Correspondence between Field Marshal Lord William Birdwood and Lady Janetta Birdwood, 1915 - Part 12

waste their ammunition & resort to one ruse 
after another - Last night I should think  
they must have got through about 100,000 rounds  
as we managed to scare them properly & 
think they were going to be attacked in force 
tonight. I really do mean to Take one of their  
Trenches. I hope they will then think it is only 
a cry of wolf & not be fully ready. The 
Turks we find are full of respect for my 
men as we have just seen in one of their  
reports that they look upon them as fiercer 
fighters than the Bulgarians. The Germans 
had told the poor Turks that the Australians  
were savages, that they never gave quarter  
Cutting the throats of all prisoners & that some  
of them were even cannibals! This was of  
course to prevent desertion as I fancy a  
lot of these men would really give anything to  
come in if they dared do so. I cant think  
their hearts are in it & it is only the German  
influence & Enver Pasha who makes them  
stick to it. The big Russian reverse in Salicia  
is a real bad business as far as we are  
concerned for we had looked to them to  
co-operate near Constantinople & by having  
a good force there to prevent the Turks sending  
more troops here. As it is I much fear they  
will not have men to send there for a long

2 (June 15) 
time & more Turks can then flow down  
here - unless of course Greece, Bulgaria &  
Romania or any of them should come down  
really strong on one side. Greece I fancy  
will do so very soon & will then possibly  
be followed by one of the others. We still  
get a lot of casualties I am sorry to say  
daily but not nearly so many as we had  
the first fortnight here. The annoying part  
is that so many of those now killed or  
wounded are from stray shots which is how  
poor Genl Bridges was killed which is so
annoying. 
.............................................................................................. 
I made an attack on some of the enemys  
trenches last night & was successful up  
to a certain exten in that we got right in  
& turned the Turks out - but they came  
along in large numbers with an enormous  
number of very large bombs which they hurled  
into the trench from all sides as they had a  
regular ramification of trenches around their  
firing trench. My fellows stuck this till  
dawn & then I am sorry to say decided they  
could do so no longer & came away which  
annoyed me very much as I had hoped

to make this a pivot from which to  
seize a lot more trenches further on.  However 
we killed a good many of them & captured  
24 prisoners which all counts & we didnt  
lose much ourselves. 
  
DONATED RECORDS LIST 
3376 
(15) 
3rd Series

M.E.F. 
20 June 15 
My own darling girl, 
Very glad indeed to get your letter of 1st & 3rd  & to
know you had at last got my first letters from here - I do  
hope you have really got them all as I expect you have - the  
post office may purposely have held them all up for a week or so  
before delivering them. I wonder how on earth the Daily Mirror  
can have got hold of that yarn about me having been killed -  
I have just been shown the photo they published & along side  
of it is one of Genl. Cunliffe-Owen who is my artillery staff  
officer. As a matter of fact. I left him on board ship to arrange  
about their gun fire for this first week of our landing & he has  
never been touched in any way, though they report him as  
"killed while leading the Australian troops to the attack"!!  
It just shows how they can get hold of things. He is a very  
nice fellow & excellent R.A. officer. He has I believe a very  
nice American wife (with I fancy, money) and he is writing to  
tell her to write to you to see if you can arrange to meet  
when we are next in town - she I fancy lives somewhere  
down Aldershot way & motors up. She apparently at once  
wrote a contradiction to the Morning Post on her own. She 
is asking me if it is possible to prosecute the Mirror.   
I have told him much better to leave it alone, that  
I doubt if it is a libel - I have just been shown 
though the photo of myself & I'm not at all sure that

that isn't a libel!!  For I am not nearly so bald 
as they make me, & such little hair as they give me 
seems to be lank & parted in the middle, which certainly 
does not meet my description.  As a matter of fact now I  
have had all my hair off with horse clippers which is the only 
thing to do for cleanliness in these parts.  Did the reporter 
give any excuse at all as to how they published their 
statement & the photos Owen says he is sure they must have 
enlarged from that large group copies of which I sent you from 
Cairo. 
We haven't been doing much since I last wrote, but have 
our daily "hate" doses - Going out to some of my trenches  
yesterday a Turkish gun seemed to be deliberately  
following us, though of course it wasn't, and one round  
after another came plumeting into the road a minute  
or two after I had passed that particular spot.  I really  
think, we have quite frightened the Turks round us &  
have established a complete moral superiority over them - 
partly by the numbers of them we have killed & now they  
never dare show a head over their trenches anywhere  
or they are at once shot - & partly in the excellent trenches  
we have made. Consequently they devote their  
attention in attacking on the force further south  
which is a great nuisance.  As I am hoping for  
them to come along and have another go at them

2)  when I'd hope to kill another 4000 of them 
which would probably lead to their complete route.   
I don't think the other Divisions have anything like the  
good trenches I have, nor have they made up "periscope  
rifles" as we have which enable my men to sit down  
comfortably behind the parapet & shoot with their rifles  
18" above their heads, so that all the Turks can see  
is the muzzle of a rifle - and they don't like it a bit! 
In some of the shelling here a few days ago, one came  
right into John McConaghy's "dug out"- so it was just as  
well I had sent him to Alexandria a few days before to see  
to one or two things or it might have found him at home!   
I have sent dear old Lotbiniēre (who is his Brig-Genl)  
there too for a few days to try & get me some water boats 
or we will be having a water famine here. My dug out has  
been reinforced since a shell landed at the entrance & literally  
within six inches of me when I was having my hair clipped - 
a real astonisher for the clipper!!  Lucky he hadn't scissors in  
his hand or he might have had a ear off!! Onslow is very 
well & when bathing the other day, Skeen heard an Australian 
say "That's a fine young fellow. I wonder what is job 
here is"- Not quite the same as another Staff Officer 
who was accosted by a man with "Hullo-Sonny, you 
look about fit to be killed you do - get a double 
ratis ration of biscuit I expect" - You can 
expect no respect of person when naked!

We can't have any mess here & all feed together in 
little batches of twos. I always hare feed by myself 
except dinner, for which each of the staff come to me 
in turns so I see a good deal of them all. Carruthers 
is looking very old. 
You certainly seem to have been doing lots in the Australia 
Committee meeting line & I am sure they will all 
appreciate this. Mrs Osbourne seems very kind, though I did 
not know she was looking out for work for Nancy - an excellent 
thing, if she can make herself quite useful. 
Judith must have loved Madame Tussauds, if she wasn't 
frightened? 
The poor Michaels!. I feel so sorry for them as I am sure 
they must both be most disappointed people, while she is 
a dear kind hearted person. I haven't yet seen The 
honours gazette, but fear he will not have got 
anything, though I much hope Bob has - he in so 
thoroughly deserves it. 
Fancy old Lady Reid being golden haired & painted! 
Seeing him makes one quite surprised, as he has 
remained so simple & does not I think pretend to 
be anything but what he is - just a man of the 
people - & such a kindly hearted one - I 
daresay though that she is very nice & I hope golden

3) golden hearted as well as golden hearted- 
I am sure he is. 
Have you seen Mrs Lobo or Mrs Carruthers at all? 
I'm glad you have seen Mrs Marlow & Mrs Armstrong 
seems quite forthcoming. I think she is nice. I 
wonder who Lady Robinson's husband is - Is he an 
Australian? What a let down Sir Dighton is. It was 
just like him to find out at once from the War Office 
then to let you know. I shouldn't be surprised if he hadn't 
also let the Daily Mirror know too! 
I wonder if anything like a big air raid has been made 
on London. We have heard boqg vague rumours of 
such but I don't believe them yet. I can't think 
how it is that fleets of very much faster moving 
aeroplanes can not at once pounce  on & destroy the 
slow lumbering zepolins - You would think it must 
be a case of a submarine being able to get at a 
battleship, with the advantage that the aeroplane 
can always keep the air ship in sight. 
I don't know that I remember that Lady Edith 
Charles, but I used to know her brother  
well. Such a very nice fellow he is too.

He was then Ulick Browne in the 12th 
Bengal Cavalry - afterwards became Lord U.B. 
7th Marquis of Sligo _ I last saw him 
when he came out, to India one winter after 
he had left the B.C. 
Goodbye my own little lamb and all 
my love to you. 
Ever your very loving old. 
Will 
Have you seen anything of Dorothy & how is she - 
You mention lunching with her - But I am not sure 
if you mean Halhed's D. or D.R.? Halhed 
tells me his D. has got over her operation 
all right. I wonder where she is living? 
  
DONATED RECORDS LIST 
3376 
3rd Series (15)

3 DRL. 3376 (15) 
Med. Expdy.Force 
28 June 
1915 
My own darling girl, 
Some real hot weather we are having here & all work 
is now a case of shirt sleeve parades. I'm so glad I bought my helmet 
here from Egypt, as we had heard those were not really necessary here &  
I daresay they are not, as many still wear caps, but I'm sure it is 
much better to have a helmet. What we should do without the sea to 
swim in, I really do not know - it's a sin since it's being so dangerous. 
& I had 3 men killed swimming yesterday - It's only just the first shell, as 
after it men can take cover, but a good deal of the bathing is now 
done at night to avoid risk. I think they have taken to shelling 
us generally a good deal more than previously with some guns 
which outrange mine. - They won't come up to an attack though. 
Early yesterday they tried to screw themselves up to one. At 1.a.m they 
started bombing some of my trenches like bs devil, but for every 
bomb they threw in my boys hurled 2 or 3 back. Then at 3a.m. 
their Artillery began- smashed down some trenches & am sorry to 
say, caused a good many casualties. Then at 5.a.m. their rifle 
fire attack started & they expended thousands of rounds of ammunition 
but though we could see their bayonets all ready fixed in their 
trenches yet they evidently couldn't be got to rise to a charge 
across at us. We will find them all right & ready, though to 
oppose us most stoutly when it comes to our turn to have 
to attack their trenches & they have always said that 
Turks are at their best when holding trenches.