Charles E W Bean, Diaries, AWM38 3DRL 606/22/1 - December 1915 - Part 1

Conflict:
First World War, 1914–18
Subject:
  • Documents and letters
Status:
Open for review
Accession number:
RCDIG1066678
Difficulty:

Page 1 / 10

AWM3S Official History, 1974-18 War: Records of C E W Bean, Official Historian. Diaries and Notebooks Hem number: 3DR1606/2217 Title: Diary, December 1915 Reters to the evacuation, mules, Malcolm ROss, discussions with Sir Neville Howse VC and Cricket. AWMI3S-3DRL606/2211
8422 s.t o acee n e MMII t t. mn BDRL 606 BN D2 Own 38 DIARIES AND NOTES OF C. E. W. BEAT 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 fired and half asleep; also, not infrequently, what he blieved 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. AUSTRATIAN VIAR MEMERIAL C. E. W. BEAN. 16 Sept, 1946. ACCE TSSESNN TiteeNNNN Etn TCSSSEEEEEEEEEEEEERE JCCTE
r. 1. 8- & s 40 8 2. ande-W 32 s 4. 4 - 6300 20 6 23 182 8 216 5H. Knosets twith 1terw3 H 29 H 41a 14 41 5000 10t opher Sturdi wit J 2 9 325 Dec 16- 11 8E Du 34 we 8.6 21 bect 45a2rl 39 V10 tor I has downed
01 O 220t 2 to 1F. Broadway. Yon Wathers Redg Knob. Ds Russells C 50 4113 1B6 731 2ABl82S. Bole HQ. 12. Sign C 16. 13Bn 347 16 450 w2gle 615N geso as 28sGs. icol 170 13 Bde H.Q. Herring 133 Sign. 7off3s 13B. 6 70 16 Bn 4 87 (Margohin) 12 coigs SrD of Aghyl - All I Chailek 4 86 1522 Trk Prisoner wd by patrol. Started Lowting. Work Rd goes thro monashes lef. Last 170 detailed & & ✓
13171 NZin 4 Avs1. 2LHBds 3 only 153 . 170 B.9 37 apr p. 144 C. 11. 2nd. A 7 betw B9.30 uoto N3Bde. HR.NEMR CPro p2. Eash Ehiton 0t 7148 E9. month 8 wale fo No Most be post in left section is Nwo 422 Agayl Dere Fanklins. Post Further: SantyKno lightly held Coyds further E. to Hackney wick 10032 at y Santy Kn. C.Y 5ap Hock wk -Is 028 E
y Froo N. Line of 4aust. 9224, 8043 through knotl Called Becks. Bluff. heltby redoutt (wh is is. oo men as a - t8005 to 8009 (i which is Chester Redg) Old Lime, Black 92 to irreg. knol 100 at intersectoon of 920PIU. Therce along Kaiagik. Becks Bluff has been occupin by this Bde an last monk 22 tunnels have by diiven thro Ceshe cilfe right from rear viny line. bibouaest plmost like great unigo s& Look is Barrack rooms. Permancatminers day main tunnels - occupants of dug ants had to di their own. 4
Snpers West. Digging at present sen wit ptsy soesto at tackney wick 11Fact our sen think to tareleiving C.2M My Caseror. mes Auns Aper Caltons 2 am. Have been loosing men but men have To beormonant tn volunteering well. 14 has not byy Cauetiey 37.3 MonSharn Anck 2yt att te same perists of sitence. 100 Abt 100ne in the AP. All m 2 to the sest night gnd before the end Tigremain to 1 actual T sa Bonty wrtin last possible o gunoatlle Apex? an vigorous H bAp. goes abt 10 Braith abt with Hart n 11 Nomine at the Pumacle, the men not to resist attack Mors C CABX Hey. seen and signs th 175 know anythen stray. Thos Dec. 16. Ws to have be thes I dont know why it ws put off. The night is a beautiful one. Perpaps suble are not ready. I have just come bact from denned w I NEHQ. & in passing thes I sap my way w H blocked by a number of matescoming out of valley N.o NoL No Rost. Tey were 1 males of 21 snd. in th Bly. At once I thought - my goodness, if 1 to didnt see all this as it goes along they must be blin. But as I went along s behind them I began to notics how sitently these mules behaved. yy has by loads but they win perfet quiet They made no soundst all as they walked tex. for the slight jingle of a chain nowrthen. Ishd not have knownt there ws anything in pont of me at all- & I dont believe you to have heard / slipplest noise at 200yds. 200. Te afsint bost t I hine ten tefing wes suguro nes is not supers nest but a little out ggst of our own held by 1 15 4p kest betucin vos oupport &1 Wek. OR Even on thesr moontiget nighs I myselfed not te tell at 200yds, whether a muly ws loaded or not os indeed whether column of males was a eolumn
6 of animels or men - I doubt if at 1000 yds you id see them itall. Possebly thst a 100 black sertintins dtreat. as I walkes along dnoticed OK t bazhd of the sap covere them from vitw ah way go I followed them to Walker's Pier. They went quickly & wish perhaps for one or two very small gaps. Povided they is enity ion anit andeandes Hete in ier ws ol WX noiae doubt if a hurk cd lell on a night wen aos vrigst mas Fergason & 1Levine-Lerguson moon) that anything wasmovey His one had notmerly got 2 pleases as punch. He off the whole, 70 - they were giving his mutes Certainly not mote haw werefact that here ws sone prference & he tought the cd get off practicall, wholeth movement sonng (or. duy wene soing aboues g lighter horse an gway vary why aret we evecuating tonight? Perhaps) down quaety; Only one or two people on 1pies, the hospty Davy caunot get boats. But I moon with be fatter i t C tononow & practitely full by Sunday. fier wsa motos upter ceammn d iy AWnsewillian DthTrks thow anying abt it. inderogat it were wch bagsuse of Ind; battery, petont 28 Len Monach Whit 12or 4 guns some y o ome Austin. today a menquans in toll a disnal, saying a one of They wers quiteyhitdin. by the baggase. In they offing were our saipers had just seen 200 two fair sized tranports by severalhrawters & the lypter of the every apparently with Icamer went in a veny neat way. Beacty Bill had ngt bon picks & shosels making for is shallig much but a French gunted ymento day s bursting fint Hackney Wick. Hackney wick over Piges Plalean. Snipero West cannot sut Pier was raud by the London Bde He can only see I mast a1 nils & tt doe's not give of much sa mark to rangion e only segactyeroes on staating of territoral who used t have
ofline. this part- it a is on a Spar of Churack Baer wh runs down into the fork of the two cp.6 Aghys Freen Knoll 34 24 4 5 Tknot N. Post Monash tells me to t men of his kept regulirg employed throwing up cark from 1240 are Eart is just sthonthe dognt into the toy Tou butshr thrown e ton it agr. + but there are siing tt t To intend to attack some Ferwise They have made gaps in is at Hitt 60 a they h. palled down part of their wire oppositete Light Horse To Ross tells me. We have heard t they intend to attack as soon as they get their byg howitzers wto posite - & we hear to at least one of those howitzers is alreade there - will 1 others be rady - its a race agst time - The whole them time means more tihelibood of
8 Scheme getting out at Mnd 105 or hemoos - & tll chance of gelling away in 1 prrsent spell of fine weather. There is a thunderstorm that now coming up. leave The men arent sorry to Gavin not waskd them. They requer all ther comades buried here - & the number of demands for timber for graves has been cnomious rosse ny up I see sold looking Every where overy the old biscuit box ones H Saola they say tt 1 Austratian almost repuse to t here well I have been about to fint out & it iost the case. The men arent frightened & there have been toto of volunteres for I last not the Die Hards - tho I method is

AWM38
Official History,
1914-18 War: Records of C E W Bean,
Official Historian.


Diaries and Notebooks


Item number: 3DR1606/22/1


Title: Diary, December 1915
Refers to the evacuation, mules, Malcolm Ross,
discussions with Sir Neville Howse VC and
Cricket.
AWM38-3DRL606/22/1

 

[Shorthand] Diary 22
22
Original  DIARY No 22

AWM38 3DRL 606 ITEM 22[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

 

Lieut Caddy 5th Coy
Sergt & Corpl
____________
1 to 16 are odd back tracks
16 ---- 46
No 40 th
[Shorthand]  Diary 22
Dec 16-18

  1. ¾ ? - 45.
  2. ¾ S- 40
  3. 2 [[?annoles]] - 45
  4. ¼ - 630 & 20
  5. ½ - 23
  6. ½- 23
  7. 1 - 45
  8. ¼ - 30
  9. ½ - 25
  10.  2    57
3  [shorthand] Russels H4 Quinns Can smell   [shorthand] / Co
Turks              We 4 34 before 
1 6 we
1 k 2 w 3        L5 10 21
          H1          L9 (last 3 [symbol]) 23
T                      H4 _____ 32
1                       H3 7 37
         LHA        H1 4           45 a r & l
1   ________
_______________________   39
   4                      8    

[shorthand] 800  [shorthand] 
Sturdee  [shorthand]  10l sphere  [shorthand
[shorthand] 18 [shorthand]  It has downed 
Turk [shorthand]  4 & 5  [shorthand]

 

2 
O1                                O2                                      M

[shorthand]         [shorthand]                [shorthand] 
L  [shorthand]   Broadway 

 4 on OCS Walkers Ridge 

Knob [shorthand]  Russells  [shorthand] 
----
4 113
1 ABC  731 
2 ABC 825 
Bde HQ. 12.
"        Sign [shorthand]  16
13 Bn 347
16        450 [shorthand]  29 
----
15 [shorthand] 
14 goes o [shorthand] 
170  [shorthand]  Bde HQ Lt Col Herring 13 
Sign.      1 offr   3  [shorthand] 
13 Bn      5       70
16 Bn      4       87 (Margolin)
[shorthand]   2 conigs  S & N of Aghyl - All J Chailek

[shorthand] 
----
Turks [shorthand] 
Prisoner wd by patrol. Started Lowting.
Turk Rd goes thro Monash's left.
Last 170 detailed [shorthand]

 

1st 
NZ Inf
4 Aust.
2 LH Bde
↓

3
Only [shorthand] 
1st A.[shorthand] after 1 LH
B. 9 [shorthand] 
C. 11.
2nd: A 7 [shorthand]  betw [shorthands] 
         B 9.30 [shorthand]   NZ Bde. M.R. 4 Aust NZMR
         C [shorthand] 
Each echelon [shorthand] 
Eg - mouth [shorthands] mule [shorthand] 
No [shorthand] 
----
Most [shorthand] post in the left section 
two [shorthand] Aghyl Dere : Franklins Post 
[Sketch - see original scan] 
Further: Sandy Knoll
lightly held
60 yds further E. 
is Hackney Wick 
[shorthand] at 
[shorthand] Sandy Kn [shorthand] 
Hack Wk - [shorthand]

[shorthand]                            

 

4
Line of 4 Aust. From N 92 24, 80 D3
through knoll called Beeks Bluff.
(wh is held by 100 men as a redoubt
to 80 D5 to 80 D9 (up which is 
Cheshire Ridge)
Old Line, Black 92 to irreg. knoll
100 at intersection of 920 PTU x
Thence along Kaiajik.
Becks Bluff has been occupied
by this Bde in last month.
----
22 tunnels have by driven
thro' Cheshire Ridge - right from rear
bivouacs to firing line. Looks almost like great underground 
Barrack rooms. Permanent miners
dug main tunnels - occupants of
dugouts had to dig their own.
[Sketch map - see original scan]

 

Snipers Nest. Digging
[shorthand]  L. at present
-----
Men with picks & shovels at Hackney Wick
-----
Our men think the Ts are leaving. 
-----
My camera
----
Apex Well 57 men 8 officers
about 2 am 
go before Monash.
Cant left 37   3
Auck left abt the same
About 100 men in the Apx
All m.gs to the last night
15 mins before the end m.gs? remain to the actual
last possible. The Jap Bomb mortar
4 guns at Apex ? are vigorous
Braith goes abt 10
Hart abt 11 with B
No mine at the Pinnacle.
Mon. the men not to resist attack.
They .... seen no any signs tt / Turks know
anything...

[*Have been loosing men
but men have
bn volunteering
Mon has not bn having
periods of silence.*]

5 

Thurs Dec. 16. Ws to have bn the 1st day
I dont know why it ws put off. The night is a beautiful
one. Perhaps Suvla are not ready. I have just come back from
dinner w / NZHQ. & in passing thro' / sap my way ws
blocked by a number of mules coming out o / valley N. of 
No 1 Post. They were / mules o /  21 Ind. Mtn Bty.
At once I thought - my goodness, if / Ts didnt see all this
as it goes along they must be blind. But as I went along
behind them I began to notice how silently these mules
behaved.  They had big loads but they were perfectly
quiet They made no sounds at all as they walked exc.
for the slight jingle of a chain now & then. I shd not have
known tt there ws anything in front of me at all - & I dont
believe you cd have heard / slightest noise at 200yds.
Then again / Post tt I have been thinking was Snipers Nest
is not Snipers Nest but a little outpost of our own
held by / 1st LH Regt between No 1 outpost & / Nek.
Even on these moonlight nights I myself cd not 
tell at 200yds whether a mule ws loaded or not
or indeed whether / column of mules was a column

 

I followed them to Walker's Pier. They went quickly & were
waiting there quietly when I arrived. Further There on / Pier ws old 
Ferguson & Maj Levine  - Ferguson as 
pleased as punch. He had not merely got
off the whole 70 - they were giving his mules
preference & he thought he cd get off practically / whole lot.
They were going aboard a lighter down a horse gangway very
quietly; Only one or two people on the pier & the hospital pier
Alongside Williams' Pier ws a motor lighter crammed up 
w / baggage o / Ind. battery . Not only Underneath it were 2 or 4
guns some NZ & some Austln.
They were quiet hidden. by the baggage. In the offing were
two fair sized transports & several trawlers & the lighter 
came and went in a very neat way.  Beachy Bill had not bn 
shelling much but a French gun wd 4 men today, bursting just 
over Plugges Plateau.  - Snipers Nest cannot see / Pier
He can only see / mast o / Milo & tt does not give it
much of a mark to range on. If only Beachy goes on shooting
[*as badly as she has bn doing for 3 days more a gt many lives will be saved.*]

6
of animals or men - I doubt if at
1000 yds you wd see them at all. Possibly just a
black serpentine streak. As I walked along I noticed
tt / banks of the sap covered them from view all / way exc.
perhaps for one or two very small gaps. Provided there is no 
noise I doubt if a Turk cd tell on a night even as bright as 
this one (¾ moon) that anything was moving
Certainly not more than / mere fact that there ws some
movement going on.

Why arent we evacuating tonight? Perhaps /
Navy cannot get boats. But / moon with be fuller
tomorrow & practically full by Sunday.

Do the Turks know anything abt it?

While I was w Gen Monash 
today a message came in with a signal saying tt one of 
our snipers had just seen 200
of the enemy apparently with
picks & shovels making for
Hackney Wick. Hackney Wick
was named by the London Bde
of territorials who used to have

 

7
this part ^of / line - it ws is on a
Spur of Chunuk Bair wh runs
down into the fork of the two 
Aghyls

[Sketch map - see original scan]
Monash tells me to tt his men of his
are kept regularly employed throwing up earth
from / [shorthand = trenches] 
Earth is just shovelled down into the 
trench & thrown up from it agn. But there are
some signs tt Ts intend to attack.
They have made gaps in their wire at
Hill 60 &  they h. pulled down part
of their wire opposite the Light Horse -
so Ross tells me. We have heard
tt they intend to attack as soon as
they get their big howitzers into
position - & we hear tt at least
one of those howitzers is already
there - will / others be ready - its
a race agst time - the whole thing 
Time means more likelihood o /

 

8
scheme getting out at Mudros or
Lemnos - & less chance of getting
away in / present spell of fine
weather. There is a thunderstorm
just now coming up.

The men aren't sorry tt we're to leave
not most of them. They regret leaving 
xxx all their comrades xxx buried
here - & the number of demands for
timber for graves has been enormous
- I see solid looking graves crosses going up 
everywhere over the old biscuit
box ones 
[Sketch of crosses on graves]
At Suvla they say tt / Australians
almost refuse remain [shorthand] here - 
well I have been about to find
out & it isnt the case. The men
aren't frightened & there have been
lots of volunteers for / last lot
- the Die Hards - tho' / method is

 

 

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