Charles E W Bean, Diaries, AWM38 3DRL 606/103/1 - March 1918 - Part 7

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P11 & 17, & 23. I thought we were
attacking but no movement of
troops cd be seen there. An officer
of the 43 Bn near Sailly le Sec told me

tt he had seen our Cavalry attack

(or move) directly S.wards from Hamel

up to / Bois de Hamel & after
tt patrol / crest.

[Later at night I heard tt

the 5th Army had lost 3 villages;

but as their line next mg. ws

given as on / road through 11, 17 & 23 P

I xxx probably did not xxx

watch the brunt o / fight. I

shd have put it on / road thro

P13 ^15?, 21 & 27. We were sd to

hold from there to Harbonnieres

but possibly it ws Harbonnieres

we lost.]

When I rolled in Our men

who were watching this fight

from the N side o / Somme had

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/ impression tt our 9^th Bde

was advancing there. But

I put this down as a rumour

similar to / one about /

capture of Ostend & Zeebrugge

wh has been current for

3 days. (There ws some heavy

firing in / North / night before

we came down - we cd hear

it. But if Ostend had bn

taken nothing is surer than tt

it wd have bn told to / ^tired British troops

here to cheer them up.)

At th On my way home to

4^th Divn I called at 3rd Divn

& saw Genl. Monash. He ws

just then passing on to Gen.

Rosenthal of the 9th Bde

at Bonnay an order from

the 3rd Army, that he ws to

pass under / command o /

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5th Army & ^(as a first step) concentrate at

Corbie so th he cd be quickly

moved across S. of / Somme

to help them. Clearly things

were getting ticklish or the 5^th

Army (now put under reduced to

one Corps & put under / French

Genl. Fayolle) was getting

frightened. Monash had

just finished his order when

the 7th Corps Commdr cut

in upon / telephone conversatn.

He sd th he had ^just had an direct

order from Gen. Haig tt the

9^th Bde ws not on any

account to be moved

without Gen Haigs orders 

a direct command from G.H.Q.

So the order ws at once

countermanded & Monash &

Jess were a good deal happier.

The 9^th Bde had a good

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rest (& probably plenty of chicken

x not to xxxx mention wine) & is

practically a reserve brigade.

The 4^th Divn has a reserve

Bde also in the 13^th. One

feels a lot safer w these

reserves small tho' they

are - &  / men in /  will if necessary xxx get some

relief, when tired, by being

moved back while / reserve

Bde goes in -

Another movement

took place this afternoon.

At 4 p.m. the 40^th Bn 

ws to advance from the 10^th Bde line

South of Mericourt on / hilltop &

move due E about 2000 yds

w / 39^th Bn on its left & the 43^rd

Bn on its right. A small post

under Capt Fairweather o / 28th

(the manager of many raids) ws

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already in Treux Wood (a 

little unmarked wood in

J11B & 12 A. The Germans were

on / other side o / valley before

Morlancourt. If tt advance

were successful (MacNicholl told

me) they were at 7 pm to go

another 1000 yds to a line due

South of Ville sur Ancre through

K7 & 13 Central. I went up

to abt J.22 Central but /

advance had just taken

place apparently. I saw a

certain amt of German shrapnel

both over / crest where the 40^th

must have gone, & over /

crest where a working ^carrying pty of the

43^rd went up to their old front

line. One noticed tt / German

observatn ws very quick -both

at Bresle yesty & here today-

they got immediately onto any

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There were 3 ordinary tanks

by Heilly Rly Station ( I dont think
trains run there now.)
As I came back I noticed
tt where our men had bn camped bivouacs
under / banks in / ploughed fields
there were frequently / signs of plucked 
fowls. The people of course have had
to leave their fowls, & their cattle (some of these are
found in stalls, shut up, without food - & so are /
tamed rabbits.)

 

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considerable moving parties

Xxxx at  I went on to

the 43rd Bn Hqrs. I didnt

think tt there had bn any great

movement on their part - I

saw none anyway. I heard

there tt all they were doing

at / moment ws to send out

two patrols to work around

two uncertain positns. Later,

at 10 Bde Hqrs, where they gave

me dinner, I heard tt there had

bn abt 50 casualties in the 

40^th Bn - tt there ws a very

hot mg. fire when they advanced

(I didnt hear it - the only heavy

fire I heard ws agst our

low flying planes a little later).

At 9 p.m. they told me the 43^rd

ws going to try & get round

behind a small German m.g. post in

I / wood in J 18 D at the Xing of

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※ xxx Monash when I saw

him xxx an hour later insisted 

tt the 40th were exactly in 
position.

We shifted to where Wilkins
has taken up his Hqrs in a little

cottage behind / church, (where
I have bn writing this.)

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of the Ville-Sailly & Bray Corbie

roads. The 40th went forwd & ws sd

to be in 12 Central & 17D Central. ※

3 German Divns were

sd by some prisoner, earlier,
to be in Morlancourt
March 29th Friday.

This mg. I decided to

stay in & write up this diary

before I forgot it all; while

Cutlack went to the 3^rd & 5^th

Divn & then to Rollencourt where

he cd spend / night & find 

out whether / Australians

cd be mentioned in our cables

yet. It is an enormous 

advantage working thus the

two of us together.^x

KI  went over to the 3rd

Divn to during / afternoon &

learnt / positn on their right.

The British are still marked on

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in / information maps messages as being

up / road thro P11, 17 & 23

E of the two woods S of Hamel.

The 40th Bn & 43rd Bn are

not on the line they meant to

get to but are still held up

on / crest by / little copse 

at I road Xing in J 18 D.

The 39^th, working down / valley

more, xxx got further ahead

- the 43^rd is in positn just

round / hill curve above

Sailly Laurette, where it ws meant

to be; but / small copse shd

apparently have been in 

its ground.

I wonder if we Australians

cd not play better than /

Germans the game of creeping

down the valleys & in behind

them while their position is 

not continuous. They are now

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busily digging a continuous 

line in front of (West of)

Morlancourt - we gave them

some shrapnel there today.

But There are still gaps

in their line- but their

obvious intention is to hold

us here by digging in & then

to throw themselves more

heavily agst / French further

South.

Genl. Maclagan wanted

to be alld to reconnoitre in

force tonight but ws ordered not to.

He will send out patrols & the

10^th Bde is also to try a

small advance.

The German has his spirits

well up before he meets our

men. But when once stopped

& slathered his tail goes down

very quickly indeed, so Arthur

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Maxwell tells me, (who is

now "General staff learner" on

4th D.H.Q.)

At Forceville yesty, further

North, & here at Baizieux

yesty, Australian patrols had to

be called in to help our police

in dealing w looting Tommies.

The Tommies ^here sometimes here

were taking / fowls & so on

before even / poor old folks o /

house had gone. The decent

Australians who saw them

were highly incensed & at

Forceville a fight followed

when one of / Englishmen called

the Australian offr who was

turning him out a "bastard."

The pity is tt some of our own

men at times do things quite equally over

/ odds & / few get a bad name

for / many.