Charles E W Bean, Diaries, AWM38 3DRL 606/40/1 - February - March 1916 - Part 5

2      39
after it - & it ws true news; & /

4^th & 5^th Divns to go as soon after 

them as possible, I believe. The 

second has gone; the first is on its 

way; & daily there pass through 

Ismailia column after column of 

infantry for / desert; daily other 

columns pass in - The N. Zealanders 

went out last wk & they came 

back about yesty. (the front trenches,

 I believe, are now buried in 

sand & only / railheads are held).

Today the 8^th Bde - (the yellow 

brigade 

Diagram - see original  

whose colours I

had never seen before) passed 

this hospital. They seemed to

me big men - & they mostly 

wore / British helmet - but 

they marched worse than any

40
Australian or N.Z. troops I

have ever seen - on / wrong 

side o / road  - on both sides &

from side to side of it, without 

step or bearing. It had probably 

been a long march, but it 

didn't seem to me like our 

first three divisions (1st 2nd & N.Z ).

There The work of creating 

a second corps has been
done with extraordinary 

rapidity - & it has had to be 

done mainly by White & Birdwood 

- especially White. He has had 

an extraordinarily comprehensive 

job - the creation of half 

the officers of an army was only the 

most obvious part of it. They 

formed the nuclei of the bns 

by splitting the 1st. 2nd 3rd 4th &

2     41
N.Z. Bdes into two & letting the 

man whom they appointed for 

C.O.  choose wh half he wd 

have. That put the two halves 

upon an equality at once.

All the new C.O.s were not good 

men, but most of them are.

Among all these promotions 

there is none happier than tt of 

Gellibrand to the 6^th Bde. He 

had done wonders w / 12th Bn. 

Gelly ws too unconventional for 

/ British Army. White, who ws at

/ staff college w him, has told me 

tt Gelly ws not known a bit to /

men there. He didn't ride; he didn't

shoot; he didn't play games. But 

White got to know him & anyone 

who knew him at all saw at once

42
tt he ws brim full of : brains. 

Well - I dont think he 

got on over well in his bn 

- one of the Manchesters; &

when it ws disbanded & he 

ws told he cd become take up 

his rank in another bn but 

must lose his seniority he 

threw it up & started apple 

growing in his native Tasmania.

He had two years or so of it 

& made no great success up 

to date - & / war broke out.

White who happened to know 

where he was, & tt he ws 

acting as adjutant or secretary 

to / Commandant in Tasmania 

or something, asked Bridges

 if be cd wire to him, as he 

wanted. a D.A.Q.M.G.

2      43
Bridges agreed. By / boat  

following / wire Gelly arrived.

He walked into White's room 

apparently exactly as he had left 

his orchard - baggy old trousers,

soft white collar - or rather 

collar wh had once been 

white; & a gleam in his old 

eye. White must have thought

"Goodness - have I made a 

mistake? What will Bridges 

think of my judgment" - but  

there ws nothing for it but to 

take old Gelly in to / Genl.

Bridges looked up - looked 

first at Gelly & then very hard at

White - & White left Gelly w 

him. Ten minutes later, when

Gelly came out, Bridges White 

went in to / Genl. Bridges

44
looked up at him again.

"What regiment did you 

say he belonged to?” he 

grunted. White told him.

Bridges said “ Umph!” &

that was all - but it 

ws not long before he 

knew tt there was a very 

great deal in Gelly.

Well, Gellibrand ws 

kept back a good deal in /

early days in Gallipoli -

first by a row with Bridges 

over I don’t know what;

[*Affairs of mess of which Gelly was president 

C.E.W.B.  18.5.25]Gelly told 

B  when

spoken to abt. mess)

that he hadn’t 

come to Gallp 

Gallipoli as a 

mess President

 - or something of the sort.]*]

& secondly by the fact tt

some officers o / Australian
staff, like Blamey, were 

senior to him (Blamey has

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brains too). When the 2nd 

Aust. Divn ws formed Gelly 

ws under Blamey, who became

Colonel. But there Legge got 

to know him. And when 

the command o / 12 Bn became 

vacant & old Gelly got it I 

think Legge must have missed 

him. To Gelly it ws a hope 

he scarcely dared to entertain

- to be Colonel of a battalion.

Its / end of most soldiers 

ambitions, in ordinary times"
he sd to me - “we none of us 

ever hope to go much further.”

I, knowing his utter 

recklessness for his own safety

(he ws hit in / second week

by refusing to eat his lunch
- under cover and ws nearly in tt beastly old 

original 1st Divl H Q . where I saw White hit too,-

46
& ws nearly killed) & knowing tt his 

doctrine ws tt a Colonel 

who happens to command 

a bn during a really big 

a battle must be killed
(he told Col. Brand so) -

I was hoping agst hope

tt he wd get a brigade.

And then, when the

6th Bde became vacant, 

the appointment lay chiefly

with Gen Legge, who would 

look on Gelly as a British 

Officer rather than / Australian

 he really was & Legge 

is very much inclined to 

cry out Australia for / 

Australians on very small 

provocation - & Gelly’s chances.

2     47
might not seem too good. But

Legge, who usually, when 

asked to suppor recommend 

an officer for a post, forwards 

a string of a dozen names 

only forwarded required one on

this occasion.Three or two 

Two names, I think it ws,

were put before him & he ws 

free to choose add any others he 

cared to. But he chose 

Gelly - & his letter 

picking him for / job 

came in Legges own handwriting, 

which was rather an indicatn 

that Legge didn’t want anyone 

else to see his choice or

tt it ws he who made it.^x

Gelly is / right man.The other day he ws called

 [* I think this may be unfair to

Legge - C.E.W.B.He may not have wanted 

Blamey to see the letter*]

48
on to punish a man of his 

bn who had over stayed 

his leave. The man came up a

t Orderly room. " Well - have 

you had a good time?" sd 

Gelly. "Yes, Sir." sd  /

astonished man.

Enjoyed "Stayed out

four days didn't you?"

asked Gelly. "Yes Sir."

"Did you enjoy them?"

"Yes, Sir."

"Well, I suppose you dont object to paying for it"

says Gelly.

"No Sir" said the man

"You'll have to pay a good bit you know", sd Gelly. 

"Yes Sir," sd / man; 

You don't mind that"

"No Sir" -

2     49
and Gelly made him pay 

15 days screw or whatever 

it was - & the man ws 

quite content w a Colonel 

like that. The old chap 

has done wonders w /

12th Bn wh had become 

very slack.

Now he's a Brigadier 

one may hope tt he'll survive

 / war, because he is a most 

loyal valuable servant o his country.

There is some talk going 

around as to White filling 

up the A.I.F with British officers.

That talk ws bound to arise 

with everyone w his eye on 

some post tt he wants for 

himself in all this general 

post. But it is not a fair

50
criticism. Legge came in

to White / other day & 

made it. White said 

“Now General, you say 

we're putting in too many 

British officers. In / first 

place what you mustnt 

forget is tt we are not a 

self contained force & we 

cant act as if we were.

We have to go to them for 

ordnance stores, & we have 

to ask them for General 

staff officers for some of our 

divns - & if tt is so we 

cant have all take & no

give. If they say "we cant 

when we go & ask them 

for a staff officer: We “cant give

2     51
you a ^senior staff officer but we've 

a young chap here who would 

make a 1st Class battalion 

commander - we cant 

always refuse. They are doing 

a great deal for us & we have

to go on asking them to do it -

we cant forget that."

And then xxxx lets take 

the commands & see how many 

of these British officers we have 

brought in. There are 60 

bn commanders.  Well - of 

those one is a British officer 

(I'm not counting Ross who 

ws an officer lent by England 

to Australia long before / war 

at our request).

"Then take staff officers. In

52

our old divn - the 1st Aust.

Divn -  we have one British

 officer, G.S.O.II. In the 2nd 

Aust. Divn you were free to 

have any one you wished

& you yourself have two.

Then as to the Artillery -

In the first Australian Divn 

we had one British officer,

Anderson, who ws lent to

Australia before / war; & 

we had an Engineer who

ws lent before / war; you 

were free to chose an Australian 

for your Engineers but you 

chose an English officer & 

you have 3 or 4 other English

Engineer officers with you.

You had a brigade vacant

 / other day & you chose 

Gellibrand to command it -

2      53
a British Officer -"

That quite silenced Legge.

A few days later Legge himself had 

a staff appointment - (G.S.O.2

(I think) wh needed filling.

He came in & sd.: "I want you 

to give me either Foster or

 . . . .  (naming another Australian)”

Both those men had been together posted 

one or two days before,as

xxxxxxeverybody knew, to other appointments.

"I'm sorry - You cant have

 either of those two" sd White.

Its a pity" sd Legge - "I

shd much have preferred an

Australian Officer" -

Clearly there ws something

coming. "Is there any one else you 

wd especially care for?" asked White

"Well if I cant get either Foster 

or —— I shd like to get ——"

                               

54 
an English officer.)

As White says: If Birdwood is 

most unfairly accused of favouring 

British officers it is most unfair.

If / little man has a fault it is 

tt he is always prepared to try an 

inferior Australian officer rather than

a British officer who he knows wd 

be more competent. As far as I

am concerned, it doesnt matter 

one way or / other whether I'm 

blamed or not; but I can honestly

say tt I've tried to hold the balance 

as fairly xxxx as it is within /

power of man to do." And I'm 

sure he has. Unquestionably he is right

[*Bps ought to be initialed before sent.

Write Cassells & Smart.NZ. Acq. R. Sent to - 

N.Z. Paymaster*]

2     55

If ^an Australian Division gets into 

a disaster thro using inferior

talent or inexperience it doesn't 

matter an iota that the 

inexperience or / talent was

Australian. What /  men want 

in action is competence; Preferably

Australian competence; but anything rather than incompetence.

The reorganisatn has 

brought in another most 

difficult question. The 

A.I.F. has to be administered  

on this side o / water -

& who is to do it?

(Murray  & Campbell).

[*Australia didnt undertake to provide Army Corps Staff.*]