Gallipoli Diary Entries

I am from Sydney, Australia. I enlisted in May 1914 and I am 24 and male. I chose to enlist in the war for my country and my family. I wanted to make Australia and my Wonderful wife and daughter proud. When I enlisted is was just over the height requirement of 168cm, therefore I was accepted to fight at Gallipoli. My brother, only 2 years older than myself also enlisted though as his eyesight was slightly defective he was rejected. I was accepted into the army three days ago. I am so happy that I will be able to fight in this war, though I am sad that I will be unable to see my family for a long time. I must head off in two days and get on the ship to Egypt, where I will train.
The day is here that I can finally get off the ship. After a 1
I was then introduced to Digging trenches and handling weapons. A few months before we left the training camp I learnt how to use the machine guns. We have finally landed on the Gallipoli peninsula. The ship ride here was harsh with limited food and water as well as harsh sleeping conditions and diseases that spread like wildfire. We step off the ship and are immediately faced with steep cliffs. Climbing the cliff was hard as the turks were shooting and the climb was difficult. Many men were lost and injured, though I safely made it to shelter.

Finally, we have reached lone pine, with only a few casualties. It was a long trek to the field. There are Turkish snipers here and we have to be very careful and hide. We have begun to dig tunnels to distract the Turks from the British landings at Sulva bay, on the Gallipoli peninsula. We spent long hours digging narrow tunnels underground to surprise the Turks. It was even harder to dig as there are
The hand to hand fighting is still taking place, though we have shifts where we spend time fighting then head back to the trenches for a rest. At lone pine the conditions are rough. We sleep in the deep and narrow trenches, on the hard ground with only a blanket and an overcoat. Many of the men, including myself wear our clothes to bed. At uncertain intervals the Turks shell us, creating blinding flashes and loud noises, therefore making it very difficult to sleep. We used sandbags to absorb the forces of the shelling and flooring. The stench of the dead bodies that lay on no man’s land is extremely bad. Many men have been killed In the fight, now laying in the turks trenches. Today was washing day for me meaning that I went down to the water hole. I had to sneak around and quietly wash as the borders were lined with Turkish snipers. It was safer at the trenches then here. There are many dead and wounded that have been left laying near the water hole, though we must drink even if the price is death. Today was the hottest of all the days. The food is getting worse all we have to eat is bully beef and hard tack biscuits occasionally supplemented with bacon, onion, jam and