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

86
attack by 5 o’c. We had our m.gs, wh did
good work but our m.g. officer, Talbot Smith,
ws killed.
Talbot Smith landed w / rest w his m.g. w his scouts
from same boat as Col. [Rumball ws probably
thinking of the hut on Ari Burnu when he gave
me his yarn of the Fishermans Hut.]
Part of 12^th came in on our right. we had
some of 1^st Bde & some of 3rd. The Ts attacked all
night but were very scared. Our trenches were
dry whilst we were being shelled. They were just
funk holes- we started to join up on Monday.
D. Co had tools & being on left & having sand bags
had good trenches by / time / afternoon attack
came on. They were in front of Col. Maclagans HQ.
Sund night digging & fighting all night. Monday
we were shelled - T. machine guns used well.
On Monday aft. B coy ws pushed back.
15^th were on their right - & were put in over
hill again.
Monday night a lull. Turks were taking
their dead away. The Q. Eliz was blowing
tops of hills off  "altering / contours"
as we sd.
This morning there ws an attack at dawn
up Mule Valley (where they collected) & wire gully.
(?) Was not this at 7.30 o’c.) past our front.
In morning at 7.30 some cavalry appeared
 

87
mounted from NE, dismounted, (from Scrubby
knoll [[shorthand]] & attacked with drawn swords &
without any covering fire. They came within
500 yds when we opened heavy fire. Many dropped.
They ran away.
7.30 pm an attack came on but
appeared to lose directn. At 200 yds they
moved obliquely across our front in close
order & suffered very heavily & ran away.
Irvine before 1^st Bde took over told us
that forward slope of J. Jolly must be held.
He sent out a few men of a 1^st Bde Bn wh ws in
support & told them to dig in. They came in
next day. Every coy had a battle outpost, abt
100 yds out as only way of getting information
& preventing positn from being rushed.
Wed ws fairly quiet - still shrap. on
Wed evg. we handed over to RMLI (or rather
we stayed till Thurs. morning.

                          
On 19 May we were firing over the cornfield-
wheatfield ws cover from view but not from fire.
Turks came on in 2 solid lines at 3 am just
after men stood to arms. 3 Turks tried to get over
trenches but were k. on parapet. There were more
than 300 k in front of our lines - they attacked
for 3 hours. Our loss ws 10 k 20 w.
At dawn we saw coming over our trenches
 

88
from our firing line a pall of mist or
smoke - the mist of battle stealing like hands.
We first saw a movement in / grass. We
[*√*] opened fire & they opened fire.
After attack they shelled us heavily. We
exp. them to attack again, but they didnt.
Opened up on silt ridge abt a month ago.
(June 30)
 

July 30 - 89
Diary (cont) but the moon is now up & as attack
has come off (11.30 pm) & there will be moon all
night. The wind is in / right direction for gas.
A Turkish aeroplane today tried to drop a bomb
upon / beach - it fell in / water

Frid July 30. After several very much
livelier days with a French 75 whizzing across / gully
abt 20 yds or less outside my dugout - / fastest thing
I ever heard, - we are quiet again. Only / Ts have some
new powerful Taubes & one of them visited us agn today
& dropped 2 bombs wh fell off the Southern Depot, in
the sea. (Pobably after our howitzers there wh is annoying
them – the gun ws probly firing when she came over
yesty).
The line ws ordered to cheer once at 5, once at
5.1, & once at 5.2 in honour of the British Victory
over the Turks, at goodness knows where- Nasiwirah
NASIRIYAH. A few de joie ws to go along / line from
right to left (one round - aimed at T. trenches) at 5.4
As a matter of fact the T.s were firing pretty hard
just then & you cdnt hear / f.de.j when it came
along - but a good many shots were loosed off
around / line wh may have had / same effect
Little P We have now at last got some of the
round friction bombs (lit by rubbing like a match)
Our practice w these is far better than w / jamtins
- ours are now like those o / Turks.
Have pretty well finished my enquiries
 

Two or three days ago a howitzer shell burst
in J. Jolly trenches - it threw up a lot of earth &
one or two bulky objects tt might be big clods of
earth. One of these rolled down the forward
slope & immed. began to crawl up again ^ & tumbled
over / parapet into / trench. It ws a Turk.
 

90
into the 1st days fighting, ws talking to Col. Brown (3 Bn)
till midnight. The Bn certainly did great work -
it was one of the few 2nd, 3rd,4^th, 8^th, 10^th wh
kept together. But one thing I cant understand abt
our Austalian officers;  theyre mostly very brave - but
they wont credit their brother officers w bravery- They
often, without actually saying it, hint tt so and so
was in his dugout all / time or as not in /
firing line (when in some cases it is not his
business to be).  There's sometimes absolutely
no ground whatever for this insinuation.
Parker today-gave me an a/c of the
way an aeroplane works as artillery.

Sat July 31. V.C. man.

Walker s.b.
Turks put [shorthand]
RFA 69 Batt guns not covered
11^th Bn just after [[recourse?]] red light
mine went up 2nd & 2 little men rushed trench few
dead S.bs found 2 trenches. Luckily we had a
tunnel into it. Dug shallow [ shorthand] & the two
Dont yet know where Ts tunnel is. Ts in trench w
bomb. Heavy casualities we had lost our bombs

Aeroplane darts

Article in work done

air bombs curiously ineffective
men worn out w work.

article on men working harder than ever in Aust.

Promoted officers k.

older officers - [?] 

91
Sat July 8. 31
Spent all day getting particulars of work of
4 Bde on first day.
At moonrise there ws to be an attack by 11 Bn
on the T. trench opp. Tasmania Post wh has bn annoying
them. Charles Smith came w me (we looked in on J.
& found him in his pyjamas at a concert behind
his dressing Stn). From there to 10 Bn H.Q. where
found maj Loranzo. He ws going to observe from
station on Silt spur.
We had a yarn in D.C. HQ. dug out – a
wonderful cosy place - & then abt 10 p.m. went on to
the trenches & got up on to a step. We had a clear view
to / south - cd see the sea, & far mountains and
the dark lamp of our own positn on right in foregrd.
The moon ws just rising. There had bn a violent
outburst of firing on left - but it we now very quiet.
Suddenly a single red light showed on the black dump
xxxx in front of us - our own trenches I suppose.
Abt 20 seconds later there was an at a shower of
red sparks 20 feet into / air; a second i abt 100
yds S. of us. then a lower explosion w a
flash. Then several xxxx smaller flashes in
same spot. Rifle fire grew rapidly - I cd see the
pale rifle flashes running along / echelon trenches
like / light on a diamond necklace - whi pale
white light, not red in / least.
The olive grove guns began to fire - I
cd see / flash - & shells began to burst
from every directn. Some of them were very
unpleasantly close - particularly a bomb
 

92
from a catapult or mortar At our backs
wh kept on bursting not far away from us at
/ back. The fire partially subsided - all except /
shell fire. We went back to 10 Bn HQ. & yarned
there & watched Burgess 2 guns blazing at us,
over our heads, out o / middle of 400 & /
Turks trying to reach them w Shrapnel
wh sheared over our heads. A message
came along "trench taken, situation satisfactory"
I went back w C. Smith & meant
to turn in. But it struck me if I ws to send
a cable I ought to get / end o / affair so I went
back to the 11 Bn. H.Q. Newman who ws there
had heard v. little o / result but Brennan / doctor
came in & he let me come w him whilst he
went all round his trenches & into his Dressing
Stn in / gully behind Tasm. Post the old firing line.
Here whom shd I find (or rather he found me)
but little Charles Addison of Sydney who ws in
the 1st F. Ambse, stretcher bearer.
I heard something of the fight – a few
details -from Brennan & something from
Col. Maclagan & got home back to beach abt
3 a.m. or later.
Engineers of K's army landing.
Mackworth has had a letter from his brother
He says tt from / n^o. of troops apparently
reinforcing us our show will be over, in
September.
The big tank on / hill is almost
ready & is to be filled tonight or tomorrow.
The German aeroplane (which now
 

93
comes up from a Nagara aerodrome, just
finished, went over & dropped 3 bombs
in shrapnel gully & a shower of darts.
Now some o / bombs fell quite close to some
cooks but did no damage beyond spoiling
/ dinner. The men say tt what ws not
spoilt by / earth thrown into it ws spoilt
by / disappearance o / cook.

I wen
Sunday.  Went up w Nicholson to /
captured trench. Our Commn trench was
now through - the last bit of open tunnel

having bn dug. The T. trench is just on /
edge of a very steep little gully
Diagram - see original 
There were 2 or 3 dead T.s in / comm tunnel -
dragged there out o / trench; several (including
one officer) on the bank by / side of it; some in
/ bottom o / trench; & several in the Southern
Y of Turkish Commn. trench, lying beyond
our reach. Besides these, we know tt our
m.gs. got onto / T.s when they tried to
counter attack agst northern end of post
- so we probably killed at least 30 if not
 

94

more. Our loss ^as far as known to present is 22 k & 68 w.
Pullock ws killed by a shell after trench had
bn taken. He is a promoted officer. These
promoted officers have bad luck - 4 in the 5 Bn
were killed at Helles. I think they feel they
keen to justify their promotion - & poor lads
they certainly have done so.
In / trench ws found a T. rifle w /
muzzle shot thro. The bolt had bn removed
.These T.s are very gallant. They dont seem
to lose their heads even in an emergency. We
captured very few rifles - / Turks got
most of them in spite of their scare w / mine.
Only 3 out of 4 of our mines went
up. The 3rd ws late. It must have bn /
one wh went off near the S. branch o /
Turkish Y trench. There were two men
buried under / tumbled earth there - one Turk
& one Australian. The Austrln must have bn in /
trench side by side w / T.s, probably fighting
him, when tt mine went off and buried
them both. Leane wdnt wait & I've
no doubt he ws right.
One Australian had run past /
right hand end o / Turk. trench of & got

to / edge o / T. commn trench, &
there he lay w 3 belts of m.g. ammn
in his haversack where / cross is in /
sketch. The other two were by
the tt daggers in / sketch

Diagram - see original 
 

95
The men had bn digging hard & had greatly
improved / trench - putting Turkish sandbags &
/ baked sand bricks on / East side o / trench, &
recessed it w fire steps behind loopholes.
It ws still dangerous & open at / N end
where ^it ended in two isolated sandbag breast works out
in / open on a bit of a washaway in / cornfield.
The men were deepening it - agst artillery
fire - it ws fairly well zigzagged -  & /
[*??*] dead Turks in it were already very smelly.
The regimental staff work ws bad (Newman
(adjt. is ill) - the men had not water
for their digging. There were dead Australians
in / bottom o / trench - being walked over
(the men and no am  didnt like this nor
did anyone else). The men who took /
place ought to have bn relieved much
earlier - they were really shaken by /
morning when a counter attack w bombs
and shells ws delivered & a fair number of
men lost. Hot coffee cd have bn passed
to them / night before - but these things
were not done. They were eventually
relieved, when it ws high time, by /
Twelfth.

I hear tt / British authorities

apptly realise tt it is imposs. to drive the huns out of France. The only way they

say is for us to win here.