Charles E W Bean, Diaries, AWM38 3DRL 606/208/1 - 1915 - 1918 - Part 8

shortly after (also 16Bn) and as
E had had heavy casualties
he got him to leave 20 men
for support (it ws all he cd
find cover for). ^Some of 14 Bn E found
later within deep in to a gully
side just short of Bde Hqrs,
apparently without offrs.
He didnt not notice  15 or 13 -
[Brennan, Brennan
On / first day estabd his
aid post just below Courtneys
in / left hand angle of it.
He ws indefatigible in
hauling up food & ammn
& passing it over top -
He ws always looking after
/ wd - & organised the
bringing up of food ammn &
water so tt everyone who
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came up brought up some.
He took rations & ammn
from / wd & stored them
in the 1st Aid Post passing
them up as reqd.
E. never saw D/B
after / time on Walker's R.
Maj. Lamb, 3rd Bn
ws just around / edge from
Courtneys, on Quinns.
He had dug into / edge o /
cliff. The Ts had a trench
opposite him wh he cd not
see. And / Turks wd creep
out from the rear trench &
scratch in a forward trench. 
The Ts were potting Lambs men
from within 30yds without
L. seeing them. E warned L
of this. So L's men got up,
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came over / top, made
a charge, & cleared all
/ Turks from this positn
ahead of them & retired into
/ trench again.
Eventually we started to
Sap forward at Quinns opp.
this trench, & T out & join
up - & then / close fighting
started.
The first trench / Turks
made (/ first Tuesday night)
ws / top trench on / Chessboard
- where they made a sap
& removed / parapet some
distance to / rear of it, making
a false trench behind / real
trench, abt 30 yds away. It looked
as if / earth had bn carried
back at night.
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Abt ^9 Thursday or Friday / Turks
attacked abt dusk from
directly in front of Courtneys.
They got to within abt 30 yds in some cases.
The R.M.L.I. at this time
were at Quinns, dug in to
/ top of / hillside instead
of making trenches
Diagram, see original
These RMLI some of them
fired coolly eno' over / top
at / Ts. But others were
sitting w their back to / trench
firing their rifles into / air.
Many of these were aftwds
shot off this positn by a
m.g from Walkers wh /
Germs managed to get thro'.
(That wd be on / Friday -
a rope had bn fixed up to
a tree & E had taken T. up
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by means of this a fair
short time before tt day
to / Marines positn to observe
The turks who attd on
Thursday got
When E  came from
Courtney's Col. Courtney relieved
& E took his 22 men of all
Bns out. They were of 12 diff
units. On the 6th day Maj.
Gellibrand had come along -
the first staff officer – & had
told them tt owing he ws
arranging / relief. The
next day they got word tt
they cdn't be relieved as the
Coy of RMLI told off for it had
recd severe casualties (that
as the RMLI Coy) & they wd
have to hang on another day
72
 

72a.
 ^XA whole string of men had bn
shot on / [[range?]] at Courtneys. The
men sd 17 men had bn shot working
it  -  it ws just a man had bn shot there
& Pte Macleod (?12Bn) had no one to help
him work / gun. He shouted to E. to know if he
cd send him some one. A man named Smith
Victorian) imd. volunteered.  E asked if he knew
how to work a gun. " No, but I'll soon find out"
he sd. The gun itself ws next knocked out. When
^ this happened Macleod ws hit across
/ forehead & had his hands bleeding. E told 
him to go out / Aid Post. But he went into 
/ trench with rifle - 2 days later he came 
out to /
Aid post 
for a 
smoke &
a spell - 
E found 
him 
there - 
tt ws the 
first he 
knew of
his 
still
being 
there.
On pte of 12 Bn used to go down
w water bottles down / exposed
rear slope of Courtneys & fetch
water in a chain of water bottles hung
round his neck. He one day got a
kerosene tin & ws bringing it up ^ on his shoulder
and scrambling up / slope on hands and knees
a bullet ws put thro' it. He put it
down quickly - looked to see / hole - found

it above / water line & turned round & 
made a long nose at / Turk
or two. It ws not till
Mond. night tt they were
relieved. Some o / men had
lost their reason in / trench
thro strain at night & want
of sleep. Our own dead were
lying around for days - buried
in / parapet if possible.
They had no shovels
at first, only entrenching
tools. By / time they were
reld / trenches were pretty good.^x
There were 10 Bn on Es right
at first. They were reld on
/ Tuesday; E ws marked
as missing & someone gave
evidence tt they had seen him
killed (& it got to Australia
unofficially). E's own men
were mostly casualties - he had
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N. Zealanders (some came
& dg in front of his left
one time & he had to pull
them in).
The trench to / rt ws
not connected thro - nor
to Qunins. 1st Bn were
on / rt some distance away.
E. ws evacuated sick
in July.
_____________
Turkey Knoll.  11Bn. Some days
Before / T. attack on May 19
they had been digging on
Turkey Knoll. M.gs. cd
play down over this knoll
& orders were gn to go out
& see what / digging ws.
E had Barnes' Coy
after B's death. He
took out his coy after dark
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Capt- Everett's sortie: in May.
 

Diagram, see original 

 

by a sap- not over
/ bags, as / T.s used to
clip our bags w m.gs.
The Party ws divided
into (1) a party to go over /
T. trench (under at Jackson) bayonet
/ men in it, & lie out
beyond it
(2)A party under another Capt Augther
Everett subaltern to go into / T. trench
& examine it
(3) Covering pties left &
right.
Abt 100 men went out altogether.
Pty 1 . under Jackson filed out
o / sap into / old T. trench close
to our sap ^(abt 30 yds away) wh proved full of
old dead.
The second Pty for searching /
trench (Maj. Roberts thought there were
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m.g. positns there)& /
covering pties went out one
left ^front of Turkey knoll & / other
across / gully onto / height
where Tasmania Post ws
later built.
It took abt 1/½ hrs to
get out. Then the signal
to advance ws a whistle
blast. The pties ^1. & 11 moved
together - Pty I bayoneted
/ Ts  in / trench all exc. one who
ran screaming down / gully
& gave / alarm to / others.
There ws nothing in /
trench - there ws an old blanket
over / rt hand end of it
covering a heap of dirt -
(wh had made our people
nervous & had to be specially
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