Photostat copy of diaries of Benjamin Bennett Leane, 1915-1916 - Part 22

4
and self got tired of wriggling
along the trenches so got out and
scattered across the open.
We sent two companies up into
the old German trenches, and kept
the others in reserve in the
Pozieres trenches.
August 8^th 10 p.m. Sausage Valley
Oh, kid, war is hell!!! We
have had forty eight hours
of the most frightful time I
ever wish to experience. Of the
900 odd men we took into
the trenches at Pozieres we have
brought out less than 200.
The remainder are all either
killed or wounded, Gallipoli
was a Paradise to it. Pozieres
is a veritable charnel house.
God! The sights one sees.
 

How any of us are alive seems
a miracle. Just after I got
to the end of that paragraph on
page four (I was starting to give
a full account of the position).
The German artillery opened
intense barrage fire on our lines.
Unless one has actually been
under barrage fire they could
never imagine what it is like.
Shells rain down like hailstones,
exploding everywhere, changing
regular lines of trenches into an
unrecognisable chaos of craters,
men are thrown bodily into the
air, others are torn asunder,
others again receive great gaping
wounds, and scores go down
with such severe shell shock
that they are worse than useless
 

6
for months after. I have seen
men travelling in every Amb,
weeping like babies, cowering at
every explosion, absolutely unstrung.
My own observer, a
good type of boy, was sent back
[[?]] on the night of the 5^th with a
message ^and to bring me up some runners Early on the morning of
the 6^th. I heard someone come
stumbling along calling out my
name. he rushed up to me looking
like a maniac, crying out "message
for Captain Leane." I mustn't give
it to anyone but Captain Leane."
I said "Here I am , lad, it's alright"
he looked wildly at me as
I went to take the message
from him and then jumped
back "no, don't take it" he
cried out, "no-one but the adjutant
 

must take it." I said "Alright
old man, I'm the adjutant."
he recognised me then, and collapsed
on the ground, crying like a
child, and talking wildly
about his having started off
with six runners for me,
and getting blown up twice,
and all the others killed.
I saw at once what had happened
and made him lie down
in a fairly sheltered place.
Soon he was sleeping heavily,
but several times he started
up wildly, his face full
of terror. In the morning he
was very weak and I sent
him to the rear to rest.
That afternoon he was back
again, and although he was
 

8
still full of terror, he fought
it down, and several times
went out to the most advanced
portion of the line under
intense fire, until at last
he said to me "It's no good
sir, I'd go out willingly,
but I can't face it any
more." I said "Alright
lad don't worry, you've done
well," and he seemed
awfully pleased. He was
afraid to I would think he
hadn't done his job. he told
me, when he became more
sane, what had happened.
He collected the six runners
I sent him back for, and
started to guide them to me.
Once he was buried by the
 

earth from an explosion, and
a little later another shell
exploded almost at his feet,
killed three of the runners,
wounded the others, and threw
him several yards away.
But he stuck to it until he
got to me, and then collapsed
as I have told you.
Well, the whole of the night
of the 5^th and all next day a
most intense bombardment was kept
up. The wounded came through
in one continuous procession, and
everywhere were the bodies of the 
dead, some of them most frightfully
mutilated. At dawn on the
6th the C.O. decided to go out to
the advanced posts, so I went
too. We raced across the open,
 

10
dodging into shell holes every
few yards to miss the shells,
and at length we reached
our B Coy. - or what was left
of it - in the old German
first line. The trench was
simply an indescribable chaos of
shell holes, and the ground
everywhere was pulverised, the
whole area being of consistency
of ploughed ground to a depth
of quite six feet. Captain
Bondwell was there with a handful
of men, and on his right Captain
Bush also held a small remnant
of A Coy. Captain Bondwell had
five German prisoners, all wounded,
who had given themselves up, so
I searched them and then made
them help to carry in our wounded
 

We had a look round the position
generally, and then just as we
were about to go back I heard
someone calling out in front.
I went out to them and found
they were a party of our chaps
who had gone out too far during
the night and were hiding in
a crater. Five of them were
unwounded, three were badly
wounded, and several killed.
We got them all in alright.
While there I had a view of
the promised land - Courcelette
and Martinpuich - lying down
in the valley below, and
looking very beautiful and
green after the desolation of
Pozieres. Eventually we got
back to our headquarters, and
 

12
the day wore on. As I said
before, the bombardment was
incessant. At about 11 pm
on the night of the 6^th the fire
seemed to have died down a
little, and as we had had
no sleep since going into the
line, Ray and I lay down
for a few hours rest. Just
about 3 a.m. I was awakened
by a runner from the front trenches
who brought in the news that
the Germans were counter-attacking.
I should say before this, that
on the night of the 6^th we relieved
our A & B Coys with D Coy.
The message that the runner brought
in was from Law of D Coy who
said that Capt Huntley had been
badly wounded, and that
 

he only had about 40 sound men
with him. We at once sent up
two machine guns, and a portion
of "C" Coy. The officer then in
command of 'C' Coy was Lieut Dyke,
the O.C Coy having gone back with
shell shock and the Coy 2^nd in
Command wounded. Lieut Dyke
was killed as he went forward,
and several of his company also
were killed and wounded. Then
began a most trying time. No
message came back from the
advanced positions and we
could not go up to see for
ourselves as at any moment we
might be wanted to organise
a counter attack. I began to
despair of holding the positions
in front, and we prepared
 

14
to repel an attack on our own
line. Eventually a message
came back from Law (a most
gallant officer) that he held
the whole of the line, having
repulsed the German attack.
The 14^th Battalion had assisted him
by sending up one company
to counter attack. Altogether we
took about 60 prisoners, and left
a lot of them dead lying there.
I wired back for our artillery
retaliation, and it came almost
immediately. The aeroplanes report
that it caught their infantry
massed for the attack in the
valley below, and cut them up
badly.
We had a pretty bad time
from their artillery for the rest of
 

the day, and at about 4 pm.
we were relieved by the 47^th Bn. that
night the battalion remained in support
and this morning we moved back
here into reserve. I have been
going into my strength returns today,
and i reckon that by calling on
the men who are back in the
transport lines etc. I could muster
about 300 rifles if necessary.
Poor fellows it has been an
ordeal for them alright.
August 10th 1916.
Rode into Albert today for
a swim. Feel much better.
Also got a big tin of choice
biscuits from Uncle Arthur.
By jove, we are "some" battalion.
It appears that our people have
come into possession of a copy
 

16
of General von Bulow's orders for
the retaking of Pozieres, and we
are the battalion responsible for
his failure. The "Daily Chronicle"
of August 8^th has quite an interesting
piece about it. I'll attach
a copy if I can get one.
General Birdwood and Genl.
White came to see the CO this
morning, and General Cox came
this afternoon. They are all
highly delighted with the work
of the battalion. General
Cox, in addressing two battalions
of the 13^th Brigade this morning
told them that if they did
as well as the 48^th had done he
would be more than satisfied.
I'm getting out a special
order to buck the men up a
bit. I'll keep a copy for you.
General Cox says we wont
go into the line again this trip.
 

I don't very well see how we
could anyway; we are too depleted.
Tonight I am sending in a
long list of names for "special
mention." Ray insists on
sending my name in, although
I would much rather he did not
because I know I did nothing
worth of special mention.
August 11^th 1916.
Fritz' shells have been
lobbing over here pretty thick and
fast today. They got on to a
battery just across the road
from us and blew up four
officers and some men. Another
shell caught the cooks of the 14^th
Bn. within 10 yds of my dugout
and killed three of them outright.
However, you have to get used
 

18
to these little things.
Later - We have just
received orders to go up into
the line again tomorrow into
an old position. How we
are going to man a position
for a battalion, with only
250 men I don't know, but
it has to be done. We
move up at 5 o'clock tomorrow
morning.
Monday (I think) August 14th 1916.
We came up here Saturday morning
and relieved the 47^th Bn without
casualty. Until today things
have been rather good. Except
for the usual daily and nightly
'straafe' the Boches have not
paid us particular attention.
Altogether we have only lost
 

about twelve killed and forty odd
wounded during the 54 hours
we have been here. But at
one o'clock the blighters opened
up intense fire again, and
although it is now nearly 4
o'clock they are still pounding
away very solidly. Fortunately
we have had time to improve
the trenches somewhat, as we
won't suffer as much as we
did during the other bombardment.
So far we have lost two killed
and ten wounded since the
bombardment began. I expect
the beggars are going to attack
again tonight. They attacked
the 50^th Bn. on our left last.
night, but were repulsed with
heavy losses. Poor Law,
 

20
the young officer who did so
well when we were up here
first time, and who has been
doing excellently this time
also, was shot through the 
liver last night at about 10.30 pm.
Although in intense pain, and
dying, he was most cheerful
and thought more of his company
and the men who carried
 him in (he had been out
visiting his outpost positions)
than he did of his own injuries.
The sad part about it is
that he was shot by one of
his own men. The Huns
were shelling us pretty vigorously
all the time, and as Law
and his party came running
back to the line they had to
 

drop several times to avoid flying
fragments of shell. The night
was dark and the sentry
could not make out who the 
party were. All he could
see was a number of men
apparently charging his trench.
He challenged three times, and
receiving no reply (poor Law
could not hear him in the din
of the bombardment) he fired.
Law died at about 3 o'clock
this morning. Right up to the last
he protested that he had been shot by
an enemy sniper. You see he did not
know that we already knew the facts
of the case, and was only anxious to
shield his own fellows. Isn't that the
action of a gallant gentleman.
A very funny thing occurred
 

22
yesterday morning, just before dawn.
One of our officers was out in front of the
line digging a night observation
post. He suddenly looked up to
see five Germans close upon him,
all armed with rifles - evidently a
patrol. He was quite alone and
unarmed, but he at once
"outed" one of the Huns with
his spade. The other four
at once threw down their rifles
and surrendered. If it wasn't
for their artillery the war would be
over in a week.
Friday August 18^th 1916. Herrisart
Out for a spell, and not
sorry either. We were
relieved by the 6^th Battalion
in the morning of the 15^th, and
went straight through to
 

Albert, where we bivouacked for the
night. In the morning (16^th)
we marched on to Warloy,
and camped in an apple
orchard for that night and
the following day and night.
This morning we came on to
this town. We are now on our
way back to our old billets
at Berteaucourt-les-dames, and
expect to reach there tomorrow
afternoon or Sunday morning.
How long we will be left there
I don't know. It will take us
some little time to make up
to strength again. A lot of
our more lightly wounded
and shell shock people have
been drifting back, and our
strength is now 14 officers and