| Total New Zealand Deaths* | |
|---|---|
| 8 August | 514 |
| *Mainly Battle for Chunuk Bair | |
“About 1 a.m. the Brigade Commander sent for Lieut.-Col. Malone and gave orders that the battalion [Wellington] was to attack Chunuk Bair at 4.15 a.m. and that the attack would be preceded by a heavy bombardment of the enemy position on the ridge lasting three-quarters of an hour from 3.30 to 4.15.”
“Within a minute or two of 4 a.m., the leading companies in a solid phalanx, each company with two platoons in fours in line moved out along the narrow cause-way or saddle leading from the Apex towards Chunuk Bair, whose ominous crest line was sharply defined in the faint light. … The battalion passed through the Auckland Regiment, where it lay in the old Turkish Trench reached on the previous day”
As they advanced they braced themselves for a similar blast of rifle and machine gun fire that had greeted the Auckland Battalion the day before – it was a shock that never came.
“As they reached the crest, the leading lines of West Coast Company quickly over ran and captured a Turkish Piquet covering in a small trench overlooking the farm. Not another Turk was on the hill top and not a shot was fired at the attacking lines as they came over the top …”
““From the terrific Turkish attacks which ensued within an hour or so, it was quite evident that the Turks were in great strength in the vicinity and this fact renders all the more inexplicable that peculiar chance which enabled the Wellington Battalion to stumble in the dark into the only gap that had been left in the Turkish line.” [Excerpts From: W. H. Cunningham. “The Wellington Regiment (NZEF) 1914 - 1919.”]
Throughout the day the Turkish counter attacks increased and the shallow and narrow trenches occupied by the Wellington Battalion offered little protection from sniping, artillery, or the Turkish attacks. By the time it was relieved later that night the Wellington Battalion had lost its commanding officer (Colonel Malone) and of the over 750 men who had started the dawn advance only one tenth remained fit or only slightly wounded.
Add new comment