Remembering Wairarapa's lost lives

SERVICE: John Grant (right) with Alfred (Bricky) Marsh, Masterton members of the Wellington Mounted Rifles. Grant was killed on August 27, 1915.PHOTO/WAIRARAPA ARCHIVE

The week of fighting at Hill 60 has always seemed an especially sad battle. The New Zealand Infantry Brigade and the Mounted Rifles Brigade had fought themselves to a standstill on Chunuk Bair between August 6-10 - yet two weeks later, another effort was demanded.

Hill 60 - Kaiajik Aghala - was a small knoll just as the spurs from the Sari Bair Range met the coastal plain. In the aftermath of the August Offensive it was fortified by the Turks as part of the new front line. To the north was the Suvla Bay sector, from which another British effort to capture Scimitar Hill and the W Hills would start. Hill 60 was on the right flank of the attack.

To secure the flank and to capture several wells in the vicinity, a mixed force of New Zealand, Australian and British troops would advance in time with the main attack on August 21. The Auckland and Canterbury Mounteds - 400 men - drew the short straw among the New Zealanders. Little could be seen of Turkish positions in the scrub covering Hill 60 so the men had virtually no knowledge of what they would find.

The limited British artillery supported the main attack so few shells had fallen on Hill 60 when the attack started at 3.30pm. The attackers had to cross an open valley before reaching the hill and many were killed or wounded before they got to Turkish trenches. The New Zealanders forced their way into about 100 yards of trench but the Connaught Rangers to the left and the 4th Australian Brigade to the right took nothing except heavy losses. Horrifyingly, scrub fires, started by artillery bursts, incinerated many of the wounded.

More than half of the New Zealanders were killed or wounded. With some reinforcement, the small captured area was held but there were still hopes of gaining the entire hill. Battle had found its own momentum.

A second attack was planned for August 27. This time the Wellington Mounteds would make up a third of the 300 attackers. Although the Anzac officers wanted a night attack, General Cox decreed another afternoon attack, after a barrage which was predictably weak.

Again some of the Turkish trenches were gained with a following bomb fight. Again the lack of proper grenades was sorely felt by the attackers. On this day and the next, eight Wairarapa men, mostly from the Wellington Mounteds, were killed.

They were: John Grant (teacher and journalist), Howard Elphinstone-Holloway (farm worker), Alf Iggulden (carter), Howard Jackson (stock agent), Brian Ronaldson (shepherd), Percy Turnor (farmer), Alexander Boyd (shepherd) and Victor Falkner (labourer). They are all commemorated on the Hill 60 (NZ) Memorial and have no known graves. The Hill 60 Cemetery contains almost 800 dead, of whom 76 are identified.

Farmhand James Harvey, also of the Wellington Mounted Rifles, died later of wounds.

The summit and reverse of Hill 60 remained in the hands of the Turks. The Mounted Rifles Brigade landed in May 1915 with 2700 men. Even after reinforcement, the brigade could muster only about 400 after Hill 60, with men going sick every day.

New Zealand casualties from Turkish fire became less frequent. Until the December 1915 evacuation, sickness was now the main enemy.

The battle highlighted the squandering of lives for objectives of little value. The need to show "offensive spirit" overrode sensible economy of effort. Military planning had a long way to go.