Charles E W Bean, Diaries, AWM38 3DRL 606/20/1 - November 1915 - Part 8

69
end of it at present, doing
nothing." As a matter of fact
they were trying to drive
piles.

"And this is after a half-
gale!" he sd to me.  "It ws a 
half gale we had last night."
The Turks shelled / beach
^intermittently all day & are shelling it
tonight - they know quite
well tt we are in difficulties
& are trying to prevent us
working there. It is cold - but
not so cold as it will be.
A German aeroplane ws here
today & had a very good 
look at / whole positn. I've
no doubt it spotted all our
new stores.

The summing up of all this is
th / British nation has not /
brains to make war. It is much
better at manufacturing socks.
By tt same token our winter
clothing is not landed yet.

The Gaby sank w part of

70
316 bags of mails - she
had loaded up ∧on the sweeper 148 so 168 were
lost.

I can see a ship unloading
lying off Walkers - so I suppose
unloading is going on; but no 
troops are to land tonight (poor offs)
3rd Bde held up agn.)

I must write something to give
people some idea at least of what 
is / conditn. The Turks clearly 
know. Beachy is throwing abt one 
shell a minute or more, all night.
They know this is our one working
night.

With one pier of course we 
cdnt evacuate at present if we 
wanted to.

Nov 19. Friday  The Turks saw the
three piers washed away yesty
(they had a Taube up ) & it came
along & circled very low), & they
also clearly spotted either the [[Shorthand]]
powers tt be [[Shorthand]]
shell the beach very consistently
[they ∧had shelled all thro' / night at 
intervals] [[Shorthand]]

The old Daddies
(who are largely tradesmen
& not navvies at all)
are getting rather fed up 
w this work.  What they
expected ws to be unloading
goods & horses at Alexandria.
Most of them were sitting in /
sap all this evening.  I dont
fancy some of their officers are
up to much.

The whole of our discomfort (wh
of course is only a small thing
really) is due to / neglect of
the simple precaution of covering
[[Shorthand]]
[[?]] o / power tt be     birdwood 
[[Shorthand]] Taube [[Shorthand]]
[[Shorthand]]

After 6 or 9 shells had fallen
I cdn't stand it any longer but 
finished the cable I was writing
& then went for a walk up to
the front line. C.E.W.B. May 12. 1924.

71

[[Shorthand]]
These shells threw showers of
stones over my dug out - the nearest
landing abt 15 yards away. [[Shorthand]]
got - [[Shorthand]] One shell fell in amongst
the poor old Labour Company & killed 
one or two & wounded four.  They 
were having their lunch in a dugout
at the time & it must have fallen
into / middle of them for they
all got it in / face.  You can 
hear these shells coming for a long
time - they are old lead coated
stuff & they tumble home w a very 
slow wobble - you can hear it
slowing down almost to stop.  They
make a bang & not a crunch
like ours, & are very local in 
their effect.  After sitting here & hearing 
about a dozen of them drop not far
away - (they were bracketing, one this 
side, one that - & so you knew
the next one was for you) you could
hear the whizz of a shell in everything
- in the wind, in the shaking of a
cooking po tumble of a camp dixie,
in the wheeze of a mule.  It is a most 
trying form of bombardment - they kept
it up all night on the beach & B depot
at intervals.

Hear that the Caledonian has

72
bn sunk w 600 bags of mails
aboard.  The Helles beach is without
a single lighter - clean sweep of 
everything.  Communique today says
tt / Servian position is critical but
not desperate - Bulgarians apparently
getting in behind them. French in
beating off an attack claim to have
inflicted loss of 4000 on Bulgarians;
but when one knows what claims
have been made at Hill 60 & 
elsewhere one cant help being
sceptical. [[Shorthand]] Asma V.

20 November. Had a walk - but feeling 
a little seedy.  Must be what Milner
had - a sort of epidemic jaundice.
The ways of the authorities are
wonderful. Army Corps H.Q. xxxxxxxxxxxx
from above is perfectly obvious -
roofs outlined by neat rectangles of 
sandbags edged w blue iron

[Diagram - see original scan]

The ∧new Camp commandant
is now for / first
time thinking of
putting brushwood over / top & screening
one corner (wh can actually be seen)
by brushwood.  The tank have never had

[Sketch - see original scan]

73
/ slightest cover except some 
loose brushwood wh has blown
away.

Nov 21. The brushwood on /
roof of Army Corps has now
blown away also. German 'plane 
ws over today.  It meant to 
circle but our gun saw it
in time & w 2 or 3 very well
aimed shots sent it back off
southwards.  Heavy strafe on Turkish
camps.

Nov 22  In bed w jaundice.
Heavy strafe on Olive Grove. Read 'Jaffery.'
Nov. 23 In bed. Reading Brig.
Gerard” 

Anzac Magazine articles beginning
to come in. They are beginning
to build a ∧sandbag wall round / tanks
at last. That wont hide them
from aeroplanes either.

I hear tt on July 11 the 
17^th How 24th Sigs. Bde left England
with 4 6in heavy guns, 4 6in hows,
& 2 9.2 hows. The 6in hows are 
splendid guns tho' of 1906.  They 
throw a shell wrong occasionally 
- perh. one in 14 (its always 
noticed bec. it does so much

74
damage - but everyone admits
they are splendid.  However,
they're not a patch on the 9.2s)
These guns were sent out in a 
devil of a hurry & then hurriedly
landed at Alex. Sent up to Cairo!
Kept there a month or 6 wks
all their crews ∧officers worried to distraction

Finally the 4 6in guns were
brought up here & given to /
Australians; but no one wd have 
the 9.2s. The major o / battery
came up & offered to fire from
anywhere ∧in / Anzac gullies on anything. Suvla
wdnt have him; Anzac apparently 
wdnt - at least Geln Braithwaith
ws agst it (that came from so I
am told).  Helles wdnt have them.
The major came up himself &
at last it ws decided to put them
in at Suvla (where they are
very exposed) "to search ravines"
(fancy "searching" ravines with
200 lb. shells!) They'll probly be tied

75
down to one shell a day ∧(The 6in are tied to 3 each.) They
are far more accurate than
6 in hows. & fire 7000 yds agst
6000. Their first shot will probably 
get home within a few shot yds -
laid by / map.  And yet they're
not in yet!  The 6in have
searched blown up the Nek trenches
once, & Hill 60; & L. pine & J. Jolly
have suffered. But they wont let 
them fire on G.O.T., tho' its a 
good mark, remembering the
way the 5” got into our own 
men.  But then the old 5 in
had shaken themselves to bits.

So now 2 6in heavy guns
are at Helles.

2. 6in heavy guns are being
worked with 2 4.7 naval guns
here on / left.

4 6in hows have bn gn
to / Australians.

The other 2. 6in heavies have bn sent
to Salonica; & the brigade has bn broken
up entirely.

The Turks came over parapet
abt 8pm. - no moon - our men
(observers) first saw them on parapet
- line of about 60 or 100 (Nek is abt
75 yds broad & 59 yrds across)
[[Shorthand]] 4 mgs [[Shorthand]] 
[[Shorthand]] 11 [[Shorthand]] 3 [[Shorthand]]
two of them at once; [[Shorthand]]
[[Shorthand]] x The Turks
got within bombing distance & then 
threw abt 20 bombs & ran back
(both ways w a rush.)  Our mgs
[[Shorthand]] no dead
Ts on ground next day x  Perh. they
carried them away. This ws 
certainly a try on to see how we
were holding / line . Some [[Shorthand
[[Shorthand]] & burst some bombs
amongst them x

76
Nov. 24. 
Smith came in today & tells me tt
New Zealanders at Rhodo.
(Apex) are sd to have been
attacked by Turks last night
(? or night before). They beat
the attack off without loss.  Abt
60 Turks sd to be lying about  -
indeed they say they accounted 
for everyone who left the 

trenches. If only those wretched
little 54^th were as good as the
N.Z. men this place wd be safe.

Nov. 25 Still in bed with catarrhal
jaundice.  (Weil's disease)  Have been 
enjoying a glorious read -
Jaffery, Brig. Gerard, Beyond the 
City (wh seems to me a trifle thin) &
any amt of Times & Arguses.  I
fancy Peter Schuler is a more truthful
war correspt. than Charlie Smith -
i.e. he does see the things - I dont fancy 
Charlie always does.

Turks have been shelling
beach a lot ∧day & night & dropping big
stick bombs over / hill.

The communique says that the position

77
of Servia is very serious, we seem to 
be forcing Greece either to join us or 
to demobilise.

Nov. 25^th  Last night we fired not a 
shot from our trenches exc. at absolutely
certain targets.  The 1^st F. A .Bde is 
moving, I think to Salonica, & / idea 
is to give / Turks / impression tt
we are evacuating.  None of our guns
have fired all day today or tonight.
The bombers ∧waggons are being sent away
too. I suppose / T. attack on the 
Apex ws w / idea tt we may be 
evacuating - to find our strength.
It shows wh they consider / easiest
place to attack at.  There ws a bit 
of firing on / left abt 7 o'c. this evg.
warships blazing for 10 minutes & some 
rifle fire & flares.

9.30pm Moon is up so there wont be
any attack tonight.  The Turks have

been bombarding / beach all day
- desultory firing - but???????
???????? A sergt of the 3rd 
A.M.C. came down last night w a
sergt friend to say goodbye to some pals
on / way to / pier - he had leave 
to go to Alexandria that night. He &

7th A.M.C.          ABDUL

Going.
We've sung drunk the boys who landed rushed the hills  
And the boys who cut ∧stormed the wire beach.
And those who fell and those who died the sappers of the ASC 
We've had a toast for each.

For the guns & stretcher bearers

But before the bowl is full punch ∧bowl is cool

There's one chap chap I'd like to mention
That's the chap we call Abdul.

We haven't seen your face dont see much of you by day
Unless it be your hat 
bobbing down behind / loophole
& we mostly blaze at that
But we've heard you wheezing there at nights
And writhin like our Patrolling thro' the dark
An' trying to make us think you were
While you crow, whoop & carol like
The early morning lark.

We've heard the twigs a crackling as
We lay amongst the trees crouched upon our knees
And your big black shape went crashing
Like a rhino thro / trees.

We've seen your watched your early morning campfires blaze along streaking up 
The distant valley side
We know your are all

That your / much the same inside.

We've seen you flying, in rank on rank
Across the morning sky
An' we had some pretty shooting
An' - you know the way to die.

An' ∧its we've fairly torn our hearts out 

Yes we've seen you dyin' there in front
- Our own boys died there too -
With your poor dark eyes a rolling
Starin at the hopeless sky blue.

With your poor maimed arms a stretchin'
To the God we both can name
An' its fairly tore our hearts out
But its in the beastly game.

[*So tho' your name is black as ink
For murder and rapine
Carried out in happy concert
With the Christians from the Rhine
We can only will judge you Mr Abdul
By those test by wh we can
That for every breath, in life and death,
You've played the gentleman.*]

78
his friend were both killed.
Turks sent a patrol into Quinns
last night to see if it were held - three
men crept up to / trench - one ws
bayoneted & two got away.

The Turks are making arrangements
to receive those Germans in Constantinople.

Nov. 27. Went up to Quinns today &
Got some further details of the
'Silent" battle.  It began at 6pm 
on November 25^{th. x} [*(^x Really 24^th)*] After a night
of it, at
abt 7 am / morning of the 26^th [*(^x 25^th)*] (yesty) 40
Turks got out of their Quinns trenches (by
some hidden means they have behind the
broken heaps of earth wh now lie in
front of Quinns - owing to / mines exploded there.)
Four of them came on very boldly &
they got right up to our bombproof wire.
At Steeles our m. gunner was watching 
them w his hands itching on / ∧grip handles of his
gun - but he had orders not to shoot. The
4 Turks took hold of our bomb proof & dragged
it back & cleared two lengths of it. They
plastered in bombs & then / leading Turk
jumped in. Our fellows ∧ -17th Bn - were really
splendid.

Altho bombed they didnt bomb back - their
orders were not to do so. They were 4 of them
wounded - the Turk pushed by these 4 &
thrust his way into / dark passage of one
of our bombproofs - as firmly as any
Australian cd have done - There a sergt 
met him & lunged at him w / bayonet.
The Turk grasped the bayonet - but / sergt

[*17^th Bn.*]