Charles E W Bean, Diaries, AWM38 3DRL 606/103/1 - March 1918 - Part 4

77  32

sights in London & Paris
during / raids, I was thoroughly
astonished.
"We have had / shells
today & yesterday," she sd, "&
the stuff has been falling on

the tiles (or else the broken tiles

from some other house had been

flying about) - xx It has been

hard to sleep last night. There

my sister wd be very little

protection in this house" -

(there wd be none, indeed - but

I just nodded) "So we went to

/ little house just above, for

perhaps it was safer" - I

nodded again tho' what safety they

there cd be ^could possibly imagine in these tiny

cottages ws one cd not guess.

I left telling her tt I

wd come again tomorrow.

Just before this she had asked me
 

 

33

^※ Two Australians - a Sergeant

& another came to / door as 

we talked & asked madame

if they could buy some more

eggs. "Three dozen", sd / Sergt -

& got me to translate

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incidentally how far away

the gun wh ws firing at

them was - ws it two or

3 kilometres perhaps."

I sd that it ws a 

high velocity gun firing from 

11 or perhaps 15 kilometres.

"Oh we thought it might

be two or three," she sd. "You

see, since / papers have 

stopped coming from Amiens

this last few days we have 

heard nothing - we dont

know where / Germans are

- we thought they might be

quite close to here" (as a matter

of fact they are not 5 kilometres

away at Morlancourt). ^※

I went to see ^Gen. Cannan

in the Chateau - he told

me where his men were -

but I cdnt find what ws
 

 

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likely to happen to / civilians.

Our troops were pouring 

through / town & back

towards Bonnay or over

/ bridge - probly 9^th Bde

going to take up its positn

watching / fords at Corbie,

& Sailly le Sec, or else / tail

of the 11^th Bde.

I ws called at 3rd Divn

& then Cutlack & I drove to

4^th Divn at / little Baizieux

Chateau. Duncan Maxwell

there asked me if we wd

spend / night there & I 

gladly accepted. But first,

after asking telling Boddy, Ca I decided

to go down & see if we cd

not take the my old landlady

away - Duncan told me tt they

were wd all to hav be evacuated

the next day and the A.P.M.
 

 

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Jarvie, a good fellow, had told

him tt noone cd stop me.

So Boddy & I went down.

There ws a bright moon. I cdnt

raise Mme. at her house &

I cdnt get into / cottage above,

where I guessed she ws sleeping.

At last I raised an old

lady in / cottage above. She

came out & sd she wd call

Madame for me. The house long low white

where they slept was at / 

back of a big courtyard,

& / ^great gate under / porch ws

locked. The old lady called

"Clemence!" in a shrill voice.

No answer. "Clemence!" I thought

she wd rouse / whole village.

After abt the 20^th call a

mans voice said something.

A little later, after more 

calls, a light appeared.
 

 

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The old lady sd to me as we

waited. "You were M. le 

Capitaine who came this

afternoon, n'est ce pas? Madame

Leuwers told us what you

said to her" (it had clearly

not alarmed them). "She was

expecting you tomorrow. Is

there then any danger?"

I sd there ws no danger

- but as I had heard there

might be a forced evacuation

next week I had come to

ask Mme if she wd like 

to come x in my car as I 

cd take her tt night.

When Mme Leuwers came

I told her there ws to be a

forced evacuation next day -

& I cd take her & her sister

to Vignacourt tt night. They

wd have to walk next day, 

probably.

She asked if / brother in
 

 

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law cd come too. I sd

that I cdnt take him, but

he cd stay & come on foot

after seeing / Mayor & handing 

over / keys & so one next 

day. She agreed.

She asked if she cd put 

on her things & get a few

little belongings. I sd yes

I wd wait.

xxxxx Ten minutes

later she came back w / old

sister & brother in law. The sister 

told me tt she could not

go without her husband if

I wd not take him. I sd I

was sorry - it ws impossible.

The old lady ws quite 

firm & undisturbed. She had

come w her parcels, & her

hat on, & her little black

mongrel dog "I cannot go
 

 

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without my husband," she sd.

"He cannot walk" (& poor old 

chap, I think he could not).

"If he stays, I stay, and we

will die together. I could not

go without my husband - - - -

nor my dog," she added

shaking the chain.

She ws quite calm about

staying. "Thank you Monsieur

for your kind thought," she sd, and

began to help her sister get her

things into / car. They were having

their final talk when I had a

quick consultation with

old Boddy & asked him if

he thought / car wd stand /

weight - it ws his risk & he

wd have to repair / car if

she broke down. He sd he

thought the car cd stand it.

I told / old lady & she grasped
 

 

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my hand w / tears in

her eyes - I had not

realised till then the tension

of their feelings, they were

so cool & calm brave about it.

They got into / car, their

little bundles & sacks of clothing,

Madame in her fine hat,

her old sister with the ^little mongrel

dog & the old brother in law

between them. We piled up

some of their belonging bundles

between them. Another old (& still

littler) serving woman, who turned

out to be "Clemence"

(who had asked me if I knew

how she cd get to her children

or relations in Frevent) was

given all sorts of injunctions

- "Now Clemence - feed the

fowls .... you'll visit the house

tomorrow -" & off we went quite
 

 

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cheerily at 30 minutes notice.

Madame had sent her pretty

granddaughter to Paris (the one who

still writes to le petit(!) Arthur

- Bazley); & she ws going to 

stop w her. The old lady

had told me (while the 5.9 high

velocity shells were screaming

overhead & exploding with

a crash beyond / village)

that she ws so nervous abt

/ daughter in Paris with
this German shell exploding

there from this German gun

wh is shelling Paris. I 

said "But oh, Madame, she

cd live all her life in Paris

- it is so great - & never see

a shell explode - it is far

more dangerous for you here

in Heilly" . . . . . but she took her

own danger for granted.
 

 

77  42

We whirled along our well

known road to Vignacourt -

passing many small bodies

of troops. Madame wanted

to know w I pointed out

to them "Many troops arrive

now - the battle is quite

safe for us now, you see"

as I thought they were sure

to be questioned (as a matter

of fact except for a thin 

line in / outposts, &

an immediate reserve to

stop a gap, the country

strikes one as empty deserted - empty

of troops compared w what

the its crowded life in the two

last years.

At Vignacourt I would intended

to leave them at a hotel;

but they x wanted to leave for