Charles E W Bean, Diaries, AWM38 3DRL 606/2/1 - January - March 1915 - Part 7

February 6.   59. 
rubbishy that has first arrivals on the canal.  
They made an attempt to cross below Timsah 
on the night of Feb. 2nd 3rd & alter & kept 
up a sort of fight until the afternoon of the 
3rd; at the same time they tried to entrench 
just N. of the lake opposite Ismailia, & 
twice (on the 3rd) attacked Kantara.  Were 
they trying to keep us occup send us all rushing off to
the S. of L. Tinisah whilst they entrenched
got themselves established in trenches at 
Ismailia ? or was it a serious attempt 
to cross ? or was it merely a reconnaissance ?  
They can hardly need to reconnoitre in this 
expensive fashion if they have aeroplanes 
coming along.  However xx it is possible they want to 
find out the sort of fire that can be developed 
from our trenches, & where those trenches are, 
& are sending along these wretched 
Syrians & Arabs to test it.  They have so 
far left 400 killed, 600 prisoners; & probably 
have had from 1500 to 2000 wounded - the loss 
at any rate is estimated by the Press Bureau 
at 3000.  Ours is abt 150.  They have been falling 
into the hands of our patrols like sheep - On the

February 6   60.
4^th, for example, our "patrols" (who I expect
are the Imperial Service Cavalry) fell in with
200 men & also 90 camels, ammunition, stores,
& 3 machine guns - & all surrendered. 
Whilst all this has been going on the
Since the arrival of a Turkish force off
the Canal I seem to have noticed a change
in the attitude of the people here.  As one
walks through the streets remarks are
made behind ones back which one cant
understand - but I think they are probably
cheeky. There is a perceptible insolence in
the manner of some of the inhabitants. In Cairo, in
the one of the picture parlo shows the other day, there 
were shown view films of all the nations at
war. The audience sat glumly through the
view pictures of French & Russian troops;
when it came to the Germans they cheered. 
The Kaisers portrait was cheered & that of
the King of England hissed. Some of our officers
& military police were there, & there was 
a bit of a row over it. 
The Egyptian fellah doesn't care
who is over him - he has been a slave for 5000

February 6.  January 20.   61.
years & he doesn't want to be anything else.
It makes no difference to him that the British
have freed him; but he wouldn't rise against
them, I think, simply because he's indifferent
The trashy town crowd on the other hand is
apt to rise to a head like boiling milk. 
Instances in the past have been shown that a
couple of hours is enough to raise them.
A handful of soldiers will suppress them
but in the meantime they have _^ probably boiled
over & cut the throats of a lot of
Christians - Syrians, Greeks, Italians
chiefly, because, they are most numerous.
Well about Jan 20^th I was allotted a horse. We are 
buying a certain number of Arabs
in order to bring the Division right up to its
proper strength; 1700 horses arrive with
the "second lot", but they wont be fit for
work for weeks. So Lieut. Smith
(who was a police roughrider in Victoria) &
Capt De Bucy (who was in an English
Lancer Regt.) & Maj. Matson, Assistant
Director of Veterinary Services, were

January 20.   62.
constituted a board to buy some. They
went down to Kasr-En-Nil Barracks &
there, _^ almost every day, met a crowd of wild looking
raggamuffins with small arab horses of all
shapes sizes & conditions. The arab wd come 
up, tell a few voluble lies about his property,
jump on it & go like the wind across
the parade ground (they always thought, for
some reason, you wanted to see _^ how fast the beast 
could gallop) dismounted & told more lies, 
went away shaking his head at an offer of
£20 to £25 & presently returned & accepted it. 
These officers know a horse & consequently some
very pretty little beasts have been gradually 
filling the stables & there are a few in xx most
of the infantry horse lines. Only they are all
stallions & the consequence is they are very
restless; always wanting to fight other horses
& generally a nuisance. It was therefore
decided to operate on them all - &
this is being done. My little chap, being
very young, has stood it splendidly.
He's a beautiful little grey, only three
years old, a pocket edition of a horse.

January 20   63.
Two of the first three times _^ that I rode him, I
being a very inexperienced bad rider, he
was inclined to take charge, & bolted 
with me three or four times. I very
nearly came off on several occasions.
But I got to know him better afterwards.
Bazley grooms him and takes him quietly to water. 
the first second time I rode him
Just after I had got him we went
for a 10 mile route march in order to see
that the Headquarters was ready to move. 
One third of the Division (A third of the
artillery, the first Infantry brigade, and various
oth details) marched out of camp at
9 with every baggage waggon packed, & the
horses properly loaded, exactly as if 
we were ordered off to the Canal. The route
march was along the road to Cairo for some 
miles; then along the road - a sort of mud
embankment across the plain - to the
left through two villages & back
onto the desert; dinner there - &
back to camp along the edge of the
desert. During lunch which we had
on a stretch of green grass, for a wonder, 
under some palm trees, the Headquarters

January 20.   31   64.
staff issued an order & had it distributed
through signallers - despatch riders. It was 
The march was well carried out - the
only thing being that the artillery started 4
minutes late owing to Col. Hobbs' watch
being wrong (which shows how important
official time is); & that when the infantry 
struck the soft road after leaving the Pyramid
road they lost step & were apt to straggle.
The result was a big gap between the
infantry & the piece part of the column ahead
of them. 
The other portion two thirds of the
Division went out on other days & the
staff published _^ in orders afterwds its comments on their
marching. On the whole there was little
fault to find. The improvement in the 
men is noticeable - & never more noticeable
than when the "second lot" arrived. 
Just after the Turks turned up on the 
Canal our "second lot" were due to reach
Egypt - a new Infantry brigade, the 4^th,
with the 13^th 14^th 15^th & 16^th battalions of
infantry; a Light Horse Brigade, the 2^nd, with

January 31.   65.
the 5^th, 6^th, & 7^th Light Horse. And about
3000 reinforcements - 10,000 in all. We have
heard that they are a fine big lot, mostly
country men owing to the new method of
selection by which a man can be selected
in the back blocks by the police without
coming to Sydney or Melbourne or the other
capitals to try his luck. The xxxx
system is so obvious that I wonder it
wasn't tried at first. We hear the 2nd lot
has a big proportion of these men, & letters
have been received that they painted
Colombo red. A hundred or so of them got
ashore without leave, & made a name for 
Australia in Colombo. (Some officers in the force
since they have arrived tell me the thing was 
exaggerated; others say it was not).
When Nobody in our force at Mena seemed quite
to know when they were coming.  The 
Divisional staff here is not concerned with
them because they dont belong to the _^ 1^st Division.
The will mostly be under Godley in the 2nd Divn.
The reinforcements come up to the Base
until they are actually sent in to join their

January 31   66
units & so they come under Col. Sellheim
who has now been made officer commanding
the Australian section base depot which 
has been found established in Cairo. He has an 
office in the city there, & he is the
only officer really concerned with troops
coming along the lines of communication
as reinforcements. 
It struck me that it would be
a good thing to get leave to go down
& join see these new arrivals at Port
Said. Very likely they might actually
have trouble in the Canal, &, if
so, one would hear of it - possibly
even see it. So about the time when
they were due of at Port Said I
asked Col. White if it wd be possible
to arrange this. He said he thought 
it was a good idea & he would
see if it could be arranged. The next 
It was at dinner down in the mess 
of Jocks battalion, the 3^rd, that I asked 
him. Ge The battalion was having Gen. Birdwood, 
Gen. Bridges & their staffs in to dinner & asked

January 31   67
I got an invitation from them also. The
dinner was very nicely done in their
ragged old mess tent - the cooking was
good, the waiters smart in their black & 
red Turkish costume uniform livery, & the
music was good also - the band of the 3rd
is one of the best we have. I asked Col.
White after dinner & he sd he wd try
ring up the Maj. Broadbent (who I fancy
was looking after the disembarcation)
next day. 
Next day he told me that it rang up and
was told that the convoy had already
reached alexandria - at least it
was disembarking there that day! It 
was too late for Port Said. 
I started at once for Port 
Said. Peter Schuler, who had heard
the same news from Col. Sellheim
went was going down by the same train. We got
to Alexandria about 10 and drove to the
Hotel Majestic. There was no crowd of
officers there - it is generally a
sort of mess for people with all sorts

January 31.   68
of duties when the ships get to Alexandria;
but we cd see no _^ Australian officers. The manager had
a sort of vague notion some transports ships had
arrived that afternoon. So Peter & I
went off in a cab to the harbour to
see - & after a long search round
the wharfs came home with convinced
the transports had not arrived. When
we got back to the Hotel we found
this to be true - some of the an embarcation
officers whom we I knew xx was there
& he told us the ships were at
Port Said & were not expected till
the next day. As a matter of fact
I believe they had been stopped for
a night at Ismailia on their way 
through the Canal.
I have told of their arrival
in an article & wont repeat it here. 
They came in next day after lunch.
The first thing that on ship we saw was the
Themistocles & the first incident we saw
as we stood on the wharf was the
ships police runng running down the