Charles E W Bean, Diaries, AWM38 3DRL 606/104/1 - March - April 1918 - Part 3

30
Cutlack, who went down to
Cachy next day, to see if there
were any news of the 9^th Bde
being in a fight, noticed an order
at Genl. Rosenthals HQrs for men of
force known as Carey's Force who
might be found straggling by our police
to report to Longueau. Careys order
of battle on 26th March was gn 
as opposite: -  →

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of the burst. Our people never seem 
to worry about getting a cross
observation (the British do not,
either, Cutlack says). As we watched
a battery of 4 heavies somewhere behind
us got onto them, & another battery of
field guns. Our young observers gave
up after failing to see 3 or 4 bursts. As
I came away the Germs. were still
walking on / skyline & I think / guns
had begun to fire.
All below to report to Longueau. 
[*Copied by Cutlack 
31/3/18*]
216  A T Coy RE.               100 )
253 Tunn Coy                   300 )    18 Div. front
111 Corps School              400 )
No 1 RE Bn XIX Corps     250 )

No 4 Workshops Co RE    110 )    61 Div
No 2 Canadian Ry Bn.      400 )    front.

144 AT Coy Rt                     135
213 __________                     100
217 __________                     100
353 __________                    200
5 Army inf school              300
"  musk. school                   100
XIX Corps School                 40
USA troops                          500
5 Army Sigs                          150

Order of Battle of Carey's Force
20/3/18.
⇡

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32
I trudged home across the

fields - at Ribemont I saw a
sturdily built man in a top hat,
waterproof cape, waterproof
trousers, with a stick, walking
down / road with It one of our 
men. It was Capt. Orchard
38^th Bn. I suppose he was
amusing his men - he seemed
a cheerful sort of chap
I took a snap of him (he            
had been up to his
posts in / reserve line)
but I fancy it was too
dark for it come out.
Sketch, see original document.

I made up the 
Lavieville Rd. At the Ribemont
Corner from / inside of a big
barn were coming sounds of
merriment & snatches of song 
- so I imagine tt somebody
had got hold of some

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champagne in there - there
is any amt. of cheap sweet
champagne in these villages &
as the shells will certainly get
it & / poultry if the men
dont, they make free w both
of them. On / other hand our
men have been very moderate
in the villages - passing thro
Ribemont one noticed tt /
houses still had their furniture,
& numbers of things tt soldiers
wd value, lying opened to 
view by / shells. Our men
in some of these villages have
bn put on their honour not to
xxxxx take / things from / billets they
live in - to leave them as they
find them; & in most cases
this seems to work be observed
so / officers say. [In /

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villages S. of the Somme a list
is being kept, as far as possible,
of the articles taken for use,

& they will be paid for if /
German is thrown back & /
villages are preserved. If
/ villages are destroyed ^or / Germans advance they
wd have bn destroyed also. I 
dont know what will be
done in tt case.

I went past / deserted
Lavieville Aerodrome -^empty Champagne
bottles lined / roads, on both
banks, all / way. At the
Cross roads, where / shelling
had bn heavy, were a
couple of Royal Field Artillerymen
lying dead. I found
Gellibrand in a cottage
on / left hand side o /
rd just after it turns into
/ village. The old chap ws

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well except for want of sleep.
He had tried to sleep, he sd,
but he couldn't. The house is
very dangerous in a straf - 
they had their office in / cellar
& their mess upstairs, & /
Germans were constantly 
throwing shells into / village
behind wh there are a
good many guns. Two days
ago they gave Lavieville a very
heavy time, & the house across
/ road from Gelly's went down
to a single small shell. (Wilkins
& Cutlack didnt go into
Lavieville tt day on a/c of the
shelling). Gelly gave me
a good dinner - & I walked

home afterwards thro'
Henencourt wh is still
quite intact. In the ^great old
empty hangars on I Baizieux Road

36
29 March. 8.55pm. I see by a wire from 3^rd
Divn tt the 9^th Bde has been put under
5^th Army (19^th Corps, 61^st Divn) at Cachy.

Details of 21^st Divn have been sent
to Cachy also.

2 Bdes of the 5^th Divn. have bn put at /
disposal of our 3^rd Divn. [This
seems later to have bn

reduced to one Bde - 15^th).

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a couple of fires were 
flickering & infantry ^men - British arty, I think - were
camped.

Cutlack, who was back
from Rollencourt, tells me tt
/ Correspts there are all very
dispirited - No news of the
French. 

March 3 Gellibrand tells me tt
/ story of our 'planes
dropping firing at our men, & his giving
orders to fire back on any plane
which fired at them, ws true. Also 
tt the whippet tanks were sent
down on / 'planes' report tt /
Germans had broken through.

Gelly says tt / details o /
German attack from Dernancourt
are hard to get. It ws more
of an advance than an 
attack - first 150 infantry
(perhaps) scouting & feeling their

38
As I came home down /
road to Henencourt from Lavieville
I saw a flare in / distance
directly down / road behind me.
Now tt meant tt / German attack
S. of the Somme must have reached
tt line. We looked at it aftwds
on / map & found tt / line
passed just E of Villers Bretonneux
& W of a village in / valley
S of it. This seemed to show tt /
Germans had advanced during / 
day.

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way. These in / early morning
in some places get across the rly
line. The officer & 40 men, who
were captured, wd tell very
little. The offr wd not even
talk o / condition o / food in
Germany. "I may not speak
of it even in Germany, " he sd.
Gellibrand gently pulled his
leg. He wd not even give his
regiment & division.

All this means a big

improvement in / German morale.
March 31st. ^I asked Cutlack to go
first to Cachy (thro' Amiens) to
hear if the 9^th Bde were in the 
fight yesty, while I stayed &
wrote. He came back in /
evg. having seen the 9^th Bde at
Cachy. They sd tt they had
been asked to advance in a

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S.E. directn S of Villers
Bretonneux. They found
no one in their way - neither
any formed body of English
nor Germans. They pushed their
way thro the Bois de Hangard
& the wood to the E of it &
there w settled on a line in
front of Aubercourt (^on the spur
in V 18 13 & U 24. They did
not push into Aubercourt
as it ws strongly held by
machine guns & they thought
they wd probly get it only 
for some tired troops to lose
it later. Hangard to / south
ws at tt time British.
The 1^st Cavalry Divn ws on 
their (? N) flank & the 2nd
Cavalry Divn on / South.
They were leaving one bn (the

41
Wilkins went out to the
Chimney near Corbie, &
S of the Somme, thro' Vaire,
but cd find none of our
men.

A plot.
The German planes were so active
(for / first time) all this morning tt I
am pretty sure something must be coming.
Probably he is photographing our lines for a
full dress attack wh must come later somewhere [[?]].

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36^th I think) to hold / line &
the remainder were withdrawn
into Villers Bretonneux or Cachy
in order to c-attack in any
directn tt ws needed. The bn in line was
to be relieved by an English
Divn (?16 or 18^th) & / whole
Bde kept in reserve.

The 15^th Bde at / same
time had bn found by
Cutlack at Bonnay &
Corbie, watching the
fords of the Somme.

It was another wet
day - not so wet as yesty
& w fine intervals.

April 1st. I started for
Rollencourt abt midday in
order to make inquire if
our cables were freed for 

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Australia, & also to
buy some stores. I started
by way of the N.Z. Divn & our
4^th Bde. It ws very difficult
to find the N.Z. Divn. Before I
started someone sd they were at
Varennes. We went there thro'
Contay & Toutencourt & found
British Artillery men everywhere but
no New Zealand troops. The big Scottish
policeman at / corner thought
they had moved to Harponville.
We hurried tt way, & outside
Harponville began to find
our 14^th Bde - 53^rd Bn.
A number of British

labour battalion men were
digging a line across /
empty green & plough lands
(part o / same splendid
G.H.Q. - ye Gods! G.H.Q! line
wh the forethought o / French