Source: File: Gallipoli
1915 a sniping pair.jpeg An observer is looking for targets through a
periscope, while the sniper is ready with rifle with periscope sight [online]
see an original image at: <https://www.awm.gov.au/collection/A05767/> [21
October 2015].
Back two months
to Summer’s August
Date 25th
the location Gaba Tepe, Turkey.
In the midst of
the Dardanelles Imperial
Force
Representative, Captain Bean
Told of the
Turkish sniper’s ways.
Another
environment; hot open spaces
In which to fight
an opposition, whose
Acquaintance of
rocks and gorse gave
Challenge for a
determined invader.
Not the glutinous
mud of Flanders
Nor the altitude
of Alpine mountains -
But a long open
valley, once silent -
Then filled with
concealed fighters,
Those being the
Turkish snipers.
Captain Bean's
explanations gave
Two likely ways
to deal with situations
Of the waiting,
watching gunmen -
With ideas out of
theoretical manuals.
One way to build
across valley's length,
An imperial
formation of a sandbagged
Wall -
alternatively to put in place
A counter sniper
buttress - this would
Allow a man to
stroll in sight of enemy.
The idea was that
the Turkish shooter
Would find a
score of rifle fire from
Hidden posts,
would get bullets home -
Such is theory’s
extension of cover fire.
An obvious
strategist’s actions that sets
To protect
advancing body of troops,
As they set from
shelter of one trench
On way to take
next - Thus this was
Adoption taken on
by Anzac presence.
Assigned by that
line’s Australian
Officer, one New
Zealander was given
Reign to organise
system of protection -
A sport that
appealed to all Anzacs.
In tourist’s approach
they made out
Lay of the land
hillsides and valleys
Came under close
scrutiny - in days
They were
familiar with each and every
Hole, tunnel or
corner of the enemy.
By recognition respect
of the bravery
And cleverness of
the Turkish sniper,
Realization of
the fire he was under set
Him to suggest
alternative source of fire.
The brave Turk
took to stand breast
High at night, to
face flashes shot
From a dozen
loopholes - who then
Are countered as
that lone gunmen,
A volunteer
target draws their fire.
In darkness of
the Gaba Tepe valley,
Silence was
broken - snaps and cracks
Of flashes - like
momentary candles -
Flash and speed
in hopeless mockery.
Night firing in
Dardanelles lacked
Accuracy - the
Turks that lean from
Parapets, to
attempt to focus down
On any possible
figures in gullies -
Waste their shots
over opposition.
Lights like star
flashes - night skies
Merge with earth
to form harmless
Night snipers -
but in daylight’s promise
A periscope of a
Turk was dangerous.
Endeavours came
in all types and sizes;
Endless mirrors
on sticks, in cases
Of metal, with
dead and green leaves -
As a sandbag or
sacking shreds,
To be part of a
torn sandbag in wind.
A small tubular
type, believed bullet
Proof, distracted
by a larger dummy
Or even waved
back and forth briefly;
All the cleverest
types being smashed.
Night is when
work was carried out
With the Turk no
different - in pitch
Dark they left
their murky trenches,
To curse as they
stumbled amid scrub;
Sound and smell
drift out to watchers.
The noise of
work; a shovel or carpentry.
Then by light a
newly built V, with hole
For a sniper
appears, or a new sandbag -
Obvious to Anzac
sniper who shoots it.
In one strange
experiment one morning,
There appeared a
wicker work shape
Over Turkish
parapet a weird beast -
Between a pig and
alligator - a snout
And openings like
eyes, looking out.
Warily, not
knowing it’s meaning, this
Thing was watched
until one Anzac
Fired at it -
paused to reload to see
The beast look
directly towards him.
With no
hesitation he fired rounds
Into its muzzle
and the construction
Broke, being
ripped to tiny bits, never
To reappear -
Such strange sports
Captain Bean
describes never ended.
Only after the
British army landed in
Suvla Bay, Anzac
snipers assigned
To join them -
having lost sportsman
Who had been
their first organizer.
Within that July
and August standoff
Another
Australian, a polo player
Took over - then
recalled to an attack
Turks on 6
August, before his snipers
Were ready, he
fell amid the scrub oak.
by Jamie Mann.
Anon.,1915. Epic
of Anzac -The Turkish Sniper. The Daily Telegraph, [online] 21 October. P.7.
Col.1. Available at: http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/ww1-archive/11936798/Daily-Telegraph-October-21-1915.html
[Accessed: 21 October 2015].
Mann, J., 2015. 100 years Ago - Poems by Jamie Mann. [letter] (Personal
communication, 21 October 2015).
#WW1 #WW1centenary #GreatWar #WW1poem #GreatWar #WW1centenary
#worldwarone #worldwaroneremembered #WW1Dardanelles
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