Charles E W Bean, Diaries, AWM38 3DRL 606/8/1 - May - June 1915 - Part 16

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came right down to the waters edge & make it possible to ((seen)) place tubes there. Birdwood wrote back that it would certainly need a military expedition.

The idea then was to send him in command with his army corps and 10,000 of Royal Marine division. Kitchener told him  that the proposal was that the troops shd be sent as an assistance to the fleet to carry out  operations only of a purely secondary nature. Birdwood wrote back that it was  quite a misconception to imagine that anything in the nature of a secondary expedition operation was in que involved. The enterprise was a military operation of the first class.

It was then resolved to send French troops as well as British. As Gen. Daumade was senior to Gen. Birdwood an awkward question arose & it was solved by putting sir Ian Hamilton in command of the whole expedition.

Gen. Birdwood's believed idea had been that Achi Baba cd be reached and taken on the second day. I wish he had been allowed to try it - can't say I ever had a fraction of confidence in Ian Hamilton ever since I read his book - or the first portion of it. It seemed to me a string of small criticisms of rather petty points rather than a big estimate of judgement on a whole plan of campaign.

 

((????))  Gillibrand thinks that the episode of our landing here will be very much discounted someday because we are content to hang on here & not push forward - that it will fall in value as much as the siege of ((Ladysmith??)) did. It seems to me this is a superficial estimate. I don't know to start off with whether Gen Birdwood is not hampered by direct instructions not to move.  ??  A move might mean - no one cd say positively it wdn't - might mean that we shd have to have reinforcements, and they don't want a possibility to arrive of our with having

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anything from the full dress show on the point - aeroplanes, troops, guns - anything. We have to scrape thro' with whatever we can whilst they get all the materials & prepare a portentous push.

 

Secondly, there was a time when we might have shoved; but just then they took away from us two of our most complete brigades & put through  threw their "shove" in at the Point. Those brigades had a sticking force  power in them certainly bigger than that of most brigades at the Point - certainly bigger than that of any troops I saw in action during the weekend we were there. That "shove" they chose to utilise at the Point. They put them at an obstacle the 29th Divn ((?????)) Divn had stuck at - (& I don't blame them- all troops stick at a certain point - they can'd go on for ever) & expanded their striking power in advancing the centre of that full dress battle-show 500 or 600 yards. Our boys of the 2nd Australian Bde went at it like a whirlwind (and I saw no other whirlwinds at Cape Hellas) and lost 1160 men out of 2700 engaged in a rush which took them about 1/4 hour or 20 minutes. The New Zealanders took it more slowly & lost 900 out of abt the same number.

(????)  Both brigades had previously gone thro' one exceedingly hard fight at Kaba Tepe - just as the 29th had at Hellas - not quite so withering on some battalions but probably more so on others. They weren't new fresh troops any more than the 29th. They came out even of that 2nd fight with their sting still left:-   ((?????)) of course  you can't well complain of ours not pushing when you take away nearly half our infantry just at the moment when the push cd be made, & use its push in pushing you.

 

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Birdwood tells me Legge is coming to take the place of Bridges. I told him Legge was a tremendous hard worker but possibly apt to jump at big conclusions without working out all the little finnicking annoying details in between. I fancy some of the soldier officers were rather horrified with the appointment of legge & had been talking to Birdwood. His fear was - has Legge the toughness to stick it - in extremis. I sd you can't tell until you have seen him in ((?????)) tried - Look at Bridges.

Birdwood told me it on 1 day of big attack of May 19 the tanks had 30,000 men (( ???)) us. We had ((??)) day only 10,000 rifles. Possibly,  1  Turks had 25,000.

 

I hear that the Turks have thrown out the body of one of our men, stripped naked, on their parapet in one corner of the line. This is a pity. It may not be an atrocity but it looks like it - & if so it means that our men will take no more prisoners. I heard the old women in Cairo are complaining of our troops taking no prisoners. If they had to fight Turks who killed almost all the wounded on the first day (whether justly or not) they wd have something to think about. Our men bayonet almost all snipers - but what wd you have them do?   ((?????????))     If the sniper found he cd come out & shoot & that if he was hunted down 1 worst that happened was that he was given jam & cigarettes, they  sniping wd be a popular game - we want to make it a terribly dangerous one. if George LLoyd (or whoever is our critic) had a brother hit by a sniper he'd see the point.

It is just possible a sniper or two are still within our lines. A prisoner said (acc. to Birdwood) that the way they get in is for under cover of a bomb - one

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Turk drops a bomb & in the confusion a couple jump over our trench. A few have got over our trenches, of course, & have been killed - ((perk??)). They think they got through. I don't see how they could get over the support trenches.

 

One man during the attack of May 19 got close enough to bayonet an observer in the 1st Battn lines. I don't however much wonder at this bec. the 1st Bn seems to me extraordinarily lax in observation. Casey & I went thro' their lines last night & slept there in a tunnel between them & Courtney's post. I wrote my diary by means of a candle - & ate biscuits & chocolates all night thro - the light just showing up the guard at the end of the tunnel & C. sleeping between us - & the black oval of the entrance & the stars looking in at us from the upper end. As we went thro' there was nothing like the usual 1 man in 3 keeping a look out - I kept a passing look out & so did Casey & I am pretty sure we saw many a space of 15 to 20 yds without a single observer. This is solely due to slackness of supervision - for the men & some of the junior officers are just as could be wished. One of two of the commanding officers of our bns, however are not up to the mark - it's not their fault but they aren't.

 

Another Turk during the attack of May 19 appeared suddenly on the parapet of 1st Bn with part of the barbed wire still over his shoulder. He bayoneted an NCO  a man thro the arm & the officer sitting next to this man saw the bayonet blade flicker twice within abt a foot of him. He died & some other men in the trenches shot the Turk instantly & he lay with his head in a loophole.

 

Another Turk got right up to the lines either today or yesty - Birdwood told me he believed this. He appeared suddenly in the wire of the 2nd Bn

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with about half a dozen water bottles hanging over his arm, He was caught there with a startled look. Someone shouted "Hallo - there's a turk". Everyone looked up - "Where?" By the time  he was pointed out & they got their rifles to shoot he was bolting - and they think he was not hit. He may have been returning to his own trenches & missed the way; or he may have been a sniper laying in a store of water & accustomed to get in thro that gap; or he may have been a man coming to give himself in. Those who do come to give themselves in run a big risk - creeping up from trenches even without arms they may have bombs - & some think some have been shot this way. Some prisoners however believe our pamphlets & it is a pity if those who come up to our lines on the strength of these promises of ours (which have been distributed to them) get shot as they are making their bolt. If they are properly covered they ought to be harmless.

 

The Turk sniper has a way of cutting a tunnel thro a hill - just a hole big eno' to crawl thro & then poking out behind a bush - possibly even adding a steel trap door. But we are onto them now - we have appointed snipers, too, rifle club shots, old kangaroo shooters from out back who spend their day watching for the Turkish sniper & beating him. At an observation post of the 1st Bn I saw one of our snipers - he and a mate were after a Turk who was firing from Deadmans Ridge. They found him behind a pile of Ammunition boxes ( wh 1 Turks use a lot for sandbags) one man w his head one side another  a mate w his head  1 other side. They ((?????)) him at last & shot  him - & hauled saw his mate haul him out by the legs.

 

The snipers who made the N.Z. beach dangerous still fire occasionally but we have

 

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now a track (avoiding the beach at the N. point of the Bay) wh keeps the men out of sight till they get to the N.Z. flank. If you There is a sentry stationed on the beach to make men use it; hundreds bathe in 1 sea close around 1 point - a stone was hit just behind them by one of 1 snipers opening up when I was there. But they don't ((???????)) time now - it no good.

 

These sort of works are carried out by ((??????)) in "Rest Camps". The 4th Brigade has just gone into "Rest Camp" today. We had a fatigue from the reinforcements build digging paths & dug outs for some new official returned staff officers for the last two days. The reinforcements have some of them bn put into a sort of training course & drilled as they are pretty poor in their training. This fatigue of reinfs. was grumbling & swearing all day. Today, for a change, we had a fatigue of the old 9th Bn - the men who have really done the hard work if anyone has. They were as cheerful as larks. They all reckoned the war wd be over before so very long. "The Turks goin' to chuck it in", they sd. "He's done." He didn't stand ((???)) them much longer they were absolutely convinced. Well they may know more abt 1 Turk, after all, than we do. They see him every day. ((?????????????????????))  They were told an officer on the beach is offering 50 to 5 the war will be over by Sunday. "Oh I reckon he ought to be shut up," was what they said.

 

The news came this morning - by the ferry service, now perfectly established. to ((????)) - that

 

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the poor off Dummy Tiger was blown up. And they say 4 men were drowned in her. Well, if that's so its rather a shame. I wonder if the old watchman who used to wander round & feed the parrot survived. They say she cost £60,000. If she saved the Mauretania its worth it. She was outside ((??????)) harbour. The Mauretania (they say) is inside w a cruiser on either side of her & 2000 troops aboard.

 

Wednesday June 2. An uneasy night at Quinns.- there was a lot of spasmodic firing. I sit up & write all night, these days, & sleep in the morning - but even so find it hard to keep up with my work. During the night you hear all the bullets that whizz down this  gully, & these are a good number - & quite fairly often you hear them "thop" into the earth outside. Between two & four o'c. the rifle shots down the gully sound so loud th one cd almost swear there was a sniper creeping down it & shooting continually. One bullet struck with a bang outside my dug out door 1 other night, so I blew I light out in a hurry. But 1 signal office tells me it is an "over".

The crater wh  had ((??????)) captured at Quinns was blown up this night. The  General Birdwood published an order saying tt a position wh had bn held 48 hrs (1 N.Z. trench) had been lost simply because the new troops (NZ Mounted Rifles) hadn't learnt 1 necessity of working & improving a position as 1 old troops

 

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had (or words to th effect.) I notice that since this order dust is flying from the trenches at the N.Z. posts - their is active digging going on.

I was told by the N.Z. Staff ((??????)) was going to address the 4th Brigade at Rest Camp Gully, w. of Walkers Ridge at 2.30 - so I went over. The men were in a big sort of steep theatre near1 top o 1 hills just under 1 great bare sheer ridge o 1 sphinx. It really was rather a remarkable sight. They are a fine brigade - rather easier & freer w their officers & not so neat or rigid as our division but fine free brave chaps with some good officers. (Some fool came to Murphy with a (?????) criminal bit of gossip abt their commander, Col. Monash, being a spy in 1 pay of Germany: he deserved to have bn cashiered) Gen ((Gooley??)) said:  It is of  I want to tell you w what great pride & satisfaction I have watched 1 doings 01 Bde for 1 last 6 wks & I wish to tell you that the whole army corps are ((???)) as filled with great admirationfor what this brigade has done since you landed in 1 Peninsula. You have bn for 5 wks in 1 trenches, fighting continuallyy & perpetually 1 whole time, never free from rifle shells & rifle fire to say nothing of bombs (laughter) and always in 1 (the) midst of din & turmoil wh wd try a gt many men very highly indeed. You started when you arrived by being pitchforked at once in 1 middle & 1 battle of 25 April. You went straight into 1 battle & for 3 days you had nothing except what you carried on you. There were many deeds of gt heroism & gallant conduct performed by 1 brigade, many men killed & wounded & in many cases, I fear, without any record o 1 deeds they did. Then on night of the 2nd & 3rd  of May this Bde took part in 1 most

 

4th Bde Losses

Landed 4000 strong

                    Off.                             ((???))                   Total

k.                  24                               360                        384

w.                 56                              1226                       1282

m.                 10                                119                          129

                                                                                       1795

 

Achi.    29 (?) Apl.  attack by tanks

             2/3 may, 9/10 May, 18/19 May, 29/30 May

 

Mentioned in Desp.  12 officers  OR>B>

D.S.O. Maj Rankine 14 Bn.   Maj Mansbrook  IBS

M.C. Capt ((???))) Simpson    Lieut R.G. Legge

 

 

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gallant sortie from our lines wh has a most far reaching effect on 1 conduct of operators here, & was 1 means of staving off 1 most serious menace by 1 Turks & thoroughly establishing ourselves where we now are. Again on the night of 9th the Bde took part in another sortie & it is only a few days ago th I brunt o 1 heaviest Turkish attacks fell upon 1 position wh is occupied by your men & ((???)) men I see in front of me.

You have made already a military history for Australia wh will go down to posterity - as fine a history as any troops in 1 world have made. The  names of Popes Hill, called after 1 gallant commander of the 16th, of Courtney's Post, named after 1 commander of 14th Bn wh has bn occupied & garrisoned by the 14th Bn all this time, the post most difficult of all as you know, named after Maj. Quinn who I am sorry to say,  died has fallen in 1 service o his country in his post ( & if he had bn consulted he wd have liked to die as he did, fighting most gallantly (hear hear)  leading a charge at 1 post th was called after  bears his name).

Col. ((??????)) & Maj Quinn will always a w the 15th Bn will be always associated w this post. The 14th will be associated w Courtney & the 13th & 16th with their deeds on 1 night o1 2/3 of May when 1  16th made such a magnificent charge attack towards the trenches & took them & the 13th stayed out the whole day & only came back bec. the ((?????   ??????    ????)) it was necessary to do so. I was very proud to send in 1 names of 12 officers & 13 other ranks for special mention in despatches & H.M. the King has given the D.S.O. to 2 officers, the Military Cross to 2 others, & the D.C. Medal to 7 men o 1 Bde."

 

The dd 4th clapped him when he finished

 

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wh is not strictly military - but if they are not up to all 1 niceties of military etiquette they can do more than most soldiers of 1 things wh even the most elegant soldier is there to do - to fight & win.

On 1 way back from the left O'Gorman (Veterinary Officer) & I climbed a small hill & had a look at 1 truck the N.Z. people lost 1 other day. The Turks have got it wired now - magnificently wired.  It has a regular chevaux de Frise in part of it with big cross beams visible a mile away, & a low trip wire on stakes in front of that.

 

The Pastoral

 

Whilst we were there I had a look thro 1 telescope at 1 country beyond our flank - where it is fairly flat. It was like a nice English meadow land - deep grass, hedges, great Elm trees in full leaf - poppies & yellow sunny meadows wh must have bn thick w buttercups. You cd almost hear 1 murmur o 1 bees through 1 heavy drowsy scent laden air. And then I noticed 1 first sign of life I have seen in this country beyond hopping stooping crawling running little figures of our enemy. There in 1 meadow, knee deep, were a couple of white cows, a baldy, a black cow - eating away peacefully as if there were no battle within hundreds of miles. There was a little ((?????))) not far away close under some trees. And near 1 cows, half hidden by a bank, was a brown patch on wh I kept my glass for a long time. It got up & moved presently towards a tree - it went out of view behind 1 tree for a long time. Then I saw it again moving back to 1 bank. Presently it half stood up again & this time its colour changed. Its upper part was a brilliant yellow - & as I watched I saw what I cd swear were its hands unfolding some length of white cloth & wrapping it back around its head or body. So it was a man after all beyond doubt