Charles E W Bean, Diaries, AWM38 3DRL 606/20/1 - November 1915 - Part 5

K o / K (Cont)

39
Nov 13
wanted impressed on him. [The
1^st Divn is now arranging for its
own canteen from a certain "Maimaraki"
a Greek.]

Howse tackled him on three things
- canteen; potatoes; & / need for
a few further honours to / men o /
A.D.M.C. "I mean with Beeston
C.M.G. & Beck the same / thing
becomes a farce, "^Howse sd to me," if you
don't give some of these young chaps
like Tebbutt & Aspinall something.
Brennan & Thompson ought to
have a Military Cross (I'm blest
if I know why my old brother Jack
oughtn't to if they do - for he did
quite as brave work & in a perfect
manner, so they tell me). It means
tt I, who have done nothing, am
/ only one in this divn who gets
any recognitn."

Howse told K. he'd have to ask
^Australia for 100 more Drs in the spring &
100 more in June & tt he cdn't
be expected to get them unless
some recognition were granted.
"Humph - dont you think they'll

K of K
(Cont) 
(Hosp)

40
Nov 13
come?' sd K.

"I do," sd Howse - "far more
of them have come than o / English
doctors" - they've done far more"

"Oh" sd K.

"Yes, they've done far more," sd Howse
"Don't you think the've had
enough recognition?"

"Yes," sd H." because, of course, if
you gave them all their deserts they'd
all have to be decorated - you
couldn't distinguish. They have all
done such outstanding good work
these young Australian doctors.
But I ask you to give a few
recognitions amongst / various
states as an encouragement."

K. sd nothing then. But as
he ws leaving he shook hands
w Howse White & / rest - & said
to Howse "Well Howse, I
think I can promise you your
potatoes & your canteen. And
we'll see abt the your men."

I dont think Howse has
got his appointment in Egypt (wh
wd mean General, & D.M.S). Featherstone
has asked him to meet him there on
Friday - wh probly possibly means tt he wants
to consult him, only. But H. has

 K of K.
(Howse)

41
Nov 13
probably made an impression on
Kitchener. He's a deep old bird -
very different from White. White wont
push himself but is so patently good brilliant 
& so popular tt fortunately others have
recognised his ability. Howse is a
very able & I think a strong man -
but intensely ambitious & he is determined
to keep in w those who can help him.
He made it a point always to sit
by Bridges when White made it a
point sometimes to come down & sit
by us. Howse made a friend of
Birdwood - & yesty (now tt Birdwood
is away, possibly finally, & Godley in
charge here) I noticed tt on / beach
H. went straight up to Godley & ws in
his company all / time - altho' I
dont think Godley is a man he really
likes or whose ability he admires.
I have seen H. plan his way - not
obviously but none / less, deliberately
- from a passenger on / Orvieto, to
unconnected w / Expeditn, up to
D.D.M.S. of the Army Corps. He is
certainly aiming at D.M.S
of the A.I.F.- & Surgeon Genl - & I don't
know how much higher; either maybe a
permanent billet in / Defence. Dept.

K of K
(Cont)
Anzac Magazine

42
Nov 13
or in Gt. Britain – or possibly just /
positn for this war.
K. left the Maxwell seeing one
of our men making some stew of bully
beef asked: "Aren't the fowls laying?''
The man looked up quite unabashed -
"No" he sd "but I'll tell you what - you
might send us a turkey for Xmas."
Maxwell laughed - our men are pretty
ready w their answers.

K. left the beach at 3.30 or 3.45
- two hours or, at most, 2½ hrs after
landing. In tt ltime he had seen
almost every impt. officer & taken a
good grasp o / position.
_____
Yesterday Butler, of Intelligence,
came up to me & told me tt he &
Woods had bn thinking tt we
ought to get out an Anzac
Annual. There ws eno'
talent in / Army Corps to turn out
something really first class - on /
lines say of Printers' Pic. It might be
a really valuable memento in future
years.

In / afternoon we had a ctee
mtg - White, Butler, Woods & myself.
all who have bn spoken to approve.

Anzac Magazine
(Cont)
Navy -(the
Arumba.)
(Piers)
Really the
"Aruba"

43

Nov. 13
We decided to have a certain number
of competitions for cover design,
best story & so on - abt £24 in all;
& to invite all contributns by December
& have it printed in Athens. It
will have to be New Year & will
probably be late at that - wh can't
be helped. But

The price will probly be betw. 2/6 &
5/- and [ if we order 5000 4000 at
5/- that is £1000 /, so its a big
affair for a small ctee - and it
will probly run to 40,000 at least].
The name Anzac Annual
ws discarded as too suggestive.
It is to be the Anzac Magazine.

——
Received Mothers' & Fathers'
parcels - will open them on my
birthday.
——
The mails will probly be
irregular tho' we have done well
of late. I wish they had sunk
the old Arumba here (the dummy
Inflexible,) as Gen. Williams R.E. wanted
them to do. She has bn turned into

Navy (Piers)

44
Nov 13
a breakwater at Imbros.
Our breakwater here (the ancient
steamer Milo wh I knew to be a
bk-water / moment I saw her
in Imbros) is all out by herself,
not long eno for a good breakwater but
a wonderful help never the less.
One ole An old timber ship ws sunk
by / Turks not far away ^from / Milo & someone
suggested tt if she were filled w stones
shed make a good breakwater,
but / water solved / problem by
breaking her first. Then / Arumba
ws to be sunk outside / Milo &
wd have made a beautiful
long bkwater. But now they've sunk
her in Imbros they purpose
only filling in / space between /
Milo & / land - a paltry little
piece, - w a smaller ship.

Meanwhile / Engineers are going
on driving piles in at the Anzac
pier (Watsons) wh they don't
intend to protect & wh will go to
pieces at / first storm. "Its breakwaters
we want - not piers," sd Gen. Lesslie

Russians Expn
German Finance

45
Nov 13 - 14.
to me - & I must say I can't
understand why they have not
had / sense to see tt from /
beginning. You can land goods at a
behind a breakwater without a
pier; but you cannot xxx land things
at a pier xxxxxxx without / break
water at any rate in winter; & indeed
you cant have  preserve a pier without /
bkwater.
—————
No new yet of the Russians. Our
peculiar interest in it of course is tt
if / Russians get thro' / Turks will
get no shells to blow our beaches up
(within easy distance of this dugout those
shells); whereas if  / Russians don't
get thro / shells will - & that the fate of
our expeditn is on / cards.

Unless - possibly - a rumour
published in War Office News is some news
o tt expeditn - The News a wk ago sd:
The Turks report tt a great sea battle is
taking place in / Black Sea. The
news gave no result, no comment.
What does it mean? Possibly nothing
in it.

Nov. 14. Sunday.
Last night Hasty in
a talk sometime about midnight
mentioned that he thought Germany

German Finances
Nov 14^th. This day at 1 p.m. No 1 gun of
6^th Batty firing from Browne's Dip demolished
the 3rd sandbag sangar on the right & partly
demolished second sangar. They fired from
Vowles old 2 gun positn X The 8^th Batty &
[Diagram] 5" Hows of 69^th Bde
covered him. The place
he fired from is protected
only by a sandbag
parapet on its left & /
gun is actually visible from almost all
round. The gun ws laid direct thro' /
telescope. He cd just see / top o / parapet
over / top of Ryries post trenches. The Bty
comdr ws in No 6 post C. Sqn. 6 L.H. w shells
just clearing his head & directing / deflexion
(Stevenson). 8 roun They waited for the Hows. to
fire one round & then fired over them the gun -
8 rounds of shrap. first, for range - then HE.
The first H.E. shell penetrated the work ab its centre;
They then fired another 10 & completely demolished the
work. The turned onto similar work to NW
& 40 yds closer 12 or 15 rds first at this. Then
gtly damaged 10 rds onto barricade of black
bags to left front of first work & gtly damaged.
Ceased fire at 13 22 (i.e. after 16 mins) as being shelled
with by H.E. from Wine Glass & Olive G. Prob. at least
100 rounds first at gun by these batteries - 2
severely wd 2 slightly. Fired 40 rds altogether
Lt A W Dodd, acted No.1  ^Tempy Sergt Croft C.W. ran gun out 2 yds
when two H E  shell landed in pit

46
Nov 14
must be worn out financially before
we are. I thought so once - but I'm
blest if I think so now. The war
has proved tt Germany can practically
support herself - She can scrape along on
her own foodstuffs & what she gets from
Roumania; & I suppose she is undertaking
this expeditn thro Servia largely
in order to open up another part o /
world to herself - Servia, Asiatic Turkey,
possibly even Persia.

What makes When is a nation bankrupt -
when does she become so? When she cannot
pay her debts. Of course if Germany
has foreign debts she must sooner or
later (probably sooner) pay them in gold
because foreign nations insist
on being paid & paid must be paid in
gold - they wont take your mere
promise (on paper) to pay them gold
someday (or on demand); that is what
paper money is - & foreign countries
wont take it bec. they if you cant
pay them gold now it is a sign to /
world to you maynt be able to
pay it later & they want something
wh / world will accept whenever
they want to trade with it - & tt is
gold (or diamonds or goods etc wh
Germany isn't exporting). Therefore.
you buy your war supplies

Germ. Finance

47
Nov 14
abroad, in this war, you must
pay for them in Gold; & as you are
producing nothing for / world, & getting
no gold from it, your gold
supply will always be going out &
never coming in & someday a
limit will be found to it.

But neither England nor Germany
is in that positn. Germany is
buying practically nothing from
outside & therefore is not getting
indebted to foreign nations (to any
extent). She did want things ∧raw materials from
abroad at / beginning o / war bec. she
cd not make ammunition without
them - cotton, glycerine, I suppose,
copper & other things. But her chemists
have set to work & found substitutes
for some of those things amongst /
materials wh she cd get from
inside. And so she does not have
to go abroad for them to a great
extent, & will may go abroad for less as
time goes on.

What she does is to get those
things from her own people - & her allies.
She Germ is piling up her indebtedness
to them sure eno'. She gives them

Germ. Finance

48
Nov 14
promises-to-pay; and when she wants
to get more out of them she borrows
promises-to-pay back from them, & pays
them back in them again; - so she
doubles / amt wh she promises to pay
them & then borrows her promise-to-pay
f a third & fourth time & so on. She is
piling up a prodigious debt to her
own people - but she doesn't have
to pay it in gold; because if they don't
trust her own people don't trust
her they can do the other thing; but they
cant force her to pay in gold & she
can force them to accept her promises
(wh are / same thing as her paper).
The Germans who are all working
for the state must be piling up these
"promises"; & if / state can make
good its "promises", then at / end
o / war, every man will having
whole sheaf of promises, & they will
all be very rich; & if / state can't
make good its promises, & gives
them all each a big bad debt, they will
all be very poor. But in / meantime 
/ work, for wh / promises were
given, will have been done. It
will be history by then, & / state of the
German people after it is another
matter altogether. They will be very