Charles E W Bean, Diaries, AWM38 3DRL 606/20/1 - November 1915 - Part 1

AWM38

Official History,
1914-18 War: Records of C E W Bean,
Official Historian.

Diaries and Notebooks

Item number: 3DRL606/20/1
Title: Diary, November 1915
Covers Lord Kitchener's visit and "The Anzac
Book" and includes sketches of Suvla, the Nek
and the Sphinx.

_{AWM38-3DRL606/2O/1}
 

Diary .2.
Nov 7 to 27   2.

Original       DIARY No. 20.

AWM 38   3 DRL 606 ITEM 20 [1]

DIARIES AND NOTES OF C. E. W. BEAN
CONCERNING THE WAR OF 1914- 1918

THE use of these diaries and notes is subject to conditions laid down in the terms
of gift to the Australian War Memorial. But, apart from those terms, I wish the
following circumstances and considerations to be brought to the notice of every
reader and writer who may use them.

These writings represent only what at the moment of making them I believed to be
true. The diaries were jotted down almost daily with the object of recording what
was then in the writer's mind. Often he wrote them when very tired and half asleep;
also, not infrequently, what he believed to be true was not so —but it does not
follow that he always discovered this, or remembered to correct the mistakes when
discovered. Indeed, he could not always remember that he had written them.

These records should, therefore, be used with great caution, as relating only what
their author, at the time of writing, believed. Further, he cannot, of course, vouch
for the accuracy of statements made to him by others and here recorded. But he
did try to ensure such accuracy by consulting, as far as possible, those who had
seen or otherwise taken part in the events. The constant falsity of second-hand
evidence (on which a large proportion of war stories are founded) was impressed
upon him by the second or third day of the Gallipoli campaign, notwithstanding that
those who passed on such stories usually themselves believed them to be true. All
second hand evidence herein should be read with this in mind.

16 Sept. 1946                C. E. W. BEAN

AUSTRALIAN WAR MEMORIAL
ACCESS STATUS
OPEN WITH
EXCEPTIONS
AUSTRALIAN WAR MEMORIAL
ACCESS STATUS
OPEN

Articles
(difficulty of)

Maj. Gen. (Tempy Lieut. Gen)
Sir Charles Carmichael Monro K C.B.
b. 1860 (55 yrs old) Commanded 2nd. Lond.
Divn at outbreak of war.

LT. Gen. Sir W.R. Birdwood, K.G.S.I.,
K.C.M.G. C.B., C.I.E., D.S.0.

Atrocities
(Turner)

M28.E58 (Dri 3)

Diary 20

New N^o 20

K of K

(DIARY 20)        DIARY .2 
Nov 7 to 27

Monday.
Nov 8^th, 1915. For the first time I am
beginning to feel it a little difficult to
keep up a supply of really good articles on
the matter available - it isnt that the matters
not there but I am getting a little tired, I expect.
Finished today the 56^th letter since the landing - & the
45^th wire yesterday

I am very glad to say tt there seems to
be some doubt as to whether Turner really
did kill tt German officer – He certainly
wanted to make me think he did - thought
I'd admire him for it, I suppose; but it
appears ∧tt / story as told both to Nevinson. & Lawrence
had a different ending. He told Lawrence tt they
were going toId / wounded German (when he
refused to give up his resolver, wh of
course he cd not be allowed to keep) - "take
your revolver - I'll take your life" or
something to tt effect. But their company
officer came up & told them they mustnt
kill men in cold blood. I suppose
Turner thought this ending wouldn't
suit me.

The War Office News announces tt
K. has come out to visit / Eastern
theatre of operations. Of course tt is
why Munro is in Egypt.

Balkan Situation
(Carson resigns)

Silencers

Australian Soldiers.

 2

Nov 9   

Nov 9^th - One year since the Emden. 
Lord Kitchener in Mudros today. Sir E.
Carson has resigned because he thinks the
xxxx situation in Gallipoli "cannot be
disassociated from tt in Serbia," & / Govt
does not lay down a clear definite policy
for it - wh means I suppose we are not
to be reinforced so as to go ahead, nor yet
to be withdrawn, so as to save our skins
& be useful elsewhere; but are to wait
& see.

If this Any corps is left here simply to
passively resist / Turks it is a waste
o / very best material the Empire possesses.
England has very few troops apparently
who are fit for an offensive - Maxwell
hears from a friend tt / forward move
in Flanders, as far as / British were
concerned, ended disastrously - & tt
Gen. Capper lost his life in trying to
rally a divn wh ws running away - 
"How have Kitcheners Army done?"
Lawrence & I asked. "Those were
Kitchener's army," he said. These
British people dont realise
what troops the Australians & N. Zealanders
are.

I had a curious instance of the
feeling of a refined man in battle
other day. We are now using a
lot of silencers - 10 per battation. Arthur

An Australian Soldier
(Tasmanian)

Sniping

3 
Nov. 9                                                              
Maxwell, one of the best shots in his             
regiment told me tt he wdn't use them
- doesn't seem a fair game, he sd.
The Turks have played square & I don't
think we shd do it - it seems mean in
a way. I told him I thought the
Turks used them too & anyway I
certainly didn't see any harm in it.

We were talking about the record
of Sing - with his 201 Turks killed.
"If he counts every one behind a
loophole," sd Arthur, "I wouldn't
believe it - we never reckon
them in at all unless - we count
nothing except what we can see over /
parapet unless he throws up his
rifle - I can only be sure of having
hit two men," he added "and I'm
not proud of that - its not a thing
to be proud of; a sorry matter at
best. It nearly broke poor old Duncan
up when he hit one man. It wdn't
have mattered so much if he ws
facing us & firing at us - you feel tt is
fair game. But he ws looking / other
way - we saw him just standing up
on / parapet w his elbows on / sandbags

Cooks

Staf

4
Nov 9         
looking down / valley - just looking    
& doing nothing. Duncan fired &
he fell - & Duncan didn't get over
it for days. He didnt say much
but I cd see he he ws worry taking
it very much to heart .... Oh
yes. - I think it must have killed
him for he fell w his face on
/ parapet & his arms spread
out. He raised his head once or
twice meaninglessly & slid backwds
into / trench with the movement -
I think he was killed."

I see a very diferent
human emotion almost every day
at Anzac - wh shows how petty
even / best & cleverest men can
be. Greenhill, the cook at our
mens' mess at Divn H.Q. is a
very mediocre cook, & a lazy one.
at that - he does not put himself out
in / least to make things pleasant
for his mess - to bake them / little
tit bits & extras wh every decent
cook does for his men. At Mena he
used to use up pretty well / whole of

5
Nov 9         
their meat ration at one meal because   
he ws too lazy to cook ∧it for two meals.
He is very uncivil & unobliging w /
men & then they get riled at him
& call him a "bloody surly bastard!" or
something equally descriptive - &
he (being a corporal) runs them up
before Colonel Foote & gets them
punished. I have seen it a Mena
where I was in shared Fosters room
when he ws Camp Commandant
I so I know him of old - & so did
Foster. Foster is making the 2nd
L.H. Bde now, & Smith is in
charge of our camp, & Col. Foote
is Camp Commandant. The same
things go one, exactly. But Greenhill
is as cunning as a rat. He
brings Col. Foote & / other senior
officers tea every morning - & he
(its not his business & it is the mens
water to he uses) gets them afternoon
tea. He comes in smiling like a cherub
- always a cheery word for every officer
- & they think him a grand little man.
He has the whole lot of them fairly

The Australian

6
Nov 9  
by the leg - even old Milner who          
I shd think is a good judge of men.
And they wdn't hear of his dismissal
on any account. They honestly think
him quite a valuable man!

And yet old Hannam,
the son of a Sydney manufacturer
& a station-manager himself,
who ws batman to O'Gorman,
had the greatest contempt for
Greenhill. "He boasts of having scabbed,
been a blackleg," Hannam sd
"that's ∧what they call in Australia a man means that is 
xxxx a non-unionist &
works against his mates when
they xxxx ∧go on strike - & he boasts
of it! I reckon a man tt
'll do tt 'll do anything!"

Those a pretty quaint sentiments
for a station manager & son of
a manufacturer; but many
young Australians of tt class
agree w them. I know no other
country where there is any
sentiment resembling this amongst
/ employing class but in our younger
generation it is not uncommon.

[Diagram - see original scan]

Despair

Royal Scotsman

A Fighting : Nov. 10.
Anzac rt.
Light Horse

Sea

7
Wed.  Nov 10    
Nov 10  Back at Anzac
The little scheme for taking tt ∧old T. trench
on / rt came off well.

The War Office sent out a warning tt
gas ws likely to be used in Gallipoli.

The Turks threw over a packet of
cigarettes at Quinns "for a very
well respected ememy."

The follg. is an a/c of the affair
on the right.
3^rd Nov. Noticed enemy digging commn
trench from Bird Trenches to
dead grd in front of Chathams to
seize knoll 120 yds S.

This wd enfilade Holly Spur & Silt
Spur. Orders therefore issued to 5 L.H.
to seize knoll tt night & throw back
commn trench on seaward slope.

Turkish action had bn anticipated.
Tunnel 205 ^ft long had bn run out
Arrangements quickly pushed on.

8 pm Covering pty of 5 L.H. moved
out folld by works pty. Got into old
Turk trench near rt arm of tunnel.

Barricaded S. end; deepened; connectn,

8
Nov 10         
wire laid; Arty stood by. Ryries                              
Post sniped more than usual, mgs played
on commn trenches. N interference.

Nov 4 Abt 11 am enemy realised move,
shelled positn. Enemy started sniping
& had big parties working on Commn
trenches. These we sniped & maximed.
5" hows in aftn. shelled Bird Trenches.

Night Enemy made 4 attacks, each
one repulsed. Erected barricades
at 20 yds & 70 yds.
9^th Batty & 5" Hows shelled
S end of Harris ridge & 3
catapults put bombs into Despair
wks & silenced firing line there.

Nov. 5^th Day quiet. 200 inf. ∧sent as a reserve
5 Tunnel fire pits opened this night
Destroyer assisted excellently at night.

Nov. 6. Quiet day. Enemy shelled day & night.
Enemy bombed from Bomb mortar
at night, ws working all time

Nov. 7  17^th Siege Btty shelled Bird