Charles E W Bean, Diaries, AWM38 3DRL 606/230/1 - February - March 1919 - Part 1

AWM38
Official History,
1974-18 War: Records of CE W Bean,
Official Historian.
Diaries and Notebooks
Item number: 3DRL606/230/1
Title: Diary, February - March 1979
Covers the work of the Australian Historical
Mission.
AWM38-3DRL606/230/1
 

AWM38
3DRL 606 ITEM 230 [1]
Private
DIARIES AND NOTES OF C. E. W. BEAN
CONCERNING THE WAR OF 1914-1918
230
THE use of these diaries and notes is subject to conditions laid down in the terms
of gift to the Australian War Memorial. But, apart from those terms, I wish the
following circumstances and considerations to be brought to the notice of every
reader and writer who may use them.
These writings represent only what at the moment of making them I believed to be
true. The diaries were jotted down almost daily with the object of recording what
was then in the writer’s mind. Often he wrote them when very tired and half asleep;
also, not infrequently, what he believed to be true was not so —but it does not
follow that he always discovered this, or remembered to correct the mistakes when
discovered. Indeed, he could not always remember that he had written them.
These records should, therefore, be used with great caution, as relating only what
their author, at the time of writing, believed. Further, he cannot, of course, vouch
for the accuracy of statements made to him by others and here recorded. But he
did try to ensure such accuracy by consulting, as far as possible, those who had
seen or otherwise taken part in the events. The constant falsity of second-hand
evidence (on which a large proportion of war stories are founded) was impressed
upon him by the second or third day of the Gallipoli campaign, notwithstanding that
those who passed on such stories usually themselves believed them to be true. All
second-hand evidence herein should be read with this in mind.
16 Sept., 1946.     C. E. W. BEAN.
AUSTRALIAN WAR MEMORIAL 
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Aust. Historical Mission. Diary II. Feb 27-Mar 5, 1919
Book No. 230
Australian War Memorial

Feb. 26. Sketches AA to AL.
Feb. 27. Visited Gabe Tepe with Zeke Bey, Buchanan,
Lambert, Wilkins, Balfour & James.
Found in general 2 lines of wire – one
up / hillside below 1 trenches; one at / bottom of the
hill. The wire on / beach I didnt see - but Rogers
says to it is ^still there buried in / sand.
There is a new trench all along / hilltop,
probly where the old one was - but deepened.
There are two short lengths of trench below this
on knuckles near the W end of the promontory
 

2
There were no other old trenches on the far (N) side.
The only real ravine is near the Eastern
end. There is a gully there to a regular deep washaway
almost like a quarry - & by description this (X)
is no doubt / place where a gun fired from: There
Diagram - see original document
is the feloe of an old
wheel lying there & 2
homes skulls wh seemed
to be those of horses.
It looks as if the
gun was hit on the
occasion when the hit was
claimed.
 

3
We could find no ^old gun emplacements on Gaba Tepe.
The deep diggings in the centre o / promontory are
later; & there are two Bty positins on the
neck
Diagram - see original document
Possibly these cover some of the old
emplacements. There were
two diggings at , (?) & c.3 but they
were not, I think, Bty positns.
Very little sign on Gaba Tepe of
all the shelling.
 

W should
be E
C.E.W.B.
28/4/47
4

The landing of our men was at the W. end of the
beach – almost opposite the ^main cleft in the hill. You
cd still see the pozzies they had day. (AO). There were
a couple of mess tins there but I don't know if these
were not brought there later. One of them was very
close to the landing place & another right by it.
The wire here ran within a few yds of the
edge of the bank. A messtin & a little few traces of
kit were found abt 10 yds up the hill - but it is
uncertain if they were ^left there at /landing. One messtin
 

5
ws found almost on / spot
The OP. for Beachey Bill was of course at G. Tepe.
I got a sketch of the parts of Anzac wh cd be seen
from Kere. (AN left) The contours of Gabe Tepe^shown is, AM.
We made over the lower end of Sun Ridge wh
Sweeps round just behind Gaba Tipe in several
low easy folds - no gun positns there. The
ground (Wilkins photographed it to show / nature o
/ place we shd have operated in) ws something
like des low desert scrub with shingly patches
in between the low shrubs (much like salt bush county).
 

6
Zeke Bey ws impressed by / fact tt it disciplined
regular troops (as he sd) had landed there, without
/ great difficulties of the Anzac Country, they might
have got far enough ahead, & quick eno', to get
across the Turkish Commns to Chunuk Bair.
But even so - to ^carry out / whole o / days plans
wd have bn most difficult for a division
even in peace time - he sd.
The Asmak Dere has a surprisingly
 

C.EWB.
25/4/47
See sketch
AQ.2 Book 231
p.25
 deep bed. From there a gentle slope leads up
to a further crestline wh runs abt 700yds (I
shd say) S of the Asmak Dere. The top of it
is trenched; & from the top ^of this again you look across
a gentle wide valley abt 2 miles (I shd
say) to the foot of the Kilid Bahr Plateau.
Imd. behind the crestline (about averaging
abt 200yds down it), near the Maidos Rd,
are the positns of 8 big guns, as shown in AQ.
(1 & 2). 

The grave marked ※ in AQ2 is that of a Corporal in a
15 Centimeter Howitzer Bty, killed in 1915. [Rogers considers that
4 of / the gun emplacements are since / campaign & 4 earlier.
There is an obsvertn post or two on the top o / ridge.
The view from tt on / right front o / battery ^(100yd from / gun) is given in
A.P.
There were very few shell holes near these guns;
but the xxxx Ts had apparently collected the bases of some 12 in shell, & nosecaps
also. The epaulments were made up very high with
sandbags. I noticed no direct hits on emplacements
or dugouts as far as one cd see.