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

[Diagram- see original scan]

[The lettering in 
This does not correspond
with that in the text - wh
ws evidently written by
me to another map.
Holmes took me up
to this place & also beyond
the advanced post in Monash
Gully (Hinton's)]
Some days We afterwards ^we settled this mess by blowing a
500lb. charge in our low level beneath it.

19

Nov 11 
& / working party withdrawn at abt
3 pm. The Bdier ws along at 5 pm &
saw / place himself (Holmes is a ^really good man
in this way). There was a new bn in
there, the 26^th - & the 20^th had bn
helping them learn / trenches for a couple
of days, but tonight the 26th ws to
take over full responsibility. Only
Sergt Brennan ws left w a party of
bombthrowers from the 20^th. The Col. of 26^th
told Holmes his ^bn cd accept full responsibility
now - sd so most definitely. The
place ws therefore left to them.
They put in 2 sentries - but somehow
or another / sentries, betw 5 pm & 9 pm
came back down / tunnel a long
distance. There were to be frequent reliefs
(in case of an explosion by / Turks).
They had a barricade in front of them
so they were safe, presumably, from
bombs.  Bu
But they retired ^or were recalled. And sometime
after a Turk ws found in / tunnel.
There ws constant firing & flashes.
Turk ws at B & sentries at D, both
firing. T. must have been a brave man.
An officer who put his head round /
corner had his scalp touched by a bullet.
The Col. ws called but no message sent to
Bde - & at 1 a.m. it seems to have bn

Later; A few more details of this attack
show it a little different.
When / Engineers (5 Co) dug through they
reported it to Lt. Small & he went in. He g Two
sentries were posted (A) with sandbag & mullock
cover almost to eyes - & they reported tt a
light had come along to investigate / hole.
Small came along - no light there then. After
he went away a second light ws reported
He thought he saw / flicker of it. He sat in
corner at B. Enemy began shooting w revolver
thro hole at C into / wall A C. Small graded /
mullock down so tt a bomb if thrown by us
ought to roll down into / hole. (The passage
ws clearly ^part of their "envelope".) Later on the guard
had retired to E. Why, he does not know, unless
they were scared. He came up on / report tt /
Turks were in / tunnel - had got our tunnel!
He put There ws a lot of firing going on. He put his
head round / corner F and ws at once hit by
a something on / head (I saw / scar) & on / chest
- possibly a piece of debris from a bomb thrown
in at / barricade at D, wh ws open - as being night.
Lots of firing was going on. They had not yet

built / barricade at F. This ws built later
& shoved forward by stages - The Ts were still in
/ tunnel when / barricade ws moved past D.
By next morning when / firing had ceased the hole
at C ws still only 5 inches across - bagged up
by the Turks this time (instead of by us w a loose bag as
before). There were marks of firing on / wall A C &
at / end at A, & any number of shots in the
stretch F X all from our side; none on /
wall Z or on / Turkish side o / tunnel timbers -
an almost absolute proof tt / Turks were all / time
firing though the hole at C - first with a revolver - afterwards
with a rifle for the click o / bolt ws heard.

20 

Nov 11
decided tt nothing more cd be done till
morning. A barricade had bn put up at
C. Bde At 3 a.m. a message came
down to / Bde. & Wisdom (Bde Maj.)
went up at once. He found no officer
there at all. He had to turn / Colonel out
of bed (w a Turk in ^one of his most important
saps his first responsible night there!)
The barricade ws behind / light (wh came
in at E) - & / light wd make advance
impossible; they were waiting for it!
Wisdom told them tt / sap barricade must be moved
up at once to B. They did this by
throwing / bags forward - & the barricade
ws rebuilt at B. Then Wisdom left
them.
Gen Holmes rang up in / morning
to know if things were all xxx right
again & / matter thoro'ly cleared up.
The answer ws definite - tt everything ws
now all right again. So Holmes went to
2nd D.H.Q. Later he went up to / spot &
found , instead of things being alright, tt
/ xxxx barricade was still at B & /
rest o / sap still abandoned. He gave
imd. orders tt / sap must be won back
by moving / bags forwd. They found tt
there were heaps of mullock scraped
up agst / back o / bags - possibly /
Turks' barricade. By / afternoon / sap
ws all ours & / Turks were out of it. They 

Mines (Quinns)

(300 lbs)

Salonica

Disaster at Anzac →

21
Nov 11
had not blown us, for some reason -
possibly bec. they were scared after our
previous days blow. We put in 60 lbs
of guncotton at 11 pm yesty & must
have blown out the Turks.
One of our deep mines under /
bombproof at Quinns is, unfortunately
being approached by two Turk mines

[[Diagram - see original scan]]
& they can be heard
tapping. One is
within 6 ft &
will probly break 
in. This is a
pity as / mine wd have bn useful.
300 lbs ^guncotton are to be put in, however, & it
is to go up at once.
----
Where is that Russian Force - that
is / really interesting matter for us now.
Four Russian naval officers were down
here two months ago looking around.
Are they too trying a landing, at Varna?
or will they push thro' Roumania

----
The French have 4 divns in Salonica &
we 3 (?) or 2(?) We are sd to be sending 8. Some
are withdrawn from France.
Turks sd to have 5 divns in Bulgaria.
Howse tells me we may be sending
20 Divns (?) He wishes we were there so
do I but shd not like to leave Tommies to any ⇡
 

[[Sketches - see original scan]]
Col Clarke & 12 Bn went first up ∧knoll A then down ∧into valley B then ∧up crest C (as far as I know)

Turk [shorthand symbols]

Graves on foothills

K.

French guns

The Real Position

Anzac

Youth (Brigadier)
             (Lucas)

Deeds (K.O.S.B.)

23
Nov. 12.
Germany's & finance - was a luxury - Piling up debt to
Self increasing W - neednt pay - wd make
[shorthand]
Censorship Syd. Sun [shorthand]
Subm. 60 [shorthand] 496 32 boats 6 pdr gun
feeling not all way - one came up w mine on [shorthand]
Labour Bn L of C [shorthand]

Our Divn & Naval [shorthand] got its own boat @40 

Foote & Arragon - Transpt etc.
K. looking well - Push up hill.  Not breathless
Great red cap - [symbols] C Knox      "
Spontaneous [symbols]
[*Arrumba.*]  Nats - Turkey

Howse & Cex
-----
Nov 12^th.
While waiting for / trawler at Imbros / other
day I noticed a young staff officer w
magnificent broad shoulders & fine open
face - with a general's crossed swords on his shoulders. He was going to Helles - & I
was told he ws Brig. Gen Lucas commanding
the 87th Bde (29th Divn). He cant have
been more than 40 if that - possibly 35
and he is exactly / stamp of man for a brigadier.
He told another officer of ∧an adventure a case (in his
Bde) ^tt occurred two days before of a man in a
Scottish Regt (K.O.S.Bs or Border Regt?) who
had his wife & 2 children sunk in /
Lusitania. He jumped out o / trenches
in / early morning & walked across to /
Turkish trench & got in on top of the
Ts. all having their breakfast or otherwise
engaged. They were too slow to shoot him.

xx
Mine (Nov 13)
(Russells_

24
Nov 12-13
He shot three; one came at him from 
behind & he bayoneted him. He then
seemed to have decided tt he cdnt be
meant to die  & so began to get out.
In doing so he had a rough & tumble
w two more Ts. & killed them. & somehow
despatched a third. He ^ws then ^getting out o /
trench. He walked to his own trench -
the Turks firing wildly at him & exposing 
themselves so tt four more are sd to
have bn shot by the Scotsmen who
were covering his retreat for all they
were worth. He ws then run in.
They cant well punish him, but I dont
think he'll get a V.C., because soldiers
are not in order in getting out of trenches
and killing attacking Turks unless they are told to
do so.
Nov. 13^th. On Russells Top (or Walkers Top - same 
thing) we blew in H 1 (i.e. [shorthand]) last night
where we blew / other day, & shall probably
blow H.4 tonight. We are into the
Turkish envelope & the engineers say
tt if / officers of the new battalion up
there (26^th) had bn / least bit enterprising
we shd have had the Turkish envelope
- this part of it - captured. The officers of 
the 20^th who were there did what they
could themselves, without men, to 
get our sandbag barricades up. But
no officer of the 26th seems to have bn present
altho' - this is in their territory. I haven't heard

Censor

Hosp -s 

[[?Seawals]]

25
Nov 13
the 26th's version. Its a new bn - has
bn doing fatigues on / beach all / time.
The Sydney Sun - so Lowrie tells me -
published a map by some chap in
Heliopolis, giving the Australian position
at Anzac, with place names. The objection
to the publication of details of the
periscope rifle doesn't seem very strong
(tho' we understand it was to be kept
a secret); for Birdwood wrote a letter
to Munro Ferguson describing it, &
Ferguson let it be published in / Australian
papers.
Lowrie is over here w No 1 Australian
Stationary Hosp. wh came over last week
He tells me tt the misfortunes of the No 3 Gen
Hospital were by no means peculiar to it,
and he doesn't think they were xx used so
very badly after all. All hospitals were
trying to get / same sort of equipment at
/ same time; but No 3 had a rather

unenterprising quartermaster who (so 
Lowrie says) didn't get their stuff for them
quickly eno' in / old country, & did
not push eno' for gear it in Lembros when
they arrived without their own. Fiaschi
had an idea tt / officers and nurses o / hospital
expected too much in war time - so he 
had Sir A. MacCormick sleeping on / bare
ground (marched him up in line, too, so
they say) & / nurses without furniture in 
their tents the first night or two. The
Arragon people were not altogether 
responsible, Lowrie says. Some Australian
addressed ∧a letter to / hospital as Sir A M'C - 
No 3 Australn Genl. Fiascho, Mudros, Lemnos, Chaos.
 

Navy

Submarines
One o the L destroyers ran aground
/ other day at Suvla (they have 3 -
4 in guns)

26
Nov 13
Col. Fiaschi & a couple of other officers brought
their wives over w them - but as nurses, but
/ wives were sent back. This is partly gossip,
but the grain in it is that there are
two sides to the hospital question & possibly
even to the Arragon.
The Stationary Hospt^l. entertained
Holbrook & Boyle, Rosy Wemyss & others.
Lowrie tells me tt either Holb. or Boyle
told him tt / worst time he had ws when
on rising to / surface he found there ws
a mine on / bows of his submarine.
He sank to get rid of it but cdnt. Sank
again & came up - still there - sank again -

still there. Finally he had to come right
up & push the thing off.
They say we have lost abt 5 boats in
there. They still go, tho we have heard
nothing of them for a long time. The last
one returned / other day after 49
days in wh she sank 32 small ships
- the Ts carry all their ammn ^& stores in
small ships now - sailing boats mostly. The
submarines they have one small xxx  6 pdr guns
& they now sail crammed up to / skin w
food and ammunition - crammed
ready to bust, as Australians say. They
Turks patrol for them regularly used only
for used to chase schooners when they had
only one rifle aboard & / schooner cd
almost have defied them w a shotgun.
But they bombard troops & arsenals
now w their squirts little solitary squirt

Navy (cont)

pron. Kaieek

27

Nov 13
The Turks patrol more than ever they
did, but our chaps have x ceased to
trouble abt their patrols. We simply
lead them a dance now.
One chap had to sink 60 ft below /
depth for wh his boat ws built, / other
day, in order to get under / net. He sank
& sank & found it still in front of his
nose.
They called for volunteers for submarine
service from among / midshipmen on / station
/ other day - & every midshipman
volunteered!
That is / sort of enterprise in wh
/ Navy is proud. Where it fails is in staff work.
Exc. for a short period spent by a few men
on / staff at / admty they have no
business training at all. This is a hopeless
fault wh they will have to remedy. The transport
arrangements (except those ^orig efforts, such as our
original landing, wh are carried out
w / whole cooperation o / Army) are
hopelessly unsystematic. The Au 1st
Australn Divn when resting at Mudros
sometimes could not get its mail delivered
across / harbour for 5 or 6 days because / navy
could not spare it a boat. The divn. took
matters into its own hands & chartered its
own xxx "caique" for £40 a month to go wherever
& do whatever it wanted. (Sometimes those
mails in Mudros were delivered after /
mails in Gallipoli). The fault ws not altogether
tt o / Navy - / Navy has only a limited number
of steam boats. Why was not this all thought
out - when Britain ws clearly likely to undertake

G.H.Q.

Col. Foote "runs amok" sees red
28
Nov 13
a big naval landing expeditn - why
was not / necessary small fry thought of
& provided for; & / right type of landing
boats - they might have saved thousands
hundreds of lives - & / necessary
water barges, condensers, water pumps
etc. & / Medical transport system. If it
ws / people who didnt ask for / money, or
/ people who refused it when asked for -
put / responsibility back on / right
shoulders.
Col. Foote / other day going back,
worn out, with wounded & worn out
soldiers found himself in command of
ship troops on / ship. He was feeling done
up; & from first to last he met obstruction.
So he just laid round him. To begin with, at
Mudros the Arragon people wanted him to
land his troops into a camp to wait abt six
days for a ship & to march them about
six miles there: "Oh no I wont," he sd,
"
Then when they were being disembarked onto
a lighter he called / ship's officer. "Put down a
mat over tt wet iron deck" he sd -
"I'm not going to have these men breaking
their legs." The officer looked at him "But -"
he began. "Put down a mat on tt
deck!! "But ... " "Damn it, put down a
mat I tell you -" & / man did. They
got to Alex & had to be loaded off onto / pier.