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

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little further up. & ar On / night
o / 20^th a Turk ws seen by our
sentry at / 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
/ Turks if they came; sure enough
at 9.30 a man put his head round
/ corner o / 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 a.m.
another Turk put his head round / 
corner & was fired at & answered
/ shot. He too ws found dead.
Possibly a third ws wounded.

Our men lay out for / 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 & jumpy at Walkers Nek tonight - prob.
bec. the trenches are now so close. Both

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the dead Turks were badly clothed
in light summer clothing - & they 
wore Yeomanry trousers.

(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 o / 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
& D. put his arms round his neck &

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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 give 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 explanatn
probly is tt Col. Bennett & Col.
Elliott, who survived, (their
regiments also suffered less
than / others, even in / case of
the 7th, I think) & knew how to
report their men. Whereas
Col. Brown & Col. Scobie of /
3^rd & 2^nd were killed, & Col. MacNaughton
o / 4^th wounded & utterly worn
out had to be carried from / fight
& sent to hospital. Bennett sd
beforehand tt he would get
something for his men out of this fight.

Mond
Apr 26.

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I am glad little Shout got one -
But the 2nd 3rd & 4th if they
get none after making / charge
alone & certainly doing most
o / work will naturally &
reasonably be unspeakably
bitter about it.
Lieut Henwood 10 Bn 6 platoon Sergeant.
Abt 12am. I was with a party on the front side of (N. side) of its goal
with the sea behind us. Daisy Patch ws about 150 

yards ahead. We were in a trench - 
which faced the D.P. & A sort of trench ran backwards
from it towards the sea. I got into it about  8am
that morning. I saw a party of men there and came 
across toward them. The trench dipped away on the
left of us. We cd see a path around the D.P.
& could tell tt there was an open patch there.
Messages were passed along en route to Major Saker
who was in command of that section. Major S [shorthand]
trench to the front and I  fancy they came from the E
right. We were going to the rear to advance and swing
to the left.  I understood tt ws what we were
to do before we left the trench. Maj Saker
stood up and asked if anyone ws ready.

T. Smith told his 
Scouts to leave packs in boat.
We went straight up to the top of the hill without oppositn
& killed 2 Turks in trench on top.
Cdnt see far to left & right at that time
That ws how we cd see m.g 
on our left - we were about 30
yds away on top when it
ceased firing. It ws over the sheer
part o / cliff looking out toward
Sphinx. That ws 1st trench we
were into & we threw it down.
Henwood in Owens Gully
saw an officer lying wounded in
Owens Gully - he had bn there since
Sund. night - 2nd or 5^th Bn.
V. badly wounded - a lieutenant.
He ws taken in.
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There was more indirect fire than anything else.  He stood up & 
asked if we were ready. Abt 200 got up and
moved in front [ridges?]. We ran as far as
D.P. & then formed left across it.
Saker ws k abt 20 paces out from the
trench. The sergt of A Co (Sergt Virgo)
was right alongside of me and saw him shot through the head.

Evident he was now in command somehow he gave the order to form
left. The majority were there [shorthand] we got to the D.P.
a heavy shrapnel fire opened then, very heavy wh
seemed to me to be from 971 way where we were getting
out of the sand. Most were trapped thickly. We went

down the gully. There was a party on the down slope

of the hill cowering there about 50. Some were

killed by shrapnel as I was talking to them. I called them
[shorthand] and finally asked which one of them said "Well lets follow him".

We crossed the beach to the [stream?]. We seem to be by ourselves

no others with us. We went by a very few [shorthand] up the other

side and dug in with our entrenching tools. We dug in further

cover from shrapnel and when it quietened we moved further

to the top & dug in on top. We cd see

The a pause wh seemed a long time
- one or 2 minutes. (The blessed
old Foxhound ws letting out sparks
all the time)

We were one of the first battalions to touch the [shorthand]

We touched just to the S of Ari Burnu.
Bn arrive [spread?] well together. Everyone
ran across the beach. T Smith climbed
the slope a bit & shouted "10th Bn 
Scouts are you ready?" We
went straight on when there were 4 per old
Coy, 32 altogether. then commdg
file. Then Bn. Abt 3 minutes after
landing we started. The Ts were 
firing at the boats. We were not 
hit or fired at. (Order on beach
genly ws - Fix bayonets. Load w
5 cartridges. Cut off closed,
safety catches out - nothing in
chambers, Packs off.)

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nothing from our position. Down below to the right
we could see a long way - it didnt run
out onto flats. We never saw our own 
troops there. We cd hear our own troops 
up the valley to the left & in the
night time we could hear the digging.

We got to the top towards nightfall &
sent on an outpost abt 70 yards
onto a small ridge in front - the 
ground fell away half right (towards
big valley running up to Quinns).
The outpost ws to report any enemy

movement from tt direction.

(We had heard fighting on our

left front & all Monday night we could see
machine guns fighting & rifles spurting
flame there as hard as they cd.

After dark outpost reported to our
party the enemy moving forward from direction of
abt Scrubby Knoll in towards 
angle of our line w / firing line.

Diagram - see original document

They cd hear these Ts talking & see
them - abt 25 yds away

& only this one gun 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 / m.g. He did some fine shooting with his
revolver. "Come on boys" he said when the first shot
was fired "they cannot hit you."

T. Smith had been lecturing us on
the P of W abt 10pm the night before.
He sketched on the breech of a big 
gun "Look out for any lights
or any signs as you are landing"
he sd. 6in Casement gun 1st on
Starbd side. A gunner ws telling him
how to damage the gun the night 
before just with tea. He sd ^They could easily
damage repair the breech block, but
not the screw inside, he sd.

First shot I noticed ws the 1st shot.

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- They were moving up apparently with the idea of
attacking. The people in / Daisy 
Patch digging knew where we were & I thought
we were a party covering them in case of attack and
protecting them. We didn't fire - the Turks 
didnt know we were there and never attacked on tt positn.
On Monday night we could hear bugle calls
right away by 971 direction. There
ws firing from the line on Maclaurins 
Hill & we cd see T. m.g. firing
thro / scrub. We waited there till 12 pm
(nearly) when Abt 9.30 there was an order to retire
given & nearly all / left half got
up & retired. We questioned the order.
Grills asked Virgo & Henwood if
we would stand by him. We sd yes and 
refused to allow anyone retire. Abt 12 the order came
to retire & Mr Grills acted on it.

This night from our right it was reported
that there was a movement heard on the right down the valley.
Patrol went out at 9 pm on L. Pine

from our side in a NE direction
and I reported it to Major B.
Diagram - see original document
We wanted to fire and 
he said no.

They were / only Ts on Gun Ridge I saw in a 
good look. They were going from Legge Valley N.
The mules had been attached to
1 gun - they were being led. 

Diagram - see original document
The gully ran parallel 
w Gun Ridge from there was a
watercourse at the bottom

of it - water in places,
(1) One gun was facing the sea.
(3) One gun (w the mules)
ws blown to bits,
& on wheel broken
other still on axle.
(2) Another facing Gun Ridge.
Major Brand, officer of 9^th &
abt 80 of our men remained there.
No shields on these guns - new
looking spare parts - all one type.

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side o / gully & moved about 400 yards, [Shorthand]
view of the valley all the time. We waited ½ hour on
one place & then retired and heard no movements.
Abt 10.30 we had to do it again & heard 
nothing that time. We cd still see the fight
at the head of Shrapnel Valley - very fierce esp
mgs. All noise ws on the left.
That patrol [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 D.P. (our firing line was [shorthand]
on the W side o / D.P.)
Later I got together 9 men of 10 Bn & a
1^st Bde major took me right around until I
met the 10^th Bn.

10 Bn ws attacked on Tuesday -
or  [shorthand] the Turks came up apparently from the same ground, on
Tues night, but nothing came of the attack. But
fighting at the head of Shrap Valley.
Reinforcements were wanted

entrenching tool burred the screw
inside the breech. Ten minutes later
I was by the guns with these prisoners in charge of the
guns when Maj Brand came up and I
got instructions from one of the officers to take these prisoners
to the beach D.H.Q wh I did.

They were Krupp guns probably
& just to the left of the guns ws a
dug out 7 feet deep 12 ft sq.
Ammunition in disorder. The 
dug out ws roofed. There were
2 tents 20 yds from the place.
Inside a lot of tobacco, a
flute & leather bags w spare parts 
having German names and a lot 
of papers.

Mr Bates ws not there.
I left the guns about 6.30.

I had seen a lot of mules
& some men going over Gun Ridge 

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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 see come up to 
E of Daisy Patch through the bushes
& saw them surround abt 6 or 8 Turks under 
heavy fire. I could see Turks in a waterway 
- our [shorthand] saw them and surrounded them quickly
with their bayonets poised. They were pushing them along
from a hill towards our command lines w their bayonets 
when another party of Turks, abt 15 - 20
came over hill behind. We kept this
other party down by rapid fire at 1000
yds & our own party disappeared into the [shorthand].
Some of the Turks in this party were wearing a regular 
helmet like our helmet. 3 or 4 had helmets
others skull caps. They ducked & fell 
back & got behind a mound - where they
wd come up & fire & disappear agn.
Henwood had no commn on his 
right this afternoon within speaking

Diagram - see original document

in confusion before this shot
was fired but I think it was the first shot.
I went back & met 
4 men of the 9 Bn. I asked
them if they would come and assist
me in putting the [shorthand] 
[shorthand] & killing the Turks.
We got then about 60 pounds
unobserved by the 
Turks.  Crawling.
there was a bit of the knoll
on the Northern
side of the gully. We each
put in 10 guns & opened rapid
fire. There were still about  20 to 15 Turks 
there with no horses. We killed most of the Turks.
2 wounded,  threw down their rifles and I asked these 
chaps if they would cover my advance while I went and
disabled the guns. I went down & bought
out the breech blocks & w my

[*Guns on 1st day. { Weatherill

                                  { Lt Bates*]

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distance. Message came Division in
afternoon from brigadier. Inquire why
mountain batty has ceased firing.
(Bdier ws well on left from us,
We were probably near Whites Valley)
I had to send 2 men to find out. Answer
ws "battery out of action". It had
been firing from about 20 minutes & then stopped.
One man ws k taking the message.
Mr Bates:
Abt 6 am we had  got up [shorthand] gully
Firing mostly came from Gun Ridge.
We got over a plateau & began to go into
a gully. There was a [shorthand] of about 4 [shorthand]. They

were not visible from the top of the plateau.  The gun was
an 18 pdr Krupp - I saw the enemy
and went to the main side It was  an 18 pdr. The gun
ws facing towards the ridge. There was a party of us
some of the men were having a look at
tents. There were about 15 or 20 of us. We
cdnt see any to right or left. While we were
there Maj Brand came up. I was looking about
for something to [shorthand] it with. I picked up a pick