d
Anzac.

Generally in the news dispatches, the Anzacs have been referred to as
Australians. They are described as fearless, daring and fierce fighters,
whose presence added pep to every engagement in which they participated.
No more picturesque group has ever been written into the history of
armies. Composed of men who were bushrangers, cattlemen, miners and
hardy outdoor workers, many of whom served in Egypt, India and wherever
the British flag floats, their character is indicated by the fact that
they have been at times called the "Ragtime Army."

The description of the landing of these troops at the Dardanelles, where
in a rain of artillery fire, they dashed into the Turkish trenches, is
one of the most thrilling of the war. With the shells from the ships
falling upon the Turkish forces the Anzacs chased the Turks step by step
inland, engaging in the most desperate hand-to-hand encounters.

Perhaps the story of that first battle might have been different had not
Turkish reinforcements appeared upon the scene. As it was the British
men of Anzac were temporarily driven back, retiring with terrible loss.
For hours the Australians engaged in solid fighting through a broken and
hilly country, digging at night to establish entrenchments, with a
renewal of the defense at daybreak, and then repeating the program. This
is what the Australians and New Zealanders did, living upon short
rations the while.

In all of the campaigns in which the Anzacs have participated their work
as sappers has been a feature. Sappers, by the way, are those men who,
in modern warfare, burrow in the earth, planting mines, digging
trenches, dugouts and fortifications. The Australians are fitted for
this work for a large percentage of them had civil experience in the
mines, and on extensive contract and excavation work.

AUSTRALIAN AND NEW ZEALAND SAPPERS.

Probably one of the most effective attacks of the English against a
German stronghold in Belgium was made possible through the work of the
Australian and New Zealand sappers. That was the blowing up of the
Messines Ridge in June, 1917. In this action the Anzac shone in a manner
that can never be forgotten.

On June 7, 1917, the British, with one terrible stroke, tore asunder the
strong German position south of Ypres. This stroke was in a little
corner of Belgium, where the armies of the Allies had successfully
outgeneralled the enemy for two and a half years.

During almost two years