Charles E W Bean, Diaries, AWM38 3DRL 606/19/1 - October - November 1915 - Part 2
9
& clever w / result tt a yl
wherever you go on lines of commn you
find increasing numbers of them in
safe comfortable billets - servant (where
they get good food &. shelter & less fatigue)
clerk, orderly etc.
He has also issued an order tt as
soon as / weather justifies it sheepskin
jackets are to be given issued to Australian &
N.Z. troops, & cardigans, mits, 2 shirts,
pants etc to all troops.
The 2nd Australian Divn. has mostly
now bn issued w woollen clothing. It left
Egypt in khaki drill. What person ws
responsible for this goodness knows. The khaki
drill was used because it someone thought it
wd be hot in September.
Old. Gelly is back – he's indefatigable.
The "Daily Mirror" on Sept. 13. 1915
published a perfect photograph of a
periscope rifle - taken in our trenches,
showing / man firing it (war office order to
us not to send photos ws before / beginning
of September or before Sept 6 any way) -
It sd this ws how we kept down
snipers here at Anzac.
We aren't even allowed to refer
to / existence of such things – I have
seen them hinted at in / British Press
in an owlish way. Really Britain
does not deserve to win a war when
she has not / courage to enforce on
10
her newspapers (∧if only they do / damage)
a rule wh she enforces upon her
soldiers -
Following list of V.Cs
(Dated 15 Oct.)
1st Bn Capt. A.S. Shout (killed)
Pte. J Hamilton (943)
Pte L Keysor (968)
3rd Bn Pte J. Hamilton (943) √
7Bn Lt. W.J. Symons
Lt. F.H. Tubb
Corpl. A.S. Burton 384 (killed)
Corpl. W. Dunston 2130
10 L.H. 2 Lt H.V.H. Throssell √
N.Z. Divl. Signal Coy. Corpl. C. R. G. Bassett, 4/515.
_______
Maj. I. G. Mackay ws in advance of
his line when it reached L Pine.
Twice wounded but went on till
cdn't move.
Col. McNaughton ws wounded but
commanded till Aug 10.
Capt. Dunlop searched / open ground in
front of trenches after dark & made
sure no men were left there wounded.
Capt A.G. Fullerton went across ∧w reserve & did
same work as Dunlop, clearing wounded
from open to stretchers, & working till Bn relieved
(in trenches)
Capt D.T. Moore, badly wounded at start
Lt R.G. Gordon, Div. Sig. Co regaining lines under fire.
" R.G. Hamilton Div. Sg. Co. maintaining
communications.
2nd Lt Drake Brockman attd. 2nd F.Co. opening Commn
trenches thro B6 & B8. xx
& erecting wire.
Lts. V. Woodford ∧(1Bn) G. Steen (1 Bn) V.S. Smythe 3 Bn
P Woods 3 Bn, C.W. Foster 4 Bn.
Capt R. J. Dyer 1st F. Co. Engrs, ^Lt H Bechtold 1st F Co Engrs
mining at G.O. Trench.
Lt. W. T. Yates 5 Bn Intgce officer.
11
but held on & organised his sectn.
Capt. A.H. Scott 4Bn held all trench during
superior bomb attack till all
wounded removed & afterwards
retook it w bayonet
[*Cpts:
Collman
Anderson*]
Capt A.E. Lloyd 1 Bn took command of
endangered portions
Lt ∧OG Howell Price 3 Bn shot 3 Turks
Lt. L.O M'Leod 3 Bn k. retaking trench
from wh garrison had bn driven out
2nd Lt. H. Greenway 2 Field Co. Engrs. Opened
up tunnel tho' injured by gases
Lt RJA Massey Adgt 4 Bn. repeatedly
traversed front of position during night
& ws w.
Lt. W. T. Macdonald, ∧4 Bn 1st officer across /
open on left. Blocked & held
enemys trench leading to J. Jolly
W. Had bullet extracted. Returned
to duty til ordered to hosp.
Lt P.J. Ross. 7 Batty. Kept gun in action 48 hrs
till wounded - continuously shelled
at close range by enemy & cont reply
[[?epaulment]] knocked down several
times & rebuilt
4Bn Capt C.S. Collman M.G. Officer 1st Bde.
“ J.S.S. Anderson. Staff Capt.
" G.S. Cook (severely w.) repelled repeated c-attacks
" W. Stack AAMC. under fire in enfiladed [shorthand = trench]
Lone Pine
Lt. W.W.R. Ffrench orderly officer, Bde maintaining
touch w units under fire.
12
Two of "Bill" Smith's stories (H.P.M.)
A lot of reinforcements landing
when shrapnel bursts over them:
"Say Bill; that'Il be something to write home about"
sd one of them.
A man ws on / beach bathing one morning
when the 11 in gun on a cruiser front in
Dardenelles put a shell into / water
20 feet off / beach. It blew back
& the huge circular slab of the base
ws lifted slowly in / air & planted
itself on / beach. The man ws putting
on his trousers & had one leg in them.
He didn't even look round. "Come
out you, fool" shouted Capt (now
Maj) Smith o / police. The man
slowly put his trousers on & then strolled
in between / boxes on / beach without
so much as turning his head. "Why
'e can't run away," sd / man next
to Smith, "e's got 'is bloody hobbles on."
The beach is now under the
Advanced Base Commandant, L of C.
but is under Birdwood for administration.
They are clearing / beach fast & have
got Smith to organise a regular
police service with a station & beats.
He sd he'd want abt 50 police, at
wh they raised their eyebrows at first.
However they told him he cd pick from
/ Essex territorial Rgt Btn wh is doing
beach work & he has got 42 good
13
men & is getting 8 more. He has
a police stn, & a gaol around by /
Sphinx away from / public eye
w a post in / middle of it to wh men
can be tied as a last resort.
The Australian gives no trouble in /
way of crime unless he can get to
liquor - but wherever liquor leaks out,
as very occasionally happens, there
is crime. Gelly, this evening, told
me he wished the Southland story
had bn published owing as it wd
counter all / rubbish talked abt
Australians not being possible for
discipline. The Navy - the naval
censor - w / stupidity of naval most
British censors has censored out
every word referring to it, I believe.
they had to let thro' the Royal
Edward bec. 1000 men were drowned.
But they suppress / Southland & ∧ / reports say
simply Gen. Linton "died." They cant
think / Turkish dont submarine doesn't
know it hit a transport - so they
must be afraid to tell / Brit. public.
Instead of giving them a heroic example
for British troops to follow they are
4 Bn Sergt. R. Claydon )
Corpl. EH Stone )
Pte JJ Lynn ) drove 30 of enemy down
Pte. GW Hewitt ) a trench at L.P. to a
dead end & forced them
to surrender.
Sergt. ∧R. Crawford 4 Bn worked down
enemy trench driving many
before him; wounded in face
but commanded men &
when forced to withdraw did
so in good order bringing wounded
7 Bn. Corpl. H Webb, Pte. O.Ellis, detailed to
smother bombs w sandbags or
throwing back into enemy. Did so till
Ellis ws. k. & Webb had his hand
blown off.
7 Bn. Pte G. Ball - after all officers & NCOs in
neighbourhood all k or. w, took charge of
party of men & kept enemy in check - o
12 Bn Pte J C Vaughan: On night of 9th as he
ws throwing a bomb 2 of / enemys bombs
fell near him. He threw his own.
Then threw one o / enemys wh burst
on leaving his hand; then smothered
/ other w / sandbag. Trench ws full
of men.
14
- as usual- hushing a mishap
from / British people.
I wonder if it were a British
Birkenhead whether they wd be so
silent. But I daresay they would.
Aug Oct 26th Monday Tuesday
Round with Holmes. Gelly ws talking
over officers o / 1st Divn tonight -
He has a wonderful knowledge of
them - old Gellibrand - a most
keen insight into character; less
able to be hoodwinked even than
White or Glasfurd & I think even move
appreciative.
I think while Birdwood is
comanding the M.E.F. he is trying
to straighten up our Lines of Commn
for us; bringing men back quicker; see
tt there are no 6/- a day Australian
servants to British Officers on L of C. etc.
We have a tiny 3 pdr gun in a
hidden emplacement on Walkers
firing on L. Pine from behind a shoulder.
I saw the ground in front of Walkers
today. It is still simply littered w
our dead. I saw 20 lying within a
few yds; & 15 or so more just beside
them. We are digging (Legges idea) a
huge pit up there.
15
A report has bn going round / beach
of how the patrol of Turks got right down
Monash Gully betw. Popes & Quinns to
the supply barrier, four men, two of whom
were shot while / others got away.
The truth is tt - 1/3 mile further
up, at / last outpost wh we have up
Monash Valley - where there is a wire
fence across / gully bed & a picket behind
some bags - the Turks were heard several
nights ago moving in / scrub further up
/ gully. Ea A patrol is sent out up /
gully at night - from / barbed wire A up
[Sketch - see original scan]
/ forks of the gully. A
sentry is genly placed at B & at C.
The night of Oct 23
the Turks were seen up /
gully in / scrub & fired
at - they retreated &
so did our sentry.
The night o / 24th
we lay quiet & they
at about 9.30 a Turk
put his head around / corner at D abt
10yds from our sentry who fired at him.
The Turk fell & ws dragged in. At abt 3.30
/ next morning another T put his head
around / corner & ws also fired at. A Turk
ws also fired on from C & some o / scouts
thought he ws hit. There ws no trace of this; but
at dawn the second man at D ws found dead.
Both were very badly clothed & booted.
[*Hintons - (Lt Hinton 2nd Regt
Post (wh I will who ws(all Rowell's aftwds kPost) & he [shorthand]
post June 29*]
Today I went out quietly w
Gen. Holmes up / valley to see /
spot. ∧ From There you cd look right up / valley
to / edge o / ridge which is in / Turkish
territory. The valley is full of tall scrub
& between / two watercourses is a knoll
(a spur really) of some 20ft at its lower
end. The bottom o / gully - / little dry stream
bed - is full of old beef tins & chocolate wrappers;
& in it were a few bits o / clothing o /
dead Turks; & a skull, tumbled off a body of
a dead Turk much higher up / hillside.
A sniper I suppose.
16
Bitter cold morning.
Oct 27 Wed. Quite warm again
tonight. Big monitor
bombarding down S. I wanted to
get a photo of the flash tonight
but just too late - it lit up
whole horizon.
Beach, ∧whole of his battery -
6 guns - got onto beach today.
I don't know why he did so, because
two Edgar class cruisers were
out here & immediately got onto
him, & filled / whole valley
up with dust. They say 2 guns were
seen withdrawing afterwards.
I got some photos o /
little low 1st day & 2nd day
trenches today - very cloudy.
October 28. Thursd.
Had breakfast w / 12 Bn getting
Margetts’ story o / first week. He ws
furthest Baby 700 way.
At 12, while I ws still there, /
Turks started a very fierce bombardment.
They put in 10 shells in a salvo, or 6 & 4
straight away, & kept it up at abt /
rate of 3 or 4 salvoes a minute for
10 minutes - One burst not 10 feet
away & several pellets slathered up
/ trench just outside / headquarters.
17
They say our aeroplanes report / Ts. have
now a 10 gun battery at Olive Grove; tt
ws what our cruisers were shelling yesty.
Today a new 4.5 or 5 in howitzer batty
of 4 guns also, at / same time, played
on Rhododendron & killed a few men
& / French guns also, I believe. The Turks
were shelling / whole line from end to end.
They did a fair amt of damage. They
have a big Lyddite shell wh drops onto
Hill 60. I saw it burst this afternoon.
After lunch I went up Col. to / H.Q.
o / 3rd L.H. Bde - on Rhodo.
[Sketch map - see original scan]
We send a patrol
out into Sazli
Dere from Rhodo
every night - Antill
makes 1 young officer
o / bde, a different one, go out every night
in company w an experienced scout.
They have had some interesting times.
Several times they have met / T. patrol.
One of the T. patrols comes down from
B'ship Hill every night also - abt 8 men.
It splits into 2 near a plateau half
way down & there one party goes to / right
up / gully almost to / Apex; / other goes
down, & all night long they move up &
down & report to each other at A intervals
when they meet.
The Turks Our patrols have
18
The duel in / trench (3rd Bn.)
The Russian man w / paper (14 Bn)
w his name on it - dead.
----
Game L.H. men - man of 60
- man who cried
----
lately found / bodies, one day & another
of at least 8 men - mostly Wilts, but some
Gurkhas - who got there on Aug 10. They
say all / Wilts exc. abt 25 are now
accounted for.
There ws an unsatisfactory signaller
at H.Q. named Rickards. Col Antill at
last got rid of him - sent him back to /
trenches (he ws quite keen to go) & he went
out scouting. He has proved a splendid
scout. He is now a Corporal. He ws out /
other night when he came on / bodies of
three men at / bottom of Rhodo. Two were
Wilts. one a Gurkha (Bahadur ws on his
identity disc) The others were near a
sort of hut made of bows. In / hut were
a man's boots & puttees, & his kit, cartridgecase pouches full. He ws lying some way from /
hut on his face. Some way away ws
/ other man lying w his forehead bashed
in. On / forehead, covering it, ws a T.
fez.
The one man may have seen his mate
hit & tried to go out to him & bn hit himself
The en T, must have shot him, & then
smashed / others head; & possibly tried to
screen / wound from view.
The Ts don't seem to have gathered
/ rifles of these men. Rent The scrub is
thick; over hill v. steep - you can
only get down it in two places
by / ladder (a narrow gutter down
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