Charles E W Bean, Diaries, AWM38 3DRL 606/21/1 - November - December 1915 - Part 4

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up. I saw one  of their jemadars
hauling along a poor wretched blubbering
fellah w his hand half frozen. He lay
down every few yds & howled & /
jemadar hit him w a long stick &
hauled him on again, blubbering & yelling
up / hill.

It's all very well for / troops in
Flanders. They get 4 days of this sort;
& then they go back for 4 days to sleep
in a house - to warm baths & dry
clothes. Once our men are wet they
can never properly get dry again
- I doubt even in their monthly or
2 monthly visits to Imbros if
they can. They have to be cold & wet
all / time. They're clever at making
/ best of things, making fires in a
hole in / trench wall 6 in by 8 w
a few sticks of broken biscuit box - 
But they have no houses or baths -
a man cant wash this weather in /
sea & there is no other water; even
the D.D.M.S. told me he hadnt washed
more than his face & hands for 4
days. I boiled some water over 2
candles in a cake tin wh is my
washing basin this morning – it
ws yestys washing water but I shaved

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in it agn today & washed my feet.
But tt ws all tt one cd do - it ws
too cold to strip; & if tt is so w me, how
abt these poor chaps w only a
waterproof sheet over them. They have been
far far cleaner than / Kitchener soldiers
- out of all comparison cleaner than
/ terriers - all / summer; but even
they cant get clean now. And the

A big part of their life is /
fight agst fleas. The flea contributions
to / Anzac Magazine are full of
it. The flea is quiescent during
/ day; but he comes at them o
their movement keeps him quiet -
but he comes at them after dark.
They try to forget him - but they aren't
used to him yet.

By the bye an Anzac Medical
Assocn has bn formed; 2 papers
have now bn discussed - 1st mtg
"Lice"; and 2nd mtg "Catarrhal Jaundice"
(the same tt I've had). The first mtg
ws held abt 3 wks ago during a
fairly constant bombardment - but
tho' there ws only the tent roof of

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1st casualty clearing stn overhead
it didn't seem to make any difference -
Some told me tt they were anxious for /
speeches not to be cut too long -
others told me they hadnt noticed /
bombdt. at all - When / mtg broke
up they stood outside for some time
discussing it, w / shells fly just
as they wd on / steps o / Town
Hall - w / shells flying over them
all / time.

The Hospitals are right in /
midst of ammn stores & our authorities
wont let them put up a red X flag.
- quite rightly, they all agree. They're
under orders (at any rate / Stationary
Hosp) to move. But I expect /
secret o / change of plans is this
wholesale clearance of craft
at Imbros.

The allies have bn apprehensive
tt Greece will do what Germany asks
& attempt to disarm them if they or
Serbs are driven back into Greece.

27
They put some financial & commercial
pressure on Greece (stopped cables
to America) & in abt 2 days brought
her to her senses. She has guaranteed
I believe tt she will demobilise,
or withdraw, / whole or part of her
army.

Fortescue / American Correspt
formerly w / Turks; & A. Bartlett - & I believe
Nevinson - have bn saying what
they think abt this expeditn.
Fortescue & Bartlett are reported in
Lond. papers of Sund Oct 31 (Capt.
Granville Fortescue, U.S. Cavalry,
formerly ADC to Roosevelt,
"What o / Dardanelles?" Hodder
& Staughton. I must get this & the
Times Hist. No 62).

Dec 1. I went across to see _^Delme Radcliffe this
mg. as my Nov 26 post from Anzac H.Q.
to G.H.Q had not yet reached Law Ross &
I dont know what cables have reached
Radcliffe. Maj. Radcliffe ws in bed at 11 o'c
so I went for a walk w M'Conaghie
to see / damage on / beach _^(photo) - & then back at
12 to see R. Radcliffe ws still in bed - I daresay
he works pretty late.

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(Promise M'Conaghie a photo o / picket boats).
The scheme for making Imbros a resting
place for 16,000 troops seems to h bn definitely
abandoned yesterday. I think it has been in
the air for about 5 weeks, tho' no huts have
been put up nor (so far as I know) has /
material for them arrived. It ws still uncertain
yesty mg - because Col. Knox, after Godley's
tug had disappeared towards Imbros, spoke
of it as certain tho' I know, from what
Col. Watson & others told me, tt doubts had
arisen for some days previously. I suppose
Godley & Birdwood, both, seeing / storm & its growing
effect, had decided tt troops cdnt be got back
from Imbros to Anzac in time to make it safe.

Anyway, Godley came over here yesty;
& after his interview w Birdwood, the
Imbros Rest Camp scheme is sd to h bn
definitely abandoned. And, as those who
are more responsible than I quite rightly
say: the thing is now to sit down & think
What can best be done? - not what might|
h. bn done? If these troops cd be got off
w a loss of 1/3, & ½ guns, & nearly all / stores - 
is tt / best. Staying on here we shd be fighting
/ winter, wh is playing Germany's game.
At / same time Helles is some use.
Can we stay. I think that with sufficient
energy on / part of / authorities in
making harbours, sinking ships full of
cement etc, we could. But then I don't
know (& / authorities do) how, far / Germans
have come & how many there are.
Besides - I doubt if we cd evacuate
from one pier _^& in this weather. If it were going to be done I
have no doubt / right thing wd be to consult
all / officers under / strictest secrecy & get
every possible suggestn from them - leave
guns as late as could be & then work
one gun from 3 embrasures etc. Leave m.gs,

29
till almost end - have sham camp fires going,
sham transport - want not overdo it but have
/ nearest thing to normal kept up till /
very last night - All evacuation done at night
at all costs - the light not to be risked - 
- big heaps of empty boxes - hollow inside - landed;
Finally try every device practicable to keep up
/ appearance of men abt / place - reliefs marched
in and round & out agn like stage soldiers
- all men camped where enemy sees our
camps e.g. Shrapnel Gully, Ari Burnu Point
& special officers to see tt / men are _^as active
at these points as nomally.

Some say before this we sh have one
gigantic effort [shorthand]

Lots of others - in fact nearly everyone -
is agst Bartlett's idea o / Suvla landing. They think
it shd have succeeded. The first men were landed
from t.b.ds. (4 inside / bay & some outside) at
9 10.30. A naval officer who commanded one
destroyer tells me tt / attack ws an utter
susprise & only 300 Turks were there - snipers
& so on. The little K army men had orders tt it
ws to be bayonet work only - & they didn't seem
to relish / idea (so he sd). "If only they had had
tried troops" - he sd "if they cd have put in
/ Australians for instance - they wd h bn
across / peninsula. I'm sure of it." "I'm
sure of it too" sd / British staff offcer.
The Suvla Bay expedn failed partly only partly
bec. o / men - & partly bec. o / staff. The staff
which cd. have planned it was the Anzac staff bec. it
knew / country; & Genl. Skeen had a plan of it
drawn up, from A to Z – he is (either he or White)
/ ablest officer for general staff work on / Peninsula -

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But Braithwaite did not _^(so far as I know) call him in to
advise him in this way; and on _^/ evening of Aug 5
the Anzac Staff did not know one single thing about
/ arrangements for / Suvla landing - they
had not been told one word of the arrangements.
Skeen had sent across to Braithwaite every
single important detail of our plans.
Just like Braithwaite all over - didn't
want any body, especially Anzac (wh had
got all / credit so far), to have anything
to do with this landing. Objected to Anzac
helping - wd have actually opposed it -
objected to Egypt helping - the same old
story all through. Braithwaite of
course ws / man - Hamilton might
be well intentioned but he didn't matter
one way or / other.

The secrecy ws carried so far tt
although every man at Anzac knew
something was going to happen on / left,
/ brigadiers of the Suvla force didn't know
when they landed where they were to go;
they had some of them maps of Smyrna.
Secrecy resulted in complete surprise but
it surprised our brigadiers as much as
/ Turks. Of course Braithwaite ought
to finish for this - but then see how Ian
Hamilton speaks of him: "In the choice
of my chief of staff no general was ever
so happy ..." and yet they were hardly

Quartermasters
& Company Cooks.

31

on decent terms of acquaintanceship -
much less _^on friendly terms.

I believe / right thing for us to do is - if
we can - to hold Helles - It can be done I
believe by a national effort i.e. by making
certain at once of providing every facility.
Abt. Anzac & Suvla I don't know - probably
/ best thing is, if possible, evacuate; if not
hold on. But I am certain tt holding on
there can only be done by a national
effort - getting 6 or 8 ships at once & sinking
them full of cement to make a harbour. By now
the decision has bn probally come to. [I hear
tt supplies are being reduced to seven days. If this is true it means evacuation
for a certainty.] Is / nation equal to / effort. If
they wd let us war correspts tell / truth
in full _^as to the position and its seriousness / nation wd make / effort. The
Germans know – There's nothing in /
position to hide from them. But does /
British people know. If we decide
to stay on without a superhuman
effort to back us, / result will be
disaster. I believe they have been evacuating shells
etc.

Dec 2. Wrote one article; Censor asked me
in to qualify an article I had written
about the storms. The alteration ws
justifiable - to let / people know that
/ men had warm clothes & blankets.

[Sketch map - see original scan ]

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From Imbros - Dec. 2 1915

The Orange Prince went down w 700
oil stoves on board, & gt quantities of
iron - & I believe other stores for Gallipoli
have had to go to Salonica as / need there
is greater than here. These things were
ordered (Radcliffe says) in August - it
takes 3 months to get them.

That doesn't however alter / fact
tt they're not here & cant be landed.
They may even, some o / winter stores
& foods, be in Imbros. The fact remains
tt they cant be got to Gallipoli.

The Turks, too, are feeling this weather
very bitterly.

The British have suffered more

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heavily than ws expected at Bagdad
- in battle at Ctesiphon Somme,
[*??*] 18 miles from Gallipoli; they are now
retiring down river. (our flying corps from
Australia is w them - one fellow
man is ws killed, a medical student).
They are getting reinfs but / Ts. also
are getting 30,000 men from one direction
& 30,000 from another. The Turks have
raised 4 new Army Corps, Radcliffe tells
us.

December 3rd:
Went over with Milner, _^Daquig & Paine
(who are staying here preparing to make /
place a rest camp for 15,000 men or
1st Divsnl part of them) to Panagia – &
found John Christo moved but a
very nice little restaurant hotel (the
"High-cliff") where we took lunch - 
partridges (delicious & plump) omellettes
(2 w honey) & wine of Hymettus & cocoa.
Bought a lot of potatoes, mustard, pickles
choc, honey, fruit for Capt Hore, & 3 Bn &
correspondents. On coming back
went up to see Birdwood, & ask
him of a few things which Chernside had
told us in the morning.

He is awfully sorry to leave Anzac -