Charles E W Bean, Diaries, AWM38 3DRL 606/208/1 - 1915 - 1918 - Part 6

.Follg came out:- 47a

C.O. Col Clarke

Capt. Bilis adj.

Capt [[Lougnase?]] - 2 in c.

Capt Skinner - information offr.

Lt Rogers 1.0.

Lt Hughan. Sigs .

Came out: M.O. Capt. Gormon.

Abt. (roughly)

A 2. 48 Madaford & Piper

B 2. 35 Lewis & Hitchinson

C 2. 30 (abt Newman & Kerr

D 1. 22 Mackenzie (& Later Hatton)

(C abt 30 casualties)

One Coy of KRR reld whole Bn.

They had full coys.
_________
 

& 44 went back to /

Hindg outpost line near

Malakoff wood.

On Oct 1. abt 2pm

they moved again to occupy

the suppt Two Hinbg lines E of

Bony & connect w 43

Bn on left.

[They had abt 70 Americans

w them up to the night of Oct 1 

& 2 American offrs - the

offrs were helpless from

inexperience].

Bn ws finally held in 

front of Bony by K.R.R.?

Casualties for this battle

out of abt 250 bayonets. (came out 104 bayonets)

K Macdermott k.

W Scarr.

Hunt

Bryant. xxx Fowler.  112 w.

Lewis ROD.   Bremner 
Gage
48

[NB. Be careful abt Warry's

Coys part in this fighting].

This was hardest fight 44 Bn

has had. There were no instrns

 The Landing. Lieut. Capt. Everett
(later Maj. Everettt, 44 Bn).
(written too long after to be verbally {{accurate?]] - esp times)
Drake Brockman is a Perth man,
(born Bridgetown way - ?) & brother
of Lady Hackett. (Sis Winthrop
Hackett founder of the "West
Australian).
Everett ws w A & C Coy on
the London (A Coy offr). 2 in/c to
Brockman.
Our tow after abt ½ way to /
shore - / picket boat funnel
suddenly flared abt 3 ft high
for abt ½ minute. Shortly after,
they heard / first rifle. Then
/ firing began - within ½ minute
it ws general.
Abt / same time as /
rifle ws fired a bright light - a
50
 

huge lamp - seemed to flare up
some distance to / S. (Everett saw
it a few nights later, apptly up on
/ cliffs abt where the Clyde came in.)
As soon as / firing strated /
picket boat turned w / tow &
ran parallel w / shore for a
distance. She nearly dragged /
last boat in / tow over.
Then / boat turned & raced towd
/ shore. You cd just see / dull
outline o / hill - on / horizon.
The picket boat cast them
off abt 500 - 600 yds from / shore.
They out oars & pulled. The boat
ws hit in several places w
bullets & / water ws rising in
it. She eventually grounded
abt. [[20?]] yds from / shore in
a sinking condition. Everett
51
 

gave the order: Every man ashore.
They got out into deep water,
& scrambled ashore. As they
got there Everett told / men to
get down as m.gs. were
enfilading from Fishermans
Hut striking sparks from
/ stones. No men had bn hit
in tt boat. D. Brockman
ws in a tow wh went off
further S. The men dropped
their packs on / beach. It ws
just breaking day. Everett told
them to crawl away from their
packs up into / scrub leaving
/ packs on / beach.
As soon as they reached
/ scrub they moved forwd as
quick as they cd - / main job
52
 

seemed to be locating &
cleaning up snipers. These
were well posted & v. thick.
Some o / men were hit as
they landed, on / beach, by
these m.gs. None k. there.
They had artillery flags to
carry. Everetts batman had
his - red & yellow. This
flag ws hit so often - tt when
/ pole ws hit Everett told /
batman to roll it up & carry
it in his kit.
There were snipers
up at / Cathedral. A couple
of men tried to climb up &
get round to these snipers.
They managed to get them
out - & E. heard later tt they
had k. them. It ws getting
53
 

daylight. These men were
moving to / flank as E's
party moved up to / hills.
Hand drawn diagram – see original
Everett got up as shown -
When he got onto ^Walkers plateau
Rackliffe ws w him. E kept
his men down on / top of
this ridge as they were getting
casualties. He went across
to / left towds the Nek to
reconnoitre / positn for digging
in as instrns had reached
him from the C.O on Plugge's
to dig in where he was.
As / positn ws most
unsatisfactory, for digging in,
54
 

being commanded all round,
E came back & informed C.O.
to tt effect. He found then tt
Brockman ws on Plugges
with the other ½ of the Coy.
As soom as E got in touch
w him D/B came over & met
E on / back of Walkers
Top bringing his other ½ 
coy w him.
L^t Sellby & L^t Macfarlane
were there & Rockliffe.
D/B reconnoitered /
positn w E again, & decided
it wd be hopeless to dig in
there. They cd see 9 & 10 Bn
moving forward on / right
- up towards the Lone Pine
Plateau. E told D/B tt what
55
 

he wanted to do ws to
work across to / positn
later known as Courtneys -
& D/B sent E w a ½ coy
across to Courtneys.
They went down / tail
end of Walkers Top and then
wound up / narrow track
towds Courtneys. It ws all
bushes on / actual climb to
Courtneys, & very steep.
E. got up to / half Coy.
While on Walkers Top E
saw Capt Lalor moving forwd
on his left. (This ws while waiting
on Walkers). L ws moving
forward w abt ½ coy in /
directn of what ws later
Quinns Post. Lalor kept
had a sword & waved it at him.
56
 

E warned him abt a m.g.
wh ws firing on his left from
/ high ground on / left of /
Nek. He saw L. take his
troops up swinging a bit
to / right & then to / left
again, but never getting into /
Gully. Lalor ws leading his
people over / open ground
by / nek towds / scrub just
beyond. He got driven back
from / scrub, & tried again
imd.^ly to cross / open again.
- 2 or 3 times this happened.
When E got onto Courtneys
he got in touch w Maj. Denton
- by now / destroyer crowd (the
2nd line) were beginning to
move up.
When E got up to Courtneys
57