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

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wh they go in single file) & down one
other place.
Arthur Maxwell tells me his
Regt (3rd - of 1st Bde) patrols lower down
- not by moonlight. They go down an old
T. trench towards Snipers Ridge. The Ts
have a patrol near. He has heard them
before even he left / trench. Later as he
lay up he heard a relief come down.
As / relief cdnt find his man he
whispered hissed "SSt!" The other 
didnt hear - he hissed again t “th-t”.
The other answered. They met & started 
to talk quite loud - not more than 30
yds away.
The other day Recl a message
written by a prisoner had to be
delivered to / Turks. Rickards went up
Sazli as near as he cd get to / T.
lines & then heard a patrol ahead.
He pinned / paper on a tree &
retired.
Sergt Linacre of 9^th & Corpl Friday
of 9^th are also good scouts. Also Sergt
Wilson of 9^th. He ws out w 3 men
- rather new ones - & got to piece of
country they did not know. So he went
first & on reaching bottom of Dere found
 

20
a patrol almost on top of him. One
Turk ws not 10 yds away. He shot at Wilson
& hit him thro' thigh (flesh wound). Wilson
shot back, K. the first man; ran forwd,
bayoneted a second in / body - dropped his rifle
for some reason - threw a percussion bomb at /
other two & thought one at least dropped - /
other ran. Then he got his own rifle & one o /
Turkish rifles, climbed up to his men, & they
carried him 150 yds to / trench. He was
brought straight in to / Bdier w his rifle
dripping to w / blood o / T. - so there is no doubt
abt tt case of bayonetting
They are great chaps. One o / reinfs
/ other day ws before Antill - who noticed
his elderly appearance. How old are you?
he asked. "45, Sir" sd / man. "No, how
old are you really?" sd / Bdier.
"60, Sir," sd / man. "Well, why did you
come," sd Antill. "I had 2 sons killed
Ses here at / beginining - so I came myself,"
he sd. He ws a Victorian farmer.
Another day Antill met a
man going down to / beach w a pack.
"Hallo, whats / matter w you?" he asked.
The man had tears in his eyes – "I am
one o those who has bn here from / day
/ Bde landed & I had hoped tt I wd get
thro' without goin' away. But this last
2 or 3 days has beat me," he sd - "I've
 

21
had to give up - I cant stand ^up to it any
longer." Antill gave him a note to
Downes o / 3 LH. Field Ambce, asking
him not to send him away but keep him
/ fortnight & feed him up - do what he cd
for him. Abt 8 days later / chap ws
back smiling & almost right again.
That's one sort. There is another
sort - plenty of him in our army &
more in / British - who schemes to
get away to Alex or Mudros; & whom /
soft hearted Engl. or Australn doctors
there send on to England: for "Why shdn't
they have a good time?" they say - "they have
done their bit for the Empire" - when all
/ fellows who really are doing their bit, &
hanging on in spite of weather & discomfort
& breaking hospital to come back - all
these are having to do fatigue work & fight
battles ^in wh / other self indulgent slackers
ought to be taking their share. My experience
is tt / man who will rest in /
sunshine of your sympathy & take
every advantage of it is not usually
/ sort of man who has done anything
worth your sympathy at all.
Howse is probly going to Egypt to
 

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try & straighten out this little
game - for we know it is a game.
One of Bazleys friends has written
telling how he fooled / doctors to
let him go to Egypt; & he has bn
there 2 ½ months tho' he never
got more than a slight shock from a
bomb. As for / British Officer -
Alanson, one of / best of them, heard
a crowd of young officers talking at
Suvla of how they were going to get
away - "I left them w their ears
tingling," he sd - "You - call yourselves
British officers" he told them - "you
supposed to be serving your country -
you ought to be ^jolly well ashamed of yourselves
...." & a good deal stronger than tt.
They have brought in an old
steamer (the Milo, I think) & sunk
her off Walkers Pier - w great
success. There is a hot southerly half-
gale blowing. The beach is rough
to / south of her, but / water inside
her is quite passable. She doesnt fill
in / whole gap. I suggested they might
 

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bring in and sink / Arragon
to fill / gap. Howse says it
wd be worth it for / enthusiasm
tt wd arise ^on shore when the fat brigadiers
& languid D A Q M Gs were being
chased from one end o / ship deck to / other
w /  T. shells.
While Austin ws at Lemnos
2 barge load of donkeys arrived in /
harbour from Egypt.
"Where are they going to send those,"
he asked of an Australian standing
next to him.
"Back to Egypt, of suppose course"
sd / man next door - "where do
you suppose they'd send them after
bringing them here?"
"But do you think they'll be
allowed to go thro' back to Egypt?"
asked Austin.

"Oh I suppose they'll fix get some rig some
of them up as D A Q M Gs & send
get them through as tt," ws / answer.

Oct 29. Frid.
 

Ammonal is most
uncertain stuff.
Turks have blown 8
at Quinns of wh

3 were absolutely
ineffective. At Russells

twice ineffective.

At Chathams he blew - 

under his own trench

& once at
 

Midday today - 2nd Divn 4th Field
Co. decided to blow in enemys tunnel opp.
Jolly - Blown abt midday. Bowra rang up Maj
Newcome (4 F. Co) who ws then lunching
w Elliot, & Thom at Wire Gully. N.
sd come on back to lunch. Bowra went
into mine w 2 sappers first before going to
lunch. Bowra & 1 sapper went down
Winse - other sapper next ran back to
Newcome tt they had gone out. N. Thom &
Col. Elliott dashed up & organised a rescue
Coy from A Coy. 22nd. Thom w rope round
him went down winze - Supposed tt he removed
rope from himself, dragged Bowra & exertion
made him breathe too heavily - & he went down.
When Bowra ws brought up he ws still breathing
Thom ws dead. Col. Elliott & Newcome
went as far as top of winze. Elliott got a
bit gassed, went out, came in again.
Pulling on a rope when he too got gassed.
5 died - 15 gassed (2 offs 1 sapper 2 Inf. died)
It ws from / explosive - We have had 150
(40 at Quinns) charges fired & only 5 cases of
gassing Mirams burnt, Butler, Howells,
& these.
 

24
Frid Oct 29.
Gen. Owen tells me tt our cruisers were
shelling their Camp yesty / day before yesty
& yestys firing ws a retaliation. We
had meant to shell all their camps w monitor
& other warships; but it ws too cloudy
for aeroplane observatn
 They have:-

Hand drawn diagram, see original

A:  1 4in; 1 3in at 7800 on pier.
B:  2 4in 2 field.
C:  6: i.e. 2 4in; 4 field
D:  2 6in on wheels and tramway in Asma Dere.
E:  1 9in
F.  2-6in appeared yesty for 1^st time round corner of
Kilid Bahr plateau.
 They began firing on Walkers Pier & the old steamer
today. The sight tt they saw of ^the old Milo coming
in gave away the importance of / North Beach.
(Beachy genly sends a 3in high & then the 4in.)
 

25
Dined tonight w Ferguson & Evans o /
21^st Batty (7 Ind Bde). They say they have had
some bad dysentery. But of 230 men in
batty landed 1^st few days 160 have never left
Peninsula & 190 are still here - after 140
casualties. That is an example of how a
force can be run for sickness if its own
medical people control the nursing &
convalescence of its men.
They lels me Ferguson tells me tt
Walker, as well as Burston, & Johnston
& most infantry commanders want a gun
in / firing line under in their pocket so to speak.
Bursto If a gun is in their line the always
think it is their gun whereas v. often it's
duty is to fire on something in front of someone
else. After a while they got to have a
sort of arrangement inside their Bde. If
Walker wanted fire on L. Pine & asked
F., F wd  say "Yes Sir, I will Sir" &
wd quietly ring up Bruce (o / other batty)
who had a gun wh wd cover it and
who wd switch on & no-one ws any /
wiser, & everyone ws satisfied.
At present F has [shorthand] Rhodo R &

Hill 60 [shorthand] Let / field guns do
tt work now. Eight Mtn Guns were all
they had to support / big push at first
but now there are the howitzers, field
& guns galore.
 

One officer sitting on hatch ws lifted in air;
dropped into water in hold, nearly washed thro side; Into
his boat to Hosp ship safely & then collapsed for 3 days.
[Southland] The first hospital boat reached ships
(Red Star Volunteer) side just as last ships boat ws clearing.
Charles ws in the Southland
He says when the boats were being got
out the stewards, lowered in the first boats,
cut the falls, cutting off / blocks - so tt
new ones had to be fitted - the new ones
were not / great massive boat falls
& consequently they had little more than
a single purchase when lowering later boats.
Some o / crew who had got into an earlier
boat & upset tried to clamber into
Gen. Lintons boat which was already
too full - all clutched her from one side
turned her over.
He saw little o / officers - but / Austrln
men o / boat next to him (he ws getting out /
rafts with other British Officers) came up
to him during / process: "Beg pardon, Sir,"
sd the leader, "we've got our boat all ready
to put over / side - a we've bn ready for
some time but our officer isn't here. Shall
we lower it or stand by." "Lower it at once"
sd. C. "Your officer may have bn killed." Not
till then did they attempt to - put her in & slid down
/ ropes
The rafts were put in water by Brit.
officers & Austrln men were told that they were
not to get into them yet. Not a man attempted to
altho / rafts were floating moored at / side unwatched
Half way thro' owing to tanks being pumped out /
ship took a heavy lurch onto / other side. Not a man
jumped over / side. 
 

26
Received a parcel from mother - towel! soap! 3 prs
of socks! sweets! writing paper - just the right things.
Sat Oct.30. C.T.B. At abt 10 a.m.
Harry Butler put in an appearance - 
He was hit in the flank but it cleared his
intestines. He had just gone & I was preparing
to start for the 3^rd L. H. Bde when who shd
turn up but C. T. Butler – out here w /
Dorset Yeomanry. Fortunately he missed
their charge on Aug 21 (for all / officers exc
/ Colonel were hit). Went round w him to
see Harry, the 12^th Lines (some of our best)
where I found the 3rd & little Howell Price
(now a Major) as Colonel. He left ^Austr. as 2nd
Lieut. I walked back w him to Djamelik
Bair.

Sund Oct 3l. Went up to the 8^th
Light Horse & saw old Maygar, now
Colonel; & Capt Hoare who ws thro /
charge & wounded. He found himself
(w / second line) running for all he ws
worth (he ws light - only a little haversack)
far ahead of his men. He remembered
passing the 1^st line tt had gone out -
apparently all dead. He looked hurriedly
around & as he seemed to be all alone
he flung himself flat on his face - on
all fours - spreadeagled. There ws a
 

[The Nek.]
 

27
dead Turk just in front of him & he
got as close to him as he cd - he
stank awfully & his head ws just in front
of Hore. Hore had bn tapped by a bullet on
/ shoulder on / way out. He waited. No
one passed him. No one seemed to be living
near him. He cast abt in his mind;  what
shall I do; - ^what ought I to do - an officer - cant stay here - wait for reinforcements, he
decided, & ^if they came then go on ^w them. And then as he
lay there two brave chaps - at different
times, rushed past him towards / T.
trenches. They were each quite
alone. They ran straight ahead &
each held on half a dozen yards
until he seemed to trip & fall headlong.
There was an awful wait.
The next reinforcements never came -
Hore thought: I must go on or back or
do something - it's not playing the game
for an officer to stay here. Bullets were
spit spit spitting in / dust all round
him. A man - a solitary survivor -
crawled up to him, "What shall I do,
Sir," he asked. "Make back to the
trench as best you can" sd Hoare.
Hoare himself ws then hit in / foot. He
began bit by bit to back himself out
towards our own trench keeping flat on his
 

Coming down with Col. Maygar to see
/ new bomb attack tonight in / old T. trench
across Chailak Dere, we started from
Rhodo by what they sd ws a shorter xx cut
- over / neck E of Tabletop & down to a broad
road cut in / hillside. The N face o / neck
ws clearly open to snipers, so we cut pretty
guickly thro' / scrub; but the further when
we reached / path a shot rang out w a
crack like the smack of an hand open hand.
"That's one in our directn" sd Maygar - 
& he ws right. They came - first ones, then
two or three in close succession in down
/ time we wound down / road. There were
men cutting scrub, but they were hidden
deep in / scrub, heads only showing & there
ws no sniping at them. For a quarter of a mile
20 of us folld tt track sniped at all / way - until
/ dust of 2 bullets flew abt 4 yds from me on /
right. Then I am glad to say they decided
to go to / bottom o / gully where it ws safe. We
were none of us hit. But just after we passed there
ws a cry of stretcher bearer. A bullet meant for us

[*had hit one of the poor beggars cutting scrub on / hillside. We came back
 up / frightfully precipitous 
Tabletop razorback 

wh w harder but safe.

Diagram, see original*]
 

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face. He had gone some way when
he found a bayonet stuck thro his
sleeve. He ^tugged, tugged - no good - had to go forward again
before he cd unhook it. Finally he
fell into a sap of ours - safe.

Capt Wilson is sd to have reached
enemys sand bags & sat there ^facing our trench & beckoning
to our men to come on to him. As he
sat there a bomb ws thrown over /
trench & he ws hit fell between his knees
& killed him at once.
The Ts. threw many bombs - so many
tt dust smoke shut out / view.
———
I hear tt Munro visited our trenches
yesty.
———
1st Bn V.C.s
Abt 10 or 11 am At 11.15 am on 9^th (or 8^th) Aug Turks
had sap leading from H.Q. No 2 section L.P.
parallel to Lt Horse Point (wh is just N of it - 
a big Commn trench leading somwhere near
Mia Mias) Sass went down it w 3 men.
Sass w rifle - others w sandbags. Sass ran forwd
to land in trench - shot whether anyone there
or no - 3 men put bags in front of him -
rear party coming up all time w more
sand bags.
Got abt 20 yds & shot over 12 Ts.