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Wednesday 21st July 1915- Diary of HV Reynolds

21 July 2010 by Janice Farrer. No comments
Diary of an ANZAC

Please note: Care has been taken to transcribe these entries without alteration to preserve the original language of Herbert Vincent Reynolds. 

‘A biplane passed over this afternoon. During the afternoon a barge containing stores broke loose from its moorings and was drifting in very close to the enemy positions at Kaba Tepe Point, when a naval penance went after it, coming under very heavy fire from the enemy field guns. It succeeded in recovering it an towed it back to the cove. Beachy Bill has been rather quiet lately. Gas respirators were issued to us today, they are rather crude in construction, being just a pad of cotton charged with an anti-gas chemical enclosed in a length of gauze, the ends of which are tied behind the head to keep the cotton pad in position over the mouth and nose.’

*The gas masks issued on Gallipoli were ineffective due to their poor design. The masks used on the Western front were far more protective against gas. Despite the fact the filtering agent used was asbestos.

Tuesday 20th July 1915- Diary of HV Reynolds

20 July 2010 by Janice Farrer. No comments
Diary of an ANZAC

Please note: Care has been taken to transcribe these entries without alteration to preserve the original language of Herbert Vincent Reynolds. 

‘Last evening about 9pm a monitor put in an appearance off Kaba Tepe point flashing her searchlights on the twin trenches in front of our extreme right flank, she immediately sired a dozen shells in quick succession into them. The machine gun which enfiladed Brighton Beach yesterday has not troubled us at all today.’

Monday 19th July 1915- Diary of HV Reynolds

19 July 2010 by Janice Farrer. No comments
Diary of an ANZAC

Please note: Care has been taken to transcribe these entries without alteration to preserve the original language of Herbert Vincent Reynolds. 

‘At about 9am one of our large biplanes flew over and dropped a bomb on the enemy lines, returning again at about 6pm it repeated the performance, then circled overhead for about an hour. At about 3pm a monitor, a light cruiser, a balloon ship and a new strange looking vessel steamed to positions between Cape Helles and Kaba Tepe, the balloon went up and the monitor and cruiser shelled the enemy positions behinds Kaba Tepe near the Olive Grove, the other vessel only fired one shell which exploded at the foot of the hill in front of our right flank. The new vessel has a large tripod mast and appears to have only one gun which is of very large calibre and is situated almost amidships, she is from all appearances a new type of monitor. The enemy have had a machine gun enfilading Brighton Beach all day, from a positions somewhere along the beach towards Kaba Tepe, it made the beach in the vicinity of the No2 A.S.C depot a place to be avoided, and we were forced to make a big detour through the sap from Shrapnel Gully to our camp in Victoria Gully instead of by the much shorter way along the beach. When collecting our rations from the depot, added to our ordinary daily supply, we had to collect 4 days supply of iron rations for the while unit, which is intended to be kept on hand in readiness for any emergency. While engaged on ration fatigue 3 large shells or bombs exploded in Shrapnel Gully almost simultaneously. A large shell fell in our camp this evening and failed to explode, with the result a party of 9 who were within 6 feet of where it entered the ground and left a large round hole, congratulated one another on their lucky escape on recovering from the fright they had received.’

Sunday 18th July 1915- Diary of HV Reynolds

18 July 2010 by Janice Farrer. No comments
Diary of an ANZAC

Please note: Care has been taken to transcribe these entries without alteration to preserve the original language of Herbert Vincent Reynolds. 

‘About 8am a large biplane appeared overhead and circled around for about an hour, returning again about 3pm, it circled around for a while then flew off towards the Cape. The artillery have been rather active all the afternoon, otherwise things have been very quiet. After dark two fairly large transports appeared close inshore, from the beach their dark outlines were just discernable in the darkness.’

Saturday 17th July 1915- Diary HV Reynolds

17 July 2010 by Janice Farrer. 2 Comments
Diary of an ANZAC

Please note: Care has been taken to transcribe these entries without alteration to preserve the original language of Herbert Vincent Reynolds. 

‘Our aeroplanes have been over several times today. This afternoon I went up to see some mates in the 7^th and 8^th Btns. and found them in the front line. I received great disappointment in finding that Ken Walker has been severely wounded on the 12^th. At about 6pm an enemy aeroplane came over and dropped two bombs, both failed to do any damage. At about 7pm one of our field guns at the top of Victoria Gully opened fire in answer to an enemy gun that was shelling the vicinity at the time. The enemy soon began to get the accurate range, but out gun answered shot for shot until a high explosive shell from the enemy blew away the sandbag* barricade in front of the gun. Once of the crew was carries out of the pit and a few second later another gunner took his place and the gun opened fire again and fired five round to which the enemy replied with only two, it then ceased firing. I had an anti-cholera inoculation this evening.’

*Sandbags were used to barricade artillery, line trenches and create shelters.

Friday 16th July 1915- Diary of HV Reynolds

16 July 2010 by Janice Farrer. No comments
Diary of an ANZAC

Please note: Care has been taken to transcribe these entries without alteration to preserve the original language of Herbert Vincent Reynolds. 

‘At about 1pm a few T.B.Destroyers accompanied by another small craft, a balloon ship and fairly large transport steamed across from Imbros and disappeared from sight around Cape Suvla. A Monitor has been shelling enemy gun positions in the Olive Grove all afternoon, Having nothing better to do I spent the afternoon at our No 2 Artillery observation post where a fine view of the enemy positions in front of our right flank and away towards Helles could be obtained. Another battery of 5 inch Howitzers landed here.’

Thursday 15th July 1915- Diary of HV Reynolds

15 July 2010 by Janice Farrer. No comments
Diary of an ANZAC

Please note: Care has been taken to transcribe these entries without alteration to preserve the original language of Herbert Vincent Reynolds. 

‘At 7am three of our aeroplanes came over from the direction of the enemy lines, evidently returning from a bombing raid, the enemy shelled them very hard with shrapnel. At about 4pm a cruiser appeared out from Imbros and fired a few shells at enemy guns their side of Achi Baba, her fire was directed by a captive balloon from a balloon ship which accompanied her. Spent the evening with R. Clarke at the 2^nd Fld Amb Camp.’

Wednesday 14th July 1915- Diary of HV Reynolds

14 July 2010 by Janice Farrer. 1 Comment
Diary of an ANZAC

Please note: Care has been taken to transcribe these entries without alteration to preserve the original language of Herbert Vincent Reynolds. 

‘A small ration of flour and rice was issued to us today. Providing we can turn it into something eatable it will be a welcome change to our small rations. At about 6pm one of our aeroplanes flew over and bombed the enemy lines. As I was going round to see some mates in the 4^th Fld Amb and enemy shell exploded on a barge near the C.C.Station in the Cove, a number of troops were in swimming and some of them were in the barge, several being badly wounded. Captain Campbell, a medical officer of one of the Light Horse Regiments had both legs shattered.’

For the classroom: What would you cook from the following ingredients: Rice, Flour, Corned Beef, Jam and water.

Tuesday 13th July 1915- Diary of HV Reynolds

13 July 2010 by Janice Farrer. 1 Comment
Diary of an ANZAC

Please note: Care has been taken to transcribe these entries without alteration to preserve the original language of Herbert Vincent Reynolds. 

‘Large shells were seen to be exploding on the slopes of Achi Baba again today. This evening about 150 men hauled the 4.7 gun up to its position on the ridge between Clarks and Victoria Gullies. A few star shells were sent up in front of our trenches this evening.’

For the classroom: List the safety risks associated with hauling a large gun up the hill.

Nothing Like the Real Thing

12 July 2010 by Daniel McGlinchey. 1 Comment
Collection,Collection Highlights

Recently while cataloguing battlefield relics from Fromelles I came across an item I had not seen before, a German ersatz (substitute) sandbag made from paper. A search on the Memorial’s database shows that this was not the only item that used substitute material; there are many items in the collection, including an ersatz felt pickelhaube (spiked helmet) and a packet of ersatz ‘coffee’. As with France and Britain during the First World War, Germany brought in measures to save resources for the war effort, these shortages of material and food affected civilians and military alike.

         

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