Charles E W Bean, Diaries, AWM38 3DRL 606/105/1 - April 1918 - Part 3

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along w some men. He sd tt

he understood part o / line ws

retiring. "This is a Brigade Hqrs

here," he sd." We have to go back but

I believe tt / front line is holding

them alright." We asked him

what the scene on / horizon meant

& he sd he didn't know. Someone told

us tt / offrs had bn trying to rally / men & they thought had

succeeded.

Wilkins & I  wd have waited

had we been on foot but the thought

tt / car on / main rd might be

swamped in / traffic o / retirement

made us retrace our way thro /

wood. Parties of British troops - parties

of from there men to a dozen or more-

were plodding rear wards, past

/ wood, off towards [[Caeky?]], off

towards / rear, all away from /

front. " Which is the road, [[?]]"

one party leader asked us.

"What road?" I asked. "The

main road," he sd. Another

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asked: "Which is the road to Amiens?"

("Aymeens" s he called it).

We asked of these to Youngsters what they were

retiring for. "There were to many

Germans for us," they said simply.

The guns on the road in /

wood were preparing to retire.

The German had lengthened his

artillery again & ws shelling

cachy, & some into the wood, & some occasional

shells well along / main road

towds Amiens. It seemed to me

tt he knew he had a broken

crowd in front of him & ws turning

his guns onto their retreat - but

very likely it ws / normal

lengthening onto targets in rear

after / attack. One or two

shells fell near / road on wh

we were passing.

At the bottom o / road, where

we got onto / Main rd leading

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straight from Amiens thro Villers

Bretonmeux (where 5th army Hqrs was

on March 21) we found bunches of

men about 12 to 25 strong walking back

down / main road, other stragglers

2 or 3 xxxxxx together, Artillery waggons -

& a few men w bayonets still fixed

on their rifles. These were Australians

 - the first we had seen in the crowd.

The first I asked what he was

doing told me tt they were retiring.

The line had been beaten back -

"I was pretty near captured, " he sd,

"I hung there till the German ws

within a hundred yards of me"

They sd tt / Germans had got

round their xxxx flank -

"we've been in five days without

a spell," sd a man of the 35th.

"He gave us a lot of gas shell

(his gas mask ws still in his hand)

"& we are pretty well done up."

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I said to some: " Look men, you

Australians here, its' no good

going on without knowing

where you're going to. Hang on

here a moment until an Australian

officer comes along,"

They stopped at once. "Well

as we're going to stop, " one said,

we may as well sit down."

Their rifles were choked w

mud but every single Australian

carried a rifle. There were some

of very battalion - but no

officer - only English officers.

I asked some o / British if

they had seen any xxxxx 

Australian battalions or knew

where any of our officers were.

One sd he thought there were

Australians digging in front o / wood.

Another sd that they were Austlns

whom we cd see retiring along

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/ rly line . I looked across -

the rly ran on a high

embankment just behind

us - & on top of it were

walking I suppose 100 men,

mostly w rifles & waterproof

capes - so they may have bn

Australians. About 30 more

were coming down to our cross

Road - I was anxious about

our car as / road ws swarming

w traffic & wanted Wilkins

to go on o / car while I found

an officer for these men, but

he would not agree to this.

Just then a 5.9 shell came

down about 10 yards from where

we stood & covered us all w

mud & wounded a man deside

us. That made me think this

cross road was registered &

that / German fire was going to

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Diagram

& one Austln sd tt our m.g. were

trying to hold the Germans up by / town

but tt he thought / Germans must

be in / town by now -t

 

 

29

80t

come onto / road . There was a heavy

rattle of m.g. around the town at

/ end o / road - xxxx these might

be our Diagram, but / road around up near /

town ws clearing & it looked as 

if / German might turn up there

at any moment. The shell settled

my attempted to hold / men till

I cd find an offr & we walked

up / road to find / car. I

thought he wd have gone in / [[?]]

but Wilkins sd he knew he wd

not stay. A score of cavalry

with an officer, if not two,

came down / road towards / near

at a canter pushing straight

thro / middle o / x mob - looking

rather panicked; I thought tt it

ws a very unwise thing to do, if

not worse. Abt / same time a

gunner officers found two his

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gunhorses & their drivers retiring.

"How dare you move those horses

without my order ?" he sd." go

back tbis instant - " It ws probly

/ same officer whom our car driver

(Jack-) told us of, who cursed

the head off the N.C.O. who ws bringing

up the [[?]] ammunition - "I thought

I ought to wait & see what happened,"

sd  / N.C.O. " I thought you might

want it. " The battery commander

told him to get / ammunition then

& there & bring it up at once

& as / man turned his horse

the C.O. gave it a cut across

the quarters w his stick.

A dozen tha battery teams were going

up / road to their guns clearly to

pull them out - men were

trooping down / rly & along / road

 - & it looked as tho thxxx old

game was begun again &

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A 33rd Bn signaller who ws retiring

carrying his telephone told me tt he

understood tt they had to retire

to the near o / wood.

There ws a line of trenches

newly dug near the back o / xxx

wood - just here we met the first

part of a former body of troops marching

up towds [[Bretonneuk?]]. I

recognised them as men whom

I had seen marching South thro

Beaucourt this morning. They had

an inverted black triangle on their sleeve

Diagram

We met others marching

at intervals all along

/ way to Corbie

9? 58th Divn)

 

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/ German had had another

break through - everyone there tt we

ws telling spoke to gave tt account of it - we drew

clear of crowd about the

first rly crossing - & went

home by Corbie in grear gloom,

calling at Corbie to let Gen

Elliott what we had seen so

tt if Villers [[Bret?]] were

taken he wd not be caught

in / flank. He had been

ordering his battalions to

reoccupy the german positns

lost East of Havel, if  possible.

He withdraw this order & told 

them to be careful on their

right flank & to send, patrols

out towards V-[[Ber?]] to

see what / situation was.

On reaching Division I told

Gen. Maclagan also at his mess?)

I was sure than that

 

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Very likely, I told Maclagan & Elliott

the 9th Aust Inf Bde was making /

fight of its history in defence of tt

village. We saw nothing to account for /

whole Bde except tt we saw men of

every u nit in it. They might have bn

desperately [[thrown?]] in ,I thought-

Maclagan & Elliott no doubt cd

clearly see tt x I thought V. [[Bert?]]

had gone - indeed, Though I didnt say

so, I thought the positn there quite

hopeless. The one thing tt cheered

us ws / difference between our men

& / British in / retreat - out men

most easy to handle - quite easy to

take back if we had had an

officer there - The British , though

only walking as if from a football

match, were clearing panicked

& quite spiritless. I only saw one of

our men frightened - & he came up &

asked me where his Bn was. He had

foam at / corners of his lips & shocked

eyes - the Germans had all but cut him

off - indeed he had been through a very 

bad time.

 

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The line had gone at V. [[Ber?]]. at / same time

there ought to be too fresh Battalions of the 9th Bed &

we had certainly not seen anything xxx  a whole Brigade.

had dinner with Wilkins

Had dinner with Wilkins & Cutlack

Cutlack & went very depressed

to bed. Old Butler, old trump tt

he is, had dinner w us &

offered to do what I have bn

yearning to do - to get the

go north & see if by his personal

efforts he cannot get the

war museum relics removed

from our store at Bailleul where

they are in great danger

both from shell fire & from a 

possible German attack, to

have already lost one of our

[[?]] guns, xxxxx

a 77, & a heavy [[?]]

wh the 2nd Tunnellers had

rescued for us and /German

has retaken; & all the heavier

relics of our Corps school at

Aveley.

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Diagram

The line ws gn:-

19 corps situation, 7p.m. 3rd Cavalry

Divn from Vaire Sous Corbie along road to

P 8 a 7.9. PA central, P 8 D oo, P 14 A 20,

P 13 D 20, P 19 D 70, houses in P 25 c ;

Australian battalion from houses in P25c

to V 2 C o.o.; 18th Divn from V2c.o.o.,

V 8 a. o.o., V.13. centl. V 19 A7.4,

U 30 A o.7, U 30 A o.o - junction with

French.

From thre French from a reliable

source: " a converging attack on Amiens

tomorrow (5/4/18) form / directn of

Albert & Roye."

 

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April 15th

: Going up to / chateau

this morning I saw Laverack beckoning

to me from his office. GSO I 'm glad to

say you were wrong - he said.

According to our latest information

the 19th Corps is still holding

/ line in front of Villers [[Ber?]]

I saw tt this report

ws dated 7 p.m. from 19th

Corps Diagram wh meant tt it left the

front before  the situation 5 - &

therefore before what we had

seen, & there ws no news

since, I therefore went w

Cutlack in / car to [[Gentilles?]]

as things were so uncertain

down there we took all

our goods on / car except

our food supply. We cut round

thro Amiens where there were a

 few Australians & along the 

Peronne Rd past [[?]]  to / turning

off to Blangy Tronville. All ws sd