HC Deb 11 January 1916 vol 77 cc1423-4
4. Sir FRANCIS EDWARDS

asked the Under-Secretary of State for War whether the names of the men who have died or have been invalided from the effect of exposure to the severe cold and wet in the Gallipoli Peninsula have been published as well as the names of their regiments; and how the proportion of men so affected compares with the number who have died or been invalided from similar causes in France and Flanders?

Mr. TENNANT

The names of the men who have died in the circumstances mentioned have been published. As regards those invalided, I would refer my hon. Friend to the full statement I made of the principles on which the published casualty lists are framed, in an answer I gave to the hon. Baronet the Member for the Mansfield Division on the 29th November. I am unable to give the information asked for in the last part of the question.

5. Sir F. EDWARDS

asked the Under-Secretary of State for War whether he can state the number of men who have lost their lives from exposure in the Gallipoli Peninsula in the three weeks preceding the evacuation of the Suvla Bay position, and the number who have been admitted to hospital suffering from frost-bite and other results of inadequate arrangements and insufficient shelter; and whether it is proposed to hold any inquiry into the alleged absence of all preparation to meet the conditions of winter warfare in that region?

Mr. TENNANT

My hon. Friend's inquiry, if I may be permitted to say so, begs the question whether the arrangements and shelter provided were or were not insufficient. On that point I would refer him to the answer I gave on the 6th January to the hon. Member for the College Division of Glasgow. In reply to his inquiry regarding the three weeks preceding the evacuation of the Suvla Bay position, I would inform him that the information asked for cannot be given without reference to the Mediterraneon Expeditionary Force, and in view of the difficult task upon which the military authorities there have been, and are still, engaged, I have not thought it right to ask for a special return. It is not proposed to hold an inquiry as suggested in the question.