Charles E W Bean, Diaries, AWM38 3DRL 606/21/1 - November - December 1915 - Part 6

44
[[Hand drawn sketches of 2 ships]]
Got the above thumb nail sketches for little
silhouettes for the Anzac Magazine.

Spent day arranging matter wh has
come in. Some A few men have sent in stuff
wh is not original. It just strikes me
tt we never sd in our notice tt it must 
be original. The chief difficulty in
sorting out this big pile of matter will
be to dec make sure tt / stuff tt goes
in is original. The question always
arises over / best stuff. I easily
recognised a poem of H. Newbolts; but
poems lately published in / Bulletin
are not so easy to discern.

Dec. 8.
I have got stuff in from two artists
besides Hewitt (an Adelaide chap
poster & advertisement designer who
has been sketching for the Army
Corps.) One is Crozier - a Melbourne
artist - a pte in the 22nd Battn now

 

45.

[[Diagram - see original scan]]
Our nearest point at the Apex
(abt 50 yds on S. edge of Neck)
S side of Apex.

 

46
attached to 6 Bde H.Q. - a dreamy
sort of chap w a delicate face - almost
consumptive looking who can do the
serious lofty designing very capably;
but who hardly knows is sufficiently wordly
to know which of his own work will reproduce
& wh. will not.

I was opening a lot of rather poor
drawing when I suddenly can came on a
single study of a dirty shabby looking head
carried out in a few bold black lines
& coloured with red & blue pencil borrowed
from the regimental office - by a private
of the 5^th Army Medical Corps - quite
a head of one of the "first day" lot -
quite as good as anything of Hassalls
& quite as bold. I went up & got
hold of him at once. This same evening
in came another man with a budget of
almost exactly the same sort -
I had the private the first man, Barker,
in the dug out with me, & I pounced
on this second man as well. He also
is at Both are Sydney artists - both
young chaps with very bright intelligent
faces - the rather strong sharp hard
Australian face. Both are in the
A.M.C. (5^th & 6^th F. Amb) & so is their
chief rival, T. Collis, a man who
has sent in an excellent humorous

47
sketch of a Turk. Spent all day going
through contributions - my artists
Dec 9. working all the while. Hewitt is
on the more formal stuff; Barker &
the new man will be on comic stuff
(both have an good idea of it a sharp
sense of humour); Crozier will be
on the serious heavier designing.

There are some very polished
bits of verse in from English officers
on the left; and a who great deal of
strong vivid rather crude stuff from
Australians - far more than from
New Zealanders. In one or two cases
I have picked out a single verse from
a long poem tedious poem & with
the least bit of polish it is excellent. 
One little gem on "∧The silence" had its
genesis in this way. Another chap
came in - one unaccustomed to writing,
but a dreamy nice faced chap with
great brown eyes & grey long brown
lashes - with a pipe & an
Army Services Corps uniform - &
brought a poem on the grey days
of Gallipoli so good that I thought
in spite of ∧(or partly because of) its inequalities of
metre (which wd be quite legitimate
in a poet of note) that it was

48

unoriginal. But it was not - it was
the genuine thing; two other contributions
proved that up to the hilt - both excellent
& both topical - Nash his name is - 9^th or
11th ∧Coy A.S.C.

Ward Price & Nevinson turned up
from Salonica - They say everyone is
as undecided there as to what will happen
as they are here. They believe the
Russians are probably concentrating
to come up / Danube. The Salonika
Greeks are opposed to our whole
enterprise - altho' Venizelos invited
us they say the circumstances have
now changed. They put every obstacle
in our way on the railways, look
very sullen in the streets; & the 
soldiers (who are those most opposed
to doing any fighting of any sort)
also make a point of never
saluting any British officer. They
are horribly frightened of the Germans.
The soldiers are those most opposed
to us - & the Greek people Govt
will not give any o / guarantees
asked for - apparently.

We have parts of 5 divns at
Salonica - say 50,000 to 60,000 
men, & / French 3 divns - 60,000.

49
say 120,000. The Germans & Austrians
have 200,000 & Bulgars 300,000.
of the Servians 5,000 are retiring into
S. Albania, & 100,000 to the N of it.

They say the / big guns wh /
Turks Germans have got through here
consist of 4 12 inch howitzers
& 9 9.2 naval guns. They are
putting them onto concrete emplacements
foundations.

Dec 9. Had the 4 artists
at work today.

A definite decision come to
- we are to take every mouth
off / Peninsula exc. those needed
to defend it, as / only method of
keeping our ∧supply of food & water. Anzac 25000 will
remain - so back to the old Imbros idea &
the rest camp.

Ward Price particularly
struck with our antiquated
Garland bomb mortars, catapults
etc. The only one of any design
worth calling such is / little
Japanese gun.

[Newspaper article stapled over diary page. Text on R & bottom transcribed on next page]

DASH TO A TRANSPORT.
-----
HOSPITAL SHIP TAKES OFF 400
SOLDIERS.
---
Smart rescue work was performed when
the British troopship Southland was
torpedoed in the Aegean Sea on September 2.
The official announcement says that nine
men were killed and two injured, while 22
were missing (believed drowned). The first
vessel to render aid was the hospital ship
Neuralia, and an eye-witness of the rescue
work writes:- "We received a wireless
message at 9.45 a.m. on September 2 informing
us that the trooper Southland had been
torpedoed. We at once put on full steam,
and, as the sea was rough, we had a very
heavy pitch owing to the pressure of the
engines. We discovered the Southland 22
miles away, and at 11.15 a.m. we were by
her side, with all our crew in boats ready
for the rescue work. Before we touched
the ship several collapsible boats and rafts,
with about 56 men in each, passed us.
They cheered us frantically, and it seemed
sad to let them pass us; but they were safe
for a while, and we directed our course
straight to the sinking ship and took off
all the officers and 400 men. We were
ordered into our lifebelts and on to the
upper deck until we reached the torpedoed
ship, then, as we were not visited by a 
torpedo, we set to work with hot bottles and
plenty of blankets and hot broth for our
comrades in distress. Very soon the first
boat appeared, and the men were singing
lustily: "Here we are, here we are, here
we are again." It was really most pathetic.
We were the first boat to render help, and
the men were nearly all the second contingent
of Australians. The damaged ship
reached port under her own steam quite
safely, with ammunition aboard intact.
There were only about 12 men lost, as far 
as I am able to gather, out of a total of
nearly 2,000. We saw her being beached as
we retired to bed."
----
DARING FRENCH PATROL

50
Dec.10. The Story of the Southland
has appeared in the English
"News of the World" of November 14.

States tt troops were 2nd Aust Divn.

No time - hard at work w / Anzac Magazine

[[Page of faint shorthand symbols]]

Bacchante, 2 Blisters

[[Newspaper article stapled to page and folded over.]]

Censor.
I went in to see White last night 
discover whether we were to go over
to Imbros together. I knew he had
bn at Imbros during / day. He
ws w Genl Godley for a long time
tt night. When he came out I
asked him. "I am sorry, Bean",
he sd, "I meant to have told you
before, but I'm afraid I shall be much
too busy to undertake the work
in connection w / magazine as
I shd like to do. I'm afraid tt
I shall be able to do v. little
in connection w it & tt you
will have to manage without
me."

He was exceedingly nice 
abt it.

Today when I went he ws
talking to Col. Johnston - probly
of the NZ Arty - on / telephone.
"Will you have those things ready
to move tonight," he sd: "Not
before dark - Nothing whatever will be
down before dark - 8 o'clock is
/ time they will be ready for them.
They will want them on the
Beach at 8 o'cl. They will have the lighters ready.
Last night the 1st Stat. Hospl got orders
to move in / morning. It had bn ?informed? by Genl
Howse to hold on. The same evening this order
was reversed.

Today the Bacchante, 2 Blisters
ships & 1 big monitor & 1 small

 

50
Dec.10. The Story of the Southland
has appeared in the English
"News of the World" of November 14.
States tt troops were 2nd Aust Divn.

No time - hard at work w Anzac Magazine

[[Page of faint shorthand symbols]

Baccante, 2 Blisters

51
monitor fairly tore / inside out of the Olive Grove & then K. Tepe.
A fiercer bombt than we have had since L.Pine. Godley sd yesty
tt he didn't mind it being known tt / tps were to go into
Rest Camp at Imbros - the were reducing / garrison
here as much as it cd be reduced w safety.

Good to see the old Bacchante
back in her old station)

6.30 P.M. Bombardment going on in the dark.
There was a similar bombardment
by us Hill 60 way abt 9.30 last night
Warships firing from Suvla, by the
flashes. 54 [[shorthand]] & line held
by Ind. Eastern Mtd Bde. NZMR. 4 Aust Inf. Bde
[*2 Aust Div  Isr Aust Div
3 LHB 5^th 6^th 7th Bde 
1 LHB. 2^nd Bde 2 LHB*]

Lone Pine.

52

Maj. ∧I.G. Mackay, led first line of 4 Bn
over; held shot 5 Turks; bayoneted 6th
(went to furthest line -). Then held Turks
back while men built barricade.
No bombs at first. Wounded early but fought on for a day till wd 2nd time.                   
-----
Mackinnon 4 Bn ws 1^st into 1^st trench
but shot & fell in onto T. bayonets.
------
Smythe, Sign. Offr 3rd Bn. Each
Bn hd taken over coil.
-------

2 Lt. Smyth took ∧spare wire coil back at
6.45 broad daylight & came back
again testing wire as he went.
-------
MacDonald - ws on extreme left
Milson & Giles were k. MacD
bayoneted one T. & ws bayoneted
thro hand himself - 2ce wd in 
shoulder on Sat [[shorthand]] & fought
on to Sat night - reeled down to
stn - asked for [[shorthand]] cut out - this
ws done & he came back Sunday
morning - but MacNaughton [[shorthand]]
let him come back in.
----
Lt Selden 4 Bn had eye shot out &
went on fighting till another bullet
got him.
------
MacNaughton, who is back, told
me these things. He ws hit on /
knee w shrapnel himself. He cant