GUNNERS: from The Story of The Anzacs.

The Australian gunners did first-class work throughout the operations. On the morning of the Landing, they were sorely needed, but the guns could not be got ashore till the afternoon, and then there were only two of them. When they did arrive, they were hauled exultant1v up the hill by the Infantry, who insisted on carrying the ammunition, and even the gunners themselves, up to their positions. Before the roads were made all guns had to be hauled up cliff sides and gullies, and were dug in at night in the face of well established enemy guns at ranges of from 175 to 1,200 yards.

An officer writing to New Zealand, on June 6th, says: "We have got the enemy's artillery pretty well in hand, and, gun for gun, we are immensely superior to them. The howitzer has done well, and the country is better suited to it than to ordinary field guns-though some of the field batteries have done magnificently.

The Australian gunner was most grievously hampered from beginning to end of the Gallipoli operations by lack of ammunition; but his tragedy in this respect was the tragedy of every Allied soldier on the Peninsula, from Sir Ian Hamilton downwards. The infantrymen at Anzac had the warmest admiration for their gunners. On one occasion a message was sent from the Australians to the 2nd New Zealand Battery, which did excellent work on Colonel Plugge's Plateau : "Go it, mates; no use for us to use our rifles when you fire like that."

The prowess of the machine gunners at Anzac would require a whole chapter to itself. A typical instance is that of Private Arnott, attached to the machine gun section of the 1st Battalion, N. S. W. lie had given invaluable assistance to the men entrenched at Quinn's Post, and swept the enemy trenches with deadly effect, thus making it possible for the Australians to charge the Turkish lines successfully, and covering their retreat.

The Turkish gunners eventually devoted two guns entirely to Arnott and his crew, and subjected them to a fierce fire, until their sandbags were shot away. Every one of the gunners was hit again and again, but Arnott contrived to fight the gun till he fell riddled with bullets.