The Wallace miner. [volume] (Wallace, Idaho) 1907-current, 1918-08-29
Catholic Priest Gives Graphic Descrip-
ton of Landing of Allies on the
Gallipoi Peninsula.

the early period OF the war Inc let
Ter was handed to the Miner by Faith
er RYAN, of Gonzaga college, who is
temporarily in charge Of st. Alphon-
sus church in this city. The autnor'
Father ]. Fahy, was chaplain Oh an
Irish regiment which participated IN
that memorable expedition, and IN
recognition of his splendid service ON
that occasion the British government
awarded him the Victoria cross, being
the first Catholic priest to receive this
distinction. The letter follows:
Gallipoli, Peninsula, Mar. ~, 1913.
MY Dear Friend: Your letter was
so welcome, coming as 1t did amid
the din and clash Of war. ] shall be
delighted to get a copy OF that An
nual, and ! thank you In anticipation
/ can not think or speak OF anything
but war now. we are surrounded by
it here, so you must excuse me If l
make 1t the principal topic OF this
letter. 1t may be interesting to you
living in the peaceful precincts of the
monastery, to know something or
what we have been through during
the past month
The brigrade to which | am at
tached as chaplain left Egypt on the
1st of March for an unknown destin-
alton. In a few days we were landed
and took possession of the Turkish
island of Lemnos, which is now the
base of the Mediterranean army. .-~ A
large army of English, French, Aus
tralian and New Zealanders and In
dams was gradually collected for OPP
erations against the Turks and the
DardAnelles. Seven weeks later, on
the 21st of April, a huge fleet of troop
ships and warships left Lemnos after
dark and towards midnight anchored
under the lee of ImIbros, some miles
from the peninsula. The Anglo
French troops were to land at the
southern end, whilst the Australian
and New Zealand troops were to af-
feet landing Is miles north, on the
western side at a place called Capa
Tepe. The idea was that the Anglo
French forces. were to sweep the
Turks northwards along the peninsula
and drive them on to us, where being
caught between two fires they would
be annihilated or compelled to sur
render. The powerful shore batteries
of the Dasdanelles, the mine fields
and torpedo tubes would then be TAX
en- in the rear and the Dardanelles
would be opened to the allied fleet.
The warships would then proceed
through the sea of Marmora, destroy
the Turkish fleet train their guns on
San Sophia and the sultan's palace
and dictate terms to the Turk 1t was
a lovely programme on paper, but 1t
has not yet materialized and will not
for some time. 1t will be long and
difficult operation. The Anglo
French met with fierce opposition. A
ship was beached to serve as a jetty,
but 1t was a failure as 1t only became
a target for the Turkish fire. They
had to cut their way to shore through
barbed wire stretching out into the
water. They succeeded in landing
and have now pushed the Turks back
ward s or 6 miles. We can see and
hear the battle from our trenches
They lost very heavily in the landing,
aynantaI1x, he bni
chaplain, FIR, Finn, was killed. He
was wounded in the boat but insisted
on coming ashore, and while attend
ing dying soldier was riddled by q
gun, He is the only chap
lain killed so far. Our landing took
place further north at the same time.
My brigade was selected for the hon.
durable and perilous task of landing
party to seize the position and make
1t secure for the landing of the main
body. Chaplains were ordered not to
land until the following day when the
position would be safe. However, l
orders and sneaked off
with the men, and 1t VAS fortunate for
many dying man that | was ashore
that morning. Had i known the in
ferno / was rushing into j believe l
should have remained behind. We
on destroyer and torpedo
boats from the troop ships and steam
I'd slowly towards the shore. Each
destroyer carried 400 men and had
arge rowing boats in tow in which
we were to pull ashore AS we ap-
within a quarter of mile
}. the shore, everything was very
Not a word was heard
,mong the men, not sound except
he faint throbblng of the engines.
Everybody was waiting in intense ex-
,ectation Of what would happen
lext. 1t was 1870 a. m. and there was
i faint glimmer of dawn in the east
I'm sky. The destroyer next to us be-
Fan to man her boats and suddenly
Inferno broke loose from the shore.
Such fearful hail of bullets from
ifle. machine gun and shrapnel as
,asses all imagination! 1t was APP
FALLING, There was no cover. We
we're packed so closely together that |
me bullet would wound or kill three |
men and we could not hit back for |
he enemy was invisible. The bullets |
we're dancing off the tunnels and up
'er parts Of the destroyers. The order