Charles E W Bean, Diaries, AWM38 3DRL 606/31/1 - April - May 1915 - Part 6

Capt. Luxton
ws this offrs. name.

49
After dark withdrew men & wd wounded.
(Ts not near tt I know of, & fire had
decreased - I cd not see to my left)
Left all sound men w young officer
at X & went on to Col. M'Nicoll
& explained where this officer was
& for s.bs. I found the Col.
& del. my message. He sent
me back to tell / officer to say to /
where / rest of / people were &
join up w them. When I got back
they had come back onto Knoll Z
in valley & had dug in - an 
isolated positn. In looking for
young officer I came on Capt Jacob of
? bn. He ws digging in to / left o / 
Daisy Patch across a gully. I He ws
on / flat on further side of gully wh
reached up to / left. Everyone
challenged me wherever I went.
He seemed to be a mile to my left.

Mr Richardson

This light was just below skyline
- an officer sd - They've found us.

50
I had gone to / young officers positn.
They told me he had gone to / left.
In searching for him I found Jacob.
I reported to McN. He told me to 
have a sleep. S Found Bdier.
(See later)
----
Foxhound. One Coy of 12^th
ws on Ionian w 10^th Bn.
----
Abt 11.45 we were put on destroyers.
- I had [[shorthand]] left
[[shorthand]]
----
Just as 1^st landg party touched
shore we left started [[?]] leave destroyer.
Just before destroyer stopped we
saw light on hill - I think it ws
on hill on left side of Shrap Gully
on skyline. Burnt for abt 1 minute
or ½ minute - sort of flare or electric

Cigs out after destroyer.
----
While we were lining up on
board, when we got full speed up,
a ^naval reservist ^of crew fell overboard -
they threw a lifebelt over w a
flare. Scourge saw / flare.
----
Got tobacco, cigarettes all wet -
pipe smashed w shrapnel.

51
torch. ^When we were 2 miles out there
were 3 boats on each side, bow of
first & stern of last fastened to
destroyer & we were doing 17-18
knots. The man in / second boat
didnt seem to be controlling his
boat at all - She ws slewing in & 
out all / time - for 2 minutes.
Each bo This boat had in it 2 naval
men, 7 men o / tenth (first tow), nine
in all. A seaman on destroyer
called out to Commandn. Pace too
fast for no 2 boat. Pace didnt
slow up - cdnt. Boat swung into
destroyer - put tiller over & started
to tip slewed out & started to tip -
put tiller over again - came in &
hit destroyer, tipped; water
simply washed them all out o /
stern. exc. man on tiller who
managed to catch stern rope
& began to crawl back along rope

52
into boat. He got one leg into boat
on her inside beam when she
swung in again & crushed him.
They lifted him inboard. The men
were all lined up looking at it over
/ side. The boat had hardly cleared
when 6 or 8 naval men were on /
job putting a rope round the
poor chap who ws dying -
past hope - & hauled him in
board - Pace eased by then -
I think they cut / boat adrift
- still abt 8 miles out.
We had slowed up abt 5 miles
out & put boat crews in -
I believe / Scourge picked up
some o / men - they threw
life belts over right away.
----
Richardson got into line a little
to / right of Wire Gully. The
shrapnel w very fierce from

53
directn of 971. Could see Turks
coming down Gun Ridge & creeping up
edge of slope beyond Daisy Patch. Our
men charged across D.P. 5 or 6 times.
Anyone One chap picked up a mate
& ws running back w him along /
far edge o D.P. - dust in whirlwinds
abt his feet - had nearly reached
scrub when he pitched head foremost
w mate still on his back.

The line came back twice
during / day, S of Wire Gully owing
to shrap. One shell wh burst right
over Richardson hit 6 men. He had
to go back & bring up men twice.
Was hit himself about 6 p.m. in thigh
- splinter in head. Got back on return 
trip.
----
On May 19 - 12th were expecting
enemy from 12pm. At 3 am dawn just

54
as giving up hope men down forwd
sap reported movement on hill in
front - We had stood to arms at 12.
Got all ready. There ws a m.g.
down sap. They were abt 9 yds
in front of trench. They started 1st,
w / glasses then we cd see
Turks ^crawling in wheatfield (the wheat
ws abt 3 ft high). The m.g.
ws firing in scrub first. Then
whole coy fired on wheatfield
- 5 or 6 shots per man brought
them out of that. They bunched
up into / scrub - & then abt
10 minutes later Hughes &
Burgess' gun opened on them.
It threw / scrub up into / air -
in chunks. The Queen Eliz.
opened just under in dusk.
One big high explosive & one shrap

55
onto Gun Ridge  - five great
flashes - starshaped. [Diagram]

One man offered another £1
for his position tt day - others wdnt
look at it.

One chap behind pulled down /
man in front - He had asked him
to get down before. They had a
fight over it then & there for 3 minutes
until an officer stopped it & gave /
place to / man behind. In another
case a sergt & offr made a 
nervous youngster get down
while they climbed up & pulled down
sandbags & shot. They A Capt
came up. "You silly beggars,
What are you up to?" he sd "You'll
both get shot". Then he got up
himself, & standing out by a head
& shoulders he spotted for them.

56
Capt Rafferty 12 Bn (cont).
Tues. Ap. 27. Bdier sd ^Capt Ross & orderly
were getting 3rd Bde out. He showed
decided owing to shrapnel fire
(one of wh went thro' cap, hit badge, &
threw it down hill while talking to him)
to take bde to beach. Spent day assembling
& reorganising coys of 12^th w Maj.
Brand. They came out of every part 
of line.

Tues night - sent our 100 men along
beach to right as right picket on
beach - alld most to sleep.

On Wed morn back to camp
given charge of C. Co. spent day reorganising
- men still coming in. Went to find
kit & found it ws all scattered by N. Zealanders
N.Zs. They were still there - & told us they
had done it. Bn had shifted to near
beach & Hell Spit.

On Wed night 100 men under
Capt. Keyser & myself were sent up to Bridges
Rd. to stand by till RMLI were up & in
positn. After 2 hrs near H.Q. ^(Scotts Point) we were
ordered by someone to occupy trenches

57
a bit on / left. Capt Keyser led men
round back of Maclaurins Hill to short
commn trench running in & passed back
for 6 men to be sent in at a time.
Lost touch of Keyser here, But Capt.
Johnson? or Jackson? took us out of 
commn trench, across a little level ground
to fire pits.

[Sketch - see original scan]                      
Street ws on
north - trenches
better there.
Street took us
back to a sort of
big rifle pit,
rather advanced,
where 9 men were.
It was quite unimproved.
We were taken to abt 5 diff. places 
- they had grabbed us. I told the 9
men to get out - & they went over
/ back o / hill. We got in. They
had bn in abt 24 hrs they sd.
From there we cd see across
gully across to J. Jolly. There were

58
men working on / Jolly in /
morning - we thought they were
our own engrs - they were working
there all / time but we cdn't get
any information as to who they were.
Rec word not to Therefore we did
not fire - Our men were well
out - I had seen them while
waiting for Keyser near / marines
trench on Quinns Wire Gully. There ws
a gun wh peppered us whichever
end o / pit we showed ourself.
- prob. on J. Jolly.

We tunnelled to connect up
w / pits on left & right & had 
just abt finished these tunnels on
Frid. night when relieved.

We had to work w entrenching
tools, no bags exc. a few at / end
wh ws blocked by way of a traverse
by bags. Some work ws done but not
much in rifle pits. There ws no
regular provisioning - found some
ration bags in trench & had a little water -