Lieutenant-Colonel William Malone, Wellington Battalion, New Zealand Brigade, NZ&A Division, NZEF"There is no question but that the New Zealander is a long, long way the better soldier of the two. The Australian, is a dashing chap, but he is not steadfast, and he will not or would not dig, work. He came here to kill Turks, not to dig, and consequently, we have suffered. There are lots of good men and good officers among them, but they are not disciplined or trained like our men. The New Zealander is a long way the better soldier, more steadfast, better disciplined and a worker. I don't like the average Australian a bit, in fact I dislike him!"
In the extremely stressful conditions that existed in the Wellingtons positions up on Walkers Ridge on 28 April it is not surprising that Malone thought and said things that a more mature reflection or armchair analysis might find abhorrent.
"We are well dug in. The Turks keep trying to blast us away and thro the day killed three or four and rounded eight or nine The ground is covered with scrub. We go on digging and are shelled and rifle fired at night and day, but thanks to our excellent digging our casualties get less. I insisted on the Australians being all withdrawn. General Walker asked if I could hold on without them. I told him they were a source of weakness. All last night they kept up a blaze of rifle fire, into the dark at the Turks who they could not see and thus drew fire. The Turks knowing where we were. I tried to stop them but it was useless. About lam Colonel Braund came to me for more ammunition. I refused to give it to him telling him he was wasting enough and only informing the Turks that he was scared. He insisted and said responsibility on me. I sat tight and told him to go see General Walker as without his order I absolutely refused to give him any more ammunition. At 6am the Australians left. It was an enormous relief to see the last of them. I believe they are spasmodically brave and probably the best of them had been killed or wounded. They have been I venture to think badly handled and trained - officers in most cases no good. I am thinking of asking for a Court Martial on Colonel Braund. It makes me mad when I think of my grand men being sacrificed by his incapacity and folly. He is I believe a brave chap because he did not keep out of the racket. If he had it would have been better for us."
It is worth noticing that many other people admired the performance of Lieutenant Colonel George Braund (an Australian Member of Parliament who had raised and then commanded the 2nd Australian Battalion) who had helped hold the exposed positions up on Russell's Top and the Nek above Walkers Ridge..
SOURCE: W. G. Malone quoted J. Crawford, "No Better Death: The Great War Diaries and Letters of William G Malone"(Auckland: Reed Publishing Ltd, 2005), p.167 This is an excellent book and in my view should be in everyone's Gallipoli library. The photo shows the Wellingtons digging in on Walkers Ridge. It is from the Malone Family Collection and was is reproduced from p.166 of No Better Death.
Peter Hart
No comments:
Post a Comment