Charles E W Bean, Diaries, AWM38 3DRL 606/26B/1 - April - May 1915 - Part 7

There were no emplacements.
I was then sent to collect
some of the 7^th on / right of
M^cCoy’s Ridge - & all I cd.
find were about 30. We had
instructions to dig in on that
line & eventually dug in & held
on to / line. The Turks made
repeated attempts w snipers
to drive us out. They brought
a machine gun up pretty close.
It sounded about 200 yards away.
We had not a continuous line.
About 11 o'clock (? 11p.m.) they were looking
for gaps in / line to fill up. By
/ morning we had a fairly
continuous line. We had to get
into the trenches over the top - no
communication trenches. You could
see / flashes about 50 to 100 yds away.

 we held them there till morning.
[April 26th] Then we _^began organising & we were
called out o / trenches about
9 a.m.
I was told to take this party
of 30 over to Bn H Qrs on / North
slope of Happy Valley (?Browns Dip?)
between / edge of 400 plateau & the
present 3rd Bde. Capt Henderson
ws in charge, the two senior majors
& / Colonel being shot. He tried to collect
the 7^th, & by 3p.m. we had about
70.  At 3p.m. he sent me out w
a burial party to collect & bury / dead.
We went out on this, & brought in
several dead, & were having a graves
dug - & about 5 p.m. I was at the
bottom o / valley & I could see
an advance being made, the

troops evacuating our old
Headqrs. trenches & making
a rush.
The advance was on / left
of the 400 Plateau. On the Daisy
Patch near / Pimple we changed
direction half right & were
told to advance
across this open
patch, which
we did.

[HAND DRAWN SKETCH]
As we started across it, two
machine guns played on to us.
Fortunately only 2 men were
hit. We got to / far side
& all lay flat - about 70 or
80 yards. The machine guns
played on to us from the South,
Maj. Glasfurd directed our

movement. We were under
tt m. g. for 3 minutes -
the bullets just above / mens
heads.
I passed / word to
change direction right, on to
the Southern stope o /hill. We
lay down behind / bushes
there, & I got up to find
the gun, & put 2 rounds
into it at 450 yards. That
seemed to be somewhere near
it; because, as soon as I had
fired / second shot, two snipers
fired at me & killed the next
man to me, & hit my rifle.
We continued to advance 
the plateau across a gully,
& came upon 2 trenches; one

with 30 or 40 dead; & the
other w / same number of
live men. They were two
little knolls & we were on
/ forward one.
There were about 70 or
80 men started, some retired
behind / rear most knoll
& / rest afterwards followed
them.
When we were behind the
rear most knoll another
crowd came behind us on
our left. We saw a crowd
to / South charge two emplacements
with fixed bayonets. A
machine gun got onto them &
chased them back.
Somebody in / line started

giving commands to retire. I
thought we were to take Baby 700.
I hung on in front there. A
couple of men started to retire.
I threatened to shoot / first man
who retired & I fired & two men
came back.
[These kids out there - left to
face situations, without orders, taking
wild risks & big decisions - & all for
nothing C.E.W.B.]
They tried to cut off the
people on 400 Plateau who were
trying to reinforce us. There were
3 guns to the North - 2 machine guns,
one on either flank & 3 guns on /
Eastern slope of 971. We were
lying behind / ridge. I took
command & there was a bit of a

melėe. I sent back for
reinfts.  As / reinfts came over
Plateau 400, the guns got on to them &
about 30 to 40 joined us. Then
a message came along that
the French were on our right
& were coming up / valley.
We thought / whole line
ws advancing to take 971.
I sent a patrol out under
one man in the 10^th, & they
went across / valley & over
/ plateau to get communication
with this force. They were out
an hour & reported back tt there
ws no force there at all. I
posted a patrol then up on /
ridge - a patrol of 8 men
under a sergeant. I sent out

a smaller patrol of a sergeant three men &
a sergeant down / gully wh was
thickly scrubbed.
We fixed bayonets & dug
in & sent scouts to / top o / 
knoll. [I think Grills must have
been on the site of the Turkish trench
on the S. of the G.O.T. System C.E.W.B.]. The
enemy didnt come on. We held
on there till dark. There was
communication made between
our left & the crowd under Col.
M^cNichol. All sorts of silly
messages kept coming along
our line: "Retire to the boats!" &
that sort of thing. I asked who
these messages were from; & they
said Maj. So & So - giving
a real name. I didnt know

anyone of tt name, so I passed
/ word back to send written
messages along. Messages
were coming all / time. I
said I would not act
without a written order.
By this time / whole line
were lying. The impression
on the top was that it was
a general advance. I thought
/ best thing was to hold on till
dusk. Orders came along
from Maj. McNichol to retire
back to / firing line. That ws
/ first I knew about a firing
line. I had sent 3 messages
back for supports.
When I got tt message it
struck me tt we were a covering

party. (I had had about 100 men
with me). We were to retire
by sections of the line at a
time. The line did retire as
we were the last. I withdrew
that small post of 3 men & a
Sergeant & we simply walked
back to / firing line, & found
ourselves still at the right of
the Pimple. where We helped to
dig in there.
[Ap-27]  I decided On the Tuesday
they made a hell of a row on
the left flank at night - from
9 to 10 p.m. A man said it ws
a charge. We were in this
trench on / right o / Pimple.
The Turks advanced at night time
& we accounted for about 40