Charles E W Bean, Diaries, AWM38 3DRL 606/8/1 - May - June 1915 - Part 6

Quinns & Courtneys (Caseys notes May 26)

Hand drawn diagram - see original
 

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(Lines ∧ on May 24)
Hand drawn diagram - see original 
 

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Further down opposite the 3rd Bde, where one of these informal
sectional truces was arranged, aa man began collecting
rifles - & we fired at him & hit him - quite justly.
Later, behind some stretcher bearers there came out abt
200 men w rifles.  We fired on them.  The These stretcher
bearers somehow were hit - the remainder of the party
at once ran for the stretcher, picked it up & carried
it in.  Ross sd he had no doubt from the look
of things tt / stretchers contained a machine gun
By the bye, yesterday when going thro the trenches
after the attack we came upon two fellows in a sap of
the 2nd Bn. finnicking about an extraordinary
object which they were apparently trying to put on the
parapet of the trench.  They looked two regular old
fussers - old country fellows messing with some
bits of wood stuck on to the end of a rifle.  What
They had their backs to us & were quite absorbed in
the business.  "What on earth have you got there?"
Blamey asked.  "An arrangement so that you
can hit without bein' hit," said the little hard bitten
chap who was holding it.  It was an attempt to
train a rifle by means of a periscope.  I thought 
it messy & probably an impracticable
wild brain wave of a man who was rather
keen on keeping out of any danger - But
Blamey said:  "Well it may be something -
it's not a bad object ^ in view anyway - to hit the enemy"
The 2nd Light Horse Brigade has now landed

41^1/2 
It was in the ships last night & was brought ashore
& put up Monash Gully today to reinforce the
1st Infantry Brigade.  The 2nd Infantry Brigade is
also reinforcing.  Col. Bolton has gone back to
Alex. ill;  Col. Wanliss is temporarily
brigadier.  Brown (of the 3rd) has been made Col. of the
2nd (he started as Captain).  Brand has been made
Colonel of the 8th instead of Bolton.  Smythe has
got the 1st Bde - dont know who he is, a V.C. though,
& a newcomer.
It is extraordinary how the men have
changed in their attitude to the Turks.  They were
very savage the first day bec. they found some of
their wounded (or dead) mutilated.  But since
the slaughter of May 19, & since they have seen
the wounded lying abt in front of the
trenches they have changed entirely.  They
are quite friendly with the Turk - the are
anxious to get in the wounded if they can -
give them cigarettes.  The Indians with the
mules down here also take the prisoners
chupatties - they give our men some also.
The way the Indian has fraternised with
some of our Australians is remarkable.
This morning was lost the man with the
donkey.  The first day we came here a number
of donkeys were landed in charge of Greeks
to carry water & stores to  the firing line.  These
have gradually disappeared & their owners been

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like the Zionist Corps  was.- The first night some time one
of our men - Pte Simpson of the 3rd Field Ambulance
annexed one of these donkeys.  It struck him 
that it wd be useful to bring down from the firing line
men with wounds in the leg,  They - we have seen in
Egypt what these donkeys can do.  He went off &
camped with this donkey amongst the Indians &
all day & all night half of the night he made continued
trips too & from the firing line with it.  He put a
red cross brassard round its forehead & any time
night of the day you might meet him coming down
/ gully.  A donkey is not a thing tt can
quicken its pace very much or hasten to cover
- & he came absolutely to disregard / bullets
& shrapnel.  He became fatalistic - if they
were going to hit him they wd whatever his
precautions.  He came up & down tt valley
thr o / hottest shrapnel, thro snipers bullets
& spent bullets always bring down wounded
men on the donkey w/ red cross on his
forehead.  Presently he got a second
donkey.  He was working coming down
/ gully this morning when he passed /
water-guard where he generally had breakfast
Breakfast ws not ready.  "Never mind,
you get me a good lunch dinner when
 I come back," he sd.  But he never
came back.  He & two patients were
going down towards / mouth of gully

[*They called him Murphy & Scottie -
The day he was hit each of his wounded
men was wounded.  Monash told me he was worth 100 men to him - he deserved a V:C:*] 

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o / gully, in the creek, when he was shot thro /
heart & both of his wounded men wounded
again.  The colonel of / ^3rd A.M.C. had so
recognised / usefulness of Simpson's work tt
he allowed him to pr go entirely on his
own as a separate unit almost.  All he
had to do ws to report once a day to the A.M.C.
Now he has gone somebody else has started w /
donkeys.
Another very brave man was the
signaller of one of Indian batteries.  They
were working / the other day passing messages
from / observation post to / battery not by
telephone but by were a couple of relays.
The observing officer sent these messages
down for some time until he noticed tt
one o / relay men was sitting w his hand
over his eyes as he worked.
"Whatever is / matter?" he asked.  "Oh nothing
Sahit," sd / man. "I have bn wounded
but I can work."  He had been shot thro both
eyes - _/.  / bullet destroying both.  But
he had sat there repeating messages, &
cds. his officer had to force him to give it
up.
Another man, when the white observing
officer had been hit, came up to / post for
him & cd not find him.  They cd not

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explain as they cd not talk his language - & he
wd not go away.  They had finally to force him
to take cover.
Friday May 21.
Today was fine but for some
unaccountable reason there was a slight
swell coming in from the N.W. onto our beach.
It was not much, but it made the old lighters
& pontoons rock; & it gave one an idea of
what extraordinary luck we have had in the
matter of weather.  We have not had one rough
day - not one day even mildly disturbed.
Except for one occasion when there was a
wind from off the shore, which of course did
not affect us, we have had glassily smooth
seas from the day we landed.  It only makes
one wonder again what I have asked myself
again & again since we landed : What arrangements
have been made for water & supplies in case
real rough weather sets in?  We have two old
water pontoons on the beach - or possibly one -
which are filled by water from Alexandria or
Malta.  But a single storm would finish
them.  There is no reserve at all on the
beach - no provision for condensing that I
know of.  A certain number of wells have
been sunk at the mouths of gullies & the trenches
are partially supplied from these - as far as

45
possible.  The few people I have asked about it
say - oh we've only got this boat over ships water
coming every now & then from Alexandria - its
very limited.  But in goodness' name why is it
limited.  They have any quantity of water at the
Point - you cant sink a dug out 18 inches in
some parts without getting it flooded.  Surely it cant
be beyond the resources of the Mediterranean
Expeditionary Force to safeguard ∧ & safeguard over & over
again our water supply.
[Later:  on May 25 - I hear that a great number of
wells are being dug all up the gullies - to give water for 2
months, the orders are.  They have 8 wells dug in the
lower part of the gully with pipes pumps over them -
sometimes two men pumps, at other times
little hand pumps
Hand drawn diagram - see original
One well was
down about 8 ft
5 ft by 5 ft - the water rose in it 1 ft an hour.
Another was 30 ft down & they were driving into the
hill from the bottom of it.
There is a danger that after rain the water
off the hills may become very contaminated - (but not
this well water.)  That is just the day when it is difficult 
to boil water owing to rain.
The little fire places in the trenches are extraordinarily
small - tiny holes not big enough to hold a lantern,
with three or four bits of broken biscuit box in the
bottom of them - diagram - just big enough to put a
mess tin on.
[*They are making a number of shelfs abt nearly 
as large as small tennis courts & v. like these on the face
of the hill above / beach in case it becomes rough.*]

46.
Some officer saw a naval seaman today in an Australian
hat and ask our badge AUSTRALIA your not "What are you wearing
that badge for?" he asked. "you're not an Australian."
"No but I'm proud to wear it," he answered
Our guns were going all this night especially the battery
xxxx pm heavy firing on 
above us.  Also warships guns. Our guns have to go
11.10 pm  Heavy firing.  Small moon behind
clouds.
12.10.  V. heavy attack xxxxx agst front of Quinns Post.
Guns ordered to play on it & not leave such long
intervals
12.45.  Heavy gun fire or explosion.
At 11.10.  Turks reported by N.Z. to be just leaving
their trenches when artillery opened fire, & they
at once got back.
I hear the report of attach agst Quinns was
exaggerated or quite untrue.  There is no attack
agst Popes or Quinns (the artillery observer there
reports) but he will ask for fire if wanted.
Friday May 21.  Blamey tells me they hear tt the German
gunners w / Turks
Friday May 21.  This morning in answer to our
letters that if the Turks wanted an armistice
they must come along the beach from K. Tepe
with white flag & proper officer  a white flag
appeared on Kaba Tepe.  It was seen by
our men & hundreds of them cd be seen
standing on the ridges watching it.  A white

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flag ws then ^to be sent out by us - ^but we hadn't got one.
A signaller waved his flag whilst a scurry was made
along / beach to get a bath towel wh ws finally sent out on
a stick.  Some time later ^you cd see the Turkish white flag was seen
start marching along the skyline of Kaba Tepe.  Men were
walking abt there everywhere;  I saw some coming out
from the ridge between our right flank & K. Tepe - one or two.
Presently the first horseman I have seen in this part of 
country - at Anzac came over the ridge & cantered
up the neck to the side of Kaba Tepe.  From The white flag
stopped.  The horseman came down the hill again, onto the
beach, & along towards us.  Out with our white flag was
an officer from G.H.Q., & an officer from Anzac.  Blamey &
an interpreter were waiting some way nearer to us
with a second white flag.  I went down to the sapper
post on the beach.  The horseman came along to our
foremost officers &saluted  waving a white handkerchief
Hand drawn diagram - see original
He got down, talked for a minute; left his horse & started
walking back to K. Tepe when three more horsemen
appeared coming along the beach.  They came up to
our officers;   a there were clearly two officers & two
horse holders. The officers shook hands - took out cigarettes.
Presently they signalled up Blamey.  It turned out
they wanted an officer of equal rank to stay with
their junior officer (a major) whilst they came
their ∧senior officer came in to see us.  Our two officers brought

48
their senior officer along the beach.  When abt a quarter
of a mile from our  btn sappers post they blindfolded him
very carefully with two handkerchiefs - & then each taking
a hand led him between them like a child - chatting
volubly, I suppose in English.  He hd two small
wire entanglements to cross before he reached our sandbag
wall - a low trip wire maze & a higher one stretching
down into the sea.  They directed his feet carefully over
the first one, like you do in the game where a man
is blindfolded & set to step over a lot of books which
arent there - irresistibly like it;  Here they shouted for
coats to help him cross the second one.  But in the
meantime someone had a brainwave.  There were
several Australians bathing along the beach nearby.
They summoned a stret  Someone rushed off for a 
stretcher;  then they called for the bathers. Two of
these big Australians, naked as the day they were
borne, took the stretcher round the larger entanglement.
The T. colonel got onto it - the two naked men
carried him into the water, round the edge, &
back to the beach.  And I got 3 photographs.
As he came along the beach a procession gradually
formed round him, such as it would round a
Salvation Army band in Market Street - no
officer seemed to think of sending them away.  They
all took him for a German as they do every T. officer
they see, of course.  He ws rather heavy limbed & tt decided
it.  "Oh he's a bloody square-head - I'd shoot the
beggar" I heard was the sort of remark on heard.
Our men have a sort of kindliness for the Turk
but they've none whatever for the German.  Every
trick of the Turk is attributed to German Officers
- and our chaps can't stand the way the Germans
play the war game
[*One man : Jim : Fancy bein' led
by the 'and by two
Captains!*]
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