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

15

good indeed. The serial begins "Bertrand sniped

battleships from his dugout on / beach..."

Wednesday June 9^th

Stayed in to write diary till got a message at

3.30 p.m. from Col. Johnston (2nd ^Art Bde.) to say he had a

scheme on. A battery from in front was to pound the enemy's

Quinns trenches one way →; B. Brown ws to run a 

gun into / firing line & pound them another way ↑

- just 10 shots & then down (They are only alld 2 shots per

gun about w a little discretion).

Phillips guns were to pounce on "C" - if he

opened.

The guns were very slow in opening - the

firing on the whole seemed to me scattered, & not very

good. Then "C" began. First there was a curious white
Diagram - see original document 

puff of smoke up wher over his positn - I thought it ws one

of our shrapnel; they Col. J. sd it might be a puff (i.e.

apparently a blast of powder meant esp. to mislead us).

He turned one of our guns on C. Presently quite clearly

from behind a break in the hillside otherwise quite

invisible came a small cloud of dust - just a tiny

whisp of it blowing away to / left. Our guns began to

pounce on it all of them straight away. It fired again -

& its shell had a curious light tired sort of rustle.

"Why that's Tired Tim!" cried Col. J." I'll swear tt's Tired Tim. He's

never bn there before. Wonder what theyve moved

him there for!" Tired Tim is a smallish gun wh used

to fire at its very extreme range. It ws firing now from

a good deal closer - if this was Tired Tim. Presently

as well as T. Tim we noticed smoke dust whiffs

travelling from at least two other positions a 

few yds to / left of it. They were firing at some

66
20 yds into / air. A working party at once
got in, & a sentry - & / work ws to be
cleaned & continued to / neighbouring sap.
[*Secrecy*]  

At 5 am. our howitzers opened (? x mtn gun
at Quinns?) [Both the events ^ & the mine were foretold by men in
3rd Light Horse - Arthur was told of them]
Sat. June 26 My first reports arrived
in papers from Australia arrived today. I
see that they didnt all take the 1st Cable -
the Argus didnt - considered it late
I suppose.
[*Artillery 

(Turk accuracy)*] 

The Turks have our targets
registered now, I am sure, & can pick
out any given object first shot. They
can do this on / beach - they did it at Helles.
They dont need to make brackets at all
now - I watched them for a long time playing
cat & mouse w our camp. They gave it
a shelling & it wd creep into its dugouts.
The hill became like a rabbit warren when
/ rabbits are scared. Then a few heads
came out. She'd always wait for a few
minutes after several shots, so as to give
men time to get out again. Then down she'd 
come without warning. She hit a man
at the Anzac H.Q. office - there is one big 
6 incher at / olive grove but she's further
away than before.
I heard 7 men were killled on / beach
but dont know if its true. Battery still,
in intervals.
[*Proclamation. 

(Turk)*] 

A Turk aeroplane (or rather German)
flew over last night & scattered the follg:
16

of our guns in Shrap. Valley. Then came a dull report

& with it the whizz of a fairly loud shell overhead.

It exploded far back towards B. Brown with the

nasty shriek of a high explosive. They dont know exactly

where that chap is - he's prob. 4 in or 4.7.

Then over came a much more distant fellow still.

We heard his report ^coming from the N. - a soft dull one; then,

8 secs. later we heard the rustle of / shell coming

up passing overhead & away to / S. of us. Must be

nearly on / limit of his range now, I shd think.    

The bursts of our guns showed you the valley at

"C" most clearly. The smoke sometimes swept right

up it. One cd never have suspected it otherwise.     

Col. J showed me two more of their gun

emplacements on the extreme crest of 971 - quite

visible thro' a telescope.  

Diagram - see original document  
you cd just see / top o / black embrasure.

Also the observing stn under a bush on

Battleship hill.

Monitor arrived yesty & took a look round. Quaint looking craft 

Diagram - see original document

Has bn firing today at Anafarta.      

Thursday June 10  Nearly all day writing

this diary. Made one break to go down & photograph

Watson, the second i/c of the Div^l. H.Q. signallers making

his pier. He started (by order) with tressles but is

now pile driving with an 8 in shell full of shrapnel

bullets & sand (weighing 3 cwt) as a pile driver.

The wind has been blowing fairly strongly today &

yesty, luckily off the shore. If it blew on shore

we shd lose our punts & the supplie landing of

supplies wd be stopped. They say tt / other 

day when / Triumph went down the steam launch

of one o / warships wh ws towing a pontoon full of

65
We tried to get some drinks on / beach -
it ws far too crowded & too dear. Cdn't get
mineral waters or wine. They shd get it decently
run. Bennet, Padre & I went in for
a swim & greatly enjoyed it.
As we got went back to Anzac you cd see our
high explosive shells bursting in / Turk trenches
& at Anzac itself / shells were pasting
/ beach, bursting low, & also over popes.
Ours were bursting on / Chessboard.
The shelling had bn very active tt day. They
brought up a howitzer to near / Olive
Grove & it potted up & down / beach most
systematically. At last our guns got onto
them, but  and a germ on limber XXX
bolted. Our guns left it quite alone thoug
you cd see it there, hurrying across / open.
XXX  Whilst / Lord Nelson ws firing a
4 gun battery on 706 opened up on her.
[*This battery is behind steel doors. They left one
door open the other day in / evening sun &
it cd be clearly seen. They have bn busily working
at this part o / coast skyline & have also built
up three great mounds for some object or another.*]
You cd see the whole 4 guns, they say,
- the flashes. Others say it ws an 8 gun batty. The shell fell
all round / L. Nelson but she took not / least notice of this batty. &
went on firing at Chanack.
[*Mining*]

Tonight we exploded a mine in
D9 sap. It runs nearly to another
Diagram - see original document 

sap of ours. The Turks cd be
Turks cd be heard sapping 4 yds

[*9.30pm.*] 
away, so they were pretty close. We had
blown it in once before - but it only
puffed out its cheeks as it were & didn't
break / surface. This time we made
sure we didnt want a crater, but /
explosion blew the surface out alright.
[*A Turkish bomb thrower or catapult ws causing
losses in 4th Bn. this evening &
Lieut. ^ R.J.A. Massie was seriously wounded.*]
17

mule carts dropped it & made straight for / Triumph.

The mule carts & pontoon went shore & were a 

present to / enemy.

The other incident o / day was tt I noticed

the artillery headquarters people all w their glasses

out staring at the beach beyond / N. Zealanders. I 
asked what it was. "Turkeys" they sd (tt is /

way / Indians say Turks). I got my glass & there

sure eno' behind some sandhills on / beach were

two men - crawling through / grass tufts - now standing

up, now kneeling. Anderson thought he cd see part of

a gun behind one heap sand hill. I noticed tt these

Turks were not good at keeping themselves hidden;

they didnt crawl on their stomachs - on / inside of

their hands elbows knees & big toes as Freame

does; they crawled on hands & knees erect. The

artillery people sd tt there had bn a lot more of

them but the destroyer had crept in & fired one shot

into them at them wh made them jump over / sandhill

& scatter in all directns - abt a dozen of them at

least.  But The destroyer fired no more guns at them tho'

she went in to look, & the our own guns tho' firing

weren't firing at them. However, they knew of / target - so 

tt ws all right, tho' Harris wd very much have liked a

howitzer shot onto them. Anderson sent him down to N.Z

H.Q. to report what we had seen, tho' he was sure they

knew it & he hardly thought guns were required bec. by / 

way / men were crawling they seemed to be under fire from

somewhere.

Tonight I had some light on / incident.

They werent Turks at all - They were N. Zealanders.

Maj N.Z. had established a post far out down near /

64
The Haricot wh / French took ws so much eclat
on May  June 20 ws / very same, as far as I cd see,
wh we saw them take on May 8. We never heard they
had lost it, so far as I can recall.
The Manchesters didn't know / range of
Krithia from their trench. They dont seem to have
range cards.
The Royal Scottish fusiliers are part o /
xx 52nd. Only 2 Bdes of them are here - they say
theres not yet room on Helles for / other.
bde. On Bn o / E. Lancs. Divn is x  resting in
Imbros.
Gen. Prendergast expected tt / British
wd be sending at least 2 divns, probly 2 Army
Corps - to push in straight to Chatalja.
Seems to me I made xxx more likely they'll go elsewhere
but not theres to another place.
We are building a big strong line of
Torres Vedras - the Eski Line - right
across / peninsula some way behind /
Tommies trench. At present / line is
marked by a red flag and a placard, on /
edge o / creek bed.
We came straight back from there - saw
a big deep hole dug by an 8 in gun recently &
seeing a patch of green grass & a beautiful big
elm tree over it we went lay down (it ws
4.30) & listened to / cawing rooks, & gazed up
at / sky - the crickets were singing tt day,
too. It ws delightful.
The L. Nelson was bombarding Chanak.
A great pillar of smoke like rose straight
over / right shoulder of Achi Baba - I
took several bearings aftwds & they all bore this out.
18

beach - I dont know why bec. it draws attentn to this flank,

but still it ws done. The Turks were trying to cut / post

off all day, but our guns kept them back - Maj. Campbell

& the mtn XXVI Mtn Battery was protecting them. "Have

they all survived?" I asked O'Gorman asked him.

when he ws up here today. "Well they were all there,"

ws / answer, "but I dont know if they are now bec. the destroyer

Pincher fired at them a shot at them."

I suppose / destroyer will be blamed - &

perh. she ought to be, for firing without asking But who 

these people were. But ^why as a matter o / most ordinary

military precaution - why didn't / N.Z. people tell

/ Navy tt this party ws there?

The 4 in gun of unknown site (I think it was)

ws firing on / beach today. She didn't get / beach but

only / dugouts above  / ^lower beach; & / whole beach

was st  Army Corps people included was standing

roaring w laughter at seeing the men from /

dug outs bolting down to try & get / shell cases

whilst one hardened individual waved a

spade or something after every shot to tell / enemy

it was a washout.

Foster goes to the 2nd L.H. Bde tomorrow as

Bde Major. Lynch comes down here as Camp

Commandant, & until the Frenchmen go he will 

share this dugout w me.

Very uneasy night at Quinns.

(see opp. p. 11)

Men get very to look on shooting snipers v. much

as they wd on shooting rabbits (plunk - bullet in sea punctuates

all this writing every night). One chap ws shooting / other

day when Smith & Griffiths were up there. He ws just 

firing when some one else ^from somewhere else fired & / chap

rolled over. "Now aint I an unlucky beggar " he sd "there's

63
It was on 

Diagram - see original document 

tressles of stout wood. Bits of it had
bn blown abt - but only bits; & some o / terriers had
a nasty time there. Their artillery made not
so much impression as ws hoped - but they found
/ Turks pretty dazed.
The R.N. Divn & some o / E. Lancs, they sd,
had gone on further & taken a trench 500 yds ahead.
The French on their right however (June 4) had
come back & they had to come back too. The T.s were
still in part o / same trench wh they were in - so
as we were standing in, so they thought. The
French had taken / redoubt & were keeping
it (otherwise there wd be some enfilade fire
on the Manchester trench.
There seemed to be no look out to speak of at
all in this Manch. trench. The Sergt sd the
men looked out at various parts - but it
seemed to me there ws no sniping & no
real look out. There ws some sort of a 
trench 150 yds or less in front. They sd it
was a dummy trench, a snipers trench we
shd have sd it was. The more heavily built
trench well loopholed ws abt 350 yds
away. The line bent sharply back at right   left - 
& then down to a pool 

Diagram - see original document
where 3 men were bathing.
That ws where / T. trench came out. The
creek bed ws wired. I saw Tommies twice
sniping over top of parapet, not thro loopholes.
A We seem to have no periscope rifles there.
One of our Anzac men took one down this
day to Helles.
The line seems now to be:
Indians, 29th, 52nd Lowland, E Lancs, R.N.D., 2 divns French
19

someone else gone and plugged him just as I had a ws getting a

beautiful shot shot".

Another fellow was describing a successful shot which

killed a sniper. "It was a beautiful fall" he sd describing how

/ man threw up his hands & his rifle ....

A lot of this sniping is indirect fire. The Our sniper

cant see what he is hitting but is laid on by a man w a 

telescope just as a gun might be. "Come up 3 o.c. from

there" "A trifle down" - "a little right" so on. The 1st Bn

snipers from Jacksons Post (where Arnott ws hit w

his m.g) have got 14 snipers in ten days in a snipers 

trench on top o / Razorback. These chaps dont know

where / bullets are coming from. You can see them

discussing it. Then one is hit & a man pulls him

back by / heels. Finally they all clear.

Quinns is being strengthened as far as possible; 

& I believe Popes has now 6 m.gs. to bear on it.

It is curious how / fight has come down to little

things. I hear even White discussing little plans for

effecting the scores over one or two men. I suppose

we have to keep them going. But I dont think this miserable

hole & corner scrapping at Quinns is improving / force.

The engineers were ordered off their bridge by

pier by the Army Corps people today when a 

shell fell on / beach hundreds of yds away. They

didn't in / least wasnt to go. This sort of thing - breaking

off work for / possible chance of a shell before any

shell has come near wont improve them either

if there is much of it. That sort of carefulness is

awfully catching.

No aeroplanes here for a wk. But I exp. they

want them badly at Helles. Our fleet ws to have kept

clear / right flank o / French from fire from / Asiatic

Shore - but now it cant do so. The French cant be having too [[?]] a time.

62

xxxx  East - so M'Cay turned back & we went on. We
got up to top of hill where some ^stunted trees were & stood up to have 
a look, when Bennett & I realised / same thing at /
same moment - it was the Tommies' trench, not
our fire trench at all. I knew / spot as well as could be
 - I ws standing exactly where M'Nichol ws hit - exactly
where / poor volunteer messenger from the 8th came up, - 
where I lay down behind / parapet part o / time - where
/ wounded asked for water - where I had crossed /
trench 8 or 10 times. There were / trees - & / communicn
trench was very near where / telephone lines to
Bde H.Q. & 8^th Bn crossed. We went xxx  I knew /
look o / bushes & / long grass - I didn't realise till
then how well I knew it.
We went across the heath thro / communicn
trench - & it paced out 600 yds to the support line & 750
to / firing line (wh they called labelled the "Redoubt Line"). I saw
I ws sure, several poor familiar hunched up bundles of
green - our pea soup green & I sd so. Presently we looked
over / sap - & there, 10 yds from us on / left ws the body of 

an Australian with his pack in front of his head, just as he lay
on tt evening eight weeks before. Away in the grass o / right o /
trench were two more, if not three. And in the
parapet o / trench were three wooden crosses -
two men o / 6th & one o / 7th.
Somehow - one doesn't like like to think of a man
who has done a deed like tt lying out there as if
he were a dead horse. We asked some English
Officers, whom we met in the "Redoubt Line" if they
cd have them buried - & they agreed promised they
wd.
The Manchesters had carried / next trench ahead
of ours - the Turk. trench 400 to 450 yds ahead.
(we knew tt by / range. There were two support
lines between - dug across our front. And from /
front trench it ws 600 to 800 yds to Krithia. so
On the S side of / trench ws some awfully formidable
wire & / equipment of one man hung up in it.
20

Friday June 11th.

4^th A.M.C. (Col Beeston tells me) had had 6 men killed

& 36 wounded. For a unit not supposed to be in / firing 

line at all that's not bad. I believe the 3rd A.MC. has had more -

& the stationary hospital.

2.10.am. Big explosion followed by heavy firing (seems

mostly to be ours).

Heavy gun shelled beach today (? 4 in) from a point further

round to W, I think, than ever before. Shells seemed almost to

catch hills from back - one remarkably close to Watsons Pier.

As we have had no aeropl. for over a wk I don't suppose

we know where this gun is.

They say that 2 Divns have landed at Hellas, & that losses

there in last attack were 4000-5000.

Heavy firing down south at Hellas tonight.

Last night the Mtn guns fired abt 20 star shells. The

Turks are putting out wire in front of their trench at

Johnstons Jolly

Diagram – see original document 

great 5 foot framework rolled

out. I suppose our idea is to stop this night work

&, if they are out in front of trenches, turn on a maxim.

Foster went to 2nd L.H.B. tonight as Bde Maj.

Monitor firing tonight this evg.

Sergt Maj. Noonan was here this aft. noon & composed

the 1st issue of the Dinkum Oil. I can't say I even

helped him. All I did ws to hold the pen and write

clearly. He really has a very remarkable wit. The

thing is very good indeed.

Still windy - & cooler - fortunately N. wind

off the shore. Working all da A very quiet day
- 12 shot a minute day; much more noise

tonight, abt 40 shots a minute all pretty loud as I

sit here & right [the next minute there were 4 bombs

& about 150 shots - thats the sort of night it is; but

I always reckon there's not much on at Quinns

unless our guns start firing]

Heavy gun fire at Cape Helles last night and today. Stated that reinfor

[*are coming to us as well as to them. Howitzer being placed on Plugges Plateau - drawn up by men at dark.*]

the road on / W side (wh has all practically bn made since we
were here) came down close to / waters edge & a path 
crossed where the E bank ws lowest. (It was here the Brigadier, Hasty,
Hogan, Monks & I, with several signallers, started out during
for the fight of May 8. Further up on the right (E) behind a clif bluff was
where when  the 8th ws camped.
Diagram - see original document
By this one ought to be able to re-find the ground
whenever one revisits it. About 500 yds ^further over the heath
to the E of / creek is what we called / Tommie's trench.
Going up / Creek ^today we came to a trench wh seemed to be /
Tommie's trench. We went on from there another 250 yds
& reached a trench dip wh seemed to me to be where / sniping
used to take place - There ws a bit of a cliff on / West.
The East ws shelving & halfway up / Eastern bank ws a 
spring Two white parapets of trenches went
Diagram - see original document
up / hill here & Bennett
sd it ws our firing line.
Sure eno' "Australian Line" ws
written up against it. 
We walked up it & at ^near / top
got up to see / xxx country thro wh
we had come that day. It ws most unfamiliar. Col. Mackay
sd he cd see the trees by the Tommies trench (abt 250 yds
behind us) but it didn't seem to me at all like. I ws
just thinking to myself: well, there's a curious psychological
effect of battle - 250 yds & I thought it ws 400, if a yard.
M'Cay tried to explain tt / trench turned much more to /
left but I didn't really believe it - The British seemed
to have advanced a very long way - quite 1000 yards
- 5 lines of trenches, the men who held / trench (Lancs.
Fusiliers) told us. They sd there ws a sap thro' just to /
[*Sat June 12 Writing all day.*]
21

Sund June 13.

Morning paper art. 8 & evg. paper 8 finished.

Glasford & White are both ill & little Blamey

is really doing a big part of the field work.

& office work too.

N.Z. exploded a mine today at ^4 o'c at Quinns under

a mine of the enemy's - haven't yet heard
result.

The old Bacchante

turned up & gave

Kaba Tepe a shelling

quite like old times, this morning. I wasn't there up

unfortunately, to see it. I sort of heard it in my

dreams. At the same time the Dartmouth gave the

T. Headquarters (I believe tt ws / target) somewhere

to / N. of 971 a devil of a basting. Both of them

fired viciously during their short stay. They had 10

destroyers.

In the Afternoon the Monitor bowled up (if tt

expression can be suitably applied to a flat iron) and

banged at the hills or valley to the North of us; & a

destroyer came right in to the Bay in front of the

salt lake & hammered both sides of the point

bay very hard - searching, I think, by the way the

shells went along the ridge.
That same unknown gun -4 in - shelling beach &

bursting its shell spendidly.

The A real aeroplane from Hellas - British

flew over us twice today - The second time she

dropped the bombs in the direction of the gully

beyond Quinns or the valley below it. All the men

here could see them fall - yellow looking things; & 

a cheer went up from the beach when they

exploded. Nearly five minutes later the black smoke

of tt explosion floated over.

Heavy bombardment at Hellas today -

in earlier part of day on French side; later on

English side; most of last night also.

Our guns caught ^sight of a motor car on one of the

roads at the back today or yesty & put a shrapnel over it. It

ran into its top speed & vanished.

[*3 articles off this morning & two more ready tonight. I've got clear of

history & am into the nice sketchy bit lighter stuff which one can reel

off faster. An 83 shot a minute night - Turks rather uneasy.*]

60
had bn green fields & flowers ws white dust, shredded
grass roots, & line upon line old tangled telephone insulated
wire looking like the dead skin of a broken backed snake -
& line on line of dugouts. We walked to / hill where
Johnson had his H.Q. The view seemed to have gone - perh
the trees were in fallen leaf. Then we went up / ^Western stream
past the ^stone cottage w / red tiled roof & sat down near a
stumpy tree. I sd it wd be better to be close to a dugout
in case of shrapnel. Under / tree were numbers &
numbers of Turkish bullets. Gen. Prendergast came walking
past while we were there. He sd tt a group of 6 men
there ws a dangerous invitation to / enemy - the bn
camped there used to lose abt 6 men a day - so he had
shifted them further back amongst some light tree scrub -
& tt, although v. sparse, spare  prevented / shrapnel
from coming - they cdnt properly observe / bn. His brigade
altho' only in one real scrap, June 4, had lost nearly 50
per cent chiefly thro' these small daily losses.
The tree we were under (I had chosen it) ws
a particularly dangerous place. He ws having a communicn
trench dug right thro to / firing line - they put shrapnel
up & down the ck every day.
This ^(E side of stream) ws abt where the 5th were camped -
they were a little further on. On / other side, (W. bank) under
a sort of bank formed by a higher level of ground ws
/ dressing statn - it is / dressing stn still.
Diagram - see original document

Behind a low rise

some way ahead of it

was camped the 8^th
& there was a soldier

grave of a man
in 8^th there amongst
abt 6 others of British Ban. On / right (E) above this ws the 5^th

with Mathieson's old dressing stn, a who hole dug into / bank;

above this on / right (E) were some trenches running out of the vbank
in wh the 7th were. Then the stream broadened, the banks flattened
22

an exquisite sunset over Imbros. Took 3 photos of it & one

good one of 4 in. shrap. burst near N.Z. point (N end of Beach).

Miners in one o / long saps - 3^rd Bn - I think it is - say they

can hear the Turks mining underneath them. Q.M.S Noonan (who

runs the Dinkum Oil (True News) is in charge of a party working

on one of those saps.

M'Cay came in & had a yarn.

Foster very anxious to get the 2nd LHB together into

trenches (Infantry say the Turks say they cant face the

Australians but they dont mind the Light Horse) I heard a 

L.H. Officer the other day asking an Infantry officer for a

fatigue to bury very dead men for him in the L.H. trenches!

The 2nd Bde (Inf) are taking over a special half

section of No 2 Sectn - from Courtneys to the 1st

Bde H.Q.

Monday June 13 14

Last night we blew up the sap wh ws so close to

/ Turks. Mosely advised agst it until they were closer.

Diagram - see original document 
The explosion It did not break the ground, & only a little gas

appeared to escape at our end - so presumably

it burst into / Turkish tunnel - but no one can

say exactly. The tunnel is too full of foul gas for anyone

to get into it, & they say this it will take a 

month before anyone can do so & see what was the

effect.

The N.Z. counter-mine the other day was possibly 

a success; their staff told me in a half hearted 

sort of way that it was, which of course

leaves one w / impression tt it was'nt.

I was sure something ws on by the conferences

between White, the General, & the engineers - but 

even Blamey didn't know that it was

59
on May 17. The head of their line was up across the end of a long
stream gully running parallel to / coast.
One cd see / Indians on this flank
up this gully. 

Diagram - see original document.
Diagram - see original document
[*Inland one cd see three 

Diagram - see original document
big works

recently made on Kilid Bahr

Plateau, & camels grazing
on the yellow paddock 

on top o / plateau.*]
The Turkish trench wh  seemed to run not far from it w several
large communicatn trenches wandering exactly like mole hills
down towards it. The T. right turned back along / coast.
We went past the point & up into / Dardanelles into
Morto Bay. Some big gun - probly 8 in on rails - was throwing
up geysers of reddish earth.
The party consisted of Gen. Russell (why don't they give our
Brigadiers rank? - it means they are always junior to the N.Z men)
MCay, Johnston (N.Z. Artillery), Cunningham, Gellibrand, Blamey,
Wallis, Maj. Davidson (1st) Young Cook (4th) a parson, Maj. Bennett,
Maj. Anderson (our arty) Maj. Williams & others. Blamey, MCay,
Bennett, the parson, Wallis & myself started up towards our old
camp. (we landed at W. beach).
[There were few transports about, & a few submarines
& tbds & hospital ships. As we came round / point I saw a
great coppery green turtle back hull - like / back of a porpoise -
wh might have bn a submarine except tt it had a light tied
on top of it like the tiny hat on a low comedian - & a man ws
bathing from it. It ws / bottom o / old Majestic.
Blamey M'Cay & our party went down / hill to near 
our old camp. The ground ws simply a dusty desolatn. Where there

[*The destroyer caught someone at Kaba Tepe. When she fired a
xxx  number of mounted men got out & bolted as fast as ever their
horses wd carry them. It ws Parker, ^now commdg the right gun of Burgess' Batty
who told me - he had seen it. I asked if our gun had damaged them
also. He didn't know - he had bn ordered to fire a couple of shots somewhere
& he hadn't know  seen our gun fire. I sd: It seemed to be right on
top of them - a couple of shots. "That ws probably our gun" he sd. "Of
course we didn't know what we were firing at - I expect tt ws
it!"
The Turks also seem to have a H.Q. over on / plain
there wh the guns destroyer shelled.*]
23

coming off tho' he was up in the trenches at the 

time.

We were wakened this morning by the Anafarta

gun firing a couple of shots shells which only missed

these dugouts by a few yards - one went through

Austins tarpaulin.

The navy seem to have tried to silence this

gun without success. A destroyer also went

in close and gave K. Tepe a good time from wh from / back

whilst our guns got our near this face. The 

enemy have now two guns - so I

am assured a w of by Col. Maclagan I think

it was - on K. Tepe. This morning the 

Bacchante & the Dartmouth

Went up to S. flank (round two snipers

trench) & it seemed a better place to see Smith

of 12^th Bn. They have some wonderful

trenches - I took several photos - you

cdn't see the fire trench until you were

right on top of it. I cdn't see it at all.

They often of late have seen / Turks

drilling on the hills this side of Achi Baba;

endless convoys moving down, the

the smoke of French guns can now be seen

on / left (looking from us) of Achi baba.

A destroyer was fighting firing tody at the

back of K Tepe from close inshore & also

up at Pasha Dayd.

58
[*Press (Ross)*]
Malcolm Ross arrived today. It took him nearly
3 wks to get from Alex. here. His son ws hit about
the 4 ^th day - some say blown out of a trench by a
shell. He doesnt remember it, anyway - when
w a dozen men of our 4 Bde of whom only 7 were left.
He wrote a splendid a/c., I believe, wh has bn sent to
"the Times" (June 6).
[*Atrocities (Ross's a/c.)*]
Ross says he came aross two definite reports of
T. atrocities. (1) A queen Eliz. surgeon told him or his son,
tt they had had a man on board ^(Ross's son saw him & asked abt him) who was nailed to a
door & had his eyes put out (probably Munster Fusiliers).
Oliver Hogue met a Munster who sd he ws there when
they found him. (Burning also came into it somehow). This is pretty definite.
(2) A nurse told him she had seen a case
of a man w his tongue cut out.
But Ross sd his son told him our men
killed / wounded - bayoneted men in trenches to make
sure - but then they were sd to have bn fired on by
wounded. Some of our men sd they had bn ordered to
make no prisoners.
Turkish doctors on Armistice day told our 
doctors tt / Australians wdnt surrender & had to
be shot.
[*Australians (no surrender)*]
[*Aircraft. (Lights out)*]
No unveiled lights after 9 pm. till 4 am. for
fear of aircraft bombs. (A.C. order)
[*Hosp Med. (Imbros).*]
Legge thinks (1) hospital shd be at Imbros & (2)
we might make a breakwater agst / winter on
any shallow groun spit. The season breaks at
Equinox.
Friday June 25 Went down to Helles today w party of our
officers. Noticed that oast around mouth of small river south
of Kaba Tepe is very strongly entrnched, line of trench
ran along coast from small sandy knob south of mouth of stream
& has bastions at intervals.
Diagram - see original document.
The British were further up the coast than when we last passed

24

Took several photos of our trenches - cd not see

them myself till a rifle ws put up. Saw Turkish

trench in process of being made - the corrugate /

parapet 

Diagram, see original document

& then boards over. 

It makes a fine set of loopholes agst enfilade

fire.

Tues June 15.

Went round all the Australian guns except the 

one in Caddy's Batty on Walkers Maclagan's Ridge with Col. Hobbs

today. He gave me a splendid look round- is kind, & very

keen & well up in his work; but I cannot think he is a really

good commander of artillery. Others - his own staff especially -

say he is, but I'm sorry - I cant believe it. All along he has 

impressed me as being really an xxx a man who, however

keen, could never get a real hold on men. You can only

go on your impression & that's my firm impression still

in spite of having tried to think otherwise.

The positn of the guns, and of the enemy's guns I 

have written up in diary May 4 (p.19 black Diary) The Turks

have been shelling the Pimple (prob. because they know there's

tunnelling going on there) with ^an 8 in. guns somewhere ENE

-possibly at Kumkeui or on the Anafarta Rd. One shell

caught a machine gunner lying on a ledge inside /

trench by B. Browns battery & took off first his leg then

part of an arm then hit / ground & went off to somewhere

unknown over / back parados o / trench. The chap

ws not killed - he ws quite cheerful & ws obse telling

his mates tt he expected he'd get his living selling newspapers

when he got back.

Brown's Battery has had it v. hot at times thro'

being on the Pimple - (the reason why the 6^th got it so