Charles E W Bean, Diaries, AWM38 3DRL 606/18/1 - October 1915 - Part 6

44

little further up. & ar On 1 night

01 20th a Turk ws seen by our

sentry abt waters meet high

up this valley. They had bn heard

before. He ws fired on & ran

away. On Oct 21 we sent up

some men at dusk to wait for

I Turks if they came; sure enough

at 9.30 a man put his head round

I corner of / gully abt 10 yds from

one of our sentries. The sentry fired, Turk

fired, sentry fired again & killed him

He ws dragged in - At 3.30 am.

another Turk put his head round /

corner / was fired at & answered

1 shot. He too ws found dead.

Possibly a third ws wounded.

Our men lay out for I patrol

last night but it did not turn up.

I think they are lying up in bigger

numbers tonight (one off full moon).

The Turks are very active w their

mgs & sniping at Walkers Nek tonight- - prob.

bec. the trenches are now so close. Both

 

45

the dead Turks were badly clothed

in light summer clothing - & they 

wore yeomanry trowsers.

(3) The Turks have evidently

bn digging (as we have) a road to

avoid / river in Mule Valley &

Legge Gully. Our m.gs from / top

of Monash Gully saw them crossing

part of an unfinished sap near the junction of

these two & killed hit between 12 & 20

& some mules.

Heard today particulars of death

of Dawkins. It ws on May 12. An

uncovered pipe line had bn laid

over / flat mouth of / Shrapnel

Gully stream. He went out w a

party to cover it. He ws facing

Beachy Bill when the first shell o /

day came over & burst low,

in front of him - perh. 10 yds away.

He fell hit in 3 places, throat & knee

being two. An Engineer ran up to him

& he put his arms round his neck &

 

46

tried to say something (so the man

thought) but cdn't on acc o / wound

He died within 3 minutes.

I was wrong after all -

7 V.Cs have bn five for Lone Pine,

(4 to 7 Bn & 3 to 1st or vice versa); &

I believe 1 to / New Zealanders.

These are / two bns wh were not

in / first rush. The explanation

probly is tt Col. Bennett & Col.

Elliott, who survived, (their

regiments also suffered less

than / others, even in / case of

the 7th, I think) & know how to

report their men. Whereas

Col. Brown & Col. Scobie of /

3rd & 2nd were killed, & Col. MacNaughton

of 4th wounded & utterly worn

out had to be carried from / fight

& sent to hospital. Bannett sd

before hand tt he would get

something to his men out of this fight.

 

47

I am glad little shout got one -

But the 2nd 3rd & 4th if they

get none after making / chair

alone & certainly doing most

o I work will naturally &

reasonably be unspeakably

bitter about it.

[* Mond Apr 26.*]

Lieut Henwood 10 Bn

abt 12am (shorthand)

Daisy Paten ws ~ 150

yd ahead. We were in a (shorthand)

/faced. DP & A sent of (shorthand)

I got into ~8am. I saw (shorthand)

The (shorthand) dipped away 

Left of us as we cd see. (shorthand)

tell tt there) open (shorthand) 

messages (shorthand) saken.

(shorthand) fancy they came

right. (shorthand) he & swing 

to the left. If tt ws what we (shorthand)

to do (shorthand) Maj Saken

stood up and asked (shorthand) was needed

 

(written upside down)

T Smith told his scouts to leave packs in boat.

We (shorthand) coilhout of fronts. 

Killed 2 Turks in (shorthand)

Cdnt see far to left & right.

That was how we cd see m.g 

on our left we were about 30

yds away on top while it

crashed. It ws over the sheer

part of cliff looking out toward

[[?]] Turkish 1st (shorthand) we

were into & we (shorthand) it shown.

Henwood in Owens Gully

saw an officer lying wounded in

Owens Gully - he hd bn there since

Sund night - 2nd or 5th Bn.

V badly wounded a [[?]]

he was taken in.

 

(shorthand) The p

asked (shorthand) abt 200

moved in (shorthand) we (shorthand)

DP & then formed (shorthand)

Saker ws k abt 20 paces out.

(shorthand) the sergt of A Co (Sergt Virgo_ 

(shorthand)

(shorthand) from

left (shorthand)

a heavy (shorthand)

(shorthand)

(shorthand)

(shorthand)

hill covering (shorthand)

(shorthand)

nothing (shorthand)

(shorthand)it didn't run

out onto flats & never saw our own

there. We cd hear our own

up the valley to the left & in the

night time hear the digging.

We got to / top at nightfall &

sent on an outpost abt 70 yards

onto a small ridge in front - the 

ground fell away half right

(by valley running up to Quinns).

The outpost ws & report any enemy

movement from tt.

(We had heard firing on our

left front & all monday (shorthand)

machine guns fighting & rifles spurting

flame there as hard as they cd.

After dark outpost (shorthand)

party & enemy (shorthand)

abt Scrubby Knoll in towards angle of our line w / firing line

They cd hear 6 (shorthand) & see 

them abt 25 yds away.

 

(upside down)

The a [[?]] wh is a ling time

we (shorthand)movements (The blend

of Foxhound ws letting out sparks

all the time)

(shorthand)

We touched just S of Ari Bureau.

Bn (shorthand) everyone

T Smith climbed

the slope abt & shouted "10th Bn 

scouts are you ready". We

(shorthand)4 per old

coy, 32 allotted & then cancelling

fire. Their Bn Abt 3 (shorthand)

The T's were 

firing at the boats. We were not 

hit or fired at. (Order on beach

sentry ws  fix bayonets. Load w

5 cartridges & cut off closed,

safety catches out - nothing in

chambers, Paelts off

They were moving up (shorthand)

attacking & the people in the Daisy 

patch(shorthand) I thought

(shorthand)

we didn't fire - Turks 

(shorthand) on the position

On Monday (shorthand) bugle calls

right away by 97 [[?]]. There

was firing on the line from Maclarins 

Hill & we cd see / MG firing

thro / scrub We cd till 12 pm

(nearly) abt 9.30 (shorthand)

given and nearly all / left half got

up & retired. We questioned

Grills asked Virgo & Henwood

(shorthand) stand by him. We sd (shorthand)

& Mr Grills acted on it.

This is from our (shorthand)

on the right (shorthand)

Patrol went out at 9 pm on L Pine

 

(upside down)

only this one emplacement 

for ammunition.

They cdnt see us till we opened 

fire Gully ws 20 or 30 ft deep &

a gentle slope.

Talbot Smith ws wounded

w / mg. He did some (shorthand)

 

T Smith/ believing (shorthand)

the P of W 10pm the (shorthand)

He sketched on the breech of a big 

gun "Look out for any lights

or any signals as you are landing"

he sd F in casements gun / shd

Stand side. A gunmn wa (shorthand)

how to change the gun. He

(shorthand) tea, He sd, 

regrain the breech block, but

not screw inside, he sd

First shoT (shorthand) ws the 1st shot.

side of / gully removed in 400 (shorthand)

We wanted 1/2 hour on

one place & then this (shorthand)

abt 10.30 (shorthand).

 I again & heard (shorthand).

We cd still see the (shorthand)

valley very fierce csl

mgs. (shorthand) ws on the left

That (shorthand) after me. There seemed 

to be rather a big valley right at

/ end of / hill a good way to / 

E of us. We were withdrawn

behind DP (shorthand)

on W side of DP

Later I got in gs / 10bn & a

1st Bde major took (shorthand)

met the 10th Bn

10th Bn ws / on Tuesday

or (shorthand)

fighting at the head of shrap Valley

Reinforcements were wanted

 

(upside down)

from our side in a NE (shorthand)

They were / only Gun Ridge I saw in a 

good look. They were going [[?]] Valley

The mules had been attached to

1 gun They were being led. 

The gully ran parallel 

w Gun Ridge a

[[?]] at the bottom

 of it water in places

(shorthand)

Always on our left

On the Sunday Henwood - abt

3.30 - ws lying down near wire

Gully when he saw a party of our

men who had come up to 

E of Daisy Patch. bushes

& saw (surrounded abt 6 or 8(shorthand)

They w pushing

(shorthand) w their bayonets 

when (shorthand) abt 15-20

came over the hill behind. We kept 6

other party. / required fire at 1000

yards & our own (shorthand)

regular 

helmet (shorthand) helmet. 3 or 4 / helmets

others (shorthand). They ducked & fell 

back & got behind a round in 2

wd come up fire & disappear

Henwood had (shorthand) commn on his 

right this afternoon written speaking.

 

(upside down)