Charles E W Bean, Diaries, AWM38 3DRL 606/210/1 - 1915 - 1918 - Part 6

54f

outpost sniped them at abt 100 yds to 150 yds - getting 

19 - practically the lot. A good many Ts had come 

up in / party Loutit cd hear them saying "Don't fire - 

we are indians!" & thought they were. It was only when they 

fired tt he knew what they were. They had come up 

across / flat into / gully just where Loutit had

Diagram - see original document

crossed it. 

All the 4 

days orders
were coming
down to unfix
& fix bayonets, not
to fire on such & such a spot as someone ws going
to advance. The Cease fire orders were complied with till
it became clear tt nothing came of them. There ws no C.T. to this
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Shrapnel Gully. They threw down their rifles 

& wanted to surrender but they were too 

many & were shot.^※ As they were going 

down / hill they met Maj. Brand. He came
on w them. They went on up to / head of

Wire Gully - & down Wire Gully.
^※ (There were 3 or 4 tents by this path down from Plugges,

the lamps inside were still burning - they had bn mens 

tents & our men went inside & came out holding 

up souvenirs - watches, kit & so on.)

As they got down Wire Gully they saw 

several guns. The Party saw these guns from 

the head of Wire Gully & opened - but / range ws

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themselves at / bottom o / Gully directly 

enfilading this positn. They fired into / outpost 

all night. There ws no one in / Gully. But on

/ far side ws a post of 5^th ? 3^rd? Bn. They wd mutually 

watch each others side o / Gully. 

On Monday mg. as soon as it ws light

the Ts at / Gully foot had to work down / Gully

& across / same flat.  They threw away rifles

& kit & ran across / flat one at a time & the

Diagram - see original document
50

too great & / guns got away. They cd see the 

Turks put teams in these guns. The teams were

in, in some cases, when first seen. They had

only a few yds to go to get over / crest. Brand told

them Loutit to keep going. He went back to / beach. He had seen
these guns.

From there Loutit, & Lt Haig (10 Bn) went on past

where / guns had bn (no dead germ Ts there) 

over / crest / & down / gully. betw the

At / bottom of Wire Gully a creek

branched to / rt. There was a stockyard

there w some horses still in it. This creek

ran away down to Kaba Tepe. They

got across / creek - very few Ts abt

54d

line abt 80 yds in rear. By collecting strays in /

gully / party (11 strong now) ws made up to 19.

Aftwds Lt Frayne, 10 Bn joined. He had a 

few men on J. Jolly & came down to them.

They dug in there & held there till relieved

4 days later by the marines

Diagram - see original document

The trench ws at A.

Maclagan ws directly

in left rear & Loutit cd

signal back abt 300yds to the Bde Signallers

there.
Late on Sunday night when / Turks pretended to be

Indians some of them - worked up tt gully & establd
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Crossed this creek, a broad sandy shallow 

creek, & came onto a hill in front o /

creek. Very few Ts were abt exc.

snipers who were scattered everywhere

& sniped from behind and everywhere.

Loutit had 32 men w him, some

his own, some 9 Bn, some 11 Bn. They

went to /  top o this next ridge wh

ws covered w holly scrub - & stopped

just over / crest owing to oppositn

54c

From there they had to cross the flat

(abt. 500 yds of grass thro wh /

creek ran). As they got half way across

the Ts reached the knoll they had left

2 mins before & made it very hot.

From there the pty got up Wire Gully, taking

up a position at / bottom of Wire Gully

on / J. Jolly side of it, overlooking /

Gully & / flat at / foot. It ws then abt

11 a.m They then found there ws a formed
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from Ts ahead. Gaba Tepe ws ^back over 

their rt shoulders. ^They cd see / water o / Dardenelles. The Ts were thick (when the pty got to crest) on another

ridge of abt equal height 400 yds  

in front. From there These Ts stopped

them there w rifles & m.g. fire. They

had lost many men. A few were

k in this positn. They cd see 

our men on the previous ridge,

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Gully [On / top o / furthest hill the water o / Dardenelles

ws clearly seen. They thought this must a v. long way in.) This ws on the Turk side
of the creek (S.E.) The Turks folld occupying
/ ridge they had just left. There they

met Peck. He ws unwounded - w a few

men. They stayed there ½ hr using their

rifles - It ws v. warm. The Ts had brought 

up one m.g. with them. Peck ws

wd there slightly & ws taken back by 

one of / men.
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behind the Gully they had crossed, on

both flanks of them, some digging in,

some cruising round after round potting snipers - nothing

very organised on both their
flanks, but no one on / same

ridge. From there they sent back

to the pty on their rt rear on
J.Jolly & asked them to come up

& form on their rt flank. They did

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retire starting from / right - Ryder sent

a message along saying he ws going to

retire - Soon after he & part of his men
were seen going back to their former positn

wh they reached by going for all they were

worth down / slope.

As Loutit then retired. As He

left a sectn & retired by small pties

under mutual covering fire till they

got to a small mound abt 100 yds

on / Turk side o / entrance to wire

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so & turned out to be Capt Ryder 

w abt one pln of 9 Bn - & they

got up alongside on / rt. In / 

mean time / Ts had worked to / 

left flank & were enfilading from

abt 400 yds on / left. You cdnt  

dig in (even from / first - too hot -

we were lying behind / bushes firing

thro' them.) Our line ws then forced to

55

Aug 8. 45 Bn.

Green line ws down / road

E of Kate & Thin Wood.

There ws one xx 77 gun

in / small wood betw Reginald

& Hamilton Lena Wood & immed.

in rear there were 6.

A couple o / guns behind

/ small wood were firing

at / Bn while it ws waiting

to push off. No scrap ws

put up w small arms. The

gunners had run by / time

Bn reached them. By / time 

they crossed the Rd E of

Reginald Wood the RHA came

into actn & started to cover /

advance W of Lena Wood.

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As they passed / S E Corner

of Reginald Wood a German

m.g. ws firing bursts for a 

few minutes. Then / crew

ran & some 2 were captd.

As they got into / gully before

Susan Wood a German m.g.

wh ws there mtd on an

anti aircraft mtg mounting

to protect / guns, opened.

One o / tanks settled this -

he found it himself. To here 

the tanks were  ahead o /

Bn. A few stray rifle shots

came from Susan Wd. There ws

a Bn or Regt HQ in the

terraces N. W. of Susan Wood &

a major ws captd there. A

number of Germ. Arty men

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who had bn wd by our barrage

were captd here. Also one

tank had got down / valley

& mopped it up & came

back again as it cdnt

climb / hill / other side.

At this point / tanks of 

45 Bn, wk as they cdnt

climb / hill,  moved

off rt to 48 Bn front.

5.9 &4.2 Hows were

captd in this valley. The

Germans had run do

round to / rear of Susan

Wd & many were captd

by 46 Bn wh had a 

straighter course & was a bit

ahead. 

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There ws a thin belt of

cavalry wire abt one foot high

along / bottom of Susan Valley

- German.

Bn ws fighting in arty

formatnn all / time - never

extended at all. They then

pushed to the Crucifix Rd

without oppositn and waited 

there 15 mins for / barrage

to lift from the Morcourt-Harbonnieres
Valley. During this halt

the Bn scouts pushed out

to investigate this gully, one

offr & 6 o.r. They were fired 

at by rifles & one m.g.

from rt at Caroline Wood

for a while. They went