Charles E W Bean, Diaries, AWM38 3DRL 606/41/1 - March - April 1916 - Part 8

1  84
The men here in Marseille
are trying their level best.
Every officer says that wherever
he went he ws
punctitiously saluted (and
salutes are carried to an
idiotic extreme in France by
l British). I only saw one
man in l least l worse
for liquor and he got home
to I ship quite safely. They
have taken to heart what ws
told them in an extraordinary
way. The place swarms with
women - very fascinating
ones too.
Ap 5. Left Marseilles tonight.
Saw one of our officers, in
 

1  85
uniform, talking to a prostitute
outside one o l cafes
& two ∧ of our men standing within
five yards of him. How do
l officers expect the men to
carry out Birdwoods
appeal when they behave
flout it like that?
Lieut. Williams let his
light horsemen go into l
town last night. They
came back all sober &
told him tt none of them
had bn w a woman &
I believe them. But if l
men are trying, like this, to
do their job & play l game
what ought to be sd to
an officer like tt one?
 

1    86
Saw Barton of the 1st Casualty
Clearing (going to Rouen) at
Notre Dame de la Garde.
He sd they were within
3 hours o l steamer wh
ws torpedoed - the Leonidas
I believe. It ws at about
4.20 p.m. Afterwds they
heard tt a warship had
7 of the boats but tt
3 were still missing. She
ws not a troopship & ws
going l wrong other way.
The allies have
bombarded Smyrna-
possibly to make the Germans
think tt tt is where all
these troops are going.
I notice that the inspections
of Australians by l P. of Wales
 

1     87
have also bn published
- probably to give l idea
tt they are still in l desert.
But that sort of ruse may
mystify. But before we
left Alex little Kennedy of
the Army Corps staff with
an Army Corps badge on
his arm went into a
bookshop (Schuler's) w me
to buy a map of France.
There were a lot of
maps lying on l counter
of various French
districts & while he ws
saying tt he wanted one of
Amiens (to me) an
unwholesome looking Greek
or half oriental in a
straw hat ws standing idly
 

1  88
looking at l maps close
by him. The oriental
did not buy a map
& did not want one.
I couldnt help
wondering what he did
want; & what all those
maps were there for.
The oriental bought nothing
- but-s nor did his
unhealthy companion,
who also looked at
maps. and they left l
shop before us.
There is a story little
Leonard Womersley
told us on Cairo which
I want to put down
before I forget it. He
landed w l 54^thDivn,

89

(1/5 Essex) in Gallipoli on
August 10. They were
marched to a little
dip behind a hill slope
just SE of Kiretch Tepe, not
far from l beach – & stayed
there for some days. After 4
days they were ordered (they
had l foggiest notion where they
were) to advance after night
towards l trenches. They did
so. Their guide They were no good at
direction; Hxxx at any rate
not in l dark. They marched
halterd, marched, like a theatre
queue for 4 hours & finally
found themselves abt a mile
from where they started - That is
all Leonard knows abt it. The Turks
found them out in their hollow this time & made it too
hot for them. A few days later they were
sent to l beach again; & finally

1   90
were ordered to go into l trenches.
once more. The order ws simply
"The bn will move in an
Easterly direction at 4boc. - p.m. until
it comes to l trenches". So
they started. It ws l nearest
thing to a battle they were ever in.
They had to go across l open & l
Turks of course opened on to them
w shrapnel. A machine gun had
bn put on a knoll to their left
to cover their advance w orders to
sweep l trees to keep down
snipers. The m.g. accordingly
began to fire straight into l back
o l troops in l trenches wh l
5^th Essex were going to occupy.
The men in l| trenches thought it ws
th 5^th firing on them & looked like
starting to fire back, when two
officers very pluckily ran out
waving their arms & showed l
gun what it ws doing. It then
began to fire instead into l
 back o l advancing 5^th This "advance"
cost quite a number of troops.

 91 ( I think he meant tt l fire of the Turks was responsible
with a staff like this no wonder
the Suvla business went wrong!
And no wonder they didnt like
to trust these troops to night attacks.
But I notice tt l Germans
at Verdun are realising
l value of night
for attack;
0918
for attack.
and tt
7 and tt
Gen. Gorringe in fighting before
Kut-el-Amara has
been making
his push
at night.
for l loss.  C.E.W.B 18.5.25]
 

  26966
  26876
  ______
        90

  26436
  26257
  ______
       179

  26859
  26500
  ______
      359
        14
  ______
      345
+ 1  346.

         88
       346
        179
  _______
        614

   26436
   26257
  _______
        179
  =======
Books
26877 to 26966  90
less 26957              2
        26967          _____
                                88.
                             ______
26258 - 26436    179.
26501 - 26859
26560                  359
26560                     14
26561                   _____
26562                  345 .
26563
26567
26595                     89
26597                    179
26599                    345
26618                    ____
26624                    611
26628                    ____
26662
26830
26831
Add 1
xxx(26957) : 612

 

565. 555. Bps.
565
    3
____
555
    5
____
Bl ford    389     58.   2. 0
5 Bn.            8.       1.   4. 0
6^th Bn        14        2.   2. 0   
 "      "           18        2. 14. 0 
7 Bn             11         1.  13. 0
7 Bn             12        1.  16. 0
7   "                 1              3. 0
8 Bn.            31        4. 13. 0
 "   "                 9        1.   7. 0
 "   "                 1               3 0
9^th                  5             15 0
  "                     1               3 0
  "                     3              9 0
10^th Bn           8        1.  4. 0
11      "               5            15  0
12      "             19        2. 17. 0
12      "             23        3.  9. 0
12      "               3             9. 0
/ Dw Base Camp  4     12. 0
                    _________   ______
                     565          84. 10. 0.
                    _________  _________                   

21183
56
2
 

1DC
IDHO.
Anzacto
OSt Dw
Inotilss
5 FieldAutie
N3
1start Bell.
2
21 How. Bdx
4 L.H.R.
1Br.
2 Pore
n
Bn
G4 Bn
2BdeHR.
10 8216
379-5279 D31.
 

(10) 5. 0.
141 21 3.0
56 8 8.0
0
9
0
30
84. 10. 0
6.0
1
1.0
0
4
0
12
15
4
28
20.
3
6
47
2
6
11
2
81
rd
58
 

0
0