Diary of Percy Lay, 1914-1918 - Part 3

July 6^th Shifted further down Shrapnell

Gully. The Turks blew three Cook houses

to pieces 7^th The Turks sapped under

one of our trenches and mined it

and blew it up, very few Casualties

8^th The Turks tried a bit of bluff as

they gave us twenty four hours to get 

off or they would blow us into the sea.

9^th The Sap we were doing broke into

one of the Turks and then there was

a go to see who would get the

charge in first but we won. but

not before we had a bit of fun..as

they fired several shots down our

sap. but they. did not get any

one. 10^th A few more old boys returned

amongst them being Alf Anderson

Our Planes doing good work directing

fire of our Warships. Also heard we

were likely to get a couple days

spell at Imbros.

11^th Went on our last shift sapping and

then packed Kits ready to go off same

evening but did not leave till two

next morning 12^th. Arrived at Imbros

at eight and our Camp was about

ten minutes walk from the pier. A

few Greek Stores was rushed by our

boys. 13^th. Found 14^th Battn camped

next to us. A Coy duty Coy. and we

could not leave Camp. but same evening

we got away and explored the Island.

14^th Had a look over the field Bakery

they had a lot of Turkish Prisoners

working there. Got paid in evening

15^th Up early for a swim and 

Col informed us that we were

to go back that evening but we

managed to get another day grace.

That night we held a Battn Concert.

16^th Went for early morning swim

and then made. preparation for

leaving Camp Left Camp at five and

arrived at Anzac about 5 oclock

next morning. 17^th. Camped in

V Shrapnell Gully. and early same

morning a taube came over and

^tried to dropped bombs on stores at beach

but they all fell in the sea. 16^th

Held Church Parade in morning

Flies very bad also very hot.

got another Australian Mail.

19^th Our Battn went up to

relieve the 6^th and 7^th Battn as

they were having a pretty rough

time as in a fortnight they had

lost one hundred and forty men

Our Platoon did not go in but

went to garrison Braund Hill

20^th Still bombarding at Cape Helles

and some of our men up repairing

our own Battn Trenches. No 1 Platoon

on Sapping

21^st Turks sent over three football

bombs on hill opposite but they

did not cause a Casualty. 22^nd

Went up to act as support as

a attack was expected but it

did not come off. 23^rd Expected

a attack as it was a great

day with the Turks been there

Constitutional day. 24^th One of

our Stretcher Bearer's got shot

and Albert Box got wounded.

as he was sitting talking to us.

25^th A lot of our boys that were

wounded at Cape Helles. returned.

amongst them been W. Raine. W. Hogg

and T. Dickson. Three of our old

tent mates. 26^th Turks put over

a few ten inch shells and buried

amongst others Captain Hartland.

one of our finest Officer. and

that night as we were cleaning

up the men they put over another

shell and Knocked me out for the

night 27^th Got Inoculated against

Cholera. and Stokie returned.

with some Reinforcements. 28^th

Had a bit of a attack that day

but it soon died out. One of 

their planes came over. but our's

soon chased it off. 29^th A Couple

of taube's came over and dropped

bombs. in Afternoon we Celebrated

the victory of the British at Bagdad.

by giving three Cheers and firing a

couple of rounds per man. 30^th A

Enemy. plane came over and dropped darts

over the New Zealander's Camp. Extra Hot

all day. 31^st The flies were very bad

and we were on a digging Fatigue

August 1st A part of the Third

Brigade advanced on our right

Flank. and there was a bit of a

skirmish with the New Zeal. on our left.

2^nd The Light horse took a couple of

trenches on our right. the Casualties

were very light 3^rd Went into Firing

line again And a lot of Fresh troops

began to land. 4^th More Troops

landed. and the Gullies were full

of troops. 5^th Our Battn Had to

occupy from Courtney Post to Brown

dep the distance being a yard

per man. Our Platoon had to occupy

Jacobs Post. a Forward Listening Post.

6^th Got issued with white

patches of Calico for our arms

and Backs. so that our Artillery

could pick us out when we advanced

More troops landed. and at five

we started a heavy bombardment

First Brigade advanced and took

four lines of trenches at Lone 

Pine. Troops made a landing at.

Suvla Bay. Heavy bombardment Kept

up all night. August 7. Troops still

doing well at Suvla Bay and

our Warships kept up a solid Bombardment
all day. Bucchanty. doing

extra good work. August 8^th The

Navy got on to a lot of Turkish

Reinforcements and mozed them 

down also heard that we had got

a good few prisoners August 9^th Three

Enemy planes came over but our

Planes soon drove them off. Turks

working very hard in Front of us.

Aug 10^th Things quietned down

a lot. and we were not sorry

as we had been standing to all

the time. 11^th Heard a rumor

that our Ship had forced a

passage up the narrows. 12^th Our

Scout Plane was up all day.

and did good work directing Fire.

13^th A bit of a demonstration in our

lines to see if we could draw their

fire and find out how strong they were

in front of us. 14^th A lot of bombing

at Lone Pine. Artillery duel in evening

15^th A new Enemy plane came over

and it was reported that they had

got several fresh plane's at Maidos

16^th Some of our wounded returned

from England and we heard that

the Royal. Edward had been Torpedoed

just off Imbros. General Birdwood

up through the trenches. 17^th In

evening two of our boys. Pts Hicks and

Green Volunteered to go out and have

a look at the Crater. and coming back

Pt Hicks got caught in our Barbwire

and Turks turned Machine Gun on

to him and he got two bullets

in his side and died soon

after.

August 18^th Still out in Listening

sap. and we got our first lot of

Comfort funds 19^th Evening before

the Turks came up and shook

some of our barb. wire. 20^th A

lot of Royal Irish Rifles landed and

also the fifth Brigade 21^st Fifth

Brigade Had a bit of a stunt on

our left and took three lines

of trenches. 22^nd Lord Nelson and

Agamemon bombarded: the Jolly

also heard that the Goebon had

been sunk 23^rd Went down to

the beach for stores. and heard

our lads were doing well on  the

left. Another Australian Mail

came in. 24^th Heavy bombardment

at Cape Helles and Heard that

the French were to have a another

go to take Achi Bahr.

25^th Heard that the Russians had

sunk a Super Dreadnought and several

Torpedo Boat's just off the Sea of

Marmora. 26^th Col Braund went sick

and Major Coulter took his place.

as C.O. of our Battn. 27^th Troops

took Knoll sixty on our left.

after a stiff fight.28^th Troops

got a issue of tobacco and

other tinned goods. and it

was a change to Bully beef and

biscuits 29^th A. Taube came over

and tried to bomb our Stores

but she was unsuccessful.

30^th Went down to our Cook House

and they had a birthday -night 

before. and they gave me a couple

of tots of rum and which Knocked 

me silly 31^st Very Hot and

the flies were something awful

Sept 1^st Battleships bombarded Battle

ship hill for about a hour. 2^nd

Got our first issue of bread and

then it was only a loaf to

eight - and was soaked with

sea water 3^rd Had to Stand too

all night as the Turks were massing

in Front of Lone Pine and it was

expected that they would have a try

to retake it 4^th Had more bombs

and Ammunition issued to us

in case they did attack. 5^th

Three Battn's of sixth Brigade

landed. and told us that the Southland

with the twenty first Battn on board

had been Torpedoed but mostly

all the troops had mostly got 

off safely. 6^th Twenty second Battn

came up to Relieve us but half

us old chaps had to stay in with

them until they got use to the work.

7^th Held a bit of demonstration but the

Turks had taken a jerry to us and did

not fire a Shot in return. The new

men got relieved out of our trenches

and we were told we had to stay in 

till following day. Sept 8^th Came out

into Supports and had to act as

supports to the twenty second for the night

21^st Battn also landed that night 9^th Had

the best sleep that night that we had

for the last five weeks and got

orders to say that we were to leave

for a spell as we had spent five

hard months at Anzac. Embarked on

a Mine sweeper at eight 10^th Arrived

at Mudros Bay. and a boat called The

Water Witch landed us. and then

we had a four mile march to our

Camp and it was a very hard. march

11^th Went to have a look round some

Greek Villages and struck a couple

of Turkey's and they were good after

Bully beef and biscuits 12^th Went

over to another Village and found

a hive of bees and that night

a mate and myself went and

carried it away. and robbed it

We got a fair amount of Honey.

13^th Got paid and went to a Village

and made things lively while it

lasted. More troops came in and

also our Mail. 14^th We started to

do a bit of drill in morning but

had the afternoon off. Rained that

 night. 15^th New Zealand Brigade landed

No drill on account of rain A Coy duty Coy

16^th A heavy thunderstorm came over

and flooded our tents out and we

were plodding about in mud up to our

Knees and to make matters worse we

were to be inspected by a French

General and his Staff.

17^th Went over to a Vineyard and

helped ourselves to the Grapes

Sept 18^th Went to doctor and he ordered

me to the third General Hospital where

they treat you dead. well. 19^th Doctor

told me I had a touch of Enteric

fever. but that I had got over the

worst of it 20^th Some of our mates

came over from Camp and brought

our mail over to us. 21^st Allowed

up and just on ordinary diet but

could not get about much as they

took all our clothes to get fumigated

to get rid of some of the Anzac

chats. 22^nd Went down to QM Store

and got more things and went

for stroll round Hospitals

23^rd Another Chap and myself

cleared away to one of the 

Villages and when we came

back we got roared up by the

nurse. 24^th Very hot all day. Ian

came over from West Mudros to see

us  - he look well after his sickness

25^th Our Doctor left us and we got

one not near as good 26^th A

lot of the boys out of our

Hospital left for Alexandria

27^th A lot more left for England

but I was not one of the lucky

one's. 28^th Told the Quack that I

wanted to go back to my unit

but he said I would have to go

to Convalescent Camp first

29^th Went into Convalescent

Camp and found it to be

rather quiet 30^th Had to Parade

at six and again at nine and

then we finished for the day.

Oct 1^st Harry Harrison and 

Ted Lee. came into same 

Camp that evening

Oct 2^nd Found that the Camp was

more like a home than a Camp as

we had plenty to eat. and nothing

to do. 3^rd Received more mail and

a lot of English troops landed

on the Island. 4^th Heard that the

French were giving the Germans

a good go. and had captured

a lot of prisoners 5^th and 6^th

Spent time in putting up a 

lot of new Hospital tents.

and that afternoon a Heavy

Thunderstorm blew most of

the tents. down.7^th Had a

party on fixing up the tents

that got blown down the night

before. 8^th A little Scotty and

myself cleared out to a

Village and did not get back

till late that night.

9^th Inspection by a English Col and

a lot of the patients got send to

Bare Detail Camp. 10^th A lot

more Fresh troops arrived and a

draft of details were sent back to

the Peninsular 11^th A lot of troops

went on a Hospital Ship bound

for England but I missed again

12^th Sorro and Curly over to see

us. and also Heard that Bulgaria

had gone in with Germany

13^th Over to Camp and found boys

growling about having two

much drill to do 14^th A General

Inspection to pick out men fit

to rejoin their units 15^th Two

Australian Officers came around

to find out if there was any

Complaints about the way x

they were treated in the Camp

16^th Heard. that our lot was likely

to go back to the Peninsular at any

time. 17^th and 18^th General Inspection

of those. who. were to go to England

as a boat. had arrived to take the

worst cases. 19^th Motor Ambulances

busy. taking down cases to the. boat

but they filled the Hospital ship before

they had. half cleared the Camp's

20^th A lot more troops arrived

and a fresh batch was sent off

to the Peninsular 21^st A lot of our

boys returned from Malta amongst

them being Sgt Brunton and he

nearly got hooked out of Camp.

22^nd Another Hospital Ship load of

sick left for Alexandria and

Harry Harrison managed to fluke

on it. 23. Over to see our Battn

sports and they were very

interesting

24^th All Australians in Camp were

inspected and those that were fit

were sent back to their Battn as

they were likely to move at any moment

25^th Went back to the Battn and

found all the boys looking well.

26^th Brigade went for a route march

in Afternoon Agamemnon Band and

Concert Party came over to give

us a farewell. Concert and it

was a real Comic Affair 27^th

A. Inspection by our New General

Sir C C. Munroe and his staff.

and four other General's 28^th

Got word to pack up and go back

to Anzac. and we had a general

clean up of the Camp. 29^th

Order to move. Cancelled as the

sea was too rough to Embark.

30^th Two cases of diptheria broke

out in Camp and we were put in

quarrantine for a Indefinite period

31^st. A Coy duty Coy. and the fourth

Brigade moved off. the Island.

Nov 1^st We had to stay in Certain bounds

and we did drill in Afternoon so

that we could get use of Sports

Ground in morning 2^nd Arranging

for sports to be held and we were

out practicing for some of the events

3^rd Got Paid in morning and out

practicing ^for sports in Afternoon

4^th Started out on a seven mile

route march but after going about

two mile it came on to rain

and we had to return to Camp

5^th Held our Battn Sports and they

were very exciting also held a 

concert in evening 6^th Went

for a route march out to

Therma and enjoyed march