Diary of Frederick Warren Muir, 1915 - Part 4

Friday 7 went into trenches at 1 o'clock
at night till 7 in the morning. Very
little doing. The [[?]] have dug
themselves in deeply & seem content to
stay there. Their machine gun has been
busy to-day. Very often they merely poke
their rifles out of the trenches & fire in
the air. Our shrapnel has been doing
great work on the opposite ridge to-day
Got a mail to-day, very acceptable.
an issue of rum last night. good
stuff too & warmed up the cockles of
our hearts. The enemy's  artillery have
been busy to-day. They have got several
new guns up to the right of us most
of their shrapnel bursts harmlessly in
the hills. They shelled the hill about 50
yards from us severely but did little
damage.
Saturday 8. In the communication trench for
6 hours to-day while at the sap head the
enemy shelled us & several shells burst
right over us knocking down the parapets.
made us feel very uncomfortable while
the bombardment lasted. A Turkish major
surrendered a couple of days back. He
said they were short of supplies & tired
of fighting. Things have almost reached
a deadlock here. We are strongly &
deeply entrenched & the Turks are also
well dug in at distances of from 50 to
200 yards from our lines. Through the
day there is intermittent duel between
the field artillery on both sides & the ships
occasionally join in. A few rifle shots
are exchanged but these are chiefly the
work of snipers & are growing less each
day. At night there are a few attacks

accompanied by a more or less heavy rifle
fire & hand grenades & star shells but
nothing very serious. The main Turkish
body seems to have retired our  2^nd Bde
has gone to reinforce the French.
Sunday 9 A very quiet day to-day almost like
a quiet day at home only an occasional
shot to be heard. Looking round on the
sunlit hills it seemed scarcely possible
that we were actually at war. There is
nothing at all spectacular about this
species of warfare. The observer would see
nothing but a few lines of trenches &
numbers of khaki clad figures in the
hills. Went down to the beach this
morning. Things very quiet there as the
guns from Kaba Tepe have been
shelling & have done much damage.
Saw Col. Green & sent a cable home
saying "war" brief to the point. went into
the trench at 1 oclock Jul 7. Did nothing
but sit down, many shots came
through the loopholes. I think that the
enemy must have their rifles sighted
& clamped down covering some of these
points. There has been a recurrence of
snipers down the valley. Managed to
get a couple of papers on the beach & a
tin of jam. Both highly acceptable. The
nights now are getting much milder
 & pleasant. There was rather a severe
attack early tonight.
Tuesday. nothing doing the last couple
of days. Have been doing the usual
6 hour shift in the trenches. The
snipers have been rather troublesome
again. The "warsprite" a sister ship to
the Queen E. has arrived & bombarded

Kaba Tepe yesterday. The Turkish guns

have been rather quiet all day. Got a
loan of some English papers to-day.
very pleased as time hangs heavily
sometimes. My reading is chiefly
reduced to an Arabic Grammar & a
pocket Atlas - very instructive but
hardly amusing. An unpleasant day
to-day & cold & inclined to rain.
Wednesday. 12 Rained last night. Cold &
miserable. Spent the day making my shelter
waterproof. Could not do any cooking
to-day on a/c of wet so had to be content
with cold rations. Sounds of a heavy
bombardment to southward, all day.
managed to secure a loaf of bread
this afternoon. Quite a delicacy An 
uneventful day in the trenches,
2400 A.L.H. came up to-night & releived
the marines.
Thursday 15^th a very uneventful day. Received
our blankets to-day. a welcome, addition
to our kits. Our trench system has
been reorganised again to-day this
generally means a change for the worst. Some
of our men will be in the trenches all the time
now. However this is not a great hardship as
the trenches are after all the safest place. Our
company cooks are cooking now & it is
pleasant to be able to get a supply of tea
at all hours. we have a 24 hour spell
out of the trenches till 7 tomorrow morning
Unfortunately we have to stand to arms
at 3.30 every morning

Friday 16^th Another quiet day, went into
trenches all last night & again at
1 o'clock till 7 & now have 24 hours
off. The enemy treated us to a little
shrapnel last night but did no damage.
The scene at night by the rifle flashes
is rather novel. Cooked a nice dish of chips
& bacon this am, All our transports have
moved off now & also some of the battleships.
Official news says that Anglo French force
is doing well. Received a couple of
Daily Mails from the Aust Exp. Force
Assoc. very good reading. Heard to-day
that Genl Bridges has been wounded in
the leg & Genl. Birdwood has had a graze
on the head. The authorities have named
our landing beach Anzac Cove
Heard to-day that Italy has joined
the Allies One of our company got

shot through the eye in the trench this
afternoon. The wound was horrible almost
half his head being blown off.
Tuesday. 18^th The last couple of days have been
phenomenally quiet & we have learned
now that there is something ominous in
these pauses. Today at about 5 oclock
the enemy opened a heavy shrapnel
fire & at about 7 played a new card
in the form of a 8" howitzer which they
played round our position here. The
shells were fired from a considerable
distance & one could see the shells
quite plainly before they hit. Large
masses of earth were torn up & thrown
for about 50' in the air. About 20 of
these shells were fired. Only one of
which did any damage. This buried
two of our snipers in a trench killing

both. The same shell covered us with
dust & sand. The effect of these shells
is happily local but is very demoralising
About 1 o'clock just as we
were having dinner they treated us
to 6 more which did no damage but
nearly buried us in dust I was struck
by a couple of lumps of dirt but
was only bruised. At about 4 oclock
they opened out again. We returned to the
ridge & awaited events. It is wonderful how
you can watch the shelling of the enemy
with perfect equanimity but how completely
the case is altered when you yourself are
under fire. One shell struck the ridge about
50 yards from us covering us with lumps of
mud. The explosion cut a pine tree in
two & tossed it about 20 feet in the air. Most
of the shells fell in the valley harmlessly
but two hit our trenches doing considerable
damage. One struck no. 7s portion of the trench
killing two men & wounding 5 more. The force
of the explosion was terrific. One man was
lifted right out of the trenches & hurled about
30 feet through the air landing at our feet
a bruised & bleeding mass. The other man
was torn to atoms & the wounded were terribly
knocked about. It was a most ghastly sight.
Our trench was blown in for some ten
yards & we had to work all night repairing
the parapet & clearing the trench. In all
the enemy fired some 50 big shells all falling
in our vicinity but the damage done was
quite out of proportion to the cost of the bombardment.
The effect of the fire is however
very demoralising. We received information
that the enemy had received reinforcements
& contemplated an attack we were

therefore on the qui-vive. The attack took
place at about 5 in the morning. It was
a raw cloudy morning & observation was
difficult in the uncertain light before
dawn. so that some of the enemy were
able to crawl up unobserved under cover
of the bushes. Our first intimation of
the attack was when several Turks leapt
on to our parapets shouting Allah!
allah! we quickly dispatched these &
then the advance commenced in earnest
We quickly got all our men up & opened
a heavy fire from . both rifles & machine
guns. The Turks several times advanced
but we repulsed them early. Our
field guns opened fire at dawn doing
Good work. The attack continued till
some time after dawn when they finally
withdrew to their trenches leaving the ground
strewn with dead. There are some 50 dead
lying right on our parapets & a pile of
slain in the A.L.H machine gun. we
understand that they lost some thousands
After they retired a heavy rifle fire was
kept up for some hours & a very insistent
artillery duel. They pounded us with
about 12 guns but did little damage.
about 4 o'clock the engagement was
resumed by their guns opening fire followed
by a couple of 8" shells which did no
damage. We retaliated with 7, 6" howitzer
which did much damaged & kept up a
very heavy fire on their trenches on the
left almost blowing their trenches to
pieces. A heavy rifle fire opened on the
left & our men advanced somewhat.
The roar of battle in the morning &
afternoon was terrific. Our losses were

very light in proportion to what the enemy
suffered The reinforcements are a new
division which has not been in the
Dardanelles before. They seem rather
raw & a somewhat nondescript lot their
uniform consisting chiefly of patches.
They are clothed in khaki & at times from
a distance it is hard to distinguish
them from our own men. we expected
another attack tonight but nothing
eventuated. We have got 4 warships
back here now which helped in the
bombardment. The balloon & the airplane
has been up which checked
the enemys artillery considerably
Thursday Today the Turks asked for an armistice
to bury their dead & were given an hour
pending further communication with
Headquarters. They came out & buried
some of their dead seeming to pick out the
officers & non coms. It seemed strange to
hear no shots being fired & the silence
seemed somewhat sinister. We were rather
afraid that they contemplated treachery & stood
to arms but nothing eventuated. as soon as
the time expended the enemy disappeared into
their trenches  & opened a very heavy rifle & machine
gun fire which kept up all night & was
returned by us we fully expected another
attack but none came. about 2 o'clock
our artillery shelld the trenches on the left very
violently. The scene was very striking the
living lines of flames leaping from the trenches
the momentary flash of light from the big guns
and the brilliant flush of the bursting shells
gave glimpses of a smoke blotted landscape
while here & there flares threw a red glow
between the lines of trenches & now & again

grenades burst with huge clouds of smoke. The
damage done to us was practically nothing.
The enemy have fired a few more 9.2 shells
without effect.
Saty 22^nd The enemy have been quiet the last two
days as has been our artillery although the
navy have been firing this morning. [?]
the choice job of burying a dead Turk last
evening. We have now a cemetery established
for the division. The attack on Wednesday
was directed by Genl. Liman von Sanders in
person & some 30,000 infantry took part
20,000 of whom had been brought up for the
purpose & included 9000 of the 11^th Divn
who are regarded as some of the crack troops
of the Turkish Army. The troops have been
told that they are fighting the French & Russians
& that we must be pushed into the seas
otherwise their country will be taken from
them. They lost about 2000 killed & 5000 wounded.
I do not think they will make another attack for
a while. We have now a newspaper in circulation
called the Peninsula Press which is issued
from G.N.2. & gives the official war news. A
Japanese trench mortar & bombs were brought up
last night which is said to have an effect equal
to a 6" shell. A sniper was caught some little
time back disguised as a tree his head hands
& rifle were painted green & he had pieces of bushes
tied all over him. He fired at a couple of
Australians who saw him move & his vegetable
career was nipped in the bud as there was no
one there to cry "woodman spare that tree"
A few more of our wounded have returned.
Geo Dawson has also come back from Malta
where they have been having a good time. It
rained a little this morning but has now cleared
up. The big guns have been very quiet to-day

our trenches have been much improved now.
We have steel loophole plates which make
it much safer.
Sunday 23. Passed last night in the trenches
was posted on the sap tunnel. A very
quiet post night. The new Jap bombs
did good work. They rise right up in
the air like a rocket to a height of a
couple of hundred feet & drop into the
enemys trenches. Some of them explode by
a time fuse like shrapnel & others by
percussion. They explode with great force
& apparently gave the enemy a great shock.
A German aeroplane flew across this am
& dropped a couple of bombs without effect.
Very quiet again to-day. The warships
are searching for a submarine which is
supposed to be here. The armistice asked
for by the Turks the other day is said to
have been a ruse to cover an attack which
had not come off as the armistice was not
granted. General Bridges has died of wounds at
Alexandria
Monday 24 Empire Day no speeches or plays
to-day. The Turks have been given an armistice 
from 8 till 4pm  A line was flagged out between
the two lines to mark out the territory of the
enemy & of us. This was lined at intervals with
our chaps bearing white flags or red cross
& with men from our friend the enemy facing
them. We had to collect the Turkish dead who
were on our side of the line & pass over such
as were in a fit condition to the enemy & bury
the remainder where they lay. The sight was
gruesome in the extreme. Our trenches are only
about 30 yards apart & the whole of this
ground was covered with Turkish dead. About
500 in all. The stench was horrible especially

when the bodies were disturbed. as they were
in an extreme stage of decay & many of them
falling to pieces. Some of them were lying
in life like positions & others were almost
cut to pieces. The ground was cut &
furrowed with shrapnel & bullets & every
inch was covered with shrapnel cases &
bullets & rifles, bayonets & pieces of equipment
blown to pieces. Here & there was the huge
pit dug by the Jack Johnson & in these we
were able to bury 3 or 4 of the dead. There
were a few of our dead over whom the chaplain
read the Burial Service. There was something
rather impressive in this service on the
Field of Death, on the right the Turks filled
a small gully with dead & covered it over
The silence seemed strange after hearing
the shots echoing strangely down the
gullies. Most of the dead Turks were well
dressed having new uniforms & boots. After
burying the dead we collected all our equipment
& returned it to the trenches, burying that of the
Turks. The Turkish rifles were returned. but we
retained the bolts & all ammunition. The
Red Crescent seemed numerous & well fitted
out. There were quite a number of German
Officers & non-coms who are decidedly smart
looking. The Officers look especially well in
their neat uniforms. Some of the Turks are
fine well built chaps although the majority
are rather short & stocky. Indeed, the unspeakable
Turk, or at least the ones we came in
contact with does not seem so unspeakable
as we have been led to beleive. They do not
appear to be short of either food or ammunition
& although their clothes are rather patchy, they
are quite good. most of them are clad in khaki
with grey overcoats. But some have grey