Diary of Frederick Warren Muir, 1915 - Part 8

He sang "Songs of Araby"
Friday 8^th The artillery have come across
here now George Lewis came over to
see me this afternoon a very heavy
rain & wind storm came up tonight
Brought the Y.M.C. A tent down & need
most of the others but not much harm
done
Saturday 9^th across to the dentist again
this morning & had the filling in my
tooth finished off
Sunday 12^th 
Church Parade to-day by
C. E. Chaplain
Monday Tuesday 12^th Inspection of the Division to-day
by Inspector general of Communications
Large numbers going to dentist every
day for extractions.
Wednesday 21^st weather beginning to get very
cold now, night parade now lasts 1½ hours  

a very chilly exercise marching slowly
around the stony fields.
Monday 25^th Brigade scheme to-day
attacking a hill behind the camp things
very uneventful now. Sing-songs in the
Y.M.C.A and an occasional concert
There is also a library there which provides
some good reading. The weather is very
variable now. The past few days have
been cold & windy with a little rain but
to day is beautiful & warm with a nice
would breeze quite like the Mediterranean
weather we read about.
Tuesday 26 Preparations for moving to-day
Issue of ammunition etc, windy day
again a little rain, 

Wednesday 27. Received our marching orders
with characteristic suddenness last night
Breakfast at 5 hrs this morning and move off at 6.
There was a wild bustle of packing &
cleaning this morning but eventually we
moved off to time. The whole Brigade marched
out together, marched around the village
& the head of the bay — a heavy march
with full packs on. The hospitals seemed
interminable as we marched through and
the sisters & patients all crowded to the road
to watch us pass. Reached Turks head about
9 o'clock weather very rough & windy.
Considerable trouble in embarking. we
went aboard "Osmanieh" and are lying
near H.M.S. Exmouth & Lord Nelson.
Large numbers of transports warships etc
lying in the bay, work of all kind is being
pushed ahead on the island & huge

stacks of material are to be seen everywhere.

wooden huts & quarters are being built at all.
the camps in anticipation of the winter, also
huge condensation & engineering works &
light railway. There are a large number of
Arab workmen here They make a curious
picture marching to work in long black coats.
Thursday 28. The weather is too rough for us to land
& we may have to stay here for some days till
the gale subsides. The boats is rather crowded
as there are about 1200 on board men sleeping
in every possible corner, Feeding on bread
& bully-beef very plentiful, Quite comfortable
except for crowding
Saturday 30. "Once more into the breach". The gale
subsided somewhat yesterday & we left the
harbour about 1.30. Had a good run across
& arrived off Anzac just after dark. Disembarked
between Anzac & Suvla & was very surprised 

to find tents pitched & new wharves & a light
tramway constructed. Things have been much
improved on the beach preparations being pushed
forward for the winter. Slept in a gully on the
right & next morning went into the trenches
on the extreme right between the EN & 3^rd Bde
Tuesday 2^nd we now occupy Leans Trench captured
by 11^th Batt just before Lone Pine. The Turkish
trenches are 200 to 400 yards away.  a deep
precipitous gully lies in between the two
lines, we being on one bank & the Turks on the
other. The gully drops away sheer a couple
yards from our trenches & is filled with young
pine trees & thick scrub.  There are several old
Turkish saps & trenches in the bed of the creek.
Everything is very quiet along the line &
very calm opposite us. There was hardly
a shot fired last night and we get no
bombs & very few shells. The Turks are 

building barbed wire entanglements & the
front of their trenches. They work at night chiefly
& we get an opportunity of sniping them when
a flare goes up. The destroyers kept their search
lights busy and fire an occasion shot. Our
own trenches are a maze of tunnels &
saps. We occupied an advanced firing line
approached by a winding tunnel. Dug 
outs for living purposes are rather scarce
Friday 5^th The Light horse advanced about 100
yards and captured a Turkish trench last night
without any resistance two nights back
Last night the Turks made a counter attack
without success. There was considerable firing
& bombing our new catapult bomb guns
are doing some very good work on the right
our 7^th & 8^th reinforcements have arrived
& this makes things much easier for us. One
of the new officers Lt [[?]] is the brother of 

Dan Earl & has been Lt Commander in the navy
he is very popular with the men who he treats
like comrades, his language is decidedly violent
Capt. Carter is now back in charge of the
company.
Saturday 14^th Everything still very quiet here still
the Light horse have advanced a little on the
right without much opposition the howitzer
fire a good deal on the flank also the destroyer,
A cruiser bombarded Maidos violently a few
days back. the last few nights have been cold
& wet, very miserable & depressing, went along
to the north beach a few days back - a great
change everywhere, big stacks of supplies,
ammunition & shells, tents, hospitals, dug out
etc, Some very elaborate places have been
erected. The Y.M.C.A have a tent there also
a canteen where they sell cakes, numbers
of Maltese laborers employed there. There
were also a large number of Ghurkas, [[?]]
dapper chap, very like Japs in features &
stature & always smiling & skylarking among
themselves, there are large ordnance stores
also field hospitals etc there.
Friday 20^th The last couple of rights have been
bitterly cold. On Wednesday night we had a
sharp shower of rain which though it did
not last long left about 6 inchs of water in
our trenches. By morning this had been churned
into mud & our trenches were in an
indescribable state. It took us all day to xxx
away the mud. A sorry look out if the trenches
are not drained. This however has made the
"heads" think & they apparently intend to
acalerate the erection of winter quarters [[?]]
Bread has been scarce lately owing to the
gales but these have died down now Beachy
Bill & co have been very busy during the 

last day or two firing frequently both night
& day & doing considerable damage on the beach,
our guns engaged them yesterday without
apparent result. A taube flew over yesterday
afternoon scouting & dropped a couple of
bombs & a few handfuls of darts without effect.
One of our aircraft guns got onto her & she
soon turned tail & fled, we thought she
would be brought down as a couple of
shells seemed to burst right on top of her,
we have just heard that the tender carrying
our Xmas mail was sunk 150 bags being
lost, was down on the beach this afternoon
the gale has died down but the damage was
evident everywhere, biscuits, bully beef & water
cans barbed wire & other stores were cast up
everywhere. all along the beach boats & barges
had been stove in & beached. while a
couple of tugs were sunk in the deeper water
Pieces of wreckage were thrown everywhere
& a few meals victims of Beachy Bill were rolling
backwards & forwards in the waves,

genl Head Quarters

22 April 1915
The following ^gracious 
telegram has been received
& is published for information;
The King wishes you & your army
every success & you are all
constantly in his thoughts &
prayers.
G m Woodward
Brig-General
Dep adj genl
med. Exp. Force
Soldiers of France & of the King.
Before us lies an adventure unprecedented in
modern warfare. Together with our comrades of
the fleet we are about to force a landing
upon an open beach in face of positions which
have been vaunted by our enemies as impregnable
the landing will be made good by the help
a god & the navy. The positions will be
stormed & the war brought one step nearer a
glorious close "Remember' said Lord Kitchener
when bidding good bye to your commander
Remember once you set foot upon the Gallipoli
Penin you must fight the thing through to
a finish. The world will be watching our
progress. Let us prove ourselves worthy of
the great feat of arms entrusted to us
Ian Hamilton
genl. 

For bragging time is over 

& fighting time has
come.
Newbolt.
when she was good she
was very very good
and when she was bad
 she was horrid.
The endless glory of 
the eternal stars,
where every prospect 

pleases & only man
is vile
Better one crowded 
hour of glorious life than
a xxx of Cathay.
The ship was cheered; 
the harbor, cleaned.
Le jour de gloire est arrivee
 

AI. [[?]] [[?]]
[[?]]

6 Pera

11 minnewaska
12
13 mashobra
15 Clan M^cGillivray
21 Armadale
27 Annaberg
28 Haidar. Pasha
30 Australind.
33 Ascot
trawler 827
Z37 gl Kahura
Osmanieh
wave
waterwitch.
Partridge
 

no 1 HS Sudan
Nms Queen Elizabeth
     "    Doris
      "   Prince of Wales
R.S     Askhold
Nms. Ocean

    "      Agamemnon
    "      [[?]]
H.m.T.B    Ribble
H.m.a.S     Sydney
 H.m.S.       Queen

      "            London

      "             Blenheim

      "            London

      "             Implacable

French.      Garbvis

H m.S         majestic

N.S              Jaxon
H.S              Kyana

  "                 gantala

Hms            Scounge

                     Bacchante

                     [[?]]

                      [[?]]

                      goliath

                     Trumiph

                      Canopees

 HS               Sicilian

T.B.D.           Newmarket

                     Inesistible

                     Talbot

                     Exmouth

                      NUmber

                      Scorpion 

                       [[?]] 

Sentry
I beg pardon! I didnt know you were an [[?]]
Turkish prisoner wakes up sentries.

       "              "      gather wood & return      
The Casual Australian

ned Kelly

Lonely Liz.
Shrapnel Gully
Quinns Post
chamber of Horrors 

[[?]]  Le mottee
Boxted Hall
Colchester
Essex England
No 2554 Staff Sgt C. L Newman
Railway Supply Detachment
11^th A S. C
Egypt
K maltby
1^st avenue
[[?]]
Auckland Province
N.Z

[[?]] watford

[[?]]

[[?]]

[[?]]

[[?]]

[[?]]

[[?]

[[?]]
 

R M [[?]]
Leinsters,
welsh
K.O.W. B.
South Lancs
E Lancs
manchesters,
Connaught Rangers
wilts