Charles E W Bean, Diaries, AWM38 3DRL 606/39/1 - February 1916 - Part 2

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rather sharply, "Oh - I beg 

your pardon? Sent - not you

of course." They gave him

a seat out of sight by the funnel; the

others went below out of sight of Turks. There ws 

a wait of abt 5 minutes

during wh all ttcd be

seen ws two or three other columns

filing quietly down onto 

other piers - all piers 

carpeted w soaking - in w There was

a little room in 1 boat & Sir W. 

Russell had decided that this

mospint(?) to

being one of hospitals (the

14 

last lot of 4^th Bde - 13 Bn. 

3 men, sergt & 1 officer left

position at 2.15 reached beach

at 2.35 or so - offr sd: "Now

their sergt - you can make 

1 pace as hot(?) as you like" - 

Very fast walk. They were 

abt 11 yds ahead of lot

from Apex, saw nobody 

else. Had normally only few when

they saw Turks in valley before

lines. Offr. spent Last 2 hrs

burying HE bombs under

fire place with 1/4 in Earth and

ashes on top in hope that Ts

might light a fire there.

Shovel ws stuck w pin bomb 

tied to handle (small sketch) when T pulled it it

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13 British one) off - this

was what kept them. There

they pushed ws a 

momentary rushing off

to find 1 hospital people.

Then they pushed off

The Arran(?) I think ws 

1 steamer they were to auship

to - she had two other

plates cut off, bow &

stern - th troops simply marched off into her, 

an officer dividing them

 

wd explode. Hotchkiss on Rose Hill buried into pit before exploding so that should show Exploding 20 mins after ... left.  

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_________________

The Intelligence people are informed 

tt 70 German and Turkish officers were 

sent from Gallipoli for courtmartial 

after 1 evacuations. 

Batbr tells me tt a man from

Salonica told him tt the 

Australian guns on Tenschenkein

were about to open on 1 morng

of Dec. 20. It had bn arranged 

tt they shd begin at 7am but

if it was misty & they put it off till

9. at 9am the battery rang up 

for its target. "We're not sure if 

there is a target" was 1 reply. "What do

you mean?" "The target we think is

Mafish!"

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The ship was dark - no smoking 

and in her s  yet. But

I sent for(?) his way to I

saloon - and there he 

met for I first time for 

months, a crowd of 

old friends, officers of 

all sorts, from all parts 

of Australia - laughing,

chatting, smoking - 

a wonderful reunion.

____________

The 4th Bde is to

make the 12 Bde - Slasfunds (?)

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Elliott 1     )

Fora..  2    )   ---  1st Divn.

Avac.. 3    )

 

             5  )

             6  )    --- 2nd

             7  )

          9.10.11 (from Aust) 3rd

              4

Stasford 4 - 12^th  )   3rd 4th

                 3 - 13^th  )

 

Singtn(?) 1 - 14^th   )

Irving       2 - 15th  )     5^th

                8               )

 

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It will be with the 12^th & 13^th

(made by 3^rd Bde) in the 

4^th Divin. The 1^st Bde

will make the 14^th & the

2^nd Bde the 15^th (Irving) & 

these two w I 8^th will

make the 5^th Divn. 

   Possibly Glasgow gets the 

13^th. He's had a phenomenal 

rise.

   So the battalions

will be 

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The only irregularity is in Bdes to Dvns

 

1 )            5 )           9)

2) 1          6) 2       10) 3

3)             7)          11)

 

4 )            8)

12) 4        14) 5

13)            15)

 

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From 

4^th                                   9^th

        13-45)                              33

15     14-46) 12^th                     34

         15-47)                              35

         16-48)                             36

 

From 

3^rd                                   10^th

         9-49)                              37

        10-50) 13^th                     38

          11-51)                              39

         12-52)                             40

 

From 

1^st                                   11^th

        1-53)                                41

        1-54) 14^th                       42

        3-55)                               43

        4-56)                              44

 

From 

2nd                    

        5-57)          

        6-58) 15^th  

        7-59)          

        8-60)         

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Evacun

1^st Bde

(? from Coll Cass 2Bn.)

(EWB. 

      18.5.25^th

 

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Saltspur 6 7.2

BlackHead Q4 3Q4-Qr

Qi-T Liames Y-T5 4 (joined up with LM)

 

 

3611 on Saty

On Sat’y night cut down to 1800.

Sunday.

5.30pm sent away 953.

 

Through mouth of Victoria Gully,

Cemetery ^ Sap, ^ Strag(?) Gully & by upper Beach Rd to 

Anzac Gully. All embarked 

at Watsons. Taken from all 

S-Bns. All officers and some recos

had bn over ground.

Quietest night for a long 

time. Beach, Bill I  

shell every 15 minutes.

save on Saty night. 

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at 10 to 10 withdraw 380

This left 442 holding

1000 yds of front.

All mgs exc. 2 per bn. now gone.

(av. 4or 3 per bn.) Some went in

5.30 batch.

 

10pm not all went in

small parties abt 30.

at 2am. final withdrawal

began. Parties were sent away

at 10 mins intervals. 

Last party left each part

of line at 2.40. Bde H.Q.

shot down at 2am &

all ivtrements(?) taken.

 

  For last 10 mins 8 men

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& 2 offrs in trenches in

2nd Bn; & 2 offrs &

2 messgrs for BN H.Q.

No patrols out - no T.

patrols seen. We had

wired heavily all to wk. 

 

There were some m. gs on 

right till last party (c.

2 o'c). In 7^th Bn there

were 6 water-matic

rifles (silt spur) Knocked

off sights to bolts.

 

On last night last party

had to embark at Williams 

Pier bec. ^5000 Mills bombs had 

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going to ship these Mills bombs

away in order tt I Ts don't learn

I secret. The last day this was

impossible so they were tumbled

on somebody's authroty into

I sea off Watsons Pier. That 

night day (Sunday) the 

barges don't get in to I

pier bec of this leap of combat

 

           +

          [I was aftwds told this 

                   was wrong. (W.B.

                                           18.5.25]

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bombs. had

a bn thrown there ^ (at Watsons Pier). They had been (points to previous page 25)

2 of ?? wharf at 3.15.

Lighter left 3.26. Transport

about 4 o'c. Mines went 

up while boats at pier.

All thro ??.

  Report every 1/4 hour or so - 

"1st Bn speaking. all quiet in 

our front" "2nd Bn speaking"

- & so on. "Heavy firing down

at Helles" was repeated.

"B Party clear - 68 men" & so on.

Boots were all muffled

since abt 5 o'c.

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Ships tt pass in I night.

The Pie Bde Sentry

War Babies

Gen. Birdwoods Letter.

White & Discipline

Gellibrand's method

Feb 28 (in shorthand) heard we were going (written in full above the shorthand.) 

to France Cv

Feb 29 (shorthand)

Quite forgot it was 

leap year. 

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16th. Bn. Night c/ Ap. 25.

______________

About 8-9 o'clock (shorthand) Lt Jacobs

was continually calling for men. 

Offs. of 16th Bn wf men went across (shorthand underneath)

to Dead Man's Ridg. & found (shorthand underneath)

Jacobs there with 6 men only

abt 20 men (shorthand) on Perpes

Jacobs ws on DMan's 

Ridge. About (shorthand underneath) 8pm when this 

happened he retired from Deadmans R. H had bn calling for reinforcements

16th but picket just down 

slop of Pepes. & day in all night (shorthand underneath)

on top - Fire to right and little to 

left (shorthand underneath) - very little down on Walkers