Charles E W Bean, Diaries, AWM38 3DRL 606/24/1 - December 1915 - Part 4

29
it ws - for we left him to kick his
heels on the R. Clyde (wh is only a
great empty steel carcase ^half full of
bilge - with one comfortable little
ships officers saloon panelled in
brown oak wh / Turks haven't 
yet managed to hit. (The Turks
now range on / bows of the Clyde
in order to hit / piers & 
boats & / Clyde had two big
holes put thro her bows
2 days ago).

James seemed very much
impressed by / difference
between / pictures of war in the
newspapers - & / reality; & ws
rather inclined to attribute his 
joining / army to / ∧glowing newspaper
accounts. ^"I dont think I'd never join
again if there were another
war", he sd - & although I told

30
him I didn't think anyone
wd feel satisfied if he hadnt
joined I didn't seem to convince
him at all (to judge by / tone of
his voice).

I dined by myself - & for
Xmas fare had a mince pie which
our batmen & the artists gave me
- they had had it cooked by the
11th field Bakery.

Dec 26^th (Sunday)
Working all day at the
Anzac magazine - a great deal of
which really is excellent. On
Dec arriving home last night
found a note from Butler enclosing
a wire from / Censor. It regretted tt
Maj. Delmé Radcliffe & correspts
had not been informed tt no 
details whatever ^cd be despatched from which a hint
as to / methods by wh / troops

31
had bn withdrawn from Anzac or 
Suvla; ^& tt our messages had bn
carefully re-read & seriously
curtailed.

This was like an ^unexploded shrapnell shell
in / pit o / stomach. The despatch on
wh I had poured out more care
than on anything I have written here
- the only chance one has had of
even attempting to rival Bartletts
work (which no man ever censored
in this degree). However the authorities
are quite right. They know what
they mean to do about Helles &
I dont. The only thing I could wish
is that they could have told us this 
before we wrote & not after. We 
had a long conference w Aspinal
(Ch. of Staff, Dardenelles Army) &
the Press Officer before we wrote at
which / lines within wh we were

32
allowed to write were carefully
laid down - all to appear as if 
done [shorthand] - & I had kept
strictly within this & Radcliffe had
scarcely had to alter a word of
my article. If we had known
tt it ws to be written on different 
lines within still narrower lines
we wd have written it so.

As it was of course the best
article of the campaign goes to /
wall. However the important
thing is the other place - & one
cant expect / authorities to
alter these have everything cut &
dried for us on the instant &
never to change their minds at
any moment. If ^Col Tyrrell had bn
a little quicker he wd have saved us 
a lot of trouble - that's all. And
as he considers press censorship his

It struck me tt there ws one
body of men to whom I had not
given (or cd not, on / informatn I possessed,
give) credit for work at Anzac, but who
wd really ought to be mentioned in
any history as responsible for so
much daring reconnaissance -
& tt ws / flying corps. So I  →

33
least important function I
think his ideas probably put us
to a lo our needless trouble
ws probably largely due to his
ideas - that's about the sum of it.
Very little harm done, anyway - &
that, such as it is, only to us and
none at all to / Empire.

Dec. 27. Mon. Decided to
leave for Mudros tomorrow. 
→ 

Went off at last moment to
try & get some details o / work o
/ flying corps. Command^r. Samson
ws here before we landed - I remember
he made some o / earliest
reconnaissances - so I went off 
to see him. He lives abt 4 miles or 
more away near / heads of
Kephalo harbour. ^When I went in
to see him he ws lying down
reading after before dinner -

rather high pale cheekbones,
pale, 

34
& I must say I never had a 
cooler - indeed ruder - reception
from any man. I told him who
I was & that I should like to
have ^a yarn if he cd let me have it. He
might at least have given me a 
polite no - but he didnt
trouble to get up. "I'm afraid I
cant be if any use to you," he sd
curtly. I told him it ws not for
newspapers or something to tt
effect - he simply said:  "You go to
Head Quarters, Royal Naval Air
Service - they'll talk like Hell -
they'll tell you all about it."
He is a quaint little Jew chap w
a little Jewish nose like an owls
beak & two bright eyes & a short
thin beard - He is a splendid 
flier & has done great things & I

35
know / best officers are often /
least most unbending to / Press - &
I daresay the rudest. Probably he
has had pushing pressmen after
his stories a score of times & has
learnt I to suspect / journalist.
Still, as far as I'm concerned,
though I cordially admire him
I wasn't going to be talked to &
treated like this so I sd a short 
goodbye & went.

After wandering for an hour
tumbling abt & nearly killing 
myself in / dark over /
sandhills & tangled scrub &
rush beds of / Kephalo Isthmus - & 
tearing my trousers - I reached
the other air-camp & there
found Maj. Buzzard who,
once he had found out I was
not a spy (which he clearly

Diagram - see original scan

Oruba Arragon
Dec 31. Waihine
Britannic
Going [shorthand] fog. Quick hoots abt every ½ minute.
Subm. in Doria [shorthand]
White still on Cornwallis in Mudros.
Papers on couch [shorthand] bed.

36
suspected - told me as follows:
& I suppose quite justifiably - until
I showed him a letter Gen. Birdwood had
given me in case I take the Anzac 
Magazine to England - told me as follows:-

There are 2 wings of the RNAS
out here. At first there was only
one, under Sampson, & all the
aeroplanes had their H.Q. in
Tenedos. In July they came
a second w to Imbros & left
Tenedos to the French. I believe 
it ws the 3rd wing wh ws here
first & the 2nd followed. There are
properly abt 30 aeroplanes in a wing
but in this case there were not so
many - I believe now they are trying
to bring the number up to 70 or so
out here - now tt / French Germans
are so active.

The German aeroplanes are
giving our men a bad time just
now. The difficulty when an enemys

If you do get above him the
Turk can drop quickly down
to his landing place at Chanak, 
whereas we cannot land now
at Anzac. The wonder to my
mind is tt they ever let us use
the landing place at Helles.

37
plane comes along is first to
get above him & then to shoot him.
Our Vickers guns jam in cold weather
at the height they have to fly at, whereas
they seem to arm their men w Mauser
pistols. The T. anti-aircraft guns
have been shooting very well of
late - I asked our men if they
ever came uncomfortably close &
they said: "Oh yes, very much so indeed."
Some of these guns are at Anzac -
probably 4; some at Ejelmer Bay;
& some at Helles. After Anzac
was abandoned our men went
over there ^flying low down I fancy, 
thinking tt / Turkish gun wd have
bn withdrawn; but they found it
ws still there. [The Turks have bn
on / beach in parties collecting
stores]. Turks are now bombing
& shelling Helles a great deal;
& they sent an aeroplane to Helles
Mudros on Xmas Day which
dropped 6 bombs close to the 
Aragon.

38
The system as far as it affected Anzac ws
tt two flights planes were always kept
ready available for Anzac every
day, at the call of the Anzac Corps
(which meant the B.G.R.A.)

Wher It ws difficult to deal w Turkish
aeroplane attacks - but / system
Sampson instituted for this ws tt
immediately he heard of bombs
dropped in Imbros at GHQ he
went straight away at once &
dropped them on / Turkish
aerodrome at Chanak.

We are losing a fair number 
of men & machines - they go out
& no one knows what happens 
to them - only tt they do not
come back. The Turks haven't 
so far claimed them; so it is
supposed tt they have engine
troubles over / sea &, as they
cannot reach land or find a safe
ship to alight near, they are
drowned. Two planes have 
so disappeared quite lately -