Letters from Wilfred Evans to his family, 1915 - Part 16

5
trench which had previously
been occupied by them in addition
to our own. They embarked
at night of course as the
movement would otherwise
have been visible to the Turks.
The nights however were moonlit
& from our position, we could
plainly distinguish the outline
of several large transports
lying offshore to take them
aboard. These would also
be visible to the Turks as
some of their trenches were
a great deal closer to the
water than our own at
Rhododendron. To our troubled
minds this meant of course
that he would divine
the move & attack us in 
our weakened condition.

6
We forgot however that we
knew all about it & he
didn't & he evidently thought
that troops were being landed
for to our scouts reported
that he was improving
his trenches & wire entanglements
as fast as possible. However
we were in a state of considerable
nervous tension which increased
as each day passed & our
troops were depleted. More
men were taken off on the
following night & a good
deal of baggage & goods
on the next two nights
& some more men. The 
ordinance store was
thrown open to the troops
to take what they wished

7
as it was impossible to
remove the stuff for the lives
of the men were imperilled
by too long delaying to remove 
goods. So the men got  
all sorts & conditions of  
stuff from Jack boots to  
warm vests. All liquors 
were destroyed. Then three 
nights before the final 
evacuation the remains  
of the ordinance caught 
fire, whether by intention
or not I don't know
- strict orders had been
given to kindle no extra
fires. It started about
twelve o'clock one night
& made a tremendous
blaze & we all thought that
Mr. Turk would surely
guess what was going on,
- we did not feel too happy

8 
as we had a little more than
a single line of defence
& that was so thinly held
I began to picture Constantinople
for Xmas. A Turkish 
plane aeroplane came over 
one day & we all wondered 
if he would notice the 
sparcity of men. Then about 
6.30 p.m. on the night 
following the fire a wicked 
looking enemy plane appeared 
again in the moonlight 
or we thought it was an  
enemy & it flew very 
low which looked very  
suspicious. Our men 
kept all the usual fires

9 
going in our vacated  
bivouacs & no roofing 
material was removed 
& men were ordered to  
move about a lot in order 
to make things appear as 
usual. Then at last orders 
came for our regiment to 
move out on the second last 
night leaving two four 
officers & 28 men to man 
the trenches previously  
occupied by our own 
regiment & the 10th together 
with the machine guns 
which were all left till 
the last night as they are 
so effective in stopping an 
attack. The troops leaving 
were divided into three 
parties A B & C, we

10
formed part of C party 
which were the last to 
leave on that night. We 
assembled as quietly as 
possible no smoking or  
talking at eleven o'clock 
at night marched quietly  
down to the main sap which 
we were to reach at 11.30 pm 
where we were met by a 
guide & were taken by him 
to the place of embarkation 
& without the slightest delay 
marched straight aboard 
our appointed barge. These 
barges accommodate 400 
men each & are of shallow 
draught for the water at 
the pier is not deep & 
are splendidly constructed

11 
for quickly embarking men. 
They are entirely made of 
iron & are flat on top where  
there is accommodation for a 
large number of men & have 
stairs leading down from their 
centre to an inner part which 
is entirely covered in & so 
shrapnel proof. They have quite  
a decent speed & are easily 
handled. While we were 
walking along the main sap 
to the beach we saw a couple 
of shells burst near the pier 
as the Turks had an unfortunate 
habit of shelling the pier 
at night when for there was  
a lot of traffic at that 
time, & we wondered if they 
would treat us to any 
of the commonly called "iron rations" 

12 
a term used by the men to 
indicate shells or bullets 
though its correct meaning is 
quite different being used by 
the authorities for emergency 
rations which are given to 
troops on the move. Well we 
were comfortably seated on the 
boat when whish! bang! as 
shell burst near by & 
the pellets churned up the 
water near us & one small 
portion just grazed ^the nose of one of 
the Colonels but no one was 
injured. Having seen two 
burst before I waited in 
a rather unhappy frame 
of mind which was 
shared by most around 
I think for the next, as

13 
we felt so helpless sitting on 
the top of the boat waiting 
for her to finish loading & 
move off. Soon afterwards 
there was another whiz & 
"plunk" went the shell into 
the water near by without  
exploding for which we 
were thankful as it was 
rather close, & then we 
moved off. The scene on  
the beach was a strange 
sight, for the pile of stores 
was still burning & this  
lit up luridly the surroundings 
showing the remnants of 
destroyed ordinance lying 
on the beach & the debris 
left by the withdrawn 
army - boxes of biscuits 
& beef lying about, split  
open, portions of clothing

14 
& baggage, & amongst these 
the dark figures of the 
columns of the troops 
moving to their place of 
embarkation. We were taken 
out ^to sea by the barge & then put 
aboard a larger vessel which 
conveyed us to the harbour 
of Mudros on Lemnos Island 
In my description of the scene 
above I omitted to describe the  
sounds which accompanied 
it - the intermittent rifle 
fire from the heights of 
Walkers Ridge above 
us which is the usual 
music on the Peninsula & 
the occasional splash