO have advanced further towards the !
narrows This called forth another
spell Of intense activity from the
Turkish batteries. / saw two hits
take effect. From the two ships
smoke issued f. about 10 minutes
and cleared away. only three ships
were visible at p. m. in that part |
of the basin open 10 my view. !
shells Cause Explosion.
Just after 8 O'Clock shells from the |
Queen Elizabeth caused another ex- |
ploSion in Fort kilid Bahr. Again |
the same awful spectacle was seen.
flames shot mountain |
high followed by a cloud OF smoke. |
Both Forts KiHd Bahr and Chanak |
were now burning I'm several places. |
suddenly about 4:3O p. N. from |
two places just in front OF Kephez |
Buruu appeared two unexpected !
Turkish batteries. one OF three guns /
and the other Of two. From this |
place no fire had come all day. They |
must have been movable batteries.
These batteries opened tire but az |
$40 were silCende by fire from the |
Queen Elizabeth Just afterward "A |
French ships came from the straits
conveyed by two others. Evidently /
She had sustained damage. She
grounded on Rabbit island with "a