Diaries of C E W Bean, AWM38 3DRL 606/107/1 - April 1918 - Part 4

33
Guards Bde}
& 892 Bde   }
Xxx
Ap. 18. 
Snowing tonight- hard bitter
white sleet showers from occasional
dense dark clouds. Exactly like this
time last year.

89    34
succeeded so well tt  /
Germans followed it up - first
got thro opposite Warneton,
then later in / morning further
north, then at Messines; &
xx did it w / tired Divns in / line.
Up here at 1^st Divn.
Col Blamey says he is sure tt
is not true, but tt / push
ws intentional.
The 2nd Aust Bde comes
out tomorrow night, to be
reld by 31st Divn; the
3rd Bde similarly goes in to
relieve / French who the push move
further north; the 2nd
Bde go into close support in
/ North as tt is / part where
/ pressure is.

89                                                     35
3rd Bn. Got in on night  12/13 9p.m.
arrvd 9pm moved straight in.  Were there all next
day.  Night of 13 Tommies whose
whereabts wsn't known came thro' abt 4 am on 14^th
 Abt 5 am  Germs. were seen coming
on in gt no^s.  Field gun on road.
got into heights and enfiladed.
Prescott & platoon c/att^d & K. 40
Lt Champion C.O. B. Coy was K.
Sniped when things were quiet, abt 7 p.m.
It ws fine.
Champion asked Prescott & P.
went out as on parade & 500 Germs fell
back.   (Young Prescott - son of Lt M Newington)
B Coy estd tt they killed 500 Germs.
Got in contact abt 7 pm. Fighting
till 7 pm when 150 Germs came out.
Practly none got back & in this last att. we had
not one cas. Coy had abt 60
during / day.
This ws on left of Strazeele Stn 
2 Corpxx Germs came
along from Merris & Vieux Berguin

36
III
III
Germ. offr who told us he had shot some of
his men.

89     37
[*Day of  14th*]  in fours later in day. But before
this a screen came along before them & then 6 waves. 
Few dead were left in / farm where Prescott ws.
& the Gs have bn occupying / farm since.
[*House in E.6c 5.g]
[*They are there still*]
[*This [[?]] enfiladed [[?]] for a time but we had to get out of it*]
We left dead in / house.  Watchmaker who gave away his watches
on the 1st day the Gs brought a gun up to 800 yds
& coolly fired.
They saw / Gs too far away to fire on them.
A mg. fires effectively up to 600 - 700  ^x .
Dubois platoon let / Germs skirmishers get within 30 yards
of the p. before they opened fire. They passed / word back -
Does Mr D. allow us to fire yet? They wd have scattered
first if he had shot before. They were being enfiladed by
D Coy on their rt before. There were 6 waves.
11 am
Germans fell back like a green 
screen when these 20 men went out. 40 were
killed at / house. We lost 6 K 3wd.
[*House in E6c5.9*] 
They were getting thro. / hedge.
Prescott took ch. of this coy aftwds.
No fighting exc. this day (14).
On 17^th we saw many Germans. They lined
/ parapets opposite B coy but / arty dispersed them

38
[Hand drawn diagram - see original.]
(Right)
Pradelles
Mt des Calō
Strazeele
Merris
(Centre)
Cassel
Sec Bois Stn
Borre
Pradelles
(Left)
Hazebrouck
View of Strazeele ridge (from the plain to Southwards near
Sec Bois) 19/4/18

89     39
Burrell says he has never seen / men so cheerful & confident. 
The G. has registered w T.M.
On 17^th Germ^s. were coming up across country with
2 limbers & m.gs. One of the 3Bn L.Gs.
got on to them & laid them out straight.
_^(German) Officers who got out of trench on 17^th & tried (to get their men
forward)
2nd Bde
Got in on Night of Frid. Ap. 12 holding
abt 5000 yds with 7 Bn and m.gs. 
By daylight 8 Bn were in posn.
Ap.13.   Afternoon - Guards came thro
2nd Bde.  Before this,  abt lunchtime there
was a heavy rifle & mg fire.
(Daly was killed this day)
This ws prob the 92 Bde & Gds being cut off by Gs.  On rt
gds were still holding (50 of them w 5 Div)
Epinette. Gs had prob. got thro'
/ 13^th Ap. & were enfilading them w mgs
as they retired.  A tremendous n^o were 

89      40
scuppered.
8 batallion and ½ 7 Bn 6 Bn then became
/ front line. The only tps ahead of them were
the gds in Ferme Baillieu.
8 Bn this aftn ws holding attack.
2 posts were blown out w heavy TMs.
(Posts we had dug behind hedges & / Gs got
into these & they must have found some of our 
dead there. They were in E17C.  The 
TMs were in a factory there wh / arty
ws trying to hit on the Rue du Bois.
We were going to rush this but / arty
cdnt keep / fire down.
On Ap. 15 there was a lot of fire - arty
& rifle & m.g.  Germans concentred
\ Rue du Bois, Section G
Fme Baillieu. The arty broke these up.

89      41
100 men came out agst 8 Bn
on 14^th & left 1 offr & 19 men dead
& we captd 5 m.gs. N of Rue
du Bois. The mgs. are still there,
mounted. They sent up 800,000 rounds of ammn
this time in to it.
16 Ap. 7 Bn attd by 3 officers and
200 o.r. Drove them off w heavy loss &
captd a prisoner & m.g. This showed a new
divn from Alsace - 48 Reserve Divn.
(12 & 19 since identified) These are not regular organised attacks.
17 Ap. 8^th Bn were there holding attack
Gs were seen scattering but didnt reach /
line. There ws heavy shellfire tt day.
Losses of 8 Bn much heavier than 7^th.
Everything is on / left sector. South, the wood 
is a good screen.

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Originally line of 2 Bde went down
to K 14 in support line wh they were
digging - further down than where the artillery crosses the
La Motte Merville Rd.
When they took over from the guards we 
shortened front to Candescure.
2 Bns relieve 7 Bn
2 Bns of 92 Bde relieve 8 Bn.
(One Bn each in reserve.  The 5 division
on right having come from Italy have 4 Bns
each). Gds have abt 400 in a bn.
The fighting of Ap .13
wiped out completely the Brit. in front of
2 Bde - v. few got back at all
exc. on / rt.x Gds were holdg a v.
big frontage.
On night of 12^th 2 Bde had 2 coys actually on the
Vieux Berguin Rd.  British were in front, but

89     43
neither they nor Germans were in
Merris & we had Merville.
The people Brit. were ordd to occupy
Merris & when they did this on morning of
13^th our Coys were withdrn to line in
front o / forest. There were
then 2 divl Hqrs in Lamotte on
12^th. They went / same aftn.
(31 & 50 Bns) 31 w guards now
have taken over from us.
The 4^th Gds Bde were rushed
up by lorries to Rousset Fm on Ap 11 -
deployed straight from busses & rushed straight into /
fight. & had heavy fightg in front.
They said tt / fightg in the S was nothing to this.
They were there in front of Merville
from S of Merville Rd to Verte
Rue. There was a gap there. They held an
enormous front. One Bn Coldstreams
lost 17 officers 500 o.r. & they weren't at full strength.

89      44
We relieved 3 Cos & 220
men.  Coldstreams Irish Gds
Pioneers Bn  Y & Lancs.
Ap. 19 I am writing this in bed in
our comfortable photographers' hut
at Steenvoorde after a long day
on the 1^st Divn^s front. The
1^st Divn moved today to San Sylvestre
Cappel; so _^Boddy & I started after breakfast,
& drove thro' Hazebrouck to Borre
(Hazebrouck shows nothing like
the signs of shelling tt I shd have
expected - very little not a great deal more
than when we were last there.
There are 3 or 4 very light shell
marks in / paving o / big
square - a few _^ cobble stones out
of place. One shell fell there in
one corner o / square as 
Boddy drove out at / other.

89     45
I sent Boddy back thro
Hazebrouck to wait for me
in Morbecque - while I revisited
the old _^ familiar country where first
we "lobbed" in France - so
peaceful then - Borre, Sec Bois,
La Motte.
Abt midday Wilkins passed
Boddy & told him tt if we wanted
to stay / night up here we shd
find Joyce at the Hut, & plenty
of food.
At 8 pm after a long & xxx fairly
heavy day we reached / hut.
Joyce bicycled off & got us some
hot potatoes & vegetables from
a French house up / road - the
house o / caretaker  o / roads -
he has come to know all / 
people around here like a friend