Ross Smith, image courtesy State Library of South Australia B6101
Smith, Ross – August 1916
Aug. 15th. 1916
… on the 3rd Aug. we were rushed out to our outpost line about 6 P.M. My 2 guns were attached to the 3rd Regt [1st Australian Light Horse Brigade]. & I was glad to be back with my old pals again. I just had time to get my guns in position before it got dark…
It was a big front & I had to split my guns & put one in each of two gullies which ran out onto the flat country…at about 1 A.M. the firing started properly & we heard the Turks yelling their battle cry of Allah! Allah! Allah! as they made their first charge. It sounds most weird and I think must have sounded most disconcerting to any who had not heard it before…
The attack was delivered on my right flank from a small ridge about 200 yds from my gun and I was unable to fire because of the danger of hitting our own men who were immediately on my right with the Turks firing just above them… the bullets soon started to hit the mound our gun was on so we decided to dig in.
We hung on there until the first signs of dawn and just as I was beginning to wonder what would happen when it got light, Major Lewis ordered me to retire with his Squadron. We retired back along the gully with the Turks hot on our tracks & took up a position on a ridge commanding the gully. It was now getting quite light and I just had time to get my gun mounted when they charged. We knocked them back easily & then had great sport at running targets at about 400 yds.
… Sunrise still found us on the bare ridge and it was then that the 2nd. Brigade came up and reinforced us. The Turks had captured a very important hill on my right & were pouring in a pretty hot fire.
Then their Machine Guns came into action & soon after them came their shrapnel. The second burst from their machine guns found the range of our ridge to perfection & they simply plastered us with lead. I was firing the gun myself & there was nothing to do but get as close to Mother sand as possible while their guns were firing and then have a go with our own while they were not firing.
It was exciting to say the least of it. ‘Tis a blessing that Nature bestows the thing called “Fighting Madness” upon us at such times. It isn’t madness at all really but is just an exalted determined-to-kill-and-not-be-killed sort of feeling and all thought of fear and danger seems to vanish. One gets worked up into it and I wish I could describe my feelings as I sat behind that gun with my thumbs on the firing button and pouring out 600 bullets to the minute into living targets. The savage satisfaction too as you see them drop!
…Then came the “Out of Action”, no easy job with a heavy gun & tripod & boxes of ammunition to load onto pack horses under bursting shells. Only one of my horses had been killed & the wounded ones were rideable. We all went together as scattered as possible in a wild gallop over 500 yds of fire swept ground to cover behind another ridge. I found time to look around me and it was a wonderful and awful sight to see the Squadrons coming out of action to take up another position. Horses half mad with excitement, riderless horses, dead horses, wounded horses just hobbling along, yelling men, dead men, men without horses, two men on some horses, others men carrying a wounded man across his saddle – all mixed up in a mad gallop. No hopeless confusion or panic though, far from it. It is the sort of job that has to be done quickly and no time is lost. To an onlooker it must have looked a rabble but once behind the ridge every man formed up again & was ready for more. That is the value of discipline & training and yet I have heard said by some ignorant people that the Australian soldier is undisciplined. …
At daylight their big guns started pounding Railhead & our camp & they kept it up all day… Their aeroplanes were particularly active & dropped bombs on the camp for over an hour…
From midnight up till about 7 A.M. the 1st. & 2nd. L.H. Bgdes. who had been on duty every day & night for two weeks, held them. It was a very fine piece of work for tired troops against greatly superior numbers…
… At about 4 P.M. I decided to run the gauntlet back to a small Hod & water my horses which had not been watered for 24 hours. Another little trip amongst the bullets but it was long range fire & we were not touched. I got into position again about 6 P.M. & we had our first rest for 36 hours…. We were all completely done so were kept in reserve that night & had a beautiful sleep.
… Next morning white flags went up all over the place & we captured over 3000 unwounded prisoners…
The rest of the Turks were in full retreat so as soon as I had fed my tired horses I pushed on to rejoin the Regt.
… We needed a rest for our horses & men & we also needed reorganising somewhat.
Going out to Katia that day I had plenty of time to look over the ground we had fought on the day before. A battlefield before it has been cleaned up presents a ghastly appearance. The wounded had of course all been collected but the dead men & horses had not been touched & were lying where they had fallen. Ammunition, saddlery, equipment, rifles and all manner of stuff both ours & Turkish was strewn all over the field.
…My casualties were 1 killed and 2 wounded… I consider that the Section was extremely lucky considering what it went through. Most of my men have lived in the saltbush country at one time or another and I am satisfied that the man from out back can beat anything when it comes to the real thing. As someone remarked a few days ago “They don’t look much on parade but by God they can fight!” …
This brings me up to the morning of the 6th.We had 2 days in camp & marched out again on the 8th.The Brigade travelled all night & came upon the enemy at dawn on the 9th …They welcomed us with a few 5” High Explosives & we soon took what cover there was behind the sand hills. A camel convoy was just moving over a ridge about 1800 yds from us & we loosed off all our 6 machine guns onto them and carved them up.
We soon discovered they were there in force so the whole Brigade and a Battery of Horse Artillery came into action against them.
My position was again on a ridge but with a little more cover this time… Some of the 5″ burst within a few yards of us but beyond getting very dusty they did not touch our guns. A little later however one of them got one of my very best men, Radwell. He had been with me all through the fighting & I feel his loss very much … A shell hit the horse of a man riding close to me & blew the horse to bits but the man was unhurt & soon caught a riderless horse & got away again…
We retired back to a Hod 5 miles nearer here & were there for four days and eventually marched back to camp.
The whole of our Division was out there and I must add a word of praise for the Staff & the Supply Section. During the whole week we were out we were never short of water or rations and actually got an issue of cigarettes one day & the last 2 days we got fresh bread. That sort of thing means something and as we were coming home we passed a string of camels 3 miles long going out to the advanced troops. The horse fodder alone is an enormous item. And now the 1st. L.H. Bgde. is back in camp resting & receiving its pats on the back…
I have recommended 4 of my men but whether they will get anything or not is hard to say.
… I have tried to tell you the story of the fight as I saw it, and it is principally about the doings of the 1st Bgde & the Machine guns but that is only natural as I am a 1st. Bgde. Machine Gunner myself.
Compared with Gallipoli it was a totally different. There we had nice deep trenches & loop holes to fire through and plenty of cover but in this affair it was quite the opposite and I have never before been exposed to such a hot fire as we were on that first Ridge on Aug. 4th. The horses made a great difference too.
It is the first time the Light Horse have had a chance of doing anything as mounted troops and I am very pleased that I was in it.
