Photostat copy of diaries of Benjamin Bennett Leane, 1915 - Part 7

Conflict:
First World War, 1914–18
Subject:
  • Documents and letters
Status:
Open to contributions
Accession number:
RCDIG0001006
Difficulty:
4

Page 1 / 10

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8 T e 20 inothit l
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t mnd Lit min 55 wi aanhe n te ya < wa ine ar Tteono 4
abe d W 8 86 enth 26 t a n s n
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WUSTRE Mt tle tmes w sro Pst
t C .4 29.25 e 204 5 De H aecanet an t alt ag ne t e as t LaRsa Ptat
4 251 66 444 i n g e te M the n a a 1881

108

found guilty on all

charges, and sentenced

as follow,

1.- That he forfeit the sum

of 5/-

2.- That he be awarded

Field Punishment No 1. for 

the remainder of the mess 20/4/15

3.- That he should write

a letter to the Adelaide

Press, at the dictation 

of the Court, stating 

his correct rank, and

denying the false statements

which has appeared. 

Needless to say, the sentence

was carried out in its entirety.

The letter was first

of all written, and goes

back by today's mail.

Then he was had up on

 

109

the crutches and roped to 

a couple pillars in the 

saloon for half an hour,

after which his 5/- was

spent in buying him drinks.

Personally I do not care

for this baiting business; but

it was at least out

without any malice, and

once the sentence had been

carried out the whole

matter was dropped. It 

it is well for him, too for his

life has been made a misery 

for the past two months with

chiacking he has received.

But now it is thoroughly

understood that the whole

thing is to dropped.

 

 

 

110

April 21st — Glum faces 

everywhere. The weather for

the past two days has put

landing operations quite out

of the question, and if we 

don't land within the 

next two nights it will be moonlight

and we will have

to wait for another month.

April 22nd.— Another mail

today Girlie, and as usual

one from you. Dear old girl,

I know your old aversion to 

letter writing and I appreciate

your letters so much. I am

always sure of a letter each

mail. Mother also writes

regularly and there was one

from her today as well.

You were right in thinking

that I would be jealous

 

111

about that fellow making so

much of little Gwen, and going

her little affections and being 

called "Daddy". I'll guarantee 

he would have been called 

more than "Daddy" if I had

been home. Poor little woman

you must find it very annoying

to have them spoil the little 

mite, and thus break down

the good training you have

given her. Perhaps after all

it would be wise for you to

share with Mrs Hancock, and

not run the risk of having to 

mix with undesirables. I do

so want our kiddies to have a 

good clean start in life, and

spoiling undermines a kiddie's

character from the start. Perhaps

before long I'll be back

 

 

 

112

to give you a hand & I hope

so. Anyhow, I will 

know soon now, for we

expect to be into it tomorrow

night. The Colonel read

a message from the Brigadier

to us today in which he

congratulated his Brigade on 

the hour of being chosen

for such an important

job as covering party,

and also expressed confidence

in our ability to carry it 

through. He said we would 

most likely catch it hot,

but that we were to bang

on even to the last man,

and we will. Our

particular job (that is C Coy)

is to capture a gun about

500 yds from where we land,

 

113

and then to take seven more

guns about 1 ½ miles inland.

These are protected by barbed

wire entanglements, so we

will be up against it.

Immediately in rear of these

guns is an encampment, and

that also has to be cleaned.

We expect to go across to the

Prince of Wales tomorrow afternoon

It is about six hours' run to 

the Dardanelles from here, and

we reckon to land about 4 am.

as the moon sets at about 3 am.

If I come through alright I

will have some interesting tales

to tell you.

April 23rd. Dearest, we have

just received orders to embark

on the destroyers at 10.45 am tomorrow,

I am very busy so will not be 

 

 

 

114

able to make much of an 

entry tonight. Still, I had 

not expected to make any

entry tonight — I thought

we would have been on 

our way by now.

I wrote you a short

note this afternoon, darling,

I will have it to be 

posted after we have left.

In case the worst

happens and I am

unable to make any more

entries I will take this

opportunity to bid you

"goodbye dear girl. I 

trust that I will come 

through alright, but it 

is impossible to say, and

I must do my duty

whatever it is. But if

 

115

I am to die, know that 

I died loving now with 

my whole heart & soul

dearest wife that a man

ever had. Kiss little Gwen

and our new baby, who 

perhaps I may never see,

and never let them forget

Daddy. And you, dear

girl, I would love to 

write you a long goodbye

letter, but I must do my 

work and there is no time.

But I love you dearly, my

own Phyllis, and I trust

that you will always love 

me. But remember, dear,

that if I am killed, I 

wish you to do, absolutely as

you think admirable for your

future. You will always

 

 

 

116

find a good friend and 

counsellor Jack Mossop,

and I would like you to 

trust him.

If, dear, is some 

future time — I know

you will scorn the idea

now, but time brings many

changes — if in some

future time you should

think of remarrying, 

always know that I would 

wish you to do whatever

is for your own happiness.

but think well, dear, and 

make sure what manner

of man you take, won't 

you darling.

But of course, I trust that

I won't give you the chance

to marry any one. I want

 

117

you as long as you live,

and when you cease to 

live. I will wish to go 

with you then.

One little word for mother,

dear. Bear with her and

be good to her in her 

few remaining years, for

I know she loves me

dearly. and tell her 

that I am not afraid to

die, now am I afraid of 

what is to come after death.

Just tell her "I know in

whom I have believed."

And now, dear, dear

sweet heart, goodby, goodbye.

April 26th.— Monday.

This entry is being made

under great difficulties, Kiddie

I am stretched at full length

 

 

 

118

in a shallow shelter trench which

I have scraped out for myself.

Bullets are flying thick all

around, and shells are 

constantly bursting and scattering

their death dealing fragments in

our midst. Just at present we

cannot use our rifles on them

as we are lying low. It is 

6.30 am and I have just  

breakfasted on bush biscuit, 

a little bully beef, and some

chocolate, all washed down

with a mouthful of water —

can't spare more as we don't 

know when we will get another supply.

We have had a terrible

time of it darling. For eight

months we have been grumbling 

about not getting to the front,

 

119

and now we have got to it —

with a vengeance.

Our [[?]] fairly was caught

over here by the battleships, 

and at 4 am yesterday —

(Sunday) — we were towed

ashore by the pinnaces. We

had thought to take the evening

by surprise, but just as our

boat grounded they opened heavy

rifle fire on us. If it had

not been for their bad shooting

few of us would have reached

the shore. I saw three or 

four fall, and one boat 

was capsized and nearly all

its occupants drowned.

We hopped out of the boats 

mighty quietly, I can tell 

you, into water waist deep, 

and got down flat on the

 

 

 

120

beach until all the boats were

unloaded. Then we made for

the enemy's position on the top of 

a ridge, and took it with only 

one or two casualties. They then

opened fire from a higher ridge to

the left, and we made for the there.

The ascent was very steep, and

the enemy had a murderous fire

on us all the time. A lot of our

fellows were hit. Kid I must

knock off for a spell. A machine

gun has got our range, and I 

must dig my nose into the ground

if I don't want to get put out. A

chap on my right has just got one

Wednesday Tuesday 27th.

Hang me if I'm not back

on the old "Ionian". If ever

a fellow was favored by 

Providence that fell is your

 

121

unworthy hubby. I was thinking

to myself Monday afternoon

how nice it would be to get

back on board ship for

just one night to have a 

good drink, a good feed, 

a good bath, and a good

sleep, when along came 

a neat little sharp pointed

Turkish bullet and  

put my left arm out of action, and 

I had my drink, feed, bath 

& sleep sooner than I thought.

But let me go back to where

I left off on Monday. Well,

as we drove the Turks out

of their trenches on the ridge,

another party opened fire on

us from another hill on the 

right, and as they knew

the exact range they were

 

 

 

122

able to put in some effective

work. We had to slide

down into the gully and up 

the other side to get them

out, but they had

[["inishied"?]] before we got

there, and we heard

nothing more from them for

a while. It appears

that the naval people made

a mistake in landing us  

where they did, but in 

some ways it was fortunate

mistake for had we landed 

in the appointed place we

would have been under the 

fire of a battery of big guns.

We had become very 

scattered, and the various

companies had been mixed

up in the rushes up the

 

123

hills, so we sorted the men

out as much as possible and

paced out our line of defence,

as we had to hold this 

crest until the rest of the 

troops could get landed.

On account of the

resistance we met with our

landing, we had had to 

leave our packs, and picks 

& shovels, on the beach,

so the men got to work

with their little entrenching

tools which they always carry,

and commenced digging in.

As there seemed to be 

no sign of the enemy. I went

forward to the end of the 

ridge overlooking the valley,

to see how the land lay. 

Except on the opposite side

 

 

 

124

of the valley, about a mile 

away. There were no Turks

to be seen, so I went back

& reported. I had hardly 

done so when word came

along the line to expect a

counter attack. We went on

digging like mad, and 

before long the firing commenced.

I suppose it was then about 9 am. (With you it would have been about 3 o'clock 

Sunday afternoon. I wonder

what you were doing at the 

time). The firing, rifle and

machine gun, continued all 

the morning; we replying 

to it whenever a target offered.

In the afternoon a third

voice came into the chorus

— shrapnel — and all the 

 

125

afternoon we got particular

hell. The whole afternoon

there was one incessant whizzing

of bullets and screaming of

shrapnel, intermingled with

the thunder of the guns from

the warships. It was a 

terrible ordeal, for we seldom

got any opportunity to 

it. But the Brigadier 

sent word along the line to 

hang on at all costs, so we

hung on. It was only by

our holding the enemy back 

that the remainder of our

troops could be successfully

landed. At dark the 

the firing ceased for a while, 

and we thought we were 

going to a spell. But

it was only temporary, for

 

 

 

126

about an hour afterwards

a fierce attack was made

on our right flank. The

odds were about ten to one,

but our boys stuck to it

splendidly, and in the end the enemy had to withdraw. But they kept

up a heavy rifle fire

the whole night. 

Dawn on Sunday had been heavy.

What made matters worse

was the fact that our 

stretcher bearers were unable 

to work, for as soon as

they would show themselves

they would be picked off

by snipers. So our wounded 

had to lie as they fell, until

 

127

the bearers could get to work

under cover of the darkness.

On Sunday night it rained 

a good deal. We all had

to lie there in our wet clothes

for our overcoats and oil sheets

were back on the beach. It 

was bad enough for those of us 

who were well, but it was

terrible for the wounded. One

of our [[subaltering?]] Lt. Byrne, was

shot twice through the chest,

and also in the leg. That was 

on Sunday afternoon, and

on Monday night when I came

away he was still there. I 

directed a stretcher bearer to him

and obtained his promise to go 

for him at once, so I hope

he is on one of the hospital 

boats by now (He was dead when the bearers at least

found him). Several

 

 

 

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