Charles E W Bean, Diaries, AWM38 3DRL 606/108/1 - April - May 1918 - Part 3

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U/13 was to be heavily shelled
w gas (yellowX)
 

              I suppose |  poor Tommies
were scared by those prancing
German Tanks. What earthly
preparation has | British army
made to meet them tho they knew
they were coming. The poor Tommies
up there on | flat had as far
as I know no plan, no
instructions - & certainly
no means of fighting them -no guns.
The tanks wd have their way
at will to do as they liked
agst  m.gs on the level there
until 3 of our tanks were
sent up there. And as [[?]] Wertheim
says tt he hears British tanks
met & were beaten by | Germans
 

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      ones, wh had 2 powder
      guns where ours had only
      m.gs.
 

Late at night.          A heavy firing of
       cannon has broken out to
       the South. The moon is fairly
       bright behind clouds (at
      8.30 it was still daylight,
      at 9.30 a diffused moonlight
     a man _^^{wd be} visible at 30 yds.)
    One cannot help thinking 
     of our magnificent 13th
     Bde going over - as they
     may be doing now.
              I don't believe they
    have a chance - no one
    worth anything to left or right,
     5000 yds to [[?]]_^ thro / enemy another
     Bde to meet in 1 dark.
 

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      Hobbe & Peek think they
      will.
                I scarcely think it will
      come off - surely
Ap. 25
         British _^^Corps Commandr (Glasgow says)
        wanted the attack at 8 rather
        than 9 & 9  rather than 10.
        It took place at 11 & 1st Bde
        was an hour late.
   xxxxxx    Went to bed thoroughly
       depressed last night feeling
       certain that this hurried attack
      would fail hopelessly. For
      one thing I thought | English on
      / right wd probably be slow
      or not go at all & tt the 13th
     Bde wd lose its way.
               Went up before breakfast
to the _^^2nd Divl Hqrs &  found asked 
 

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      if / attack went forward.
          "Well, they say tt the 15th &
      13th Bdes are East of  V/Bretonneux",
     sd McCall.
           It appeared tt there ws still
     a German remnant in V/B, & tt
     the left  of 13th Bde ws hung up
     by heavy mg. fire from the rly
     on our side o / town. But
     We heard heavy firing at 8.30
      & I thought perh. / Germans
     had attacked them  - it ws
     their best chance.
             At  5th Divn  however at
11 am _^^where we found_^ ^{the lawn in front of Daoars Bussy Chateau}   t xxxx xxxxxxxx  xxxx 
covered, w German prisoners. We heard tt our
Bdes  were still E of / town, / the 15th 

           Bde  trying to get touch c / to |

          13th Bde.   Prisoners were
         being fetched out of town
        everywhere - the British units
 

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      wh were being had been after our
      men to mop  up the Germans
      in Bois l'Abbe & V/Bretoneux 
      were considered to be very
     slow. But a Colonel & adj of
     the Northamptons had been killed
     in Bois l'Abbe so perhaps /
     fighting there ws harder than
     our people realised.
              I wrote a telegram &
     went on with Dyson & Jackson
     (the Asst. Photographer) to the
     15 & 13th  Bde Hqrs at  Blangy
    Tronsville.   Nicholson, the staff
    Captain, sd tt it ws /
    hardest fight 13th Bde  had ever
    been engaged in & /  best
    but personally I doubt if it
    ws harder than Mouguet.
 

86                                                            27
       The 13th & 15th found it
       difficult to junction in
      front of / village, _^^{on acct of m.g. fire} but /
      village itself seemed to
     be clear by now.
    We went up to the heights N. of
    Somme near the Chimney, S. of
    Heilly where a view can be
    had of Villers Bretonneux & there
    I am writing this.  The mid
    Afternoon was very quiet. Our
    guns heavily shelled / valley
    behind Hamelus & the Bois
    de Vaire - but / only Germans
    we ourselves cd see were
     a couple of [[?linesmen]]
    out obviously mending / wire
    along / main St Quentin Rd
    near / Bois de Vaire &
    an occasional  runner  or
 

86                                                                 28
      infantryman strolling along
     / Skyline. The Germans
    abt 5 pm. started to shell
    heavily with 5.9s the valley
    ben  just this side of U/B
     where /   Germans were  thought
      our men were massed or
     massing (15 Bde did move this
      way bf / attack)  & the
     slopes nearer to Hamelet
    where they probly think we
   have reserves.
 

29
                                                                                                                   Fl[[?]]
           Bois de Vaire                                     V/B

^{(Diagram - see original )}                                                                       First shelling here

                                                          Somme River down here
 

The German barrage on the slope held y 14th Bde abt
8 pm on Ap 25 1918.
 

Dyson Jackson & I waited for 2 hrs to see the enemy attack
if he made one.  It was very cold & abt 6.30 a storm _^^cloud came up
xxxxxx  & swept up /  valley past Corbie - so we left.  As we
were abt reaching Heilly the heavy crump crump crump of German
shellfire broke out behind us.  Dyson & I went back to / top o
/ hill we had come from & were rewarded by /  sight of
most perfect German barrage tt I have seen.
 

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30

(Diagram )

⇡                                                                                    ⇡                ⇡                                   ⇡
Bois de Vaire             German barrage on         V/B         Valley in                     Bois l'abbe
 Vaire behind            our left front line                          24D filled with
Hamel valley                                                                       smoke of German
(filled w smoke                                                                    shell
of our shells)
 

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478 ^{(Shorthand and explanatory sketching indicating...)}

VB    48.112

        207    ← 35 [[?First]]

         93

        [[5 G fire?}}

Villers  Bretonneux was hidden for
dust except for an occasional
silhouette  of a faint grey roof &
chimney stack - & down /
hill were two lines of shells
-20 or 30 at once - half hiding
the Bois de Vaire. Behind on
/ ridge burst our shrapnel-we
cd see / flash on / road by /
hangars;   Bw above VB swept
down / storm cloud w /reddish
brown-warm space  of light low beneath it
the W. end of / town fading into
|/ cloud of shellsmoke
& dust streaming skywards
 

32                                     

 often hiding / town & part of the two woods
completely from as.
         All this time I know tt / 13t Bde
have been uncertain of their right - & there
from / direction of Cachy, up came four or five
bright white flares – Either / Germans were counter
attacking & the flares mean "here we are;" or else
the Germans thought they were being attacked or thought they
were.
       On our return / German ws shelling Heilly -
one shell had slashed a home house opposite to
from Madame's.  Cutlock was back _^ ^{from North.}  He told us the 3rd Bde
had encircled Meteren  & had 120 casualties but / place had too many m gs
He had just heard at 2nd Div Hgrs tt after a heavy attack / Germans had taken Kemmel from / French.

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