in the trenches

Con la mia proverbiale lentezza, sto finalmente ultimando la lettura di A fortunate life, autobiografia di un australiano cresciuto nel primo novecento. Dopo diversi capitoli dedicati ai suoi primi vent'anni di vita, pieni di avvenimenti, ma comunque sempre legati ad una vita rurale, mi ha colpito molto invece essere trasportato nelle trincee della battaglia di Gallipoli.

Come nel resto del testo, la scrittura di Facey è molto semplice ed essenziale (non ha mai potuto andare a scuola ed ha imparato a leggere e scrivere per conto suo), ma forse è proprio questo a rendere la descrizione della guerra così cruda ed efficace.

Forse per voi leggere gli estratti seguenti non darà le stesse sensazioni, è probabile che io ormai sia piuttosto coinvolto dal libro e dalla vita di questo australiano e che quindi queste sue esperienze di guerra mi emozionino di più, ma voglio comunque citare qualche riga del testo.

"Troops were taken off both sides of the ship onto destroyers. My platoon and other 'D' Company men were on the same destroyer. All went well until we were making the change into rowing-boats. Suddenly all hell broke loose; heavy shelling and sharpnel fire commenced. The ships that were protecting our troops returned fire. Bullets were thumping into us in the rowing-boat. Men were being hit and killed all around me. When we were cut loose to make our way to the shore was the worst period. I was terribly frightened. The boat touched bottom some thirty yards from shore so we had to jump out and wade into the beach. The water in some places was up to my shoulders. The Turks had machine-guns sweeping the strip of beach where we landed - there were many dead already when we got there. Bodies of men who had reached the beach ahead of us were lying all along the beach and wounded men were screaming for help. We couldn't stop for them - the Turkish fire was terrible and mowing into us. The order to line up on the beach was forgotten. We all ran for our lives over the strip of beach and got into the scrub and bush. Men were falling all around me. We were stumbling over bodies - running blind."

"It is a terrible thing, a bayonet charge. I was in several in the first few days, and about eleven altogether. You would have to be in a charge to know how bad it is. You are expecting all the time to get hit and then there is the hand-to-hand fighting. The awful look on a man's face after he has been bayoneted will, I am sure, haunt me for the rest of my life; I will never forget that dreadful look. I killed men too with rifle-fire - I was on a machine-gun at one time and must have killed hundreds - but that was nothing like the bayonet."

Ad un certo punto, dopo giorni di guerra di posizione ed un fallito attacco da parte turca, fu deciso un armistizio di un giorno per recuperare e seppellire i cadaveri.

"This whole operation was a strange experience - here we were, mixing with our enemies, exchanging smiles and cigarettes, when the day before we had been tearing each other to pieces. Apart from the noise of the grave-diggers and the padres reading the burial services, it was mostly quiet and strange. Away to our left there were high table-topped hills and on these were what looked like thousands of people. Turkish civilians had taken advantage of the cease-fire to come out and watch the burial. Although they were several miles from us they could be clearly seen."

"On May twenty-fifth something happened that shocked all who saw it. Quite a few of use were sitting on the edge of our dugouts watching the navy ships shelling the Turkish positions away beyond our frontline. One large ship, the Triumph, was sending shells over our position from what seemed about two miles off shore. Suddenly there was a terrible explosion and for a few seconds we wondered what had happened. Then we realised that the Triumph had been hit by a torpedo. She started to list to the side and within fifteen minutes was completely upside down with her two propellers out of the water. In another half an hour she had disappeared completely. After the torpedo struck, the guns, both fore and aft, were firing as fast as they could and those gunners must have gone down with their ship. We considered this one of the most gallant acts of bravery that we had seen and we had seen many by this time. Most of the crew jumped overboard, and destroyers and small boats went to their rescue. We were told that about four hundred had lost their lives."