So great were the losses from these causes, that in August the Anzac Corps was evacuating 500 men a day. Early in October the IX. Corps' return showed over 700 for one day. Also, about this latter date, in spite of the presence of comparatively fresh troops, the N.Z. and A Division was being reduced at the rate of 60 per diem—not more than 15 per cent. of which were battle casualties.
REGIMENTAL QUARTERMASTER-SERGEANT R. G. SEXTY.
Afterwards Captain and Transport Officer. Mentioned in Despatches.[ToList]
Nor were the troops in a condition to successfully cope with the inroads of disease. "Worn out with hardship and incessant shell fire, from which even when in reserve, they were never free,"[N] ill-sustained by a monotonous diet of food—in part of doubtful quality, and always short of sleep and of supplies of water necessary to rest the body and keep it clean; their vitality and powers of resistance to disease were considerably reduced, and they fell an easy prey to the virulent and prolific germs.
The army ration consisted of meat, bread, vegetables, and groceries. Meat included tinned and fresh meat and bacon. Bread included ordinary bread, biscuits, and flour. The groceries were tea, sugar, jam (or cheese), pepper and salt, with such alternatives and additions as tinned milk, rice, prunes, curry powder, and raisins—which last were rarely available. The 28th's experience was that, when supplies were available and the weather permitted of them being landed, Argentine chilled beef and baker's bread left little room for complaint. However, the two factors mentioned did not always coincide and the Battalion, for days on end, had to be content with substitutes. The tinned meat ("dog" or "bully beef") was also from Argentine, and had already been dealt with for "extract" besides being extremely salt in flavour. The only way to make it palatable was to fry it up with bacon fat and chopped onions, or boil it again and add rice and curry powder when procurable. Nevinson[O] says that when the Anzac men threw over tins of meat to the Turks in exchange for packets of cigarettes it was a cheap gift, and the enemy returned the messages, "Bully beef non, envoyez milk." Now and again one came across a treasure in the form of a stray tin of a Canadian brand, or of "Maconochie" (a very substantial and nourishing stew), but looked in vain for the well-known Australian and New Zealand products.
The bacon, mostly very fat, was known as "lance-corporal bacon," i.e., with only one thin streak of lean running through it. This was issued ad nauseam. One man expressed his feelings when he said that he would never be able to look a pig in the face again.
There are no biscuits like the army issue. To those whose dentition was not perfect the masticating of them was tedious and painful. Some men made graters out of biscuit tin lids and grated the article to a powder, afterwards making a kind of porridge with it. Others discarded them as food and carved them into frames for photographs, or cigarette pictures, or contrived other mementos of a disagreeable period. Fresh vegetables were rarely seen. Now and again an enterprising individual would return from the beach with a cabbage, or a few potatoes, which he had purchased from one of the Navy or looted from some unsuspecting person who had them in charge. So far as can be remembered, not one single issue of potatoes was made to the Battalion during the whole of its stay on the Peninsula. Onions, however, were plentiful and of first-rate quality. Other substitutes were preserved or desiccated vegetables, which were found quite unpalatable and quickly refused by the Quartermaster.
Of the groceries, the issues of tea and sugar were insufficient for the occasion. The Australian tea-drinking habit (amongst others) had not then spread through the army. The Canadian cheese was excellent, but the jam lacked in all three essentials—quantity, quality, and variety. Bairnsfather has placed on record the soldier's feeling in this regard.
Certain other articles of importance were issued weekly. These included lime juice, rum, and tobacco. Rum was a new experience to many, but its value as a stimulant for tired troops was soon appreciated—even by the teetotallers. The virtues of rum and condensed milk were extolled. The precious liquid was contained in earthenware jars bearing on the outside the letters "S.R.D." The popular interpretation of this legend was "Seldom Reaches Destination," from the belief that, small as the authorised issue was, it was either reduced in quantity, withheld, or weakened with water by those through whose hands it passed between the supply depôt and the people for whom it was intended. Instances were not lacking which gave foundation for this belief, and an incident is well remembered in which a member of one formation regaled himself for two nights on his company's share and finished up the carouse by giving the "alarm." He left for Australia shortly afterwards. The Battalion made the acquaintance of tobacco and cigarettes of many brands and as many qualities. In some cases the name on the package was the only indication of its supposed contents. Some of the issues were at the cost of the Government and others as a result of gifts by soldiers' aid societies in Australia and England.