Charles E W Bean, Diaries, AWM38 3DRL 606/12/1 - August 1915 - Part 1

AWM38
Official History,
1914-18 War: Records of C E W Bean,
Official Historian.
Diaries and Notebooks
Item number: 3DRL606/12/1
Title: diary, August 1915
Includes reference to lone Pine, German
Officers' Trench, the Chessboard and the Nek.
AWM38-3DRLK606/12/1
 

Original
Diary No.12.
AWM383DRL 606 ITEM 12 [1]
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 discovered this, or remembered to correct his 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 themselves believed them to be true. All
second-hand evidence herein should be read with this in mind.
16 Sept.,1946
 

Diary 12.
Aug 6/7
12
C.EW.Bean.
Battle of Aus 6th.
Diary 12-Aug 6-7
(obtained as soon as I was
able to get about - Aug
10 to 14)
 

(X The [[?]]shd be
any 10.(.EW.DS.)
We blew up mines at L. Pine
abr afternoon at ------
Often whole trench ws covered
wooden loopholes were bricked up
w sand bricks with revelled
firesteps.
Trenches all seemed to be
made w object of being enfiladed
from N. Observation posts all back
from fire line.

1
Aug 9.Cont. X
got it today: Story of Aug 6. as Peter Schuler
Our men left from 2 lines of Trenches.
At head of each sap were officers or NCOs or
whistles. As soon as Maj. King
blew his the others blew theirs.
Men went over ( trench, some of them,
on ladders.
When got to T trenches found them
covered w xxxxxxxxxx beams beams and brushwood
w occasional holes in it for
skylight. It ws thro' there tt our
men fired down at / Turks
who had gone into / tunnels.
Some of our men stepped down thro'
these holes feet foremost.
T's had gone into tunnels. They werent
expecting bombardment attack &.
perh. feebleness of bombardment didnt
put them wise. We had knocked
their head cover abt a bit in
previous three days & they were
in tunnels when our men arrd.
our chaps cds see them there
 

slip sometimes 3 ft
-prob. used as
sleeping [[sh]]
(Diagram - see original)
Mines were very deep & were
finally cleared
by [[?]]
sandbags
(Diagram - see original)
XXXXXX
Cass went in at 8pm Sat
night (2nd) & had 20K. & 70
wd. in right secton tt night.
At 5 pm. on 8th reld by 7 Bn
at 11 am. on 8th the 2nd had attacked
the artillery & rifle fire did no good.

2
& stood firing at them.
Turkish tunnels were splendidly
made w ledges (Diagram-see original) wher men
wd lie leaving the central passage
open. Trenches v. deep w snug
dug outs. [contained lots of ammo
& German m.gs]
[[?Stephenson]] (4 Bn) ?2 Bn and went
along telling men to get down into trench.
Turks were often in Tunnels running
down out towards our lines. We dont
know yet where some o / tunnels
lead to. They have plenty of
Common Trenches & tunnels. Our
Aero map didn't show all.
An officer wd run along some
of this maze of trenches &
suddenly at some corner he
wd fall. Men behind him wd
wait & snipe from behind [[?traverse]]
at men who had shot their offr.
 

(Diagram-see original)
T's bombed us out of dotted portion
12.30 [[?]](Aus 9) after [[?]] a few
bombs they bombed us out of this
bit.
Bn front 165 yards, salient 250
Stephens 2 Bn: 120 went out of
recesses, 66 out of parapet
B Coy out of recesses, C over par.
A reserve. D coy came sam
was as first two.
1st line went over T [[sh]] to 2nd line
2nd line went to nearest trench.
100 dead [[?]] area. Positin
captured by 5.45 in S advance

3
In one case they found a heap of 6
dead Australians on one side & 8
dead Ts. on other of one of these
recesses. Generally battle of bombs.
We hadnt many men killed considering
severity of attack. Majority were slightly
wounded.
We sand bagged end of [[?Commn]]
trenches. We are sniped from J.Jolly
& all sides - in fact head cover is 
needed. Trenches were very deep
& day (Aug 9 Aug 10)hav bn largely
occupied in digging T. dead out of
them, (abt 100 of theirs & 50 of ours buried
by fatyine parties of Tommies). Dead
lay 3 deep in some trenches - in
some cases were simply buried there -
In one sap leading our way / end
ws blocked by 30 T. dead.
On The Sunday night they
counter attacked w bombs
mostly thrown from / Commn
 

Turk told Nicholson:
Acting orderly to Col. og Rgt"(a reservist) & also another Cl
Sergt, 1 [[?]] Balk. {{/}} sd tt
[[?prou]] we had caused lot of losses
by bombardment. On day of real
bombardment they took most of men
into tunnels - they were there when
out troops charged.
Sergt sd didnt exp attack
having had bombardment before.
When he got word from observing officer
"Look out / English are coming: He
rushed to get men out of tunnel
but it ws too late. Before he cd
do it Engl. were there. He thought
his officers were K.


4
trenches. These bombers had /
exact range of our trenches whereas
we didn't know exactly where
they were. But we came to know
& then our case improved. Our
men h. bn exercised in bomb theory
all day (Aug 9 Aug 10) by order of one Col. at
least (Cass now 2 Bn vice Scobie K,)
Our men at last fot superiority in
bombing. ^Our Supply of bombs unlimited.
4 Bn ws taken out for 24 hrs
but put in agn on Sunday night.
It went in 600 strong & came out
200 strong this morning.
Some British troops are now
in reserve.
We are thinking of putting
head cover over trenches tonight -
Turks had appily got every
available pine tree for miles &
 

The Popes ft. machine guns - or
one one of them - wh ws taken out of its
trench & put on / parapet o /
support trench & fired back over
it - caught a number of xxxxx Turks
lying down crowded behind L.Pine on Aug
8 or 9. The gun ws opened on
them & one Turk ws  seen to drop
on / left, another on / right, &
so on - over about a rood of
ground. The fast ws / barel o /
gun is so worn tt it sprays its
bullets - as I saw also at
left of line when Capt Rose ws
firing at T. observers.
About / twelfth time /
gun ws used in this postitn
on Popes one left ws put thro'
& it ws taken down & ind.
a 75 shell landed within 6

feet of where it had bn, followed
by 1/2 a dozen others.

5
put into the place. We can see
into / gully from it.
The attack on G.) Trench.
At 11 o'c. a mine ws exploded;
at 11.15 another. Two others at 11.40.
We gave Fermes 20 mins. to cleat & then
rushed from tunnels.
We cdnt go over top bec. ite
forwd concealed firing line ws there not
broken through.
We cdnt: had to gather in
tunnels & go thro from there. Mass
of men crowded along [[?]] all
tunnels. At end of them were officers
& men to go out. Trench ws only
few yds away. At 12 men started
to go out. They simply fell back
into arms of men waiting behind.
Doctor Black says every man had