Charles E W Bean, Diaries, AWM38 3DRL 606/104/1 - March - April 1918 - Part 6

79  64
more than / men, on / whole."]
Col. Butler tells me tt our
men are very universally
blaming Haig for this reverse
- & of course the Austln offrs
blame Gough whom they have
never liked since Pozieres. It 
is wonderful how true tt
intuition is. Every one whom
I speak to is glad tt Foch
has bn made C. in C.; but
I daresay / regular army
still maintains some oppositn.
White has never, curiously
enough, approved of it.
I see also tt Lloyd George
has issued an appeal to / 
Dominions tt / British 
Govt has bn greatly cheered
by / news of what /
Austln Dominion troops
 

79  65
have done;  & tt the
Allies "cannot have too
many of these splendid
men". Hughes has sd tt
the Austln Govt had accepted
/ peoples answer decision in favour
of voluntary recruiting & tt it 
ws  ^now up to Australia to see
tt voluntary recruiting gave
/ necessary men.
The Army says tt
both / Austlns & N.Zs
have bn identified by
/ Germans - & so our
copy has bn released
both for England & 
Australia.
April 2nd. After writing 
a home letter & a cable
I went to Hesdin Canteen
to get a number of small
 

79  66
articles - towel, soap,
writing paper, sardines,
tinned milk, collars for
Butler - a case of whisky
for Angus Mess, cigarettes
for Gelly -  & then thro
Doullens & Vauchelle
home. On reaching
Baizieux I founde in
front of our cottage door a 
board w a notice in chalk.
[Herbert has all the]
[gear in the Chateau Cellar]
[& will tell you where we]
[have gone]
Herbert ( a boy o / 13th Bn
who has bn lent to us to look
after our gear) came up
at / same moment &
gave me a note from
Cutlack. It said is attached:-
 

King & [shorthand]
Gellys & xxxxxx.
Ap3 [shorthand]
 

79  67/A
to see 3^rd Div. 4^th also have
some missing & prisoners
who "knew Austns were opposite."
So if you get to Beaucourt early
send the car on to meet me
(prob. at St Gratien or on that
road) if you can. I shall
go to Beaucourt on foot via
Tunnellers at Querrieu & 3^rd
Div HQ. Frid. 2pm 2/4/18

C.E.W. Bean Esq
 

79 67a  67/A
Dear Charles,
I have got all the 
news - right yesterday & Gellibrand
this morning. Herbert will
tell you of how they shelled Div HQ
out yestdy evening. They are
moving to BEAUCOURT (beyond N. of
Montigny) at 2p.m. & I have
asked Garvie to keep us a house
if he can. I have returned
to lunch in case you came &
am now off to Querrieu to see
Tunnellers - shall then go on
via 3^rd Div (Herbertson has
returned) to 4^th Div. Will meet
you thereabouts somewhere. Will
you please take on in / car my
kit (in cellar of chateau - Herbert
knows). H is a good chap &
we might keep him. I think we 
can get Austns identified officially
- which is one reason why I want
 

79  67
It turns out tt yesty, when 
Cutlack ws returning from
a visit to Gelly ^Vaux sur Somme, he noticed
a shell burst in / directn of
Baizieux Chateau. Then another
& another - As he reached /
old artillery horse lines
fifty yards from our cottage
another shell burst, not far
from / cottage. He thought -
"goodness! I hope Herbert has
not stayed there & got tt dinner
for me as I asked him to -
He will probably have had /
sense to get into / Chateau
cellars, or away from this
place." The cottage was just
at / back o / church wh
has a stumpy spire certainly
visible from Bocheland, &
I always thought tt if he shelled
 

79  68
/ place we shd be likely to
get / overs.
Cutlack went into / cottage
(they had smashed one cottage 
at / back o / church) & there
ws Herbert, w / dinner all
ready, & / potatoes cooked.
"Its too good a dinner to miss,
I reckoned",  he said to Cutlack.
So they Cutlack had it then & there.
They slept in / Chateau tt night,
but in the cellars. But
the German ws clearly shooting
at / Chateau & had three
or four hits in / drive,
knocked down a tree, a
shell into / garden bed in
front o / windows, another
through / church - & so
HQrs. came back to Beaucourt
near Montigny where 7^th Corps
Hqrs was. There I followed
 

79  69
them.   Old Butler had walked
all / way from Contay to warn 
us not to sleep in tt cottage
& he walked back to Beaucourt
afterwards, 4 or 5 miles.
We found Divn in a
fine Chateau at Beaucourt where
/ German had dropped a
shell in front o / church
tt very day.   He cant see this
place so it is good shooting -
We were too late to get a billett
& so Cutlack & Butler & I slept
in the drawing room of the Chateau,
putting aside the chairs (the place 
was simply studded with red cushioned
Louis XIV chairs like a pin cushion
with pins) amongst the exquisite
inlaid xxx tables - most beautiful
tables & cabinets worth any
amount of money.   It was like

sacrilege sleeping in / place - those
 

79  70
things ought to be in a museum.
Things had bn quiet during / 
day.
April 3rd.  The Germans attacked
the 12^th Bde this morning at / 
junction of the 12^th & 13^th Bdes.
They were / same 3^rd Naval Divn
who attacked in the Des same 
place a week ago.  They were
about a battalion strong
but they did not come at it
in very good heart.   We only
captd one & he sd tt they
did not think their artillery
support sufficient; so they had
not made a very determined
attack.   They were digging in
along the road to Albert 
wh runs just our side o /
Ancre.
[Hand drawn diagram – see original]
 

79  71
The 6 prisoners of the 3^rd Naval Divn
whom Gellibrand's men took
on April 1^st (he told Cutlack) were
a fine type of soldier & very
interesting. They sd tt there were
no detailed orders for anything
except / first German assault.
From that point they were simply
told to push where they could,
& keep on pushing as far as
they could. They sd tt the fighting
had bn very heavy & / English
resistance very brave. They had
been mown down xxxxxxx, but
their officers simply went on / plan
of throwing in men & more
men just as if men were pigs -
& they were very sick of it.   Their
officers left it to Junior N.C.O.s
to lead them & did not come
to / front themselves.
These naval men were
 

79  72
of a fine type, Gelly said.
They sd tt their Coy in this fighting
had bn reduced from 150 to abt
30. It had bn built up again
to 150 but ws of course cut up
again in / attack of April 1st.
Cutlack, who went to our
2nd tunnellers yesty says tt they
mined & blew up / Bapaume
Rd at La Boiselle - but they
were very short of explosive.
They mined / bridge at Aveluy
& were preparing to blow
it up, so soon as all / guns
& men shd have passed,
when a colonel, in a car
driven by a staff captain,
drove up & told them to 
blow up / bridge at once. 
Maj. Mulligan ws there &
refused to do so, as there were
lots of guns to come over