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

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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

11th 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

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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

position on hill where we were

fairly safe.

[Diagram]

No 1

F.H.

x  ? No 1

A
Donga

x new posn

 

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

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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 ammun so NZ afterwds sd)

Wiped glasses on handkef, then

tail of shirt  but all wet

 

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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

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fire. After being there some time

O.C. batty, Capt Kirby, asked me

to change position & get to his right

rear as he ws ∧^anxious nervous 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

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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. 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

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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

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of D.P. is a gully. We went down
into it & up onto flat / other side.
Here we ∧^formed drew 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.

 

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& 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'Nicoll. 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

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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 ∧^{all right} hit 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]

 DP                                  Y               S

                            X     

                 Z    Z  

We had men all abt Z Z. A young

officer - Capt ------of ∧^{6 Bn} 2nd Bde 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.