Letters relating to Oliver 'Trooper Bluegum' Hogue, 1915-1927 - Part 2

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been very tired for it merely struck my shoulder
& fell to the ground, spent. Maybe I'm thick
skinned. Certainly the bullet never even
cut my tunic. Curiously enough on the same
day Les Holmes was struck with a piece of
schrapnel shell from which the sting had all
gone & he too had no wound to show. Al
Chrystal has just butted in to my dugout
& is well. The one thing that obtrudes 
itself everywhere is th summed up in the
military term "Wastage of War" From prisoners
we have learnt that the Turkish armies (opposed
to the British & ourselves & the French) have suffered
enormous Casualties - Somewhere near 80000 I
think, but this is a guess. Our losses I

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cannot mention even if I knew, but they
are nothing like that. The Australian papers
have already published casualty lists totalling
about 7000. But in the one action of May
19/20^th op opposite our lines the Turks lost at least 15,000,
for on May 24 we helped to bury over 4000 killed. We
only had 500 Casualties - under 100 killed - & would
have had far less only our fellows would climb on
top of the parapets, sit down, & blaze away. But
this you have already seen in the papers.
Of late things have been rather quiet, except for
the enemys artillery which is extremely well
served & which periodically hails shrapnell &
high explosives all near our position.  But by
this time we have learnt which are the danger
zones time - most of us - take shelter.  So while
there is not a single spot on Gallipoli that is 

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absolutely safe yet our losses by

shell fire are small. My batman

a real good fellow from Fiji was

injured (a second time) a few days

ago. Got a shrapnel shell in the 

leg & will he in the hospital for

at least 3 months. Still it is 

incredible the way our fellows 

the shells. The few English & other officers
here dont quite understand the Australian’s
disregard of death, I don’t quite understand 
their callousness myself.
Our brigade has taken up some advanced 
positions nea fat & we are so close
to the enemy that we have bombing
parties every day & night. One little
stunt I must tell you of. A very
adventurous sniper sneaked up to within 15
yards of our advanced post the other morning 
& kept sniping at our sentries. When the Brigadier 
& I went the rounds our outposts were angry
at being unable to get the Turk. Four of them 
 

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volunteered to dash out & bring in
the Turk dead or alive. Sergt Ducker
(a Burwood Fourth Year Medical Student) took
3 men with him & dashed out, only
to find the snipers ‘posey’ empty & the
bird flown. A lot of empty cartridge 
cases testified to his activity; they bolted 
back to the trench, but the Turks must have
been keeping a very sharp look out for
a hail of bullets whizzed all round us.
They got back safely, though one of the 
quartette got a bullet in the forearm.
So hurriedly did they reenter our trenches
that one jumped fair on the back of Col
R while another slid with a little avalanche 
of stones & dirt all over Col Cox, I saw the
third man coming & ducked in time. .
We have similar ‘Stunts’ to this all day
& night. One of our chaps - a Boer by the
bye - his in the scrub & had a battle
royal with half a dozen Turks. The blazed
away for 20 minutes & he bagged 3 of the
enemy & was then slightly wounded . . .
 

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Another patrol of ours encountered a big patrol of the 
enemy. When they were about 10 yards off our
chaps threw 3 bombs & then bolted for the 
shelter of the trenches, being in a minority of 4 to
20. But one stayed behind to see what happened.
When he crawled back he said the Turks had
bolted even faster than our chaps did . . .
I was ‘Spotting’ for a bombing party yesterday &
the Turks must have seen our signals for a shrapnel 
shell within a few yards of my observation station.
Did I tell you I lost my pipe recently. Quite a
calamity. We were out in front locating some
new trenches & when I returned I missed my pipe.
I went out again & some snipers clipped the
leaves off the scrub near me so I bolted for
home & safety. Luckily next day one of our
patrols found the pipe & I am once more 
worshipping at the Shrine of Our Lady of Nicotine. .
So we have enough excitement to vary the
monotony . .  Im  still enjoying excellent health 
& enjoying myself as well as the malignant &
turbaned Turk will allow. Col R had a touch of
influenza, joy serious. Col Arnott is well. General
Legge has been through our lines several times. Told
me I was like you. I thanked him. Expecting a
big move shortly & hope to settle Abdul for
good & all. German aeroplane dropped a bomb
close to us this morning. No damage. . I don’t
think I’ll be able to churn out any ‘circular’ letter this
week so you might let [[Anne?]] & the girls glance at
this. Just received a very welcome letter from Anne
will answer soon. Got one also from Jack. He
seems to be having a good time. Hope Mother is
now A.1. give her all my love. Your affec Son Nol
 

Gallipoli Still
24-7-15
My dear dad :-
Two papers letters from you this mail & I
was delighted to get them - May 21st & June 15.
Somehow I think these might be one
between them but the mails which are very

kind to me are still rather erratic. I have
already referred to the large envelopes you
use. They always overlap the bulk of the
envelopes in a bundle & so bear the brunt
of the binding &c & always arrive torn &
dilapidated. So Im rather glad to get them
regularly. A couple of time they
have been readdressed by the Hotel folk..
(As I write there is a lad in the
adjoining trench singing with a very sweet tenor
voice 'Mary' & 'Mary of Argyle'. His voice

sounds very sweet above the roar of the
artillery.)
Many thanks for the clippings from the
Australian. They will let me know how the
world wags back home.
The best news of course is they Col Ryrie
has been promoted to Brigadier General. He will now
be Genl Ryrie for the rest of his life. The people

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of North Sydney will be xxxxx delighted &
will give him a rousing reception when he
comes back. I cannot - unfortunately - give you
any real news of value. The cabled reports are
very faulty especially - those from Athens. xxxxxx
xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx 
xxx & me have plenty of excitement. The Enemy is
only 40 yards away & we have bomb parties every
night. We started a fine bush  fire the other day. It
swept right over the turkish lines & frightened the life out
of some of them who wondered what struck them. When
the blaze was highest & the smoke thickest we fired like
fury & started cheering. Poor abdul thought he was a
goner. it would have been red easy to capture their front line
trenches but behind were machine guns & a network of trenches

that would have slaughtered us. So we just had a 

bit of fun with Tommy Turk & stuck where we were.

Im sure you'll be interested of to learn that once 

3)

again I have been inoculated, this

time ( or rather twice ) against cholera.
All I need now is some vaccine that

will render me t  immune from bullets as

well as enteric smallpox & cholera. However

beyond a slightly stiff arm for a couple of
days Ive suffered no inconvenience.

I got your Sunday Times with the marginal

note. I'm very much afraid that the Australian
temperament is such that it will be very
slow to recognise Charlie Bean's worth. He may

have made mistakes but he is quite the most

conscientious man in all Gallipoli. Lots

of the war correspondents are getting their
tales from the base hospitals but Bean

is up on the firing line all the time.
He may have been ill advised over the Cairo article ( I
think not. ) but every one who has read the

whole article (not the excerpts alone) acknowledges
its truth. The outcry was made over the cabled
excepts without the context. .
As for the atrocities I believe he is in error there,

though there is not the slightest doubt that all the
stories circulated at Heliopolis & Cairo about the
Turkish atrocities were grossly exaggerated. But on the

other hand it is difficult to imagine that all the
men who participated in the landing & the charge inland

4)
could have been mistaken. Also it is nearly impossible 

for all those soldiers who wrote to their friends

at home to have been the victims of hallucination and

no one can vouch for the treatment meted out to
our killed & wounded who fell into the hands of
the enemy in the first day. Nevertheless Im convinced that

there has been a great deal of exaggeration. Bean's mistake
was when he acted as apologist for the Turk & denied all.
Personally I know of only 2 cases I can vouch 
for in which our men were mutilated.  Re poor Jed
Larkin He was commonly reported to have been mutilated
in a sickening manner. Yet we found him (on the

day of the armistice ) with several bullets in him but no

mutilation. I ought to be rather angry with Captn Bean

first because he beat me on the post for the big job

& second because he seems to have injured our Brigade all

along but I find him so absolutely straight & sincere & honest that
I like him immensely & always have & Im very sorry for
 

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for the vituperation which he has unfortunately 

brought on himself. I'm sure when you read all his
stuff & know all the facts you will endorse my opinion.
I somehow think that poor Charlie Bean has ceased
to be a journalist . He has degenerated into a 

historian & is obsessed with a wild desire not to

present a good story, but to get to the bare
bed rock facts. I would much rather present
a real slap up story  10% wrong than write a
Blue Book. Ashmead Bartlett's story was great ,

but it was incorrect in places & he got it off
the warships. Bean's story was cold & prosaic
in parts but it was true. (All except where he
states that there were only 500 to 1000 opposing the
first landing). This might have been the actual number  there
according to the Turkish garrison report which but they
swarmed aft from all over the peninsula &

there were 30000 there in a couple of days. Beans
mention of 500 to 1000 has given an entirely

false impression. His  discrediting the story of the
soldier pitchforking a turk over his soldier was on a 
par with his quixotic desire for naked facts. Several men

assured me they saw it. But because Bean
could not find the man who did it or one who
could swear to it, he discredits the whole story.