Charles E W Bean, Diaries, AWM38 3DRL 606/16/1 - August - September 1915 - Part 2

14
Diagram - see original scan
2 pink flags put up on rt one on left
every 2 hrs.
Aug 29 (pencil)
One party of 10 LH went from N to UV; others from
K to UW. 9 LH came along from C to W. Trench ws not finished beyond M.
HJXW found to be the one trench.

15
Grants body ws found - shot thro' chest

NZMR first took NE ?HE; almost immediately MO
Then went on to Q & G - some certainly killed at
Q - a Connaught Ranger is there - The red flag ws up
at O within ten minutes o / start - latest lines
got it hottest eg. 18 Bn. & perh. didnt do
quite so well. Monash started a few from
ST; mostly from SD. Was met w terrific
fire. I met one of his men in KN near N.
9 L.H. I think were merely put in abt 11 pm.
but suffered. Lane ws killed near O.

Grant - padre of one NZM Regt ws shot
near J. He went down it to find a wounded NZ

16
man but found it choked w Turks. He
dressed / wounds of one or two & went on
over them (w another padre). Presently they
heard voices. I think Ts. are in / trench - sd
his companion. They lay very still. Then Grant
pushed on - will just see if he's here - he
sd. Next moment there ws 'a shot' & he fell
forward - shooting began all round - savagely.
It ws hopeless for his friend to try & get
him. Bullets from every directn. A N.Z. man
went down / sap later but he cdnt see Grant.
(I visited this point on Aug 28 -)
There ws a wounded Turk in / sap feeding on
bully beef - 2 of our own wounded in a shallow
trench K-N - one poor chap dying - the other
not so bad. His head had bn bandaged & he
might live. Flies had bn at it - but he was
dressed & might get away after dark.

The trench ws not covered - you were
really only covered by the scrub.

A sniper ws getting onto the sap opposite a trench -
he saw you coming down & you had to bolt past it like
a rabbit. Then came a section of trench where you had to
climb over 6 dead men - after tt you were safe
except for the 75 wh caught many men in /
trench tt day. An 8in fell in without bursting.
The 10^th are to go in to night to clean up the
part from B to H, & B to K.
[*The 
page 
torn 
out here 
ws gn
to Maj. 
Wagstaff 
when 
he saw 
it as 
I was 
returning 
from 
Hill 60 
& is in 
the Corps 
Diary 
App 37]*]

17
N.Z were instructing 18 Bn to throw bombs.
Some of the NZ officers talked to me like owls
of the Australians not doing well. "I'm afraid"-
when they meant they were chewing the cud over
it. I snapped back, "well I daresay theyll
improve even if they dont do to well in Their
first fight - just as ^some others have improved."

I think they knew what others I meant
- for its going to be the limit if we are to
have N.Z. patronising our men after their
showing on the first day.

18
10 LH. Now 2 sqns A+B =A
Old A in front line Capt Fry (Fitzgeralds trench)
½ C in front line ^ Capt Robertson (Blairs trench)
2 troops B  ) 2 line
                 C )
----
Started at 1 am.
By 1.5 in possn.
Lost 20 men on way over.
m.g. fire from straight over on 2nd line
Trench lightly held. But continuation of
Blairs trench ws strongly held
& they bombed 2nd line of C.
Sqn from there.

These may have got away
before 9th came up trench &
joined us. 9th came along

19
trench & many got shot -
Ran right into 10th & nearly got
shot. 2 Lt MacBean ws shot on
parapet. Capt H.P. Fry k by
bomb in morning, Lt Leake
had top of trench head blown off.
Reversed bullets
-----
Burgess, in charge Throslte,
Kidd Sanderson.
Throstle had 7 bomb holes
in him & carried on till
8 o'c (4 hrs later).
abt 170 went out &
"   60 casualties.
----
Ts counter attacked w day by
from both sides of
tail of Q.

20
We put some men out
in the scrub from ? tail. to S. of it.

----
Tail runs to NE. nut
had to fall back 30 - 40 [[shorthand]]
Now digging across.
Barricades 20 , 30 yds
apart.
We can now see across to
W Hills.

------
[[shorthand]]

Connaughts lost Col
Rinell & 40 men
vanished.
Maj Scott is their C.O. 

21
8 L.H. Aug.7.
Turk Acct - of our fighting on Nek.
18th Regt man. 3rd Bn George Pandelindes
ws on / Nek. The rest had bn heavily reduced on the 29 June.
Divl HQ & regt. HQ were near. Two German staff
officers there and 2 officers, one w / rank of
Major w mach.guns - w 20 Germ. NCOs mostly
Corpls and Sergts. The Ts are much annoyed
by / way / Germ. NCOs are fed. They get meat
at every meal and sweets and / Ts. look on
them as unclean in their habits.
They (Ts) use periscopes & perisc. rifles
The Christian probly gets
worse food than / Musselman. Any quantity o water
Careful abt collecting cartridge cases.
The Ts. are sd to have lost heart a good deal.
They say 'we have only come here to be killed.' (It is

22
only / same as we Australians talk). They were greatly delighted
by / occupatn of Warsaw & believe / Germs will
compel peace. Turkey will benifit by / terms
The Ts like the French & hate the English (probly in Syria)
Howitzer fire has done much harm & Turks
dislike them. Field guns not effective. Naval guns
effective.. Abt 3 pm:(on Aug.6) the bomdt by Brit
Commenced. Third bn ws resting in the valley -
(Chatal Valley behind Mortar Ridge)
It ws anticipated tt this ws prelude to an attack. The bn
ws hurried into trenches bayonets fixed & whole of
men ready for attack altho' bombt continued.
Considerable damage ws done to / trenches on / night o /
Turks but for most part shells went over front trenches & to /
right and did no harm to those actually waiting an
attack. This bombt continued from 3 pm

23
till ½ hr aft - sunset. Abt w hrs
aft sunset our hows. began an intermittent
intermittent fire, a round every 5 or 10 mins.
& continued till / small hrs o / morning.
This fire ws v. effective doing much
damage. Abt 100 were lost in this
way. They were suddenly constantly carried away
dead or wounded. The bombt in / morning
before / attack apptly did no damage & then
there ws a delay before / attack took place.
The Turks stood ready in case of an attack.
The British attack took place abt 8 (?)
The Turks on their right were weakened 
by / bombt but protected by a gully.
Those in / direct front were practically
untouched. And as soon as / British
appeared a heavy rifle fire direct
& a cross fire from a machine gun on / 
right ws opened upon them & simply wiped
them out. They came on very well &
3 men succeeded in reaching / Turkish
trenches, falling dead over / parapet
into / bottom o / trench. the m.g. ws

24
manned by Ts. No Germans were present
yet. The Ts suffered no losses & special
complimentary orders were issued to /
18th Regt. contrasting them w the 14th & 72
Regts wh lost their trenches in / direction
of Chatal Tepe (?Turks Hump) North of
Battleship H.) Some medals were granted
& promotions for bravery made. Abt 
2 hrs after this attack / warships guns
opened & did much damage to /
commn trenches going over B'ship
Hill. The whole o / troops in / trenches
had to take cover, all movement
being stopped. Evidently large reinforcements
were being moved up.
The officers left / trenches & took
cover at Regimental H.Q. Shells 
were bursting everywhere & men
cd be seen thrown into / air.
At this time / British troops
advanced & occupied Chatal Tepe,
& guns from tt directn began to fire
on / trench occupied by the 18 Regt.

25
who now had both ships' fire
& howitzers. So severe ws / fire tt a 
corpl. on / H.Q. guard informed /
prisoner afterwds tt / Divl. Commander
ws so alarmed tt he wired to Essad
Pasha, the G.O.C., informing him o /
critical position, stating tt they were
under 2 fires & asking for reinfs.
otherwise they wd be compelled to
retreat. Abt 11 am / fire slackened
& a working bn., mostly Greeks, ws
brought in & quickly rebuilt /
trenches & put them in order. At
sun rise next morng reinfs for
/ division arrived consitsting o /
15, 16, & 17 Regts from Yalova where
they had bn resting. They had bn
sent back from Settil Bahr. Some
other troops also arrived & / whole
passed north - none reinforcing the
18th Regt. It was thought tt at 8 am

26
tt morning the newly arrived 
troops delivered an attack on
Chatal Tepe wh he heard ws
successful, the British being
driven out of their trenches &
retiring in good order.
No estimate of total
British T. losses, but losses
were heavy.
27
[[shorthand]]

In front of / Aust Divn.  16th Div:
125 in Jolly
47 in Pine
48 Pine Ridge Gun Ridge
77 Echalon trenches to K.T.
57 G.O.T
27 Chessboard. Quinns. Reserves