Letters of Nathaniel Dunbar Barton, 1915 - 1917

S.S "ANCHISES" 
22.12.15 
CERTUM PETE FINEM 
THE BLUE FUNNEL LINE 

My Dear Mother 
As I expect you 
know by now Anzac & Suvla have been 
evacuated without a casualty. A 
few guns were left behind, but they 
were all old and were of course were 
blown up before being deserted; most 
of the the stores were burnt in an 
accidental fire a couple of nights 
before; a fire which we were very 
frightened might give the show away 
to the Turks, but which I think 
they must have thought was set 
alight by their shells. The rest of 
the supplies were to be shelled 
by our boats when the enemy 
discovered we were gone, which 
they did not do, till two o'clock 
the next afternoon at any rate, 

2/ 
as up hill then they among were 
bombarding our trenches. 
The evacuation itself was 
carried out without a hitch but 
we can thank God for the weather, 
which was absolutely perfect for our 
plans. Ever since the snow, and the 
freezing wind which followed it, we 
have had calm warm days and 
nights, with lately a moon approaching 
her full but with very often a mist 
filling the atmosphere. 
I know for certain what was to 
be done four days before, and was 
at first told I was to be among 
the last party to leave. The night 
following that news I certainly felt 
excited and nervous, but I was 
all right after that till Saturday night 
when the first big party left. I 
think everyone felt the strain a 
bit then, just as the party was 
going off, and for about half an 
hour afterwards, after that we felt 
quite all right. 
It was changed later on On Sunday night the rest of 
the regiment left, and was divided

3/ 
into three parties A, B and C. Each 
of these was again divided into three 
leaving a quarter of an hour after one 
another. I was changed from the C 
party to B 3 which left at ten past 
ten. The A party left about six, B 
at about ten, and C about two thirty in 
next morning. Three officers and 27 men 
were in this last party for the regiment. 
The moon in the early part 
of that night had a perfect rainbow 
round it, but this afterwards disappeared. 
It was bright moonlight marching 
down, and very impressive seeing 
parties coming from all directions 
in silence, with padded feet to 
deaden any sound, and all making 
for their appointed places to the 
tick of time. Then out at sea 
the transports lay at anchor, with 
boats plying busily backwards and 
forwards to the shore and the 
brilliantly lighted hospital boats 
in deep contrast to the others, dark 
which were without a light. 
You will probably hear wild 
rumours of men left behind, 

4/ 
but one case of a 13^th Battalion 
man is true. He was a sentry in 
a tunnel and fell asleep; he 
woke with a pain in the tummy 
(only too common at Anzac), and on 
going out found the trenches 
deserted. He raced for the beach, and 
arrived without rifle or pack in time 
for one of the last boats. The tale 
he now tells himself is a very 
different aeddition, and much more 
heroic, but I think this is right. 
As to the evacuation itself, I 
think it was a great move, since 
it has been done successfully, as 
the men suffered cruelly in the cold, 
which we had. The Australians and 
New Zealanders certainly had a 
good many cases of frost bite, and 
some of my toes haven’t got their 
circulation back yet, but it was 
the Tommies at Suvla who lost. 
I don’t know the figures at all, 
but hundreds died and up the 
number ran up to thousands who 
were sent away owing to the 
exposure. This was partly due to

S.S. “ANCHISES.” 
CERTUM PETE FINEM 
THE BLUE FUNNEL LINE 
5/
 
the nature of the country, and 
partly that there are such a 
lot of city men among them. 
I am afraid the Australians 
haven’t much of an opinion of 
a Tommy now. It is a pity but 
we have only seen second rate 
regiments, and the Australian 
seems much quicker at inventing 
things, which are useful for trench 
warfare. The English fought in 
France nine months before the 
Australians began, yet the later 
weren’t at the front a month, before 
they invented the periscope rifle, 
a thing, which has been invaluable 
to us, and which the enemy 
has not yet been able to make 
successfully. They have too invented 
a good many other things, but the 
time it took to get them made

6/ 
and sent out meant that we 
did not get the full advantage of 
them. 
We arrived in Lemnos harbour 
early Monday morning, and after 
several changes were put on this 
boat, and sailed Tuesday afternoon. 
It was rather funny, as some 
Tommies came on board that 
afternoon, and as usual their officers 
had tons of kit. We were all 
jeering at the gang of men 
carting up huge valises, bundles of 
swords, tent chairs and "different things, 
and wondering if they would get 
them on in time. They didn’t 
manage to do so however, and 
the captain had the gangway 
hauled up leaving a good bit of 
of baggage and some men behind. 
After all we only reached 
the mouth of the harbour that 
night, owing to an accident. 
We just missed running into 

7/ 
a large boat, which steamed 
across our bows by stopping dead 
and putting down our anchor. Then 
when we tried to sail again 
the wind caught us, owing to 
our having no way on, and we 
had to make for a channel 
between two rows of boats at 
anchor. A smaller boat however 
was coming up behind, and 
being unable to turn aside 
owing to these boats had 
nothing left to do, but run 
into us. She only broke one of 
our life boats and some railings 
though, as well as her own bow, 
and after that we anchored for 
the night setting forth this morning. 
I have forgotten to tell you 
that an Austrian battery of 
12.1” guns began to fire on us 
on Saturday evening, and for 
which we had been preparing 
by digging funk holes. It I 
believe gave Lone Pine a 

8/ 
great doing all Monday morning 
after everyone had left! Shells of 
that size are rather expensive 
too. 
Also to show you how we were 
favoured by the weather; on Tuesday 
morning it blew a gale from 
the South, which made embarking 
impossible at Anzac and Suvla, 
so we only got off with one day 
to spare. 
Christmas morning, and we have 
just taken the pilot on board to 
go into Alexandria and feeling 
very pleased that we have escaped 
the submarines. The sun is just 
rising over the city in a yellow 
Eastern sky, which is very pretty, so 
I think I shall go up on deck 
to look at it. I must try to 
send a cable as soon as possible 
to wish you a joyful Xmas. and 
let you know that we are back 
in Egypt once more. 
I am 
Your affectionate son 
Nat D Barton.

EXTRACTS FROM THE LETTERS OF MAJOR NATHANIEL DUNBAR BARTON. 
7th Light Horse Regiment, A.I.F. 

Grazier; of Wellington, N.S.W.; born Wellington, 5th June, 
1894; appointed a 2/lieutenant in the 7th L.H. on 20/11/14; 
promoted lieutenant 1/5/15. temporary captain 15/10/15; 
captain 12/3/16; major 8/9/16; appointment terminated 27/11/18. 
……………………………………………………………… 
6/8/16. 
….. 
We got back to camp about 11 pm. on the night of the 
3rd after being out since 1 am. in the morning, and in touch 
with the Turks. Then we were called out again at 1.15 am. on 
the morning of the 4th to the sounds of shots exchanged between 
the 1st L.H. Bgde and the enemy. After getting things ready we 
turned in again about 2.30 am. then up and into it at 4 am. 
We advanced about ¾ of a mile from the camp, then the men lined 
a ridge. They had to advance about 400 yds from there on to 
another ridge to support the 1st Bdge. Meanwhile our led 
horses were being shelled with shrapnel and high explosive and 
it was very funny to see them put their tails down when a shell 
burst just behind them. The led horses were then taken on to 
be nearer the firing line and the 1st Bdg. retreated through us. 
Colonel Onslow did splendidly. He led the men on to 
the ridge, 50 yds ahead of anyone and the regiment held it under 
shrapnel from the front, and machine gun fire from three sides, 
till all the 1st Bdg. were clear. 
We then retired to a ridge behind and rallied there for 
a time and in the retirement from there a wrong order came 
from someone that the men were to go back on foot. I let one 
troop go mounted then got the order direct from Sutton, so took 
the rest of the horses back without riders, then had to return 
with them again as the men were about knocked up. We held that 
ridge all day, our left flank being held by the infantry in

-2- 
their redoubts, which they have had thousands of natives 
digging for the last two months. 
Col. Boyston is splendid/ They call him galloping Jack 
but everyone swears by him now. He had this Brigade well 
under control, knows when to push and pushes hard. Our men 
brought back all the wounded under heavy fire on tired horses, 
no matter how badly wounded they were, and did not seem to mind 
even machine gun fire. It is said 15,00 Turks attacked our 2 
Brigades at that time. During the day we linked up with the 
N.Z. Brigade, 3rd Bdg. and Yeomanry Bdg. We were heavily 
shelled where some of C Sqdn. and some of B Sqdn were in the 
afternoon, and Cossack got a shrapnel pellet in the off flank 
and is now in the Mobile Section. Before this, while I was on 
him a spent bullet hit the front of one of the panels of my 
saddle and was stopped by a piece of iron from entering him, 
so he had a narrow squeak. 
At four o’clock next morning, the 5th, the whole line 
advanced in a bayonet charge. Colonel Onslow was hit at close 
quarters by a bullet which went between the bone of his thigh 
and femoral artery. I forgot to mention Major Windeyer was 
hit the morning before so Sutton now has the regiment. The C.O. 
and Windeyer are both doing well, and the former is expected 
back in about 10 weeks, it is doubtful about the latter. 
The Wellington (N.Z’s) and the 7th captured about 
1000 prisoners and 7 machine guns, the prisoners including 
about 7 Germans I know of. We then advanced, mounted. The 
Brigadier, who was hit the afternoon before in the leg was 
not allowed to come. This Bdg. went right forward, the N.Z. 
leading the 7th on the right. The N.Zs did splendid work and 
if they had had anyone to support them could have taken Qatia 
and routed the army, I think. We captured a Field Ambulance 
entire camal and all and an ammunition column with about 400,000 
rounds of ammunition. We managed to water our horses there, got

-3- 
some dates, dried apricots and wheat for ourselves, which 
just about saved us and waited for the remainder of the Div. 
If only our Brig. Boyston had been there I think we could have 
routed the remainder but Col. Meldrum of the Wellington Regt. 
could get no-one to support him and in the end we had to wait 
till 2.15 pm. before attacking Qatia. By that time the Turks 
had brought up fresh men and the whole Division could not 
shift them. 
We were again terribly lucky with our led horses, hardly 
any of them being hit, all the shelling going too far. It almost 
seemed as if we had a special protection from Heaven. The 
Yeomanry on our left, the first we have seen of them since they 
cut up in April when they fled for their lives, let us down 
again. They are the limit. The attack having failed we 
returned to camp at 7 pm reaching here at about 10 pm. This 
squadron had 1 killed, 3 died of wounds, and 12 wounded. Cpl. 
Curran, who was brought out under escort for his trial was the 
one killed while rescuing wounded. This regiment had 6 killed, 
3 died of wounds, 47 wounded, I think the 6th having practically 
the same. Our horses faired better than most, the 6th and several 
of the other Brigades not getting water for theirs for 48 hours. 
……. 

We are resting today and the infantry have taken Qatia 
without a shot and have advanced towards Oghratina. So far, 
but for them holding the left flank and drawing the fire of 
the Turks 6 in. gun, it has been a Light Horse Battle. …… 
The Tommy Infantry here is a bit worse even than the 
Yeomanry, or rather some of it the Scotch element is good, 
a lot of the others get so scared when they see us returning 
at night that they become speechless. We only had four guns 
to support our attack on Qatia yesterday; they had very little 
ammunition and were practically useless though there were

-4- 
magnificent targets. The order for the Yeomanry yesterday 
was “Retire on Romani, every man for himself.” We retired 
half an hour later without fresh casualties and I believe the 
Turks must have retired pretty well simultaneously with us. 
Our burying party today brought in 4 mountain guns and 2 more 
M.G’s which were captured by the N.Zs. We have lost some of 
our best men, which must be expected, but it is very sad. Cpl. 
Curran was killed and L/Cpl. Bell, Daden, and Dunkinson died 
of wounds in this squadron, Bell died this afternoon. … 
……………………………….. 
29th March, 1917.
We had reveille at quarter to one on Sunday morning 
and marched most of Sunday. Then that night we were up at one 
and marched round to the N.E. of Gaza, this regiment being the 
advance guard, A Sqdn. doing the screen. The first excitement 
we had was watching some of the men in the latter squadron 
spurring their horses and riding hell for leather after some 
garries which they just managed to catch. After that they 
missed a glorious chance of getting two Taubes - the men saw 
them down on the plain, while they were on the top of a steep 
bank, but seeing them from above like that they could not be 
sure they were nots ours and did not dare to fire, and by the 
time the officer had come up they had got a move on, and their 
shots missed. 
Next they recaptured two of the Brigadier’s horses which 
had got away from his groom and galloped along the road towards 
Gaza. Some Turks caught and tied them up but our fellors coming 
along collared the lot. 
The next chase was after bigger game - the general in 
command of the 53rd Turkish Division and his staff who were, I

-5- 
believe, in command when Gen. Townsend was captured. The lads 
caught the General and most of his staff but one of his Staff 
officers had too fast a horse and escaped. 
We were not sent in to help the Infantry till pretty late 
in the afternoon and then one of my troops got a bit astray 
in the huge cactus plantation we had to pass through. They 
got in among our friends, the New Zealanders, and with them 
captured two 4.2. Austrian guns and had some almost hand to hand 
fighting on the outskirts of Gaza. 
The remainder of us did not have such an exciting time 
as the Turks gave themselves up pretty easily and especially 
after it became dark. Still the regiment had an enormous 
frontage to cover, and we, with most of the others in the 
division, had to cut our way through cactus hedges four to six 
feet high and from ten to fifty yards apart. That night we 
were withdrawn much to our disgust, as we were right to the 
town. This opened the door to reinforcements and next day the 
infantry had to retire. 
We were wishing the 3rd or 1st Bdg. had been with our 
division instead of the Yeo-manry, who have by no means risen 
in our eyes. Still I am thankful to think that this Brigade 
and this regiment came out with credit. 
In our withdrawal we marched the whole night long owing to 
faulty guiding, with scarcely a stop, and as it was the third 
pretty strenuous night, we were very tired. Up till now I have 
thought being sleepy on horse back was about the most painful 
thing imaginable, but that night I slept going along quite 
comfortably, and as nearly everyone did the same, there was a 
bit of a jumble up of units. Since then we have not done 
much, but today, the 31st, is the first quiet one we have had 
and last night the first full night.

-6- 
We are now bivouaced between a fresh water lake and the 
sea, so are fairly revelling in it. 
One Wellingtonian, last Monday, captured a chair while 
going though one of the houses and carrying it along with him, 
sat on it to fire through the cactus, and it also helped him 
to get through the hedges. 
Some others captured a lorry with four horses, and rode 
down on it till things became too warm. This regiment captured 
150 of the enemy altogether, out of about 700 taken by the 
whole force, and the Colonel is very pleased with things in 
general, but we are all chewing our cud and filled with thoughts 
of what might have been, if only ------- 
The two men who actually captured the general were Birchell 
and Price, the latter was a mate of Brian’s on the voyage over 
this last time, and the prisoner told the Brigadier that he 
would rather have been shot than laughed at in the way they 
laughed at him. What all set them going I am told was that they 
offered him “Half a Mo” cigarette, our worst issue and seeing 
a General smoking this tickled them immensely. 
It is now the 3rd, and we spent a very enjoyable Sunday 
yesterday. I went to early morning service and then again 
to church Parade in the evening. Our Padre is delicate, can’t 
preach for sour tarts, and his voice cracks every second word, 
but he is sincere, which covers everything, and consequently 
we all like him, and rejoice in having him with us. ………. 
……………………………… 
6/4/17. 
I am afraid my last letter was more misleading to you 
than any newspaper, as you expect my reports to be true, and 

-7- 
my account certainly sounded like a splendid success, very 
different from what it really was. The guns too, which we 
captured were not 4.2, as it said in the first bulletin we 
received, but about 10 pounders, that is according to Snow, 
who helped to capture them. However I am going to copy 
a message out to send you, which gives us a pat on the back:- 
“I wish to thank you personally for the very fine work 
accomplished by the Division under your command in the action 
on 26th, and especially for the skilful way in which you 
withdrew the Cavalry in the dark after their long day’s work 
against the enemy. 
Will you express to all ranks under your command my 
admiration for their splendid behaviour before the enemy. It 
was no light task to delay the advance of greatly superior 
hostile forces throughout the whole day on a front of nearly 
twelve miles and at the same time be able to put in a strong 
attack by two Brigades to assist the Infantry in the attack on 
Gaza. Two hours more daylight would have enabled the Cavalry 
to finish the job and it must have been most disheartening to 
your men after such a fine effort to have the prize snatched 
from their grip by darkness. The harder the task I give to the 
Mounted Troops of the Desert Column, the better they carry 
it out and no man could wish to command finer troops.” 
To-day is Good Friday, but I have not been to Church, 
and we have had a painful day- an arms and saddlery inspection 
by our Divisional Commander with all that that carries with it. 
…. We received our extra kit yesterday, I am glad to say, 
so have a bivvy once more and eating utensils. They can quite 
easily be done without, but it is very nice to get them. ……. 
…….