Charles E W Bean, Diaries, AWM38 3DRL 606/229/1 - December 1918 - February 1919 - Part 8

*SK. on inside of cover of Book 231

69 

trench lightly garrisoned. There were 15 men, only, in
post; & 5 _^ of these men were not seen again. A great
crater ws formed. (This was abt 2 wks before / fight).
All the C.T's  were filled w dust & all / men were
low in their shelters. The front of part o / trench ws
completely blown away. It ws filled up w wire
later (grille). [At a _^ much later date it was built up
again w earth from / rear] (and _^ thus a new parapet made).
If we had attacked after tt explosion, Z.B. says, 
they cod probly have lost / trench.

Zeki Bey set abt exploring this crater.  There 
ws a lot of stones in it & after pulling these away he came 
on 2 wires (see his sketch (I) in field book II) ^X leading back _^ straight towds
our lines. He found that they entered a tunnel opposite - & in there 

70

were a number of sandbags, piled to the roof of a tunnel the
mouth of wh ws closed by them. He & a soldier w him took 
away / bags one by one. As they did so some noise / other
side made them think tt a sentry w a bayonet ws there - 
They finished took away bags until they had made a crevice
& cd see thro. By then no one ws in / tunnel - a 
tunnel led away from them.
Z. Bey wondered what to do.  At first he thought: I'll
blow this in!  They so he had 6 or 7 sticks of explosives brought
- but it ws / sort of explosives tt is used in blowing up rlys
 & so he gave & this had failed before; so he decided not to
blow the place. He went w a man & they got / bags away & he
 told / man to go thro. The man did so. There ws a tunnel
leading abt 10ft ahead of them & then blocked.  Presently But 
at this point it turned off to / left; & the main tunn Z/B. told the 

71

man to go along it. He did so, & a sergt w him, Z. Bey 
at / corner.  There were steps leading down to a deeper tunnel.
At / bottom a light cd be seen flickering & someone ws there.
Then someone from below fired a revolver shot wh hit agst
 the wall at / end of / shaft gallery where the turn in / sha gallery ws. 
[Z/B. got this _^ bullet & sent it to Kemal & Essad as / first shot fired
in undergrd warfare here]. The man came running back
trembling!  There ws some shooting on both sides w rifles.
Z. Bey accly. had a parapet made & the hole tamped up a
little above / elbow.  Hand drawn diagram - see original document  He put a sentry behind this;
Another sentry ws put in front o / opening o / tunnel into /
crater & another _^ imdly on his right. A corporal had changed 

Hand drawn diagram - see original document

72

the three.  Z.B. gave the front sentry his revolver.
Later, voices were heard behind our (Austln) sentry.
Z. sd: The Austlns are certainly doing something - not
sitting down waiting. He guessed they were mining agst him;
so he got a German expert sent up & this man said (listening
with Z.Bey in the crater (to / S. of the tunnel mouth): "Digging is going
on 2 or 3 metres from here."
They wondered what to do. Measures ought to be taken
at once - but they had begun mining after we had
and they knew tt / moment they started counter measures we
shd blow. They didnt start.
A few days later there ws an explosion. Z/B
who ws in / trenches ws thrown down. He ran along & found
tt our people had exploded a mine. The advanced 

73

Sentry was not found at all. The sentry at / mouth o /
tunnel had bn blown back over / parapet of G.O.T & killed
The sentry on the right (N) o / tunnel mouth was killed.
The tunnel was all right from A to K; but the bend of it
had bn blown in & a new crater (B) been made.
Z/B said: The Austlns wont rest quiet. They
cleared away / stones from / fallen elbow again, so as to
look thro a crevice in / stone.  Z/B himself looked thro; & there
ws a soldier, an Australian (at V) crouching on one knee
agst / forwd edge o / crater w his rifle on his knee brushing
/ earth off it quietly and lookin intently towds him. Perh. he had
heard something. Z/B (whose revolver had bn lost in /
previous blow (w / buried sentinel) ran for his revolver. I can 

74

can shoot tt man he thought. Then he reflected: Whats /
use. This evg we will wait & get this man.
So abt midnight he intended to send over a few
soldiers from / old crater suddenly & capture / man. The
first man, however, who jumped out o  / big crater at
P (just S. of / old tunnel) imdly they jumped out (2 or 3 of them)
ws shot & bdly wd. The others stayed ducked back crouching in their
crater & hid there.
Later the sentry told Z.B tt the hole where /  sentry ws
had bn shut & a wire entanglement put in / crater.
That ws all they cd see - not a soldier ws in / crater.
A few days later these sentries must have bn
talking - cdnt keep quiet - & a bomb ws thrown at them.
from our wire & a sentry slightly injured. 

75

[G.O.T is Merkey Tepe (centre trench).]
Things remained like this. Then one day abt noon some
projectiles fell on both flanks of G.O.T. - not front line but
abt 2nd line. The soldiers got down & did nt look over.
Kemal Pasha noticed this & complained to Z/B who held an
inquiry & found tt some had bn wd. by / shells.
At / end of some minutes Z./B, who had sent a
messenger to find if there were anything impt, got / answer.
The O.C. of 2nd Coy who ws at / rt (N) end of / trenches & ws not
a very plucky man brought back word tt there was nothing
in / trenches. Just then the Chief of Essad Pashas staff got on /
phone, direct, to Z/B & sd: "Z. Bey, the enemy is getting into
your trenches. What are you going to do." (The H.Q. of Essad ws
just N of Scrubby Knoll _^ (Kemal Yere) on the reverse slope - near some guns
- a mtn bty wh ws ordered on Lone Pine day at once to fire
 on Nomansland. Z. Bey came straight up himself & as soon as he 

76
got into / second trench he found tt bombs were being thrown
by his men over into the crater. He came straight on to /
front line himself to see what ws doing - to / point where /
grille of wire netting ws.  At / same time the Lieut on the left
of the front G.O.T (the Lt of / Coy on / left, a brave young chap) who had
saved / situation by getting his men at once to fire down their own front line from the S. end of it -
caught his arm & sd:  It is dangerous there, they have bn
exchanging shots.  At the grille several soldiers on both sides were
lying dead.  One of our men had laid his rifle & bayonet up agst
/ wire. Our men were apptly getting away. A well dressed young officer
- a very fine handsome man - ws in / crater & had retreated into
/ tunnel mouth.  Z/Bey sang out: "Dont kill this man - we
want to take him!"  The man sd: He will not allow himself
to be taken. There was / offr revolver in hand just agst the 

77
earth at / _^ far end o / crater by / tunnel. Then he dropped. He had bn
hit w a bomb & both legs broken. Z/B later found tt / offr cdnt
have got back thro / tunnel - it wsnt open.
The Ts afterwds were not agreed as to where we attacked
from.  Some sd: "Out o / trenches"; others "out o / mouth o/ tunnel";
6 or 7 men were dead - one ws found later in / next mine further
N.  12 or 15 rifles were found.  Grigg had a little revolver - prob.
automatic.
Imd after this there ws great quietude in the
Aust. trenches - no bombs. A number of offrs & men were
w Z/Bey in / Turkish trench at the grille.  There were none
of our men prisoners - all were dead. Probly our men 

78
thought their men had bn captd.  The _^ Our men in our lines were sd to have bn noticed w
bayonets fixed at this time or earlier when / attack ws made.
This attack did a lot to buck up / Ts. They had bn
getting very anxious for some time; & they didnt know what
we meant to do - all our m.gs. seemed to be beginning to
point towds G.O.T. (probly expecting an attack) & Z/Bey
expected an attack there.  But now they were able to point
to this attack & say tt the English had made an attempt & had
failed! & it had a considerable influence.
At the feast of El Bairain (when we expected an
attack) they were rather anxious, bec. time ws spent in
visiting when they ought to have bn working. Z/Bey went
to call on the C.O. of his (57) Regt.  The C.O. told him tt
he had heard from home - his children were asking how long