Charles E W Bean, Diaries, AWM38 3DRL 606/112/1 - May 1918 - Part 2

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to / depot ^(nominally 52nd is retained as depot Battalion for 13 Bde).I don't know where Finlay will
go.)
I told White tt I had been to England,
& tt I was convinced tt the arrangement
suggested by Genl. Birdwood ws wrong. And
I asked him to let Birdie know.
The fight at Ville-sur-Ancre seems to
have been a magnificent little success.
The 6th Bde did it in the dark after
the moon set on May 19^th. The village
 

103 10
was first ^more or less encircled by the 22nd & 24^th
Bns pushing out N & S of it respectively.
The 23^rd & 21^st were to have gone on &
mopped up / village some hours later
when the arty had pounded it for a
few more hours. But / resistance of
the miserable division wh held /
place ws so slight that they were
ordered to go through it at 4.15, the
 

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moment the arty barrage protecting
the other attack ceased. The same old
Coy of the 21^st Bn wh ws in our billet
in Querrieu ws in this fight, and
got mixed up in our own arty wh
ws firing short. Sullivan ws wounded
poor Eeles, a tall youngster, whom
we often saw at / billet, ws killed.
Little Gawler - the lively youngster, ws
 

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wounded back at Battalion Headquarters.
Oliver, the Lewis gunner, already wounded 5 times
The 23rd Bn
ws hit again & bruised: The doctor evacuated sent him
him back to rest but he ws back returned in one day.
Before this fight the 18^th Bn had a
fight on the top of the high land between the Somme
& / Ancre, opposite Morlancourt wh ws
so good tt Gen. Smythe asked Cutlack not
to report it. Murphy All these days
have been hot, beautiful summer. The
trees have burst into thick leaf. There have
 

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been one or two thunderstorms - the
days have been drowsy hot - so
hot as to stir the men lice in the mens
shirts into vigour & make the day
as uncomfortable with crawling
denizens as the night has always
been - poor chaps. Murphy C.O of
the 18^th Bn, was going round his
posts, & was in / frontline one of these
drowsy days. He found the sentries all
 

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half "dopey", the rest of the posts mostly
asleep. Nothing was stirring.
"Here, what's / matter w you?"
Murphy said. "What are you doing?"
"Well you cant do nothing in this here
sun,” the sentry said. "Fritz over there
is dopey too. He's all asleep?"
"How do you know that?"
Murphy asked.
"When he's awake he's always
 

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chucking bottles & tins out of
his post. There hasn't one come over
/ parapet for two hours now."
"Well then we'll soon see if they're
asleep - Mr Irvine get some volunteers,"
said Murphy.
60 men volunteered. Murphy wd
only let 10 go out. They went out in
plain day to /  German  post. They
found every man in it asleep except
one - the sentry - who was afraid to
& he cd barely open his eyes for drowsiness
 

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& never put his head over / parapet. They
took / whole lot prisoner - / officer & 22 men
& a m.gun. This ws somewhere abt
11 o'clock in / morning.
Wed May 22nd. The I forgot to say tt when
I returned from England I found that
Cutlack had shifted the camp from Querrieu
to Allonville where the 3rd Divn were.
He got four tents - dark brown in colour -
 

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& set them up under / grand trees
in the Allonville Park - a big avenue
of them xxxx in the wood near the
Beaucourt - Amiens Road. Here we
are living in / most delightful
surroundings - the four of us sleeping in
one tent w / floor slightly sunk against
bombs, wh / enemy drops here - the
sides banked up & wattled inside with
 

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hurdling cut from / park outside. Their
first night here the German planes killed
some men of an ambulance camped in /
park & wounded about 20 by dropping
bombs - I saw 22nd Bn at Franvillers.
Thursday May 23^rd  This day I saw the
21st Bn at Fra in / trenches near Franvillers.
The evening became very cold - after a thunderstorm.
Friday
Friday May 24^th Last night the weather
changed. There was a high wind &