Charles E W Bean, Diaries, AWM38 3DRL 606/19/1 - October - November 1915 - Part 1

AWM 38

Official History, 
1914-1918 War: Records of C E W Bean,
Official Historian.    

Diaries and Notebooks

Item number : 3DRL606/19/1

Title: Diary , October-November 1915
Includes references to the transport 
SOUTHLAND, Lone Pine and Hill 60.
_{AWM38-3DRL606/19/1}

DIARY             
Oct 25 to [[??]]
Wet morning, curious
how this stops all firing,
then our ships guns

Original         DIARY No. 19
AWM 38     3DRL 606 ITEM 19 [1] 
DIARIES AND NOTES OF C.E.W BEAN
CONCERNING THE WAR OF 1914-1918                                                                                           

THE use of these diaries and notes is subject to conditions laid down in the terms 
of gift to the Australian War Memorial. But, apart from those terms, I wish the 
following circumstances and considerations to be brought to notice of every 
reader and writer who may use them.
These writings represent only what at the moment of making them I believed to be 
true. The diaries were jotted down almost daily with the object of recording what
was then in the writer's mind. Often he wrote them when very tired and half asleep;
also, not infrequently, what he believed to be true was not so - but it does not 
follow that he always discovered this , or remembered to correct the mistakes when
discovered. Indeed, he could not always remember that he had written them.
These records should, therefore, be used with great caution, as relating only what
their author, at the time of writing, believed. Further, he cannot of course, vouch 
for the accuracy of statements made to him by others and here recorded.  But he
did try to ensure such accuracy by consulting, as far as possible , those who had 
seen or otherwise taken part in the events. The constant falsity of second-hand
evidence (on which a large proportion of war stories are founded) was impressed
upon him by the second or third day of the Gallipoli campaign, notwithstanding that
those who passed on such stories usually themselves believed them to be true. All 
second-hand evidence herein should be read with this in mind.
16 Sept, 1946     C.E.W BEAN.
AUSTRALIAN WAR MEMORIAL
ACCESS STATUS
OPEN

Artist - plans & sketches of country.

----
Trooper N.O Hewett,
D Squadron 
9^th Lighthorse Regt
3 L.H. Bde. 

Boyd No 1 P.O.   
Glider. 2nd Bn ∧H.E.C^. Ross gone back.
Willis Goldenstedt.
H Corbett ? 17^th
Knox 20^th ?
Halloran ? &c.
Eitel
Jones mind bus                      
Spedding          
Robinson - 
Leys Smith.

[Sketch - see original scan]
DIARY [[?]]

Oct 24th to
Sunday, October 24^th  
Wet morning, curious how
this stops all firing 
when our ships guns start you
feel as if they were breaking a pact. Spent all day up
in the lines of 10 Bn getting details of Ap. 25 & 26
from Lt. Henwood & Cpl Weatherill.
Afterwards came back and had dinner & 
yarn w _^Col. Glasfurd. He had just come back 
from a walk over ground wh he knew 
most familiarly - the top of Plateau 400
wh you can walk over pretty safely after dark.

[Sketch - see original scan]

2
There were the 1st days trenches still, 
deepened & improved but long deserted. 
The rifle pits from wh they were made 
were still quite obvious - sticking 
like coffin shaped graves across them 
& joined up by zigzagged cross trenches.
[Sketch]  

On / hill above the 1^st 
D.H.Q Latrines in White 
Gully ws a line of trenches just over 
/ edge, facing S or SE in wh the 
13 or 14 Bn scraps must wh were sent to 
reinforce the right of the 3rd Bde & Left 
of 2nd Bde must have dug in on 
Sunday night. G. sd that days afterwds 
he found some of them still here firing 
out over Boltons Hill direction -
he had heard / bullets flying over our 
line ½ mile to the SE. but cdn't  
for a long time make out where 
they came from.
On the Sunday G. after go settling 
on the place of concentration (Indian 
Camp) and going back and reporting it to 

 3
Bridges etc ws sent by Bridges to 
find M'Cay & send him onto the 
S. flank. G. came up White Gully 
to _^near top of it & abt where 1^st
Australn D.H.Q now is he found 
Cass but not M'Cay. Cass sd
tt M'Cay ws half way down
/ hill. Glasfd. went back down
/ rear slope o / hills backbone &
found M'Cay there. M'C. told 
him then he ws going to make his 
H.Q on M'C's hill - W end of it 
(wh you can see across / valley.)
Next day Bridges went up 
to see for himself M'Cs line 
& found men sheltering under / S 
edge of the 400 plateau. He got onto 
M'C abt it as M'C. had up to / 
present been little out of his own.
H.Q. & Bridges was inclined to be 
very down on him for it. Bridges 
went up to Sakers Trench (I call it 
Sakers bec. I believe S. was there)
a line of rifle pits on the top of
400 near / head of White Gully in

[Sketch - see original scan)

4
thick scrub; & told Glafd. tt he
wanted these sheltering men brought  
up & made to dig in continuously  
between 3 Bde's right & 2nd's left.
The G. went to the Sakers' trench  
men whom he found in a trench
facing SE on S slope of 400' plateau
(still there) where Clements, Feathers
& probly Flockhart were. He took
their men up and placed them on the  
_^{^}near side of the Daisy Patch. He himself 
went forwd
across / Daisy Patch until he cd
see / Turks lying down to / N of him
& our line facing them; then he set
went back to / digging men & sd.
You dig in on tt line - you're just
abt in line w them there.  He then
went back & this time brought up /
men out of Sakers trench (or vice
versa) - it may have bn Sakers first
& Clements afterwards.) He didnt see Sakers 
there but ws told he was there or in
some way connected him w / trench
& put them round / S side o / Daisy
Patch & bent round to S. The scrub
along the S & E sides of Daisy

5
Patch ws very high & thick - almost
impassable.
In getting the 2nd lot (from Clements
trench, anyway), G. looked over / valley 
& saw what he took to be the positn
of the 4^th Bn. He went back to Bridges,
&, having seen tt / left of the men on /
Daisy Patch ws now in touch w
the line of men he cd see further N,
reported this to the G. who sd he 
wd go home. But first he told G to find 
out where Wanliss was. _^He did so. M'C having 
been rather heavily dealt w by Bridges
had written a letter v. strong note
to Wanliss. B  He was sending
Wallis to Wanliss with this, and 
Bridges asked G. to show Wallis / way,
& also, if he saw Onslow Thompson, to 
tell him tt his bn had done very well
& how pleased B. was. B then 
went home.  Glasfd took Wallis to 
where he cd see Wanliss' place, & 
Either then, or just also, first, to see
''Sakers" trench. He told Wallis to 
bring up the 5^th to dig in (as supports 
to / firing line) in Saker's trench where 
from wh he had previously taken /
men to / Pimple (Daisy Patch - the 

6
new line there formed / excrescence 
we afterwards called / Pimple (a different
Pimple from tt at Suvla Bay).
G. then went across 400 again 
towards the S. side, down / south side 
of it to / further slope & there found
a H.Q. signaller who told him /
bn had advanced. He went non up /
hill towards some trenches, quite 
good ones, wh Lt Fanning was digging
on / extreme rt o / 4 Bn - Fanning 
had not gone on (& G. remembers the
wheat field was somewhere near this
in connection to this place). Just then
G. met some o / 4^th coming back.
He asked where they were going &
they sd to their own old trenches.
He sd hed show them a line to dig in
on & some of them half objected tt 
they had bn told to return to their 
own line old line. There was a 
shallow path running down / top 
o / hill & G. took some of them by 
/ scruff o / neck & pushed them
down into that &  told them to dig
there, & tt path formed / line of our 
trenches  thereabouts.
The 4^th must have got somewhere

7
towards Pine Ridge after all
never towards Owens Gully. The
men in Owens Gully (Lt Henwood)
never saw it, or any sign of it
or of anyone at all, behind them
or beside them. Onslow Thompson 
must have bn carried by Massey across 
Lone Pine Plateau 
to abt "the Circus"

Sketch map - see original scan]

"My advice is - dig."

8
I hear Kitchener has cabled c, 6 
[shorthand]
3rd [shorthand] 296
[shorthand] The telegrams also  
say tt / King has called on every 
English British man who is able to do
so to volunteer.
K's [shorthand] L. reminds me v. much 
of a certain message received from Hamilton 
or Birdwood abt midnight on / first 
night. We looked forwd to much / same
prospect then - never knew what it 
might bring us. AA The message sd Lx ~
within 15 [shorthand] clink [shorthand]

[shorthand] presentiment now.

Monday Oct. 25^th Six months today 
since we landed & a year & four days 
since we left Melbourne. A beautiful 
day clear & cold.
I hear tt Gn W. Birdwood,while
G. officer Commanding in Chief, has
ordered that the Australian & N.Z. soldiers are
not to be employed as batmen to British officers 
on lines of commn at Imbros & Mudros & any 
such must report to base at once. Wh means
tt Australia can't afford to pay 6/- a day to
provide servants to Brit. officers on lines
of communicatn. Our men are very handy