Charles E W Bean, Diaries, AWM38 3DRL 606/8/1 - May - June 1915 - Part 9
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indifference Is it was something abnormal - it
didnt seem to affect his thoughts in the least. He
took his staff, as you know, into places that made him
very uncomfortable indeed & he didnt understand
at times.
"But he turned out not only a commander free
from any sort knowledge of fear, but a great soldier-
I think you may call him a really big soldier. Looking
back on it now for example on the events of that first
day when as you know things were often touch & go
& people were very inclined to be jumpy, he kept
a level head in a wonderful manner. I we ^Even in th
light of all that that we know now I do not think
that there was a single disposition which we made
that first day which cd have been made better. Urgent
Requests were coming in from all I all day long for the
reinforcements - Urgent demands from every unit which went
up. We even had requests from company commanders
who had got separate ^lost from their battalions -
"We cannot hold on unless immediately reinforced."
The general wd simply receive each message,
consider it, & decide to give reinforcements here,
to refuse it there. Nothing was able to disturb him-
And you know his manner was a great help in
that time. If we had had someone who when an urgent
request for help came in had said: "Dear me - Now we
"must help these fellows - where can we get it from -
"the 3rd Bn has gone up - what is there on the left...."
it would have made everyone much more jumpy than
his "Um - tell they've got to stick it." All through
those first three or four days we were there were
some very touchy moments and many people were
inclined to be anxious - but the general kept a
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level head; all thro' it he was one of those who took
a steady view consistent view.
We "There were probably some in Australia
who thought that the general lacked some of the
necessary qualities of leadership; well, he
was lucky in that his first command was the
command of a division. G A brigade is really
the last command in which an officer comes into
intimate touch with his men. The divisional
commander they know little of except at a
distance. Bridges probably would ha was more
successful as a commander of a division than he
wd have bn as commander of a brigade. He
was a lacked just the little added human quality
which would have made him a big man, but
he was a big soldier - he proved himself ^stands out by a
head & shoulders bigger than any soldier Australia
has produced. He cw Gen. Birdwood has told me
how he came to value his advice & to depend
upon it. He was always thinking & he was
independent enough to think for himself. When
I was a youngster I asked myself what
constituted a great mind? and I came to the conclusion
that it was the sort of brain that begins where others
leave off; which, when it comes to a question on
which others have tho been thinking does not say: "They
"have thought it out & thy say that this is the solution."
"& yes is content with that. It seemed to me a great
"mind would go on then and whe think ahead for
"himself" - well that was the sort of brain the general
had. xx ^And he was a strong man, strong enough to hold
xxxxxx his view when others held differently.
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I stayed up this night until to send a wire to
Australia with this appreciation of the general. Tomorrow
is the truce - & I am going round the lines with
Col. White. The truce begins at 7 tomorrow & ends at
4.30 for burying dead.
Monday- May 24. There was considerable
gun fire up to 7 o'c. this morning from the ship
opposite Kaba Tepe & from our batteries. Before 7
it stopped & the truce began. Some of our men walking
about were shot dead at 7.40 - but some say
2, others say 4; certainly 2 were shot. The
probability is they were shot by a sniper who was
out by himself & either had not heard of the truce or
was out in this time. If a Turk had been shot I daresay
the firing wd have begun at once. We drew their attention
to it, & no more men were hit.
The orders to our men were that only stretcher
& burial parties were to go out - mostly A.M.C. men;
all others were to keep their heads below the parapet.
With the enemy Col. xx. The agreement was that there shd be no reconnaissance, sketching, photographing; no work done- ^no digging nor moving of troops during the day. The The delimitation party, with
Col. Skene a member of it, was to go down thro' the
middle of the lines. We were to
cover the ground up to half way to their
lines, they were to cover their own half - neither
to cross it. We were to give them the rifles from
the dead in our half minus the bolts (they sd
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they wanted to bury their dead w their arms - (as a
matter of fact we knew they wanted their arms; they
cd collect all the rifles & accoutrements in their
half. What we wanted was to have their dead buried
so as to improve the battlefield of life in the trenches.
Some of our men were actually sick with the stench;
I know it was bad eno' on May 19 - it must have been
awful by today today.) xxxxx
The 9th Bn ^had sent out ^during the night before parties to collect
all I Turk rifles they cd - altogether they got 130. The men sd they counted
250 dead in this part.
When Col. White & I got up into the trenches it
may must have been about 8.30. The burial
parties had long been out. Men wer A line of unarmed
sentries with white flags was standing on the halfway
line thro' the scrub. The blue Some of them were in bright
blue uniforms with black skull caps - most of them in
khaki. Here & there was an officer in top boots.
White kept to the strict letter of the agreement -
xx at least as strictly as you cd expect anyone to do.
W went thro' the lines of the 11th & 10th - he showed me the
xxx ridges on our right & the importance of I ridge
w I green field where the two main gullies join
or rather wh spreads over the top of a corner of 400.
As far as I cd see it is like
Sketch this but I must go there again
to ascertain. Col. White had a
pleasant word for everyone
& they for him. He made everyone
keep his head down below the
parapet & look thro' the loopholes
-indeed most of the men were in this section were obeying
the order. One Engineer cap officer was on the
parapet walking abt. White jumped down his
throat - told him what sort of an example he ws giving
to the men - & told the Bde H.Q. to send him down to
D.H.Q. later. The only fault in the officers geny seems
to be that they dont all get amongst their men and
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supervise as much as they ought to. Some
do, but some, good fellows too, are content to see
a thing started or get amongst the men doing a job
occasionally & not continually. I have noticed
this is one v. good bn too, the 5th.
They lob The 2nd Bn sap ws very nearly
finished- abt 3 yds from the 3rd. Officers had
stopped men working & some o I men grumbled a
little at it - One man ws carefully digging a bit
& throwing the ear & getting rid of the earth not along
the parapet. White let him dig on. The Enemy
had been digging energetically in parts until
they were stopped, & they were making loopholes
all day at all points here & there along the
line. Their attention was sometimes drawn to this.
I the 2nd Bn lines Col. Brown (the one
who was so nervy in the 3rd Bn - he had a few
days rest & has turned out a splendid Colonel.)
showed us xx Johnson's Jolly very clearly.
The dead were very thick indeed opposite there; but
thicker still opposite the 4th Bn - to the right of
the break in their line, Here the Turks were simply
pulling their dead down to the edge of the gully on
but thickest opposite Courtneys. Opposite Courtneys
or opp. our 1st Bn a ridge runs out a little
way - You see it from the 4th Bn (to ^from the right
of the break in their line where you can see to the left)
on the one side
Sketch
& from Quinns or Courtneys on the other. Here
Sketch
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they had simply pulle our men were shovelling
Turkish dead into a short abandoned Turk trench -
& the Ts. were dragging their men to the edge of
the gully opp. Courtneys & shovelling them over
-where they lay as we saw them 20 or 30 together
in a crevice. So much for "burying them with
their arms". [Further down this same slope today
there are 2 tents - quite exposed to Quinns
but perfectly safe bec, you cant put your
head up there.]
At this point we got out of the territory
of the 1st Austrln Divn & into that of th 4th
Inf. Brigade. The poor old 4th certainly
has the worst bit of country to hold.
Our 1st Bn has a beautiful field of fire
of abt 50 yards - the 4th near the break
has not so much - but on the whole our divisions
line has a splendid field from left to right.
At Courtneys & Quinns however things are
different. We are higher than the Turks opp.
us & therefore have to get up fairly high to fire
at them; but at our left & left rear are
Turkish trenches higher still on Baby 700 -
& if our men get their heads up these
enfilade them
Sketch
That is
abt the
position.
76.
The trenches at Courtneys are pretty deep.
But in Quinns where the Turks come within
close range of us they say they cant make
them deep as we may have to get up on
the parapet at any time.
I had never been in Quinns at all -
It is a perfect rabbit warren. It is
connected now with Courtneys, but not
with the tunnel connecting Courtneys with
Quinns was blown in by a shell & you
they only connect thro' the support trenches.
They cdnt work at it today, but will open it up
as soon as now they can.
Quinns post is the extreme left of our
line along this part. After We dont hold a continuous
line at the end of the big gully - we hold the right
S. Eastern edge of it up to within 20 yards of the
end. Then comes one of the forked in which gullies
in wh the main gully ends; then come thru little
ridges III down from the plateau (the tiny one
locally know as the Razor Back, Deadmans Ridge
& Pope's Hill - the Turks hold the first two & we
the last; then comes the northern fork of the
gully - with the New Zealanders across the
other side of it. The tops of both of these ends of
the fork are held by the Turks., So that the
positn at I end of the gully may be represented as
like the mouth of a bottle. We hold both
sides o I mouth & a little stopper (Popes)
Postscript: This is wrong. The Razor Back is not a
ridge at all, but the End of th gully
stretching between Deadmans Ridge & Quinns.
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right in I middle. The Turks hold a line
stretching across all three just outside of ours
Sketch
Really the New Zealand side is curiously
bent back - it runs up a ridge from the sea
on our left and then is bent back at a sharp angle
along the plateau bordering on the gully
like this. The trenches on our part
Sketch of this plateau - in the bent back part -
are an extraordinary maze - I dont
quite know the meaning of them. But the
right front trench commands the gully & the
opposite slope in case the Turks ever got
down it & there is a very useful well
concealed machine gun on the edge & some
very well concealed guns - I shd scarcely
have know there were gns there at 10
yards away. The end of these trenches
is an extraordinary razor back ridge
the top of wh is too narrow to walk on
wh connects the plateau above the
beach with the plateau on wh I N.Zs are.
Sketch
78.
Quinns is a most extraordinary little
rabbit warren - quite unlike our other trenches.
It was originally a post taken on the first
day by Major Rankine (^of 14th)X who held it for 4 days
as a little isolated work on the edge of the hill -
where the left ^right I N.Zs was at this time - they
didn't know how big I gap ws on their left; &
every evening snipers used to creep down I gully
behind Popes Hill & get inside our lines. Jess told
me he knew for certain of 6 having bn killed there.
When I N.Z.s were found they were not as far
on as they now are.
X This was from Col. Monash & is incorrect. NZ & 1st Bn.
started Quinns. Then Jacobs 1st Bn.
Teh 14th & 15th abt Ap. 28th.
Maj Rankine held this post for 4 days.
On one occasion in 5 minutes he lost 25 men.
He gave over at I 2nd of th time to a relief
under Capt Quinn o I 15th. It was abt this time
when I parts of I line were being named & this
part ws called Quinn's, but I am told it
certainly shd have bn called Rankine.
Popes Hill ws xxx taken by Col. Pope
who landed earlier than most of his Bde,
& took this hill w many casualties. It is
a shoulder running up on I south side o I Northern
fork o I 2nd o I big gully. Sketch
& we hold a trench on it abt as drawn here.
Our communities up I valley are pretty safe at
this [[bed?]] safe because I Turks cant look over I top to fire
down it without exposing themselves badly.
Rankine really seems to
have done v. little. The 14th
tried to dig in & lost men.
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Popes looks up hill at them. There are two
lines of trenches within biscuit toss of it across
the tiny shallow upper end of the gully between it
& Dead Mans Ridge, & I Turks are on
Dead Mans Ridge.
They dont hold the Sketch
front o I two lines o
trenches - in fact I think this one ws built
in order to the foremost line of trenches here
was dug by our men during their attack
on Baby 700.
Pope is at present under command
of Lt Col Rowell 3rd L.H; Quinns
under Lt. Col. Cannan (15th Bn) & Courtneys
under Lt Col. xxx Courtney o I 14th Bn.
Monash tries to give his troops rest 24 hrs
rest in every 48; or even longer. Monash
works on the principle of trying to have half
the men in his firing line & supports always fresh.
He has a most awkward corner to deal with
where it is a real strain on the men & I daresay
his right. But it seems to me a great deal
more work might be done on Quinn's post.
It is easily the worst place in our line.
The fire trench is shallow; the parapets
very low - & they look very thin; other
tunnels thro' wh you grope your way
from one trench to another are simply
a rabbit burrow - you can scarcely
get thro some of them. In one Trench
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