Anzac Bombs for Johnny Turk
p. 93 · Read in the full issue
No Australian or New Zealand soldier had ever seen a bomb when he landed on Gallipoli in April, 1915, says Cyril Pearl in “Anzac Newsreel” “Few had ever heard of them when the Turks used bombs in their second counter-attack.”
But the Anzacs weren’t long in catching on. With some British seamen they started a bomb factory on the beach with an output of 200 bombs daily. The most popular were made from the green fuse tins of 18-pounder guns, but jam and tobacco tins were also used.
After the bomb factory (pictured ) came a periscope factory. Peri scopes allowed the men in the trenches to sight their rifles without stick ing their heads above cover.
The story of Anzac never grows stale—at least not for New Zealanders and Australians. Cyril Pearl’s book of pictures, collected from the Australian War Memorial, Canberra, the Alexander Turnbull Library, Wellington, NZ, and the Public Library of NSW, and with bright narrative by Pearl, tells the story from the recruitment of the men to the famous evacuation from Gallipoli less than 15 months and more than 33,000 casualties later. (ANZAC NEWSREEL. Published by Ure Smith. 17/6.)