Subdeacon Joe
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Posts posted by Subdeacon Joe
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8 hours ago, Crooked River Pete, SASS 43485 said:
I showed this to my wife. If you need me, I'll be on the couch.
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Tpr. Louis Lucas Oliver, 4th Australian Light Horse Regiment, described his last days on the peninsula in a letter written from Heliopolis, Egypt, on 13th January 1916.
His letter is full of details, telling of the 'silent periods' employed to get the Turks used to no sounds coming from their lines; the delayed action 'drip rifles'; the destruction of stores that could not be removed; and the more lethal things deliberately left behind — booby traps.
“I did about 4½ months on the game, not counting travelling there and back in the submarine danger zone. I left there on the 12th December, and the last lot of men left on the 18th at Anzac. We were one of the first lot to leave so the evacuation of Anzac took only a week. The 4th Battalion were on the peninsula longer than any Battalion or Regiment, except the Battalions of the 3rd Infantry Brigade. All the other crowds had spells on Lemnos Island, so that made up for the three weeks the infantry were on Gallipoli before we landed. All the other Light Horse had spells. There were only about twenty men in the regiment who stuck to it from start to finish. As you know, I had a 10 weeks' spell. A lot of chaps were wounded and sick, went away, and never came back again. Some of them got a pretty cool reception when we met them. There are still a lot who have good easy jobs and don't intend leaving them. When we left the Peninsula we thought that we had some special job on, especially as we knew that some artillery and A.M.C. were going with us, but after we were at Lemnos a few days and saw the army pouring in, we knew that It was “Finish Gallipoli.” We hope to meet Jacko again and square accounts. In Lemnos harbor we saw the s.s Aquatania, sister ship of the Lusitania. It is a hospital boat now. Had my second Xmas. day on the water and was landed in Egypt. We are now taking care of the horses. During the snow In Gallipoli we had a bad time with the water as the pipes were frozen up and no water could be pumped up from the condensers on the beach. We had to go round collecting snow and melt it down. It took about a gallon of snow to make a mouthful of water. We had to walk right down to the beach with water cans and wait several hours there. Taking it all round I had a picnic the last time compared with what I had the first go. You will remember me telling you about Courtney's Post where we were the first three weeks. I suppose you have read in the papers an account of the big Turkish counter attack in June. It was mentioned as a specially warm corner. It is also known as Steel's Post, and is near Quinn's Post and the Chessboard at the head of Shrapnel Gully. I meant to tell you about a couple of Turks who came in during the snow. One morning the cook of the 7th Light Horse woke up and found his fire blazing away. He went out to 'chew' up the men who had lit it, as wood was scarce, and found two Turks sitting beside it. They said, “Turkey very cold.” Our lot were on the extreme right during the last few weeks. We were at Leane's trench for a couple of weeks after I went back, but we shifted down to Ryrie's Post which is separated from the shore, near Gaba Tepe, only by Chatham's Post. This post is named after Brigadier-General Ryrie of the 2nd Light Horse Brigade. The 4th Light Horse had the honor of being the first to occupy these trenches last July. I was one of the first parties to go out and dig ourselves in there on No Man's Land under a pretty stiff shell fire aided by snipers. We were only about 30 yards from Jacko. For a while I was on a listening job down a tunnel. My tunnel was dug out right under their trenches, and I had to sit in this for 4½ hours a day and listen for the Turks sapping, It was a very easy job, and I got a good sleep every night. Of course there is always a slight chance of going skywards, but it would be an easy death. The noise of the guns is very indistinct down there, it is quite dark, and the air is not too good. I suppose by this time Jacko has had a good look at it. As to the evacuation. To start with we had poor Jacko puzzled. We had orders to cease fire all along the line at a certain time. This was a good many days before we left. It seemed so very strange not hearing a shot fired from our side. We kept this up for a few days, and Jacko nearly went mad. He couldn't make anything of it. Then we broke out again. A few days later we tried the same scheme, and in several places along the line the Turks hopped out and started to bomb us. They got a bad shock. These tactics were repeated again and again, so that when the real time came for leaving the trenches Jacko thought we were at our old games again, and it made him cautious. For days before the evacuation the heads had been preparing everything. Stores were being burnt or destroyed in other ways; places were being heavily mined; guns and such stuff that could not be taken away were blown up. When orders came to pack up, we were relieved by a battalion of infantry, and later on some of these were relieved. All men not in the firing line were rushed off into barges, lighters, etc. Everything worked without a hitch. At other times we have had to wait hours on the beach but this time as soon as we walked on to the beach we were rushed off. Then the relieving of the men in the firing line started. All those except the few who were on observation at the time were sent down to the beach. This left about four men on each observation post. At a certain hour these four men were relieved by one man, leaving the line very weak. The four relieved men put pieces of torn up blankets on their feet as mufflers and gob away in quick time. At a certain hour again three men (the last to leave) put on their mufflers and left. Abdul was so used to our tricks that I expect it was days before he found out he was blowing up empty trenches. Precautions were taken to make him think we were still there. They had tricks like this. A rifle was loaded and propped up in a loop hole with a small light tin tied to the trigger. Another tin was placed above it full of water and a hole punched in the bottom so that It would drip slowly into the tin attached to the trigger. When the tin got a certain weight it would pull the trigger. Other methods were used with candles, which would burn a string and release a weight attached to the trigger. They were timed differently so that for some hours after the trenches had been deserted the Turks would hear rifles going of. There were other schemes, too, for inquisitive Jacko. For instance, a blanket carelessly lifted would send the “lifter” into Paradise in about 500 pieces. Mines and bombs were everywhere.” [1]
[1] 'Benalla Standard' (Victoria), 7th March 1916.
Image: “A delayed action device, commonly called a drip rifle, invented by Lance Corporal William Charles Scurry (later Captain W C Scurry MC DCM) of the 7th Battalion, AIF, for firing a rifle by means of weights operated through water escaping from one tin into another. A rifle could be left to operate 20 minutes after the device was set. Six rifles were left by 3rd Brigade to fire following the departure of the last party.” AWM G01291.
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Sunday and weekday, hands down was Rick O'Shay. Great story lines and impeccable artwork. A close second was Peanuts. Did the Silly Putty thing a couple of times, but usually didn't have any.
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7 hours ago, watab kid said:
there were a number of events over the years like that , the army was called in to quell a coal mine labor dispute and some folks got machine gunned
That was "Bloody Ludlow." Then there was the West Virginia Coal Mine War, with Blair Mountain and Matawan.
I've posted several times about Athens, usually in late July or early August. It has some similarities to situations now.-
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11 hours ago, Buckshot Bob said:
Paper bags or wallpaper remnants.
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"Paddle to the Sea" through maybe 4th grade
The I found the Edgar Rice Burrows "Princess of Mars" series and got hooked on science fiction.
Devoured Azimov, Heinlein, Anderson, Norton, et al.
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3 hours ago, Texas Joker said:
I have to go get my guitar, Thanks SDJ
2 hours ago, Eyesa Horg said:Have to say I never heard of him! I'm still chuckling! Thanks
1 hour ago, John Kloehr said:Drying my eyes from laughter, totally teared up but not at all sad.
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11 minutes ago, Abilene Slim SASS 81783 said:
I found it easier than one might think. Getting off requires planning ahead!
As I said, "Carefully and with great agility!"
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It's FRIDAY!
Everyone in the wedding ceremony was watching the radiant bride as her father escorted her down the aisle to give away to the groom. They reached the altar and the waiting groom; the bride kissed her father and placed something in his hand.
Everyone in the room was wondering what was given to the father by bride.
The father could feel the suspense in the air and all eyes were on him to divulge the secret and say something. Therefore, he announced, "Ladies and Gentlemen today is the luckiest day of my life."
Then he raises his hands with what his daughter gave him and continued, "My daughter finally, finally returned my credit card to me."
The whole audience, including the priest, started laughing.
For some strange reason, the poor groom didn't.
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At least it's not a "tunic" from the Blues and Royals or the Royal Artillery.
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Be positive about yourself. Say, "I cleared out space in the freezer" rather than "I just polished off a couple of pints of ice cream."
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20 minutes ago, watab kid said:
yup - bushes , trees are 50 foot tall , those look about 10 foot max
Bigger than an Orange TREE or a Lemon TREE (although those are very pretty)
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1 hour ago, watab kid said:
im going to agree with FKCGG , those arent trees - they are bushes , but the mountains are clear enough , seriously thats pretty neat
Those are Joshua TREES.
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Ba-Dump Tissssh - Memes
in SASS Wire Saloon
Posted