Charles E W Bean, Diaries, AWM38 3DRL 606/106/1 - April 1918 - Part 1

AWM38
Official History,
1914-18 War: Records of C E W Bean,
Official Historian.
Diaries and Notebooks
Item number: 3DRL606/106/1
Title: Diary, April 1918
Includes reference to the German attacks on
Dernancourt and in Flanders
AWM38-3DRL606/106/1 AUSTRALIAN WAR MEMORIAL RCDIG1066551                                                                

DIARY106  3
April 5. 1918 to 
Ap 14TH
Original   DIARY NO. 106
AWM 38  3DRL  606     ITEM 106 [1]
DIARIES AND NOTES OF C. E. W. BEAN
CONCERNING THE WAR OF 1914-1918
The use of these diaries and notes is subject to conditions laid down in the terms
of gift to the Australian War Memorial. But, apart from those terms, I wish the
following circumstances and considerations to be brought to the notice of every
reader and writer who may use them.
These writings represent only what at the moment of making them I believed to be
true. The diaries were jotted down almost daily with the object of recording what
was then in the writer's mind. Often he wrote them ;when very tired and half sleep;
also, not infrequently, what he believed to be true was not so - but it does not
allow that he always discovered this, or remembered to correct the mistakes when
discovered. Indeed, he could not always remember that he had written them.
These records should, therefore, be used with great caution, as relating only what
their author, at the time of writing, believed. Further, he cannot, of course, vouch
for the accuracy of statements made to him by others and here recorded.  But he
did try to ensure such accuracy by consulting, as far as possible, those who had
seen or otherwise taken part in the events. The constant falsity of second- hand
evidence ( on which a large proportion of war stories are founded) was impressed
upon him by the second or third day of the Gallipoli campaign, not withstanding that
those who passed on such stories usually believed them to be true. All
second-hand evidence herein should be read with this in mind.
16 Sept., 1946                C. E. W. BEAN
AUSTRALIAN WAR MEMORIAL
ACCESS STATUS
OPEN

M. Barton,
7956 
51 Bn. 
_____________ 

83     DIARY  106 3 April 5. 1918 to 
Ap 14th
Diagram - see original document           

 2
Our patrols told is some time 
before the fight tt the Germans were
massing - & so our arty ws
turned on.
The  Germs (?at the same time)
attacked agst Treux wood, but with
no force.  They were driven off r/left
bties of the 3rd Div /  Arty were of great
help in shelling the Germs attacking
the 4th Divn ( so MacLagan says) 

83 DIARY  106 3 April 5. 1918 to 
Ap 14th
Apr 5 (continued)
The 4^th Divl Hqrs were still
anxious & worried about the days
fighting.  Their two Bdes had
met portions of 3 German Divns
so far as they knew - & they were
each of then fought to a standstill.
Col. Laverack, who had been up had
just come back when we returned;
& he sd tt the impression he
received was tt  each side had fought 
other to a stalemate . The Germans ^(I will add to the acct he
then gave, some of the details discovered by Cutlack next
day] Boche  had begun by putting down a
heavy area straf ( back about 
as far as Baizieux or Lavieville, I 
suppose).  They then gradually
drew it back onto the front line
wh they had bn bombarding w 
trench mortars.  At abt

4
※  The 47^th Bn lost frightfully in 
the bombt.; they are at present 43 strong.
Their two support coys were practically
wiped out -  Gelly had gn instrns to 
Leane & Imlay to disguise their
trenches as far as possible &
he thinks Leane may have  done this
better than Imlay.
xxxx   It is pretty certain tt it
ws thro the 47^th at the level Xing
(Cutlack says) & not thro the 52nd
tt the Germs. pushed. The Sergt
of the left coy of 52nd got out
& he states tt the first  the
52_^^B saw of the Germs ws them
coming on them from behind
thro the mist.
McDougall of the 47^th & his
V.C. recommendation. 

83        5 
8.30 a.m., after 2½ hours of
bombardment, they all attacked.
Their infantry broke thro' ( apptly
at the rly arch West of Dernacourt)
where a coy of 52nd Bn had lost
all its offrs. ※  From there they
began to shoot the 52nd in the
back.
I don't know if there ws an 
immediate c-attack then & there.
But the Germans got up the 
hill & Col. Laverack thinks
they reached the Quarry here.
The Stokes mortar detachment
 - 2 guns, wh I think were in
the quarry - put 370 rounds
into the rly arch & the street
behind it - & then destroyed
their guns & went & fought 
w the infantry.  The machine
guns of the 24^th Coy on the Eastern
bend of the same hill fought till

7     83 

diagram - see original document 

83
While he was talking and asked them to restore the line. The cavalry dismounted the squadron should  attack the infantry forwards. On our way there we passed many uselessly entrenched positions and many structures. They were not [?]. Men realised that the British had been. Germans had got into E and SE position of the ridge. Cavalry cleared them in fine style. They covered the ridge and covered the flanks supporting him against hostile fire from Marc Aubard. They shelled all on horseback. At 5 pm we went forward and went north on watch I had over only [?] S of the watch to valley was shelled heavily. The attack developed and our men went forward without artillery support. Germans had 3 [?] on road which with 6 m.gs and fired very hard but our men went right on (170 casualties) and dug in. That mission has still held as far as we know. It was in very rainy weather.

83          8
The Germans swamped them.
Murray, who commands
them, says tt those on the W. portion
oot the hill, 4 of them, fought , he believes,
until the last  & died fighting.
Those further E, put up a
very hard scrap, & when very 
heavily pressed, & possibly w the
guns out of action, surrendered
 - Murray says he saw this
himself.
The m.gs. of the 13^th Bde
- down on the rly near Buire -
hopped out over the rly &
enfiladed the German, or took
him in the back. [There is a story
of a German 7.7 wh ws brought on to
the rly by a team & fired E along it -
but I dont know yet if it is another
version of the same incident.]
The 52nd Bn was holding
from Buire to Dernancourt, & the

83      9
48^th & 47^th from there on to the
Amiens Rd outside Albert. The
48^th and 52nd had their right &
left flanks respectively bent
right back.  A portion of the 
48^th held on w its flank bent
back so far tt the men were fighting
back to back - & remained 
there until well on into the aftn
before giving. In the meantime
the Germans had got apptly to the
Quarry & to the old C.C.S.  NW
of Dernancourt.  A c-attack ws
organised - the 49^th and 45^th
attacking, & other scraps of the
48^th & 52nd, who had fallen back,
joining in w them as they 
advanced.  They found, as they 
came thro the C.C.S. the Germans
with  their backs or flank to them,
attacking part of our line wh
was holding there. The first

10
[ The 12th Divs on our left ws
attacked either this day or the next.
& lost some part of Aveluy Wood.
It ws uncertain on Ap 7. ( at least
our 4^th Divn didn't know) how
much they lost.  There has bn a 
good deal of firing tt way & Hebuterne
Way - mostly ours I believe.]
Murray sd tt  at now a couple
of Bns cd drive the Germans back
quite easily. But Maclagan
wdnt think of using his Austln
reserves in  tt way.  "If I had
a Bde of the 1st Divn behind me,"
he sd, " I wd do so" - ( but  not,
he meant, w the 106^th Bde, wh
was thro the big battle.)
He ws going to reestablish the
post on the S. of the Rd where the  Bap.
rd runs down to Albert. I dont
know if this ws done during the night.
The British post N of the rd in the quarry by the
Bouzincourt Rd ws pushed in either then or later. 
 

83    11
story was tt they met two German
waves advancing, & shattered
first one & then the other; but
this turns out to be untrue;
(Cutlack went there next day &
inquired) - the Germans crumpled
when they saw our men
coming, & ran back towds rly.
By evening both lines had
fought themselves to exhaustion.
The Germans were along across the rly
line to abt halfway to Buire
where the 52nd still held.
They crossed the line here &
up the hill by the Quarry (I'm 
not sure if they hold this; & then
round the hill sides to the 
Albert Amiens Rd.  They 
had not got the hill top at
any point.
Now the hillcrest in front
of Lavieville is what they

 83       12
want in order to have the
observation over our line
towards the S.W. - they wd
make it most difficult for the
3rd Divn (Maclagan says) if they
had this crest. Maclagan
rang up 7th Corps when I ws
there - he ws very anxious
about what he shd do if he
were c-attacked in the mg because
he had only the 50^th Bn, 4^th Pioneer
Bn, & 2 coys of 51st Bn in
reserve, & some tanks -
(5 tanks were somewhere near
Lavieville or Baizieux & 3 had
gone forward to help in
reestablishing the line - somewhere
near the C.C.S. I fancy.)
Maclagan sd to the Corps Commdr
(Gen Congreve): I have reason to 
believe tt in the morning the men in