Men are hard at work digging our new camp in IX Corps Gully. We move there, when IX Corps H.Q. move to the end of the promontory. IX Corps new Headquarters should be entirely winterproof, even during the severest weather. They are also practically invulnerable, by reason of their position and the vast amount of labour that has been expended upon them. I myself saw sheds in sections being put bodily into the rock excavated to receive them. There were communication trenches cut in the living rock connecting dugout with dugout. Also, elaborate excavations in the rock formed shell-proof living quarters, and, when necessary, unlimited wood, iron, and sand-bags have been lavishly used. The whole place is a perfect engineering achievement—the most wonderful nest of safety that the mind of man could conceive. How different are the conditions at Lala Baba, but three miles away, where the wretched hovels of the troops cluster as thickly as the cells in a honeycomb. No coping of iron or beams there. A man is lucky if he has as much as a blanket or a waterproof sheet to stretch over his miserable hole in the ground—not enough shelter to keep out the raindrops, let alone shrapnel.
The system on which our camp is being modelled is the same as for all the other beach camps here. An effort is being made to house the men through the rigours of the winter storms, which no doubt will soon be upon us. Taking advantage of the sloping ground in the fold of the gully on the promontory, which increases in height as it extends inland towards the high land, deep trenches are dug parallel to the lines of our trenches inshore. They are 7 feet wide, with parapets and parados 8 feet and 6½ feet high respectively. They should be roofed in by corrugated iron; some only of them are, however. Corrugated iron is still a luxury here. Filled sand-bags are then laid on the top, which should render them shrapnel-proof. As they generally run at right angles to the line of Turkish artillery fire, a high explosive shell would explode on the mound of earth thrown up in front of the parapet, and not in the roof.
Each trench is dug on lower ground than the one in front. The whole system is being organized by an able technical engineer officer, who is hard at work from morning to night. His camp is taken as a model. Although in view of the enemy, its safety against casual shelling, such as we are daily subjected to, has been demonstrated several times. Against a heavy bombardment, of course, no trenches are proof. Shrapnel bullets have spattered harmlessly on his sand-bagged roofs. High explosive shells bursting full in the middle of his camp have been caught by the mound of earth in front of the trench. Should the shell miss one line of trenches, it is caught by the mound of earth in front of the other line behind. A direct hit on the roof, except from a howitzer, is almost impossible.
Drains are cut about and around the trenches to catch the water of the forthcoming heavy rains, and advantage is taken of the formation of the gullies to make one main drain into which smaller drains can run. One has only to look at the great boulders of stone standing half in and half out of the earth all over the high ground of the Peninsula, and at the large, medium, and small gullies, which are of all kinds of intricate geographical formations, to realize that at some time of the year not only a series of ordinary rainfalls, but raging deluges of water, fall in all-powerful torrents, mercilessly driving all before them, even great boulders of stone. No trenches, no matter how well constructed, can withstand heavy driving floods. Let the engineers first study the formation of the land, pause and reason a little, and they will see that all this labour will be lost, and their trenches full to the brim at the first heavy downfall. In dry weather, though, the system is excellent, and the men inside are very comfortable.
The trenches are entered by steps from the road or path at either end, or from the terrace behind between each trench. At night the men sleep in one row side by side, their kits hung on the earth wall behind them. Quarters for N.C.O.’s are partitioned off by timber and sacking. By day their blankets are rolled up neatly, and the whole makes a roomy apartment. A cookhouse constructed on the same principle is built at the end of a series of trenches. Officers’ dugouts are built near by, dug in the slope or behind protecting boulders. The whole, neat, orderly, and compact, affords remarkably good cover from shrapnel and high explosives—but for protection against weather, never. For protection against weather I prefer the de Lisle system of terraces, built on a steep slope in tiers, the whole practically a flight of very large steps. But, of course, a steep slope is necessary. The men’s quarters are simply built on each terrace; the back wall is cut out of earth, the roof of corrugated iron, supported by timbers and made shrapnel-proof, and the sides are built up of loose stones, tarpaulins, and timber. The hill on which such a system is built affords the necessary protection against shell fire. It is, of course, weather-proof, as it is simple to drain.
“C” Beach and Lala Baba across the bay get very badly shelled this afternoon, and in consequence the battleships are hard at work endeavouring to silence the Turkish batteries. Sounds of very heavy firing are heard from Helles, probably Monitors in action.
November 17th.
Very little shelling, hardly any our way. To-day is very stormy, and as the time goes on the wind develops into a great gale. All landing of stores has to cease. Great white waves dash up against our piers, and after it is over there will be much work for the Australian Bridging Section. In the evening our flimsy summer quarters are cold and draughty. The oil-drum fire won’t burn. So we turn in early, Elphinstone and Horne going to their dugout up the rise to our left. Suddenly, just as we are getting into bed, the tarpaulin half of our roof blows adrift. Hunt and I have a job to fasten it back in position once more. The wind is shrieking outside. A short while after, Horne and Elphinstone come back, asking for shelter, for their bivouac has blown down altogether, and so we crowd them in our shelter for the rest of the night.
November 18th, 19th, and 20th.
The usual daily visits to Brigade H.Q. forward reserve dumps and D.H.Q. I get exercise this way. Also to and fro on the beach, paying calls on friends among the many dugouts there. Some are excellent, especially those of Naval L.O.’s and Camp Commandant, built in the side of the high rocks. The Field Cashier has to be “stung” by me now and again on behalf of my Staff Captain to pay the men of Brigade H.Q. His dugout is not in a very safe place.