Charles E W Bean, Diaries, AWM38 3DRL 606/10/1 - June - September 1915 - Part 1

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

Diaries and Notebooks

Item number: 3DRL 606/10/1

Title: Diary, June - September 1915
includes references to Maoris’ arrival, Ashmead-
Bartett, Sir John Monash and Phillip Schuler.

_{AWM38-3DRL606/10/1}
 

Diary 10
June 28 to
Aug 5/6
Aug 24

Original          DIARY No. 10
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 discevered 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

Navy. New monitors Nets, Trawlers.
Censorship. The Press. False articles. Why no [[shorthand]]
Sometimes reasons at Anzac wh not at Heles
whether right or wrong am I going to risk it.
Rest camp, Imbros [[shorthand]] [[?]]
Recent [[shorthand]] 29^th Divn.

Diary 10
Opened on June 28
Closed on Aug 5/6

Diary 10
June 28 to
Aug 5/6
Aug 24
F. sent 10
[*Kegim. [[?Reor]]
of 2 Bn & 10 Bn*]
Monday June 28
Helles
(June 28)
There had been heavy bombardment down
South during / night. This morning about 9.30 -
just after breakfast, we noticed a whole line of
trawlers coming out of Imbros - one after another
like ants, sixteen of them In / midst of them ws a
larger ship, a warship - Something like the Hussar
w funnels wide, apart & one mast. Then, out of Imbros
came the balloon ship w 2 destroyers; then anor.
cruiser (I thought the Talbot) with 4 destroyers.
Two destroyers were close into the coast blazing away;
3 trawlers came out of Imbros & turned North →
& there were one or two destroyers besides.
The cruisers joined in the bombardment wh had bn
going on for some time. By 10.40 it was enormously
heavy - I cd count 80 distinct reports per minute
& probly there were many more. By abt 11 am. the
rate had increased to 120 per minute.

10.50 The Turk shrapnel began to fall on the ir right
flank - first 2 & 3 bursts - then 6 & 8. Clearly an
attack being made by our people.
Dust ws moving continuously in high whisps &
columns up a valley between us & Achi Baba, always
going S. Clearly the Ts must be reinforcing. The Turkish
shrapnel - time & percussion - ws now bursting on
ther left the coast - part way down / slope to / water &
on / hill above. At 11.30 some of our Lyddite cd be
seen bursting in / trees well on / Anzac side o / rise.
By 11.30 the small two funnelled dest cruiser
was going back to Imbros but the Talbot ws still firing.
Our bombardment from this time on seemed to lengthen
away to the right rather. At 11.37 it ws very heavy.
By 12 it ws practically over - until / afternoon & evening.

The Bombardment at time had bn tremendous. One cd
see great cauliflowers of dust chucked from the Turkish
skyline.
[Sketch - see original scan]
At times the ridge simply reeked with smoke all along

[Sketch - see original scan]
Certainly / poor old Turks have had to face bombardments
such as we have never had to think of in this show.
The monitor all while ws throwing a few enormous
shell in where she thought were their reserves (see sketch
in Ap 25 book).
Of course it is clear we ought to be doing
something to prevent troops going down from here to counter
attack. At abt 1 I got a note from Blamey telling me
that the right ws a pretty good place to be at - Ryries or
Maclagans H.Q. I went straight to Ryrie's. It turned
out that at 9.30 we had recd. a request from G.H.Q.
to do something to keep / enemy from sending troops S. from
here. The plan ws hurriedly drawn up by Col. Skeen &
Col. White & ws taken out by Blamey to the 2nd L.H. Bde.
& Maclagan at 10.30. Both Skeen, & the Bde comndrs. sd
as one: Why didn't they let us know earlier!

However - the scheme was: (as worked by Brigadiers):

The 2nd L.H. Bde ws to send out abt a Regt to
move in / directn o / Echelon trenches (wh are on the
stope of the first ? ridge to / south of us) Near Echelon trenches
are some old pits w brown brushwood around them
(the Turks never renew the bush in front of their trenches)
The L.H. were to make for these & pretend to attack /
enemy fom there. Meanwhile 2 coys o / 9^th Bn were
to go out & attack in / directn o / south of Lonesome Pine.
(Snipers Ridge)

Mtn gun gets onto them →
Turks reinforcing →
Echelon trenches →

3
The details were: 8^th Corps. ws making attack at Helles at 11 am. 
2 LHB to harrass enemy in directn of Echelon trenches
2 sq. 5 L.H. (1 squadron under Maj. Midgley DSO & Capt
Cameron & 1 other squadron) to attack
Balkan Gun Pits; O
I troop 5 L.H. to carry picks & shovels in support.
From Balkan gun pits they were to fire towds.
Echelon trenches.
Attack to commence at 1. p.m.
2 Troops (½ sq.) 7 L.H. to occupy trenches held by 5 L.H.
2 sq. 6 L.H. to occupy trenches held by 5 L.H.
Artillery Support:
Mountain Battery on Twin & Echelon
trenches
7th Batty. No 1 gun: Gaba Tepe
                    "    3  "       in reserve
Destroyer on twin trenches &
work on ridge 212 marked
"low scrub".

[Sketch - see original scan]

I went to No 3 gun which looks out
thro an embrasure in the line (I cant
imagine why it has not bn knocked to
blazes - they fire abt 3 shots & then withdraw it behind
the corner of the embrasure - but in nornal times it
stares out straight behind a little sacking & brushwood.)
Lt. Ross is in charge. The L.H had gone out abt 20 minutes
by the time I got there & thro the sacking you cd see them
lying up agst their edge o / ridge. A little way S of them
on other slope o / ridge & running at right angles
across / middle of a yellow. wheat paddock were

some rows of sandbags - Echelon Trenches. They were
quite impossible to take & hold bec. the Gun Ridge

4
trenches stared straight down onto them.
Our men began to dig in on / edge o / ridge -
one cd see them lining an angle of it & / only place
I ws afraid of ws Kaba Tepe - wh must
have looked straight into their backs. They
were lining a part o / ridge running at right
Their line ws bent back down / hill, I suppose
as a precautn agst K. Tepe.

[Sketch - see original scan]

It wo just abt 2-30
when watching for There ws a
crowd in / observatn post
of Hughes Battery where Col. Ryrie went, & so
I watched for a time from No 3. gun. Presently Col.
Ryrie got this gun to fire 6 or 8 rounds on to Twin
Trenches. About the 7^th Round some gun on Gun
Ridge opposite opened fire (they hate this battery) &
a shell lodged exploded in / bank outside / embrasure.
Presently a second shell exploded over the edge o /
embrasure. Then bang - / whole place filled w
dust & a third exploded right in / mouth o /
embrasure. "Withdraw gun," shouted came the order from
the battery commander. The men got drag ropes,
hauled to gun round, drew it about twenty
feet down / track & left it there (I got a photo of this)

I went to the observatn post as it ws too
hot in / gunpit. There were Foster, Maj. Hughes,
Col. Ryrie, Hague, Capt Waite & (I think) Capt
Leslie - & part o / time Col. Arnott, Blamey &
Onslow, & myself. I ws able to get a good look w
my telescope thro / loophole (wh didnt give the
post away). And Just after I got there I saw a

5
high explosive shell burst close to our men on /
ridge at Balkan Gun Pits. Then another – I cdnt 
say if it were into the men not - it might
have bn too far south. It had a greenish smoke.  XXX Oh I say,
what gun's that? I heard Col. Ryrie shout.
Then came a shot fair into / middle of them
- that looked like a destroyers shell more
than anything. I had a look Some one ran outside
to see if / destroyer were firing. They presently
shouted tt / destroyer had fired - & a few seconds
later a great spurt of brown earth leapt from / very
thick of our men. For an enemys shot it wd have
been a beautiful one. There were three in all.
By / time the third came in half a dozen of our men
jumped up & ran over the crest into the yellow wheatfield
& lay there opposite Echelon trenches. One seemed to
me to be hit as he ran - by the Turks who simply looked
down o / place from Gun Ridge. Another presently
managed to stagger & roll back to a sort of depression
or path on top o / ridge. The dust of bullets covered
him several times as he crawled - & he stopped more than
once. I fancy he had bn hit again - but he managed to
roll over into the tren path & lie there. All thro' /
afternoon, & when our men retired tt evening, 4 men were
lying in that depression - I am afraid they were
all dead this one I saw must have been amongst the
dead.
The men never retired an inch because of this
shelling. They hung on & presently / destroyer got her
shots over towards the Echelon trenches & then stopped
shooting. Old Ryrie who had his head glued to his
periscope was turning every now & then apostrophising
the onlookers. "That's awful - oh that's terrible!"
which was quite true.

Presently Capt Waite saw the Turks creeping
up to reinforce the Echelon trenches. I had a look

6
you could see their heads just over the edge of the
wheatfield [Sketch - see original scan]
against
some dark scrub. I saw the arm of some officer waving them
to keep down. Presently they began to creep up on the W to
reinforce the Echelon trenches. Our A message was passed
asking the Mountain guns to fire on the Turks reinforcing
the "right rear" (seemed to me a bad message) of the Echelon
trenches. A few minutes later a shell burst fair over
the front of the stream coming up / hill. "Oh good
boys! Oh splendid - that's just right - keep on like tt!"
shouted old R, delightedly fairly stamping for joy at his
periscope. The Turks ran at / first shot. Not a head ws
to be seen a moment later. But / m.g. mtn battery
went on – bang , bang, bang into / valley behind /
wheatfield. The shooting ws beautiful. It seemed to
me they gave / Turks about ten or twelve shots. Went
I didn't wait too long to see. A gun on Gun Ridge to /
left of us had seen all our periscopes up (I didnt have one)
& had turned onto our observatn post. (Really Bde
commanders ought to have their own posts - its
hard luck on / artillery to use theirs). Anyway
this gun from / NE had bn bursting shrapnel fairly
close to us - I used to hear it coming & get under cover
before / shots passed. But three shots now came right
onto the post. One went into / loose sand parapet
on / rear o / trench another just sheared / trench &
the third hit a sandbag just by Capt Waite's & my
left ears & toppled it over on top of us - filling / whole
place w dust - sand & spoiling Col. Ryrie's tea.
The Mtn guns got switched off onto "Twin Trenches"
(right down at / end o / ridge) where the Brigadier thought

2 stretcher bearers were
hit - one killed.

No 3 gun of Hughes Batty had had its trigger broken by
explosion I saw - the 3rd shell in / gun pit. But they replaced
this by a trigger from another gun and towards / end o / day
as our men were retiring they got onto the Turks at
Balkan gun pits. Old Ryrie ws looking thro' his periscope.
stamping w delight. "Stir the cows up a bit if it does
nothing else!" he said.

7 
the Turks were sniping from - & there certainly were
Turks in there working - ^either digging or manning / trench. Consequently
/ Turks behind Echelon trenches had a rest & began to
come up again. I saw several of them come right up to /
Balkan Gun Pits - & make themselves a nest in the
dead bushes just beyond / edge o / pit / furthest pits.
There were at least two - one in a whitish skull cap, /
other in a helmet wh looked like one of ours. Others came
crawling up into / scrub at / back. Our retirement
had bn ordered – but our men did not retire
quickly bec. o / necessity of getting / wounded away.
One cd see half a dozen of them close to / Balkan Pits
extten chatting – occasionally firing, w / Turks quite
close to them. The Turks were coming up very fast &
the Mtn guns were asked to fire again but I
su on this point, but I suppose they were on another
target for no more shots went there whilst I
was looking on. You cd see our stretcher bearers &
A.M.C. details bending over / wounded – [Only 3
men were "missing" & I suppose they were those
who were upon / wheatfield.]

As they retired a Turkish gun from / Olive
Grove began to burst a big shrapnel shell over /
hill near Chathams Post. I didnt see it do
any damage but all / men wd have to retire
thro' it as they came back. The Turks too,
I heard someone say, were shelling their own
men - they thought we were in Balkan Pits & dropped
shrapnel over it. Our men - probably our trenches - also
noticed about this time that there were Turks in B. Pits
for dust began to fly there as if from Maxim bullets,
clouds of it. I saw the white cap of that Turk still in
the brown leaves - but he may have been dead.

These shells killed 2, wounded 16,
drove half a dozen men over the
ridge & are sd to have alld the
Turks to have crept up closer.

8
A message came from D.H.Q. to / Brigadier asking if
he wd considered it better to retire or to hold Balkan
Pits. He sd: "to retire." News had arrived tt / 3rd
Bde had retired - & I have no doubt he ws right.
Col. Maclagan's men had bn found by the Turks at
Lonesome Pine & the losses amongst them were caused
from there - the Turks cd see his left. Col. M'L. wd have
liked to retire them earlier (- abt 20 minutes) but he
cdnt find the General whom he wanted to inform before
he took this step. The staff, I am sure, had left it open to
hold on or retire according as / positn ws comfortable or
not.
The retirement of the 5^th L.H. had got to the B. Pits by 1.30.
Hogue's acct is: "1 sq. 5^th under Maj. Midgdey DSO. & Capt
"Cameron started shortly after 1. They advanced w great dash
"and occupied Balkan Pits at 1.30. Two troops of 7^th L.H. under
Capt. Richardson & Lieut. Gilchrist occupied Holly Spur - to
"cover them. 2 sq. 6 L.H. under Maj White & Maj. Skillington
"occupied trenches vacated by 5 L.H. & kept up covering fire.
"The enemy reinforced his left.
"At 1.52 the Turks were reported to be massing
"behind Lonesome Pine.
"We were warned to expect an attack on our left
"but it never came off
"Parties of enemy approached B. Pits but came under
"machine gun fire."
"Our advanced party (5th) dug in (you cd see them
"swinging their picks but at 2.25 pm but at 2.25 pm three
"high explosive shells were landed amongst them by destroyer
"Midgeley says men behaved splendidly - no thought of
"retiring. Held on till ordered to retire on Green Knoll. Withdrawal
"slowly carried out bec. of wounded & killed. Left at 5.39
"6 L.H. & m.gs covered retirement of 5^th Capt. Cameron &
"Lt Gilchrist were severely wounded. Casualties 6 officers
"wounded, 25 or. killed, 83 o.r. wounded, 3 missing.
"(5 L.H. Q & NSW)