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 acct^x

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.