No Better Death

by John Crawford

  Maj-Gen Charles J. Melliss, VC KCB KCMG, mid(8); 1862 – 6 Jun 1936; OC 30 Bde, later Mesopotamia 1915–16, POW 1916–18; married, soldier 1882–1916; E Africa NW Frontier W Africa.

  Pte William A. Ham; 14 Apr 1892 Ireland – 5 Feb 1915; single labourer of Pokororo, Nelson; 6/246 CIB; DOW Egypt.

  Arabic, a peasant, especially in Egypt.

  A type of clover grown for forage in Egypt.

  Lt (later Maj) Leopold G.D. Acland, OBE MC mid(3); 2 Jul 1876 Christchurch – 7 Apr 1948; single sheep farmer of Christchurch; 14/97, NZASC, later DAAG NZEF; SA War. Acland had lost an arm after he was mauled by a tiger in India and was officially too old to be commissioned, but because of a serious shortage of ASC officers he was commissioned in the New Zealand Military Forces and later the NZEF. Smythe to HQ NZ military forces, 24 Mar 1914, L.G.D. Acland P/F, ANZ.

  A village in the Sinai Peninsula 130 kilometres east of the Suez Canal.

  The wife of Captain Home who had travelled to Egypt to serve as a nurse.

  French, in company.

  The New Zealand and Australian Division under Godley was formally established on 18 Jan 1915. Birdwood’s corps which was to become the Australian and New Zealand Army Corps (ANZAC) was formed in late Dec 1914, after he arrived in Egypt. C.E.W. Bean, The Story of Anzac, vol.I (Sydney, 1921), pp.117–25; Pugsley, Gallipoli, pp.69–76, 360.

  Viscount Haldane; 30 Jul 1856 – 19 Aug 1928; British Secretary of State for War 1905–12 directed extensive reforms of the British Army including the establishment of a volunteer Territorial Army.

  Chaplain 4th Cl Patrick Dore, MC mid; 4 Feb 1886 Ireland – 15 Jul 1918; single RC clergyman of Foxton; 13/655 att AMR; WIA Gallipoli, DOW in NZ.

  Chaplain 4th CI (later 3rd Cl) Rev Robert Richards, MC SSWar; 9 Dec 1868 South Africa–?; single RC clergyman of Hawarden; 18/3 later 10/3A, 2nd Refts att WIB.

  Chaplain 3rd Cl (later Chap 1st Cl) Rev John A. Luxford, CMG mid(2) SSWar(2); 26 Mar 1854 Hutt Valley – 28 Jan 1921; Methodist clergyman of Christchurch; 10/307A later 8/307A, NZEF 1914–20; WIA 1915; SA War.

  Value in 2014 over $106,000.

  2/Lt (later Maj) William Francis Tracy, MC mid; 8/496, OIB. Sometimes spelled Tracey in official publications.

  French, in order.

  A young French boy whom Malone met in January.

  Capt (later Lt-Col) John L. Short, mid; 25 Apr 1887 Wellington–?; single solicitor of Taumarunui; 10/146 WIB, later with 12th Refts, OC 3WIB.

  French, a smacking kiss.

  Conceit or pretentiousness.

  An oppressive, hot south or south-easterly wind that frequently blows across Egypt between March and May.

  A tip or gratuity.

  Col (later Maj-Gen Sir) Andrew ‘Guy’ H. Russell, KCB KCMG mid(9) CG(2) WE Dan Leo; 23 Feb 1868 Napier – 29 Nov 1960; married farmer of Hastings; 11/257 OC NZMR Bde.

  WGM wrote to Madame Thomas once and her daughter twice (in French) while he was at Gallipoli (letters not published).

  Sister Teresa [Vasey[, Sisters of Charity, Spennymore, England; a cousin of WGM.

  Killed on 19 Feb 1915, Taranaki Herald, 2 Mar 1915, p.2. WGM appears to have written to his brother once after joining the NZEF. WGM to Austin Malone, 4 Sep 1914 (not published), MSX 2548, ATL.

  The 3rd Reinforcements (total strength 2230) had sailed from Wellington on 14 Feb 1915.

  Capt John R. Henderson, NZSC; 1 Oct 1875 Scotland – 19 Sep 1944; married soldier of Wellington; 15/9 and 18541, to Admiralty 1918. In August 1915 Henderson was convicted of stealing money given to him for official purposes in 1913 and sentenced to 12 months’ imprisonment. He had resigned from the NZSC shortly before he went on trial and after his release from prison re-enlisted in the NZEF as a private. In 1917 he was commissioned as a 2/Lt in the NZEF. New Zealand Truth, 21 Aug 1915, p.7; History Sheet Henderson P/F, ANZ. Robinson’s promotion to Major was confirmed, in large part, to assuage his feelings after being sacked as adjutant of the WIB. Telegram Godley to Robin, 20 Aug 1914, W.G. Robinson P/F, ANZ.

  French, That she is pretty and clever.

  Russia offered in March to provide a corps of 40,000 men to co-operate with the assault on the Dardanelles from the Black Sea end of the Bosporus once the Turkish fleet had been destroyed and the Allied fleet had entered in Sea of Marmara; C.F. Aspinall-Oglander, Military Operations: Gallipoli, vol.1 (London, 1929), pp.82–83, 87, 124–25.

  Gen Sir Ian S.M. Hamilton, GCMG GCB DSO; 16 Jan 1853 Corfu – 1947; OC Medit Exp Force (the Allied force formed for the Gallipoli operation) until recalled 17 Oct 1915; married, soldier since 1872, visited NZ 1914 as Inspector General Overseas Forces; Afghan Egypt Burma India SA Russo-Jap War Sudan. WGM had met Hamilton in May 1914 when he visited New Zealand. Menu with annotations for a dinner in honour of Sir Ian Hamilton organised by the Taranaki Club, New Plymouth, 20 May 1914, MFCL.

  Capt (later Maj) Arthur C.B. Critchley-Salmonson, DSO mid(2) Nile; 27 Apr 1886 England – 14 Oct 1930; single soldier of Christchurch; 6/1173 HQ CIB to Dec 1915; WIA 1915; served NZ 1911–16, Egyptian Army 1917–20.

  Wife of Ramasses II.

  A large Nile river-boat.

  Maj (later Lt-Col) Alfred H. Herbert, DSO mid(2); 4 Oct 1870 England – 14 May 1946; married merchant of Eketahuna; 11/1079, 3rd Refts WMR, OC Maori Cont, later OC ADOS corps level.

  This must have been a story going around the force, but it is not correct. Lemnos Island had been Turkey’s until taken by Greece in Oct 1912, in the second Balkan War. The Greek Prime Minister E. Venizelos was keen to let the Allies have use of it and its huge harbour at Mudros for an advanced base for their operations in the Dardanelles, but he had to do so without compromising Greece’s neutrality. So Venizelos arranged to merely withdraw the Greek garrison (leaving intact the fixed defences), thus allowing the Allies to occupy it (and Imbros) as enemy territory. J.S. Corbett, Naval Operations, vol. II (London, 2nd ed., 1929), p.123.

  Short for, Latin, Deo Volente, God willing.

  Pte John A. Campbell; 15 Nov 1888 Dunedin – 14 Dec 1914; single horse driver of Napier; 10/1028 Transport Driver WIB; DOD Egypt. Pte Albert G. Cooper; 27 Aug 1891 Hastings – 26 Dec 1914; single painter of Wairoa; 10/380A B-Coy WIB; DOD Egypt. Pte Bethel J. Simpson; 26 Aug 1884 Amberley – 17 Mar 1915; single lineman of Napier; 10/941 WIB; Died during operation, Egypt; SA War.

  Chapter 3

  Behave in a stingy way.

  Luxford who disliked WGM was happy to transfer. Luxford diary, 2–3 Apr 1915; MS-papers 6454/2, ATL.

  A city on the west coast of Turkey, now Izmir. WGM is mistaken. The attack he refers to was carried out by a Turkish torpedo boat. Corbett, vol. II, pp.300–1.

  East Indian seamen serving on British ships.

  HMS Ocean, a pre-dreadnaught type battleship, was sunk by gunfire and a mine on 18 Mar 1915. Corbett, vol. II, pp.221–22.

  Latin, nothing but good. By this Malone meant that an officer should, at least in public, say only positive things about more senior officers.

  HMS Queen Elizabeth was of the modern ‘dreadnought’ configuration, multiple turrets with eight 15-inch guns, and turbine driven. She was also twice the displacement of pre-dreadnought types, at 27,500 tons, and much larger at 645 ft long. Served 1915–1948.

  Brig-Gen (later Lt-Gen, Sir) John Monash, GCMG KCB mid(5); 27 Jun 1865 Vict—8 Oct 1931; married engineer of Melbourne; OC 4 Aust Bde, later OC 3 Aust Div, OC corps.

  Worthless.

  Settled their accounts, i.e. undertaken confession and absolution. Father Maples was the parish priest in Stratford.

  A small case for needles and thread, etc.

  A concentrated drug-preparation.

  The area at the toe of the Gallipoli Peninsula where the main British landings took place.

  The sea between the east coast of the Gallipoli Peninsula and the Turkish mainland.

  The plan for the landings called for the Australians to push inland quickly.

  A village inland from Anzac Cove where the Turkish Army had a major he
adquarters.

  Col (later Brig-Gen) William G. Braithwaite, CB CMG DSO mid(6 WWI, 3 SA) WE; 20 Oct 1870 England – 15 Oct 1937; single soldier of Wellington; 15/4, HQ NZ Div; SA War 1899– 1902, regular soldier, served NZ 1911–18.

  WGM appears to be making a joke by referring to the phrase ‘lo and behold’ meaning, here is a surprising fact.

  Brig-Gen (later Lt-Gen, Sir) Harold B. ‘Hooky’ Walker, KCB KCMG DSO mid(9); 26 Apr 1862 England – 5 Nov 1934; Chief of Staff Anzac Corps, temp OC NZ Inf Bde from 11am 25 Apr, later OC 1 Aust Bde, 1 Aust Div; WIA Gallipoli; SA War.

  Lt-Col George F. Braund; 13 Jul 1866 England – 4 May 1915; OC 2 Bn, NSW Member of Parliament; KIA Gallipoli.

  Lt Edmund R. Wilson, mid; 15 May 1882 Ireland – 27 Apr 1915; single dentist of Masterton; 10/75 MG Officer WIB; KIA Gallipoli.

  Maj (later Brig) Norris S. Falla, CMG DSO mid(5); 3 May 1883 Westport – 6 Nov 1945; married Union Steamship Co Asst Traffic Manager of Dunedin; 2/996 4 How Bty NZFA; later OC DAC, OC NZFA bde cmds, temp CRA, OC NZ Arty Reserve Depot. TF to 1929. WWII 1940–41; died at sea.

  WGM sent Falla a personal note thanking him for his assistance. WGM to O/C Howitzer Battery, 30 Apr 1915, WA 73/3, item 3A, ANZ.

  Sgt-Maj Archibald J.M. Bonar; 24 Aug 1876 Hokitika – 28 Apr 1915; single soldier of Stratford; 10/1116 C-Coy WIB; KIA Gallipoli; Lt in SA War.

  Sgt-Maj Matthew McGlade; 8 Oct 1880 Ireland – 26 Apr 1915; single soldier of New Plymouth; 10/1115 CSM C-Coy WIB; KIA Gallipoli.

  Lt Laurence W.A. Hugo; 28 Mar 1885 Napier – 27 Apr 1915; single compositor of Wellington, 10/7 D-Coy WIB; KIA Gallipoli.

  Lt (later Col) Leonard H. Jardine, DSO(2) MC mid; 18 Jul 1890 Napier – 15 May 1969; single surveyor of Napier; 10/1049 B-Coy WIB, later OC 3WIB; WIA; WWII OC Taranaki Regt 1925–30, 1939–40.

  Lt (later Capt) Alexander B. McColl, mid; 28 May 1892 Wellington – 2 Jul 1916; single surveyor of Taumarunui; 10/18, WIB, later Adj; KIA France.

  Lt (later Lt-Col) Frank K. Turnbull, DSO MC mid(3); 3 Jan 1885 Nelson – 22 Nov 1946; single solicitor of Wanganui; 10/131 A-Coy WIB; WIA; later OC 1WIB; WWII OC Papakura Camp 1941–44.

  Lt Douglas I.C. Bryan; 28 Sep 1892 – 28 Jul 1968; single soldier of Royal Military College, Duntroon, ex-Westport; 10/976 A-Coy WIB; WIA Gallipoli.

  More commonly called Lala Baba, the highest ground between Nibrunesi Point and the salt lake.

  Cpl William J. Copeland; 23 Jan 1890 Wanganui – 2 May 1915; single motor mechanic of New Plymouth; 10/666 C-Coy WIB; KIA Gallipoli. In a condolence letter to Copeland’s father, Malone noted that he was killed directing the fire of the battalion machine guns and praised Copeland as ‘one of the best of the splendid soldiers under my command’. Auckland Star, 3 Jul 1915, p.5.

  Fit of nervousness.

  Booklets produced by the British Imperial General Staff that summarised lessons learned from operations.

  The page of the manuscript in the Alexander Turnbull Library containing the text down to ‘a muddler’ is missing, but is in the old diary transcript and this version has been inserted to complete the text.

  Bugler George F. McG. Bissett; 1 Dec 1894 Normanby – 27 Apr 1915; single joiner of Feilding; 10/304 A-Coy WIB; KIA Gallipoli.

  Pte Sydney Roberts; 1 Jun 1882 England – 27 Apr 1915; single labourer of Wanganui; 10/503 WIB, MIA/KIA Gallipoli.

  Lt Charles B.S. Menteath; 5 Mar 1892 Wellington – 8 May 1915; single farmer of Hunterville; 10/1082 A-Coy WIB; KIA Gallipoli.

  Cpl (later Sgt) Gerald Sievers; 31 Jul 1891 Clareville – 8 Aug 1915; single treemonger of Tiraumea; 10/87, D Coy WIB; KIA Gallipoli.

  Lt-Col Edmund G. Evelegh, Royal Marine Light Infantry. The Nelson Bn formed part of the Royal Naval Division.

  Heliograph – signalling device using flashes of sunlight reflected from a movable mirror.

  Tekke Burnu and Sedd el Bahr are at the south-western tip of the Gallipoli Peninsula where the British forces landed. This area was generally referred to as Helles, after Cape Helles.

  Chapter 4

  Naval term for ratings without any naval training.

  Allied casualties in the second Battle of Krithia, 6–8 May 1915, were in fact about 6,500, Aspinall-Oglander, vol.I, p.347.

  Lt-Col Alexander B. Charters, CMG DSO mid(4); 30 Jun 1876 Christchurch – 10 May 1948; married school inspector of Wellington; 10/1168, 2nd Refts WIB; OC Base Depot Alexandria, OC 1OIB; SA War.

  1st Bn Royal Inniskilling Fusiliers.

  Hampshire Regiment.

  Essex Regiment.

  Latin, thanks be to God.

  Lt George W. Tayler; 4 Feb 1890 Eltham – 8 Aug 1915; married solicitor of Eltham; 10/1681 3rd Refts WIB; KIA GAllipoli. Lt (later Capt) Frank L. Hartnell; 26 Apr 1875 Auckland – 19 Jan 1939; married carpenter of New Plymouth; 10/1517 3rd Refts WIB, later with 21st Refts as coy cmdr WIB.

  Brig-Gen (later Lt-Gen, Sir) William R. Marshall, GCMG KCB KCSI; 29 Oct 1865 England – 29 May 1939; OC 87 Bde 29 Div and OC X Beach Landing, soon temp OC 29 Div, later OC divs, corps, Mesopotamia Expeditionary Force; married, soldier 1885– 1924; SA War.

  2/Lt Alan H. Preston, MC mid; 28 Nov 1890 England – 7 Jun 1917; single station hand of Makauri; 10/910 MG-Sec WIB, later NZ MG Corps; KIA France.

  Lt-Col Athelstan Moore, CMG DSO mid(3); 9 Jul 1879 England – 14 Oct 1918; married soldier of Dunedin; 8/1155, OC OIB; DOW France; SA War.

  French, let us return to the subject.

  WGM also refers to this in his letters to Maj Sandford of 17 May 1915 and Madame Thomas of 23 May 1915 (not published).

  A plentiful supply.

  A makeshift shelter.

  Pte (later QM-Sgt) David G. Whitmore; 22 Jan 1879 Christchurch – 26 Jul 1950; single carpenter of Feilding; 10/561 A-Coy WIB, later with 24th Refts; WIA Gallipoli.

  Lt-Col (later Maj-Gen Sir) George S. Richardson, KBE CB CMG mid(3) SSWar(3) LH, CG; 14 Nov 1868 England – 11 Jun 1938; single soldier seconded to London; AA&QMG Royal Naval Div, later 12 Corps, 15/209 OC Admin NZEF, Administrator Western Samoa, Dep Mayor Auckland.

  The 100-strong New Zealand Staff Corps consisted of the regular officers that provided the professional core of the Dominion’s military forces.

  Maj-Gen (later Sir) Archibald Paris, KCB mid(8); 9 Nov 1861 England – 30 Oct 1937; OC RN Div; married, WIA France.

  A Roman Catholic religious order active in Turkey before the Great War.

  Capt (acting Maj) Fred W. Sandford, VD; Christchurch Rifle Volunteers 1885–91, Christchurch City Guards 1894–1904, Unattached List 1904–07, Active List to 1911. Commanded and umpired Taranaki’s Cadet units under WGM after moving to New Plymouth 1907.

  Hill 971 (elevation in feet) or Koja Chemen Tepe the highest point in the ridge that runs roughly North to South, which includes Chunuk Bair, and dominates the Anzac Cove area.

  The southern cape of Suvla Bay.

  A map reference for Baby 700, a Turkish position between the Nek and Battleship Hill.

  The village of Biyuk Anafarta (Great Anafarta) inland from Suvla Bay.

  A small hill inland from the coast just south of Anzac Cove.

  Point on east coast.

  The first large hill north of the toe of the peninsula; the location of the village of Krithia; the objective of repeated Allied attacks.

  Subalterns, officers below the rank of captain, especially second lieutenants.

  Gaba Tepe the headland about two kilometres south of Anzac Cove; presumably WGM means the Walker’s Ridge area.

  Lt-Col (later temp Col) Arthur Plugge, CMG mid(3); 17 Feb 1878 England – 1 Jul 1934; single schoolmaster of Auckland; 12/1 OC AIB, later OC Div Trg.

  A type of explosive.

  WGM could be referring to a line in Don Quixote by Cervantes, ‘Hunger is the best sauce in the world’.

  This could be Malone’s off-hand acknowledgement of having been formerly in conflict with his bandsmen. At Awapuni he had stopped them playing in honour of one of their own, who died in New Plymouth before attesting, and did s
o again when the Main Body of the NZEF sailed from Wellington. Similar tensions arose after the battalion’s Bandmaster, Pte Bethel Simpson, died in Mar 1915, and Malone chose his replacement against the wishes of the bandsmen. Pte Laurie E. Smith 10/609, interviewed by Murray Moorhead in the 1980s, pers com 24 Feb 2005; NZ Freelance, 27 Mar 1915, p.5.

  A loyal, dependable person.

  Latin, To die for fatherland is a sweet thing. Probably a contraction of a quotation from Horace.

  When the New Zealand Infantry Brigade and the 2nd Australian Infantry Brigade arrived at Cape Helles they were formed into a composite division with a brigade from the Royal Naval Division. Waite, p.121.

  Midshipmen.

  Lt (later Capt) Bruce H. Morison, MC mid; 12 Nov 1888 Wellington – 22 Feb 1924; single law student of Wellington; 10/663, B-Coy WIB.

  This dry water course, just north of Walker’s Ridge, became known as Malone’s Gully and is between Happy Valley and No.1 Post and leads up to Baby 700.

  L/Cpl (later 2/Lt) Philip H.G. Bennett, DCM mid; 28 Sep 1891 – 15 Jan 1962; single journalist of Wanganui; 10/274 A-Coy WIB; later with 36th Refts, 1918. Pte Horace E. Hayden, mid; 10 Jan 1890 England – 26 Apr 1915; single upholsterer of New Plymouth; 10/723 C-Coy WIB; KIA Gallipoli. The Pte Swan is probably Pte (later Cpl) James W. Swan, DCM mid; 23 Dec 1884 Mosgiel – 16 Sep 1916, single, miner of Gisborne; 10/1674 3rd Refts; KIA France.

  S-Sgt (later Cpl) Beaumont W. Woodhead; 22 May 1880 – 30 Apr 1936; married soldier of Wanganui; 10/1118 A-Coy WIB.

  Gen Otto Liman Von Sanders; 17 Feb 1855 – 22 Aug 1929. In 1913 he led the German military mission reorganising the Turkish Army. Late in 1914 he commanded Turkish forces in the Caucasus and was then moved to command the Fifth Army in the Dardenelles. He later commanded the Turkish forces in Palestine and Syria.

  Capt Jesse A. Wallingford, NZSC, MC mid; 25 Jan 1872 England – 6 Jun 1944; married soldier of Auckland; 12/1125 HQ AIB, later Bde MG Officer. Shooting champion.

  Maj (later Lt-Col) James H. Whyte, NZSC, DSO(2) DCM mid(7); 17 Dec 1876 Clevedon – 3 Nov 1951; single soldier of Palmerston North; 11/698 WMR, later OC WMR, OC CMR, Bde-Maj 2ALH Bde; SA War; WWII OC Troopships 1940–45.