Sergt Robert Freeman, B Company, 1/4th Northants, whose home is in Alfred-street, Rushden, has come home on furlough, after experiencing what he called “hell let loose” in Gallipoli. He has been suffering from dysentery.

Interviewed by a “Rushden Echo” representative Sergt. Freemen said:-

“Before I went to the Dardanelles I used to picture from accounts in newspapers what the fighting would be like. I used to think of the time when I should be able to let the enemy have it with the bayonet. But when I got there I had the biggest surprise of my life. The fighting was horrible. Gallipoli is a veritable land of the dead. Little crosses stick up out of the ground everywhere, and in some places you can hardly move for them.

“I shall never forget the horrible sight I had when we landed in Suvla Bay. Marching in fours and being shelled by the Turks all the while, we had to pass many who had been in the fighting. There they were, some with shrapnel and shell wounds, many with bullet wounds, bandaging themselves up in the best way they could, blood pouring from their gaping wounds all the time. You would be surprised at the amount of blood lost through a bullet wound alone. Before we went into the fighting we were told that bullet wounds were nothing, but we soon learned different. When a man is hit by a rifle bullet the blood pours from the hole that is made. One man near me was hit in the shoulder, the bullet passing through his back. Before he could take his jacket off, his arm became too stiff to move. Being the only one near I bandaged him up and every time I wrapped the cloth round the wound it became soaked with blood. Bullet wounds were numerous and blood could be seen wherever you looked. You could see chaps ripping their clothes in order to get to the wounds.

“I think the fighting in Gallipoli is ten thousand times worse than in France. Many chaps at the Dardanelles would jump at the chance of going to France. There are no deep trenches in Gallipoli in which to shelter from the shrapnel and rifle bullets. In France they have at least a safe base to retire to, but if the soldiers in Gallipoli wanted to get out of the range of the Turkish fire they would have to go right out on the sea.

“The heat in Gallipoli is almost unbearable, and when I landed in England I felt very cold. When a dead body is left it gives off an awful smell, the heat acting so quickly on it. The Turks throw dead bodies into the wells and that is why dysentery is so prevalent amongst our troops. We are warned not to touch any water except from the base, being told that is almost certain death to do so, but the chaps cannot resist the temptation to drink it. They go mad at the sight of it. I have had to serve it out to the men in a half-pint can, and I have often advised them to make tea with it or boil it, but they gulp it down and risk being poisoned. I got dysentery myself through drinking poisoned water. We even filtered it through our handkerchiefs and afterwards boiled it, and then it nearly killed us. I had a shooting pain in my stomach not long after I had had the water. I thought for a second I had been shot and asked for a drop of brandy, but after a note was taken of my illness I was left to look after myself. It is every man for himself there.

“When I was carried to the shore, just as night was coming on, the snipers were potting at my bearers and myself all the time. As a bullet took a piece of leather from one chap’s boot I said ‘For God’s sake hurry up and get round the corner of the bed.’ I felt relieved when I was out of it all.

“The life in Gallipoli would wreck any man’s constitution. I prided myself on my health, having won my way to the semi-final of the East Anglian boxing championship, but the experience of Gallipoli has made a weakling. Dysentery is a horrible complaint. Blood comes away from you all the time you have the disease. I lost blood all the way from the Dardanelles to Southampton.”

Questioned about the Turks, the Sergeant said:-

“The Turks are not such treacherous fighters as the Germans. Deeds such as the poisoning of water, though, are very dirty. I saw several Turkish prisoners one day, and gathered from the interpreter that they were fed up with war. They said they were led by German officers, sergeants, corporals, and lance-corporals. They told us they would need no guarding as they were only too pleased to be captured. They even offered to fetch water for our men.

“The Turkish snipers – men and women – are everywhere. The place is absolutely infested with them. We make no distinction between men and women. Anybody who gets in our way has got to go through it. We take little notice of a Turk’s pleading for mercy.

“The Turks always fire as hard as they can every night, because they are afraid that we are going to attack them. They always show their heels to our bayonets. I do not know why the Turks are served out with bayonets, for they never use them. They can never stand up at close quarters, nor are they able to resist our advances. The reason we do not advance very quickly is not because the Turks are capable of standing up to us, but because so many men are shot in attacking. We can always take a line of trenches, but the Turks will retire into the next line and, lying in cover, will fire as hard as they can on the oncoming troops. They are very good shots, and thus we lose many men in advancing.

“You do not get much news in England from the Dardanelles, but you may rest assured that big events are developing. The Turks now are nearly surrounded and their only way of retreat is under the range of our naval guns.

“Many people under-estimate the valuable work done by our navy in the Dardanelles. Our sailors are the finest shots in the world. They send up a balloon, which gives them the range, and they can land a shell with a few yards of their target.

“As the troops keep advancing I do not see how the operations can last much longer. The Turks will have to surrender or fight till their last man is killed.”

Asked if he thought there was any likelihood of the campaign in Gallipoli being abandoned, he said:

“That is hardly probable. It would be a pity to abolish it after so many lives have been lost, especially now that we are in such a favourable position.

“I saw the Royal Welsh Fusiliers from a distance, but did not talk to any while in Gallipoli. I met Sergt. Ellis, of the 5th R.W.F, and others while in a London hospital, however. The Welsh were slaughtered very badly. One night, while we were in the trenches, they marched in the dark between us and the enemy, and the latter somehow getting wind of it, the poor Welshmen were shot down in hundreds.

“Many of the English soldiers never landed, for when they were attempting to get to land, they were shelled and many were drowned. The Northants on the whole were very fortunate.

“I might say that I was only talking to Dennis Denton two minutes before he was killed. He was with a machine-gun when I saw him and he said “Hello, Sergeant.” I answered “Hello” and Denton, who was smoking and had his hands in his pockets, remarked that there was no need for fear, as he had seen Australians walking about with their hands in their pockets. I said to him “Never you mind about the Australians. You look after yourself,” and with that I left him. In less than two minutes someone came up to me and said “Young Denton has been killed – shot through the chest.” I shall never forget that boy. He was a bonny boy and a good soldier.

“Poison gas is never used in Gallipoli for the simple reason that the sea breezes would blow the gas back to the Turkish lines.

“The question of conscription is never discussed in Gallipoli. As long as reinforcements are forthcoming we do not worry. Just as you do not get much news from the Dardanelles, so the soldiers there get very little news from home. I think that if the men of England could realise what the sights are, they would flock to the colours with revenge in their minds.

“I have been glad to do my little bit and if a man asked me whether he should go or not I should certainly say “Yes, you ought to go.”

“I have been ordered to rejoin my battalion in the Dardanelles, but I say quite frankly that I would sooner go to France. Gallipoli is a horrible place, and I have seen quite enough of it. It is a hard, barren, and hilly country, no water, in fact nothing that is pleasant.

“A word might be said in praise of the nurses in the British hospitals. These English girls and women are real angels, and they treated me splendidly in the London hospital.

“I think the pay of the different sections of the Army is very unjust. The wireless operators and men of the Royal Flying Corps and others receive £1 or more a week, while the hard worked men at the front have to sacrifice their life’s blood and have to bury stinking dead bodies for a shilling a day. I do not say that the men of the Royal Flying Corps and the like should receive less pay, but I think the men who do the actual fighting should be paid on more equal terms.”

Sergt. Freeman has seen three years’ service in the Leicesters, followed by five years in the Northamptons. He was employed as a postman at the Rushden Post Office. He said that returning from the Gallipoli Peninsula to England was like returning from hell to heaven.