Charles E W Bean, Diaries, AWM38 3DRL 606/14/1 - August 1915 - Part 4

They seem splendid men, & have
been put tonight straight in
to support Monash. Holmes has
nearly 2000 of his Rabaul lot 
& 36 Rabaul officers w him.
They are under Godley & rather
than call in the XIII Div. to suppo
(Shaw & he are a little frosty - I 
fancy Shaw doesnt like being
under him) he's putting in 
one o / 5^th Bde.

The 5^th (4350 strong) has had a 
fair training in Egypt - & the 6^th even
more. The 7^th hasnt had much
Two o / 4^th L.H. Bde Regts left
their horses in Aust.

I sd goodbye to Schuler &
Smith in Reserve Gully where we
went to see Holmes & then went
round / left of our positn & got
/ follg details from units;
[*Shaw had to go home after a few days*]

they

MR.   Canterbury MR
Auck first went for old No 3 Post.
Wellington on their right
Otago on left up Chailak Dere for
Bauchopes H.
Cant. timed it a little later (leaving
9.30) went along flat by beach
then right wheeled onto Waldron's Pt.
(last spur before Aghyl Dere)

They were to junction w Otago on
Bauchopes Hill
When Otagos began to attack Bauch. Hill
from flat Eastwards fire began on
Cant. as they crossed flat. (They
were in Squadron column i.e. each
column in squadron in col. of
troops & 2 squadrons abreast -

1 in reserve w a platoon of Maories).

Col. Findlay ws wounded as they
crossed destroyers light. M.g &
trenches occupied on Waldrons Pt.
we cd see flashes. Also fired at
from foot of Bauch.

Cd also hear firing on No 3 Post

Maj. Hutton

The Colonel had a bayonet

encounter w a Turk in wh after making

4 efforts to bayonet / T. & not getting through
him he fell on his
face. The T. stared at
him aghast & ws
promptly bayoneted 
by someone else.

There ws a picket of 4 Ts on flat
wh our advance scouts met & had a
bayonet duel with. Neither side
fired - Ts prob thought it ws a little
scouting party. Bayoneted 1 man in
jaw & other in chest & we got
whole lot of them. It ws a screen of 4

men agst 4.
LMR
This ws what woke Ts up.

One Sq. (10^th) Cant. moved up close under m.g.
wh cdnt be depressed
1^st Sq. attacked m.g. (we cd see its flash)
slightly in its left rear & flank.

The magazines were unloaded - bayonet
only - not shot fired - rushed hill without
cheer. Ts waited for them & shot a
good number as they rushed

but we went straight in,

Diagram - see original document
bayoneted Turks in trench &

got breech block of m.g.

Sq. on left swept down Commn. trench
to N. towards Aghyl Dere - Bayoneted
those Ts. The Ts didnt know where
they were coming from.

Continued advance E in silence
& besides this long trench took 4
trenches wh were running N E towards
Bauchope's Hill, abt 1000 yds away.
They left many odd Turks behind
& went along in silence rushing

trench after trench. They were
absolutely surprised & scared, some 
of those in rear were taken prisoners
those in trenches bayoneted.

Joined w Otago on Bauchopes

Otago had taken from Chailak Dere.
Engineers first cleared entanglement
across Dere with cutters (Offr & 2 men
casualties) & party of Maories ws
detaild to drag entang. away as
soon as cut.

Group of about 8 maories are lying dead
w Capt Hay & some other Otago
men on Bauchopes H. where they
were attacking trench.

After abt. 4 trenches had bn taken cheers
were heard away to right - (taking
of old No 3 & Table Top). This cheered
the men wonderfully & the N.Z. Inf.
also.

Regts of course got a bit split up in

gullies but put themselves under senior
officer present. This

Cant joined Otago betw. 12 & 12.30
B. ws saying Come along boys we'll
charge - shot thro' spine & dangerously wounded.

Then dug in along NE slope of
Bauchopes Hill to gather advance
of inf. whose advance parties were

now coming through us.

Diagram - see original document

Gen. Monash passed
thro. Taylors Hollow.

Brit. were to get there along the

beach & turn up Djamelik.

As day ws breaking they
swept up NE & E towards Chunuk.
When they got half way up hill
where Ts had trenches there ws fighting

& fighting in broken country to NE.
That fighting went on very heavy
(esp. o / Chunuk Bair) most of day.
They seemed to take all trenches
& were rushing up rounded part
of Chunuk Bair. You lost sight

of men in dust kicked up by
m.gs. - platoon after platoon went down
like swathes before reaper. Ts
always counter attacked. It

was often our own shells got amongst them.

Very big shells.

Wellington & Auckland went
on w infantry to Chunuk Bair
in trenches on Bauch. Hill.  QM

stores with new overcoats, barbed wire

stacks of ammunition, embroidered quilts,

2 bns betw Aghyl Dere &
Chailak Dere w ½ co of
Engineers.

NZ Rifles moved from bivouacs
at 9 p.m.
Cant. got in behind a body of 25 Turks
after troops had gone on. The Adjt.
had gone back to bring up 2 troops
wh had gone astray when saw

men coming up from gully behind
him. Thought this must be troop.

Man w him sd - "Listen - theyre

Ts." They were filing zig zag out. We

stepped back into bushes - batman

maori, 2 men & Officer - when Ts
were close enough to see that had no white
patches. Shot 4. Rest ran.

Maj. Overton who used to command ws k. guiding
the Ghurkas at junction of Aghyl Dere.
Abt end of May he went out for night
& day w 2 men to Rhododendron

Diagram - see original document
Spur & walked back by broad daylight
in evg. met small parties of
Enemy but let them go in silence.

Maj. Hutton now commands -
Maj Overton is Cant. Farmer.

M.g. ws taken from rear
whilst men also in front - Fine lot
of men shot down around it - sons
of earliest N.Z. Settlers

From Col. Tilney I think
C.E.W.B. 24/5/23
13
Hd of Col. ws halted on well sap.
ws getting overflow fire from everywhere.

8^th Welsh Pioneers )
5 Wilts Rifles             ) were to have bn ahead
but were late & we had to halt for
them. We came up road between beach
& outposts & Tommies came
along beach & crossed head of
our column at sap. Most trying

time because bullets were all round.
10 p.m. they were passing.

9.30 p.m. we passed starting point at foot of

reserve gully - picked up ^there Capt. Eastwood

4th Bde Staff

& Maj. Overton the Guides.

Abt 10.30 got away from H.Q.

There ws v. heavy fighting going on
in outposts at time & bombs seemed
to be falling - guessed NZ had bn
checked - Wilts sd they lost 50

night of explosion on Quinns post someone
lost [[shorthand]]. Found in Biv
 

men hit there. We lost one.

We went out w guides at head 

in col. of route & screen of 10.
Went along path & up entrance of

Aghyl Dere & all went well (scouts 10 yds
ahead) till got to gorge (Taylors Gap)
Turks were in trenches on right.
(Later we found Cant. M.R, man
wounded - so this grd had already 
bn gone thro by C M.R.
Gave clearing of heights to leading

Coy (A Coy. ) Maj. Edmonds) & we
ordered 6 coy to clear heights w
bayonet & not use a shot. Many of them
were recruits. (CMR ought to have
picketed). Our clearing party picketed
heights & went almost without
check.

Going thro' gorge from abt 11 to 2 when
1st 2 Bns were thro.

Once or twice sent up platoon or

(16^th & 15^th moved up 92 T1.)

150 casualties from snipers
whilst our men 
had 20.
 

two were sent to flank to clear
Ts. when we heard talking.

As soon as through Gorge we got into
open wheatfield. Ts opened but
we lay down & only hit one.
By tt time our other people (& A Coy
who were screen on rt flank) drove
off those Ts. (judging by shots at
least 200 Ts. (Big bivouac there next day)
We were abt ½ an hour in Wheatfield
& then moved up ridge 92 S1.
Coming thro gap we were mostly in single
file in bottom of creek. No oppositn.
On top of ridge found Wilts who had
met no oppositn & were entrenching
(! so called).

We selected outpost positn
in dark & had ½ hr darkness
remaining to dig in. Lost 2