Charles E W Bean, Diaries, AWM38 3DRL 606/21/1 - November - December 1915 - Part 5

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didn't want to leave the Army Corps
& wants to get back now. He thinks
he may. Salonica was all right,
K. thought, if you put in 400,000 men -
but we in England havent got them.
The French wanted the expedn to be
made & tt ws K's attitude. Now
they are doing nothing - the Bulgars
say / rest o / Servian Army has
surrendered at Prisrend. The people
wh cd help are / Russians & /
Italians but / Italians dont want
to, & / Russians - have they got /
troops? Their difficulty is tt they cant 
arm them. 
So Munro - may he come back
here - B. to Anzac? Cdn't things
be made better by our getting tt 
hill.
Suvla is an awful positn. B. has
bn telling us to dig for months & we
havent all managed enough yet-
for example / garrison of L.P. - 700 -
doesnt leave many men there for
digging. He thinks tt / fellows on /
flats ought to have built barricades
behind / trenches to wh they cd have
retired if / trenches flooded. What 
happened ws tt / trenches on Suvla

35
flats in parts suddenly came down
w water 7 ft deep. Abt 150 men
were drowned or died from exposure. 
(we lost I think 2; the Indians who
were going into Hill 60 relieving the 54
Divn had several men frost bitten badly
- one will lose both legs.) Actually 6000
men were evacuated from Suvla
through prostration after this one storm
- they caught / full force of it; they
were largely / Welsh Divn (53?) wh
is now practically useless. We
might attack ∧after one of these storms but B says these
tps are too prostrated after a storm for anything.
The Turks have got one German & 
one Austrian Batty (I suppose this
means heavy batty) coming down /
peninsula to help them already,
They are past Kaslar ? [⇡ *Karak*] bridge on the
Bulair neck - / only bridge by wh
they cd come. The Agamemnon
bombarded & broke up tt bridge yesty
but she ws just 3 days too late.
However - she will help to hold up
provisions from / Turks. They have
no blankets! & no warm clothing!
During / storm, B. told us, 13 bodies
of Turks were counted washed down /

Troops Comfort
Quartermasters
Cooks
Winter Scale

36                                            
stream on / Suvla flats. They are
surrendering daily in small lots -
one & twos to each regt in our line
(he says). At Suvla abt 50 of them rushed
forwd w their arms. Our troops there
signed to them to put / arms down but
they wdn't. In / end we fired on them
& shot 15 & / rest ran away. (Its a
questn, it seems to me, if they wanted
to surrender or not - very like
the Hill 60 incident). During the
heavy fighting downpour / Ts on / Suvla
flats jumped onto their trenches &
ran back & we shot a lot tt way;
fir while they were in / open. Our
Indian Suvla trenches are so far good.
----
The comfort of men depends
a v. great deal on quartermasters
& company cooks. The winter
scale it is true ws to have begun
this month (Dec 1 or 2) Cubes of soup
raisins & dried fruit, ^butter etc. The dried
raisins are ashore at Anzac but tt
is all - 6,000,000 cubes of soup are
waiting to be landed - 2000 tons of stores
are to be sent ashore if possible.

But apart from all this, a well
trained quartermaster & cook can

37                                                              
make appetising a scale of rations
wh bad q.masters & cooks will
cause to be actually distasteful or
insufficient. In Imbros the q.masters
of part of 1st Bde never drew
a good part o / rice & some other
commodities they were entitled to.
The 1^st Bde complained tt / rations
were insufficient & bad - and on
exactly / same rations the 5^th & other 
Bns o / 2nd Bde replied tt they were
well fed & had nothing to complain
of. The q.master if he plans out his
scale - tt is to say if he has / brains
& / energy - can get equivalents
& variety for his men; & / cook
can make bully beef into stews etc
as they do for / officers & sometimes
for / men - even rissoles or curry.
To my mind / training of q.ms & cooks
is a very impt. thing.

But w cooks - / trained cooks
whom we did bring are either ill or
wounded or k. & / cooks / coys now
have are mostly men acting as cooks,
who, as soon as / men complain say
"Oh well - I'm goin' back to / ranks".

38
Its not a bad thing for / men
either to subscribe a few pennies a head
to get a cook who will stay; or as /
alternative for each man to have to 
take a day at it. They prefer to
subscribe / pennies to get a decent
cook.

Our men have / advantages o /
pennies. The British Tommies
cant get even / few luxuries we get
from our intermittent canteen.
Our A.C. is getting a canteen
run by a Gk from Egypt
(Memarachi or some such name)
but I dont know if he'll come up
to scratch. He has to deliver / stuff
at Anzac. We'll help unload it &
buy it from him when its on /
general dump.

Howse - I  hear - has / offer of 
Chief M.O. of the A.I.F within
the M.E.F w / tempy rank of
Surgeon Genl. He can stop men going
to England & so get them practically
all under his control. Egypt

is probly not after all to come under

39
/ army scheme - so he may not
have direct power there but his word
will go. He will be adviser on all
A.I.F. matters - if he'll take /
job. The rank is D.D.M.S. to the
D.M.S. of the M.E.F will he 
take it.

Howse, in an established
position, may be strong eno' to make
away w some o / weak promotns
he has made of men whom (for all
his professed principles) he knows
perfectly well to be weak men. Those
promotns were made by him so
as not to offend / susceptibilities o /
people who could still endanger
his plan for becoming D.M.S. of
the A.I.F - in particular Featherstone
- the weak little Australian DMS
who thinks tt there has bn
unfairness because Victorian doctors
have not bn promoted as much as
N.S.W. ones. If Mathison had lived
a the Victorian wd have got to / top o /
tree by merit - but he died at Helles.
The other leading Victorians were not

40
really / capable men & Howse
knew it - but he promoted them
to the head of affairs in / 1^st Australn
Divn so as to please Featherstone.
It ws an absolute breach of his
principle for / sake of his ambition
- he has set out to be Gen. Howse,
D.M.S. - & he knows it. When he
gets his positn & it is impregnable 
he will probly act up to his principles,
& get / ablest men to do his work
- as he ought to. He cant
defend his inconsistency & it is /
one thing wh it makes him really
angry if you refer to it. Gellibrand,
White, Glasfurd, Griffiths won't
play w their principles in this
way - & good man, very able
man & strong administrator, tho'
Howse is, this is / point in wh he
falls a long way behind all those
men & into line w opportunists
like Legge & 99 per cent of humanity
(or military staffs, at any rate).

41
December 4. Saturday.
Went with Milner & Payne to
get them a cottage in Ruenavista (or
whatever is / name of village near /
flying corps camp). Saw one w a garden
gate - glass in window - one room
for them to live in one for / sheep
& [[?Swizpix]] or some such word- not 
the hens ([[Epvioes?]]) - so the civil guard
said. The landlord afterwds came &
arranged terms thro’  Capt Betelheim
- 10/- per month! and it overlooks their
prospective camp!

Wrote E.28 . (M 28 yesterday).

Dec 5. Drawing & painting for the Anzac 
Magazine. The Printing Section gave
me some drawing paper & Bristol Board
& Indian Ink! Milner recalled - was
to leave by beef boat but it didnt
sail. Finished E.28.

Dec. 6 Milner caught early trawler.
I have been painting and drawing all
day - & eating - one's appetite here
is enormous & one will have to look
out or one will become a regular
gourmand.

French say 8 submarines passed
thro Str. of Gibraltar on 2 November.
They began sinking French steamers

[Sketches of outlines of ships]
Swiftsure
Big Monitor
drifter
Blister
P.G.
[[?Gloy]]
P.G.

42
at once. We have had a lot of
ships sunk - 8 in 9 days they say.

The Servians have lost Monastir.
A few have bn alld. by Greece to be enter
Greek territory to join the British & French.
The rest of what remains of their
army has retired on Albania -
where Italy will feed them. Italy has signed 
the pact of London. 

A v. cheerful article by Conan
Doyle in the "People.

Dec 7. Got up at 5.30 &

came over to Anzac by trawler

[Sketches of outlines of ships]
Blister
Swiftsure
French Cruiser
Bacchante
Blister
French cruiser

[Sketches of outlines of ships]
Cornwallis
Details Prince George

43

[Sketches]
Anzac outline
Imbros outline