Charles E W Bean, Diaries, AWM38 3DRL 606/237/1 - October 1914 - 1918 - Part 2

4
Extract from private letter from Major-General W.T.BRIDGES
to Senator G.F.PEARCE, dated 3/1/1915.
Sir H. BARREON wrote very strongly about the
command of the 11th Battalion. I showed the letter to
Sir G. REID and General BIRDWOOD - the latter thought
some action ought to be taken at once but I felt nothing
should be done until there was more to go on, except
make arrangements for changing the C.O. if necessary.
The deaths from pneumonia are due I believe to men
getting drunk and lying out all night. I have appointed
HOWSE A.D.M.S. with rank of Colonel and am much happier
about the medical arrangements now. He reduced the
expenses of MENA Hospital by £30 a day in three days.

5

Extract from private letter from Major General W. T. BRIDGES
to Senator G.F.PEARCE, dated 9th April, 1915.
In case I should not have the chance again I
wish to let you know that I think Lieut.-Colonel FORSYTH
has done most excellent work - is a very good and loyal
commander deserving of recognition. FARR the Paymaster
has done very well and should be born in mind. WHITE
of course has been my right hand. HOWSE has pulled
the Medical Units together and it will be owing to him
that the ambulances are fit to do their work. PATTERSON
works very hard and in the field with a definite task is quite
good. I think myself very fortunate in my Staff who
pull very well together.

6
Extract from private letter dated 16/5/1915, from Senator G.F.PEARCE
to Major-General W.T. BRIDGES; in reply to letters dated March
18th and April 4th which were received from the latter.
(Note : General BRIDGES died of wounds before this letter
had time to reach him.)
I am not surprised at your remarks re the Light Horse
not being fit for the field. I have always felt that they are
the best material but the worst trained and the officers not
up to standard. Your comment re RYRIE is also not surprising.
I felt that he was not competent for a brigade but as you
know it was my predecessor's appointment.

1
7
Extract from private letter from Major-General A.J.Godley to
Senator G.F.Pearce, dated 7th May, 1915.
Colonel MONASH had a very heavy responsibility, and
a most anxious time without sleep or rest of any kind for
about a week, and has done most admirably.
Of the commanding officers, it is hard to single
any out, they have all done so well. Colonel BURNAGE,
of the 13th, COURTKEY of the 14th, CANNAN the 15th, and
POPE, the 16th, have all proved excellent leaders, and
stout-hearted commanders. POPE'S battalion has, I am sorry to
say, suffered most, and is reduced to only about three
hundred of its original numbers.

8
Extract from private letter from Major-General A.J.Godley
to Senator G.F. Pearce, dated 19th May 1915.
I must write a line to express to you my great
grief at General BRIDGES having been so dangerously wounded.
He was hit, as you will no doubt have heard, by a sharpshooter,
and unfortunately the bullet cut the femoral artery of his
thigh, and also another artery close to it, and though,
fortunately, there was a doctor on the spot, he bled so much,
that I am afraid he has little chance. I went out to
see him on the hospital ship yesterday, but I fear he
will not live to reach Alexandria. I cannot tell you how
distressed we all are about it. He had gained the confidence
and admiration of the whole Army Corps and had proved himself
a most able and excellent divisional commander. He was
absolutely fearless in action, and has set a most splendid
example to all his men, of devotion to duty and soldierly
resolution, under the trying circumstances and desperate
fighting that we have had since we landed here.
For myself, I fear I have lost a great personal
friend. We have worked together so much, and in such perfect
amity unity, that I feel his loss very deeply, and shall miss him
more than I can say. Should he not recover, Australia
has lost one of her best and gallantest sons, but an example
will have been set by him to all our soldiers of the future
of the high ideals and steadfast courage of a brave and
able leader and commander.

9
Extract from private letter from Major-General A.J.Godley
to Senator G.F.Pearce, dated 5th September, 1915.
I must write a line to express to you, on behalf
of this Division, our sincere regret at the irreparable
loss of Lieut.-Colonel ROWELL, Commanding the 3rd Light
Horse Regiment.
He was an exceptionally brilliant and capable
Officer, and one who I had hoped to recommend later for
higher command. We all feel deeply the loss of one who
was not only such a gallant and able soldier, but also
a comrade who had endeared himself with all whom he came
in contact.

10
Extract from private letter from Major-General A.J.Godley to
Senator G.F.Pearce, dated 7th November, 1915.
I am sorry to say the 7th Brigade is leaving me to
rejoin its own Division, and I would like to let you know that
during the time it has been under my command, it has done a
great deal of most excellent work, and has held, and
consolidated, the Post called the APEX, which is probably,
at this moment, the key of the whole Anzac position.
Colonel BURSTON, who commands the brigade, has not
spared himself, and has shown the greatest possible zeal
and energy in carrying out his duties. A senior officer of
administrative ability being required to command all
reinforcements at Mudros, he has now been selected by the
Commander-in-Chief for this important post, where he will
have a great deal of responsibility, but where, judging from
what I have seen of his work here, I am sure he will not only
command excellently the large numbers of men which he
will have, but will also be able to give, most valuable
assistance to all your brigades, by instilling into, and
impressing upon all reinforcements before they reach here,
the various points which his own experience in the Field
has shown him are so necessary for them to know when they
arrive. I hope he will be granted the rank of Brigadier-General.
He has earned it by his work in the Field.

11
Extract from private letter from Major-General A.J.Godley to
Senator G.F. Pearce, dated 10/1/1916.
There are many things that are not going quite as
perfectly as one would wish, but, generally speaking, I think
you may be satisfied that everything in connection with your
Force has been very well done, and I think the greatest credit
is due to SELLHEIM and his subordinates, and all others who
were left in Egypt, for keeping things going as well as they
have, and there is no doubt that all Military and Civil
Authorities in Egypt have done everything in their power
to help us.
I have arranged to reconstitute SELLHELM'S office,
which has not hitherto embraced control of all units of the
Australian Imperial Force outside the Army Corps, into what will
be called the Headquarters of the Australian Imperial Force
in Egypt and on IRVING'S arrival, he will not only command the
Australian Training Battalions and other units, but will also
be head of this Headquarters, and we will then find some other job
for SELLHEIM.
This will make IRVING the unquestioned and absolute head
of everybody and everything Australian and not actually serving
with the Army Corps, and will make him your representative, and
my representative and the High Commissioner's representative,
and all Imperial Authorities will refer all Australian
questions to him. Further, it will be quite clear that he
is the recognised head of, and commands, all Australians
not serving with the Army Corps. This will put matters on a
much better footing than they have been hitherto, and will
make his position one of unquestioned authority and responsibility.

12
Extract from private letter from Major-General A.J.Godley
to Senator G.F.Pearce, dated 16th March, 1916.
I hope you will be able to do something for General
HUGHES, and Colonels BURSTON and SPENCER BROWN. They have
all done such excellent service with us and are in all
respects good officers, their only disability being their age
and consequent physical incapacity to carry out, what is in
this war, essentially a young man's job. I had General HUGHES,
as you know, under my command for some time, and formed a high
opinion of his valour and ability, and I only wish that he
had been ten or twenty years younger and that his health
would have stood the strain. The same applies to Colonel
BURSTON, who did most admirable work as far as his health would
allow. He also was under my command for some time.
I saw less of SPENCER BROWN, but he also as far as I saw,
was a first-rate officer, and all three are deserving of
any consideration that you can give them.
In the case of Colonels BURSTON and SPENCER BROWN
I think what they would appreciate more than anything else
would be the grant of temporary rank of Brigadier-General,
which they certainly earned by their command of brigades
in the field under conditions which were exceptionally
trying for men of their age.

13
Extract from private letter from Major-General A.J.Godley to
Senator G.F.Pearce, dated 27th April, 1916, in reply to
letter received from the latter dated. February 28th, 1916.
I am extremely sorry about IRVING, but am afraid there
is no question but that he has not risen to the occasion
or come up to the mark required for a brigadier. When General
McCAY first reported it to me, I arranged for him to be given
still further trial, and went into the question very carefully
myself. But the result of this was only to confirm McCAY'S
opinion, and to cause me to entirely agree with him, and I
therefore had no option but to recommend that he should be
removed. I hope that he may be given the opportunity of
commanding the training battalions at Tel-el-Kebir, which
is practically the job for which he was sent out. In view
of what has happened to him now, and of the experience which
he has gained, I believe he will do this alright, and it will
give him a better chance.
I think POPE will do well. He has served under me
ever since the 4th Brigade arrived in this country, about
sixteen months ago, and I know him well. But, it is of
course a great experiment to put a man without professional
training into such a position, and it is only the very best
who can rise to it. But many of them, as you know, like
McCAY, HOLMES, PATON, &c., have done so with great success.
I am sorry about McNAGHTON, too, but he has been quite
hopeless lately. McCAY is writing ^fully to you about him. McCAY is
doing most excellent work, and I only hope that his health
may stand. But I am afraid that he is in considerable pain still,
either walking or riding, and latterly his stomach has been out of
order to add to his troubles, but I would a good deal rather
have him lame than a good many of the others sound, and therefore
hope that he will manage to stick it out alright.