Charles E W Bean, Diaries, AWM38 3DRL 606/9/1 - June 1915 - Part 1

AWM38

Official History,

1914-18 War: Records of C E W Bean,
Official Historian.

Diaries and Notebooks

Item number: 3DRL606/9/1

Title: Diary, June 1915
Covers Quinn's Post, "The Dinkum Oil", the
periscope rifle, flies, gas and Helles.

AWM38-3DRL606/9/1
 

DIARY 1st (IX)
June 5-27.
The RECORD
Exercise Book.
Original          DIARY No.9
AWM 38   3DRL 606 ITEM 9 [1]
DIARIES AND NOTES OF C. E. W. BEAN
CONCERNING THE WAR OF 1914-1918
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
ACCESS STATUS
OPEN

Written by
Address

Quarter [[shorthand]] Noonan
Snipers' shots.

1
June 5-27

(Diary 9)
8/6/15  View from Courtneys Post down valley. 
Hand drawn diagram, see original document
 A trench goes back from German officers trench on the far side
of the hill (& therefore marked here with a dotted line) across
the Gully to the S. of it & behind J. Jolly ) - Directn of it marked here
with a dotted line
Hand drawn diagram, see original document
 

Hand drawn diagram - see original document

2

View of T. Trenches on J. Jolly from L.H. lines south of 1st Bn.
8/5/15
Hand drawn diagram, see original document

Hand drawn diagram, see original document

3
But from Popes you couldn't see them. Maj. Glasgow got a message
whilst I ws there asking him to do something to help Quinns - but he cd
only put his m.g.s over their trenches & cut their sandbags. All tt ever
shows o / Turks there until they begin to come out o their trenches
is their fixed bayonets. But Glasgow has now, I believe, 6 m.g.s ready
for them, on Popes alone, if they come across. The N.Z. people have an
even better positn & the Courtneys & 1st Bn machine guns can do
something but have to be careful not to hit our own men at / back of
Popes.
From Popes H. Quinns looked / most desolate spot on earth.
not a blade of green is left there - / place is scorched to / bone,
the ∧all pink & brown earth lies bare - tumbled this way & tt w
trenches - w all / desolation of a deserted mining camp. Over
this blasted surface there were continually arising explosions - 
sometimes of little white bombe clouds whose smoke swept away
low down & hung like a mountain mist over / top edge of the
rear slope of Quinns - streaks of it; Sometimes black bombs
w a single ugly ^black puff going straight up like the puff of a rley
engine – Sometimes much bigger black bombs w a smoke like
tt of a small volcano - These explosions often lifted yellow earth,
& red earth, black earth in dense little clouds - shot fragments
of wood, cloth, earth, ten or twenty feet into / air. One of our
Lotbiniere bombs the other day brought back a Turkish shovel
right over ^the rear of our own trenches.

At abt 6.30 I went back to Quinns. Someone told
me they were still holding / trench – I think it ws Col.
Lotbiniere. All / time from Popes, one cd see long planks going
into / trenches ^& moving along them - also galvanised iron - a constant stream of engineers went up /
path into them, plenty of men came out, but all without
arms - evidently working party. There was an intermittent
stream of wounded coming out - some frightful wounds.
Col. Chauvel sd the interpreter had better go down
& have some breakfast. I had bn up all night so I
went back too & on xxxxx  xx down to / beach. I took /
old interpreter too far xxxxx xxx past / ordnance store ^supply depot - 
abt 5 barricades too far. We turned back & noticed /
men sitting under / ordnance ^A.S.C. boxes shouting something
to us. Lying at / side under / bank ws a wrapped up

4
figure on a stretcher – he seemed to me dead. Since we had
passed a minute before / sniper up / valley had shot a captain -
quartermaster dead as he ws carrying a biscuit tin.

The same sort of thing happened yesty. Some damned
young fool of an officer in the 3rd L.H. sent his men down to
draw foo rations at this point at 2. in the afternoon. They were hopping
across with biscuit tins whilst the bullets flicked past them - 
whit - whit - whit. A very pretty game but the young
fool responsible for it ought to be tried for attempted murder.
I told Blamey - he told Jess - & I see they have now put a barbed
wire fence across the place to prevent it being used as a road
& perhaps they will now draw their stores there at night.

I hear they had to come out of Qu the trench they
took at Quinns - just abt the time I left. They were driven
out by bombs not by enfilade fire.
The losses were.
Auckland:   3 killed 45 wounded (2 officers)
                                                    8 missing.    Tot 56
Canterbury 1 officer k. 5 wd.
                       8 o.r. k.  37 wd. 4 missing      Tot 55
                                                                                 ----

                                                                                  111

 [*I ws given this
at N.Z. H.Q.
       Killed.   w   . m
off.     2         8
or.     12      102     17
___________________
          14      110     17
___________________
Total            141 *]

They think the Turks lost abt 150; 8 T. rifles were
captured.
The T. prisoners is shake / hands of our officers & some even
kiss them when they come in. The idea is tt if you they
do this you cant go & kill them afterwds.
One of them brought his rifle down on / head of a N. Zealander
to day for some reason - The N.Z. man trod on his toe or
something. The guard immediately, I believe, hit him one
under the chin. As Farr sd, when he heard it, the was Turk ws
lucky it ws not an Australian.
The shells today are no further on at Settil Bahr.

June 6th. Sunday. Mackworth ws down at Settil Bahr for
a day or two, & he brought back the first real news of the attac
 

5
The officers account says it He says the British did not get
on at all where all / bombardment was - It was a regular
European bombardment The British lasting ^from 10 till 12. The
British wire were held up by barbed wire. The French
however took some trenches & the N. Brigade Division
advanced a bit but the French afterwds retired &
the N. Division had to retire also. They captured abt
400 prisoners including some German machine
gunners.

[The Peninsula Press has since appeared &
of course this is sd to be XXlls given in terms of a
moderate success. But the P.P. doesnt misstate
facts - it only suppresses them. The Times which
said (? on May 3) that we had surrounded the Turks &
cut their communicatns is simply lying.

Col. Hobbs tells me there was a Turkish 6 gun
battery yesty firing at Phillips' battery from
behind the chessboard (I think he means from "C")
see page 2 sketch)
Arthur tells me they knew of a case of a man having
the lower half of his shirt, & his trowsers, ripped off by a shell
without himself being hurt.
No papers or letters for nearly a fortnight. We
have a ferry service established to Mudros now
(times of call here uncertain owing to shellfire but
one packet - fleetsweeper - always leaves for Mudros
at 3a.m. every morning).

June 7. Monday
[*Scout.*]  Sergt. Freme of 1st Bn. looked in. "I think
[*(G.O.s trench)*]  you might be interested in our little misadventure last
night," he sd - & told me the following pitiable story.
After the failure of the 1st Bn's rush attempt upon
German Officers trench (on ^night June 4-5) the General wanted
to find out if there were any ^how strongly the G.O.s trench ws held. Freme

:x: The 14^th used to send patrols out of Courtneys.
One went as far as the hut (/ one w / steps so my informant
told me.) They thought / Turks might be using it for a
mine head & tunnelling from there. One man (/ man,
now an officer, who told me) used to went inside &
found 5 dead Turks - tt ws all.
Rev - Gillison (afterwds k.) used to go
up Shrapnel valley sniping w this patrol
- sniping towards Dead Mans Ridge & / back of
Popes. Gillison took off his Red X. "I'm under
fire here ^exactly like everyone else & of theres no use in
in any protection I get from / laws of war," was
/ line of Gillisons argument - so he didn't see
why he shdn't snipe like / rest.
Father Fahey - the R.C. priest of the 11^th (? or 10^th) certainly
did some sniping. One day he almost trod on Col. MacLagans toes in / trenches in hopping
back from a loophole
exclaiming "Missed the 
boogger!" That was 
the way he talked - it
nearly flattened me
when first I heard him.

6
ws instructed to go out & draw fire. He cd pick whom
he wanted - He decided to go out with two men. There had bn
2 in other companies who sd to him - when you go|out next time
Harry take me with you - I'll go with you any time. He went
along & took a lot of to Now, having a job, he look a lot of
trouble to find these men. But He asked the first if he wd
come. "What's the job?,"  ws / reply. Freme told him. "Not good
enough for me," ws / answer. "I only asked you bec. you offered
to come," sd F. "Not good eno' " -  ws / answer. F. went to /
other. "Whats going have you got on, Harry," ws / reply.
F. told him. "I wish hope you come back alright"  sd / other
& turned on his heel. Freme went of at that. "Look. Im
not going to call you men cowards" he sd. But next time
"Life's too short in these days for us to quarrel - I don't
think you are cowards. But if you dont mean what you
say I wish don't say it."

He got two volunteers from his own Coy - one
a little chap - a mere youngster of 19 or 20 named Elart - a
reinforcement. The other a youngster of the orginal Bn named
Morris. They were both very keen. So he took them with a rifle
each, & a couple of bombs - he taking two revolvers & about 5 bombs.
At 10.30 they went out from the same hole as before & crept down
to the left past / marines "disused" marines trench near Courtneys.
The Turks in tt trench were firing at a patrol ^:x: which was
also out to their right front - & they did not see the three.
[[Hand drawn diagram, see original document]]

F. spoke ^to me of it as being as
easy to go unseen then
as if there were no one
about. Provided the back parapet
were high & therefore you didnt appear agst / horizon you
cd always creep out of a trench or a hole. But you must
go flat like a snake & not on
Diagram, see original document
on the inside of your knees
big toes & elbows & not on your kneepads & palms.
[[Hand drawn diagram, see original document]]
Then in getting over a rise you shdnt
get up so [[Hand drawn diagram, see original document]] but [[Hand drawn diagram, see original document]] go over it like

7
a snake, bending your body over the top of the bank your
chest almost scrubbing it all the way. "I only touch three
places when I'm going on hands & knees;" sd Freame - 
& he tapped inside of elbow, inside of knee, inside of knuckle
of big toe. "You oughtnt to have a rifle either - what use is a
rifle your job is to see, not to shoot unless you are at the
closest possible quarters & a revolver is the weapon for that;
a rifle, esp. bayonet fixed, simply shows you up."

Well - they started & crept round the marines trench wh ws
fairly strongly well held - the Turks in it all firing. They got into /
dead ground & then round right to / marines trench where F.
had seen / two flashes of two machine guns on / night o /
sortie - he on had bn on / parapet tt night, watching.

They crept right up to the G.O. trench where the guns had
been & then Freame threw two bombs at the loopholes. Only 3
rifles flashed - two at side & one in front. That seemed to
show there were no m.gs. there now. He then went round to /
front o / trench & threw some bombs along it. Only response
same flashes of 2 or 3 rifles from end of trench. They then
went back towards marines trench & threw their remaining 
bombs into it - the Turks firing wildly to their front in / directn
of the patrol. He As a last resort to give / Turks in G.Os. trench
something to shoot at if any had bn there he stoo sent / boys
back a bit, stood up in / open in front o G.O's trench,
fired 12 revolver shots into it without drawing any
response from / front.

That satisfied him tt / trench ws held by
very few Turks. He went back to / boys & ^they started back to /
trenches of 1st Bn.

Now it had bn a question of how they were to come back,
thro' the hole in the tunnel or over / parapet. Fr. sd over /
parapet. "Can you find your way," they asked. "If I cant find
my way to / parapet of my own trench am I fit to
go scouting to the enemys trenches?" he asked.

tall They arranged tt there ws to be no firing
from that sector of trench tt night until this scouting
party came back. The password ws to be "Freame." The
sentries were to have fixed bayonets & any oncoming
Turk ws to be bayoneted until / patrol ws back. It ws

8
pretty late - 1.30 I think - when they came back - no it can
scarcely have taken so long. The boys asked how can we
know / way back. F. sd "Look, you go first, I will follow &
when you are to go to / left I will tug your left foot, when
to / right I'll tug your right foot." So he steered them gradually
home.

It had bn an exceedingly successful outing. "I'm satisfied
Harry," sd one o / boys, "I'd follow you anywhere."

The leading youngster - the reinforcement, Elart - was a
chap who had bn a seaman on / Australia. He had deserted
but when / war came along he ws anxious to go back & do his
bit. His real name we not Elart but Hart - only I suppose
it ws easy to change / mark on his linen from Hart to Elart
- a He wd have gone back to the Navy but he ws afraid of naval
discipline afer his desertn. So in order to do his bit he came
w / infantry. His one wish ws to be able to write & tell his sister tt
he had wiped out the offence of the desertion. He welcomed this
chance of doing it - indeed he had written a letter to / general
telling him abt it & hoping for a pardon.

We he had done his job - well wiped out any offence. He
& his mate had / makings of two good scouts in them. They
crept up to wards / trench, Freame steering, over / first
line row of wire - And then in / second, anchored row, of
wire something sounded. There was a flash & a bang in
front of them. Theirf own sentry had fired - The bullet after
all / arrangements. The bullet went though / eye of
/ leading boy, Elart, & out of his neck, in again at /
front of his shoulder, out at / back; into / face o /
boy behind & out thro' his neck.

Elart died. The other has a good chance of recovery.

Freame ws is charge of transport (10 waggons) for
/ Germans in German E. Africa during their war there.
He afterwds ws on a ranche in America under a
German-American named Zeigler as a mail man;
when / Mexican war ws on Diaz had Zeigler &
him (as a captain) on his intelligence staff. He was a
Canadian (clearly of Chinese or Japanese blood) used
to ranching. He had a brother a merchant in
Japan married to an American. He was in