Charles E W Bean, Diaries, AWM38 3DRL 606/5/1 - April - May 1915 - Part 3

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the knock - knocking of an axlebox heard very far off, very faint, through the bush.  To my mind there is no mistaking it whatever. It is the xxxxx  first time I heard the sound, but I have no doubt xxxxxxxxxx on earth of what it is.  It is the distant echo of heavy continuous rifle firing - first a few shots, then heavy & continuous.

I call the attention I told the ships officer next me to listen.  He heard it too; he knew what it was.  There was some doubt amongst others.  But five minutes later there was within five minutes there could be no mistake.  Heavy firing was going on in the hills ahead.  We could not see the flash.

Ahead of us there are three warships - London, Queen, Prince of Wales.  Closer in are four transports; & nearer in to the beach some way outside the warships.  We can see that one of the warships has  a sto  her small steamboat astern of her but we can see nothing of any boats further inland.

 

4.53  A flash has just burst from the face of a xxxx about two mile to the South of us. xxxxxxx many xxxxx seconds later there is  Just now there was the sound like a bursting rocket in the High  high in the air a little aft of the ship.  A small woolly cloud unrolled itself.   Below it a small circle of the surface of the silky water was lashed up as it by a very local fierce thunder rain.  Presently there is far away on the face of a small promontory abt two miles to the south of us is a brilliant pin point flash.  xxxxx Some seconds later a curious whizz through the air to the south of  air - a whizz-on a descending scale just the opposite to the whizz of a steam siren.  The long drawn out whizz sinks & sinks down the scale.  There is a flash high in the air a quarter of a mile in front of us this time.  Then a bang, the whirr of a shower of pellets sprayed as if from a watering can, the whip up of another circle of sea below & another white fleecy cloud slowly floating overhead.  The wondering

 

 

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crowd on the promenade deck says to itself "So that is shrapnel" "Look mate" says a voice on the focale "They're carrying this joke too far - they're using ball ammunition" 

4.45  There was a bang which shook our ship - A huge bilious yellow cloud for a moment sprang out from the side of one of our bet the warships just south of us.  Far down on the point where that other flash came from a huge geyser of xxxxx yellow black earth lifts itself - a lurid red flash just showing through the cloud of it.  The Infantry - they are new south welshmen - on the deck below run to the side, cheering, delightedly "Whew! that's Pat" says one big chap  excited boy waving his cap.

 

Several of the other ships begin firing, but the shrapnel still bursts ahead.  At five oclock one seems to burst fair over the stern of the Novian a transport ahead of us carrying a battalion of the second Brigade.

 

three minutes later we ourselves start moving in to take up our berth.   Four of us, in line, are passing slowly in between the warships.  Just on our port side we look down quite close upon the deck of one battleship - the Prince of Wales, I think.  She has one pair of great Turret guns pointed straight at us, the others ahead.  On our right the Triumph & Bacchante are firing round after round - the two big turret guns xxxxxx  of the former roaring together.

 

Not a sign yet from the beach.  Only that ceaseless knocking knocking knocking .  Presently a low and shape xxxxxx curiously oval object floats past us low in the water.  It is a small rowing boat bottom upwards.  That was the first sign that one saw of any activity what had been we saw.

 

Now at last as we moved in we cd see on the sea beach, just below the line of the beach, a swarm of small boats - small boats everywhere.  They seemed to be going each on its own & going every sort of way - rowing, not being tugged some were stationary - or seemed so.  It is hard

 

to tell at this distance.  " I don't like the way they're all scattered about", sd a staff officer near me.  Some seemed as tho they might be helping others in difficulties.

 

The warships are firing more heavily now - there go two great turret guns together.   The enemy is still scattering his shrapnel over the water but always between the ships or just short of them.

5.15 - Two shells pretty close to us.  Those small boats returning for all they are worth each on its own - we can see them much clearer now - make some just a little anxious.  Why are they going so many ways - digging out for all they are worth.  Has the landing been beaten off - is this the remnant.

 

At five o'c the men went down to a hot breakfast.  That firing is still going on in the hills.  Whilst it continues one can scarcely think of eating.  Someone says "You'ld better come", says someone.  "Never know when you may get a good meal again".  It was a very hurried breakfast and the officers took - 50 or 60 of them there at the saloon tables.  Shells were falling near the ship; any minute one might come through the side.  xxxxx every now you can see plainly the flash of the warships guns - you can see the glare flashes thro the portholes like lightning .  The stewards very willing this morning.

 

Up on deck again after a cup of tea & plate of porridge.  The knock - knock - still coming heavily from the shore - the hills resound with it.  But look never so hard you can't see a flash.  "I'm afraid they're not got very far" says a staff officer.  The se There is one comfort.  The small boats which are rowing back are merely returning to their ships.  There are no soldiers in them - [xxx?] just four seamen & a cons with another sitting at the tiller - rowing for all they are worth to their various ships.  So our men must at least be on the beach.  The warships a supporting them for all they are worth - or xxxxxxxxxx  great shots are shaking this ship every 10 or 20 seconds.  I can see ths 

Far down south on the ships neck of Kaba Tape I can see the smoke of our shrapnel bursting over where we  the point where we must have located their guns.

A destroyer is due to land take the first lot of men off our ship at 6 o'clock

 

 

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Close in shore one can just make out the low shapes of one or two destroyers.  They were to take in the men from the ships further out & to transfer them to boats.  The boats will  were to take them from the destroyers in shore.  Others were to land straight in boats from the ships.  The second batch must Those destroyers in shore must just be discharging the second batch now.  Another is swinging round three hundred yards away from us.  It must be the first to discharge us.  She was due at six o'clock.  It is exactly 6.3.  A geyser of foam rises beside the Galika - I think it is from a gun on the xxxxx big hills far away to the South.  It was not far off.  The shrapnel is now bursting in the air a little south of the transports; 3 shell this time.  Now another three!  Those must be from field guns to the South of that promontory - we are just outside their extreme range.

 

The destroyer is alongside .  Some the men on her decks are standing round something which they have protected with a little nest of hammocks.  It is a wounded man.  One seems to be an Australian - another is a sailor, His face turned away from them very white & still.  A seaman sits by him, holding his wrist.  Now that one sees them there are half a dozen wounded men on that destroyer.  Another has drawn alongside out other beam.  She has a dozen wounded on her.  Some of the small returning boats have wounded in them to  come along the destroyer.  They lift a wounded man or two out of them also.

 

Still that rattle rattle all along the hillside.  It doesn't sound as if our men had got far.  The ships are roaring whole broadsides now, huge tuffets of guns upon the neck behind that promontory.  Four guns down there continue to spray shrapnel over l water.

 

A few minutes ago there was a heavy whirr in the air.  An aero

A seaplane went up & shorewards like a big bee.  She has just come back.  They are no longer shelling the ships. But we can see the shell spraying the strings of boats as they move in shore.

Two cruisers are round the South West of that obnoxious battery promontory shelling it - & the Triumph.  Just this side of it lies the four funnelled Bacchante - sistership of our old Euryalus from  far to the South is the Queen Elizabeth, signalling with some brilliant light.  Our men must at least have got

 

In margin- [ Dartmeth?] & Doris?

 

 

See sketch

 

" Men too big but otherwise in this sort of attitude second line dying"

 

 

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a footing on the land for those enemy guns to the S. are still shelling the right hand shoulder of the nearer hill in part - four of them were shelling it some moments ap.  There only seems to be one now.

6.45   The first of our The infantry from our own ship are climbing slowly down rope ladders into their destroyers - one on the left f or rather into one of them.  The Derfflinger has just got her first destroyer away.  I watch it - old Jock is in that lot.  The Michigan has got her tow away.  Astern of us are one can see in the distance transport after transport coming up.

 

That obnoxious gun on Kaba Tepe is still blaz plastering the shoulder of that hill with shell.  I think I can see the flash of one gun there.  The naval guns throw a very quick shell.  You see the flash almost as soon as you hear the report.  The Bacchante is slowly moving in clearly  closer to shell the northern side of that point  promontory.  She moves slowly round & then straight in on it, very close.  It is nearly seven o'clock.  The firing is very weak & spasmodic along the hillside.

 

Suddenly - from high up on the further hills - there twinkles a tiny white light - very brilliant.  What on earth can it be?  We can hardly have got our signallers right up there, headquarters

properly fixed and the signal communication opened up by this time!.  "It cant be us - must be the Turks" is the general opinion.  But what  do the Turks want to [ nelio?] toward us for - must be towards signalling to their men on the nearer hill.

 

Ten minutes later someone sees men upon the skyline.  The number gradually spread round.  At 7.17 I heard of it.  xxxxxxxxxx

through the telescope you can see them, numbers of them - some standing full length.  Others moving over it.  Certain ones are standing up, moving along amongst them.  Others are sitting down apparently talking.  they xxxxxxxxxxx Are they Turks or Australians.  The Turks wear khaki, but they are the attitudes are extraordinarily like those of Australians.  Just before them, on our side of them a long line of men is digging quietly on a nearer hill.   One seems to recoxxxxx the  they have round caps, I think clearly you can distinguish that round disc like cap.  They are Australians!  and they have taken that further line of hill!

 

 

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 three ridges away you can see them; the outlines of men on the furthest hills men digging on the second hill; and the [??] of signallers waving on the ridge nearest the shore.

 

There is no sound of firing at all now.  And that just to the south are silenced - apparently even that last solitary one. 

No - just as a launch with a string of boats in tow taking men from a ship ahead of us gets into the beach the beggar fires again.  The Bacchante immediately blazes at her.  She fires only once.  five minutes later when another tow is on its way to the beach it fires again.  wonder if any were xxxxx The Bacchante immediately smothers them again.  Clearly they come out to fire one shot & then dive for their gun pit till the storm is over.  Their last shot was right over some disembarking troops wonder if they got any.  Another ship - The Triumph is moving close in to the S. of the point.

 

Meanwhile at 7.30 The firing on shore had begun again.  There were men now on the crest of the high hill to the left of the ridge.  These must have bn Turks.  The morning is glorious - xxxxxxxxx the sea as smooth as satin shining in the sun; the great ships & their reflexious perfectly beautiful scene.

 

8-8.15  more firing on shore; - 8.25 short spell of firing very rapid as if to cover an attack.  The Triumph round the promontory is firing - I cant see the burst so it is probably at the back of the hill.  xxxxxxxxxxxxx  The wounded men from the destroyers are being brought on board.  Stories come up from the cabins where Col. Ryan is tending to them that the first 2 boats lost 50 per cent of their men, the Turks getting on to them with machine guns.  This turned out  afterwds to be wrong - it was some of the later boats of the covering force the first of the 2nd Brigade that lost heavily.

 

8.30   The second destroyer (Ribble) is alongside - she has many wounded on board - men come to me & say that her decks are a sight - simply slippery with blood.  I didn't go to see - somehow if that sort of thing has to come it will come of its own accord; no need to go & look for it.  They dont seem to be hurrying about loading the Ribble - not a man is getting on to her although lots are xxxxx  on board waiting.  I wonder why.

 

8.45-9  The firing seems by the sound to be getting down the shoulder of that ridge.

 

 

See map drawn in diary

 

 

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By the buys - the first tow left the Derfflinger some time ago - long before ours left us.  I saw her go - & I knew my brother Jack was on it - He was is surgeon to his bn. & was to leave with the first lot.  They didn't seem to get much shrapnel (our destroyers are the Esk, Ribble & Scourge).

 

8.55.   Another tow going inshore.  Shrapnel bursts right over it.  Our General & those other members of our H.Q. staff who were on H.M.S. P. of Wales passed us, going ashore in trawler 49, at abt 7.30.

The balloon is coming in closer.

 

9.20   Another burst of firing on hills.

The third destroyer (Ribble) is alongside.  Put on my packs (i.e. overcoat & 1 ration & towel & w.p. sheet in an infantry pack; 2 rations in brown canvas satchel wh Myers gave me - also most of my papers & some chocolate; xxx rug & leather lining to overcoat in roll.)  Went down onto fo'csle deck with Capt Griffiths - got the packs slung over & xxxxxxx  into the destroyer & then climbed down rope ladder.  xxxxxxxxx 

 

9.40   moved off.  waved good bye to Bazley & old Fitzgerald.  Most of the batmen with our sleeping bags, horses, grooms, the French interpreters, motor cars, Maj. Matson & the pay office people remain aboard until our landing is established some say they may be off in 2 days - some a week.  Of course the horses may be longer.

 

As we are going ashore some heavy battery fires a big shot at the P. of Wales - a monstrous fountain of foam rises beside her.  Second shot at P.of W.  The a big shot near xxxxxxxx? right over the queen near the Hessen.  They'll be sinking her if our people dont look out.  I believe we quite expect to lose a transport or two & it looks as if any minute we shall see the beginning:  4th big shot alongside Hessen - she's a German steamer, too.  I wonder when they'll get her moving - they're frightfully slow - No, she's thrashing out at last - screw very high out of the water.

Next bn Then a big shot - 5th - close alongside Minnewaska.  Next a shot close alongside a destroyer - it

 

 

July 28

I am told l Turks only claim to have  60 or 70 Eng. speaking prisoners including British.  Can this be true?

 

Col. Maclagan and others told me on We Ap 28:  He & Ross were first out of their boats wh were not much behind l first landing.  The man went up l high hill & were on top of it before l Turks knew where they were. (There were two Turks, Howard told me, on l beach, on w his head smashed in).  It ws at 4.18 ( [axx?] to Maclagan ) when 3 Bde in boats landed from l ships.  Boats had just landed when bullets began to whiz.  The men were out of them at once.  The shots struck sparks out o l beach, regular fireworks from l stones, as the hopped across them.  These were from rifles from l knoll at l S.End o l beach.

 

there ws a m.g. on l hill at N. end of beach & also in a gully to S.E. of Fisherman's Hut.  The destroyers knew they had chosen l wrong place but ws too late to change.  Col Maclagan became convinced o l mistake when he had reached l top o l camp ridge.

Margin: Really mostly 7 Bn

 

The first boats ashore were on l extreme left, nearly   as far down up as Fisherman's Hut.  They are still there (Wed. 28). many men were killed in them, probly of 10 & 11 Bns, by rifle fire & maxim from up gully in front.  The boats seemed to be filled 

w dead; but some o l dead were seen to move.  It turned out they were wounded but were afraid to move.  Two stretcher bearers of 2 Bn were sent along but one ws killed & other mortally wd.  They got the men out of the boats finally on Monday night.

 

Margin: This boat belonged to 12 Bn. 7Bn had sent away their wounded.

 

The men went straight up l hillside.  Col. Maclagan had trained l platoon & section leaders & so they were well qualified.  The 11, 10,& 9 went in in tt order from N. to S.  The 11 worked up spur W4 & got to top of [bastion?] B2 where they were blocked (?)  Some got to Fishermans Hut where there were Turks & took it.  the 10 (part of it) went up spur about [?] 3 & up l precipice thro' l break in l ridge B7 & nearly to D2; [Baty xx?]  Col Maclagan who came ashore from destroyers at 4.28 (his time) saw tt he ws wanted further South & cut thro l same gap up to below top of 1st Plateau.  Then over into shrapnel gully & up to position where Bde H. Q. now are or near it.  Maj. Brand after sending a communication as to his position ( Johnston's Folly Lone Pine) went on towards o position to l right of Col. Maclagan where there were 3 emplacements ( gully in Lone Pine )  [entrant?] ) He cd see l emplacements.  They fired on l Turks there - & then took l guns (T.s didn't wait) & [spirked?] them as best they cd.  M'L. saw l position ws too long & he knew made his party our right [retire?].  "We had 1 hour, fortunately , to dig in , one advanced party we kept up to help another to dig in.  By 7 when the 2nd Bde ws landing this had bn done.  The 1st [Fiels?] Co of [Engro?] were making a road"  Second Bdn had to come in on our right after consultn betw. brigadiers.  They went on & by 11 o'c were over on l slope overlooking l enemys positn.  Some got onto a further ridge still.  Later tt night the 2 Bde had to retire to its present positn (Thurs 29)  They left many of their officers & men there & those turks who are using our uniforms [xxx?] use theirs.

 

 

See sketch on page

 

By 9.00am the 1st Day Lt. Williams & 14 men o l Divl Engs ws ashore looking for water.  They left 7  over first day on the beach & took the other 7 round shrapnel Gully; & there abt 300 yds up they found under a bit of a cliff on the right a trickle of water about 6in deep.  They dammed it & began to sink by it.  They were at work by 10am & by 2 had a little well w water running into it.   They went back to l beach for pump, pipes & so on & for 2 days this little godsend of a place ws l only well in ANZAC.  The next well ws sunk 2 days later in Walker Valley.

 

A feature of 1st day ws l signal service.  3rd Bde H.Q. (No 3) section Sig. Co came with H.Q. 3 Bde.  No2 Section. w H.Q. 1st Bd.  No 4 Section w 2 Bde ws in beach at 7.30.  The No 1 section landed between 8 & 9.  Men carried their signalling kit.  Commn ws thro to all brigades by telephone at 9.45.

 

 

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then turned round to see l beach.  It ws a curve of sand, abt 1/2 mile long, between the two knolls before mentioned.  Between them, high above us, ran back a steep scrub covered slope to an edge a skyline about 300 ft above us.  One or two deep little scrub gullies came down the mountainside, each with a little narrow winding muddy gutters, but very gutter in l depth of it;  these gutters were about as deep as a man, sometimes deeper, not more than 5 or 6 feet wide, more of less covered in the low scrub (largely arbutus) & so splendid natural cover against shrapnel whether it came from N. or S.  On l beach some seamen were rigging up l first pole of a wireless station; infantry & engineers as they landed were being fixed up & marched off at at once - mostly, I think, towards l South end of the beach.  Foster & Casey met us & took us off in a Southerly direction to the 2nd gully where they sd l General had decided to make his divisional H.Q.  The place they chose ws l bottom o l gully just where l gully opened our onto l sand.  I chucked my pack & haversack down w l others on a bunch of bush in l middle of this gully.  & then as I didnt want to be in l way, & as Col Hobble ws going up l hill to see if he cd hit on an artillery position I xxxx crawled up l hill after him.  Shrapnel had bn dropping here thickly.  It ws a matter of crawling to get up the gullys crawling and clambering

 

  I think l General was away when we arrived - anyway Foster didnt say definitely of this wd be l place for l camp; so we waited on to see where H.Q. wd be.  xxxxxx The General ws there shortly afterwds.  White, Glasfurd, Blamey, Howse & Foote were all ashore before us.

 

10.00 Maclagan's Brigade were abt xxxxx? this landing & men walking along by l xxxxx?

10am The mountain guns have just landed.  There is continuous firing.

10.30   The wireless is up.  The boys are digging out a place for Head quarters in this gully near l beach.  The signallers seem to have bn allotted a

 

 

We saw a few wounded men, a very few, limping or carried along l beach.  I think about half a dozen poor chaps were also lying there dead - with overcoats or rugs over them.  Most of these were carried away round Northern point o l beach, & away along l Northern beach where they were laid out together, abt 30 of them.

 

There was one dead Turk on beach (? w head bashed in); 3 in the blockhouse on Ari Burnu - one big chap bayoneted; & perh 20 others inside our final lines tt evening.  there were many outside our lines, of course, but not so many as sometimes claimed.  Of our own men abt a dozen were dead at foot of Ari Burnu - 6 were taken off from there in boats; most o l damage ws done further North.

On our way up we looked down on the beach and l hillside below, & w realise the climb tt our men must have had up that steep slope before they got to l top.  The knoll at l N. end o l beach ws well entrenched - you cd see a trench running back along it & a regular little blockhouse on top - covered in.  Along l beach to l north, some way this side of Fishermans Hut, were lying some bodies - I think they had bn gathered there.  And some men were strolling quietly along it as if they were our for a Sunday's walk.

 

As we went along this trench there ws a dead Turk lying in it people stepped over him as they went along - he was there most of the day & there ws one of our own men, dead, lying just outside the trench.  Some parts o l trench had a very nasty smell - there ws no mistaking it - l Turks must have used it for purposes of sanitation as well as of protection - I believe their trenches serve them for every purpose.

 

("Ramsay's Diary"  The first job I got - was shown a dot on the map where 3rd Bde HQ were & told off to take a corporal & 12 men w 6 cases of ammunition to it.  We started off up l hill & got to l top where we met a good many wounded.  The hill was very steep & it ws hard work... well we got to l top alright and then on over a level piece of ground across some Turkish trenches.  After l first rush a good many Turks had bn left behind & had hidden themselves in l scrub & gullies & were sniping our men.  we got onto a corner from wh you cd see HQ on l other side o l gully not far onto l right so we got all l men up w l boxes.  The Corporal took them on & I went back to see if any more was wanted.  Coming down behind apiece & l hill.  A sniper has shot a man dead alongside Gen. Walker & had put 5 shots pretty close to l rest of them! )

 

 

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bit o l gully just above us & l artillery just above them.  A turkish prisoner is on the beach being examined at H.Q.

 

(The fixing up o l wireless to l ships was rather slow & delayed l artillery ships guns considerably.  Our own signals were though remarkably quickly.)

I didn't want to get in the way at H.Q. so as Col. Hobbs ws going up to see if he cd find a position for his guns I decid  asked if I might go with him.  The artillery staff scrambled up the gutter at l back of our H.Q. Winding in & out under l leaves, gett  dragging one another up l gravelly banks until we got to l top of our ridge.  When abt half way up I noticed an insect with a soft rustle of a flight, like a bees, flying over - I cd hear them & looked once or twice to make sure.  Then for l first time I realised it must be a bullet.  It was so feeble, tt sound, & so spent that it ws quite comforting.  One had expected something much more business like.  As we got higher up they the whistle did become louder, but I hadn't any idea whether they were near or far.

 

At the top we got into a path - I dont know it is was ours or Turkish,  but our engineers were building quite a fine path lower down - wh led us for about half a dozen yards over l beginning of a plateau & then into a shallow trench crossed our path, running from right to left; so we dropped into it.  There were several men in it & I think they were chiefly engaged in passing ammunition along it.  We crept along it, passing a certain number of men - Col. Hobbs seemed rather desperate of getting any artillery up this way.  Finally we got to where l trench opened out finished abruptly on l other side o l plateau in a V shaped cut thro wh you cd see down into l valley & across to l other side of it.  Col. Hobbs went on & had a look onto l opening & as he cd do no good here we all returned to l beach.  I stayed for a bit to talk to some o l men in l trench.  One cd hear occasionally a burst overhead and a whizz wh I took to be shrapnel; but in this trench one ws reasonable safe.

 

By l time I got out o l trench l road up to l entrance of it seemed to be nearly finished.  Men bringing up ammunition were resting there for a moment.  A certain number of infantry were sitting down there also for a breather.  The ammunition men didn't  get down into l trench but went straight down over on across l plateau - where to I cd not see.  It was a big labour bringing those boxes up l hill - but I knew it ws awfully important.