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Title |
1915 diary of Robert Henry Smith, 2nd South Canterbury Regiment, New Zealand Expeditionary Force |
Scope & Content |
The 1915 diary of Robert (Bob) Henry Smith (service no. 6/545), of the 2nd South Canterbury Regiment, New Zealand Expeditionary Force. Smith also listed his home address - 179 North Street, Timaru - on the title page of his diary. Entries in the diary are completed in a mixture of pen and pencil, the pencil entries being fainter and often a little smudged, making legibility more difficult. When war was declared on 5 August 1914, Smith enrolled for service only six days later. After training in Christchurch he sailed from Lyttleton to Wellington on the Athenic in September. Wellington was the assembly point for most of the Main Body. The troops finally left Wellington for Egypt (Bob sailed again on the Athenic) on 16 October 1914. To quote from his diary, "We arrived in Cairo in December after a splendid journey and started our training on the sandy desert". At the end of January 1915 his regiment was sent to Ishmalia to help in the defence of the Suez Canal which was under attack from the Ottoman Empire. Early in April 1915 he set sail for Gallipoli. First stop was the island of Lemnos. The following quotes from his diary tells how he experienced 25 and 26 April 1915. Sunday April 25 1915: "Left Mudros at 1.30 in the morning and were awakened at 5 am by big gun fire. We were near the entrance to the Dardanelles. The warships were pouring out the shells as fast as they could. We travelled on for about another 6 miles up the Gulf of Saros. There is an observation balloon up and a few water planes flying about (of course British). We are now at anchor waiting for orders to disembark. We can see the shells from the man o’ wars exploding on the hills. These hills rise up from the beach and seem to be covered with bush. It is a great sight and sensation and everybody is very excited and ready for anything. We got off the boat at 10 o’clock and had to go straight to the firing line to reinforce the Australians who were under heavy fire. We were under fire all the time we were landing and then we had a bayonet charge to try and drive the Turks out of the trenches." Monday April 26, 1915: "The firing has gone on all night. We got some artillery ashore last night and they have been doing some great work. They are bombarding the forts in the Narrows today and the Queen Elizabeth is firing from the side. All the boys are doing good work and we have taken a lot of prisoners and a few machine guns which were all worked by gunners who were deadly. Our Colonel is dead and Major Loach is wounded. There are Germans with the Turks and they have mines and foils everywhere. Today they buried 13 Australians from our ship. The firing has been very heavy and the Turks seem to be firing from all directions. A bullet grazed my nose just drawing blood then shrapnel burst 5 yards in front of us. I only had my hat blown off but the chaps on both sides of me were killed. I was digging in and was hit in my left arm by a bullet which grazed the bone and turned out. If it had missed the bone it would have gone straight into my heart (so that is luck).I think I am the luckiest man in the world to be alive and writing my diary." Bob was sent back to Cairo to have his wound attended to and spent time in hospital. When he was pronounced fit he was sent back to Gallipoli again. But, after a time he was suffering from severe dysentery, so was shipped to England where he spent time in the hospital at Walton on Thames. When his health improved he was sent home to New Zealand aboard the SS Willochra. On his arrival in Timaru it was suggested that a spell at Hanmer might be the best thing for him. His health remained troublesome though and he was ultimately discharged from the army on the 13 February 1917. |
Object Name |
Diary |
Creator |
Smith, Robert (Bob) Henry |
Date |
1915 |
People |
Smith, Robert (Bob) Henry, 1892-1952 |
Search Terms |
2nd South Canterbury Regiment New Zealand Expeditionary Force (NZEF) |
Subjects |
Military War World War One Soldiers Diaries |
Catalogue Number |
2016/135.01 |