Photostat copy of diaries of Benjamin Bennett Leane, 1915-1916 - Part 31

7204

NOTE BY AUSTRALIAN WAR MEMORIAL.
The diary of Major B. B. Leane, as lent by his
widow, was contained in 6 books. At the end of the 6th book
a reference was found to his intention to open another when he
left the Line. As there was a period of 7 months between this
date and that of his death, Mrs. Leane was asked to advise if
the 7th book was available. In a letter dated 10th June, 1927,
(in A.W.M.file 12/11/62) Mrs. Leane replied to this enquiry
as follows:-
"..................I will explain the absence of the last  book,
No. 7. There is very little in this book as my husband
was killed on April 10th 1917. The first entry is
Tuesday 19/12/16 when he was on leave in London, waiting
for me to arrive from Australia, my boat was a fortnight
overdue owing to submarines, etc. These entries
would be of no interest to you, I only saw him for a
week when I did land eventually after a thrilling trip.
On January lst 1917 he arrived back in France, Flisselles,
where he stayed until Saturday 3Oth, that is the end
of the diary as he wrote so many letters afterwards, as
I was then in England. He went through a dreadful lot
of attacks after that, but was killed at Bullecourt,
he was sent out to/make a dump on no man's land, in readiness 

for a big attack, he had 40 men with him and they
had just completed the job, his brother, the C.O. had
just rung him up, he had answered that all was O.K. when
he must have been struck by a shell that killed him
instantly, also his nephew, Capt. Leane, and nearly all
the 40 men. The attack came off and they were pushed
back, things were very bad for a while, his brother
eventually found his remains and he is buried at Queant
Road British Cemetery, but I think he has since been
moved from there. Out of 9 Leanes (five brothers and
four sons) four were killed, so that we feel proud of
our family and their war record".

1 DRL 412
313

DIARY
OF
MAJOR B.B. LEANE
48^TH BN.
VOL. II.
26^TH DEC 1915
TO
27^TH NOV. 1916
181.1
A.W.M.
LIBRARY