Charles E W Bean, Diaries, AWM38 3DRL 606/40/1 - February - March 1916 - Part 1

AWM38
Official History,
1914-18 War: Records of C E W Bean,
Official Historian.

Diaries and Notebooks

Item number: 3DRL606/40/1

Title: Diary, February - March 1916
Covers "The Anzac Book", events in Egypt, Sir
Brudenell White and British staff officers'
opinions of Australian soldiers and assessments
of Lord Birdwood.

AWM38-3DRL606/40/1

Original DIARY No.40
AWM38 3DRL 606 ITEM 340 [1]

DIARIES AND NOTES OF C. E. W. BEAN
CONCERNING THE WAR OF 1914 - 1918
THE use of these diaries and notes is subject to conditions laid down in the terms
of gift to the Australian War Memorial. But, apart from those terms, I wish the
following circumstances and considerations to be brought to the notice of every
reader and writer who may use them.
These writings represent only what at the moment of making them I believed to be
true. The diaries were jotted down almost daily with the object of recording what
was then in the writer’s mind. Often he wrote them when very tired and half asleep;
also, not infrequently, what he believed to be true was not so —but it does not
follow that he always discovered this, or remembered to correct the mistakes when
discovered. Indeed, he could not always remember that he had written them.
These records should, therefore, be used with great caution, as relating only what
their author, at the time of writing, believed. Further, he cannot, of course, vouch
for the accuracy of statements made to him by others and here recorded. But he
did try to ensure such accuracy by consulting, as far as possible, those who had
seen or otherwise taken part in the events. The constant falsity of second-hand
evidence (on which a large proportion of war stories are founded) was impressed
upon him by the second, or third day of the Gallipoli campaign, notwithstanding that
those who passed on such stories usually themselves believed them to be true. All
second-hand evidence herein should be read with this in mind.
16 Sept, 1946. C.E.W. BEAN
AUSTRALIAN WAR MEMORIAL
ACCESS STATUS
OPEN

March 22
Tea Dinner
40
 

2 1916 1
Feb. - March 1915.
I have had to let this
diary slide for about nearly
a month - if not more. I was
anxious to go out from Serapeum
(where our 1^st Divl H.Q. are on
the East bank just by the ferry) to
see where the route by wh the Turkish attacks had
come l year before. Milner lent
me his horse & I rode out to l first
line - abt 8 miles out - where were l
9^th Bn. w the 6^th & 5^th on their right
& the 10^th & 11^th on their left.
As I rode back l wind in my
face ws very severe & l sand
drift at times almost blinding.
It took nearly two hours, for l
horse ws rather beat (you cant get
a drop of water from start to finish)
The road & 2'6" railway are out

2   2
for about 5 or 6 miles - & a 6in
pipe line - After that the water does
not come through the pipes yet
(& Col. Antill tells me it never will
as they leak owing to the bends
caused in l day by Expansion).
From 1 end o l main line there
ran out two ^unfinished little Decanville
lines - & the unfinished while
rubble   [* Hand drawn sketch, see original*]
of the
roads; & xxx even after l end of
road there winds across l
hills the endless writhing
serpent of the pipe line - at this
time end a smaller guage of pipe.
Endless strings of camels
come out & return under l
guard of a _^solitary Auslian or
perhaps two - riding alongside

2   3
with rifles strung or perched on
a camel. The water at present
is carried from l end o l only
line in kegs of iron on l camels'
backs. The men line out
Right out in l font, just
behind the lines of model
trenches, is a line of isolated
little camps each in a desert
valley generally out of sight
of l next - although you can
see l next company's trenches
& brown gridiron of barbed wire on
neighbouring desert hummocks
to right & left. They look
like model trenches, neat
little redoubts, with dugouts
for battalion their little headquarters

2   4
& telephone rooms all
complete - the lines all as
neat and regular as are
artwork by Vauban. It is
a contrast to the "do-what you
-can" sort of line of Anzac,
this one, carved all neatly
out in cold blood before
and the calm of peace; & then
the Sandstorm - Khamseen
comes along & fills it all up
with drift sand & it has to be
dug out again. The railway
has mostly, if not all, been
laid by Egyptians.
Well, out there our
men live, fairly contented so

2   5
long as there is any rumour of
a Turk being about; getting
half rations of water daily -
just eno' to subsist exist upon. I
hardly liked to ask for any
for my horse & of course
was refused - very nicely.
I read that night by
candle light lying down in
my tent. got back to Serapeum
next day & was at a
meeting of the Anzac Book
Committee in Major Butler's
room at 1^st Anzac, when
my right eye quite suddenly
flushed up - next morning
it was really inflamed. I

2   6
went in, a day or so later, to
see Moillet of the 1st Aust. Stationary
Hospital, who is the young Sydney
Eye specialist, who did at
N^o 1 general all the work wh
Barrett was sent to do & hadn't
time for; & he eventually
put me into hospital for a
week. I had to be rushing
between Cairo, Alex, & Ismailia
every day or two, (mostly over
the Anzac Book, & our
scheme of getting it posted
from England); & when I
got out of hospital I went
to Cairo had a slight
inflammation of one leg;
by rushing around Cairo

2   7 

this slight poisoning was so
increased that on my
return the leg was hardly
possible to walk on - & in
the end, as the inflammation
threatened the ankle, I had
to come into hospital a
second time. By this time,
however, the Anzac Book
work had been safely transferred
to be very capable hands
of Lieut. H.S. Evans of the
Pay Branch - The scheme for
postin letting men write on
bookplates (print by the
Mokattam) the address of any
person they wanted it sent to
and was x  saving the Military

2   8
Post office an immense amount
of work - was full fledged.
and I was able to go into
hospital with a quiet
conscience & stick in photos
into albums - about 600 of
them.
In Cairo who should
come up the street but
Bayley - fresh from London
with Emu feathers in his hat!
It was a great blessing
having the kid back just
now to do all ones typing.
Griffiths has chaffed him out
of the Emu feathers - "If they
gave you a cabbage, in
London, wd you have put
that in your hat?" he said,
and he the most wholehearted
Australian here - it is the