Charles E W Bean, Diaries, AWM38 3DRL 606/8/1 - May - June 1915 - Part 10

80
there there is a low archway such as you often find,
left to avoid enfilading fire I suppose. It is not
4 foot - scarcely three foot - thick. But in it is a
dead Turk. His boot & the fingers of one hand
stick out from the roof as you squeeze your way
under.
When we got to this point all the rules
about remaining under the parapet were being
so disregarded that it was useless to attempt
enforcing them. This was the case the moment
we entered the new section occupied by the 4^th
Bde. The men were fine breezy chaps but
they were far more amateurish & casual
than in any of the lines we had so far gone through.
And one of the officers spoken to by Col. White
was almost disobedient - had to be told twice
to stand below the parapet & acted then in a way
intended to show that he resented the order. I have
never seen or heard of anyone behaving like
that with Col. White before. However - when we got
along a bit to Quinns there ws more reason
for the attitude of the men. The trench was
shallow & uncomfortable; & even sitting down in
it you cd see the Turks crowding up to their
halfway line. The trenches here run up to
within 10 yds of one another. In fact they
are at one point joined by a communicatn
trench made by us on the night of one
of our attacks when we took the T. trenches.

81
When we came back we filled up one end & the
T.s filled up the other. But for a time it was
open. Our men used to throw out biscuits
occasionally or Bully beef tins to the Turkish
end of the trench & shout "Saïda." When
a Turkish hand appeared reaching for the
tin they wd blaze at it. On another one occasion
I believe they threw a hambone over when
- an abhorrence to the Turks - & caused
quite a disturbance.
The night of May 18 19 20th
On May 20th abt 2 o'c. in the morning
7 men Turks actually got into Courtney's Post.
They exploded a bomb - our men of course
crowded to the two ends of that portion of
trench - & the Turks rushed it. We were
at both ends & they in the middle. The
subaltern in command o / trench
decided to keep them busy from one side
of the trench. Two men kept their rifles round
the traverse & blazed, whilst another
man went round by the communicatn
trench, got at / back o / Turks & shot
all of them. One man, wounded,
managed to get over / trench & down
/ hill on our side & ws captured
in the gully.
Three attempts have bn made
on the Turk trenches here & all have failed. The

82

first was the attack on May 2 by the 4^th Bde., N.Z.,
& Naval people. The second ws on May 9.
Diagram - see original
At abt 11 p.m. on May 9 we rushed their first
trench from Courtneys Quinns in three small
columns (1 2 & 3) They were particularly
instructed to get into touch with
each other.
It ws the 15 th ^from Quinns wh made / charge, supported
by two Coys of the 16^th from Quinns. ^wh went on from Quinns
The attack went allright - but at
3 a.m. a message came back to say
that parties 1 & 2 had not connected up -
& tt there ws a gap between them.
The messenger who was sent back
crawled up to / trench & whispered / name
of Armstrong, / officer who shd be there. No answer. He
"Is tt you Armstrong?" repeated it. In answer he heard
guttural mutterings. He realised tt there
must be Turks in / trench.
A party of abt 40 men supported by

83
another of 30 (from 13^th & 16^th Bns) was then
ordered to charge across & fill in the gap. They
did so but were cut abt by a machine gun
before they reached the parapet. They just
got to the parapet & then / remnant came
back. The messenger sd / Turks were in /
communicatn trenches (of wh we had dug three
into / Turk trench) but Jess knew
this must be wrong (he was Staff Capt of
the 4^th I.Bde - now going to our 2nd Bde.)
The T.s must have been in their own
communicatn trench & in a T head of
their old trench wh we had taken except
for this bit.
Diagram - see original
Our communicatn
trenches are here
numbered A B C.
A joins up w /
left of a Turk trench 

Diagram - see original
& I believe tt trench [[?dry]]

still there into the Turk trench is not
yet filled in. The Turk trench is only a few
yds away from our left in almost
the same line. The Turks prob. still
had their communⁿ trench & a party
wh had huddled & perh. bn over looked
in a short stretch of trench like a T head.
(as above - the dark is / Turks).

84
They brought a fire to bear on us from both
sides of their commn trench; they had
a m.g. away on our left & another
on our right. Finally the men came back
& the attack failed. Loss?
A third attack on a trench opposite
Popes was made on May 13. at 1.45 a.m.
It was a party under Maj. Graham, 2nd L.H
that made it. They called for volunteers - 50 or so -
The idea was to rush the trench opposite them
& fill in the communicatn trench. They were
met with a fierce fire & simply wiped out -
46 casualties, Maj. Graham killed. The
attempt was all over in an hour & a quarter.
When the Turkish attack ws made on
May 19, the 4^th Bde ^line had not to draw on
its reserves at all except to / extent of 40
men. As the supports fed into / firing line, the
firing line reserve fed into / supports. It ws found tt
only 40 men had been moved from /
reserve into / supports.
——
The dispositn o / 4^th Bde at the start
was: Col. Pope (16^th Bn) at Popes Hill with
part of 13^th (Burbage).
? Part of 14^th & Part of 13^th at Quinns.

85
Main part of 15^th away under Col Maclagan.
——
Their positns now are:
Pope's Hill - 1^st Light Horse Bde. (having relieved 13^th)
Quinns: 13^th, 15^th, 16^th – each doing two days,
Courtneys: 14^th exclusively - relieve themselves
Quinns is a post wh needs more than ½ a battalion in
the trenches. These posts have permanent commantn
Popes: Lt Col. Rowell - (3 L.H.)
Quinns: Lt Col. Cannan (15^th)
Courtneys: Lt Col. R.E. Courtney (14^th)
Capt Quinn who relieved Rankine belonged to 15^th.
——
To return to the truce:
The men on the half way line between Quinns
& the Turk trench were not more than five or 6
yards away from Quinns. The ground was absolutely
bare of scrub - it had bn cleared. They were burying
dead Turks between the trenches, & shovelling
some into the communicatn trench ^x which connected
the left of our line with the left of a Turk. trench
around the plateau, only a few yards distant.
Diagram - see original
Our men & the Turks were offering each other
cigarettes. Occasionally there was a squabble
as to whether a bit of accoutrement had been
found on our side or theirs of the centre line.
A Turk wd run to point to it. "Mafish" our man
wd say - gathering it into a little heap.
There must have be a hundred men & officers
at this point - I saw Turkish officers with green gorgets,

86
others with maroon gorgets & a couple of stars.
(There had bn one ^dead Turkish officer on the wheat field whom
they all gathered round. He had a certain amt of gold lace
abt him). They made no pretence of busying themselves
with the dead - they simply stood there surveying
our lines from the edge of the plateau - chattering
in twos & threes. Higher up Baby 700 in the Turk
trenches was a group of abt 7 of them. It ws obvious
to Col. White, as to myself - they were reconnoitring
surveying the gully from as high a positn as they
cd get & calmly working out their next attack.
"It will be a much better planned one than / last"
Col. White sd to me. All the dead except abt 2
had bn buried at Quinns & Courtneys - but
that crowd of men remained there all day.
Most of the T. officers had white bands round their
arms or red crescent brassards. But xx many
had none - they simply stood out in / open &
chatted. They were nice looking fellows – any
one white eno' for a German. But I don't
think I saw a German there. Some o / men
were almost jet back; others practically white;
most dark - Albanian or Anatolian I expect.
Some men were were tremendously sturdy – one
man a giant as big as any of ours, although
going up the N.Z. trenches as aftwds we saw
a chest & shoulders wh I havent seen equalled.
We came out of Quinns (from / back of
Quinns you see / whole T. front on Baby 700
clearly, but our fire prevents them from
firing there - a gt illustratn o / value of
covering fire.) & crossed the steep gully to
Popes where / Light Horse were - a curious set of trenches

There is a a knob to the left of Popes

wh hides / Turks from the N.Z.s.

Diagram - see original

The Turks

gather

in there every

morning early  &

walk abt casually

in hopes of inducing

our men to get out

on the parapet &

shoot at them. The parapet absolutely covered

by a m.g. We have ( for some reason) not got a

loophole wh will cover this bit of ground.  I can't

understand why even of we were enfiladed 

we cd traverse.)

89
Diagram - see original

Diagram - see original
The dark lines are in our
possession; the others are Turkish. But our covering
fire from both sides prevents them from doing much
It is from Dead Mans Ridge - a loophole there – tt /
firing goes on down the gully.
At Quinns you cd see the Communicatn
trenches dug by our men. At Popes you cd
see in front o / Turk Trenches a line of trench
wh may have bn dug by Ts or by ourselves– but
Diagram - see original
wh have now been evacuated by Ts who confine
themselves to main. Trench. It was here,

Mortar R^x
90
as we were climbing up the main our trench that
we saw. Gen. Birdwood, Gen. Godley, Col. Monash.
Onslow, & staff who had been quite frankly walking
along the front of our trenches reconnoitring. They
climbed down past us where we were - & as they did Gen Birdwood
sd to White - "White, I want you to have a look
at that 400 plateau, & Johnsons Jolly. You get a
splendid view of it from up here & I am sure it
can be done - you'll see that it's not enfiladed.
Just have a look at it & then I think you might
get on w your plans at quick as once."
White had previously bn explaining to
me (& it does seem obvious) that the only
way to take 700 is really to take it &
the two horns of 400 at once - we shd then
get the ridge leading down from 700 to the
gully ^x - the jaws of the gully opposite
Quinns - almost automatically & it wd
give us a splendid line (ie. the one marked
dark)
Diagram - see original

^X To cross this valley White
tied a white handkerchief round
his arm - so as to took like
one of the burial parties &
I followed suit. The Turks
were clearly reconnoitring
our position - we could see
them with maps out standing
on Baby 700.
91
I asked if we had so far ever tried the two together.
He sd we had not.
As a matter of fact so far we seem to have
made nothing but little isolated attacks. The Turks always
drive us out on the end where we get into their
trenches because they make trenches like the
Germans without traverses as a rule. This is bad
Diagram - see original
protection from
artillery but it
allows them to enfilade every one of their own
trenches from some trench further back.
After Birdwood's advise we got out on
top of the bank & White made a survey of the
country. He stood behind me with his glasses
& looked hard at the 400 Plateau.^x When One of
the T. sentries I fancy saw us because he began to
make a noise to some other sentry or officer - we
climbed down into our own trench & sitting
with our backs to the parapet had a good
look.
It was a surprise to me that we cdnt
walk across / head of next gully to / N.Z.
Diagram - see original
but there ws
a line of T.
sentries across
it looking straight
down our gully (N. fork).
The N.Z. line didnt
begin till well over / xxx
other side o / gully. I
thought they had joined
up.