Charles E W Bean, Diaries, AWM38 3DRL 606/103/1 - March 1918 - Part 1

AWM38
Official History,
1914-18 War: Records of C E W Bean,
Official Historian.
Diaries and Notebooks
Item number: 3DRL606/103/1
Title: Diary, March 1918
Includes references to the German offensive.

AWM38-3DRL606/103/1 

Original
DIARY No. 103.
AWM 38
3DRL 606  ITEM 103 [1]
DIARIES AND NOTES OF C. E. W. BEAN
CONCERNING THE WAR OF 1914 - 1918

THE use of these diaries and notes is subject to conditions laid down in the terms
of gift to the Australian War Memorial. But, apart from those terms, I wish the
following circumstances and considerations to be brought to the notice of every
reader and writer who may use them.
These writings represent only what at the moment of making them I believed to be
true. The diaries were jotted down almost daily with the object of recording what
was then in the writer's mind. Often he wrote them when very tired and half asleep;
also, not infrequently, what he believed to be true was not so - but it does not
follow that he always discovered this, or remembered to correct the mistakes when
discovered. Indeed, he could not always remember that he had written them.

These records should, therefore, be used with great caution, as relating only what
their author, at the time of writing, believed. Further, he cannot, of course, vouch
for the accuracy of statements made to him by others and here recorded. But he
did try to ensure such accuracy by consulting, as far as possible, those who had
seen or otherwise taken part in the events. The constant falsity of second-hand
evidence (on which a large proportion of war stories are founded) was impressed
upon him by the second or third day of the Gallipoli campaign, notwithstanding that
those who passed on such stories usually themselves believed them to be true. All
second-hand evidence herein should be read with this in mind.
16 Sept., 1946.                   C. E. W. BEAN
AUSTRALIAN WAR MEMORIAL
ACCESS STATUS
OPEN 

for 
Wilkins.
77
103
Diary March 25
to 30
1918
1
103
Mond March 25 Contd.
Gen Birdwood flew over
from Hythe today in a fighting
'plane - getting to Bailleul in 
an hour and 5 minutes. He had heard
very little in England, being
hastily summoned back. He
sd tt / air was very
bumpy coming over. Indeed
a pretty strong wind was
blowing & it ws very cold.
No news o / fate o / 
French attack though a x railway
transport officer has bn
spreading / report tt / French
have taken 80,000 prisoners.
One doesnt for an instant
believe this, but it has
got everywhere.
The latest news is tt / 

77
2
Germans have attacked & are
pressing strongly from Peronne.
They have taken Nesle. xxx
Tues. March 26^th. Wat  This
morning, news tt / Germans
are at Miraumont. So they
are across the Bapaume Road.
I wonder if they are at Pozieres.
We walked to Steenvoorde
to find whether there was
news of Wilkins, & just as he
got there the Ford Car with him
in it drove up. It was
He found our 2^nd Tunnellers
at Pozieres on Sunday abt
midday. At that time the
Tunnellers were under orders
to dig a line of defence across
the summit at Pozieres. Wilkins
found them by the Windmill.
Their baggage had come in waggons 

3
 ^XDown / roads came a long line
of Guns. There ws no disorder - the
traffic ws very little blocked [it was
an immense advantage to us to have
decent weather while we were retiring
across the Somme battlefield. With
the Bapaume Rd block wet we
shd have stuck & / whole lot must
have been captured]. Wilkins saw no
field guns at all. Just two or three
guns were firing - the Germans were
putting some 12 inch shells & heavy
Shrapnel into the Le Sars & the
road between Le Sars & Bapaume. Courcelette.
[They have lately in / North been
using British guns taken in Russia.
40 men of our 6^th Bty (including
Maj. Dodds wd.) were put out of
action by a burst of an English 9.2
with 105 fuse].
77
4
& was somewhere near Le Sars on
the Bapaume Rd & they were just
sending down for it. However They
were to start digging almost immediately
but it looked then as if they wd not
be there long.^X The British infantry
was retiring down the Bapaume Rd
in excellent order - tired but not
routed. The officers sd they did not know
where they x were intended to go to.
They were without orders except
an order to retire to some position
further back - they did not know
where. There were great numbers
of men bivouacked on the reverse
slope of the hills. Wilkins spoke w / 
men. a good deal A few said -"Oh -
he can have this country as far as I'm
concerned"- but only two or three. The
majority seemed to be anxious to get
some place where they cd get a rest &
then turn on him. The one thing objective they 

5
※
Some machine gunners tt I have met since
of the 21^st Divn (they were w / 35^th Divn) told me tt /
Germans gave them splendid targets from / first,
coming in massed formation w their guns
following imd. after / rear waves of infantry
(who were in artillery formation in fours.)
Others told our officers tt / first German attack
came out so thick that it was splendid shooting but
the m.gs. simply cd not keep pace w them & finally
had to pick up their guns and clear back.
77
6
all had ahead of them was some
place where they could rest get
in behind a line - perhaps a line
of other troops - & rest. The Germans
this Sunday afternoon were about
5 miles away. x they sd, at
Le Transloy. As a matter of fact
they were a great deal nearer
than that by 4 o'clock. They must
have been just over the rise in
Delville Wood.
One C.O. told Wilkins that the
51^st Divn ran first, on / left of
the 6^th Divn - & let / Germans through -
but troops are always inclined
to accuse / troops on their flanks
without knowing / facts wh led them to
retire. The C.O told Wilkins that the m.gs
were used for barrage; & when / Germans began
to break thro & they had a chance
of direct fire upon them their
xxxx ammunition ran out. ^※ 

77
7
Wilkins left there & came back
to our 71^st Squadron A.F.C. at Savy.
There he stayed / night. Our planes
were out by day bombing / Germans
for all they were worth - they first
drop their bombs & then come home
using their m.gs. They told Wilkins
that they had to go pretty well behind
the German lines as they cd not otherwise
tell exactly where the front was.
They told him two interesting
things - first, that the roads 
behind / German front were just
as crowded w traffic as ^those behind
our front where all these masses
of guns lorries etc were retiring.
Second tt / Germans were
camped in very great numbers
in / fields & country around
behind Bapaume. Around Bapaume
there we xxxxx xxxx many German
dead lying. 

77
8
These boys say tt / German
plane is not worth worrying
about by day. One of our A.F.C.
pilots put down 3 of them either the 
day Wilkins ws there or / day before;
& another put down one. And
all tt we ^this Squadron lost was a plane
wh landed cd not get home but
landed safely. The Germans
were like children in their
hands. But then Ger They seemed
to be keeping their planes ^almost entirely
to night bombing.
This night we heard tt / 
Germans were in Miraumont.
So Pozieres must be theirs
- or at any rate they must
be across the valley in front of
it; & the 1st Divl. Memorial &
2nd Divl. Memorial will be in
their hands.

77
9
Wed. March 27.
One of the difficulties of
active war is to remember what
day o / week it is. One has to
reckon up from / last day one 
remembers. I think March 21, when
/ Germans came over ws a Thursday.
Anyway - March 19 when I went to
/ opera w Herbertson ws a Tuesday
because when I got / tickets he
told me he wd not be back on
Monday night -; & Treloar & I
had taken seats for / opera
for "Carmen" - last night!
We came xxxx xx are at Baizieux
(4^th Divl Hqrs.) tonight. We
started off early; called for Wilkins
& his car (he later went on ahead);
& came down thro St Omer to
Rollencourt. There we found -
as we expected - the Censor & 

77
10
/ war correspts, who had just
arrived from Amiens.
They were unwise to stay
/ night there at all - next to full
moon & a clear sky. At 8 o'clock
the 'planes began to bomb. It ws
certain they wd have to leave
next day ^before seeing anything or writing anything. But some of them
didn't want to appear to mind
planes & bombs, so Sims told us.
There ws a debate & those,
xxxxx xxxxx who xxxxx who thought it wise
to move, gave up their insistence.
At 8 p.m. the first bombs dropped
& between then & 3 in the morning
the German Gothas visited / town 8
times. They crashed two bombs in /
square just outside / Hotel du
Rhin & blew in most o / windows
& / place shook as if it were
coming down. Gibbs told me tt when
he went to / cellar they found many