Evening star., 1916-01-07
Gunbarrels Red Hot.

"Eot here only did the Turks pay
dea-ly for their recapture of the vital
crest. Enemy reinforcements continued
to move up under heavy and accurate
fire from our guns. Still they kept
topping the ridges and pouring down
the western slopes of Chunnuk river.
as if determined to gain everything
they had lost. But once they were over
the crest they became exposed not only
to the full blast of the guns, naval ard
military, but a battery of ten New Zea-
land machine guns, which played upon
their serried ranks at close range until
their barrels were red hot.
Enormous losses were inflicted, and
of the swarms which had once really
crossed the crest line only handful
ever struggled back to their own side
of Chunnuk Bair.
"At the same time strong forces of
the enemy were hurled against the
spurs to the northeast. where there
arose conflict SO deadly that it may
be considered the climax of four days
fighting for the ridge. Portions of our
lines were pierced and the troops were
driven clean down the hill. At the foot
of the hill the men who were supervis-
ing the transport of food and water
were rallied by Staff Captain Street.
Urhesita.ingly they followed him back.
where they plunged into the midst of
that series of struggles, in which gen
erals fought IN the ranks, and men
dropped their scientific weapons and
caught one another by the throat
Where Generals Fell.
The Turks came on again and again.
Fighting magniticently and calling
upon the name of God. our men stood
10 it and maintained by many a deed of
daring the old traditions of their race
There was no finching; they died in
the ranks where they stood. Here
Gems. Cayley, Baldwin and Cooper and
all their gallant men achieved great
glory. On this bloody field fell Brig
Gen. Baldwin, who earned his first Iau-
rels on Caesars camp. at L2dysmith
There, too. fell Brig. Gen. Cooper. badly
wounded
Toward this supreme struggle the
absolute last two battalions from the
general reserve were now hurried, but
oy 10 o'clock in the morning the eff
fort of the enemy was spent Soon
their shattered remnants began TO
trickle back leaving a track Of corpses
behind them. BY night. except for
prisoners or wounded, no live Turk
was left upon our side of the slope
Two lesser attacks were made ky the
Turks the same day. Gen. Hamilton
continues:
BY evening the total casualties of
Gen: Birdwood's force had reached
10000. and included "a very large pro-
portion of officers. The thirteenth di-
vision of the army under Mai
Gen. Shaw had alone lost 5000, out of
grand total of l0,500 Brig Gen
Baldwin was gone and of all his staff
men and commanding officers. thirteen
had disappeared from the fighting eff
fectives. The Warwicks and Worces-
ters had lost literally every single
officer.
German Notion Falsifed.
The old German notion that no unit
could stand the loss of more than 20
per cent has been completely falsified
The 18th Division and the 29th Brigade
of the 10th Irish Division had lost more
than twice that, and in spirit were
game for much more fighting as
might be required
The British had held all they gained
except two important salients, one a
hill, momentarily carried by the Gurk-
has. and the position on Chunnuk
Bair, which had been retained forty
eight hours.
unfortunately" says Gen. Hamilton
"these two pieces of ground. small and
worthless as they seemed, were worth
lives, for their loss of retention they
an important success and signal vic
tory. The grand coup had not come
OF: the Narrows were out of sight and
beyond field gun rahge. but this was
not the fault of Gen. Birdwood or any