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

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come 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 

of on a whole plan of campaign.

xxxxxxx  Gellibrand 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 dont know to 

start off with whether Gen Birdwood is not hampered by 

direct instructions not to move.  xx 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 week we were there. That "shove" they chose 

to utilise at the Point. They put them at an obstacle 

the 29th Divn  xxxxxxx 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 

xxxx 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 werent new fresh troops any more 

than the 29th. They came out even of that 2nd
fight with their sting still left:-  But   of course  

you cant 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.

143.

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 elder 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 action -tried - Look at 

Bridges.

Birdwood told me tt on / day o / big attack 

of May 19 the tanks had 35,000 men agnst us. 

We had tt day only 10,000 rifles. Possibly,  /  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 

 xxxxxxxxx he was hunted down / worst tt 

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

                                                                          

144

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 - perh. they think they got through. I 

dont 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 observatn. 

Casey & I went thro' their lines last night & slept there in 

a tunnel between them & Courtneys 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 bend 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 xx 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 good as could be wished. One or 

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

                                                                

145

with about half a dozen water bottles hanging over his arm

He ws caught there with a startled look. Someone shouted 

"Hallo - there's a turk". Everyone looked up - "Where?"

 By the time he ws pointed out & they got their rifles 

to shoot he was bolting - and they think he was not hit. 

He may have bn 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 to our 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 observatn 

post of the 1st Bn I saw one of our snipers - he 

and a mate were after a Turk who ws firing from 

Deadmans Ridge. They found him behind a pile of 

Ammunitn boxes ( wh / Turks use a lot for sandbags) 

one man w his head one side & a another mate w his 

head  / other side. They got onto him at last & shot 

 him - & hauled saw his mate haul him out by 

/ legs. 

[Diagram-see original document]

The snipers who made the N.Z. beach 

dangerous still fire occasionally but we have

146

now a trench (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 / sea close 

around / point - a stone ws hit just behind them by 

one of / snipers opening up when I ws there. 

But they don't fire all / time now - its no good.

These sort of works are carried out by battns

 in "Rest Camps". The 4th Brigade has just gone into 

"Rest Camp" today. We had a fatigue from the 9th Bn

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 agst them much 

longer they were absolutely convinced. Well they 

may know more abt / Turk, after all, than we 

do. They see him every day. ((xxxxxxxxxxxxx))  

them tells me tt at  They were told an officer on the 

beach ws offering 50 to 5 the war will be over by Sunday. 

"Oh I reckon he ought to be shut up," ws what 

they said.

The news came this morning - by the ferry 

service, now perfectly established, to Mudros - that

 

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the poor old 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 Mudros 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, & there 

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 tt one cd almost swear 

there was a sniper creeping down it & shooting 

continually. One bullet struck with a bang 

outside my dug out door / other night, so I 

blew / light out in a hurry. But / signal office 

tells me it is an "over".

The crater wh  had not bn captured at 

Quinns was blown up this night. The  General 

Birdwood published an order saying tt a 

positin wh had bn held 48 hrs (/ N.Z. trench) 

had been lost simply because the new troops 

(NZ Mounted Rifles) hadn't learnt / necessity 

of working & improving a positn as / old troops

148

had (or words to tt effect.) I notice that since this 

order dust is flying from the trenches at the N.Z. posts

-there is active digging going on.

I was told by the N.Z. Staff tt Gen Godley 

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 near / top o / hills just under / great bare 

sheer ridge o / 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 an idea a criminal 

bit of gossip abt their commander, Col. Monash, 

being a spy in / pay of Germany: he deserved to have 

bn cashiered) Gen Godley said:  It is of  I want to tell you w what great 

pride & satisfaction I have watched / doings o /  

Bde for / last 6 wks & I wish to tell you tt / whole 

army corps are all of us filled w / great admiratn

for what this brigade has done since you landed 

in / Peninsula. You have bn for 5 wks in / 

trenches, fighting continually & perpetually / whole 

time, never free from rifle shells & rifle fire to say 

nothing of bombs (laughter) and always in / 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 / middle  o / battle 

o / 25 April. You went straight into / battle

& for 3 days you had nothing except what you 

carried on you. There were many deeds of gt 

heroism & gallant conduct performed by / brigade, 

many men killed & wounded & in many cases, I 

fear, without any record o / deeds they did. Then on 

night of the 2nd & 3rd of May this Bde took part in / most

 

4th Bde Losses

Landed 4000 strong

                    Off.                            O.r.                        Total

k.                  24                               360                        384

w.                 56                              1226                       1282

m.                 10                                119                          129

                                                                                       1795

 

Achi.    29 (?) Apl.  attack by Turks

             2/3 May, 9/10 May, 18/19 May, 

              29/30 May.

 

Mentioned in Desp.  12 offirs  OR.B.

D.S.O. Maj Rankine 14 Bn.   Maj Mansbridge  16 Bn

M.C. Capt JWA Simpson    Lieut R.G. Legge

 

 

149

gallant sortie from our lines wh has a most far reaching 

effect on / conduct of operatns here, & was / means of 

staving off / most serious menace by / Turks & thoroughly 

establishing ourselves where we now are. Again on the 

night o / 9th the Bde took part in another sortie 

& it is only a few days ago tt / brunt o / heaviest 

Turkish attacks fell upon / positn wh is occupied 

by you men & upon / 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 / world have made. The  names of Popes Hill, 

called after / gallant commander of the 16th, of 

Courtney's Post, named after / 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 / 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 / post tt was called after  bore his name).

Col. Cannan & Maj Quinn will always  and the 15th Bn will
be always associated w this post. The 14th will 

be associated w Courtneys & the 13th & 16th with
their deeds on / night o / 2/3 of May when /  16th 

made such a magnificent charge attack towards 

the trenches & took them & the 13th stayed out the 

whole day & only came back bec. the order ws sent tt 

it was necessary to do so. I was very proud to send in 

/ names of 12 officers & 13 other ranks for special 

mention in dispatches & 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 / Bde."

The old 4th clapped him when he finished

150

-wh ws not strictly military - but if they are not 

up to all / niceties of military etiquette they can 

do more than most soldiers of / things wh even the 

most elegant soldier is there to do - to fight & win.

On / way back from the left O'Gorman 

(Veterinary Officer) & I climbed a small hill & had a 

look at / trench the N.Z. people lost / other day. The 

Turks have got it wired now - magnificently wired.  

It has a regular chevaux de Frise in front 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 / 

telescope at / country beyond our flank - where 

it is fairly flat. It was like a rich 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 / murmur o / bees through / heavy drowsy 

scent laden air. And then I noticed / first sign 

of life I have seen in this country beyond hopping 

stooping crawling running little figures of our enemy. 

There in / 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.  xx There ws a little red roof
not far away close under some trees. And near 

/ cows, half hidden by a bank, ws a brown 

patch on wh I kept my glass for a long time. 

It got up & moved presently towards a tree - it ws out 

of view behind / tree for a long time. Then I saw it again 

moving back to / 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 ws a man after all beyond doubt