Charles E W Bean, Diaries, AWM38 3DRL 606/233/1 - 1919 - 1920 - Part 8

advancing.

From there he went

off to hospital. The 3rd

Bn of his regt ws just 

moving up on his left at /

time - It ws / reserve &

it ws abt 4 or 4.30 when it

came up. Further S. ws the

27th Regt.

[The Bn of 27^th Regt had lost

all its 4 Coy offrs, 3 k., one

holding on) wd; most of its

under younger officers were dead or wd]

The 3rd Bn got abt to

Jessaret Tepe, the Nek.

That night the 2nd Bn got as

126

to be encouraging his men

to go forward after / retreating

Turks. Presently he saw

the Australians xxx were

stay in a little bunch,

hide take cover in / scrub,

He himself went down

into Dik Dere (he had bn shot

thro / arm ^standing up but was holding

on - as the situation was

critical). He found down

in Dik Dere tt his soldiers

who had left C & gone

round to D were not

demoralised; but tt they

had come under / fire

of their own mountain bty

( wh he thinks is what

prevented our men also from

125

 

from D to C. Just at

this moment, Zeki Bey cd

see an Australian line

further to opposite his men

A - B. Near A an officer

was standing pointing with

a sword (he thinks it ws

a sword - or else a stick)

at Zeki Beys men of the

1st Bn who were retiring

near  C. A lieutenant of

the 1st Bn ws there wounded

in / neck. Zeki Bey cd see

this officer there hanging on

& saw him fall & his men

retire - & come round

nearer to D. Zeki Bey shouted

out to his men to shoot

at the Australians who seemed

124

Ap 25

Zeki Bey had about 15

soldiers w him at / time

he ws wd. Some soldiers

had crossed Dik Dere (he

thinks this was the one). &

had attacked our men

so close tt it looked like

bayonet work.

At this moment the

situation was as follows.

Diagram - see original document

The 15 men with Zeki Bey were

at E. They cd see other men

of the Bn across Dik ? Dere

123

Our booby traps caught very

few men - some on / right of

3's regt were caught by a

loud mine but none of his

regt. The ships fire did

little damage.

They found tt /

ships fire ws not so terrible

as at first they thought it
wd be. At first they thought

tt all towns like Maidos wd have to be

evacuated; but they found

tt Kariye Dere ws quite

livable. The mortars howitzers wh

we afterwds got were very

much worse.

122

reserve ws pushed in to

occupy / crater - & that his

troops got lost & wandered

on into our trench & found them

empty. 

This ws reported. Then the

Savla fires occurred - & this

gave the show away really.

[A German Cinematographer

had just come out to take

some pictures (the Ts had no

amusements) but we had gone

& he lost his chance].

[Z. Bey ws a young staff officer

when the battalion wh he commanded

later ws formed out of the 4^th Coys

of 3 other regiments. He continues

to command it]

121

Towards / evacuation a bit 

of movement ws noticed, but

they cdnt make out if we were

landing or leaving.

On / last night reports were

sent in tt boats were seen

coming & leaving - but these boats

had bn seen before at Anzac Imbron

Also  - what convinced Zeki

Bey - our men were reported to be

wiring right nearly up to / end - some

as late do nights before they were out at midnight, xxx working.

He had a m.g. wh played on

these wiring pties & had / gun

at work tt night - he thought we

were ^possibly pushing / wire over / edge

o / trench. It ws reported tt our [[stunts?]] were

becoming less numerous. But some even at / end thought

we were attacking. Then our Nek mine went

up. Immediately a regiment in

120

terrible time w / rain wh

drowned a number of these men

of the Bn holding / line.

Zeki Beys regt ^then at rest had to reoccupy

/ line there too, at once, &

dig it out again.

The "silent stunt" they put

down to our wanting ^a quiet period to dig

out our trenches too. They were 

however ordered to send out

patrols  & try to get into our

trenches - batry unit had to

send a patrol - but every

patrol reported our line held.

In / summer they were

told tt sickness (they understood

it ws malaria) wd drive

our men off / Peninsula.

They had some sickness but not 

so much.

119

fire on the T. trenches & this

occupied all their attention 

- our intention succeeded here.

Towds / end of Zeki Beys stay

in G.O.T it was a very anxious

line bec. all / while they cd

hear under his positn our 

men digging.  The moment

they themselves started digging

to reset us we xxx used to blow them

up. He ws done up & without sleep

after 40 odd days in / trenches opp / Austrailns

Zeki Bey ws then sent

round to Kaiajik Aghala.

It was far quieter there - quite

different from / Australian

front.

In November they had a 

118

these were Australian Turks but he sd

you fools - we have no periscopes !

Those are English!"

The offr commanding the

45 ? or 47 Regt reported tt

day tt he had recaptured /

front line. But all tt had happened

ws tt is troops had entered

some trenches on / edge of Owens

Valley, wh we had not occupied.

Z. Bey knew tt the line had not

bn retaken because from / back

o / Jolly he cd see our men

looking over.

At an early period he also

asked why an attack wd not being

made from J. Jolly. But he ws

told tt ? we were preparing to

attack there . We kept up a heavy

117