Great Anzac Stories

by Graham Seal

  Barwick returned to Gallipoli with the 1st Brigade and survived the campaign, coming back to Lemnos once again with many other evacuees. They celebrated Christmas 1915 in a relaxed but also sombre mood.

  We received our Xmas billies on the 22nd and very good they were. On the outside of the billy cans they had a kangaroo with his feet on Anzac and underneath were the words ‘This bit of the world belongs to us’. That caused many a laugh for we had sneaked away from it . . .

  The war entered a new and more disastrous phase on the western front and, while Gallipoli itself remained in popular memory, Lemnos faded into the forgotten past. However, many soldiers, nurses and doctors who experienced Lemnos did not forget, as evidenced by their published recollections and in the names of repatriation hospitals and related facilities around Australia. Since 2001, Anzac Day commemorations have been held on the island, and a stone memorial was erected there in 2002.

  The silent Anzac

  In April 1915, one of Australia’s first submarines, AE2, carried out what was originally thought to be an impossible mission and made an important contribution to the Gallipoli landings of 25 April 1915. While preparations were being made to land troops at Gallipoli, the Allied navies were trying to penetrate the ‘Narrows’: the sea passage through the treacherous and heavily fortified Straits of Marmara. If successful, this strategy would allow the Allied fleet into the Sea of Marmara to threaten Constantinople (present-day Istanbul), and so force the Turks to scale back their confrontation with Russian forces in the area between the Black Sea and the Caspian Sea known as Caucasus.

  Under the command of Lieutenant Henry Stoker, the AE2 first attempted to force a passage on 24 April, but failed due to a broken hydroplane or underwater wing. The submarine was forced to return to base for repairs. But on the fateful morning of 25 April, Stoker and his crew of thirty-one took their 55-metre metal container into the treacherous and heavily mined Narrows. Crewman Albert Knaggs told the story in his diary.

  A pril 25th At 2 am slipped from HMS Swiftsure, proceeded up the Dardanelles and dived at 4 am but not until we were fired upon by the enemy. After diving we proceeded at a depth varying from 70 to 90 feet, came up to 20 feet periodically to take headings. This day was also the day of the great landings on the peninsula. 6 am the captain informed us we were through the worst part of the narrows and he came up to twenty feet to have a look around and saw a Turkish Battleship at Chanak. The bow tube was loaded and we made to attack her, when a minelayer steamed across our bows. The captain immediately fired the torpedo at her as she was apparently dropping mines for us to run into. The torpedo hit its mark and sank her (Feihh i Shevist) [the name of the Turkish ship]. Our orders were to sink everything at Chanek [Chanak], and found it very difficult to maneouvre the boat, it being very narrow. Immediately on firing the torpedo we went down to 90ft. We heard the report of the explosion and was just complimenting ourselves when we came from 90ft to 8ft. We were half out of the water and on the shore right under the forts. Fire was opened on us from all sides, the captain said the sea was one mass of foam caused by the shells fired at us but luckily we were not hit, but we could hear inside the boat the shrapnel dropping on us like a lot of stones.

  During this time the motors were doing their best, first going ahead then astern the propellors cutting into the ground but the captain said the boat had to come off whether the propellors got damaged or not. With this he sped up the motors to their speed limit which brought us safely off and down to 90ft again. As we came off the ground we turned making for the entrance for Gallipoli and Sea of Marmara, but did not turn sharply enough as we had to turn up against a 4 knot tide and consequently we ran up on the opposite bank and showed ourselves when another fusillade of shells were fired at us with no effect.

  We were soon off to 90ft again where we settled on a bank and remained there from about 7.30 am to 5 pm. Being Sunday prayers were read then with the exception of two watchkeepers the remainder of the crew had an opportunity to get some sleep if their nerves would let them. About every quarter of an hour we could hear a boat passing overhead on the lookout for us. Early in the afternoon something dropped or banked against our starboard side forward which made everybody on the alert expecting something serious to happen.

  The hands had been lying down by their diving stations so we were all ready for emergency. About 5.30 pm things became quiet overhead so the captain thought it was time to make a move. We went astern and slipped down a big incline, the diving gauge showed a bent needle at 100 signifying we were deeper than 100ft but knew no more. Then the captain had a rather hard job to get the boat up but after doing everything he possibly could he eventually brought her safely to 20ft and proceeded alongside Chanek Harbour and broke surface at 10.30 pm in a little bay and commenced charging up batteries until 3.30 am.

  April 26th The night was dark which favoured us as our batteries were nearly exhausted. A strict lookout was kept on deck and boats could be seen passing up and down the channel. Dived at 4 am and proceeded towards Gallipoli where we fired a beam torpedo at a Turkish Battleship but missed. The sea was so smooth all the time it was impossible to show our periscope without being seen and when we did, everything movable got on the move. Some to get out of our way, others such as TBs [torpedo boats] came after us.

  After being hotly pursued we managed to reach the Sea of Marmara safe where we broke surface and hoisted the White Ensign while we were cruising around charging up batteries. At dusk we proceeded down towards Gallipoli and communicated by Wireless Telegraph with our fleet that the attempt to force the narrows had been carried out successfully. We were interrupted by Destroyers scouring the coast for us as they probably heard our wireless but they could not interpret it as it was in code, and they fired on us at short range but we were soon down under where we remained for the night.

  April 27th Broke surface at daybreak and proceeded to Gallipoli making several attacks but had no hits on account of torpedoes running too deep. The chase was picked up again and could not remain on the surface very long during the day.

  When it was dusk we proceeded to make WT reports to our friends on the other side of the peninsula. The Enemy torpedo craft crept up upon us again and fired but missed as usual. Down under again we remained for another night.

  April 28th Broke surface daybreak and cruised around charging up batteries in the vicinity of Marmora [Marmara] Island waiting for transports to come round the coast but nothing turned up. That night we found new lodgings.

  April 29th Broke surface at daybreak proceeded to Gallipoli making more attacks on transports crowded with troops which were guarded by Destroyers. We sank one transport and was chased and worried all that day. Towards the end of the afternoon we got back to the Sea of Marmara and charged up batteries. While thus steaming along HM Submarine broke surface about a mile off our port bow. We immediately steamed close up to her showing the White Ensign. Her captain then told us how she had come straight through as far as Gallipoli where she had made an attack but did not know if she secured a hit. Made arrangements for meeting next day then proceeded to the bottom for rest of the night.

  April 30th Broke surface and proceeded to meet E14 [a British submarine] and then we were going to Constantinople to see if there was anything doing. E14 was sighted on the horizon coming from Gallipoli as she had been communicating with the fleet the night before, on nearing E14 we saw she was being chased by TBP and two gunboats.

  E14 dived and we continued to draw the enemy on while E14 maneouvred for an attack. When we was getting too near we dived and then the boat got into difficulties and unmanageable, exposing ourselves frequently. At one time the Capt gave orders to take her down and she broke surface. Then came the worst experience we have had and it was by the captain’s presence of mind that the crew lives.

  Came to the surface again, more water was let into the tanks and down we went again nose first this time (as we had been going up and down all ways previous to this) with what seemed a terrible
speed and at an awful angle. Everything that was not a fixture went sliding forward. It was about noon and the dinners etc in the cooking process flew here and there mingling with other various articles. Everyone had to hang on to his station or else we should have found ourselves with the other things mentioned. The captain quietly gave the order Full Speed Astern and if ever our motors had a trial it was then for we fairly shot out of the water on reaching the surface stern first.

  By this time a torpedo boat was on top of us firing for all she was worth, also one of their Gunboats but from a much further distance. The 2nd Capt reported that the TB appeared to be making ready to ram us. Under we went and found that we were holed in the after end of the engine room and that the pressure was too great to remain under much longer as the water was coming in with great force. We were absolutely crippled, all being sorry that we had to give in, broke surface and surrendered. Capt ordered all hands on deck and when we gained the bridge a Gunboat was still firing at us but his shots were falling short. The torpedo boat got in the line of fire and, blowing her siren while her signalman waved his flag, the firing ceased. Then the TB lowered a boat to take us off in which there was a German Officer but she could only take five hands so we had to swim for it. When we got onboard the TB we saw that her torpedo tubes were empty and a German sailor who could speak English told us they had both been fired at us but missed, also that one of the Gunboats had fired one with the same result, which was lucky for us.

  Before leaving the boat the captain opened up a couple of tanks to ensure the boat sinking, which she did a few minutes after leaving her. Aboard the TB the officers were kept in the after cabin while we were in the forward mess deck. While our clothes were being dried on deck the TB proceeded to Gallipoli and made fast alongside a hospital ship, while we were interviewed by General Liman von Sanders who was in command of the Peninsula.

  As Knaggs recorded, AE2 had grounded twice in the shallows and was under fire from Turkish guns. The crew got the boat off, though she was too damaged to fight further. But, as Stoker later wrote, ‘I considered my chief duty was to prove the passage through the straits to be possible, I decided to continue on my course’.

  When they broke through the Narrows, AE2 had signalled her success on the experimental ‘wireless telegraph’ or radio equipment they carried. They were unable to receive a reply but continued to transmit in the desperate hope that the message would be received. It was. The news that an Australian submarine had penetrated the Dardanelles and torpedoed a Turkish warship provided a much-needed morale boost in the midst of the faltering Gallipoli landings when campaign commander General Sir Ian Hamilton received the message in the grim early morning hours of 25 April. Instead of agreeing with the shore commanders’ recommendation that the landing forces withdraw, Hamilton informed them of AE2’s success and urged them ‘to dig yourselves right in and stick it out’.

  As a result of these actions, the Turks were forced to reorganise their supply lines to the Gallipoli Peninsula, transporting their ammunition, reinforcements and supplies by the much slower overland route. This provided significant relief for the hard-pressed land forces on Gallipoli.

  Stoker and his men became prisoners and were held until the end of the war. While two Victoria Crosses and other decorations were awarded to British submarines, AE2’s achievement remained largely ignored. Stoker apparently never complained about this, although in his autobiography he dryly noted that the results of the campaign in the Dardanelles for the submarine commanders ‘. . . was death for one; three and a half years of the living death for another; and Victoria Crosses for the other two’.

  Henry Stoker would eventually be awarded a Distinguished Service Order, be promoted to commander after the war and go on to a notable show business career as an actor, writer and producer. But the gallantry and unprecedented achievement of AE2—and the long imprisonement of the men—were forgotten as the horrors of the western front unfolded. Albert Knaggs himself did not survive the experience. He died of dysentery in October 1916.

  The first day on Gallipoli

  On 8 May 1915, the Sydney Morning Herald carried a report of the Gallipoli landings by the English journalist Ashmead Bartlett. Under the multiple headlines

  AUSTRALASIANS

  GLORIOUS ENTRY INTO WAR.

  HISTORIC CHARGE.

  BRILLIANT FEAT AT GABA TEPE.

  Bartlett observed the landings from aboard a warship and his report was the first to reach Australia. At this early stage of the fighting only 142 Australians and New Zealanders had been killed.

  It required splendid skill, organisation, and leadership to get the huge Armada under weigh from Mudros Bay without accident. The warships and transports were divided into five divisions. Never before has an attempt been made to land so large a force in the face of a well-prepared enemy.

  At 2 o’clock on April 24 the flagship of the division conveying the Australasians passed down the long line of slowly-moving transports, amid tremendous cheering, being played out of the bay by the French warships. At 4 o’clock the ship’s company and troops assembled to hear the Admiral’s proclamation to the combined forces. This was followed by the last Service Before Battle, in which the chaplain uttered a prayer for victory, and called a divine blessing on the expedition, all standing with uncovered and bowed heads.

  RESTING FOR THE ORDEAL.

  At dusk all lights were put out, and the troops rested for the ordeal at dawn. It was a beautiful, calm night, with a bright half moon. By 1 o’clock in the morning the ships reached the rendezvous five miles from the landing place, and the soldiers were aroused and served with their last hot meal.

  The Australians who were about to go into action for the first time under trying circumstances, were cheerful, quiet, and confident, showing no sign of nerves or excitement. As the moon waned the boats were swung out, the Australians received their last instructions, and men who six months ago were living peaceful civilian lives began to disembark on a strange, unknown shore in a strange land to attack an enemy of different race.

  Each boat was in charge of a midshipman, others were loaded with great rapidity, in absolute silence, and without a hitch. The covering force was towed ashore by ships’ pinnaces. More of the Australians’ brigade were carried aboard the destroyers, which were to go close inshore as soon as the covering force landed.

  TENSE MOMENTS.

  At 3 it was quite dark, and a start was made shorewards, amid suppressed excitement. Would the enemy be surprised or on the alert?

  At 4 o’clock three battleships, line abreast and four cables apart, arrived 2500 yards from the shore, with their guns manned and searchlights made ready. Very slowly boats in tow like twelve great snakes, moved in-shore. Each edged towards each other in order to reach the beach four cables apart. The battleships moved slowly in after them, until the water shallowed.

  Every eye was fixed on the grim line of hills in front, menacing in the gloom, the mysteries of which those in the boats were about to solve. Not a sound was heard nor a light seen, and it appeared as if the enemy was surprised. In our nervy state the stars often were mistaken for lights ashore.

  THE ALARM.

  The progress of the boats was slow, and dawn rapidly was breaking. At 4.50 the enemy showed an alarm light which flashed for ten minutes and disappeared. The boats appeared almost on the beach, and seven destroyers glided noiselessly inshore.

  At 4.53 came a sharp burst of rifle fire from the beach. The sound relieved the prolonged suspense, which had become almost intolerable. The fire lasted a few minutes, and then a faint British cheer came over the waters, telling that the first position had been won. At 5.30 the fire was intensified, and by the sound we could tell our men were firing. The firing lasted twenty five minutes and then died down somewhat.

  The boats returned, and a pinnace came alongside with two recumbent figures on deck and a small midshipman cheerfully waving his hand, with a shot through his stomach. Three wounded in the first burst of musk
etry.

  A TERRIBLE FUSILLADE.

  The boats had almost reached the beach when a party of Turks entrenched ashore opened a terrible fusillade with rifles and a Maxim. Fortunately most of the bullets went high. The Australians rose to the occasion. They did not wait for orders or for the boats to reach the beach, but sprang into the sea, formed a sort of rough line, and rushed the enemy’s trenches. Their magazines were uncharged, so they just went in with cold steel.

  It was over in a minute. The Turks in the first trench either were bayoneted or ran away, and the Maxim was captured.

  Then the Australians found themselves facing an almost perpendicular cliff of loose sandstones, covered with thick shrubbery. Somewhere about half way up the enemy had a second trench, strongly held, from which poured a terrible fire on the troops below and the boats pulling back to the destroyers for a second landing party.

  A TOUGH PROPOSITION.

  Here was a tough proposition to tackle in the darkness, but those colonials were practical above all else and went about it in a practical way. They stopped a few minutes to pull themselves together, get rid of their packs, and charge their rifle magazines. Then this race of athletes proceeded to scale the cliff without responding to the enemy’s fire. They lost some men, but didn’t worry, and in less than a quarter of an hour the Turks were out of their second position, and either bayoneted or fleeing.

  As daylight came it was seen that the landing had been effected rather further north of Gaba Tepe than originally was intended, at a point where the cliffs rise very sheer. The error was a blessing in disguise, because there was no places down which the enemy could fire, and the broken ground afforded good cover for troops once they had passed the forty yards of flat beach.