Charles E W Bean, Diaries, AWM38 3DRL 606/19/1 - October - November 1915 - Part 7

 59                                                                      

than we can. I spent day down there
& when I got ½ way down I heard them
talking underneath me....
One night when they went out (R & a
mate), w 4 prs. of socks on; they were lying
up when they heard something stirring in /
bushes. There are "goannas" there same as
in Aust. At first you think every move
is a Turk - but presently you become accustomed
to it. This at night R sd to his friend
as they moved off: Did you hear something?
Friend sd yes - probly a lizard. They waited
& it didnt repeat so they went on. A
little later they heard it again. When they
stopped it stopped - so they went on
w this thing padding down / hill behind
them. The rest o / picket ws to follow
in ½ hr. They came to a place where /
stream or path forked around a bush.

Hand drawn diagram see original document

They decided to lie up at x
believing tt / man wd try
to get round quicker than
Z They did at Y & anticipate
them & warn his friends /

patrol in / bottom o / gully. He came
on down. They saw his shadow pass
quite close - & then, instead of passing,
he lay up at Y. They heard a rustle
there & previously another rustle at Z.
So they knew there were two of them & the two
were waiting to see what R & his friend
wd do. R & his friend did nothing. They
 

The Wilts:
 60                                                                                

knew tt / terr rest o / patrol ws
coming soon, so they waited for them.
They hoped / patrol wd go round by Y
& drive / Turk onto them. They lay
there w only a bush betw themselves &
/ Turk, waiting for what he wd do
neither knowing what / other ws
thinking of - & presently / patrol came.
But / Turk retreated to S - there was
a path there they did not know of.
One Turk used to come up & listen ^close outside
/ trenches every night when first /
Light Horse came up there. But Capt Kidd
(10 L.H.) & Rickard went out forward &
& tried for him. He broke back before they
even saw him; like an animal they heard
him tearing like some wild animal thro /
bushes.
These scouts avoid shooting as far
as they possibly can. They are there to
learn ^not to kill - they almost have an agreement
w one another: if you dont touch me
I wont touch you. If R. sees a rifle on /
Enemy's side o / valley he genly leaves it
- he doesnt want to show them tt he has
bn over there. Possibly tt is / reason why
the Turks they left / rifles of / Wilts.
The wretched Wilts, coming down
Sazli after the L.H. moved there, caught
it - being mistaken for Turks. They came
down by day time, in no sort of
formation towards Camels Hump - 
? about the 30^th Aug ? or 21^st (a Friday,

 61

whenever it ws). Our men fired at them
& no doubt hit some. The Wilts men ran. As
they ran Lieut Higgins looking at them thro'
glasses sd, "Those men have no arms."
- That night some Turks seem to have
come down from Snipers Nest & were
fired on also.
A friend of R. told me says he thinks there were abt 100 in
this crowd. They say their bodies lie
fairly thick near Sniper's Pass Nest.
"I think they were dilly," he sd.
xxx They had no sense. If they'd bn
Australns I think they'd have made a
break for it, fire or no fire."

-----
Nov. 5^th (Diary] Friday
Talking abt Snipers Nest - the T.s have
bn putting in some work there / Iast few
days.
Hand drawn diagram, see original document.
I ws told so at
Rhodo - & tonight
as I ws walking
home in / scrub
behind the mules N Of
the No point o / beach I
heard a m.g. firing
sniping shots a little to / left o / path. I ws
walking past / hospital & a signal light
seemed to be attracting / shots. I kept a bit to
/ right & presently, sure eno', I heard them
striking just abt back o / Indian Mule
Camp. The thing ws well laid. I nipped
down into / sap & heard as I turned up /
gully / shots were just clearing me by abt 2ft.

[shorthand]
62
I ws in perfect cover.
That Snipers Nest is a peculiar
work. It comes right out into
our positn, but is v: little use to /
Turks at present as we look into /
back of it. White tells me we
command it absolutely by fire &
it is useless for defence [shorthand ]
[shorthand]
Nest
[shorthand]

White also tells me tt our ships
were to have bombarded all /
Turkish camps / other day. He
had / captain of one o / cruisers
over & explained to him / details o /
scheme / Army Corps wanted worked
out. The skipper sd he understood.
White impressed on him tt if
possible it shd be carrd out on /
first fine day, bec tt day / aeroplane
 

63                                                                  
cd get out & observe. A few days
later there came a glorious day - 
just a perfect Autumn day - crisp
morning, blue sky, smooth sea.
White asked them if they cd have the
straf tt day. There ws a long
interval; then back came an answer
tt the aeroplane cdnt manage tt
day so they wd come / next day.
Next day ws just one o / opposite
sort. The planes cdnt see - &
so / greater part o / plan fell thro'.
Today I saw a plane up for
a v. long time & two cruisers & a
monitor out to / South - so I
reckoned tt they must be taking adv.
o / perfect weather to work out /
same plan. But there ws practically
no firing. An isolated shot at long
intervals from / monitor, & / two
cruisers floating round close together like ^as silent as sticks
in a backwater. White had told /
Captain tt in firing it ws best to get a
lot of shots off all together (they did
this splendidly / other day). But
If you fire one ranging shot it
simply makes / whole camp go to
ground like so many rabbits &
/ rest does little damage.
 

Diagram see original document

64                                                             
I had heard tt Munro "twisted
our tails" over here when he came /
other day. It g ws clear this must
have bn in / matter of digging - 
our stores are in / open & we
have not / xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
xxxx 

[shorthand]
Munro 

[shorthand]
"Guy Fawkes Day - we ought

to get fireworks tonight!"
Sat. Nov 6^th  sd one youngster today in
/ Light Horse trenches on Rhodo. And
we were watching something like
fireworks. The Naval 4.7 (or 6in ?)
 

 65                                                              
on / N. beach ws shelling a trench
low down on B'ship Hill – the shell whizzing
overhead & giving the trench a fearful hammering
- clouds of black smoke & earth leaping
from it. The gun pounded slowly from the
right o / trench to / left - abt 200 yds,
probly searching for a m.g. or two - Our men
were crowding / parapets - delighted.
"By - I'm glad we dont have to
stand tt," sd one boy looking on.
"Thank God we've got a navy," sd
another.
But we may have to stand it
yet. That is what Munro - & White - &
many others, are thinking of. [[Jm.?]] has gone
to Egypt & Birdy is at G.H.Q. I wonder
if [[Jm.?]] has gone to get labour - or timber - 
or to fix up a working arrangement. w
Maxwell. Hamilton never had one - He
ws too weak & Braithwaite always
wanted to have his own show to himself.
B. (for the poor stupid ^ good old Ward ws.
really Braithwaite) actually refused
help from / intelligence dept in Cairo
(wh knew something o / job, & cd also
get maps done) printed far quicker
than England) again & again; & when /
offer of one o / survey men was acx to come
 

 66                                                                                  
over & help ws accepted, the helper on
arrival simply had to fight B. in order to be
allowed to do anything in / way of help at all.
One exceedingly nice chap - a moderately
senior officer too - spoke of B. to me yesty
as "an unmitigated cad!" If that ws not
/ adjective it ws something very like it.
Smith APM, who has ^seen him They  speaks of Munro's great square
jaw. If he has a gt square forehead too it
shd be alright. Lynden Bell is I believe
exceedingly thoro' tho possibly not actually
brilliant.
Old Ryrie is turning out, I believe
- (& White tells me) a really valuable
brigadier. It looked like a purely
political apptment – probly it was.
"I knew he had courage," sd White, "but
I wondered if he were stupid. He's not.
He has a sound practical sense wh
is very valuable. And he has a sort of
energy too, in his way. I went up there
this morning to see if he had made
arrangements in case of a possible
repetition of this tonight of last nights affair - 
& I found he had - He'd been out there
already." ["I'll go out tomorrow morning,"
R. sd to me last night- "at 6 o'clock.
I'm better away just at present. I've two
good men there – Midgely & Wilson - its
 

 67                                                             
not as if I cdn't trust them. They
know their job. And I'd only be in /
way now" - & so he wd. It ws
/ right thing w men like tt. He took /
responsibility when it came to him.
Birdwood is a man who is
always in favour of action - of getting
forward. But White is / man who
has a real grasp o / principle o
/ thing. He distinguishes between
what you do for offence & what you
do for defence - & his reasons are
illuminating as to which is /
principle involved. He's exceedingly
quick of judgment & goes to it on
those plain simple roads along wh all
/ best minds move - wh seem
so easy but are really so hard (or at
least few people have / genius for finding
them). You see / same thing in Jessels
judgments, in Walter Bagshot's economics.
 

Sat Nov 6^th.
Went out this morning to the
5 L.H.R. and Col. Cox showed me /
situation at / end o / sap on
our extreme right.
 

Hand drawn diagram, see original document

1. T. sangar abt 75 yds
away.
2. Front parapet two
bags high 20 yds away.
3. Bird Trenches   

The sandbag parapet o /
Ts ws still there - 2
dead Ts out in /
open in front & one
in a trench - another
old T. trench -
to / right.
Hand drawn diagram, see original document   

X  xxxx Turk tunnel.
Y Rifle pits
A - B Another old Turk
trench w dead
T. in it -  k.x
long while ago.
Z two of our
men buried at Z
during / demonstn
in June in old T.
trench
S Forwd barricade
V old Barricade
L - C is / second old
T trench used by
us as commn trench
There is an ^old T. trench
in W slope of Poppy
Valley, facing S - & I
think T. bivoucas on
slope N of it.
Old ryrie ws
out there - doing
things very

thoroughly.
Hand drawn diagram, see original document
Shaded part finished
xxxxxxxxxxx we sap from
C G A into old T. trench
A B wh enfilates Turk
barricades.