Charles E W Bean, Diaries, AWM38 3DRL 606/41/1 - March - April 1916 - Part 4

38
& did so, hurrying wounded back - to
same old 3rd line trench.
There were snipers in / trees
& some, probably, behind / lines. Some 
of the men thought there were
machine guns in / wood & were
going out to see; but an officer
went out & ws satisfied tt they
were our own guns. But there
were snipers dugouts there.
The Turkish trench wd have badly
enfiladed ours. Our men sd
[Hand drawn diagram, please see original[
they never
got into a
Turkish trench
& many never
saw one.
They cdnt make out why / advance
shd be by day - (Suvla showed this
- British cdnt find their way at
night).


1   39
Army Corps. Gen Walker
& Bridges came back w 
us. Passed King shot in
thigh. Showed Glasfurd
my map of valley wh
he copied. Showed Gen
Walker way to & in
Courtneys.  Gen Maj
Pinwell at meeting of
COs & afterwds went
into Courtneys trenches.
Firing still contg but
our positn setting more

40

[Hand drawn sketch, please see original]

1   41
secure as we are
sapping forwd
towards each other.

? Has Otago changed
Plan from Rest
Gully to round
Beach?
Did they know
Walker Neck & Popes all
joined.
(No communication
trenches yet.
Trench line just
over crest. Had
to nip in from
back

1   42
McCay wanted to
attack G.O.T. but ws
stopped abt time he broke
his leg.
[Hand drawn sketch, please see original]

1   43
Leonard Womersleys
story of 1/5 Essex.
____________
March 2d. 1916
I got in Cairo arranging
=  As I was pretty well
right - both eyes & leg -
Col. Powell very kindly let
me live at the hospital
& make it my H.Q. during
rest of my stay at Ismailia
I had to come up to Cairo
to see to the distribution
of the Anzac Book Plates.
Little Evans, who kindly took
up the work there for me,
had really hardly had time
to see to it, & the two
clerks were in an almost

1   44
hopeless muddle. This
was largely due to my
not having been able to
give them full instructions.
There was nothing for it but
to sit down & grapple
with it - so for Saturday
& Sunday I worked through 
all the correspondence,
gave it a simple classification,
had standing circular letters
typed, got out a proper
record system, & division
of work between Europe
& Egypt.
In the middle of this
I got a wire to report to
Gen White on Wednesday 29^th
at Alex for embarkation.
It was very good of Army

1   45
Corps to take the trouble to find
us & warn us. Birdwood, White
& the rest of / staff had thought
they were to leave on Ap. 6.
Ross ran down to Ismailia; I
wired to Bazley to have my luggage
packed (I am still supposed to be
in Hospital) & to meet me
by the 2p.m. train next day
at Benka. He Ross came,
with most o / staff in / same
train - spent / night at /
Savoy Hotel, Alexandria, &
came aboard / ship next day.
Birdwood & White came aboard
in / evening. Birdwood, I believe,
ws to have gone on by destroyer
but _^something from the military authorities
blocked him in some way at
/ last moment, so he came

46
by the Transylvania. She carries
3000 odd details & reinforcements
for the 1^st Divn. The staff has
an idea tt we are going to

Amiens.

Murray & Australians
xxxxxxxxxxxx
1 man Cy
The tor pedocd
ship.
White & / 
Base.
     -
Birdwood
Checkmated
___________
[[Bell?]] 
Marseilles 

Men & the Book
House
[Shorthand]
W 29th
Th 30th      8 a.m. Portugal.   
F. 31             Crete [shorthand]
1 Sat.            Ship
2 Sun          Bethune
3. Mon        [shorthand]

4. Marseille 

30. The Transylvania
sailed at ten oclock -
with the staff of the
1st Ac NZ Army Corps
on board. The Second 
Corps is training at
an enormous camp
at Tel el Kebir &
will follow us - The
4^th & 5^th Divns under

1   47
Birdwoods address on 
S.S. Transylvania

[shorthand]

48

were already marching
out to Ferry Post &
Serapeum before I left
Ismailia - White & Birdw^d
got them into going order
extraordinarily quickly; &
I believe White's minutes
& memoranda on the
principles governing the change
were extraordinarily lucid
& illuminating. It really is
a wonderful job to have
officired those divns in / time - to take
only one thing : For weeks past
one has met hotels in / Cairo
hotels, in / trains, at _^Corps H.Q.,
commanding officers running
round & getting officers. They
wanted men from the L.H , men
from the engineers _ the infantry
bns have been raked thro'
 

1   49
[Shorthand]
Lone 

1   50
[Shorthand]

51
for officers. Some _^Light Horse C.O.s like
Antill, I fancy, are not
at all keen on having their
best men taken for officers in
infantry bns and they & 
the officers of the base (who want
good men for training) have
been holding up the supply & 
making it difficult for youngsters
to get away. But I saw
Glasfurd & Glasgow on one & /
same day at 2nd Anzac (Birdwood)
both in to see White & I'm pretty 
sure tt ws why. xx Anyhow,
White paid a hurried visit to Cairo,
was closeted w Sellheim &
other generals; put his business
through - & officers have been
coming forward requ smoothly

1   52

[Shorthand]
_____________

(This is transcribed

and typewritten amongst 

my papers.

C.E.W.B.)
The fighter.

Since. White is capable of an

enormous amount of

intelligent work. If he has

a fault it is tt of trying to

keep his finger on everyone’s 

business - not done making /

mistake of doing / detailed 

work, but controlling / 

policy & seeing tt / detail