Charles E W Bean, Diaries, AWM38 3DRL 606/17/1 - September - October 1915 - Part 3

17
made from Bulair & answered
from across / gulf. However, they
landed. There ws a trench or so
to rush - wh they managed all
right, & got abt 3 miles inland
& cut some wires. Here they met
some real oppositn; or saw it
coming - & this ws not what
they expected at all. So they turned.
The French a/c says thy met a
large force of cavalry, numerous
infantry, guns etc. & beat a gallant
retreat cleverly setting fire to a
wood in front o / enemy & so extricating
themselves. The British A/c says tt
they the Turks set fire to a wood &
all but surrounded them - but
they managed to get out somehow.
They did some good things
however. They did cut some wires
They made / Turks think we were
landing in / N. (the minerva
went off to bombard Enos - or
was to go). And when they got to l
beach & were being taken off
in boats and a naval officer
 

18
tol then / boat ws too full, 6
of them jumped out at once. When
they got on board & / naval
Authorities considered it too late
to pick up / covering party they
sd tt if they covering party ws
were not able to go & take off their
friends they wd sink / ship or
do something violent and as /
Captain o / Minerva sd /
situation - w 300 armed ruffians
on board his ship threating
to take her - ws somewhat
delicate. He advised tt no
more undisciplined forces shd
be raised. The situatn ws
at last solved by some of them
being sent off in a boat
from / Jedd. The boat ws
fired on & they considered
then tt their honour ws satisfied
& returned to / ship. They
were taken back & disbanded
at once &, I believe only
lost 18. 7.
aeroplanes.
 

A Helles / Germans have bn sprinkling /
place w machine gun bullets from their Taubes
but no result. Also a lot of darts resultless.
There have been few air duels. One man
got within 30 yds of a German but his revolver
missed fire. Another climbed out of his machine
& onto / bottom of it to get a shot. He dropped 1000
feet before he climbed in again to right / machine.
One of these raids was late in / evening. While
/ German aviator ws here one of our planes - 
French, I believe, - visited their aviation
ground at Chanak on Maidos. They thought it
was their own man returning & lit fires. He flew
low down & bombed their sheds excellently
One raid was nearly at midnight.
The official photographer faked a picture
of it at our camp, I hear, with magnesium
wire - & the cooks figures showing in /
foreground.
 

19
We hear that during our absence /
Enemys aeroplanes have bn busy. Gellibrand
writes tt they have wish they knew a
specification ^ to them over at Anzac; & they need
made 3 raids on the big new green balloon
shed & on G.H.Q in Imbros. It is thought
they even know the position of Sir Ian's tent -
for one of them made a very good shot at it
one night. They came over 3 nights following
about Sept. 20, three of them & each one
dropped 3 bombs, some on / ships & some
on G.H.Q. The nearest got within abt 30
yards of a tent & killed one man, I
am told, & wounded 6 - no officers.
Now G.H.Q is having big traversed trenches
dug in various parts for getting into when
the plane is right overhead. The bomb
wh came nearest riddled some o /
Cents w fragments. It seems to have
bn abt 20 w 30 lbs. One dropped
some way behind / camp & didnt burst.
when fired on w a rifle it dug a hole
ten feet across - much / biggest
crater o / lot. The others made very
small craters - 3ft across by 18 in deep.
Billy Macrae - from Bulgaria
wh he seems to have left hurriedly &
 

2o
unlikely to return - says (so Nevinson
tells me) tt Bulgaria is mobilising
and pushing troops against Servia;
and (tho' / war office telegrams speak
of armed neutrality) she will invade
Servia, he says. The Entente powers
have from / first agreed to she ought to
have Monastir in Macedonia wh
ws promised her before / Balkan war
by Servia & never given up; but though
they thought she ought to have it, &
tho' if they had guaranteed it 4
months ago she wd have come in on
their side & finished / Gallipoli business
in one act - they wdn't guarantee
it then. As soon as Russia ws
licked, / other day, they agreed to
guarantee it "after / war". But,
naturally, by then Bulgaria ws
uncertain of their power to carry out
their promises - Accord & I shd be
uncertain too, if I were she.
Ye gods, did war the nation
have a bigger pair of blunderers at
its head than Winston Churchill &
Edward Grey - they blundered from
opposite directions: Winston - from
a brilliant instability; Grey from a
stupid but honest density.
 

21
Sund Sept. 26.
Nevinson & I went to
Panagia today & found that Greece
was mobilising & the Governor was
clearing all the men of military age
from abt 20 to 42 out of this island.
Stock, our [[amb?]]at Panagia, has
been trying to get him to except our
labourers at Cephalos. If the 2000
who are being sent fom Mitylene to
Anzac also go its a bad look out
for our winter quarters - the Turks
have plenty of civilian labour to build
theirs.
Ashmead Bartlett & Ross came
back from Mitylene - the Victory was
reported by a beach rumour to be sunk.
They say that they heard a wireless
- a general offensive all along Frances
British line in West. Germans admit
their line broken in several places but
in most places held up. British
attacked w asphyxiating bombs.
Germans also admit tt Russians
have held them up altogether.
Russians are advancing in Salio South.
 

22
Had an astonishing talk w W's
nice servant X - today on way
over to Panagia He was in l
Munster Fusiliers & he told me he
had bn in many bayonet charges
- 7 altogether. He was in l River
Clyde - landed during l night
w l first 100 tt landed then. The
Turks started sniping again on the
second 100. He as one of 15 who
volunteered to cut l wire next
day. They crept forward on their
stomachs, while others covered them,
then they lay on their backs, feet to
enemy & pressed up their feet against
l wire to tauten it whilst they cut
it. They crept slowly forward until
they got through & had l wire lying
flat on l ground. Then they gave l tip
to l men on I beach & they charged
through it.
On ^Sunday May 2 the Turks during
l night broke l Munsters line. The
most o l line did not know
it but a body of Ts got thro &
 

23
cut up l Headquarters Coy o l
Munsters. The line heard men behind
them & thought it ws their own men
coming up to reinforce. However there
ws some doubt so a sergt told some
of them to fire a shot. Immediately
there arose a babel of "Allah!
Allah!" The frontline immediately
opened fire & killed or wounded
15 including l German officer who
had led them & who ws trying to
set them further. "We took his life
next morning," X said. I could
hardly believe my ears - this is
a kindly capable wild mannered
Kentish man - However ignorant
& ill educated, but a good man &
a willing chap. However he returned
to l subject "Yes," he sd,"in l
morning they were lying there & we
went over to them. I examined
l German Officer & he had ^got a few
things from him - but Isu he had
a beautiful ^funny looking [[pedol?]] - I had never
seen one like it before - & a lot of
 

CB. diary 2o.pl.
Nov 8^th
C.E.W.B
Idles experience of the
Tommies suggests to
me that it is just
possible be way have
been lying - But I
don't think so
XXXXX

 

24
papers. I suppose Headquarters
has l papers. I went to take l
pistol but he says "You mustn't
take that" "I'll take your life,"
I said. "I had my bayonet fixed
too - "& he ended l story there.
I was too utterly sick to say
anything. He man clearly didn't
understand in l remotest degree
l wicked horridness o l thing he had
done - be ws rather proud of it.
Good God - if this is l way some
of our ignorant English Tommies
fight - well, Australians
have boasted of killing l wounded
too. But tt ws in l heat of
action. I don't think there are
many who wd kill a wounded
man - even a German – in cold
blood l next morning.
But what wretched cant
is all is tt they talk in l
newspapers. Here is a man
who has bn through 7 bayonet
 

25
charges with ask def the most famous fighting
division - possibly except our
own - in Gallipoli, the 29^th - a
divn of British regulars, the last &
some say l best. I ask: Did l Turks
even wait to meet your charges?
He sd "yes, a few brave ones used
to. The others you wd see getting up
on l back parapet o l trench as
soon as we left our trench, preparing
to run away. But some wd stay
& shoot till l end. Oh yes, I
got my own back. Two of 'em stayed
& they put up their hands as we
got up to l trench they dropped their
rifles & put up their hands for
mercy. But they had bn shooting
my own mates, so I gave them
no mercy...." I asked: Did
they ever make a bayonet fight
of it when we reached their trench?
He sd: "No, they always dropped
their rifles & held ap their hands
for mercy." sometimes we gave
it & sometimes we didnt.
 

26
But tt is why I cant write
about bayonet charges like some
o l correspondents do. Ashmead
Bartlett makes it a little difficult
for one by his exaggeration &
yet he's a cover o l truth. He
gives l spirit of the thing: but if
he were asked: "Did a shout really
go up from a thousand throats tt
l hill ws ours?" he'd have to
say "No, it didn't". Or if they
sd "Did l New Zealanders
really club their rifles & kill
three men at once? "Or" Did
the first battle of Anzac really
end w l flash of bayonets
all along l line, a charge, 
& l rolling back o l Turkish
attack" he'd have to say
"Well - no, as a matter of
fact that didn't occur."
well I can't write that it
occurred if know it did not,