Charles E W Bean, Diaries, AWM38 3DRL 606/5/1 - April - May 1915 - Part 6

√  On Sund. rumour started tt 29 Div ws 5 miles away. 
Today it ws passed along tt it ws 2 miles away - &
there were round after round of cheering.
Men used to ask:  When are / Indians expected?
We told them they were never expected.  [Some o / men
in letters to Australia spoke o / Indians "charging
with us".  Of course there were no such Indians
- but they had heard there were & a man doesn't
confine his letters to what he sees.  Neither do I.]
 

46 
back fairly fast - others in / lines going up passed them going straight
by them as you might pass a man in / street, taking not / slightest notice of them
one going up & / other coming back almost brushing one another as a steamer
might pass another steamer at sea.  Evidently / man going forward had enough
determination to say to himself - "My job is to go forward & I'm going forward
whatever the other chap does".  Generally a man who meets another man
coming back will come back with him - the other says "They passed / word to
retire" - or " its too bloody hot up there - they've killed all our lot" - & hundreds
of men enter battle with their wills really not made up for themselves
but depending on / wills of others - ready to do exactly what / next man
does - the man whose will really is controlling / actions of 9 or 10 men is /
strongman o / group.  In this advance there were enough strong men to build
up a firing line. Af
After xxxx These men _^ were advancing across the hill when an order came
shouted along / line:  "Cease fire: the 29^th Divn is ju at the back of the Turks."  The
next second The same order came along in relays  "order to cease fire: 29^th
Divn is only 2 miles away."  The men began closing their cut offs.
I remembered tt as we had bn sitting having lunch in our gully there
had been cheering along / ridge & down / road above our head toward / N. Zealand
end o / beach.  Presently a man had come up to some of us lunching there - He ws
quite excited. "The English are only 2 miles away," he sd.  We asked him where he got
it - of course we knew it cdn't be possible.  "The English & French are two miles
away," he repeated " -  it ws passed down / line  by men up there."  We sd we
didn't think it cd possibly be true - but he went off unconvinced.
Now when / report came along & a shout of "cease fire!" "cease
fire!" with it I felt "my word! I am lucky to be here just at this
historic moment!  I must get my camera out & photograph these Brit.
troops when they arrive -  & perhaps the Turks with a white flag -xxxx
Someone sd: "Where does tt message come from?" - I think it ws
Maj. Brand.  This ws passed back & / message returned:
"From General Headquarters."  Ah:  I thought- G.H.Q. must be
in the [[?]] of the point shore & they are arranging terms w / Turks
 - / Turks must have caved in. Col. Maclagan said: Cease firing?
Who sd to cease firing?  Tell / men to go on.  Find out where tt message
came from." A second time / same message came back - except this time
it ws : "The French & Indians xx(wh we knew ws impossible) are
just at / back o / Turks - you are to cease fire - order from G.H.Q."
"Just the sort of ruse / Germans wd use"  sd Col. Maclagan.  Tell
them to go on firing.  Meanwhile he sent a message to Divl. H.Q.
to Col White asking if any such arrangement orders were
recd. from G.H.Q. & the answer is of course " No truth in
at all "  or to tt effect.  But in / meantime many of our
men - both in / gully below & to / right & in / firing line had ceased

47
almost all firing & / Turks were able to get their heads
up for 2 or 3 minutes.
Col. Maclagan was back by now - "Poor beggars" - he sd as he watched
them. "I'm afraid there are an awful lot of them being bowled over - I saw a good
number go down." [He told me afterwards that they went forward over tt plateau
3 times & came back 3 times  twice - "very fast too, really I felt rather ashamed
"of them that afternoon," he sd.  "But / third time they stayed there alright."
"I said to one of them afterwards 'what did you come back for? 'Well
"'we came back in very good lines, sir', sd / man grinning.  And / beggars
"they did too" sd Col Maclagan]. This charge ws taking place abt / same time as
that of the 4^th Bn.
We had quite a congregation up there on / hillside watching /
attack - Blamey, Foster, Murphy, sitting out on / reverse slope o / hill just
round its shoulder.  Having seen They had most of them been coaxing stragglers up
into reserve - Foster had a tremendous business talking to / men & getting them
along.  They were most of them dead tired & wd sit down every 20 yds or so &
now & then one wd refuse to go any further.  It was no good being rough w
them - they simply had to be handled & Foster managed it well.  So did Murphy
who is used to managing station hands.  They had them grouped under
shelter o / hillside & in / gully between us in / plateau, lying waiting just as at
manoeuvres one has seen them time & again.  They were ordered to unfix bayonets
- things seemed to be pretty well over (of course they werent really) so Foster & I
left.  Foster wanted to go to M'Cay.  I knew the way, so we went together.
Foster, I think, didn't trust my sense of locality.  Anyway he
decide to make for M'Cays straight in / direction in wh he thought it was.
We went down / gully & then up / other side [the Razor Back] so as to cut
across to the back of the Plateau.  As we got up through / dense green
foliage in / gullies on / N. side o / Razor Back shrapnel began to burst over
us - or rather a little higher up / ridge & to shear down thro' / leaves above
our heads.  We moved along into a second gully & still / shrapnel came through
/ leaves.  We kept very low & com in / gully & worked higher up / side
but it became quite clear tt we cdnt cross / top without a big
risk & it wasn't in / least worth it.  Then down / gully we were in
came some men.  Foster asked them what they were doing - I forget their
answer "Bloody hot up there" or something of that sort. They were clearly
getting down into the gullies for shelter from shrapnel.  The shrapnel came
swishing through again & again. We pushed up a bit further & then decided
to come round by the way I knew.  We lay up during shrapnel bursts as far as
possible, & made down the gully between the bursts, & so round the back
to MCays H.Q. under shelter.  There is an idea that a sniper or two are still
knocking about in / scrub inside our lines especially in this part.  As a
matter of fact _^ I dare say they cd get in if they liked to because the trenches are not
joined up.
Cass, M'Cays Brigade Major, had just received a message
to say tt 3rd Bde thought they cd see the Turks entrenching on further
side of Kaba Tepe. Cass & Foster & Hastie & I went up to / skyline
facing K.T. & had a long look - & saw some heavy wire xxxx entanglement
where posts were showing just over / skyline - but nothing moving

I took up an iron ration bag w some chocolate in it to distribute but
left it for a few minutes in / scrub when looking at Kaba Tepe, & it was distributed
for me.
 

48
at all.  I think these posts must have bn what they saw.  We thought we cd see a couple of
men in whitish uniform in the Oyster Shell quarry on K.T. but I'm not sure they were men.
The warships were plastering them w shell & they stayed where they were as far as I
cd see.  We cd also see things tt looked like barrels or mines off / shore there - a sort
of line of buoys it seemed to be, and an overturned boat.  We wondered if it were
a torpedo tube.  The Bacchante keeps watch on this side of K.T. standing abt a
mile out - & one wd be very sorry to see this faithful old four funnelled watchdog
damaged.  I think Cass ws going to report abt / line of buoys.
[MCay gave me his losses as far as he knew to date:
7^th Bn.  to midnight Ap. 25.  3 offrs killed 4 wounded.
They had 13 men out of 29 killed or wounded in one boat;  the big
man carrying / machine gun ws hit & / gun dropped into water
to deep to be recovered by them.
6^th Bn.  2 killed 7 wounded.  (I have also / figure 5 killed & 8 wd. opposite
the 6^th.)  This may be / number of men k & w in taking the maxim
& mountain gun o / Turks (acc. to Col. M'Cay) wh had afterwds
to be left).
While I ws w MCay a message came: "The gun giving trouble this morning
has just been blown in / air by / Triumph or / Queen - reputed by the flank
observer -" or to tt effect.  [This may have been during / morning visit]]
M'Cay says tt at 2 o'c. this afternoon he ws taken in
for / moment by an order : "Cease fire! order from _^ Gen Headquarters; the
29^th Divn are within 2 miles of you!"
This afternoon night came news of a charge o / 4 Bn in wh Col. Onslow Thompson
ws killed & MacNaughten wounded.  Australia seems to be losing numbers in numbers
of her best known citizens.  It will come as a shock to them out there.
Tuesday April 27^th.   Firing still heavy all night.  Our men dont
waste their ammn now, so it ws mostly Turk.
This morning the Turks attacked the 3 Bn.  They came on pretty
thick.  Our men pumped lead into them, standing up so tt they showed over
/ crest o / hill & handing their rifles back to be refilled.  When the Turks
were getting near they our men fixed bayonets & / men on / rear slope o / hill
prepared to charge but / Turks did not come on.  The Turks had all
German methods altho' some _^ o / prisoners told us they had seen no German
officers w them.  They cd be heard getting up to the edge of their slope o /
hill & then their officers were heard trying to bring them on - There wd be an argument
just like / arguments we used to have w / Arabs in Cairo abt loading a
waggon.  They seldom came really near our line.
Several times they were mistaken for Indians & our officers &
men let them go _^ unhurt. The Indian Battry has bn tremendously useful - but if it
were not for that I shd have sd it ws an egregious mistake to bring
them here at all.
This afternoon the roll of fire on / hills ws enormous,
Ramsay & I went up to see what was on. We crossed / trenches
on top o / hill & finally got to one where we cd see our men

Turks got a cross fire
onto / beach at abt
3p.m.
 

49
with their bayonets fixed working thro / bushes on a plateau ahead
[*? Russells Top.*] [ probly Walker's Ridge].  The trench we were in ws full of New Zealanders
who were being sent up to relieve another Bn further on.  I wanted to
get on into / firing line but could not find my way through / trenches.
They seem to run in a circle or a horse shoe & I think you must
have to get out of them & make your way thro' the open.
scrub to / fire trench on top of the ridge up wh / N.Z. line runs.
The N.Z. men _^ w some of 14^th & 15th seemed to me to be digging themselves in to a communicatn
trench & clogging it.  I always take up a full water bottle & some cigarettes
& / men are very glad of both.  The P. of Wales is splendid - her men are
keeping us alive on cigarettes - cigarettes are the one thing / men in / firing
line ask for these days: that and news.
Today for / first time since Sunday the Turks _^ really began to shell / beach.  They had 2
batteries on it and, I think, early  in / morning began to fire off two salvoes
of 8 guns twice a minute.  At times there were 14 white shrapnel clouds in /
air at once.  The batteries were East of us.  The fire was quite harmless - it flew overhead
& burst abt ¼ mile out from / beach 200 feet in / air.  There were boats coming in
& going out all the time w troops & stores & I never saw a man hit & didnt
hear of any.  We were xxxx cheered by this waste & only hoped they wd go on
as long as they liked - tho' I dont suppose the sailors on / destroyers &
picket boats wd have agreed.  I got several photos of this display but I expect
they'll be disappointing as / shrapnel cloud will hardly show out agst a bright sky.
It ws only towards night fall tt / Turkish guns seemed to get / range o /
beach. Then first an occasional shell, afterwds perhaps seven or eight
during the meal, fell burst on top o / ridge behind / camp or whizzed right down
/ gully & burst someway down it.  They were really dangerous.  Somehow
it ws not the thing to appear over anxious to take cover and our staff officer
only had / most miserable of dugouts for its mess room. [They built another
one in / gully afterwds wh ws a little better protected i.e. it had a wall to the E
but ws unprotected from S. & N.  When gett the French men - our two interpreters -
came ashore Gellibrand ws laughing at them xxxxxxx shrinking up into / shelter of it when a
shrapnel pellet hit him through / chest. One had hit one o / Frenchmens
waterbottles just before outside his dugout.  My xxxx batman, young Bayley, ws
serving at the time & didnt like to appear nervous, and ws standing in / open.
After tt he ws more careful.  The sentry, who at first stood in / middle o / gully,
had an uncomfortable time - standing out there in / open. [Afterwds D.N.Q. did
without a sentry - & the A.C. sentry ws given a shelter.  A.C. settled in / next
gully to us & N.Z. facing / beach].
[*Diagram - see original document*]
I got back to camp.  A trawler had come in very close, xxxxx _^ near / S. end o / beach
whilst I ws away.  Crew quite unconscious of danger when xxx T. shells
began to burst over her. One finally went thro' her & she began to sink.
Crews had to leave & get ashore our men watching & cheering them,
more than half in fun, from / hillside.  The air imprisoned in their
trawler kept her bows out o / water for quite a long time - but eventually she almost disappeared.
The Turks as usual opened gunfire on us at
sundown.  The flash of a gun cd be splendidly seen then & the
it is particularly important tt / Troops shd not be bombarded at
night as they are quite worn out w 3 days fighting. Yet no,
seaplane goes up.  I suppose the Naval Officer is dressing for dinner.
(Cont in black book x)

50
Losses Ap.25 to 12. noon Ap 30. 1915.
unit    killed    wounded    missing    Total.

ON HER MAJESTY'S SERVICE

Diary of CEW BEAN
No 5.
(p. 35 - of notebook, not as numbered by CEWB)
Maps and notes found loose in diary.

If not delivered within 7 days, return to
AUSTRALIAN WAR MEMORIAL
P.O. BOX 345, CANBERRA CITY, A.C.T. 2601

2nd 1st Day.
√  The XX1st Mtn Battery ws ready to come
ashore from the Pera at 8 a.m.  At 3 they thought
there wd be a chance - they were all ready but tho /
tugs were wandering abt they cdnt get one - They
say many tugs were available.  They got ashore
at 6pm.

2nd Day
√  XX1st Mtn Battery got 4 of its guns into
action.  Its major ws hit on / temple, but he
went on observing until he fainted.  He ws
sent off to a ship but managed to desert from her
& come back to his battery before being sent to Alex.

The 3rd Bn occupied the ground edge of the ridge at the
top of the gully afterwds known as Quinns (right of
Quinns only) Courtneys, & part of 1st Bn position,
off what is now German officer trench.  The Turks
were advancing directly agst them up / valley.  Time
& again wherever things looked groggy Maj.
Brown wd tell Capt M. S. J. Lamb & he
wd put himself at / head of whatever collectn of
men happened to be there, & charge, & / Turks fell
back.  At one time a N.Z. bn ws there wh Colonel
Owen asked to charge. They come up.  They wd not
come & their officers (so Col. Owen told me) wd not
bring them.  He sent Lamb back to see what he cd do
& he Lamb brought them up himself.  He did this
continually for two days - He ws wounded
2ce but fi & stuck to it for 4 or 5 days but finally
got so bad tt he had to go to Alex. "If it had not been
for Lamb", sd Col Owen, "I dont think we cd have
held on." Brown also worked wonderfully - ws
3 times wounded slightly & finally had to give way
temply under strain.

2nd Day:
XX1st Mtn Battery got into action this day on
knoll in middle of gully.  Its Major went up to
Col. Maclagan to see if he cd _^ his guns cd assist him & get a target, _^ for 2 more guns when
men appeared on the ridge running backwards
- things began to get hot & he had to go back & look
thought it abt time to go back & stick by
after his battery.  Just then over 400 Hill came
a party of men in Australian uniform who
lay down & began firing on the Indian Battery
& on Australians further along in firing line.
The C/O of the battery had a seaman up there - a
very good shot - who had bn sniping for them.
He told him - there's a shot for you.  The man
picked out one o / Australians, dropped him.  The
others retired.
√
Not long after another similar party
came up commanded by a man in what
looked like a Turkish cap & with a sword.  They
began firing at Australians up / valley.  The
battery C.O. nearly got the seaman to drop the
man w / sword also.  Then he thought
- well, there may be some mistake.  He may
be an Australian; & let him be.  The
party seems to have retired across / hill
again.

2nd or 3rd day:   Col. Owen tells me:
During 1st 2 days / Turks came (1) from 700
(2) from below 400
After 1st day they began to concentrate more
than before.  It ws either 2nd or 3rd day tt
a number - perh. 2000 - were seen coming
down the slope of 700.  Owen put procedure
aside & wired straight to D.H.Q. for naval
gun fire.
√
Q.  Afraid to fire.
Owen.  Must fire.
Q. Will you take / responsibility
Owen.  Yes.
Q.ueen fired - 200 yds to far.
Asked to come down 200.
Q. fired again - 100 yds over.
Asked to come down 100
Q. fired right into them.
Attack melted away -Awkward
situation saved.
(This sounds like attack of Mond. aft. but
signals will show).

2
DR BEAN'S
DIARY NO: 5. Page 18
(Landing at Anzac)

On this page of his diary, written up at Anzac,
Dr. Bean enlarges on the events of the landing, jotted down
in his notebook.  Two-thirds of the way down the page he picks
up the incident of the signal lamp flashes, which later research
confirmed was a Turkish warning that the landing had been
detected.  He has found that his watch is five minutes faster
that the Minnewaska's saloon clock, and altered the times
accordingly, but has yet to discover that the Minnewaska's clock
was eight minutes faster than Greenwich.