Charles E W Bean AWM38 3DRL 606/11/1 - August 1915 part 4

One poor chap dead amongst
sandhills. I stooped down to
feel for his pulse but / hand
ws quite cold.
 (cont from P. 16)
32
(Shorthand). NZ werent clear of sap
when I got to Godleys H.Q. but
fortunately Monash & Sharkles
were ahead. Monash had gone
along beach. Indians a little
further inland parallel. I
walked down thro dark &
struck Monash Ghurkas &
later Sikhs marching in fours
abt 100 yds below the N.Z. posts.
A little further on in sand hills
I came across 2 wounded
men (wounded by spent bullets)
left there by Monash. They asked
for stretcher bearers, I went up
& tried to get them, but a Brit.
stre medical officer told me
his men had bn instructed
tt they were not to go under
 

33

fire (I heard later tt 13 out of
23 were blown out by a shell)
so I finally got some NZ s/bs
to go w me.
It ws clear / attack ws
getting v. much behind time. Godley
sd to Purwell: "Can I tell Army Corps
tt both / Bdes  have cleared this
place?"
P. didnt seem to know but
sd he'd find out. Presently he
reported Godley Monash's stretcher
bearers just passing.
"Then I can say both Bdes
are past here?" sd Godley.
"No -No Sir. The Indian Bde
is only arriving."
"What are they behind Monash?
Good God-"
 

34

"But tt ws / order they were
told to go in, Sir."
It seemed to me rather a
elementary pt o / attack for the
General to have forgotten.
Godley ws  v. good to me - the
G.O.C. 13th Div. (I think) ws w
him (or O.C. Bde). Godley gave
me a whisky & then I went out to
see if I cd see anything of / British
landing lights were I thought I
had seen lights out there. I looked
for t my glasses & found the glasses
had gone. must h. dropped them
when I fell in / sap.
Bullets were whipping into /
sand in front of Godleys H.Q.
at No 2 outpost. I decided
to stroll along & see if I cd get
 

35

some news of Monash before daybreak,
wh might make it difficult to get
back. So I strolled along by /
Indian Column wh had bn passing
for abt 2 hrs & ws still passing
just inland o / sandhills. It wd
halt - shuffle on a few paces -halt
agn.
Just before I went I heard
Godley sending messages. Col N.Z Inf
Hughes(?) had reported tt he had
gone forward; had sent on his
guides & ws only waiting
for / guides to come back -
wd move as soon as they did.
Godley sent back: Do not
wait for guides. Move on
at once to your objective.
 

36

He sent same to Gen. Cox commanding
the 29 Ind. Bde. Push on at once to
your objective - & I think he
sent same to Monash. At any rate
when I told him I ws going to Monash
he gave me tt message " Tell him
to hurry up" he sd.
I went off past our old boundary,
out along the road  fields - the
Indian column beside me, moon
just getting up; when the troops
were wandering, slower than a
funeral, along a bank w a path
running along it. By  / side were
several Australians & an Englishman
- wounded by strays or shrapnel.
A few strays were limping  into / ground
-ploughed field. The column turned
in towards the dark hills on / right.
Occasionally some shots came from
there. I thought Monash ws further
 

Aug. 9. 1am. Destroyer gun to N.
1.1  2nd gun
1.2 2nd gun  

37
to / left & was just starting to stroll
off towards him the left when I heard
some very distant firing ahead of
me. It must be / landing British
I thought. I ws moving on agn when
something gave me a whack (like
a stone thrown hard) in / upper
part o / right leg. I cd feel it whack
/ right side of / leg & bruise / inner
part o / left side. I was pretty sure
I had bn hit by a stray wh had
gone in on / right & not come out
but I cdnt feel any blood & so
thought it mightnt have penetrated at
in between all. Some of / stones from
shell bursts had hit me quite
as hard earlier this day - but
presently I felt my hand greasy
in my pants - so I knew
I must go back. I cd limp
 

[I was given a white ticket
(which I still have somewhere)
to take to the Casualty Clearing
Stn, from which I would almost
certainly have been sent (artear
A to the hospital ship. I did
not feel any trouble except a
stiff leg, & so I decided to keep
the ticket in my pocket & go
to my dugout. This was fortunate,
for otherwise I should have missed the rest of

the August fighting (22/1/24) ]

 38
along pretty well - as I went
here a good deal of fire burst out
in one o / gullies to the N. of me
-either Indians or Monash clearing
out opposition - Monashes men had
orders only to use Bayonet till
daylight so shots were probably
enemys.
I looked in to see Godley &
he was v. kind & gave me a 
whisky & sent me to dressing stn.
They looked after me well - I walked
slowly home along / sap. As I
got opposite the Sphinx a tremendous
bombardment broke out. It really
was a bombardment this time - 
not / feeble affair of 4.30 yesty
5pm yesty. The dawn ws just
growing & the and  shell shaped
cliff around the Sphinx fairly
bellowed with sound. Tails of
 

[As far as I can now recollect, in
passing Anzac Gy
I said to W Skeen: The
Light Horse seem to be having
a bad time up there.
He said. It's not them I'm
thinking of, but the New Zealanders.
(He added that he thought
the Light Horse wd be all right
but he hoped that what they
were doing would assist
N.Z. in the more difficult task.)
C.EW. B. 22. 1.24.]
 39

black earth were being flung up from
Walker's Nek agst the sky. It stopped
at 4.30. I believe the 3rd LH Bde ws
a bit slow in getting out - didn't start
for a minute or  so after / finish
(one hardly wonders - they didnt
want a shell in their backs by
starting early) & / Turks had
time to get up again & get out
their rifles. Few men reached the Nek.
The xxx N.Zs got over this starting
difficulty in another way. They
had bn told tt / Turks in old No3
post used to lie down, ^in bottom of trench when /
destroyer shelled them. The
destroyer started shelling & over
men crept out & just very
close.  Then / Destroyer
suddenly turned her beam up
to / sky & they were into /
 

Aug 9  40
Trench in an instant - they
took many rifles.

12.30 Cptn Smith tells me that 9 of
Australians  ' (shorthand )
ghurkas got on first w off
11.15 I was doing splendidly
6oz & to date
incl 3 germans, not officers
4 turkish officers 
62 of these wounded

Ross says

What happened to Monash I
bel. ws: He ws held up by finding
opposition (he ws rather anxious
abt this  bec-his track led him
past or near their reserves)
but opposition can't h. bn been great
for his losses were small.
He didnt get to Abdul Rahman
ridge - he waited till his left
 

41
ws in touch w (British - apptly
not on forward spur to left but
one behind it. The valley ws v.
narrow; troops had to file singly
in parts; & so instead of pushing
progress ws slow; day came rapidly
on. There were difficulties ahead
- some risk of losing touch and
being quite in air. Shrap ws
pouring on them going up valley -
men were deadly tired - & so
Monash did not push on but
dug in on the ridge nearer this
way than 971 & used the
15 & 16 to continue line of
13 & 14.
It seems to one a decision
wh many weak commanders
wd make but utterly
unjustifiable. That is to say -