Letters from Norman Griffiths Ellsworth to his Mother, 1914-1915, Part 13 of 27

{*Please return to me 
when you have read them 
M Ellsworth*} 
  
Gaba Tepe 
May 6th 1915 
  
Dearest Mother & all at Home 
Just a line to 
let you know that I am in the best of 
good health & spirits & I am pleased to 
say that all the boys are too. We 
landed last Sunday week under 
tremendous fire from our battleships 
& what a sight it was too: One I 
shall never forget. The Turks simply 
flew in all directions. The Infantry 
landed first & had to drive the Turks 
from some of the biggest & most 
rug   rugged hills imaginable & they 
have done wonderful in doing so. 
I landed with my Subsection in 
the afternoon & got our gun up on a 
hill & at once got to work. We were 
under shrapnel fire from 3 different 
directions & we soon located a 6 gun 
battery shelling us & we swung 
round on to them & put them 
completely out of action by 18 shots

2 
The Infantry had had a bad time 
from the Turks shrapnel but it 
put fresh heart into our boys & 
as our shrapnel is larger than 
theirs, they won't stand up to it. 
We are in a very safe position 
& are well "dug in" & the shrapnel 
can't touch us.  We have had 
only 3 of our chaps slightly hit 
by spent bullets. Jack Heywood 
got hit by a shrapnel bullet in 
the leg & has gone on board the  
Hospital Ship. It is not at all 
serious & he was sent there as we 
have no accommodation on the beach. 
The "Queen Elizabeth" with her 
15 inch guns, is doing great work 
& the noise is deafening when she 
fires the 8 together. The Australian 
& New Zealand Troops are all 
doing magnificently & have proved 
themselves that they are not the

Page 3 
the 6/- a day tourists that "stay at 
home" critics say they are. They 
wont come out of the trenches even 
for a spell & when the Royal 
Marine Light Infantry were sent 
to relieve them, they all went back 
again after an hours spell. 
The weather is delightful & we  
should soon be on our way to 
Constantinople. My boys are real 
tricks & think it great sport. Our 
horses are going back to Alexandria 
tomorrow & this letter goes with them. 
We go for a swim each evening 
so don't do too bad. Our food is 
splendid & plentiful. The men 
in the trenches are well fed, etc, & 
all their stuff is carried by mules 
who have proved to be wonderful. 
The warships bombard night & 
day & it plays havoc with the  
Turks

Page 4 
I am writing this in our "dug out" 
& it is getting dark, so excuse my  
bad writing & mistakes. Jack Hall 
& Braithwaite are still on the 
boat & have not been ashore yet  
so do not know what it is like 
to be under fire yet. 
Now Mother, dont worry 
about me, as I am perfectly 
safe & know how to look after 
myself. This game suits me to 
a "T" & I am thoroughly in my 
 glory. Hope all are well 
Give my love to all at home & 
accept same from your 
loving & happy son 
Norman

about the 
Gun 
a May 6^th 1915

[*Ask Mab 
to write to Nell Wheeler 
16 Argyle St St Kilda 
& tell her the news for me*] 
______________________ 
[*also the Mint Chaps*]
____________________ 
  
18^th May 1915 
Gaba Tepe 
  
My Dearest Mother & all at Home, 
Just another line 
to let you know that I am still quite 
well & getting used to Active Service. 
The Turks are a peculiar crowd & 
don't relish fighting at all. Their 
Artillery is a little troublesome at 
 times, but we will soon polish them 
off. Today was Mail Day & I got 
quite a budget of letters & I have 
just got through them all in my 
"dug out", where I have spent the 
best of the day. My Subsection had 
 to relieve "D" Subsection for a week 
& I just came off today. The guns 
are all well dug in & it is nice & comfy 
in them, but we are not allowed 
to go near them when we are not

2 
firing. The British & French at the 
lower end of the Peninsular are 
finding it a little tougher than 
they expected, as the Turks are 
so well dug it, & the Allies 
Artillery bombarding can be heard 
all day & all night long. They are 
simply going to blow the place 
to bits & then chase them with 
the bayonet. My word, Mum, I 
hope you will be proud of the 
Australian Infantry. If you could 
only see the place they have 
taken from the Turks, it would 
cause you to marvel. It is 
that rough & rugged & steep 
that one can scarcely climb 
it alone & yet they charged & 
drove the Turks out at the 
point of the bayonet. The 
Turkish prisoners said it

3 
was terrible to try & stop them. 
The Sailors off the battleships 
were amazed at them & at once 
named them the White Gurkas 
& truly they have earned it. 
Last week, the Victorian 
Infantry were withdrawn from 
here & sent down to help the 
Tommies & French take some 
position that was causing 
a bit of trouble & when the 
Victorians arrived, they let 
out one wild yell & flew at 
them & drove the Turks out 
flying. They have one fault, & 
 that is the wont wait for an 
order & their officers can't hold 
them. As soon as they were 
told where they had to go, they 
went of their own accord 
& the officers simply had to

4 
go with them, or else get lost 
The Light Horse are all 
here (dismounted) & are doing 
work in the trenches & are 
simply itching for a bayonet 
charge, but we only have to 
hold this position until the 
other force drive up the Turks 
from the lower end. Never shall 
I forget the sight on the Sunday 
we landed here. We sailed 
slowly out of Lemnos at night 
& anchored outside till day 
break & then followed the 
warships around & when we 
got in sight of the coast, there 
were all over our warships pouring 
in tremendous broadsides. The 
noise was terrific & the effect of 
the flashes from gun fire was 
simply wonderful, & all this

5 
was going on whilst we were landing 
in boats. The noise that 
Queen Lizzie was making, was 
shaking the whole world it 
appeared to us. Eight 15 inch 
guns all going at once. And 
the other fro  boats had 12 inch 
guns going. There were about 
20 war boats & all were going out at 
once, so you can imagine what 
the noise was like. 
All day, today, the Turks have 
been shelling us, but have done 
no damage what ever & have 
succeeded in wasting a lot of 
ammunition. The Turkish 
Infantry tried a bayonet charge 
last night & our boys gave them 
a lasting remembrance of what 
they got before. The German 
Officers have to threaten them to

6 
make them do it. On the back 
& I & my subsection have not 
got our gun back yet, but it 
is on board the H.M.S. Prince 
of Wales being repaired & hope 
to have it soon. We had a  
most unpleasant duty of having 
to bury some of our Infantry 
dead last week & they had  
been killed on the first day 
of landing & were of course 
"pretty high" but we soon got 
the job through. We had a  
rotten day on my birthday 
Gunner Beulke was killed by 
 a fall of earth. Lieut Wolfenden 
was killed by shrapnel, Arthur 
Mann was wounded in the face 
& Gnr Collins was hit in the back,  
& this was the day my gun 
was blown up by the Turks, so

7 
I'll not forget my 29th birthday in 
a hurry. I hope you enjoyed your 
holiday in Creswick. I am very 
glad you went. Tell Mab, that 
Verne Ritchie endorsed one of the 
letters I got & said that he had 
written to her. I got a letter from 
Floss & one from Rupert, 2 from 
Mab & one from Nell Wheeler. I 
cannot write to them as I have no time 
& no materiel , so hope they will accept 
my apologies & thanks. We get good 
food such as Bacon Cheese, Tinned  
meat & vegetables & tons of biscuits, & 
plenty of tea & sugar. 
Well Mother dear must close 
now as it is mail time so with 
best of love to all & yourself 
I remain 
Your loving son 
Norman

May 18  
  
Please write to Ruby Davidson 
51 Highett St 
West Richmond 
for me please 
_____________ 
I know I am a  
nuisance 
_____________ 
Braith & all the Drivers have 
not been ashore yet, & have gone back 
to Alexandria