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