Charles E W Bean, Diaries, AWM38 3DRL 606/229/1 - December 1918 - February 1919 - Part 9
79
this war wd last & whether Father wd be w them
for / feast (as he had bn / year before) & all saying how
dreary it was. Within 2 hours the old chap lay dead -
k. by a shell of one of our howitzers. (our 6 in hows shot
very well indeed - possibly they werent here yet).
When the old Turk how. fired from the N. near
971 the Turks G.O.T noticed tt our men kept low &
didnt fire, & they themselves were able to look over / parapet
& move about.
It ws one of these shells falling into our advanced
undergrd firing line at G.O.T wh told / Ts tt we were
digging tt line. They saw / shell go in & later the earth
being shovelled out from below - so they knew it.
x Book 231/4
C.E.W.B.
31/1/47
80
A ^Turkish sentry in front line of G.O.T. had his head taken clean
off by / driving band of our tiny gun on Walkers Russells Top.
On / S. side of the valley N of G.O.T. there ws a
tent. 2/B had / idea of digging a trench under it - but
gave up / idea & had / tent moved. It ws full of
bullet holes.
The hut & path of stones ws on / N side of
this valley (see sketch 3, F.BII)x
125 Regt ws at Kermezi Sirt (J. Jolly) during
Lone Pine attack.
2./B noticed near / S. top of Wire Gully some digging wh
81
ws hidden w sand bags. He ws puzzled w this.
(No doubt it ws our gun wh fired on / mortar R.
guns). Later They had just / same story abt their
2 guns on Mortar Ridge. They had similar tunnels
Edina Sirt.
for these but / moment / gun fired it ws put
out by a direct hit from us. Still they were good
at smashing up our new work for a long time -
2/B often saw them tear into our bags. In / 2nd only
one gun ws there, the other having bn hit bt us,
or damaged.
At / head o / Bloody Angle ws a m.g. in a
similar opening down / valley side
wh did a lot of sniping till we got
Hand drawn diagram - see original document
82
onto it w a gun. It ws some 12 or 15 ft below / top o / hill.
Quinns: At one time / Ts. thought of giving up Q. bec
they lost so many men there thro bombs. They had
to keep their trenches crowded - they knew this - their
men were ignorant & cdnt fight singly; & always tended to
fire straight ahead. They debated giving it up &
going back to Mortar R. But they decided
agst it as, if they held to it. they might be able
w arty (if it arrived) to beat us back.
Our Japanese bombs were called Black Cats.
One day one burst over some reserves assembled
83
(- it burst in the air over / mens heads)
in a valley behind G.O.T & k. or w. 80 men!
Later they found tt if you had good head cover
these bombs were not dangerous.
But at Lone Pine / bombs head cover burst
our shells & ^they did terrible harm.
The Ts. called these Jap. Bombs: "Black Cats!"
A few inches of log cover wd render you safe agst them.
J. Jolly ws the worst place for them (tho' genly / most
comfortable trenches.) If you looked out you cd hear the "Black
Cats" before they fell - you cd hear the small report of the
gun & then see the bomb. That ws why cover ws put on / trenches.
The wood ws mainly from Constantinople.
84
At Quinns we found the trenches as follows:-
Hand drawn diagram - see original document
From the old T. trench filled in
in May to our nearest trench behind
the 4 craters was abt 20 yds
Other old trenches in nomansland were
so filled in tt one cdnt tell
wh ws trench & wh not.
Our bullets & shattered kit
everywhere. We picked up the
lead found in one sq. yd of T.
parapet at nearer / head of the bloody angle
for Aust. War Museums.
85
The Turks had many more lines than we had. They had
abt 30 yds (I shd say) of hill top - we had abt 8. These
figures are memory only. The main T. communtn was up
the hill from direction of wire gully - up / shoulder; but there
were other approaches from / deep valley behind, wh goes
right up behind the Chessboard.
Traces of our men were found as far as / head o /
Bloody Angle & a little to the left of it - then other
traces on the E side top of Dead Mans Ridge behind / main
T. trench (possibly 1st day). The three trenches on / slope of Deadmans
Ridge are one above / other, very steeply, & the C Ts had bn
86
tunnelled bec. Ts. cdnt have gone down an open trench.
The tunnels were straight.
At / head of Bloody Angle & a little way down
/ gully ws a m.g. emplacement with a tunnelled
opening in a white nich (prepared) & a white parapet
on a small platform.
Hand drawn diagram - see original document
At / top of the Waterfall Valley on / left hand
(NW) side of it we found traces of the N.Z., having bn
87
buried & small scoops in the NE slope also
Hand drawn diagram - see original document
& over near the edge towds Mon Monash Gully
(where the second crevice N. of Popes
runs up / hillside) a NZ cemetery
& a sun helmet like those worn
by / British of K.'s Army in August.
This is almost certainly where N.Z.
tacked on to the left flank of 13 Bn on May 2/3;
& possibly where the K's army (? R.W. Fusiliers)
got to who were sent up on Aug 7.
Back by Shrapnel Gully, and Whites
Valley.
xCapt. J.H.F. Pain 2BN
see my diary
169/51-63
53
54 & 51
C.E.W.B.
31/1/47
99
Gentle. The Pines have bn cut down.
on all sides.
Well down / slope towds Legge
Valley were the ske boxes & tunic of an Australian
88
[*should Tuesday
be Feb
25*]
Feb. 26. Tuesd. Same party ^(with Sergt Roprsaldo) to Lone Pine. Read Pains acctx
of fighting on right & then went to left (as we cdnt
check right hand trench (S. side) & started from / edge of
Owens Gully where / trenches are certain. Buchanan
was found tt his map ws pretty accurate (the
1/1800 trench map. My map of Lone Pine trenches from
Survey was very much out - indeed almost
impossible to follow - quite worthless to work [[shorthand]]
exc. tt it had the trench signs on it R3, R5 & so on.
This transcription item is now locked to you for editing. To release the lock either Save your changes or Cancel.
This lock will be automatically released after 60 minutes of inactivity.