Letters from Norman Griffiths Ellsworth to his Mother, 1914-1915, Part 14 of 27

[*Remember me to all
at Winchelsea.*]

Gaba Tepe,
Gallipoli Peninsular
May 24th 1915

Dearest Mother & all at Home,
I have just received another
batch of letter & papers from you & others in Melb, but
the parcel which Mab wrote about is not to hand yet,
but I expect it is here & somewhere. I am glad you
enjoyed your holiday at Creswick as the change will
have done you good. It must be a great blessing that 
the rain came when it did. We have the most
delightful weather here & have had only 2 wet days
since we landed exactly a month ago. Yesterday
was a holiday. The Turks put up the White Flag &
came in from Gaba Tepe & wanted an Armistice of
24 hours to bury their dead & attend to their wounded.
Our people granted them 8 hours & during this time
they buried 2,000 odd. Our fellows all went down
for a swim & the beach resembled Hampton on
a holiday. The day before yesterday was a little
exciting for the men on the H.M.S. Albion. All
the Men of War have to keep moving now as there
is an hostile submarine kicking around, & she got
to near & went aground. The Turks opened fire on
her & she had to fight for her life & poured hundreds
of broad sides into the Turks & as she thus lightened
herself & a rope was passed to her from the “Vengeance”,
she towed off after being aground for 4 hours. Things
are very quiet here now & we only have to hold our 

[*Hope Chas has got work / Tell George to write soon*]

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ground until the British Division advance, & we are
only allowed to fire very little as our Infantry & their
machine guns can hold the Turks easily. We have
had only one casualty since I last wrote to you, so
this goes to show you how slow things are. The Turks
shrapnel is a little annoying at times, but as you
can hear it coming, one can generally get under cover.
A German Aeroplane came over us & dropped a
couple of bombs yesterday & killed one of the
Infantry chaps. We get plenty of food & clothes & a
good variety too, Cigarettes & Tobacco are issued to
us once a week (2 packets & 1 tin of tobacco each) & Rum is
also allotted, but this doesn't interest me. My gun is
not repaired yet, but it will not be long away as
they are repairing it on the "Prince of Wales". Our guns
did good work the other night when the Turks made
a night attack which was repulsed with heavy loss
We shelled them vigorously for an hour & the Colonel
congratulated our Major on the good work.
General Bridges died of his wounds & is buried at
Alexandria I believe.
I received a letter from May Tilton, Mab, Nell Wheeler,
Paper from Creswick, 2 "Ages", & one from Mother, also one from
Ruby Davidson. I have no time or materiel to write to
them, so would be obliged if you could acknowledge
their kindness. I am in the best of health & thoroughly
enjoying the experience & hope to be in Constantinople
soon. Hope all are well at home. Kindest love to
everybody & an extra whack for yourself I remain
Your loving son
Norman. 

[*Write to Ruby Davidson
51 Highett St
West Richmond please
also. Nell Wheeler
67 Argyle St
St Kilda & Ring up Mint
Norman*]

Gaba Tepe,
Gallipoli Peninsular,
Turkey, 15th June 1915.

Dearest Mother & all at Home,
Just a few lines to let you know
that I am quite well & in the very best of "nick" & am
thoroughly enjoying this great experience. We have got
the Turks beaten now, & they only confine themselves to
repelling our attacks. We completely beat them at night
fighting, because we can fire our guns at night just as
easily as in daytime, & they dare not fire theirs, as it
would give away their positions, so you see we have things
all our own way at this game. You will be pleased to
know that our battery has been mentioned in despatches
for gallantry & The Major expects to get a XXXX out of
it, & there are 2 D. C. Ms to go to the battery. We drew
for them out of the hat & we decided to give one to one
of the chaps on "C" Subsection who has a big chance
of losing his leg & the other went to Corporal Gammon (Yardleys corporal). The Turks use high explosive
shell on us now, & one of these came through the front of
the pit, glanced along the gun barrel & burst through the
shield; The gun layer was killed instantly & the fuze hit
the other man on the leg. This xxxx was therefore put 
completely out of action & they made up a new gun out of
mine which was walloped on my birthday, & some of the 

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of the spare undamaged parts of Adams gun, so the result
is, My old gun is completely rebuilt & is barking louder
than ever & my detachment are just the boys to work
her too. All the Drivers & horses are still in Alexandria
& of course Braithwaite & Jack Hall are there too, so it
looks as if they will keep us in Gaba Tepe after the
advance has begun. No body is anxious to see Constantinople
here, as it resembles Cairo only much dirtyr dirtier &
smelly, so we don't want to go there. You will be sorry
to hear about Yardley; He has got a complete nervous
breakdown & has been struck off our strength & sent
to the Divisional Ammunition Column at Alexandria.
One of his detachment got killed one day & poor
Yardley took it quite heart & let it get him down. It
doesn't do, Mother, to let it get one down at this game
& when a chap gets killed, you simply have to lift
him out of his seat, throw a coat over his head, &
go on working the gun just as if nothing has happened.
It seems hard, but it can't be helped.
Down at Cape Helles, the British & French are
bombarding the place night & day & it is one continuous
roar all the time. We don't get so much assistance from
the Navy now, as the Submarines sunk two battleships
last week. We were only ½ a mile from where the
"Triumph" went down, & so of course we saw the whole 

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show. "Hostile submarine" was signalled to all ships
& all the battleships "up anchor" & kept moving about
all the time, except the "Triumph" who was content
to remain at Anchor & put out her nets, but as
you know, torpoedos cut through nets, & the poor old
"Triumph" found out too late, for the torpoedo struck
her fair amidships & we at once saw her with sloping
decks & a big list to starboard, & all the sailors were
all "fallen in" as on parade on the after deck. Boats
of all sorts were sent to her assistance, & we saw a
race of destroyers from Cape Helles & they were doing
35 knots an hour, & reached her before she went
down. Slowly she heeled over & all the sailors got
on to her side which was above water & then they all
leapt into the sea & were picked up by the boats.
She turned right over at last & showed her propellers
& then went slowly to the bottom. During this time, the
Turks wher were shelling the rescue parties & men in
the water, but their shooting was poor. We only have
Destroyers along the coast now, but occasionly the
Fleet steams out of Lemnos at night & shells the
Turks along the coast at day break for a couple of
hours & then gets away to Lemnos again. The
battleship "Albion" went aground off Gaba Tepe one
night, & the Vengance was trying to tow her off. But the 

4
only way she could get off, was to lighten herself of shells
so she pumped out 200 broadsides of 6 inch guns into
the Turks territory, & what a sight it was too, she
was one mass of smoke & flashes & the noise was
deafening. She was towed off however after an hours
shelling. Les Ilsley is with the New Zealanders &
was in the last bayonet charge & came out all right.
He rang me up on the 'Phone. The Turks wont face
the bayonet & run like blazes. Their artillery too,
can't shoot for nuts; The first shot usually falls
50 yards in front of our guns, & the next goes miles
over our heads into the sea, the next falls to the
right or left & the next may hit the pit itself.
& after this it is quite safe to sit on the roof & watch
for the rest, nevertheless we don't take any risks.
There is two shells in front of my gun 27½ inches
long & 8½ inches in diameter (unexploded) so you see
we get some little visitors occasionly. They must be
short of ammunition, because a lot of their shells
are filled with pitch & sawdust. Our conditions are
quite the best available & we get the best of food, Fresh
meat, Onions, Spuds, Fresh Bread, & dried fruits, Etc. so
I am getting condition on again. I am often thinking
of everybody at home & I earnestly hope that you
don't worry about me, because I am quite alright 

5
I have been hit twice with shrapnel bullets & altho'
they were fairly spent, nevertheless it is just like
getting hit with a stone, thrown very swiftly. One
can hear shells coming, & so we can generally
manage to get our heads under cover, even if our
back sides don't, & strange to say, this is just where
I was struck each time. High explosive shells are
only dangerous when they actually hit the gun &
the men are working it, but we are always ordered
into "funk holes" as soon as we finish firing.
How is everybody at home, Give my love to
all enquirers & tell them to be proud of the Australian
Infantry for the way they took this place. All the
Imperial Officers swear by them now.
I hope you are well, Mum. Give my love to Mab,
Chas & family (hope he is in work) George, Rupert, Floss,
Miss Taylor, Jack Tilton & all relations.
We are always delighted to get your letters from home
also the papers & I read them over & over again. I got the
socks & handkerchiefs from Mab, thanks so very much, if you
could send me a singlet or two, I should feel obliged, we
get shirts & pants & coats & boots, but no singlets.
Well, good bye, for the present, with best
love to all I remain
Your loving Son
Norman
J Mlformacke 

[*The British have been bombarding the
Turkish trenches for 18 hours & are still at it.
"Finish Turk" (this is what the Indians say)*]

Gallipoli Penslr
June 20th 1915.

Dearest Mother & all at Home,
Just a line to let you know that we
are all quite will & getting along famously. Things are very quiet
now & we do very little shooting as the Turks wont come at it
at all now, & if they do open up, they are soon glad to shut
up again. Since my gun (1169) has been repaired & put into
Action again, she put a Turkish gun out of action with a
direct hit on to it, so you see, "Little Liz" as we call her, is
starting to avenge the "doing" she got on the 7th May.
The boys of my subsection are all in great fettle &
are no trouble whatever. All our other gunners, including the
1st Reinforcements, are with us now, & my Corporal, who was
back at Alexandria with the horses & Drivers, is also with
me, so this relieves me of a lot of responsibility & is also
the best of Company, too.
I am sorry to tell you that our last two Mails
from Victoria, have gone astray, & whilst other units have
got theirs, the poor old Artillery boys have to go cadging
for news.
I suppose it is winter in Melbourne now, & I suppose
Ice Skating is in full swing. How I wish I could get off for a
week or two & tear off home & back again, my word, I would
have a lot to tell you about Australian soldiers 

The Navy have nothing but praise for them & a Warrant Officer
off one of the Battleships asked one of our Colonels "What do
you Australians do when there is no war". This same chap
was on the beach when the first boat load of Infantry
got ashore, & he said that he actually saw a man
jump out of the boat into 5 feet of water, & when he
came up, he was "fixing his bayonet" on. Hows that, eh.
If you could only see the nature of the country we
are in & the difficult places we have got our guns into
position, you would be astonished. Only those who
visit this place after the war (Authors, Etc.) & ourselves, will
know what our brave Infantry went through on that
memorable Sunday 25th April 1915. I do hope the Casualty
Lists will not have a f depressing effect on Volunteering
in Australia, because we need every possible man that
can come & at the earliest convenience. There have been
two Distinguished Conduct Medals won by our battery,
so this should be some impetus for recruiting.
Well Mother, dear, we are not allowed to say much
as the censor is very strict, so will close now, assuring you
that I am in the very best of Nick & hoping you are all
the same  Believe me to be  J Meformarke
with the very best of love to you all
Your affectionate son
Norman

P.S. Have just received your latest letter & 2 from Mab
& parcel of Sox (dated 5th May) very many thanks

with love from
Norman.
Tell Mab, that I'll give her a bangle made
out of a driving band off a Turkish
shell, that lobbed near my gun,
when I come home 
They are the rage here
Norm