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Geraldton Guardian (WA: 1906 - 1928) Saturday 4 September 1915

BACK FROM THE FRONT.

PRIVATE A. J. WEBB'S STORY.

Limping as the result of a shrapnel wound in his ankle, Private A. J. Webb, who joined the 11th Battalion , and who was one of the second party to land at Gaba Tepe, is paying a visit to Geraldton, where he worked on the railway before enlisting. It will be remembered that it was from Private Webb that Mr and Mrs J. J. Clarke, of the Geraldton Coffee Palace, received the intimation that their son Reg had been killed. In a brief chat with a representative of this paper, Private Webb yesterday modestly related some of his experiences.

"I was not in the first landing party," he said, "our detachment being the second, but we were on land a quarter of an hour after the first lot. When the first shot was fired   as the first party landed we were about 500 yards away from the shore. We got the fire about as warm as we could get it, and Dick Samways was the first man to get shot in our boat, when we were about 200 yards off the shore. We went straight for the Turks when we did land, and for the first three days it was continual fighting. For the first day we were all mixed up, and a man just simply attached himself to the first platoon he dropped across. Invariably a private would lead us, as there were very few officers left, the Turkish snipers having devoted special attention to them."

"We had been on land fifteen days before I got hurt, on May 10th. A piece of shrapnel took me right through the ankle. The same shell that got me got four of us, including poor Reg Clarke, who was killed instantly. I was sent to the General Hospital at Alexandria, and afterwards to the Convalescent Camp. The arrangements at the General Hospital were splendid, and we were well looked after, but things might have been better at the Convalescent Camp."

Asked what he thought about the Turks as opponents, he said, "They are very good fighters as far as rifles and big guns are concerned, but they don't like the bayonet. You have only to show them the bayonet they are off."

"With regard to tucker we were treated terribly well. There was   any amount of tinned meat, biscuits, potatoes, onions, cheese, and bacon. There was no lack of food to keep a man going, and everything possible was got to the firing line."

Asked as to the spirit of the men, he remarked, "They are facing the struggle with every confidence, though I would not like to express any opinion as to its duration. They are just like a lot of schoolboys, and are enjoying themselves. The boys are all eager to get at close quarters with the enemy, their one object seeming to be to get the bayonet home into the Turks."

"Yes,'' he said, in reply to a query as to his own intentions, "I am going back as soon as I can get fixed up. It is not a picnic, and it is not all beer and skittles. But I have had the best time I have ever had in my life. The experience opens a fellows eyes, and when one sees about 700 ships within two miles of an enemy's coast one realises that   he is on a pretty strong side."

Talking about the good feeling between the naval men and the soldiers he said, "It seems, to be the one desire of the naval boys to do as much as they can for the lads in the trenches. In fact, so keen were some of the men that they used to borrow some of our uniforms and go up into the firing lines themselves. The men of   the London battleship reckon that the 11th Battalion belongs to them,   for we landed off her. When the captain came ashore, he immediately asked "Where is my battalion?" and   as soon as he found the 11th he stopped with them. The Queen Elizabeth is an, inspiring sight to watch. When her shells explode it is like a clap of thunder, and you can hear the sound rolling about in the distance. "

The work of the Medical Corps is splendid, and the men attached to the 3rd Brigade were as plucky a lot as you could wish to see. Taking no notice of the shell or rifle fire   they went up and down the hills picking up the wounded men. In one case a Turk came from behind a dump of bushes where he had been hiding. He had a scrub-cutter, shaped something like a bill-hook, and he went straight for a stretcher bearer. The latter never hesitated, but using his rolled up stretcher as a club felled the Turk, wrenched his scrub-cutter from him, and promptly despatched him with his own weapon."

As to the character of the enemy,   Private Webb said "The Turks treated our men terribly well. One day they sent a message saying 'Come and get your wounded.' We went across and found several wounded men. They had been bandaged up and well looked after, and given hot tea, and one of the best meals they had had since they had been on the Peninsula."

Private Webb had a particularly good word for Father Fahey, and Dr Brennan, and said no matter where a wounded man was lying they would find one or the other attending to him.  

"If you had heard the Australians make a bayonet charge." he said, "you would never forget it. They set up a shout you could hear a mile off when going for the enemy with the bayonet. Rifles don't seem to be of much use, but they are handy when you want them. The work is done with the big guns, the machine guns, and the bayonet, and the latter for the final stroke."

Since arriving by the Ballarat, Private Webb said that after being in hospital at Fremantle, he had spent some leave in Perth, and had been to see his relatives at Kalgoorlie. He was on a visit to his friends in Geraldton. He used to work on the railway. He has to report himself at the hospital at Fremantle on Sept 9th.

http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article66704077 (nla.gov.au)