Charles E W Bean, Diaries, AWM38 3DRL 606/10/1 - June - September 1915 - Part 6

46
just before we exploded our mine. Probly they
heard us & thought we were not going to 
explode yet bec. work genly ceases before a 
mine is exploded.
We have now to harrass / enemy
all we can w patrols & schemes ^ to draw fire in order to keep
him busy. The old idea of letting him do all / firing
at night & never firing a shot ourselves enabled
him to walk abt in front of his trenches as he
liked once it was dark. Now we have patrols 
in front of all our trenches at night. It gives us
/ offensive to some extent. W
I hear the 14 in gun monitors - 2 of them 
- arrived today at Helles. Our Helles guns were
today shelling well over this side o / hills.
What a schoolmasters army this
is - Legge, Blamey, Williams, Jess, Cass
I can think of at once -Capt Carter (5th)
Col Bennett (4th) etc.
The Turk Turks blew up 3 mines
last night. Two were away over near their
own trench & nowhere near any of ours
& did no harm to anyone. The third ws
nearer us & the earth o / explosion fell on
one man. Jack found had a few the mans leg
we crushed. he set it - a simple fracture -
but / man died from shock or from some
internal injury before he left / dressing stn. The
Turks were scared by our mine explosion
wh killed their men - & so blew all these prematurely.
 

July 13. sortie ( *shorthand see original) Steeles {sh} 67thBn
15 men {sh{ our own {sh} at Walkers
{sh}, nor ws {sh} & they were
{sh} stumbling{sh}
only 5 came {sh}
(*shorthand - see original

47
*Not transcribed as  shorthand.
 

Friday 
(*shorthand - see origina)
Abt 7.15 this morning I saw a battle ship (Prince George) blazing away at Achi Baba
News ws rec^d late lastnight tt / Allies were going to attack down South &
we were asked to make a demonstration. Sixty second L.H.^ Bde were advised at
11.30 they were going to get an order to demonstrate. Order arrd. at12.40. They
manned their trenches at 7.30 am. & went over them at 8.15. The 6th sent
out a troop (26 men) under Lt Ferguson. The ^two mortar ridge guns were onto
them within 10 seconds of their leaving the parapet. And followed them all / way
but only one man ws hit on / way out. At times / shrapnel (so Col. Reggietells me) absolutely hid them from vies in / dust clouds but as / cloud 
cleared they cd be seen still going forward. They got out to [[Holey Speer?]]
& lay there.

48
Monday July 12.
We made a demonstratn
this morning in order to retain Turkish troops here
during an attacl (at abt 7.30) at Helles. The
6th Bn ws apparently asked to make a diversion
from its front. Col. Elliott called for volunteers &
a small par  10 men were chosen to rush from
our crater into / Turkish crater (by way of a tunnel
they have lately dug). The turks & ourselves have 
fired at one another from our respective barricades for some days.
(*Diagram - see original)
[*See also P/ 58.]
The Turks, finding we always shot him, made a tunnel from his
into / commⁿ trench betw / two craters & fired from / end of it. We were to open
up this tunnel (10 men w picks were to follow / attack).
2nd Liet Gregg - newly arrived - & many
men volunteered. Ten men were chosen but one
& / other volunteers went out agst orders 
though not chosen - aga  orders or no orders
- making 12 in all. They found no Turks
in / Tunnel at all - but abt 210 in /
crater. there ws some T. festival on in
connectn w Ramadan & probably they
 

7th Bn { Gregg missing
               4 officers wounded


49
were off their guard. Gregg got into / crater without
opposition & / Turks all scrambled to get out of
it. Three were shot.  We occupied / crater. Presently
Turks came back w bombs & all G. & all his
party were wounded. They sent for help. 6 men 
were sent - 4 of them did not realise what ws to
be done but dashed out from / p Crater to / Officers
Trench & found it full of Turks looking up at them.
Two of these men were hit by a m.g. &
officers who watched it from Popes & who
thought they were Turks tell me they were
sure these 2 men were hit by one of our own
m.gs. on Walkers - they themselves cd
scarcely refrain from firing on them. It ws a 
bad bit of staff work tt NZ & A Divn
ws not informed o / attack - one o / few
really bad omissions our staff has made.
They sd they cd see one of these men rushing
wandering backwds & forwds not knowing
wh way to turn. Two of them got into /
crater anyway.
It ws clear / Turks had reinforced
their trench & were attacking so Gregg now decided
to return. He lost 2 men from his party in / crater
but sent / rest all safely back. The last
man returned thro' / tunnel, G standing at /
mouth w his revolver in hand, head bleeding,
keeping / Turks at bay - he himself retiring
last. The Turks meanwhile ran round by /
open sap & reached / mouth o / tunnel almost at
/ same time as our men - & before Gregg. That
 

50
ws / last tt ws seen of him. The sap Turks
then attacked w bombs our crater - but 
for This had to be held at all costs & the
officer in charge of it himself stood w revolver
& beat nearest to / Turks. Five officers one
after / other were wounded here, all of the 
6th. {The 6th in one fortnight in these trenches 
lost - chiefly by gunfire from the 6 in
howitzer, 192 men. their trenches were 
pretty well wrecked.
 

52
*Shorthand has been translated above the line by Author.
Sunday July 18. My eye still bad with / dust at Helles so I
{*SH}
wrote this in shorthand. Nevinson & Russell left this mg. for {*sh} Imbros via
Helles. I afterwds went up to Jock. The 75m.m gun ws [[selling?]]
The trenches - The shell always arrived before you can hear it. They were
bursting all over the rest of the hills & a good no. down the gully-
I suppose abt 40 shells burst while I ws there.  The lines of the
9th Bn ^ trenches have bn absolutely torn
to pieces by shell - they look as ragged as a dust heap -
scarcely five yards of trench without a shell in it. This 
is from a 6in. howitzer on top of Long 700 wh fires through
 a narrow angle right along this part of our trenches,
but especially on Steeles. SThe Turks are able to
Enfilade both sides of our triangle, but particularly
this one.
TYesterday I took Nevinson up to Quinns
- & Malcolm Ross also. Quinns was absolutely
transformed since my last visit - It is laid out
in Terraces each w a shed on them w an iron
roof, well sandbagged under wh / supports steep.
We had tea w Col. Malone ( Canterbury) on a little
terrace in front of his place dug out. "The art of warfare"
he sd "is / cultivation o / domestic virtues." If he
had roses he wd plant them there. The trenches
are well bomb proofed (*Diagram- see original) our fellows (The bomb
throwers) can throw the bombs from behind the
 

53
wire. We have steel loopholes with & 2 m.g.
emplacements on of wh ws blown down but is
up again.& / loopholes are level w / ground.
They dont get much bombardment now.
Col They have already exploded 16 mines in
front of Quinns. We have a series of tunnels
going in from the hill front (Diagram - see original)
& than a gallery connecting
 them & further tunnels dipping
down & branch tunnels w listeners in them.
We ex Our system is a defence agst the Enemys
mines.
Elsewhere we have exploded ^ I think at J.Jolly
3 mines ws agst Turks 21 and at Lone Pine
2 agst their 23. The three they last exploded 
were hopeless failures - right away from
ours. But the 2 before that, opposite
L.Pine were a success. The one we exploded 
opposite J.Jolly (?) today at 3 flung 2 Turk
bodies into / air & made a big crater.
- The T. bunch must have bn above it.
The Two others were exploded yesty (one opposite
Quinns w a small charge, & one opp. Courtney
& all this work is planned by / Engineers. Own
front is pretty well protected tho' we cant
guarantee / front trenches everywhere.
The mistake was we didnt begin w a 
regular plan - we only woke up to tt necessity
 

54
later. 
The Turks need to find our trenches by 
crawling over / ground at night & listening. We
have put a sudden end to this - we have
our own patrols out in waiting for / Turks.
Last night one of them met a Turk, shot him
w a revolver. The ^wounded Turk ran down between /
trenches shouting "Ahmed! Ahmed!" until he
ws shot from other trenches. When we used to
allow them out at night (w by not firing a 
shot) they placed two of our tunnels & dug
towards them straight away ) & Exploded 
mines under 2 of them near L. Pine.
In / attack at Helles on 12,13,
& 14 we seem to have lost abt 45000 - not
including, I think, the French. Two
battalions, wh went ahead of the rest
were cut off by a T. Counterattack - or
rather, / the first ws cut off, & / second,
on being sent to help it, got into a 
distant trench & ws cut off also. They
came back (The Staff hadn't known 
where they were) & I suppose those
trenches will have to be taken agn. We
have advanced 400 yds & taken 470
prisoners. It must be so dispiriting to have
to take over again positions tt you have already
rushed because you rush them a little too early
 

55
for the rest et plans o / staff. I cant help thinking
tt if Napolean had bn undertaking a frontal
assault on the Gallipoli Peninsula he wd have
brought / line up to them & not let them have to
dribble back to / line.
July 19. Monday. The Turks have a M.G.
in Twin Trenches & turned it onto the beach today
S. of S.depot - they got 8 men - some killed. The
shells on the beach yesty got about 30 men K. &.W.
-most by two shells from Anafarta.
We hear that the Turks intend to
attack - probly tonight - on a signal given from some
boat in the Straits. They have not fired one shell on /
beach all day. The remainder o / Scottish Howitzer
Bde is landing here & the 4.7 gun is in position in
a huge emplacement down at / South end o / position.
A One often hears comparisons betw. / position
of our troops & those in Flanders. Of course we
have beautiful weather - only too hot; & we
havent so much artillery as they have - only
what we have Enfilades / trenches & makes
sure of getting in almost w every shot it fires
If our own men will get into / tunnels they are much safer there
than in [[?]] tho' much closer to / enemy.
(*Shorthand)
But we have (1) the whole base & supplies o / army
continually and continuously under shell fire
& within range of rifle fire - even / hospital
ship had to move out on a/c of bullets. And (2)