Gallipoli letters of Rupert Major Downes - Part 7

Letter to M.F.D  from H'plis 
21.1.16 
The Gallipoli evacuation was truly
a wonderful performance & makes 
up a bit for all the mistakes 
there. The Turks bombarded the 
place heavily the day after 
everyone had left & it is certain 
they were expecting an attack by 
us. The unloading was going on 
for more than a week before 
with the luck of very fine 
weather - there was a gale 
next day wh. would have 
made any embarkation impossible 
They got off  all but 30 mules  
and a few worn out guns ; you must  
remember that it was all 
done in a very bright moonlight 
which is so bright some times 
that they can shoot by it at  
long range. I think if we had 
stayed on there would have been 
disaster as already the troops 
had been on short rations owing 
to the weather & the high 
explosive they were getting would 
have made a bad mess of 
things from their big howitzers 
The last week I had there 
at Divisional Head quarters 
was a rather uncomfortable 
one - it was situated in a 
little pocket in some hills 
with hill on 3 sides & open 
on the 4^th, the highest part  
being towards the Turks

& was too steep for shrapnel to 
get at us but the Turks 
had the range to an inch 
& used to treat us to it daily 
One day they put in about 
200 shells from 4 to 10" in 
about ¾ hour ; one of them 
got into the back of Genl 
Godley's dugout & he 
came out brushing the dirt 
out of his hair - if it had 
been H. Z. instead of old 
black powder there would 
not have been enough of him 
to bury. Another got into our 
mess dugout through the 
table about ½ hour before 
afternoon tea & wrecked it 
completely, another landed 
about 6 feet from my head 
when I was in my office & only 
shook the place a bit, but I was 
full up of it by then & went 
out for a walk in the open. 
For practical purposes they 
come down quite perpendicularly 
so that no cover is of any use 
& its better to walk out into the 
open. One got into a fresh hole 
some 14ft deep in wh. were 6 
men & one of them was not 
touched; they got into 2 wireless 
dugouts & in one case one of the men 
in it was only a little burnt 
they missed a hospital tent by 
inches, but later after I left got a

higher explosive 10" shell into it & 
blew 18 patients all over the 
landscape. These used to rattle 
some of the men a lot after a  
few days of it, & they are beastly 
things as they start with a loud 
fsssh like the wind in the trees 
wh. very slowly gets louder & 
louder till it becomes a shriek 
& then a roar, but it takes a 
long time before you know where 
it's going to land & thats the 
nasty time. Sometimes they 
let off 4 guns of a battery in 
rapid succession, anyone of these 
let many shells on our little 
headquarters of high explosive 
would have ended the whole 
place & at the end they were so 
bad by that time they had fresh 
holes 16 feet underground. I can 
tell you about this now there's to 
be no going back there. I think 
the Helles evacuation was a more 
wonderful show than ours for the 
Turks must have been prepared 
& we had 4 miles from the front 
trenches to the wharves. 
Dont feel very keen to go any where 
else, would prefer Australia. 
Anzac was a great place to kill 
enthusiasm. 
Personally I dont think the 
Canal show will be very big after 
a talk with a man who has 
lived at Alexandretta for years

& knows all these parts well, 
he says the rails for the line 
the Turks are building across the 
desert are light 5ft 3in ones 
& of little use for heavy stores. 
Also that they cant finish for 
a long time the tunnels thro' 
the Taurus Mts. & the next  
range that they been on 
for 5 years now & without the 
railway thro' these, it is 
impossible to bring heavier guns 
than 6in over the passes. 
-It will probably only boil down 
into a raid & we have a lot 
of troops there now to meet it 
more than at Salonika I 
think. There is a pretty strict 
censorship on news from there 
& precious little leaks thro'. 
Have heard nothing since 
about the "mention in despatches" 
It practically came to a recommendation 
for some decorations so if nothing 
comes of it as is likely I wont 
mind being in the same company 
as far better soldiers than I. 
Anderson writes that one of our 
greatest victories to date is the 
recall of French from France. It is 
surprising but I had heard 
something of the kind before 
especially that the French wanted 
to oust him. 
I hear also that all the officers 
back from France are very

cocky & look on us as having 
a great supremacy there if only 
the staff work did not fail too 
often. We were right thro' the 
German lines at Loos & near 
their big guns & supports 24 
hours late so that the Germans 
brought the guns back. However  
had it not been for bad 
staff work on their side the 
Germans would have been 
thro' to Calais at the 2^nd 
battle of Ypres. Our L.H. seems 
to have done good work 
among the Arabs & the country 
is made for them 

Mudros 
30.7.15 
Dear Colonel, 
I wrote to you a week or two ago but as I have not 
kept my promise very well of writing to you now I'll try 
to tell you more of the doings of the A.A.M.C. as far as I 
know personally and from what I have been told where 
the news is apparently reliable. 
The 1^st L.H.F.A. are at present lost as Sutherland, Fowler & Ramsden 
went off to Alex. in a temporary hospital ship & have not 
appeared since though they are due back here & have been 
wired for where they are likely to be. Fraschi is c̄ the 1^st L. 
H. Regt as M.O. & some 20 men he had are on the beach here 
doing nothing & without an officer; he has got into trouble 
over some insubordinate & abusive letter he wrote to head 
quarters & is a bad growler like Ramsden. Sutherland was 
very fit when I last saw him. Fowler is trying to get the 
Majority c̄ my lot but apparently there is noone capable 
of making the promotion of him or White which is pretty 
rotten after 10 months. Nicholas is at Alex. c̄ the horses 
& Helsham was last at Malta & some of the men are on 
fleet sweepers; so the unit has been pretty broken up 
& they'll have difficulty in getting together again. 
Their Warrant Officer has caused a lot of trouble in the

4^th FA still at Anzac & fortunately for them have had 
plenty of work. Beeston is very fit & well but Jermyn 
gone back to Egypt as they did not hit it. Jeffries 
back c̄ his unit again & well. 
Casualty Clearing Station as they are now known have 
lost Richards died of Pneumonia, Campbell in England 
after pneumonia, O'Brien probably with Phthisis in 
Egypt & Atkins gone to Australia c̄ a ship - a rotten 
trick to play. Giblin is well & cheerful but Gordon & 
Corbin who exchanged from 1^st S.H. very full up of 
no work though c̄ so few officers they'll have a hard 
time if there is much to do. 
1^st S.H. Bryant not very well & growls as much as ever 
-Powell is the strong man of the crowd. They have 
a very nice place here where they have been since 
March c̄ electric light, X ray, & wooden theatre. Wilson 
away c̄ Typhoid & they have Muirhead attached - he 
was first c̄  1^st G.H. & then Sutherland but he has 
an unfortunate manner. 
2^nd S.H. Takes up to 600 patients & is I think the best 
stationary hospital here - due mostly to Barber who 
runs it & who is a good man though very dissatisfied 
with things generally. Sawers has Typhoid & 
Gutteridge (6^thBattⁿ) too. Barber off to England with 
a hospital ship soon

About the Genl hospitals I know little except that N^o 1 
has some 70 medical officers there doing hardly 
anything & the grab all the reinforcements for 
mobile units up here which are badly wanted  
& I think the A.D.M.S.s & D.D.M.S. will be having something 
to say soon. To mention Barrett throws most of 
the M.Os. here into an instant fit of fury & the feeling  
about his A.D.M.S job & promotion is very great. He 
signs himself A.D.M.S. Australian Forces - I wonder 
what Howse will say to that. The former seems to 
be as much hated in Cairo & is apparently is not 
spoken to by most senior Australians. 
I wish to God that you were here at the head of  
things for the temper of the senior men is such 
that I am nervous for the name of the A.A.M.C. through what they may do. It is hard being under 
R.A.M.C. men who though quite nice know not the officers 
nor our organisation & constitution & dont try 
very hard to find out. I had hopes that you might 
be coming out c̄ the N^o 3 G.H. but dont suppose  
the Govt would let you away, I think you are  
badly wanted here to be in supreme control. 
I expect you are hard put to it to get the officers for 
all these new troops just enlisted; its good to see such 
recruiting but we want them.