Charles E W Bean AWM38 3DRL 606/11/1 - August 1915 part 5

[Shorthand}
Above conversation abt  / dances outside 
my dug out during pause in
critical [Shorthand] (Aug 9)
 42
instead of pushing on in spite of 
fatigue till he ws actually stopped 
by / enemy he stopped short of his 
objective without being stopped. 
Our whole plan had bn to try & 
ensure tt there were v. few 
men in front of him for 1.2 hours 
or so - In order to give Turks /
impression tt we were going to 
push thro down S end of our 
positn we attacked one of / most
difficult positns in Gallipoli - 
a trench / Turks had put a tremendous 
amt of work into - It cost us 2000 
men to create this diversion wh 
ws splendidly done. The 6th failed
- Roe & others say badly - at German 
Officers Trench - but at any rate 
a very splendid effort ws made to
keep / Turks here. The whole

43
essence o / attack ws tt it shd issue 
suddenly from our N. end whilst /
Turks were stoppered by / heaviness
o / first blow. & thinking only of tt - / blow 
ws heavy eno' to make them do so. 
Naturally / Northern attack ws a 
little late - but there is every sign
tt it ws unexpected. The Turks on 
Table Top &   Bauchopes xxx and Big 
Table Top were broken & fleeing in 
small parties wh we our columns often stumbled 
across & some of whom they captured. 
There is no evidence tt / main 
ridge Northwds ws strongly held at 
this time - there is every reason 
to believe conjecture tt it ws weakly 
held but it certainly wd be 
strongly held by next night. 
Yet we allowed ourselves to be 
held up - not by enemy for we 
never threw ourselves agst him - 

44
but by apprehension tt he might 
be too strong if we attacked by 
daylight & by fatigue of our men. 
If he might have had machine guns 
then it was certain he wd have them next day. 
If he might be in numbers, and digging trenches, 
then it ws certain tt he wd be next 
day. Our men might be fatigued then 
but it is nothing to / fatigue & strain 
wh a superior enemy wd inflict on 
them if they went on & did their job 
next day. They might lose heavily 
or might not but it ws dead 
certain tt somebody wd lose heavily 
by their stopping if he had to 
attack / same ridge after /
enemy had arrived there in force. 
The whole chance lay in avoiding 
/ risk of this battle crystallising
again into a trench battle &

x? Aug 10.
I was out in my dates 
there; "Aug 9" later on certainly 
means "10", and may here.
 C.E.W.B. 19.5.23.

45
tt cd only be done by sacrificing
everything to speed - we might not
have succeeded even then. The point
in wh some of these Bde Commdrs seem
to me grieviously to have failed was
tt they did not advance on tt first advance find out
whether they cd have succeeded
- they stopped before / enemy stopped
them. I do not believe Gen - Walker
or Maclagan or Maclaurin or McCay
wd have stopped.
It ^has left us, really, one chance:
The T.s of course have reinforced /
ridge - & dug there - & got m.gs. into
positn. But they may be shoved off
still by a frontal attack combined
with a British turning movement.
That is to say, even now x(Aug 9) if
/ British manage to get round
from Suvla Bay behind Turks on
971, & we attack them up / slopes

46
o /  hill (i.e. frontally) at same time,
we may crumple them. Possibly
1st Australn Divn can help from our
end. But No 1 chance - tt of 

finding / ridge lightly occupied, for wh 
we took Lonesome Pine, has now gone, 
definitely.
No 2 chance depends on this; 
Turks have reserve at Balair, 
Keshav & elsewhere. Sooner or
later it must come down on Brit -
in direction of Anafarta in great
[Hand drawn diagram - see original]
force - at any 
rate all / 
force they have. 
Can we get the 
Turks out of 
971 first? 
Otherwise frontal 
attack is our only 
chance & that can
 

47
hardly go fast eno' to prevent Ts 
from making a trench battle of it.
[We must get them off 971 if Suvla Bay 
is to be a comfortable base during the
winter. We sent some guns along 
/ beach today in fine style &  they 
were sniped by a m.g. from the 
ridge:  Aug 9. Field guns and howitzers 
on 971 wd make Suvla Bay 
almost impossible & communication 
w Anzac probably quite impossible.
Our only hope if present battle 
fails w troops we have is to 
bring / troops from Helles here; 
or to land more divisions from 
England & fight an expensive
trench fight through. Of course, 
as usual, we cd have made 
certain if they cd have sent 
us more troops. I daresay
Australia will have to do it yet.]
 

48
Aug 9 5.27 Enormous bombardment. 
Bombardment ceases at 5.30
Started at 5.
5.30 Distant roar of rifles.
5.40 Landing lighter full of men & two 
lone boats alongside brought into
pier in broad daylight - came to 
within 2 lengths of pier, take 
5 minutes turning, go out 
again. The hopeless 
inanity of the naval arrangements 
passes belief.
10.50 firing eases a gt deal.
12.30. ^Capt Smith tells me that at 9am 
this morning Capt McConaughey at 
A.C. told him that the Australians 
were on their objective - on the ridge

? Aug 10
49
Ghurkas driven off but Australians 
there with only gully betw them & 
English 11 Div wh had the 
W hills.
Sm also says we have 602 
prisoners to date incl. 3 
German (not officers) & 4 Turk 
officers - (62 of these are wounded)
Ross says tt early during / night 
we attacked w bayonet but 
lost heavily. Early this mg 
Turks counterattacked & NZ 
"had to leg it as fast as they 
could." T.s seemed to attack w
bombs. & came on w bayonet. 
He saw three big fellows bayonet rushing 
forward - one bayoneted a N.Zealander 
and N.Zer fell. N.Z. retreated to 
point more thank 200 ft below 
crest.
 

50
Col White tells writes to me: Saty 
Sunday both day & night we 
were continually counterattacked 
at Lone Pine all by bombs. Here 
& there we lost a bit but always
took it back. 3rd Bn brilliantly 
retook a trench & linked up 
w 4 Bn. Elsewhere nothing but 
severe shelling at times. All 
reports indicate we inflicted 
heavy loss on Turk & guns got at 
him many times. Reported also 
tt we now have a bombing 
superiority & T. shows signs 
of demoralisation.
Ross tells me NZs were 
unsupplied w bombs or 
had v. few.
 

51
12.50 Firing long way back up 
ridge like distant knocking of 
a box. trrt-t-t-trrt-trt..
Heavy guns of warships firing 
After lunch O'Gorman came in & reported 
that our warships shells were
falling on Anafarta causing it
to blaze; & on this slope of the 
Chocolate hills; & ^that on tops
of high sugar loaf hill behind 
Anafarta he cd see Turks
- 3 or 4 at first, on skyline, then 
dropping down into gullies. These 
hills were being shelled by us. We 
were using our big monitor at
this time - 6 shots or so. After
lunch I myself saw our
ships firing from inside