Charles E W Bean, Diaries, AWM38 3DRL 606/10/1 - June - September 1915 - Part 13

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chance of surviving is simply the chance
tt / war may end before they are in a
thick rough & tumble scrap. The 6 Gurkhas
had originally 12 officers & has received 8
since; it has 4 left (2 of whom arrived 2 days
ago).

Incidentally / Ghurka trenches are uncomfortable
ones to get along. They are short men &
they dont build trenches for men like
Australians. You are apt to be sniped
at / whole way, as you move along
them.

I found the 10 L.H. in its newly
captured trench. I believe they found /
body of Grant, the N.Z. Chaplain who ws
k. yesty - shot thro' / chest - in a
shallow trench full of dead Turks in /
interior o / circle (see note book)

Aug 30. Stayed in, writing. Beachy Bill
opened out this afteroon probably after
visit of 2 Taubes yesty - She put 27 shells
onto the new N.Z. pier & depot - &
finished w 4 outside this dugout wh
killed one Tommy guarding / prisoners,
wounded 2 (one fatally I'm afraid) & one
Turk. It ws wonderful shooting & a 4 in shell.

Alanson rather impressed me by
one phrase yesty. "Of course this is a war
of inefficiency," he sd, "and you simply

X But c.f, diary No. ___
p ___

114
have to accept take tt for granted & muddle thro'
as best you can." He meant that the efficient
men had long since bn used up, & Britain
had to use old men & inefficient men to command
Battalions & Bdes - poor old things they are
doing their best; it is really rather pathethic.
They get killed - anyway - & they cant do
much more. But no brigadier really ought
to be over 45 & no colonel over 40 if as
much. A move such as tt of Aug 6/7
wh required extreme energy is a foregone
failure to such material. Sleepy old
^x John Monash - cautious if ever a man
was - is one o / worst sort of men for
such a move; but he's probably brilliant
compared to some others

Aug. 31. Writing all day
9.20 pm. very heavy firing & bombing on
left. Clearly some sort of attack. Firing &
a little bombing still going on at 11 p.m. More at
11.40 sap bombs.

The 11^th & 12^th Light Horse have arrived
The 12^th calls itself the P. of. W. own - & one of
their officers assured an officer of the 1st LHR.
tt they are absolutely the firest L.H. Bde tt
has ever left Australia. The squadrons of
the 2 regiments have been turned over to /
other L.H. Regiments belonging to / same
states. When one N.S.W. sqn. of the 11^th, 160

115
strong, marched in to reinforce the 1st LHR.
they thought it ws a brigade coming in! The
whole regiment hadnt totalled 160 a few days
before. The 13^th Regt they say is kept to
new act as divl cavalry for 2nd Divn.
The colonel has gone as colonel to the 8^th L.H.
wh ws commanded by a subaltern; & the
Bdier has remained in Egypt.
Duds W. Smith ws down for a
bathe & stayed to dinner.

Had A cable from Mrs Vincent asking abt her
brother who ws "missing" on Aug 7. I'm afraid
there's no chance. He was in the 1st L.H. &
all their missing are dead.

Thurs
Sept. 2nd I have to go slow with laryngitis &
now that is over I have the begining of an
attack of the diarrhoea which is running
thro' the whole camp. We have had very little
enteric - poor Col. Rowell of the L. Horse
died of it, I believe, in Alex - & but any
amount of dysentery.

There is a report tonight that a
transport has been sunk & 1400 lives lost.
Some say they are Australians. Lawrence &
Nevinson are over here.

Sept 3. Friday
Keith Murdoch arrived today. He is
going to London for the Syd "Sun" & Melb.
"Herald" to manage their cable service from

116
"The Times" office. He says the transport
was the Northland & contained some of our
Sixth Brigade. Others say it is the Southland.
One report is tt no one was killed - all /
boats picked up; another says / ship
wasnt sunk & managed to get in.

I had to lie up, but took Murdoch
up to / top of this hill to see / view.

Sat Sept 4. In bed. Murdoch went up to
see Gen. Walker & Lone Pine.

Sun Sept 5. Hoped to take M. out to the left,
but wasn't fit. He went out himself.
We hear the Southland had some o / Sixth
Bde.

Mon Sept 6. Took M. up to Quinns. He had an
interview w little Walker yesty. Walker
was really expansive - told him how he
had come to believe in & love his men &
how he wd not change his command for
/ world. The men like little "Hooky"
too - he's a man we owe something to.
- Nevinson tells me tt Hooky ws his name
at school.

M left at midday. 6^th Bde arriving.

Tues Sept 7. The staff of the 2nd Divn, who

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were on the Southland, arrived during /
night & the 1st Austrln Bde will begin to be
relieved today. They have been putting the
5 & 6 Bdes gradually into / trenches & now
the 5^th is fairly well blooded. Our men are
a little cynical & jealous of these new troops
because the papers have always said, "The
last troops contingent ws / finest tt has left
Australia." "So you've come at last,
have you?" sd one man as the new
bn stre filed past into Lone Pine. The new
men didn’t say anything in reply. It
may have bn meant for a joke but it
ws just a little bitter. The new lot are
fine men but / officers dont impress one
at all - & some bns have not / remotest
idea of sanitation. The same ws / case
with 4^th Light Horse Bde wh arrived / other
day & was split up between the 1^st &
3rd Bdes, each states regt getting a
squadron from its own state. The Bdier
Col. Spencer Brown , ws left in Egypt
- I hear he has got the 6^th Bde in place of
Col. Linton who ws drowned - or rather
died of exposure - after the Southland
disaster. Col Watson was to have had it,
but / arrangement had bn altered.

The Southland disaster took
place on Sept. 2. It is

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pretty fully described in my cable of today.
Gelllbrand, who is a cool & if anything cynical
critic, tells me my account is accurate
& not overdrawn. - The men, he says
behaved "excellently well." -  "& did very
well for thenselves out of the available
kits in / time at their disposal," he added.
He lost something himself by this; & that is why
he is sarcastic.

They some of them saw / submarine -
abt a mile away, it seemed. And / naval
gunner w the 4.7 gun on / stern got off
two shots at its periscope wh ws possibly
why it did not fire again. Then he ceased
firing. The submarine fired 2 torpedoes,
& / second one went just under their
stern. It wd have settled them. But
w only one hole - 40 ft by 12 - their bulkhead
stood & so long as it stood they were
safe. The danger ws tt it might not
stand - a very great danger.

The ship eventually got into Mudros
drawing 34 ft forwd & 20 ft aft
- her list had not bn heavy tho'.
pronounced. The crew were part of
them hopeless - stokers & some stewards.
The first mate tried to keep them back
& finally had to shoot to enforce his
orders - one man thro' / head &

Asp. on
Hosp Ship
Fraschi
Young AMC men.
Articles.  The Medicos
& / men.
The O1d Dug out.
Paths - dry earth - Quinns frontage.
The man on / beach
Macmanamy
Onslow.
Police.
The life.
Cables. Canteen
Spy Stories.

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another thro' / leg. They eventually
rushed some o / boats - I think the one they
from seized capsized & they overturned another
w Bdier Linton in it. Gellibrand tells
me tt / overturning of boats ws /
work of / crew - & he is a careful
narrator. Our men had to string some
o / davitts from wh / boats had been
cut - & fix new falls & tackle to them
All this took time. These new raw
Australian troops behaved in a way tt
wd have given an example to many
old & hardened regiments.

Tummy still very sore. Bazley
is the same way.
The 18th 17^th told us at Quinns that
they threw 8 350 bombs last night! There is
also a short section of trench there which is
called the "racecourse" bec. you get a lot of
Turkish bombs in it. I dont think they can
yet be up to the form o / troops they relieved
- naturally. Two Light Horse sergts went
thro' a section of Quinns / other day when /
new troops were in & found not a single
periscope up. Also some o / new lot have
no regard whatever for sanitation.

Wed. Sept 8. I hear they wont appoint
an officer in Austr. under 23. If 
they wdn't appt. an officer over 40
there'd be something in it.

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Howse tells me that he is not to be
made D.MS. (Australia). The Australian
Govt is sending Featherstone (who struck
me as a very foolish person) to investigate
affairs in Egypt.

Sept 9. Thursday.  Gen Legge arrived
two days ago. The 2nd Division - 5 & 6 Bdes, 7 not
yet arrived - have been having a sort of introduction
to their work - 5^th a pretty rough one on Knoll
60 - & so they have gone into Quinns; 6^th at
Steeles - & now they are going into Lone Pine.
An English Divn. is relieving the New Zealanders
of whom Monash's Bde is down (largely thro'
sickness) to about 700 & the NZM.R to
350 or 300!

Col Skeen has gone away ill.

The 1^st Bde began to come out of the
Pine last night; or rather came down to /
beach. The 2nd Bn & part of 1st were embarked
before 4 am. & sent to Mudros. I believe
an order went thro today to Egypt
for 100,000 bottles of beer for the Division
- that is about 15 per man - to be
forwarded to Mudros from Egypt - 
for the troops canteen for the month.

Some Indian troops & details
were disembarking at / same time
when our men were embarking
& some of the Naval officers or

121
British officers on the pier nearly drove me
wild by their shouting of orders at the
top of their voices. Any Turk on Walkers
Ridge could hear them & hear what they
sd, & it is just a wonder tt they were
not shelled - they were on Aug 4 & we
know from / diary of a captured Turk
tt / "loud noises on / English pier" cd
be heard at night when those British
troops were disembarking. Our troops
last night worked without any noise
at all & without / lighting of matches.
The Navy very nearly messed / whole
disembarcation last night by not
having the lighters ready before it was
almost dawn.

The 2nd Bde is going off tonight
except 7 Bn. The 3 & 4 Bns havent gone
yet, nor 3rd Bde, or artillery. I believe
1 & 2 Field Ambces are going & the
Supply Coys - but I'm afraid artillery
wont have a chance & probably
not D.H.Q. I am going off to Imbros
in a day or two & probably to Athens.

Sept. 10 Friday.  went xx to left Breakfast - a cup of weak
tea without milk or sugar; a plate of porridge;
a piece of toast - better than all the
condensed milk of the past few days.
I went out to the left to Monash - now

Essex Bde holds old Australian
line. The new Commn trench on their
left is dug into the trench taken by
the N.Z.M.R. - so tt the 4^th Bde, tho' it
may have got into the trench
x (as Monash
says) didnt
keep tt trench.

Diagram - see original document

Monash had
never been across
there - I rather
wonder at this. I
know no other Brigadier,
unless it be Hughes, that would not have
been through it.
The Essex hold the Australian line & then down
across the Aghyl Dere Gully (sap manned by
eight in middle of gully) and up next hill to
Monash. The London Bde makes a sort of
∧ in front of them here - an inverted V -
and its right must end not far in front
of Monash - near the Chailak Dere below
the farm.

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where 38th Bde was - a very extraordinary positn.

Diagram - see original document
Afterwds I went on to find to 4 Essex Bde.
On the way I passed two emplacements of the
French 75s - where maybe they were on the right of Aug 6/7.
The 15^th found their wheel tracks next morning
on to road, only two wheel tracks, with
the marks of a skid at the bend as if they it
had bn got out very hurriedly.

Near by a companion of the 15^th showed
me a point where the Turks made a bit of a
stand. They saw several Turks there &
he saw one of our men ^abt 4 am - a little later
he passed the place - in / morning - 
and there was our man dead; shot