Charles E W Bean, Diaries, AWM38 3DRL 606/31/1 - April - May 1915 - Part 5

39
my orders He sd “cant help tt.”
I had 23 of my own men & abt
20 others whom I gathered. I
moved to left in extended order
abt a yard & moved thro
scrub to donga. A few men of
11^th w officer were on beach on 
left. (The one w / tin screen & open
patch w single tree - 200 yds abt
to Fishermans hut - open in
front of us).
In donga it ws untenable.
Our first men were hit there
from hill on rt front - probly no 1
post. After daylight we saw trenches 
there.
I searched beach first - cdnt
use glasses as wet - but presently
saw Ts moving on this ridge -
either going away or to sniping
positions.
At this stage saw 3 boats
going for F. Hut.
I decided to push on to the
little knoll ahead - a lower
 

40
knoll this side of the bare knoll -
& assist landing. As we advanced
we lost sight of boats - cdnt say
how they were getting on. Myself
Sergt Skinner & 6 others reached
positn on hill where we were
fairly safe.
[hand drawn map]

We dropped 20 men in field A
 - 12 lying Dead.
When we got to knoll fire
seemed to slacken & we found
3 boats on shore & men
 

41
all lying out on beach
in front of them, as if abt ½
yd. open order. We cd see no
movement from them nor
attract their attentn.
Pte Stubbings put down
his equipment & rifle &
ran across (I sd "I'd like to
know" he sd "I'll go Sir" Hobart
Boy) to find out what these
men were doing or what their
intentn ws - He found four
only who were able to talk
to him taking cover behind /
boat. Fire seemed to be all 
[Diagram] m.g but it had now
dwindled almost to
nothing & I recd.
at least 3 orders
(shouted - one signalled)
to come back. Cd get
no informn who from so
 

From knoll I cd see ridges
& skyline occupied w lots of
men - saw some fall backwds,
slipped or shot.
(Post No 1 had a m.g. position w
a lot of ammn or so NZ aftwds sd)
Wiped glasses on handkf, then
tail of shirt  but all wet.
 

42
took no notice at time.
Lay there a time observing &
then found our troops were
occupying ridges to right rear.
I then decided to make for my
guns - coming back I found /
man w / packs; gave him
instrns to gather all 12^th packs,
park them, & remain till
sent for. He ws afterwds taken 
for carrying ammn & packs
& man were gone.
Coming back little or no fire
 - a bit of shrapnel.
I got to rendezvous & found
guns just landing.
Met guns w a platoon
of 17 men - abt 8 my own, an
A Coy Sergt, ∧other bns all 3rd bde men.
We came to position on
400 - main fire line ws then ahead
of us on brow of hill, guns opened
 

43
fire. After being there some time
O.C. batty, Capt Kirby, asked me
to change position & get to his right
rear as he ws nervous anxious abt the
right flank - our line ws coming &
going in front - I ws to hold on at
all costs. We started to dig in,
very light scratches. We cdnt
use our rifles bec. of forward line
but were subjected to shell fire
wh came on / battery - The batty
ws very cool - officers hit but
made no diffce. I had 4 men
hit w shrapnel - from up /
main range & opposite. ↓

We were probly there 4 hrs. Then
guns withdrew to a new positn
nearer / beach. They didn't
notify me they were moving.
I found guns had gone - Came to
concln it ws no good my following.
Tall dark Staff officer came along
I told him what had happened & I
thought I had better go into main
 

44
firing line. 5 men (Sergt hit in toe)
hit - so only 12. We moved up &
I met Maj Witham (hit in shoulder
or arm) w Corpl Austin. We came in
w part of firing line - we gathered
these men together (W. ws searching
for men to command as I ws).
We gathered all available men
& reorganised them into line. Maj
Saker ws in charge of this part (on
my left). We entrenched there for
night . We were behind firing line,
getting bullets overs - several hit
thro night. [sketch] We stopped there
till abt 11 a.m. Monday. Gen Bridges
came along from Brown's Dip direction
abt 9 a.m. I ws looking at trenches
on right wh had bn vacated during
early morning. He asked "What
trenches are these" I sd I ws
looking after straight line & these
trenches had bn empty since morng.
He sd " They're no damn good
 

45
anyway." Within abt 2 hrs after
tt an order came along "The whole
line will advance!" & Maj. Saker
led / advance. We had not gone 50
yds when he fell- I ws within 10 yds of
him. I dont know if he ws killed - he
swayed & collapsed.
The message reached me from my 
left - from Maj Saker - "The whole line
will advance"- we were waiting for
orders & I noticed Maj. Saker getting
up by / time / order reached me.
I ws calling out to some men
on my right to join onto my
party - At this moment Maj.
Ross, abt at / head of Browns Dip
ordered sd: Right oh Rafferty,
keep on as you are going but bear
slightly to your right. We were
heading towards right of Daisy Patch
There ws an old Turkish m.g. pit
on our rt front.
We passed to S. of D.P. At far edge
 

46
of D.P. is a gully. We went down
into it & up onto flat / other side.
Here we drew formed up into a firing line &
an order came from my left to
cease fire as our own men were
ahead of us. At this time we had
not opened fire.  Almost imd.
came an order to retire - again
from left.  I cd see none of our troops
ahead of me - we cd see down
gully to our right to distant hills.
There were abt 50 men on my
rt who had come forward with our
lot. A T. m.g. opened on us
from right.
The order to retire ws repeated
simultaneously the whole line went
back. There ws a hot shrap. fire -
m.g. ws not playing on us.
I called to / men around me to
lie still - tt there ws no going back.
Corpl. Austin & 12 others (2 or 3 of 
my own & others) stayed w me.
I told them they were safer there
 

I asked who he ws.
 

47
& we might get m.g. Abt 10 mins.
later I ws hailed from my rear asking
what I ws doing there & who we
were. It ws Col M^cNicoll. He asked
me did I hear / order to retire. I
sd "Yes x , passed down / line". He
asked "Did I know who it came
from?" I told him "No - tt ws
why I hung on." I sd Col. Clarke
had always insisted on this pt. -
tt we shd always be very
partic. as to where orders to
retire came from. He came right
up, & was glad we stayed, &
seemed distressed tt / rest had
retired. I mentioned our intentn
of trying to shut up tt m.g., He
sd there ws another left body on our
left - I told him we'd stick. He ws
satisfied & went off to find / other men.

Betw then & dark I had
1 man blown clean away &
5 others badly injured The man ws
 

48
betw. me & Corpl Austin. He ws hit
under chest & carried clean away &
there ws Austin lying w his head in
/ hole tt had bn made - front of mans 
rifle ws there still - cut behind bolt.
I heard Austin say: are you hit all right Sir?
He sd he had bn hit "in the guts" -
He turned out to have bn badly shot
all down / side of his leg. He hung on
& so did all / other wd. till dusk.

[Diagram]
 
We had men all abt Z Z. A young
officer - Capt . . - - - of 6  2nd Bde Bn ws digging
in at X & we were at Y.
In early part of day our ^naval guns
were shooting onto S & enemys
guns seemed to be shooting from
past shoulder on over extreme
rt front. 
[Diagram]
↑ Enemy batty.