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Show From this moment the 'Apex,' the highest point on the ridge in our line which was won by the Wellington bat talion on August 8, and held, though It cost Wellington 712 out of TG3 men who went into the fight from this moment mo-ment the 'Apex' is free to the enemy. His fire trench there is 59 yards from ours. "1:45 a. m. 'Beachy Bill' has fired again. The shell burst in the supply depot near 'Brighton beach.' So he Is at his old games. That supply depot is the favorite target of 'Beachy Bill's' shells at night. This is the first time they will find nobody there. Two bombs at the 'Apex.' Our men have been gone from there a quarter of an hour. Those bombs must have been thrown by the Turks at' our empty trenches. "1:55 a. m. There has just steamed silently past us the small warship which I know contains the commander of our army corps. General Birdwood was ashore at Anzac among our men today. They were in splendid heart. "1:57 a. m. Another bomb at the 'Apex.' We had two tunnels out far beneath the Turkish trenches there in case of need, and into these the engineers engi-neers have put what explosive remains with them. The biggest mine we ever fired before contained less than five hundredweight. This mine of three tons, if we decide to fire it, should rend the 'Nek' to pieces. It is an extraordinary ex-traordinary ending to a fine history, 'Quinn's' (Post), the trench that the Turks could never take at whatever cost, we have quietly left in the night. It now lies open to them. Mines on the Nek Blown Up. "3:25 a. m. The trenches opposite, the 'Nek' have at this moment been left. The old Anzac line is now open to the Turks along every part. Desultory Desul-tory fire still continues exactly as on other nights from the far right to the far left. "3:26 a. m. Just now a huge red cloud rolled low across the 'Nek.' There was a low rumble. Presently, a still larger cloud curled low across the further slope of the same ridge, the angry revolving fumes glowing orange for an instant, then fading into the night. They were the two mines at the 'Nek' where our Light Horse once charged. A rattle of rifles has started from the center. It is spreading thickly thick-ly to the flanks, and growing steadily into a roar. The Turks evidently think they are being attacked, and they have started firing all along the line. "3:35 a. m. The firing is heavy, right to the extreme southern end of the line. A message has been received to say that the Anzac wireless station has been closed and that the last party on the left is safely in the boats. "3:45 a. m. Firing still heavy, including in-cluding machine guns. Suvla wireless station closed also. The navy must have timed the embarkation perfectly. "4 a. m. The fire at Anzac has almost al-most ceased, except normal sniping by the Turks along the whole line. Except Ex-cept at 'Sniper's Nest' I can see no flashes from their rifles, so they must be in their trenches. "4:10 a. m. The tents and stores at Suvla have just begun to burst into HEW GLORY WON BY BRITISH II LEAVING ANZAC Antipodeans' Deeds of Arms Rivaled by the Marvel of Their Retirement. STORY OF FATEFUL NIGHT Thrills of the Passing Hours Told by Anxious Correspondent Watching From Ship "All Off" Comes Word at 4:15 a. m. Gunfire Gun-fire Bluffs Moslems. Sydney, Australia. Rigid censorship has withheld the story of how the Australian Aus-tralian and New .Zealand troops quitted quit-ted the Gallipoli peninsula, but now with the few other correspondents, privileged to witness that wonderful piece of work, Captain Bean, the official offi-cial press representative, has described de-scribed in telling phrases much of what was done. Cabling from Anzac bay under date of December 19, Captain Bean says: "The movement, which at this moment mo-ment is going on, is the one which, from the day of landing, everyone here has most dreaded. I heard it said on the day of landing, and it has been a commonplace ever since, that although the experiences of landing were bad enough, one thing would be worse, and that was if it ever fell to our lot to have to get off again. "One read in the papers speeches by members of parliament asking light-heartedly light-heartedly why the forces were not withdrawn from the Dardanelles, as if the process was merely one of picking up baggage and walking off. People talking like that, one knew, could not have the slightest conception of the conditions under which we have been holding on for eight months at Anzac. At Mercy of Turks. "Did they realize that the main beach, from which almost all the work of supplying Anzac had to be done, was within 900 yards of the main center cen-ter and pivot of the whole Turkish line; that if the Turks could fight their way 300 yards they would reach the edge of the cliff, from which they would be able to look down, as from the gallery of a theater, upon the narrow nar-row flat, containing nearly all our stores, the ordnance depot, and all the paraphernalia for landing and embarkation? embark-ation? Six hundred yards below them would be the north beach itself that Is, the beach just north of Ari Burnu Point, with three of our five landing stages, and the solitary sunken tramp steamer which served us for a breakwater. break-water. "Just south of Ari Burnu Point in Anzac cove is 'Watson's Pier,' built past eight. To the south of us there is stealing off through the night mist (which fortunately hangs low over the surface of the sea) a dark shape. From ashore comes the ordinary 'pick-pock' of rifles quite normal. Watchful Monitor Steals Past. "8:27 Another distant gray shape passing outward far to the southward. They are clearly getting away without the least hitch, and actually ahead of time. "A big monitor has just been stealing steal-ing in past us a ship I have never seen before. She must be going in there to enfilade the Suvla trenches, if anything goes wrong. "Some gun has flashed down near our beach. Probably it is one of the guns which we are leaving behind so that they can be fired up till the very last moment. Our old Anzac position is so small that a field gun, if placed in one of the valleys where it could be hidden from the enemy, cannot fire at the enemy's front trenches. They (the Turks) could fire at positions 4,000 yards away, hut from the first, in order or-der to enable the Australian field guns to fire on the enemy's trenches, it has been necessary to place them right on top of the hills. Heavy Fire Causes Brief Alarm. By this artillery bluffing the Australians Aus-tralians and New Zealanders kept off the Turks. "It is 9:30," the correspondent goes on. "A very heavy fire has suddenly broken out down there. It is ten miles away at the least from where this cruiser lies, and yet I can distinctly hear the ripple of rifle fire and machine ma-chine guns, punctuated by the thud of bombs. It is the first time that I personally per-sonally have ever heard rifle fire at Helles from Anzac. It gave one a very big heart thump at first, because it sounded almost like an attack on the Anzac right. "The British made an attack this afternoon at Helles. The Forty-second and Fifty-second divisions, that is, the Manchester and Lowland divisions, made a charge. We could see the Turkish shrapnel bursting over them, the navy and land guns helping the British by one of the most tremendous shore bombardments I ever listened to. . . . Everything ashore is quite normal." From this it would appear that by General Monro's direction the evacuation evacua-tion was helped by a demonstration of considerable magnitude at Cape Helles. Captain Bean resumes: "A message has just been received by our captain from the naval captain in charge to say that the whole plan is working splendidly. Turks Made Ready to Be Attacked. "10:05 p. m. There are sounds of very heavy firing down south. I can distinctly hear their machine guns, first one, and then two together, then a continuous ripple. I know that the troops, who are now coming off, are using not only the North beach but also the beach in Anzac cove, on to which 'Beachy Bill' can put shells whenever he likes. He can make that beach almost impassable. Occasionally Occasional-ly when some small increase in the sniping from the trenches makes one hold one's breath for a moment, I re- member this that Beachy Bill has so far fired only four or five shots during the whole night. And that is certain proof that he cannot even suspect that there is any unusual movement on. "11:40 A collection of a few cutters with a steamboat is to gather at 'Brighton beach' in order to bring off the latest party. We often land stores at 'Brighton beach,' so 'Beachy' will notice nothing unusual in this. A message mes-sage has arrived from an officer, commanding com-manding the remaining troops, to say that the enemy has actually been seen strenuously employed in the trenches, putting up barbed wire. He must surely sure-ly think that our activity means an attack at-tack by us. "1 a. m. A transport is moving in and another stealing out. Bomb to Deceive Foe. "1:28 a. m. Bomb on 'Apex;' 1:29 a. m., bomb on 'Apex;' 1:30 a. m., bomb on 'Apex.' That is evidently a demonstration demon-stration of the party at the 'Apex.' flame. The flames are spreading swiftly along the line of beaches. We can see the torch of the man who is lighting them, going just ahead of the line of flame. "4:15 a. m. A wireless has been received re-ceived stating that the whole embarkation embarka-tion has been completed. A naval officer of-ficer next to me turns around and holds out his hand. Thank God!" Thus it will be perceived that this retirement was accomplished between dusk on December 19 and four o'clock on the morning of December 20. Turks Bombard. "7 a. m. Day is just breaking," concludes con-cludes Captain Bean. A quarter of an hour ago the Turkish batteries suddenly sudden-ly opened a furious bombardment of the ridges along which the old Anzac line runs. The firing was extraordinarily extraordi-narily hurried and wild, some shells bursting low, others wildly high four, six, eight at a time. "7:15 a. m. Watching the old Anzac trenches just now through glasses, I saw what I took to be a line of small pine trees growing over the crest of them. When I saw some of the trees move along the parapet of the trench southwards I realized that my pine trees were Turks. Evidently the Turks have been making an attack. They first bombarded our enemy line, and then charged across against the silent parapets. . . . They are swarming over the parapets on the skyline, standing stand-ing still for a moment, then swarming swarm-ing farther south. "7:20 a. m. This ship let go two salvos straight into the Turks on the sky line, and they have quickly disappeared disap-peared into our trenches. We have now turned with the rest of the fleet to bombard the few remaining heaps of stores on the beach. The valleys are quickly filled with smoke and dust. "7:37 a. m. Our bombardment ceases. The fleet slowly turns toward the west, and Anzac, smoking in the dust our own guns have made, is receding re-ceding behind us. The huge fira is smoking at Suvla. Even now the Turkish battery Is bombarding a point on the beach where one of our batteries bat-teries used to be. "7:45 a. m. A message has been received that all of the wounded have been brought off as well as severa' more guns. Only five guns were left three Australian and two old howitzers. howit-zers. "The picket boats, which went into the beach, did pick up one or two stragglers. One boat wont straight ? to Anzac beach and steamed al-U. those on board calling, 'Anybody here?' "Dec. 20. A German flag has appeared ap-peared this morning flying over Suvla," by the Australian signalers soon after the landing. But this so-called pier is within sight of Gaba Tepe promontory and the enemy can see it so well that the guns of their batteries to the south of us can put shell on any part of that beach at any moment they wish as easily as you can strike any letter on your typewriter. There are 14 guns in those particular batteries they all go by the name of 'Beachy Bill' and they had made 'Watson's Pier' and Anzac beach easily the most unsafe places on the peninsula. "The only chance is to get the troops away without the enemy, of whom there are 85,000 at Anzac and Suvla, having a suspicion of it. The North beach is better hidden than 'Watson's.' The enemy cannot actually see the ground around the landing point, but there is an off-shoot from the main ridge to the north, from which he could look over our inner ridge and Into Ari Burnu Point, and half of the North beach. It was known as 'Sniper's Nest' because he habitually sniped from there at night with a machine gun. From 'Sniper's Nest' he can just fcoe the tip of one landing step and all boats moving to or fro from them. Indeed, In-deed, he keeps a careful list of all sea traffic. Suvla is even more open to 6hell fire, but at several miles distance from the nearest Turkish observer. "Complete secrecy is the only method meth-od of preventing the most terrible conditions con-ditions on the beach." Departure Made In Moonlight. Captain Bean here plunges into his account of the actual retirement in this language: "The moon is just beginning to flood sea and land with a light so clear that you can scarcely notice the change from twilight into night. The brightness bright-ness of the moon is one of our chief anxieties, for if the enemy sees what we are doing and attacks during cer tain stages of the embarkation before tonight is over, then nothing can prevent pre-vent one of the most sanguinary and desperate fights in history. But at present, although everyone's nerves are on edge with the proximity of the constant possibility of a great tragedy, there is nothing whatever in the gray shape of land there (the correspondent is on a cruiser) to hint at what is going go-ing forward. "I know that as a matter of fact certain cer-tain movements of troops have been taking place during the last half hour which if carelessly carried out would result in the discovery of our plan. But looking on with all the apprehension apprehen-sion in the world one cannot make out the least difference in the scene." ; The captain proceeds: jOn dec. again. Time, ten minutes |