Letter from Alfred Frederick Jordan to Mr Shotton, 10 June 1915

PR82/8
Kaba Tebe
Galipoli Peninsular
Turkey.
10/6/15
Dear Shotton
No doubt you will remark that it is
about time I wrote to you, but the fact is Ihave
had no time for writing until today, & you are one
of the first of my correspondents. You will have
to excuse the Stationery (leaves of a Pkt book)
& the pencilled scrawl, as we are hard pushed
for even such things. As you will observe
from the heading hereof we are right in the
thick of it, & I suppose you will have heard
all about the magnificent work done by the
Australians & N. Zealanders here. Nothing
can be said too highly in their praise, &
they will be remembered for time immemorial
I raise my hat to the Australian Infantry,
although we are part & parcel of them now,
& are doing duty with them in the same
capacity. We are entrenched along a
large front in front of the unspeakable

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Turk. So close are we that in places
our trenches are only 10yds apart, & of
course the game is a hot & merry one.
Billet-doux in the Shape of Bombs &
Hand grenades are minute occurrences
from dawn till dawn. Bayonet attacks
are likewise frequent occurrences. This is
the same spot on which the Greeks landed
30,000 men some years ago, during the
Greco-Turkish War, & were repulsed &
driven off. We have landed, driven
them back, & shall continue to do so.
About a fortnight ago, the Turks received
10,000 reinforcements from Constantinople
& that same evening at midnight they
made a Bayonet attack but were
repulsed with heavy losses. They
again renewed the attack at 3 am just

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before dawn. They rushed over their
trenches (which in front of us are about 60
yds away) & came forward in a
solid mass. shouting their Mohammedan
War Cry, "Ali! Ali! Mohamed! Allah!
Allah! & blowing bugles, & generally
making a fearsome noise. They were
led by German Officers. We waited
until they were about 30yds away,
when we opened on them with Machine Guns
& rifle fire, mowing them down like
chaff. Some of them got up to our
periscopes parapets only to be caught in
the barbed wire entanglements & bayonetted.
A few got into the trenches but lasted but
a few moments. The attack lasted altogether
about 20 minutes & the result was
3,000 Killed, & the Lord Knows how
many wounded, dying subsequently.

4
They lay in heaps of 50 & 60 all
along the whole front & they laid there
for 10 days in a broiling sun until
the stench was abominable so much
so that the Turks asked for an
Armistice to bury their dead.
This was granted from 7am to 4pm.
They came out with the Red
Crescent Flags, & we detached them
with Red Cross flags. Neither
side were allowed to approach
nearer than half way across the
lines, & our fellows had to drag
the decomposed bodies across to
them. They buried them in
lots of 30 & 40. It was a strange
sight to see our fellows fraternizing
with them & exchanging cigarettes etc.

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The only ones that were standoffish
were the German officers
who would not fraternize at all.
They were very morose, & the Turks do
not like them at all, but they seem to
have a tremendous hold over them.
The Turks themselves are courageous fighters,
but they have had the heart taken out of
them lately though by our fellows.
It is entirely different mode of fighting
to anything ever before seen, & as far
as I can see Cavalry days' are over
& gone for ever. Napoleon said "an
Army marches on its Stomach". That is
true, & we ought to march a very long
way for a better catered for Army
never existed. The following is our
daily ration :- Tea, Sugar. 3oz Bacon or
Ham, 3oz Cheese. 4oz Jam, Fresh Frozen Beef
one day & Bully Beef the next. & an

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unlimited supply of hard nutritious biscuits.
Once a week we got 3 pkts of cigarettes, & ½ oz
of Tobacco, or in lieu of the latter 2 extra pkts
Cigarettes, & twice a week Rum is issued.
This is magnificent & I do not suppose any other
Army is looked after so well.
Our one & only trouble is Water. There is
a sufficiency for drinking purposes, but
for washing none. Nobody is allowed to
wash under any circumstances.
The only chance we get is every few
days we go down in batches to the
beach & bathe. It is a fearful job
walking over a sharp pebbly beach into
the water, & the last day I bathed as
soon as we got into the sea they started
in to shell us & you should have seen
the stampede for the shore. It took us
1½hrs to get back to the trenches about
a mile up the hillside. This is a
very interesting place from a historic

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point of view. About 12 miles South is
Cape Hellas at the mouth of the famous
Dardenelles, & on the other side of the mouth
are the Ruins of Troy. Cape Hellas is
the famous "Hellespont" across which
"Leander" swam is it not? Six miles
North of us are the Ruins of Dardanus.
Of course I have not seen these places
except Cape Hellas, but hope to get the
chance later on. D.V.
The fellows are in excellent spirits, & in
Perfect health, & as hard as wire &
just as wiry!! When not in the firing
trench we lay in "dug-outs" just a
few yards behind in Communication
trenches. These dug-outs are simply
holes in the ground made bomb - & shell
proof if possible. It is for all the

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world like a rabbit burrow, & to see
the chaps dive in when shelling commences
intensifies the simile. It is a wonderfully
pretty sight to see our Aviators fly over
their lines, & to see the anti-aircraft guns
shell them. Of course it is a very
different matter to range a gun on an
object high in the air, & the aviators
are quite unperturbed & simply proceed
on their way as if nothing happens.
The Turks get into a fearful
Humour when they see our craft, & fire
all manner of shots at them.
A Taube flew over us a few days
back & dropped a billet-doux
in the shape of a bomb Killing one
of our fellows by chance. It was a

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rotten that & fell ½ a mile short of its
mark, Killing this poor chap that was
sitting on the Latrine at the time.
Well old chap, there is a great deal more
I could tell you but I may not, but I
hope to be able personally to relate
this all to you. Please give my Kind
regards to Mr Parkhill, & also to
the Hon G.W. Fuller if you should see
him, & any of the Staff whom I
Know. Tell Mr Fuller his brother
Colin is well, & ask Mr Parkhill
to excuse me not writing as I
have neither time nor Stationery.
If you would let him peruse this
I should be greatly obliged.

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All my Muckbell Cafe friends
give my regards to particularly little
Scotty. In conclusion dear
Mr Sholton, I hope this will
find you in a perfect state
of health & spirits, & that you
will continue in same condition
is the fervent wish of
Sincerely yours
Alfred F. Jordan
P.S.
Address as before
& add please forward

Sidwell Shotton, Esqre.
c/o The Liberal Association Rooms
Faralla Chambers.
Pitt Street
Sydney
N.S.Wales
Australia.
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