Diaries of C E W Bean, AWM38 3DRL 606/107/1 - April 1918 - Part 1

AWM38
Official History,
1914-18 War: Records of C E W Bean,
Official Historian.
Diaries and Notebooks
Item number: 3DRL606/107/1
Title: Diary, April 1918
Included notes on photographs by Sir Hubert
Wilkins and Frank Hurley, and on Baron von
Richthofen, the 3rd and 48th Battalions,
Bullecourt and Dernancourt.
AWM38-3DRL606/107/1

107 1
DIARY Ap. 15/1918
to Ap. 22
Original DIARY No. 107.
AWM 38    3DRL 606 ITEM 107 (1)
DIARIES AND NOTES OF C.E.W. BEAN
CONCERNING THE WAR OF 1914-1918
The use of these diaries 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 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 asleep;
also, not infrequently, what he believed to be true was not so = but it does not
follow 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, notwithstanding that
those who passed on such stories usually themselves 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

1
107
DIARY Ap. 15/1918
to Ap.22
Ap. 15. We hear tonight tt l Germans
are held up at last in front of
the Forêt de Nieppe, & Merris; that
They have a corner of Bailleul &
have twice been thrown out of
Neuve Eglise.
A man from G.H.Q told
our 3rd Divnl Staff tt the 1st Aust
Divn ws in l line holding l whole
Corps front from Merris to
St Venant, 2nd & 1st Bdes in line,
3rd Bde in close support w l
Pioneers.
A cold bleak day - like
yesty. Wilkins has gone North
- our car is in I workshops or
I shd be with 1st Divn -

89
2
Tues Ap. 16  Sid Gullett arrived tonight.
He told us tt he had got the trophies
away from Bailleul on April 
9 under I hottest shellfire he
had ever bn under in his
life – & he ws through I battle
of Polygon Wood. He could not
get lorries from anywhere;
The officers whom he asked,
however willing to help, had no
lorries to give him. Finally
he looked for lorries wh had
apparently nothing to do for a
few hours & gave the drivers a
money tip to come & help him. He
arranged to get I lorries into
Bailleul on I morning of April
9^th. That mg the bombt
started. The streets of Bailleul
were impassable - the lorryies

89
3
drivers were very windy about
going into. I place (they had
actually to go round it) & keeping
them still while they were loading
Gullett had to giveI drivers a tip to
do the loading, & they did
load those lorries in post haste quick time -
there ws no mistake abt I
work they put into it, Gullett
says. They were taken by
roundabout roads to Caestre
& the military forwarding officer
there was persuaded, cajoled &
entreated to put them in trucks.
They occupied one huge truck &
I part of another. By this
time lorries were being
commandeered to carry
ammunition - even the lorrys
wh our Corps sent up to bring
back its details in was
commandeered on I way &

89
4
made to carry ammunition.
The loading in Bailleul w I
shells crashing down into tt
town ws one o I XXXXX most awkward
things he had ever undertaken
- Gullet says. But luck ws in. If he had
arranged to send them to
Steenwerck they wd have
been in German hands, tt
day. He had chosen
Caestre as less busy - &
they were safe there.
xxx While he ws in
his hut at Corps Hqrs at
Flêtre next day  evy night abt 1 am. there ws
a scream thro' I air,
a crash, & the hut shivered
& humped itself up - Five
minutes later came a second
shell & Corps Hqrs shifted.
There ws a huge crater abt
20 feet across  25 yards from I hut.

89
5
Poor Gullett! In I middle of all his
troubles I sent him that most
lovable unselfish impracticable
Col. Newcome of an assistant
- Col. Butler. He sd this ws I
last straw. By a brilliant flash of
intuition he finally switched
dear old Butler off onto salving
the  ₤12,000 of Comforts Fund gifts
in Bailleul. When last seen
"Gertie" Butler ws wandering
off thro Flêtre with his pack,
tin mug, haversack, over coat,
in a tin hat seeking for further
lost causes to serve. Goodness
knows where he now is! I
trust not in Germany.
I saw Col. Leane two days
ago & got from him I story of
to 48Bn in I Dernancourt

89
6
fight. In I course Gelly considers
him a magnificent Colonel - & so
he is - w a magnificent battalion.
Leane thinks I same of Gellibrand.
Of course one knew Gelly's Bde
wd do grand things. He has made the
46 Bn - The 47 is not quite right -& Imlay is
to go. Leane told me the story of
Ap 9. 1917 before Bullecourt.
on Ap9 . the Battle of Arras
occurred. And on Ap 9 Gen. Robertson
(who wd never admit argument
as Gelly will) ordered Leane to
take Bullecourt W 200 men!
It ws not occupied, be held;
Leane sd tt he had bn within
200yds o I face of it, all along,
& he believed tt it ws,
strongly held. He sd he didnt

89
7
think it cd be done.
"But you must do it,"
sd Robertson.
"No man who goes over ab it
will come back"  sd Leane.
"You can never accomplish
anything without taking a risk,"
sd Robertson - "It is an order,
& it must be done."
Leane sd : "well, if you will
write on paper an order to me
to do it, I will do it. But
I must have it in writing".
Robertson cd not understand
this opposition.
"Well - if it has to be done
I shall put my nephew's Coy
to do it,"  sd Leane. " I cant ask
any one Else to do undertake

89
8
such an enterprise - I shall
be sending my nephew to certain
death. And for the reason I am
not going to do without
putting up an opposition to it."
At tt moment a staff
offr from Divn came in I
supported Leane & the attack
wsn't undertaken
["But Gelly will let you
put your reasons for & agst, in
a case like tt," sd Leane to me.]
Two men of 24 Aust M.g.
Coy, who were captured at Dernanct,
Coy escaped from I Germs & were
seen by Cutlack 2 days ago.
They said tt they never
fired one shot before they
were captured. They had their