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

86  22
V/B ws to be heavily shelled
w gas (yellow X)

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 Sos Wertheim
says tt he hears / British tanks
met & were beaten by / German
 

 

86  23                                             
ones, wh had 2 pounder     
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 go ^thro / enemy another
Bde to meet in / dark.
 

 

86  24
Hobbs & Peck think they     
will.
I scarcely  think it will    
come off - surely.
Ap. 25.
British ^Corps commndr (Glasgow says)
wanted to attack at 8 rather
than 9, & 9 rather than 10.
It took place at 11 & 15 Bde
ws an hour late.
Xxxxxxxx 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 13^th 
Bde wd lose its way.
Went up before breakfast
to the ^2nd Divl Hqrs & xxxxxx asked
 

 

86  25

if / attack went forward     
“Well they say tt the 15^th &          
13^th Bdes are East of V/ Bretonneux”,

sd McCall.   
It appeared tt there ws still      
a German remnant in V/B, & tt 

the left of 13^th Bde ws hung up

by heavy m.g. fire from the rly

on our side o / town. But 

we heard heavy firing at 8.30

& I thought perh. / Germs

had c. attacked there - it ws

their best chance.

At 5^th Divn however at

11 am. ^where we found ^ tt our brigade the lawn in front of  Daours Bussy Chateau

covered with German prisoners. We heard tt our

Bdes were still there E of / town, the 15^th

Bde trying to get touch w /

13th Bde. Prisoners were

being fetched out o / town

everywhere - the British units
 

 

86  26

wh were being had been sent after our

men to mop up the Germans

in Bois l’Abbe & V/ Bretonneux

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 & 13^th Bde Hqrs at Blangy

Tronville. Nicholson, the Staff 

Captain, sd tt it ws /

hardest fight 13^th Bde had ever

been engaged in & / best -

but personally, I doubt if it

ws harder than Moquet.
 

 

86  27

The 13^th & 15^th found it     
difficult to junction in

front o / 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                                  

beh just this side of V/B                                        
where / Germans  were thought

our men were massed or
massing ( they 15 Bde did move this

way to / attack) & the
slopes nearer to Hamelet
where they probly think we
have reserves.
 

 

86  29

Hand drawn diagram – see original

The German barrage on the slope held by 14^th Bde abt

8 p.m. on Ap. 25 1918.
Dyson Jackson & I waited for 2 hrs to see the enemy c.attack

if he made one. It was very cold & abt  6.30 a storm ^cloud came up

xxxxxxxx & 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. We Dyson & I went back to / top o
/ hill we had come from & were rewarded by / sight o /
most perfect German barrage tt I have seen.
 

 

30

Hand drawn diagram – see original

86  31
Villers Bretouneux 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; low above V/B swept 
down / storm cloud w a reddish                                                  
brown - warm space of light low beneath it

the W. End o / town fading into                                

/ cloud; / cloud of shellsmoke   

& dust streaming skywards &
 

 

86  32         

often hiding / town & part of the two woods       

completely from us.
All this time I know tt / 13^th 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 & / 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 chxxx house opposite to

Madame’s. Cutlack was back ^from North. He told us the 3rd Bde

had encircled Meteren & had 120 casualties but / place had two many m.g.s.

He had just heard at 2nd Divl Hqrs tt after a heavy attack / Germans had taken

Kemmel from the / French.