Charles E W Bean, Diaries, AWM38 3DRL 606/109/1 - May 1918 - Part 3

87   20
S boundary just  S of rly inclusive.
500 yds E of Strazeele Stn.
May 4^th (Saty.) I reached
1st Divn last night after
dark - When we arrived
near Cassel we had passed
a few of their supply Motor
Transport people on / road; but
from there on not an Australian
could we see. The ws Every
village seemed full of French troops.
We went to their old Hqrs. at
St Sylvestre Cappel, from wh we
knew they had bn shelled, - though
a after that days shelling / place
has had no more; & we
found them in huts in a field -
xxxxxxxxxxxx away - very 

87    21
snug under / trees.
The 1st Divn made a
tentative attack on Meteren
[*2/23 & 23/24*] about April 21 or 22 - The
3rd Bde undertook it. They
used all four Bns. One
sent a party to / right of
Meteren, another sent a
party to / left; & the 9^th & 11^th (I
think it was) sent parties of
50 in each to mop up. Of the
flanking parties, one got out
into its intended position; &
/ other part o / way; but
the two mopping up parties
were met by a tremendously
heavy mg. fire & could not get
into / town at all. Abt 30 m.gs.
at least were in / place, they
say. they The 3rd Bde had 120 casualties. 

87   22
The line now runs round both
sides of Meteren; & they have been
amusing themselves by working
in conjunction w / arty and the
trench mortars - getting them
to smash into a house w
a shell or bomb, & sniping 
/ Germans as they run from
it.
I passed thro Fletre on
my way up to Gen. Lesslies.
The town ws being shelled (old
Boddy waiting in / car outside
ws hit on / knee by a spent
fragment of some sort wh stung
him). The old Church of
Caestre has had a shell in it,
& so has Fletre Church Tower
& / tower o / chateau. The
town is in ruins - many houses 

87      23
gutted by fire, scarcely any
on / main road now intact.
Came back to Corps
Hqrs. & heard from Hunn
the prospect of the German
attack. By / statements of
prisoners, there is probable
heavy attack from Arras to
Albert on May 8. There have
been huge dumps of ammunition
seen behind Lens & up Arras
way.
Two German airmen were
brought down / other day. They
refused to say anything; but
under special examination (i.e..
put in _^ a room w a sham Germen dressed
up in captured clothes) they
sd tt there were being laid 

87      24
out in / south a number
of sham aerodromes. They
were not really going to use
these - they were to deceive
/ French, apparently, into
thinking tt they wd be
attacked. They expected
tt everyone wd be brought
from there Northward in a
few days time. Villers Bretonneux
wd be attacked, they thought,
just beforehand, in order to
cover / movement of troops
from / south up to Arras way.
This morning one of our
draughtsmen at Aust. Corps
Hqrs noticed double marks
on an aeroplane photo of
Dernancourt  / rly just S. of 

87      25
Albert, which meant, he
was sure, a tank. Three
tanks cd be seen just by /
level Xing S of Albert under
/ trees.
The Flying Corps sent a
machine out & it saw 3 or 4
tanks just there, put / heavy
guns onto them, & wiped /
tanks out (so the pilot said).
White has seen David
Gen. Birdwood seems to have
taken a firmer stand in regard
to Aust. Press correspondents
than I really thought was
likely.  White put it to him
tt people (probably in the A.I.F.,
certainly at G.H.Q). said tt
Birdie liked to have pressmen
at his Hqrs & liked especially 

87      26
to keep on terms of intimacy
w Murdoch bec. Murdoch
was strong & influential.
Birdwood's mind ws at
once made up, come what
might, not to risk have this
being said.  He informed
G.H.Q tt he wd take no
responsibility in regard to
Murdoch or Gilmour - he cd
not have them to stay at his
Hqrs - he cd not give them
a car.  He ws ready to
entirely friendly towds both,
(especially Murdoch) & did
not wish to prevent him coming
to France but he ws not going
to arrange it.
Murdoch ws intensely
indignant at this & wrote 

87      27
to Birdwood most strongly
- so tt Birdie has thoroughly
antagonised his strong powerful
friend ; but / little man's
mind is quite made up.
We dined at 3rd Divn., C mess,
on old Brissenden's invitation
an excellent venison wh
I believe ws snared by an
old gamekeeper among /
batmen.
Gen Rosenthal, who
insisted on going out w a small
patrol party to lay a tape for some
new posts, helped to capture
a German prisoner.  While he
& Col. White & anor. offr were
out in Nomansland, along a road, 

28
Rosy, who had his back to
/ enemy, looked round & saw
4 or 6 Germans coming up
/ gully.  He levelled his
revolver & shouted "Halt"
They ran.  He shot one, Col.
White (33 35 Bn) another, & the
third ws grabbed by the young
offr w them.  They had just
got there when a German
patrol came up w bombs.
Our three & their prisoner
lay under a miserable
2ft of road bank & / bombs
exploded a few feet from them.
The A long argument on /
way home as to whether
Monash or White ought to
be Birdwoods successor (if ever 

87     29
he goes). Bill Dyson & I
say White - Cutlack
rather inclines to Monash.
Dyson admits - "Yes -
Monash will succeed.  He
has / bloody _^ crude advertising
pushing genius wh must
succeed.  But success
for German methods is
worse in / long run than
defeat"
J. Longstaff has arrived at
3rd Divl Hqrs.
A heavy thunderstorm & deluge
this afternoon.
May 6.  Monday.
Last night we heard
no especial noise - & yet
Rosenthal & his Bde advanced their
line on / top o / peninsula