Charles E W Bean, Diaries, AWM38 3DRL 606/198/1 - 1915 - 1918 - Part 8

69

went out about 150yds ahead of
Bde Hqrs & lay out in / open. Just
abt 11 a.m. They  got a message abt
17,000. French & British troops landed
behind / Turks - & were waiting
for them to come thro. There were Turks
to be seen 1200 or 1500 yds away.
towds 971, but nothing to fire at.
Just after / party got up there /
Germans Turks opened with 4 guns w
Shrapnel bursting low. There were
N. Zealanders & all sorts there. The
shrapnel caused a lot of casualties
& men began to get back to /
shelter of / hill. Howe as hit thro
/ Shin w. Shrapnel & / N.Z. man
beside him ws k. by / same shell.
Howe got back abt 50yds &
found a bit of trench.
M.G. fire had opened up by this
time. After dark Howe went down to
/ aid post just behind & "Gertie"
Butler dressed his wound. A great
many wd were there. Things were bad
 

 

70

after dark. Turks got up close  &
made things willing. wd began
to come in to Gerties Post. Gerty
ws on top. most o /  night, with
s/bs conflicting wd. Towds daylight
Howe, who ws laying on mud &
v. cold & hungry, knowing there ws
Turks up in / trench went back
there & got a pozzy in / trench just
before dawn. Before he had bn
there long / Turks attacked - The
Turks seemed to be trying to
work their men forward in rushes
to get up close. The arty fire ws
severe. But all day / Ts. didn't
get to within 200 yds.
Between 2 & 3 p.m. Everything
slackened & got v. quiet. From
then on they were simply sitting in
/ trench.
On / left was coming
down / Chess board. The right
was hidden from them.
[It is possible tt this was
the time when Irvine & Mach. were
 

 

71

killed.]
this Tuesday there was 
tons of ammn & / fight ws v.
willing / whole time. From 9 till
2 they were shelled pretty constantly.
Howe thinks now tt. Abdul didn't
try to push / attack there.  On /
left he attacked much more
heavily. On / right front he seemed
to come up to abt 500 yds.
The T.s came on in good formation up
to abt 300 - 500 yds away - but
didnt have a chance ahead of tt. There
ws too little cover & / the fire too heavy.
That night H. went down to /
aid post as his leg ws stiff. The
s/bs picked him up & sent him
to / beach.  Early next morning
(Ap. 28) be ws sent to the Seeang
Chun. She w several destroyers
& some cruisers went up / coast
to make demonstrations &
returned to Anzac 2 or 3 days
later.
on May 1 (Sat) they were shifted
 

 

72

to Mashobra. She was packed w
wd - lying everywhere - no
blankets in many cases - no
tucker. They were sent straight
to Alexandria. Howe managed to 
get some tea & bread & butter for
himself & a badly wd man next 
him.
In Alex they had a feed.
in / train from the Red X & ate
all / way up from Alex to Cairo.
Went into No 2 A.G.H at Gezireh
for 3 wks & got back to / Peninsula
on June 6 or 7 to find 3rd Bde
on / right where they afterwds
remained.
The first time they went out
after tt was as covering & digging
party for Silt Spur.
                        

Copy to ^end here
 

 

73

[Hand drawn diagram – see original]

 

Sat there for a while & other

troops of odd units

joined. 

Cd see men at X

of 12 Bn w heavy

shrap on them.

 

Then got into

trench at Z

in which there were 

Turks. They 

had to rush this

& Ts were shot &

bayoneted ( at 10
or 12 dead Ts in it)
(Their first scrap exc. on top of Plugges)

A gun at S

at once got

onto them

they got into 

the C T.s

They cd

see our

troops

moving at V.

Cd see Turks
at V on flats

while they were

firing at them others

came from A (971 directn).

Our men started to lose heavily from their rifle fire. They

started right to join our men at V. (this ws abt 5 pm) They

crossed the narrow pt o / gully, having suffered v. heavily (more dead

men than alive). As they got to J they cd here a lot of Turks calling out

and coming at abt Z. They wanted to see who they were. One
 

 

Turkish offr came & stood on skyline w a pair of
glasses 150yds away. Howe rested his rife on a
bush & dropped him. Then the two ducked across /
gully where it we narrower looking for / men at
V. Abt 5 were together o / pty now. They cdnt
find / men at V so they started back towds /
Nek. At / Nek at P they fell (before they knew it)
over 2 Auckld & 1 Canterbury m.g. within abt
10 yds radius - scratched in. Howe got beside
one. The sergt sd - "you are in a damned bad
place"  He asked  if he knew anything abt a gun.
He did. They were f By dusk there were abt 50
men at P & abt 60 digging in on
a straight line behind, mostly NZ. They
were doing nothing but / sergt told went over
to them & told them to dig in. All / fire
ws coming from Z. The

 

[Hand drawn diagram – see original]

Just after dark some one came up & took
/ men from K. X Word came tt they had
gone. At P the pty ws digging (abt 5 men
in a post, from one lip to / other in a
Semicircle. They had a good pozzy, many
wd. & lots of ammn. Abt 8 p.m.
the Ts came from / directn marked.
They were easily beaten - He was heard
 

 

long before he came Allah Mohammed.
& ws let approach & easily driven back.
They sent a note back signed by all for
reinforcements - no one ws near.
They sd / guide wd bring them. A
man came to say "Hang on at
all costs. Reifts are on their
way" They never came.
Then Turks were found coming at
them from / rear. They were thought to be
our own men till they started to yell.
They got right in amongst / pty & were
shot at close range. (none bayoneted)
Things got quiet. Thy had a discussion
& decided to clear back. They got abt
a dozen o / wd. & put them on
crossed rifles & then / rest picked up
m.g. belts & / guns - all / guns got
back on / tripods, not knowing how
to dismantle them. Going back 3 bodies
of Ts. caught them up from / Nek. They
were beaten off by stopping & getting / m. gs. going.
They The Ts started firing on these occasions.
They got back then into an old Turk
trench at / top of Rest Gully. The Ts sho came
up & started to dig in abt 150 yds away
PTO
 

 

4
but didnt attack. We kept on firing burst
of m.g. when it ws thought Ts wd attack.
Howe kept w / N.Z. Sergt all / time & an
11 Bn S./B.   Abt 4 am or before day light
an offr of staff came up & told them
to clear out as / fleet ws going to shell.
The trench broke into Rest Gully. They eased /
wd out & then slid out themselves.
Before they cleared / shells were into
/ place & got abt 4 or 5 men. They seemed
v. big. The bombt became very heavy on Walkers
Ridge.
(From / end of  tt trench a track
went straight to / Nek & it ws on
this tt Col. Clarke ws k. abt 1/3 o / way
from / Sphinx to / Nek . Howe picked up a
pack & found it ws his.) The trench 
When they for to Rest Gully they
went up / Zig Zag trench again & got
amongst their friends.
Abt S stuck together. The NZ Sergt
struck a major he knew. The major took roare
them him up. He explained where they
had bn. He ws taken to / Beach to explain
on a map - & it seemed to be to / N of
Fisherman's Hut.
 

 

Opened on
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(2160)  Wt. W5641-P653. 750,000 Bks. 4/18. B.M. & S. E2867

73 

1st Bn.
On 20 Sept. we had advd pties from 2
Bde to relieve - 6 Bn to relieve 1st Bn &

advce pties were with the Coys of 1st Bn.

abt 11 a.m. G.O.C. (Glasgow) ws up seeing

Mackay at Bde HQ when a message 

from Divn came up saying tt the

troops on left were attacking Quennemont

Fm next day & Corps had ordered 

1st Div to conform by taking certain

ground. This ws a gt surprise for

Glasgow. He set off for Divn but before

he went he showed Mackay what

1st Bde wd have to do - they wd

have to cancel / relief  - 2 Bde wd

not have known / country (it

ws clearly a job for Bde in /

line to do). He showed Mackay 

/ ground to be attacked. It ws a

matter for 2 Bns. G.O.C Divn sd 

/ relief wd be postponed 24 hrs

2nd & 1st Bns were the Bns most

suited for / attack because they were 

/ freshest - 1st were in / line & 2nd

out of it - Mackay asked tt / relief
 

 

74

by 6 Bn. shd go on but rest o /

relief postponed so tt 1st Bn

cd be brought out & moved to

/ left. 2nd Bn were already in

support & cd easily be moved

forwd without relief.

Mackay took arty Bde Commander

up to the 1st Bn HQ abt 1 pm &

met all C.Os of 1st Bde at the

"Egg." Mackay told them what

ws happening & unfolded / orders

verbally.

B.M. (at Bde H.Q.) rang up

& sd there had bn an alteration in

/ plans & they were to prepare

to do one of three different things -

(one the same attack - the others each

an attack by one Bn). So M'K had

to modify orders. It ws clear 2nd 

Bn might not be required. The

alternative orders were gn by M'K

to CO.s Telephone rang again

& they had / definite order tt only a 

certain piece of high ground had to