Diary No.5 of Rupert Major Downes, 25 July - 26 October 1916 - Part 2

& tore it in hard. Our guns were 
slow in picking up a target & I saw
a fine target of about a batallion
of 1000 Turks massed coming over
a ridge behind Wellington ridge which
the gunners did not; however they
gradually got going & as we had
about 40 guns in the place which
poured out shells as hard as they
could & the Turks were doing likewise
things were pretty noisy & quite
like Anzac at its best. After a bit
whenever a big howitzer c̄ its
demoralising preparatory swish, &
huge report & dense black smoke
landed our howitzer battery would
pump in 3 rounds of battery fire 

hard & seemed to keep it them quiet.
Railhead got a devil of a pasting
& an ambulance there but practically
without any damage. Our line
fell back till it was beyond
Wellington ridge & things looked
a bit anxious with no a regiment
retiring at the gallop close in to us
& the shells following it, but it
was only into reserve & at 08.30
the 156^th brigade of the 52^nd Divⁿ.
joined in with us & 2 companies
got into the scrap & c̄ our own
batteries hard at work the Turks
could hardly consolidate on
Wellington ridge & could not get
beyond it so they were trying 

to outflank our right & were doing
it for a bit. Anzac post, as all
day was getting a lot of big shells
Personally I went over to 7^th L.H.F.A.
several times to see how things were
getting on & to arrange, to 2^nd L.H.F.A.
& then out to their respective collecting
zones the 2^nd being by the Ayshire
battery of whom took a photo in
action. Later guided an Ammunition
column over to the 1^st Bde. as its
commander was rattled & with
arrangements for evacuating
wounded & watching battle & snoozing
put in afternoon morning. During aft.
when there was not much to do
beyond sending & receiving wires 

watched things & saw to our relief
troops appear to the W. in the
distance over the top of sand
ranges to N. of Mt Royston which
after some doubt found to be
ours - N.Z. Bde & Yeomanry from
Hill 70 & towards evening a brigade
of 42^nd division appeared to N.W. of
these & knowing that 3rd Bde. were
further S. it was obviously all
up c̄ John Turks dashing & daring
attack on the unfortified part of
our position which should have
been more fortified.
In night there were a lot of stray
bullets wandering round & a
general search round c̄ big 

howitzers which from their row
on a dead still night were unpleasant
but did no damage at all as far
as I know. Croll in in night
& Loveridge back sick.
5.8.16. When I awoke at daylight 0600
was to hear a silence deafening
as a contrast to the row when I
went to sleep & remarks of "Look
at them in thousands on that
ridge"; this referred not to Turks
massing for an attack as I
thought but to the crowds that
were surrendering after the
beginning of our charge & who
were soon brought in wildly
thirsty & very glad to be in; a 

lot of German swines c̄ them, mostly
delighted to be taken with exceptions.
Was presented c̄ a belt by a Turk
medical officer in exchange for
some cigarettes I gave him.
Went down to 3^rd Lld. amb. before
breakfast about evacuating wounded.
& to 1^st L.H.F.A. To 2^nd L.H.F.A. after &
saw Croll at mess c̄ 2 happy captured
Turk medical officers & a gunner one -
an Armenian B.A. of an American college
at Beyrout. He had Turk ambulance
men working on their wounded.
Hercus came out. Bombed while
Turk prisoners were at D.H.Q. but
not near us.
Rode over to 2^nd L.H.F.A. after lunch 

& out c̄ Croll & a Turk medico &
interpreter over battlefield of yesterday
to Hod Seifaniya where the ambulance
had been captured & there were a
lot of Turk wounded & a crowd of
42^nd division mad for water. Rode
on to S. looking for any wounded
round to S. of Mt Meredith & saw
about 32 Turk dead & one of ours
& in Hod Abu Adi found 6 wounded
Turks who were got in; plenty
of ammunition, rifles & general
equipment all round & whole
place scattered c̄ shell cases,
shrapnel marks, rifle & gun hits
& every evidence of a battle & rout.
Went to join D.H.Q. on a hill just 

to E. of our new wells but found
they had gone on to ridge 100 neasW
of Katia where a good fight was
going on; when joined by Croll
& my groom (Mullear) rode out to
them; as 3^rd Bde could not take
Hamisah the action was broken
off & the brigades retired to camp
leaving out officers patrols. Got
in to camp after an interminable
ride to find Genl Wiggin & his staff
there; went to bed quickly tired.
Had job of examining the Turk
gunner prisoner (a warrant officer)
but did not get much out of
him of value except that the
officers themselves went into 

the fight knowing they had
no chance & the attack was only
to keep troops in Egypt: he thought
his family had all been murdered
& hated the Germans
Sunday
6.8.16. Breakfast at 0600 & rode c̄
Nimmo after to find the 3^rd Bde
via Hod el Enna & met Robertson
of 9^th (fatally wounded 3 days later
under the white flag c̄ Travers of
Haileybury killed). Found Bde. at
Bir Nagid to our surprise in
a state of rest & enjoyment when
they were expected to be pushing
on as hard as possible: the Bull
was in great form & gushing & gave
me a lot of silly messages to the 

general which I carefully forgot;
Dangar & Billy Hughes there &
Rod Urquhart (killed next day)
Saw White, Cave & Stuart & lot of
my old men. Rode back c̄ Nimmo
to Ridge 100 & found D.H.Q. was in
Qatia where we went passing through
droves of 42^nd divn stragglers
all out c̄ thirst & weakness.
Went out to see N.Z. Bde E.S.E.
of Mum Ugba in aft. to try &
locate their ambulance which
was lost & left just before Genl
& staff arrived to ride into a
good shelling which was luckily
bursting too high to damage,
Walshe getting a rap on the knuckle