Charles E W Bean, Diaries, AWM38 3DRL 606/38A/1 - 1915 - Part 2

to lead them to / canal point where / crossing ws
to be made; & tt when they found tt /
Western bank ws defended by a force of unknown not by a line of sentries but 

^by an entrenched force whose strength they did not know, but which was
apparently very much on the look out for them,
they may have thought these spies had led them
into a trap, & shot them out of hand.
The place chosen for the crossing was
the deep gully or drain ∧before mentioned on the canal bank
wh comes down through / canal bank
almost to / waters edge about a mile
south of Toussoum. The Turks must have
reached the sandhills bordering the canal at
about three The boats were carried over
the sandhills until the reverse slope of the
actual canal bank was reached. Here the
party ^parties told off to make / crossing took off their boots - the reverse bank was
afterwards simply littered with these boots. The covering Another detachment
was to assist the crossing parties by keeping up a fire across / canal until
/ crossing parties had stormed / further bank. This party spread out amongst / sandhills, crept
& began to dig xx to / top o / canal
bank overlooking / canal, & began to
dig itself in. It was probably a party some men &
an officer who were starting to entrench itself entrench themselves
some way down / actual ∧slope of the canal bank
wh was first heard by / sentry on /
opposite shore. xxxxxxxxxx party did not 
open fire until xxx Pannikins & things wh
wd clatter seem to have been thrown away - they were
 

found there afterwards in numbers lying amongst /
sandhills - little battered tin affairs, evidently made ∧cobbled roughly
for this expedition out of old kerosine tins - the name Batroum being
oil company's name being still found stamped on parts of them.
Some of the boats were brought down to the
water by other
Most of the boats were brought down to
/ water by / cutting well mentioned
 

Some of the xx parties carrying boats
seem to have struck / br come through / sandhills
considerably to / north of the cutting. Here
they stumbled into some of the ^deserted outer trenches
works of Toussoum post. This trench was used
by outposts in / day time but / men
were drawn in every night. He There was
a About seventy yards from / post was
a cutting or depression running down to /
water o / canal - much as ∧very similar to the one cutting further
south did; & from the upper end of this
depression there wandered wandered through /
sandhills a trench wh was cd be used
by / outposts in / daytime but from wh
/ men were always withdrawn at
night. The Turks making their way through
this trench the sandhills came upon
this trench & an officer in / post told me
tt they actually made their way down
it carrying some of their boats within &
must have passed within sixty or seventy
 

yards of the trenches manned trenches without
being seen. Afterwr Afterwards they lined the 
trench & kept up a fire on the post.
At daybreak about 150 of them were huddled
in this trench. It was open to the rifle fire of 
the fort, & when at about 11 o'clock parties
weo when parties were sent out from the
poat to clear the At about 11 o'clock
During / course o / morning a party ws
sent from / fort, and, on / native officer
signing to them to throw down their rifles &
throw up their hands they did so & surrendered.
Fifty had been killed, sixty wounded & forty untouched.
The party crossed
The advanced party managed to
launch sixteen out of its eighteen boats.
Two, as has been said, reached the other side
managed to cross the canal. Three were 
sunk. One of these seems to have been hit
on the at short range by the Egyptian artillery.
The guns were placed in emplacements just south
of Toussoum Signal Station
& almost on / top of below the bank. One of them is said to have be
run up to the top of the bank, loaded with
case shot - (or else with by another account it was shrapnel with the
fuse set at about 25 yards) & fired point blank
at the boat crossing. Most of the crew was
killed & the boat sank. Eleven other
boats were launched; & when the grey
 

light of day began to break they were these boats
could be seen a whole string of these boats
could be seen floating alon afloat but
abandoned xxxxxxxxxxxx along the
eastern bank o / canal for about a mile
south of Toussoum post.
With daylight the British &
Egyptian artillery began thr
The Turks crossing parties had by this time
been driven back from the canal bank waters edge
onto the top of the bank. and into
the A few of them, caught at the bottom of that
steep high slope / steep banks o / cutting tried
to dig themselves in, - making the little square
half finished holes can still be seen, pitifully useless,
right under / rifles on / opposite bank.
When the crossing failed the boat parties were
discovered the Turks opened fire w their rifles rifles
& w their three machine guns, placed just ^placed on / bank above / point where they wanted
to cross. A fierce fire ws br They also began
kept up a continuous rifle fire
A continuous heavy fire ws kept up
between this part & the our native troops the canal banks along a front of
with only / can nearly two miles. xxxxx As soon as
 

they knew that their crossing party had been checked /
Turkish supports
daylight began to break xxxx the British
territorial artillery, betw wh ws in / trees
behind / east west bank opened fire, and so did / battery of Egyptian mountain guns
a little south of Toussoum post. This
battery was under a fierce heavy fire & its
effect was practice was not so good as
effective as tt o / territorial artillery -
the 19^th Battery of Lancashire Royal Field Artillery.
The territorial xx artillery shot splendidly; & /
fire of these two batteries together w ∧tt of / native infantry
soon drove / Turks xxx to / shelter of
/ hummocks of sand w wh this two
miles of canal bank is crowned. Here
they dug themselves little square trenches such
as all troops will on such similar occasions, square
shallow square holes, just big enough for a
man to cram his chest into, each with the 
sand from such flung forward in front of
it with sand from each flung forward as
a parapet in front of it. Just large
enough for a man to cram These holes ought
to be six foot long, but as a matter of
fact all those I saw on / canal were
just sufficiently length for a man to cram
his chest into leaving his heels expos lower limbs
aft lower / entirely exposed. ∧After the fight there were
 

two, three, or four of these ^trenches behind every hummock
along nearly two miles of Canal bank.
The attempt to cross had now
been clearly checked, & / the parties remainder of the
attacking brigade wh had bn left behind
to act as support - not the main big reserve xx
but the immediate supports o / crossing attacking
force - came up & attacked Toussoum
the two posts of Toussoum & Serapeium
in order to occupy their attention & if
possible keep down their fire & give the
crossing force a chance to retire. These
supports xxx managed to get fairly close to
the Toussoum post; & ^further south some of them probably 
reached their own pushed their way up to their firing line on / canal
bank or others reached xxx lined certain depressions
amongst the sandhills just to / sou
a little in rear of it. Xxxxx There they
remained, xxxx out of sight of their
own men & ours & pr wondering who
hung on not knowing what was happening
elsewhere, & more or less out of sight of
both sides, presumably waiting for further
support. That support never came - for /
 

How strong?

? guns

following reason.
It has bn sd tt / Turkish supports attacked
Toussoum & Serapeium posts. As a matter
of fact / attack stopped short short within
at three quarters of a mile from / Serapeium.
The fire of the 19^th Lancashire battery from
just across / canal ws too hot. Instead o /
supports attacking / Serapeium a force
a force of Indian infantry advanced from /
Serapeium through / sandhills to / East
until it worked up to / edge of a ridge
overlooking / depression in wh /
Turkish reserve was situated. They had a
From / edge o tt rise they had a wide
range of fire; & the Turkish reserve, realising
that / attempt had failed, immediately began 
to retire. It was within ^This mass of men was easily range o / French guns o /
French warship Requin wh was placed moored in Lake
Timsah; but she was very slow in taking
advantage of the information. It was only
just as / Turks had begun to retire tt she
put a beautifully place high explosive shell
right into the mass of them. Thirty five men are
sd to have bn found dead in the space where
around / spot where tt shell exploded.
 

The Turkish reserve hurriedly made off
over / hills towards / south east & and any such parts o /
forces tt night advanced brigade and its supports
as might still remain in / sandhills
ws left to its fate. Part of xx the latter seems to
have successfully retired, the rest remained
& / impression was British thought tt / sandhills were
clear except for a few snipers. These who
sni kept up a fire during / follg
night. It turned but however the ^A company ws sent out from the Serapeium
xxx post to clear / sandhills root any snipers out of
sandhills but a very short way north of
its own post it ws held up by quite
a considerable about 250 Turks in a
couple of trenches. The ^battleship Swiftsure
wh had come down / Canal from Kantara
during after / Turks had retired from Kantara,
where she had previously bn
stationed, came down to this part o /
Toussoum & shelled these trenches w her
light guns. wh she carried in her
tops. These guns were 12 pounders
wh she were carried in her tops & wh therefore high in the upper works o / ship.
half way up her masts in /
platforms known as fighting tops.
 

The ∧A petty officer however who went up into / tops
to direct this firing was shot by a sniper
Turk from amongst / sandhills on / bank _
& killed. A further probably not 70 yards
away from him, & killed.
 

Western bank - had been told to
firing at these shrubs & what was
behind them. But some of the cross
xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx those boats
At about ten o'clock tt morning, more than six
wer grey light xxxx those boats
to make everything plain. In the Canal
hours after / attack was first made, he was sent back to sink
whatever 
boats were 
still floating
in / canal

so tt they
cd be of 
no further 
use to / 
Turks 
whatever
happened.
As / small 
craft steamed 
back to / 
place just 
south of 
Toussoum 
where / crossing 
ws made, the 
Captain saw.
ahead of him there were about ten low 
grey iron craft each about twenty ^one feet long
by five foot broad. They floated lightly
on the top of / water close into
the Eastern bank. The dead were
They were piled w dead heaps of 
khaki. The first xx rush o / Turks
across / Canal had bn beaten
back - most o them had been driven
back out / top of / bank, But
where they had entrenched behind dug themselves shallow graves
behind low tussocks and the tufted desert
shrubs. The Indians and New 
Zealanders on our bank - the