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

103  19
today there has been rain & it is 
much colder. Dyson came back from 
London. This rain may give / German
/ chance of moving his troops & guns up
unobserved.
Saturday May 25. The German was to have
attacked last night on May 21; then 
between May 21 & 25; then May 25.
But all is very quiet today until
7 o'clock when there suddenly burst

103  20
out a very heavy bombardment. Gen. Burgess
of the 4^th Divl Artillery who is down at
Villers Bretonneux rang up from there & said
tt the Boche was pouring gas shell into the
Bois d'Aquenne & V/Bretonneux. The Col.
Laverack sd: "Well Michael Three has begun" - that
is xxxxx the name by wh / German ^staff signifies
the third & last of / three big planned attacks
Michael I on / Somme; Michael II - Armentieres
Michael III - the last attack wh is pending.

103   21
But V/Bretonneux is not part o /
last big attack, really, but the feint
wh is to go before it. The Germans
were gassing Buire, Ribemont, Heilly,
& Sailly Sec yesty; & tonight V/Bretonneux
far more heavily. Burgess says tt
/ French in / Bois d'Aquenne are
getting it badly; ^the flashes of 15 German batteries
can be seen firing, he says. The French
have asked for counterbattery upon these

103     22
guns & are it is now going on w a 
large proportion of gas.
A very heavy bombardment; & 
our planes going over hour after hour.
Sunday May 26. No attack followed
/ German gassing of V/Bretonneux. But
Wilkins who went up there this mg
to get photos of gassed men says
tt there seemed to be a very big
proportion of casualties - 700 he

103  23
thinks in the 11^th Bde wh is holding
there. One company lost 60 men - 
& another just as many. He says tt he 
found support or reserve trenches w /
rifles still standing by / little scooped 
out shelter in / trench side, & the waterproof
sheet hanging there. But no man in
them - or sometimes a very few sitting
down w their heads on their hands & swollen
streaming eyes, still hanging on. The road

103    24
ws filled w a trickle of men
coming down with eyes half blinded -
swaying across / road, just able
to open their eyes painfully & dodge
behind trees when the shells burst.
The defences of V/B have 
bn enormously strengthened by the 4^th
Divn; but one does not know what
defences can stand this sort of thing.
400-700 casualties a night, though

103  25
they may only be casualties for
a month, wd soon run through the
Australian defence. When are we going 
to get this gas in regular quantities?
& for our 18 pdrs?
today & yesty. The German planes Yesty Cutlack &  It has been a much finer day again
Tonight the German planes have been
all around dropping bombs - the 24^th
was full moon, I fancy; & this is the
these came over in / dark of early
moonrise when they cd still see lights.

103   26
if there were any ^lights in / camps. A whistle
He always goes 3 times when a plane
comes over - to put lights out.
The Germans turned on a bombardment
somewhere in front of Albert, just now,
about 11.30. One cd hear / sound of the
shells & our guns are still replying. A
raid, I suppose. By the gassing of V/B they
should I not attack it for 3 days or they will
get into their own gas. But they have not

103   27
gassed Hill 104 to the N of it - so they
may mean to go for tt. Most people
expect first a feint at V/B & Montdidier;
then Michael III from Albert to perhaps
Bethune. The tongue between the Avere & 
Somme shd be quiet.
I saw White on Friday; & he let
me have the lorry wh is to go up to our
3rd Tunnellers & get all their museum

103    28
relics back. It struck me suddenly
tt they are holding ^on / only part of the
old line now held by our troops; so I
wired them to get us (1) Some typical old
worn duckboards & (2) Some
few yards of typical old wire entanglement.
The people o / future will know this last
from Bairns father's drawings & from all
/ drawings o / war but will never have 
seen it; & they will have some reverence