Thomas James Richards, Diaries, Transcript Vol. 2 - Part 10

- 88 -
attacks to-day but of short duration. Quite a lot of
fellows were killed and wounded in their dugouts right
behind the trenches altogether. The monitor and the
destroyers dealt out some trouble to the Turks if noise
goes for anything. Our field guns are in a bad position
and draw a lot of fire on to the trenches. A pity we
did not have more room to move about.
8th July, 1915. I spent the morning with Geo. Barr in
the 9th Batt. trenches. The front line of trenches are
tunnelled in 5 ft. under the surface with firing
apertures 4 ft. square dug out into the side and upwards
to the surface where sand-bags are used as usual. The
trenches are wonderfully safe - easily the safest place I
have seen to date. They are situated on the right wing.
News of the great memorial service at
St. Paul's, London, for the Australian and New Zealand
dead. pleases our men very much. They are delighted to
think that they have at least made an impression in
England. Geo. Barr's Company (B) lost 72 men out of
187 killed and wounded in the demonstration of last week.
Cigarettes "from the members of the 

Oversea Club" - two packets to 4 men and tobacco 

2 ozs. to 8 men. There seems to be robbery here."
9th July, 1915.  Captain Welch returned a letter to
Father as being too big. I went and asked him what the
damnable regulations say on the matter. He maintained
that Major Stokes' orders were 'one page ony,' and that
he was sorry but would put it through the 4th Field
Ambulance/for me. I declined with thanks and told him
that Major Stokes was both inconsiderate and mean, and
acted as though he were a demi-god. We who in civil
life were his equal were treated as low conscripts
instead of free volunteers and men of reason. Seeing
 

- 89 -
that we have nothing to read, and 'midst such monotony
we grow livery and dull-witted so that it was in the
interest of the Corps to encourage the fellows to write
and exercise their minds in other ways than gossiping,
cursing and swearing. I feel much hurt over this matter.
If we were moving on and the censor officers had some
work to do, I would be the last to complain, but they are
all actually loafing and it does hurt me to think that
we who are exposing ourselves to danger every day cannot
get a decent letter through to our friends and relations
regardless of the subject dealt with. In this particular
case I was dealing with a unique Church service, nothing
else, and to Father who would much appreciate it, such
being a purely religious topic.
The gun enfilading us on the right
flank is now called "Beacy Bill." It has done a lot of
damage too. On the left flank there is a nasty gun too.
It is more silent than ours. The fellows call it
"Lonely Liz."
10th July, 1915. I have been lucky enough to get
McAlpine going to Alexandria to take my letters away
(6 large ones). I had a glorious walk around this
morning and took 16 films. Four of them show the
different water supply wells with the fellows in their
usual poorly-dressed condition, but all as happy as
possible under the conditions that exist here from day
to day. I now have four rolls exposed and I don't know
how to get them away to Sydney.
The "Lord Nelson" came up off Gaba
Tepe and drove 140 shells into the mountainside and
went away at once. Later a warship opened fire with
both aeroplane and balloon observing. She fired whole
broadsides. We had no chance of counting them and
 

- 90 -
though she was continually encircled by the ... . . . . . . . . . ..
fleet on the look-out for submarines, she did not remain,
but turned and ran into Imbros as though in fright.
It seems pitiful that a puny submarine has the might
to harass that huge fire-eating and spitting monster
to such a terrible extent.
We have had no mail in for a fortnight
and the younger fellows are very much concerned but it
does not bother me now that W.T.B. does no longer
write and I believe shows her sound jugdment thereby.
11th July, 1915. An air of intense anxiety seems to
prevail and common rumours are prevalent. Last night
the firing line (chiefly the Turks I think) were on
pins and needles and launched out with regular bursts
of fire. In other wars it was the custom not to fire
without having an object to shoot/at, but nowadays it's
just a matter of covering the area over which the foe
will pass with lead so that nothing can live.
McGregor took charge of the Church
service to-night and got along nicely with his discourse
on purity and innocence. He seems to have a lovely
conception of life, but even here a man can be so
engulfed as to become bigotted, which has a tendency to
make young fellows afraid of him instead of having the
confidence that would allow McGregor to get in closer
touch with them, and thereby help them a stage nearer to
the beautiful path of purity.
A party of some 300 men had the
devil of a time hauling a 4.7 naval gun around from the
beach to-night. It is a cumbersome thing weighing about
10 tons.
Elliott and Watts went fishing last
night and caught 9 small ones. This is the third lot of
fish to date. They fry lovely. I can taste those of a
week ago now, so sweet were they.
 

-91 -
There was a lot of nervous shooting going on
all night. The destroyers also added to the noise.
Amongst the fellows the machine guns are called typewriters 

and sound similar too,
12th July, 1915. This morning has been a little bit
more eventful than usual. I rose at 6.30, got wood
ready for the fire and went down to have a swim. Rifle
reports and the close thud of the bullets made me move
quickly over the hill into the Valley where I took off my
singlet and cut off drawn pants, no boots; near the
beach when a bullet pitched into the wall a few feet
away. I sat down for a few minutes, then raced for the
water and had a lovely swim. I prepared breakfast -
bacon with biscuit toasted in fat and boiled potatoes
and onions, jam and cheese, but during breakfast a
furious bombardment opened with our guns followed by
machine gun and rifle fire. A little later Turkish
shells began to fly thickly all around us and rained
lead. It was one of the liveliest times we've had
here for some time. After a shave and a cigarette
the long-awaited mail (2 weeks) arrived, and now I sit
in my dugout in a stifling heat owing to the thin
chaff bag covering which leaves good light in but keeps
off the flies. This is essential as they are damnable.
Mail from Mother - worrying over Bert and I. My
cablegram "Doing splendidly" was misread and they
worried much. Ettie and Cis Sponza wrote nicely.
W.T.B. stated her intention nicely of marrying Basil,
which I cannot complain of and I do wish her luck.
Yesterday a battleship fired 139 shots at the
hill near Gaba Tepe making a fine sight. Later another
ship fired 75 shots over towards Mudros. The Turks
fired shrapnel at them the whole time and covered the
ship at times. An aeroplane had an exciting time.
 

-92 -
Over 20 shots were fired at it and left the cloud
effects on the blue sky. The plane seemed to be within
reach of the shells too.
13th July, 1915. We see some great artillery shooting
from our camp by the Turk having a go at our torpedo
craft and launches. They seem to be bad shots or have
terribly bad luck as they seldom do better than go close
and drive them away. The Turks seemed to be expecting an
attack all last night and a hundred times opened fire
with rifle and machine guns for 20 minutes at a time.
Our idea, I believe, is to waste their ammunition which
we believe to be getting short. In the afternoon the
9th Battalion were marching around in a circle with their
bayonets gleaming over the trenches so that John Turk
would think they were preparing for a charge, and also
bring reinforcements up. A good joke and it worked too!
I was taking off my short pants for a
swim this morning sheltered from a sniper who was pitching 
bullets all around as the men passed at intervals
and casually by. One chap passed me and some five
bullets must have landed within 30 yards of him, and all
he said in passing was "That b--- will be getting
some of these fellows yet."
Jack Hynes and Jack Brooks came along
from the left and we went for a good walk around the gun
pits and trenches. From them I learn that a good deal
of enmity exists in all of the battalions regarding the
reinforcements as non-commissioned officers. They are
new to the whole business and take charge of men who
know the land, enemy's trenches and everything about
this extremely peculiar type of warfare, and so it
seems as if most of the new comers will give in their
stripes and the positions be filled from the ranks of
the tried and trusty original soldiers.
 

-93-
14th July, 1915. I wrote up a brief account of my
infatuation, or whatever it is, for my Manly lady to-day.
I am in a better position to compare and reason with the
peculiar particulars of the position which she so coldly
wrote declaring to be finished with now. But it is yet
a hell of a conundrum to me, and although I have been
hauled over the rack I can't account for it yet. I am
pinning this matter together with the latter part of our
rather large correspondence. It might at some future
date be of use for reference, etc.
There are quite a lot of cases going
away at present. The severe burning sun may be the primary
cause. Although the sun burns so, it is fairly cool in
the shade, but in my dug-out with a chaff bag over the
top to keep the flies out, it is stiflingly hot.
15th July, 1915. One of our aeroplanes was subjected to
a heavy bombardment this morning at 8 o'clock. The still
blue sky was dotted with clouds of white smoke from the
bursting shrapnel and made a fascinating effect. This
evening I saw one of Major Hughes' 18-pounders fire some
12 shots in quick succession, then John Turk got busy
and it seemed strange to me to see, on the arrival of the
Turks' first shot, our gun crew leave their posts and
run for cover. Eight other shells followed from John
and buried themselves right in around the gun-pit.
A fairly strong wind blew the smoke away so that I
could not get a photograph.
16th July, 1915. "Beachy Bill" has commenced early this
morning and shells are now sawing their way overhead in
a sinister and cruel manner. A number of large iron
tanks were put up on the beach last night. The party
evidently had no time to take them into the gully. They
are lovely targets for Abdul and if he doesn't deal with
them, six in number, before the day passes I will be
 

-94 -
greatly surprised/.
Andy and watty were out fishing all last
night and brought in some 14 small bream. This is the
best haul to date, although the others made a glorious
meal - our first decent fish since leaving Sydney ten
months ago now, and I do hope to return soon and settle
down to something or other.
Last night I was congratulated by many of
the boys for having my name mentioned for bravery. I
half expected this as one of the Light Horse Officers
took my name on Monday, June 28th. It is a nice compliment,
earned or otherwise, doubly so seeing that it
comes from strangers to me. Were it our own officers'
reports I should be almost indignant.
There is a lovely young moon in the sky
to-night. It looked lovely, yet mystically, slowly
working its way towards Samothrace. I am not yet
absolutely certain why a new moon turns upon its back,
and moves around. At present it is straight up and down.
Last time it was on its back, due I have an idea to the
regular seasonable changes.
17th July, 1915. At 6.25 this morning a Turkish aeroplane 
dropped two bombs - one in the water near our
camp and I have heard since that there were a lot of
fish blown up and we are cursing at not going down to see
at the time.
I am writing these notes by lamplight -
a home-made lamp from a 2 oz. tobacco tin with a lint
bandage for a wick, candles being so very difficult
to get hold of. One soon gets used to the smell of the
lamp, but the smoke that arises if one blows it out
is strong enough to drive one out of the dug-out for
hours'. So I use the lid of the tin to snuff it out
and there's no smell.
 

-95-
18th July, 1915. To-day has been a very quiet one for
me. I tried to write a letter but it drifted into a
newspaper article. Arrangements are going on actively
here lately and there is a lot of talk of a general
advance, but hell, what slaughter!
Water tanks and pipes are very prominently
lying about the beach and it is just as well that our
'friend' Beachy Bill is not feeling well or his shells
would have knocked fair hell out of those tanks, both
iron and galvanized ones but I think the "Monitor" did
for Beachy Bill three days ago. He reigned a long time
and got a lot of scalps as well as doing much damage.
19th July, 1915. It is the quietest morning we've had
for some time. Were it not for the rumbling thunder of
the big guns from down south and the tack-tack of a
machine gun sharp-shooting along our beach, everything
would be calm.
We were called out last night to take
down some patients. It seems that a patrol party from
the 11th Battalion ran across a concealed Turkish trench
but fortunately the Turks could not get at them with
their rifles. They were too close under the front of
their trench but John Turk got his bombs busy and wounded
six of our party.
Jack Brooks and John Hynes came around
this afternoon and we went up towards the 9th Batt.
lines and spent an hour with the fellows. An infantryman's
life is the devil. They seldom get away, not even to get
a wash.
20th July, 1915. Our destroyer shelled the same old
knoll with the double line of trenches on it at Gaba Tepe
last night and as that infernal machine gun has not been
heard this morning I presume that they have blown up its
 

-96 -
position. All day yesterday this machine gun made
things truly miserable. I went down for my swim as
usual in the morning but I won’t run such an awful
gauntlet again. At 7 o'clock it was racking the beach
worse by far than shrapnel fire. It got up to the
cemetery and a burial service in progress had to be
postponed until quite dark. Beachy Bill got rubbed
out three days ago too but he had a long innings and
possibly accounted for 200 men. Some days he got as
many as 8 killed and 25 wounded. I have been through
the 12th Battalion trenches which are tunnelled right
through the hill, then over a gully and along a ridge.
Good deep trenches have been formed. It is a maze of
digging that would astound even the Egyptian builders
of Alexandria's Catacombs.
21st July, 1915. The Turks put some high explosives
into the trenches at Quinn's Post and entirely buried
a number of our men. 8 killed and 16 wounded was the
total.
At Dr. Butler's there was a fellow who
complained several times of weak, nervous attacks but
the doctor only grumbled and called him a shirker.
This evidently bothered the patient very much and it was
a very unfair accusation also. The outcome was the
fellow blowing his head off with his rifle to-day.
It seems a shame as this man was a good worker and
perfectly honest, but it is the damnable malingerer
to be found amongst all soldiers, that leads the doctors
to distrust anyone with an invisible complaint. I wish
medical men would take a man's character into consideration 

and reason more. I had a couple of hours
with some northern boys yesterday. They are happy in
their ignorance regarding the beauty and advantages of
the north - the wharves, mines, etc. I must thank
 

-97 -
the powers that guide me for leaving Charters Towers
and opening my eyes to the world and its ways. I am
quite proud of my experiences and achievements when I
get amongst the poor fellows of my time and on my social
level at one time and yet with all the opportunity I am
fitted for nothing in particular and do not know how
I am in future to get my living and live up to my ideals
of life, which I sometimes think are altogether too
high and almost unreasonable, as the world does not
show much purity or cleanliness of spirit. I seem to
have miscarried from the earthly track somewhere and
fast becoming cynical which I must work out of, as
a cynic or pessimist is an annoyance to everybody whom
they meet. This life I now lead is making me terribly
sceptical and I dread the thought of this scepticism
sticking to me.
22nd July, 1915. There has been a tremendous amount of
rifle-firing going on all night but it is more demonstrating 

work, for what purpose I don't know, but very few
injuries occur. Thousands of rounds are being fired away.
It is commonly rumoured that the Turks are massing in
front of our position and that an attack is almost certain
for to-night. We have everything in readiness for him
and are delighted to think that he is goingto do the
perilous work of attacking. We were making full
arrangements for an advance ourselves. The water tanks
are almost ready. Rations and ammunition are stocked in
the lines and two bags of iron rations are issued to
each man, so if John Turk comes we'll be very much
obliged to him. It is now after 6 p.m. and matters are
very quiet. I don’t like this as Abdul should be
knocking the barbed wire and sandbags away from our
trenches with his artillery if he really does mean to
attack. The doctors say our men are knocking up fast