Letter - 29 June 1915 - attached to 'D' company,a bit of sniping and a few shells, heat and flies.

Athol writes to his mother about receiving her letters, the heat and flies, his promotion and a Turkish plane which flew over and dropped leaflets. He mentions his mate, Norm Marshall, who was also promoted (see more about Norm in my 9 June blog-post).

The letters are now in pencil and he does well to keep things neat and legible in the trying conditions.

Dear Mater, 

Many thanks for yours numbered 10.11.12. No.4 was the last previous. I believe there are about 80 chasing me though they should be here by now. I've had two letters from Aunt May also 4 pairs of socks, a letter from Mrs Folley and a p.c. from W.J.A Fant (sp.) as well as a few others. 

I've been back here just over a week now arriving last Sunday week and am attached to 'D' company. We are in the trenches but it is pretty quiet as a rule, just a bit of sniping a few shells. Yesterday a 6" shell landed behind one of our observation groups and buried them all, 7 in number. No one was hurt much, though of course it shook them up a bit.
We officers do 3 hours on and 6 off and we also have to 'stand to' arms from 3-4 and on any alarm etc. We work sentry groups under an N.C.O. six men, doing 1 hour on and 2 off. We are not able to get a wash whilst in the trenches. I haven't had one for over a week though I've had 2 shaves and generally clean my teeth every day. When we come out of the trenches we will be able to get a swim though it is more dangerous on the beach than in the firing line as a rule owning to shrapnel. 

Norm Marshall is now a 1st Lieut also me. 15 of old 'F' company have got commissions since the show started. Not a bad record. 

I had a letter from Bill (eldest brother Arthur Parker Adams) and see in the papers that they have had rain. I've only received one Australasian and one Referee, May 8. (Athol was a keen sportsman and his step father was sending him these journals which were eagerly sought after). 

It is pretty hot up here now and the flies are awful. There weren't any, I believe, until after that big Turkish attack and then the heaps of dead Turks brought them. There are lots of rumours, or 'Furphys' fresh ones every day, sometimes that we are going to England for a rest, sometimes to Lemnos and sometimes to Egypt. Also about every subject under the sun. 

A Turkish plane dropped some leaflets the other day which dropped into our trenches. They sent them to us on a Bomb. They were a proclamation promising us good treatment if we surrendered! We're considering it. I don't think. I'm on duty now so I'll knock off.

Love to all enquiring friends. 

Yours lovingly,
Athol

Field Service Post Card - 23 June 1915 - I am quite well

Athol sends a field service post card to his mother to confirm that he is 'quite well'. He also notes that he has finally received some mail from home. Up until this point the last mail he received from Australia was prior to the Landings on 25 April.

From this point most of the letters are in pencil and can be a little difficult to decipher.

20 June 1915 - Re-joined 5th Battalion on Gallipoli

A.G. Adams re-joined the 5th Battalion on the Gallipoli peninsular on 20 June 1915.

This is an excerpt from the 2nd Brigade Unit War Diary for June 20th 1915, Anzac Cove. Note, in particular, the last few lines which record that Lieut. A. G. Adams 5th Bn, previously wounded returned to duty. The other names are for Capt Prisk (sp.) of 6th Bn and  Lieut Lamb (sp.) also of 5th Bn.

AWM Unit War Diary - 2nd Infantry Brigade

Note the url at the top of the screenshot.

Letter - 18 June 1915 - HMT Southland to Mudros Harbour and Gallipoli

Athol has recovered from his injuries and is sent back to the Dardanelles. In Alexandria, he embarked on one ship only to find its coal bunker caught fire and, as a result, the troops were disembarked. After some delay they are re-embarked on SS Vaderland (later renamed Southland).

The Service Record below records him embarking for Gallipoli on 14 June and re-joining his battalion on 20 June. This only tells some of the story.

The troops were embarked on one (unknown) ship (14 June) then shortly after disembarked before leaving Alexandria. Later (date unknown) they were embarked on another ship, HMT Southland. The ship steamed across the Mediterranean to Mudros Harbour on the island of Lemnos. Athol writes that they will be put ashore at Gallipoli on the evening he is writing the letter (18 June).

The SS Vaderland was a relatively modern ship. Launched in 1900. She was a passenger ship of the Red Star Line and sailed under a British flag taking about 800 passengers from the United Kingdom to the United States. She was renamed Southland (Service Record above shows this ship as Southland) in 1915 as apparently Vaderland sounded too German. Later in that year she was taken over as a troop ship and used in the Dardanelles campaign. She could carry about 1,400 troops during these short voyages. Although not in the open sea for long, these trips were not without danger. In September 1915 Southland was torpedoed by UB-14 and limped back to Mudros Harbour with 1,400 troops aboard. She was eventually sunk in 1917 by UB-70 during an Atlantic crossing, with only four lives lost.

http://canadianexpeditionaryforce1914-1919.blogspot.com.au/2014_08_01_archive.html

There are a couple of things to note in Athol's letter. There is no stamp on the envelope as it is marked 'On Active Service No Stamps Available'. The post mark in Melbourne is 4 August 1915 which suggests about a 7 week transit. The letterhead is 'SS Vaderland'.

The transcript is below.

The text of Athol's letter:

18 June 1915

Dear Mater 

I didn't leave Alexandria on Sunday as I thought I would. We got on the boat but her coal-bunkers caught fire so we all had to get off. We came aboard this boat on Monday which, by the way, is a palace compared to the one we were on on Sunday, but we lay out in the harbour until Tuesday evening. We got here at daybreak this morning, as ships are not allowed to enter or leave this harbour (Mudros Harbour) during the night. I believe we are going across to the mainland tonight but I don't know for certain. 

I hope I get some letters there but I suppose they will all have been sent back to Alexandria by now. 

We have had a piquet of 100 men, 50 forward and 50 aft, on duty the whole way over in case of attack by submarine, though of course nothing happened. I believe about six more of old 'F' company have got commissions making about 10 altogether so far. I can't think of any news. 

Love to Aunts May, Puff and attached uncles and all enquiring friends.  

Yours lovingly
Athol

NOTE: The 4 Adams boys were very close to their aunts May and Puff (mentioned in the letter above) who helped raised them with their widowed mother, Adah - see images at http://notmentionedindispatches.blogspot.com.au/p/family-photos.html). Although both May and Puff married, neither had children of their own. 

Letter - 12 June 1915 - Convalescence

Athol writes to his mother at home in Melbourne and encloses the bullet which was extracted from his wrist (thankfully I do not have the item in my archives). Athol has recovered from his four injuries and is discharged to return to service in the Dardenelles. He spent his convalescence with a Mr and Mrs Rickards in Alexandria and put on quite a bit of weight whilst under their care.  He has not heard anything from home since late April and makes enquiries about his brothers farming in the Riverina.

Union Club

Alexandria

Egypt

12-6-15

Dear Mater 

I'm going back to the Dardanelles tomorrow morning. I got my discharge from the hospital on Thursday and have been waiting for a boat since. My leg is quite well now and I can walk A1. There is no after effect at all. 

The people I'm staying with have been very good to me. Mr and Mrs Rickards, Sporting Club, Alexandria, is the address. Mr Rickards took my photo yesterday. I'll get him to send you one if they're any good. 

There is really no news at all. I've just been pottering about having a good old loaf. I'm as fat as anything and will be able to live like the camel on his hump for quite a time. I weighed myself two days ago 1/2lb over 12 stone (about 76kg). I reckon my clothes won't be much good to me when I get home if I go on at this rate. 

I am enclosing the bullet out of my wrist. I've been meaning to send it everyday but have kept putting it off. 

I have spent a couple of afternoons with Mrs John Lang, she said she would write to you.
I hear the drought has broken. I hope the boys (older brothers Arthur Parker Adams and Valentine Harold Adams) have a better season this year. 

I haven't had any letters since before we landed in Gallipoli (25 April). I'll probably find some waiting for me up there when I get back. Hope so anyway. 

My love to all enquiring friends.
Yours lovingly
Athol

Norm Marshall - a mate

In his letters Athol occasionally mentions his friend, Norm Marshall (for example, see blog-posts 27 May and 29 June). Like Athol, Norm enlisted as a private and they served together in the 5th Battalion. Quite accidentally I found this image of Norm when searching the AWM website.

Australian War Memorial image No: PS1526
Photographed by PFE Schuler, Gallipoli, 1915.

"An Australian soldier in a trench at Gallipoli. Charles Bean, the Australian Official Historian, suggested that the subject of this photograph might be Lieutenant (Lt) (later Brigadier) Norman 'Darkie' Marshall, 5th Battalion, later with 60th Battalion. Enlisting as a Private, Lt Marshall rose to become a battalion commander by early 1917. He was awarded the Distinguished Service Order (DSO) with two bars and Military Cross (MC). In the Second World War he commanded 2/25 Infantry Battalion and later the 27th Brigade."  

https://www.awm.gov.au/collection/PS1526/

May-June - Gallipoli

Whilst Athol was being treated for his injuries in Egypt during May-June the conflict on the Gallipoli peninsular continued. On 19 May the Turks commenced their counter attack which aimed to drive the invaders back into the sea. Turkish losses were immense.

On 24 May, an armistice was arranged and both Turks and Allies buried their dead which lay in the scrub and gullies of no-man's land.

Australian War Memorial photograph H00240

Image taken 24 May 1915

The AWM caption reads: Australian burial parties burying Australian and Turkish dead during the armistice. More than 3000 Turks and approximately 160 Australians were killed during the Turkish counter attack on 19 May 1915. Approximately one million rounds of ammunition were fired during the one day attack. The stench from the dead was so unbearable that the Turks initiated a nine hour armistice so that both sides could recover and bury the dead.

Also in May 1915 there was a positive development with Lance Corporal William Beech, 2nd Battalion, inventing the periscope rifle.

In June there was a lull in fighting which meant that although there were none of the big infantry manoeuvres there was the constant need for vigilance and preparation for another possibleTurkish attack. In addition, sporadic sniping plagued the Anzacs and shelling from the two big Turkish guns called 'Beachy Bill' and 'Asiatic Annie'. Rounds from these guns could reach the beach and caused casualties particularly among those trying to get clean with a swim, or working on the pier and stores. There were few places which were anything like safe during this lull in the fighting. One of the 5th Battalion headquarters signalers was killed whilst coming round a path near battalion headquarters. He was struck by a shell and blown so completely to pieces that no one suspected his death until blood dripped on someone from the bushes above. A few days later an RSM was killed instantly in the HQ dugout. All the 5th battalion papers and records were destroyed by this same shell.

AWM image: A02035

The headquarters of the 5th Battalion on MacLaurin's Hill, showing the steps leading up from the lower Terraces (left). The firing line is about 30 yards away from the dugouts, behind the ridge. Water containers are in the foreground and stacked to the right.

For the soldiers and junior officers, digging-in was the main activity in June 1915. Gun pits, paths, tracks, trenches and tunnels were created. A great deal of effort was required to supply the troops who were camped on the steep slopes overlooking Anzac Cove. Ammunition boxes, equipment, water and food supply took an enormous effort to transport from pier, beach and then up the steep gullies to the trenches. Mules became very useful but most of the provisions and supplies were carried by the men themselves.

With the warm weather came flies, rats and disease. During June the number evacuated sick was roughly equivalent to those lost through casualties by deaths and wounds.

Colonel McCay, who had been wounded during the Battle of Krithia at Cape Helles, had returned to Anzac Cove but on 6 June was later evacuated sick. Lt.Colonel Wanliss commanded the 2nd Brigade in his absence. Lt. Colonel Wanliss himself became ill and was evacuated near the end of July.

 Australian War Memorial photograph PS0182

Image taken in late 1914 on HMAT Orvieto on route to Egypt from Australia

Colonel David Sydney Wanliss, on left,

with cigar, Scots cap and white shoes (what an outfit).