Letters from Fred Leslie Biddle to his Family, 1914-1915 - Part 10 of 19

PPS
Why no photo 
of Father 
out playing 
bowls I suppose.
Received letter
from Coz Clara.  
Please thank her.
for me & give 
love to all at 
Berrington.
Fred 

Gaba Tepe
Gallipoli
25.6.15 

Dear Mother
Your letter & Father's of May 5^th
duly to hand, also the photos which I was
delighted to receive. 
I wonder where Roche got the extraordinary
yarn about me being left behind to train the
reinforcements. 
There never was the slightest possibility 
of such a thing & I have inquired shath about
it from Col Johnston & the Div Arty Hd Qrs
& such a thing was never thought of. 
Some people have powerful imaginations. 
There is a possibility of my return to
Alexandria for a month or so.
We have no horses ashore here & they were
all returned to Alexandria under Capt Spurge
of 5^th Bty. He has been there for 2 months 
now & naturally wants to be in this show so 
that a system of exchange is likely to be started
If it comes off I will in turn be relieved
by the Capt of 6^th Battery.

2 
We are still in the same place as we
occupied from the first & likely to be for
some time ago to come 
We are doing the job we were sent
here for & we are not walking through the
peninsula in the easy way some of the 
papers imagine. 
At present our job is to sit still in 
a defensive position, while the troops down 
south work up to us. 
This is going to be a long job. The
country is very difficult & rather resembles
the hills round Olinda except that there are
no trees only thick scrub never more than
6 ft  high with occasional fairly clear patches
Horses would be quite useless here, until
we are well inland. 
The Turk is putting a good fight
until it gets hand to hand when he crumples
up. 
He is told that if he surrenders we will
shoot him. He is forced out of the trenches
to fight us by his officers & he knows that

3 
machine guns are posted in rear of him for
the purpose of shooting him down if he
stops, runs back or attempts to surrender. 
So the poor devil fights like a rat in a 
corner. 
They are fine big men, well clothed & 
fat & evidently have stacks of ammunition. 
Don't believe any of the balderdash you
read about starving, ill clothed Turks. 
They are better clothed than our men &
despite what we know & have seen of them
being forced to fight, many of them are 
extraordinarily plucky. 
I have seen in the Sydney Mail of
May 12^th Ashmead Bartlett's account of the
landing here. 
Of course we saw it long ago in all the 
English papers & its the finest & truest
account of anything I have ever seen
published. 
Of course there are details omitted of
some things & one or two slight errors. 
For instance he says no guns were landed

4 
on the first day. 
As a matter of fact the one 4^th Bty
gun which landed on the afternoon of the
first day was probably the factor which
settled that we should hang on & not give
up the attempt. 
I dont think it is any way a secret
that as night fell the generals seriously
discussed a withdrawal & that all transports
were ordered to lower their boats manned &
await further orders at midnight. 
However the Turks eased off & our men
got dug in a bit & were holding their own
well as night drew in which settled the matter. 
In any case I am sure the men
would have refused to withdraw even if 
ordered. 
You cannot have any idea of the  
spirit of the great majority of them 
I've seen it & I can scarcely bring myself
to realise that men who had never fought
before could settle down to it so quickly
I see the papers in one or two cases
try to account for it by the presence of

5 
South African veterans but that's rubbish 
There are very few of them here & those
that are all say that South Africa was
a circumstance to this, quite a picnic in fact. 
You may have seen a letter reproduced
of An English officer who wrote home about
digging & compared the early efforts in
Flanders to the scratching of a few healthy 
fowls. 
It's just the same here Our latest
trenches are 9 to 10 ft deep & we can defy
any army of Turks to push us out & their
artillery does us comparatively little
damage. 
Things are very quiet here just now
& in fact it is quite monotonous. 
I will be fearfully disappointed if
anything big happens while I am away but 
it will be good to have a real bath for 
a change. 
I have a change of underwear & one 
cotton jacket with me but only one silk shirt

6 
It is frightfully hot & when I want my
silk shirt washed I have to wait while
it dries. 
It is impossible to wear my heavy jacket
& woollen stuffs. 
I have had several baths in about 1 pint
of water & it is surprising what a good bath
one can have with care & a sponge. 
The Colonel & I were walking through 
the Trenches one day & came across a man
stripped stark gazing in a doubtful way
at his mess tin full of water. 
"Going to have a bath"? said the Colonel
"Yes sir" said the man, "Wish to God I was a 
blooming canary". 
Most of the washing is done in the mess
tin as water is limited to 1½pints per man
per day. Sometimes we are able to get more 
So that we resemble "Sam the dirty man
who washed his face in a frying pan." 
So Hollis has gone at last. I hope
he will do well. In fact I am sure he will. 
Tell him I wish him the best of luck
I cant make out why he didnt get his

7 
operation fixed up before he went to 
Adelaide. 
It would have been no loss of time
to his firm as he was doing nothing in Melb. 
Now it will interfere with him making a 
good start. 
You ought to have received the
brass work long ago. I sent the brass work
to the  Cairo Express Coy on March 8^th but they
may have kept it for a consignment & in
any case ships were very irregular at
that time. 
I will write the Express Coy & ask what
ship the stuff went by. 
So Isabel is still singing but for
"nix". Tell her she wont be able to buy
many pairs of gloves at that price 
Hope she is improving all the time. 
Father says the Bowls season is over but
doesn't say how M.C.C. came out so I
suppose they were not the premiers.
I am afraid Davidson pulled Father's
leg about me a but. I am not quite

8 
a heaven sent genius of a Gunner yet. 
The plasterer who asked after me at the 
Melb Hospital will be Palin the Q.M. Sgt
of 23^rd Battery. 
He came over there with me from the
old battery at St Kilda. 
Hes a good Q.M.S. & very decent 
fellow. 
Kindest regards to Cozs Arthur &
Emma who were kind enough to enquire
after me & also Dr Dolbin 
It is quite impossible for me to write
even one letter a week regularly now so
please explain to all relatives & friends that
I send best wishes & often think of them 
Best love to Father Hollis Isabel
the boys & your own dear self. 
Your affcte son 
Fred 
passed F L Biddle 
P.S. 
Think on this occasion I might make a 
special mention of Uncle Walter just to 
show him he's not overlooked 
Fred