Charles E W Bean, Diaries, AWM38 3DRL 606/37/1 - January - February 1916 - Part 7

59
there too. But the Army H.Q.
is not in active existence as
there doesn't now exist an army.
However, Birdwood has today
arrived at Ismailia & I
believe a scheme is on foot to
organise the Australasians into
an Army & give him command
of it. I met Hobbs & his staff in
the train. They had been out for
3 or 4 days in the desert
looking for artillery positns
behind the [shorthand] 1st Divl line. There is
a long ridge wh gives excellent
concealment but a difficulty
will be overhead concealment
[shorthand]
The Bde & Divl H.Q. here, therefore,
will be much further from the front
than at Anzac - much more as
in France; & the line will be held
much more as in France. Also
the three divisions of the Corps are
arranged as in France - two
 

60
in the firing line [diagram-see original document]
& one in reserve 
(the NZ & A, wh is behind Ismailia).
I don't know where the 29th Indian
Bde is.
The line I am told consists of posts not all one
[shorthand]
continuous line of trenches.
[shorthand] The men of the 2nd &
first divns have been making it
now for a fortnight. Some 30,000
Turks are supposed to be concentrated
over opp. us but we see nothing
of them exc. an occasional patrol.
The 4^th L.H. is 1^st  Divl, L.H. but
the 2nd LH Bde is sd to be
working w its horses as cavalry
on / right flank o / 1st Divn.
I dont know were the rest o /
L.H. are, but I believe the 13^th
Regt is with 2nd Divn. The 1st 2nd
& 3rd Bdes wd make a cavalry
Divn. And with 3 more Divns
from Australia (one consisting of
 

61
4^th & 8^th Bdes, & some other
Infantry, we shd mak & one
a complete N.Z. Divn, we
shd make an army of two
Corps and one cavalry Divn,
with artillery for three Divns
(that of 2 Aust. Divns being a little
more than ½ strength, & that
of N.Z. rather less.) Altogether
the 6 Divns & one cavalry Divn
wd have the arty of abt 1 ½ Divns.
This wd have to be made up
(& probly wd be) from outside.
Leave has been given (into
Cairo) first to 3 % officers  & 2 %
men (or vice versa); there ws
some rowdiness in trains &
so it ws cut down to 1 %
men; it has just bn raised
again to 3 %. I see men
(possibly a picket or possibly
on leave) in train w red &
white brassards & a number
stamped on each 520, 521 etc.
 

Towel
Slippers.
 

62
I have heard as yet no
news of the Mersa Matruh expeditn.
Some people think (as I have bn
inclined to think) that this threat
on / canal is just a bluff put
up by both sides by the Turks
to hold as here; & by us to get
training out o / men (the bdes
have some o them for training
- field work of the old style -
splendid for them) & incidentally
to get / canal defences made.
We are pushing out rlys
& pipe lines into / desert; but
at present / water has to be
taken out on camels. The
water for / horses is being taken
under / canal in a 6 in pipe
line. This has got 1½ miles in 1st [shorthand]
area at present.
Jan 5^th. Came to Ismailia where Lowry
and 1st Aust. Stationary Hospital - the nicest lot
of Hospital chaps I know - put me up. They again
are in the thick of it - in a house at / front.
 

63
ANZAC has the hospitals last years quarters so they are
in a convent. GHQ o / [shorthand] is at the Canal hospital
Sunday Jan 6^th. I hear that
the scheme for / formation of an
army has been put before / war
office exactly on / lines I ws 
thinking of yesty.
Of course one knew (as did everyone
else) tt / Australian's & New Zealanders'
return to Egypt wd mean a certain
amount of rowdiness - & this has been
the case, especially with the newer
troops; the reinforcements now coming
here go much more wild than the old
soldiers who have had experiences in
Gallipoli wh taught them tt this show is
not a picnic. At least that is
what I'm told. The Australians in
Tel.el.Kebir have most serious
incident happened at Tel - el - Kebir.
A few men - real bad ones of
whom some must always be in
every unit, but with us they have the
recklessness to carry let their badness
carry them wherever it can - dressed
up as policemen; & with altered
badges & faked brassards & so on,
rode over to a village on the edge o /
desert - The idea was to get women, I
 

64
am told ; they also got whisky & burnt
the village or part of it down, & got
away. It is said they would certainly
have been shot if caught. Gen. Chauvel
was very much broken up about it.
I believe they belonged to the First Australian
Division. It is said that these acts
may make the Imperial Authorities
hesitate whether they can send the
Australasian Corps to France. The New Zealanders
hsve not been doing too ba one hears of
N. Zealand rowdiness also - in the
Ismailia Club (^of which we have all
been made invited honorary members)
some N.Z officers turned the bar upside
down the other day, cowed the barman
& took charge of the bar themselves.
There were some young English officers with
them - new army men - who were
playing a good second fiddle, I believe.
There is a good deal of military crime
as England & the British xx precautions
against drunkenness were necessitated
by / drunkenness amongst soldiers
-but tho' our Australians are better
men, I believe, man for man their
off-parade discipline is a special trouble.
They have to have special measures to
 

65
keep them in order - two Australian
policemen stand all day long on the
steps of the two big hotels in Cairo;
There are special Australian & N.Z.
pickets on the trains. Maj. Williams of
the 2nd Aust. Divn has been brought in
to Ismailia to act on the G.H.Q staff
as special A.P.M for the Australasian
troops. He is trying to get Australian
police put on to deal with them. I
didn't think that drunkenness was a
special vice of the Australian - but
it is certainly drunkenness wh causes
most of the Australasian crime here;
& one cannot shut his eyes to the
fact that this is at present a very special
problem for the Authorities to deal with.
The "Army" scheme has been
very cleverly worked out as folls.
A wire It has been practically arranged
that Australia shall not raise the new
divisions in Australia. The 50,000
troops represented 3 divns; but Aust.
has been cabled to to raise one Divn
for an - wh ought to be ready at a
very early date; the other 2 Divns
 

66
will be at once raised here out of
reinforcements (here are now 8 ^provisional Bns.
of them; in one case 3250 strong) of
wh there are 30,000 already here;
& from the 4^th & 8^th Aust. Bdes. The
N.Z And A. Divn will become the
N.Z Divn by sending more N. Z. troops;
& the Light Horse (except divisional
L.H.) will be a cavalry Divn
4^th, 13^th
& one N.Z.
under Gen. Chauvel. Walker
will come back to 1st Aust. Div. &
White &, I hope, Griffiths will go to
Army H. Q.
The only diffy at present seems
to be tt N.Z. Govt has wired to Godley:
"Do not commit us to anything"
or that  or something to tt effect. The
organisatn wd be 
1st Corps   { 1st Aust.     }

                    { NZ.              }
                    { 2nd Aust.   }   Australasian Army.
2nd Corps { 3,4,5 aust.  }
A.N.Z. Cavalry Divn.       }
The artillery for / new units
will be raised in Australia, up to our
 

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Divisional standard (wh is still a
little below British.) But guns will
come from England.
Godley as Army Corp commdr
is at present head of A. I. F.
He has a penchant for appointing
English officers of title to his staff
& the A.N.Z.A.C. staff is at present
almost unrecognisable. Fortunately
Birdwood will soon get back
the control (he arranges matters
direct with C'lth Govt.) and he
has a leaning towards
Australians

Monday Jan 7^th Went to Serapeium
yesty with Du Boise of the Red
Cross. He was taking down stores cases of
Red Cross goods in the Red X launch
(Australian). They have a staff of
10 administering the Red X (of Australia)
now. The ₤750,000 raised on
Australia Day all went to the
Red X, which is I believe a
great mistake. It shd have
gone mostly to the widows &
 

68
orphans etc. The Red X is almost
embarrassed with funds. The
"gifts" fund is rather poorly off
& it wd do a lot for the men.
We found the old landmarks
of the Suez Canal battle quite easy
to pick out - the cross over the
German officers grave - even the
graves of some buried Turks.
They told us at the First casualty
Clearing Hospital tt some of our
men have been digging up / buried
Turks in order to go thro' their
bodies for Souvenirs (the hospital
is next to where the southernmost
Turks were buried). This is a bit
scandalous if they want the Ts.
to respect our graveyards in
Gallipoli. Dined last night
with Griffiths & Butler & Leaslie
& Woods. Woods told me that
of three very interesting
messages received from the
Turks at Anzac which he