Charles E W Bean, Diaries, AWM38 3DRL 606/68/1 - December 1916 - January 1917 - Part 5

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Hand drawn diagram – see original
some of 29.& 10 Bn got to ※&※
but had to come running back.
Bowes with part of D Coy
landed with destroyer in rear half
of Bn. crossed 2 valleys (prob) into position 1.
Saw some ponies to left- went off again - shot ponies
near ammn Dump abt crest of hill (wh was
flat & pretty wide. 300 yds at E end, wider at rear. Reached
edge of steep slope amongst scrub. The Branch met them &
advised not to go on too far as wd be cut off at 2. Others were digging at 3 - so B. & T. stayed out as covering pty.
Abt 10.am mules & pack animals began to go
up the opposite ridge. There were
men digging there - It ws a long range
& cdnt see bullets fall. After mules came
abt a bn of men (at abt 10.30 a.m.)(at 4) as
if from Gaba Tepe. A Hand drawn diagram – see original were two circular borrow

9th Bn   3
1st day
Hand drawn diagram – see original
pits w / Earth heaped up in centre about 12ft across & 
2 or 3 ft high. iHand drawn diagram – see original Also sticks with bits of
rag on them (2. abt 50 yds apart, possibly aiming
posts for guns or m.gs.) Stayed there till shrapnel
opened abt 11.30 or 12 (4 or 5 m.gs. had been on place but all
shooting high tho' cutting bushes -) Shrapnel opened as 
reinfts came up
Vowles came a little before reinfts - later 1^st & 2 Bde
started to dribble up. Line had retired but advanced
with reinfts. Each time (thorn bushes pulling off putties
Cairo breeches soon worn thro) but each advance got shrap.
Finally after abt 6 advances & retirements settled
for night - B. was in a Turk trench apparently at
head of White Valley - 4 Bn on his right
 

47
I think, ^Lt Bowes probly got ^opp. to head
of Pine Ridge first day & Owens gully
& Daisy Patch 2nd day.
                   ____________
Glasfurd was up there on
Sund. night after they retired from
first advance, abt 5. p.m. (this part
of line ws not being heavily shelled) xxx
Shrap. 
Hand drawn diagram – see original

(party in 1st advance ws
told off to keep an eye
open for attack on
right flank)

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4 Bn were in some formation.
Remained there all night - it ws raining
& men were firing. Patrols sent out 2 or 3
hrs. Then withdrawn - T. concentration
ws reported either by them or others.
Line fired when it heard Turks urging
themselves on with "Allah Allah".
There ws abt 30 yds of fire-field ahead
& then the crest
Morning v. quiet - spent getting water & rations
from dead
& spring found 
in gully x.
had wash & 
made tea
Next day abt 2pm
Glasfurd came along
from left & said that they
were to get out & go forward with
fixed bayonets. When they got out
theY found the whole line apparently
going on at same time (Swaine - now
Capt. adjt of 49Bn. ws there too) - They
went on till they reached a Turk
trench 20.30 yds long without
a back (possibly gun pits). Here
the left o / line ws held up &
someone shouted for the right o /
line to swing round. Shrap. had
started by this. They came up to
this T. earthwork, passed it & came
up to another shallow drain or trench 
with overhead cover & gunpit entrance
Hand drawn diagram – see original There ws the head of a 

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49
shallow valley behind these
gunpits & the Shrapnel ws
enfilading the left of line & had
range to a t in direction marked
him got into this cover - shrap
pattering overhead & in little trench
abt 18in. deep. Shrap. drove
them out of tt - a good few lost.
Maj. Storey ws wounded here
further on right. Bradbury gave
Word came along from S. to retire
Left ws retiring ⇣ & right now
retired ⇣ pract. to original line. 
Bowes did not get back to the
original front; but word had
come tt they were to take
up a new line ½ left.
Line came up to the open xx
grassy swathe- B. at this time
had continued to go forward
across the swathe thinking he was
to go straight on. When he
got across he heard orders
gn to those behind to dig in
where they were. (They were 

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50
digging scratching w entrenching tools
in the Scrub just before (S) the
opening.  B. & his man began to
do the same on the other
side. The Turk began putting
shrap over part of opening -
Hand drawn diagram – see original
After abt 10 shots one
came further left & got 
Bowes.
Sergt Kinsman (5 Bn) xxx in
2nd advance 
Cadet training & with 57th Bn
was there & tied Bowes up in
the hole he himself he had dug.
Abt 1 hour later they took B.
back. On his way down
(past aid post of 7 Bn) he heard
someone say Put in the 9^th & 10^th
& heard offrs saying "This way 9th."
abt 6.30 p.m. or xxx below 5 & 7.30pm. It was dusk.
xx Between the two advances
(really on way up to 2nd
& final position B.  & men cleaned
up some T.  snipers who behind
where they B had been. They The Ts tried to 

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51
let them pass them unseen &
remained quite close - at abt 15 yds.
before shot by B.
xx B. ws in one of the boats
wh ws upset when the Derfflinger
started off in a hurry in /
morning when the "Goeben"
guns opened. The boats were
alongside unloading by the
gangway - arrived late at
night. Only one boat in tow
had bn unloaded & two
remained. There were a couple
of shells abt 100 yds away.
a The D. started without
warning middy in charge of
launch - there ws a big
barge alongside wh came along
as soon as steamer started;
The barge shouldered the two
xxx empty boat out o /
way - but the other two turned 

52
[[shorthand]] 
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53
broadside on & upset.
3 B. found himself beneath one
but dived out. ^Some men got into other boat. They pulled
all men but 2 out onto xx upturned
boat - 2 men were drowned - One
man ^drifted past in an over coat had gone
down twice - middy brought
boat alongside & sailor just
hooked him w boathook.
Middy gave [[TS.?]] his coat.
(Rising Sun , from 5½ pp. back) ready
tonight, but tomorrow will do.
I told the printers they cd take it
more easily. The press was one
English hand press; & one Belgian
hand press found & rescued from
Ypres. There was not type eno' to
print it on the English machine
alone, so the Ypres machine had
to be used. Our centre page is the
first page printed by this machine.
A great difficulty was a shortage of 

54
3
Capital letters - They had to hunt
the Belgian type for capitals - &
there were not eno' Bs. I had to
change But into Yet in some verses,
& also to do away with apostrophe's,
as we cdnt get the 's. The é &
ûs of the old Belgian type are
noticeable on our centre pages -
but the printers have turned out
the paper excellently, everything considered.
It is mostly printed on thin copying
typewriting paper.
Dec 24.  At work the whole day
publishing. Bazley, Baldwin,
& myself - with a permanently
unfit man lent us by White - 
have been all day on that icy cold
"North Pole" as Baldwin calls my
office in the upper storey of the 
stables of our Mess - a big room, 
 

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55
3 tile floored, the ^plaster ceiling hanging
in tatters, & an asthmatic stove.
We have just finished with a supper
at 1.45 am in our mess - Col Witham
came in & drank a cup of tea with
us. The clerks in the A A Gs branch
were having a glass - more than a
glass I shd say- of wine in
their hut in the garden - &
were singing & shouting. An hour
ago it became Christmas.
And about 11. p.m. or
11.30 the sound of guns, very
noticeable all day became
redoubled & continuous. It is
the way we, or the Germans, are
welcoming in Christmas on the
front. It has fire
I must say I hate & detest 

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the sheer sacrilege of this. I am
not a religious man - I don't
know that I attach bear any allegiance
to the Christian faith. But this
day represents the birth of a
very wonderful  precious ideal into
the world; & the observance of it
is a sign of our the attachment
of a good part o / human race
to the highest ideas yet imported
on / earth. We are supposed to
be fighting for just those ideals 
against other ideas wh we hold
vile.
And yet our shallow 
brained chiefs have always 
set themselves to refuse to allow
any observance of these
amenities- It is wrong - it is not 

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what we profess; it is not right
in itself - & therefore good will not
come of it.
I was hoping that our tired
men on this occasion at least
were going to have a little bit
of brightness in their frightfully trying
difficult time. The 5^th Divn
especially (& the 2nd Divn now, wh has
relieved them) has the worst sector
along the whole British front -
You cannot get there by day -
& so it is very difficult to improve.
The men have been terribly tried
by it & Gask (the surgeon) tells me
tt they feel it more than any
troops here^X. Their letters show it -
some of them are utterly sick
o / war & do not want to