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

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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 they 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 /
beach & were being taken off
in boats and a naval officer

18
told them / 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 alld 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 threatening
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.

At 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
specific ^for them over at Anzac; & they have used
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 /
tents w fragments. It seems to have
bn abt 20 or 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 18in deep.

Billy Macrae - from Bulgaria
wh he seems to have left hurriedly &

20
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 tt 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 ever the nation
have a bigger pair of blunderers at
its head than Winston Churchill &
Edward Grey - xxx 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 agent 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 Galicia South.

22
Had an astonishing talk w W's xxxxx
nice servant X - today on way
over to Panagia. He was in /
Munster Fusiliers & he told me he
had bn in many bayonet charges
- 7 altogether. He was in / River
Clyde - landed during / night
w / first 100 tt landed then. The
Turks started sniping again on the
second 100. He ws one of 15 who
volunteered to cut / 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
/ wire to tauten it whilst they cut
it. They crept slowly forward until
they got through & had / wire lying
flat on / ground. Then they gave / tip
to / men on / beach & they charged
through it.

On ^Sunday May 2 the Turks during
/ night broke / Munsters line. The
most o / line did not know
it but a body of Ts got thro &

23
cut up / Headquarters Coy o /
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 / German officer who
had led them & who ws trying to
get them further. "We took his life
next morning," X said. I could
hardly believe my ears - this is
a kindly capable mild mannered
Kentish man - However ignorant
& ill educated, but a good man &
a willing chap. However he returned
to / subject "Yes," he sd, "in /
morning they were lying there & we
went over to them. I examined
/ German officer & & he had ^I got a few
things from him - but Isu he had
a beautiful funny looking pistol - I had never
seen one like it before - & a lot of

C.f. diary 20. p1.
Nov 8^th
C.E.W.B
Later experience of the
Tommies suggests to
me that it is just
possible he may have
been lying - But I
don't think so
XXXXX 

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

But what wretched cant
it all is th they talk in /
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 / best. I ask: Did / Turks
ever wait to meet your charges?
He sd "Yes, a few brave ones used
to. The others you wd see getting up
on / back parapet o / trench as
soon as we left our trench, preparing
to run away. But some wd stay
& shoot till / end. Oh yes, I
got my own back. Two of 'em stayed
& they put up their hands as we
got up to / 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 up 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 / correspondents do. Ashmead
Bartlett makes it a little difficult
for one by his exaggerations &
yet he's a lover o / truth. He
gives / spirit of the thing: but if
he were asked: "Did a shout really
go up from a thousand throats tt
/ hill ws ours?" he'd have to
say "No, it didn't". Or if they
sd "Did / New Zealanders
really club their rifles & kill
three men at once?" or "Did
the first battle of Anzac really
end w / flash of bayonets
all along / line, a charge, 
& / rolling back o / Turkish
attack" he'd have to say
"Well - no, as a matter of
fact that didn't occur."
Well I cant write that it
occurred if know it did not,