Charles E W Bean, Diaries, AWM38 3DRL 606/239/1 - 1917 - 1918 - Part 2

9

These had to live near / Tower
& parade there daily. They were
paraded ^in the square o / Tower before Sir W Robertson ^& Mr Fisher who
sd it ws a very difficult venture.
If successful it wd have a big ef assist materialy
in winning / war. They were in
England from 14^th to 29^th. (Fisher sd:
now boys, you're going on a great stunt.
Live clean). They got summer & winter 
kit - a big kit - it ws all needed.
The night day before going the offrs
were told it ws a mission &
Tiflis ws to be their base.
They went to Southampton
- Cherbourg (as a secret mission,
now) Marseilles. Italy Nice, Mentone)
arrangements splendid - a day
at several places St Germaine,
Faenza, & Brindisi _^& alld to see them - & lastly
(in / same rly carriage) to / Great

10

camp at Taranto - 9 days
in all. They got there 5 pm Feb 8.
The Malwa ws waiting & on Feb
10 they went on board - left on
12^th & reached Alex on 15^th.
They were given a day in
Alex on 15^th & went round
hunting for Russian & Persian
grammars.
Night 16/17 trained to Suez
& embarked on Nile. She left at
5pm 17^th & went round to the
Persian Gulf - & reached Koweit
on March 1st. 1918.
Transhipped same day onto
Erinpura (getting hot) & by
B.I. boat - March 2nd passed
up mouth of Shatt-el-Arab
past the 3 boats sunk by / Turks
to block / river. At 2pm. on

11

March 2 they reach Ashar
wh is opp. Basra.
Up to this time they were
known as the "Bagdad Party,"
& tt ws all the N.C.Os knew.
The offrs had bn told in London
tt they were to molest / Turks.
An intelligence offr from the
War office the day before
they sailed had come down,
locked the offrs into / messroom
o / H.A.C. at the Tower &
exhibited to them a lot of
maps - told them (Col. Steel
or Steele a head of an Intell. section
at War Office) He sd / Turk is a
sick man, we want to make
him more sick. We have
to cut off supplies & train.
troops to come & help finish him)

12

Past the great oil works
at Ashar they went into
camp & got 1 batman to 3
offrs. Later they got permanent
batmen at Bagdad - These
men were Class C men
& mostly died! [Later, the
7 Gloucesters had only summer
kits there (their kit ws at
Hamadan)] They went through
rest camp messes run by
natives (so didn't need special
cooks).
They went on March 10^th 
& reached Amara (not Kut)
on the 12^th March through rich
soil quite uncultivated (by 
big river steamer as big as
Hobsons Bay boats) Rest
Camp there. On March 15
left Amara for Kut.

13

Polygon Wood.
When the 58^th was
in Polygon Wood three junior
officers - Lieut. Keating, Lt. Dean,
& Lt. Hooper decided tt / Bn
needed support. One of them
went down (Lt Dean) & saw
Pompey Elliott (unknown to Maj.
Freeman who ws elsewhere) &
told him tt / Bn needed a
coy. "A Coy, my Boy," sd
Pompey - "You shall have the
whole of the 60^th".
Boyd (under whom ws
Flintoff,) ws / offr who did so
magnificently this time. Gilchrist
did not particularly distinguish
himself.

14

At Kut the old battlefield was
still to be seen. There is a
big Turkish stone obelisk
there, put up since.
From there went by
rail past the old Arch Entrance
to Ctesiphon Solitary in /
desert - to Hinaidi, 
the Dunster force Camp. A few
Mesopotamians had gone on.
This was a base. Practiced
loading camels & mules, sword
exercise & All sorts of work tt wd be
required. Big E.P. tents already
fixed here. It ws abt 5 miles
below Bagdad on the left bank
o / Tigris. Went in for games
there & getting fit - weather fairly
warm but winter ny perfect

15

A few Mesopotamians had 
gone up w Gen Dunsterville
& formed an advanced base
at Ruz. (? D. went right on to
? Resht) The rest followed by a medium
& then light guage line to Ruz (it had
bn laid by British) At Ruz
each offr pitched his own 40lb
tent & "batching" commenced
in real earnest to / horror 
of some - Sergts lived in 80lb &
160 lb tents (4 or 8 to a tent).
From Ruz one first large pty
got a lift in Ford Vans (which
were working in connection w
a Mespot. Force attack at
Kifre) & travelled over 100
miles thro' Khanikin - &
Kasr-I-Shirin. They were
then in Persia - roads were
[*sweet girl*]

16

very bad.
At Kasr-I-Shirin on Anzac
day they got / fiercest hailstorm
they ever saw - several tents
were blown down including Col.
Keyworth's (not much of a chap).
Pushed on with mule cavalcade,
on foot. There / English offrs
first put up their tents & drained
/ water into them - & one dug
a sort of pool in / middle
o / tent & cd have rolled off
his bed into his bath in /
morning. There were great
ancient irrigation works - on a
^vast scale. there but / water is not running
now -
From there as an advanced
base they started w / mules 
some days while they waited at

17

Kasr-I-Shirin they heard
a tremendous row of bells &
along came abut 1000 mules
covered with bells of all sizes
on their harness - very very
poor. A stallion with one deep
bell led them. There were sores
under some o / saddles - The
mules wd always follow the
horse wh usually headed their
string - knew him by his bell.
- would sort themselves from a
crowd to follow him.
Routine up at 3.30 - Breakfast,
roll do up your tent. Start at 5.
One would do the cooking.
There were now 30 offrs in this
party (incl. 4 Australians).
F.E Williams Rhodes Scholar Adelaide
Scott Olsen (mate of ship from NSW)
Hooper

18

Savage.
MacIver who ws off the rails
had been swapped at Bagdad for
Savage. This ws the advanced pty
of any size (Dunsterville ws ahead of them)
An Indian offr ws w them.
Going across a plain they
wd extend & going ws clear.
Going thro defiles they had
to picket the heights (when
warned they were dangerous
by the small party wh went
in front attached to Dunsterville
but not in cars - there were
no Austlns w them).
The pickets wd stay on / hills
till they passed & then come
thro as / rear guard.
They reached Bisitun.
which Darius passed over w
his army.