Letter from Richard Job Gardiner to his Father, 1916

(1)
Sarpi Camp, Lemnos, Is
& Tel el Keber 9/1/16  28/12/15
Dear Dad
This is a continuation of the other
letter I wrote months ago.
July 7^th I got on the train at Helmiah
with a lot of reinforcements & returning
wounded, & started for Alexandia, where
we embarked on a cattle ship called the
Minnewaska for the Dardanelles & sailed
the following morning July 8  All was 
well except the tucker & sleeping accommodation
& everything else connected with the ship.
The grub was bully beef & biscuits & 
the mess tables conspicuous by their absence,
we slept on the deck. below  July 12 Arrived in
Mudros Bay. Lemnos & boarded the Fleet
Sweeper Hythe at 7P.M, & arrived off Anzac
at about 2 am on the 13^th  We landed at 
Watson Pier & marched up Shrapnel Gully
to Steele's Post where I joined the old
7^th in the firing line & met the old
Colonel & Capt Grills. That night our
sappers blew up a portion of the
turkish trench opposite our post &
 

2                         [*xx Jacko Turks*]
done considerable damage, which Jacko xx didn't
take long to repair. July 14^th in the trenches
& worried by flies all day & get heavily
shelled with 6 in Howitzers, Jack Johnson's,
every evening & a fair number of casualities
usually result, as these are high explosive
& when they burst the shift things & bury
everyone near by, I saw one come through
6 ft of earth & burst in a sap & kill
5 men not 6 ft from me & I tell you
it shook me for a few minutes. Well
we stayed in these trenches till July 19
& went through Hell every evening
while these shells were on. The 8^th Btn
releived us & we went down Shrapnel
Gully for a spell which means fatigues
making roads etc.  Even there the
Turks try to kill us with shells.
July 20^th  In charge of 10 Sect. 11 Platoon
C. Coy & got inoculated against Cholera
I'll be like a chemist shop shortly.
July 21^st to 28^th just working away all 
day & dodging shells & standing to
arms at night, expecting an attack
from Abdul, we have respirators
 

3
for fear of gas. July 29^th still in bivouac
& went around to see Alf, round on the
right he was sappirg & had been very crook
he was looking very thin on it. July 30^th 
Taube flew over this morning & dropped
3 bombs but only slightly wounded 2 men
this game is no good we dont fight
Aeroplanes, we are only heavy footed infantry
July 31^st one of our aeroplanes met a
Taube & we expected a fight but
the Taube cleared out & got for his
life  Aug 1^st  Our Artillery are punching 
away. all day & we get shelled occasionally 
but dont do much damage Aug 2^nd 
The gropersx charged with the bayonet
 [*[x] 11 Btn*] & Abdul didn't wait, but shelled
the trenches afterwards & caused some
casualities, (this was on the right
Alf saw it & told me.) Aug 3^rd 
British troops arriving & Beachy Bill
pretty active shelling the beach through
the night. A monitor bombarded
Abdul all night Aug 4-5^th  fatigues,
preparing for attack on the 6^th shifted 
to Brainds Hill on 5^th 

[4]
& sewed white patches on our arms & backs
so as t for recognition in attack & darkness
Aug 6^th We laid charges under Turks trenches
till 3.30 PM the bombardment started
at 4.30, we moved up into the trenches
to charge a place called Johnson's Jolly
a death trap, stayed in the trenches all
night listening to the bombardment
which covered the landing at Suvla Bay
by the British. H of K.s Army. Sat 7^th 
Our charge did'nt come off & I am feeling
pretty miserable & crook. Alf got his transfer
& joined the battn today Sunday 8^th 
moved up & relieved the 2^nd Btn in 
- Lone Pine -
This position needs a some explanation.
It was taken by in a charge by the 1^st Bde
on Aug. 6^th after a severe bombardment, the
Turks lost heavily in the bombardment & in
the fighting which followed & when we
went in to relieve the 2^nd Btn, the trenches
we piled 4 & 5 high with dead & the stench
was simply awful, they told us that
the position was fairly safe, but shortly
afterwards we found it decidedly unsafe
 

(5)
& also unhealthy. Everything was quiet until
about 5 oclock when Abdul started to bomb
us & all the cry was for, bombs more  ---
bombs & stretcher bearers & it lasted until
well after dark when things began to
quieten down. All the time this was on I
had 8 men just outside the trench waiting
to go in & fix up the parapets (Alf was with
me at this time) & as the stretcher bearers
were busy, we were bandaging the chaps
as they came out. Later on we went into
the firing line & were filling sandbags &
fixing up loopholes also standing to at
intervals till just before dawn, when
old Abdul started to make it very
unhealthy for us, by showering bombs in
on us by the dozen, of course that settled
the sandbagging as far as we were concerned
I devoted my time to keeping the men on
their posts & keeping their ammunition up.
Alf got up on a post when a chap got
shot early in the fight & I saw no more
of him, as I was busy with a blanket
& an overcoat smothering bombs as they
fell into the trench (an overcoat keeps the
explosion down)
 

(6)
Well! this went on for an hour or two, chaps
getting outed all the time & the bombs falling
thicker. The position was very crook as our chaps
had to expose themselves to the waist to get a
shot at the Turks & of course were a good target
for snipers & machine guns. It was now about
5.30 AM & pretty light X I was just getting up on to
a post where a chap had been shot, when
whizz, bang, away went the parapet also yours
truly & I've still a faint recollection of picking
myself up from under a pile of dirt &
sandbags & wandering out of the trench, but
the first thing I remember clearly was when
I got to the dressing station near the beach
& found I still had my rifle & equipment on.
I think a 75Mm hit the parapet & shifted me
Of course you have read of the battle in Lone Pine
& how 4 of our chaps won the V.C & one a D.CM
& had about 360 casualities in the 12 hrs
that the fight lasted, but of course what
happened when I left I only know from hear-say
& of course isnt my experiences. What happened
to me you know, so I will now write of my
3^rd trip to Anzac, after 3 wks on Lemnos, Island
where I joined the old 7th after having a spell in Egypt.
 

(7 )
Nov 25^th 
We packed up early this morning & loaded ourselves 
like camels as we were expecting cold weather
this time, its about 3 mls to the pier & a pretty
stiff march with about a hundredweight of
gear to carry. The sisters & patients at the
3^rd Aust. Gen. Hosp. gave us a bit of a send off
as we marched through, & handing out chocolates
& cigarettes to us. They dumped us on a fleet
sweeper & at 4 pm. we started for Anzac &
got there about 10 PM. We landed at
Watsons Pier on the left of Anzac & Beach Bill
gave us a salute with a couple of shots, but
we were out of his range & landed safely, to
march around the hills to Shrapnel Gully
where we bivouaced for the night on terraces
out on the sides of the hills, it was a fine
night & we all enjoyed a well earned sleep.
The next day was cool & muggy so we
thought it advisable to rig up some sort
of shelters in case of rain, so we shoved up
a blanket over 2 of us & crawled in to sleep
at dark & I slept nice & warm till morning,
when I woke to find everything covered in snow
& my mate making a dam of himself by
keeping back a stream of water from me.
 

(8)
I let him keep it back & got up, but was'nt
it cold, our water was frozen in the bottles
& I had a thirst like a camel on the march
At 9 oclock to make matters worse we were
ordered to shift to another bivvey about a mile
Away over the hills & wasn't it lovely, I
fell over more times than I could count &
I'm afraid I insulted the Kaiser that morning
I would'nt have cared what happened, I was
that tired. Mugs. Mud. Miserableness & Murder
combined that day, it was enough to break
any man's heart. Nov 27^th I sat in my dugout 
& sh with a blanket round my feet & shivered
I wouldnt care if every Turk on the job came here
I wouldn't have shifted, one more miserable
night & then the weather began to brighten up &
get warmer. We The old game again digging under
ground winter quarters & doing fatigues not a
bad job, not much night work Decm 8^th promoted
to Corporal. Decm 10^th the battn moved up
to trenches at the R. of Lone Pine at the
top of Galway Road, they were great trenches
all underground except the actual firing
line which was reached by climbing a couple
of steps up from the tunnel, we held these

 

(9)
th trenches till Decm 19^th when we left, with
our feet padded, our bayonets wrapped up & not
making a sound we sneaked away down the saps
to the beach just after dark, with a bomb in
each pocket, which we threw into the sea on
embarking. Everything was carried out remarkably
smoothly, not a hitch occured & not a shot
was fired by the Turks, except in the firing
line where 60 men of our battn were keeping
them going by firing at regular intervals, they
stayed 10 hrs after we left & 16 bomb throwers
took, their places & gave them 15 minutes grase,
then they left at the double getting away
without a single casuality. At 6 oclock when
we left we got straight onto barges & embarked
on the S.S. Abbassia & there put in a very
chilly night sleeping on the deck. Decm 20^th 
We landed at Mudros & camped in the
same place where we ^^were before. Spent Xmas & New
Year & got a few Xmas things. At present
we are camped in Egypt at Tel el Keber &
likely to remain here for some time. To
conclude I don't think any one was sorry
to leave the Peninsula, although when I
passed the cemetary on the way to the beach
 

(10)
I thought of the chaps who had fallen &
I think I would rather have stuck it, than
sneak away like that, but in this game
orders are orders which have to be obeyed.
Well Dad that finishes with the Peninsula 
where we showed the world that the
Australians, with all their faults are not
quitters, What is in store for us in the
future remains to be seen, but I dont think
it will be any worse than we went through
at Gallipoli, any way we can only do our
duty. which I think we have done up to 
now fairly well. Well I'll close now Dad
& hope that you can understand this yarn
I'm trying to tell you, which is just bare
facts & nothing more. If I get home I'll tell
you things that will make you hair stand
on end, but until then, finish war.
I remain
your loving son
Dick
593 Cpl R.J. Gardiner
C. Coy 7^th Btn 
2^nd Inf Bde 
1^st Aust Division