Charles E W Bean, Diaries, AWM38 3DRL 606/112/1 - May 1918 - Part 10

103
65

team wh ws in positn 100 yds behind on

/ river bend.

Hand drawn diagram – see original

& got another

post of 3 German bombers & put

potato mashers into their post. These 

Germs lay shivering in their dugout.

E pushed on w / party following thro /

water which began to get pretty

deep - E lost his puttie - they cdnt

103
64

up came a head- both E & batman

put a bullet thro it (revolver - & rifle 
without bayonet)

The rest surrendered & the two

pulled them out & then exploded

one of their stick grenades in the

post to make sure all were out.

They took / gun away & sent it to /

rear by Blankenberg & a wd man

w news to Mahoney.

E then came back, got his left gun

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63

batman to see if he cd put his post

in by getting round / water on /

riverbank direction - & ran into 

a gun (on the ^25 central grid line) on / river

bank. It ws firing across / river

at th Sergt Collery's pln there (the officer Lt

Munro G EB, d of w later - ws wd in looking

for / bridge to line up behind - it wsnt there)

Only one bomb ws left to them so they

threw it - rushed / post. At 5 yds

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62

There ws water to the left where E's

objve ws so he pulled back abt 20 yds

& put a post astride the road. Kopsens

left gun wh had come across

ws put in here.

Hand drawn diagram – see original

E ws going round w

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61

challenged by Germans abt 50yds from /

village - Egerton & his batman (Blankenberg

a Russian - "Rush") got in 2 bombs amongst

them hearing where they were, & / Germans

got in abt ½ doz potato masher stick grenades.

4 of our men were wd there. The Germs

ran- it sounded as tho' they had cleared.

(There ws water on one side of this post &

an orchard hedge on / other - so tt /

post ws well sited commanding / only

track to / village in this directn)

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60

A lance cpl. (Johnson M.M.) at once rushed

/ post - / Germs were just getting at their 

gun & he got in first. He shot one - rifle

jammed - he dived for / gun & / other two

men surrendered. Another ws bayoneted

by Sergt White as he ran - (a bayonet instructor)

several others ran, one at least ws shot as 

they ran - it ws very dark. It ws hard

to see, a man 10 yds away ws visible.

The left pty under Lt Egerton went straight

along either side o / track. They were

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59                                     

Egertons pln. before / barrage ws

already S of the river having crossed 

the bridge allotted to them a few mins

before zero.

Diagram - see original

At Zero 

When / barrage noise opened

in / village the rt party at once ran into a

German post w a m.g. on rt of the track.

57
103

Hand drawn diagram – see original

 

11 May, a patrol of Egertons waited N o / river & got

9 mills bombs into 11 Germs going E

4 nights before / fight

 

NB Edgerton.

 

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58

objective.

Owing to one bridge ^suspension bridge being turned upside

down & impossible to find (later it ws

brought to position ^by Capt Mahoney & put into place further E)

& the 4th pln was formed in posts on N

bank o / river.

Edgerton's platoon ws to cross between these

two operations - & it had most of the fighting.

The man w / left party of Kopsens lot cdnt

dig in on a/c of water. He straightaway

joined Egerton & did good work.

56
103

See 6 Field Coy

^X Kopsens runner Pte R Holloway ws going to find how

the posts were placed when he heard a m.g.

firing. He saw a post in a small breastwork

positn. He dropped & when one put his head up

he shot him. He made a dive at / post (he only had

a revolver) & got 2 more. He found tt one German

had got away in / dark w / gun. He went back & reported this

K. came back & they found him -

/ gun in place in / open ready to

fire again & / man looking for ammn

elsewhere. They took him first &

then got his gun. They think

this gun got 3 of our men previously.

 

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56

24 Bn had pushed 5 posts out SE of

Rly beyond 3rd Div Positn.

Hand drawn diagram – see original

 

Kopsen crossed in 5 parties & moved SE fanshape.

They mopped up ^X one Germ. post & got into

positn through / marsh - within ½ hour they

were digging as well as ws possible on their

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54

24 Bn.

Marshes in 25 D are impassible

except along / edge o / village & on /

river bank.

Rly in 25A is on a bank

abt 15 or 20ft up & a deep ravine hollow (dug out)

behind it - 30 ft deep.

We had out posts S. of Rly

on river bank one at 25 A. 6.5

Regt^l Record:

24 Bn {Ville 19/5/18

            {Bullecourt 3/5/17

18 Bn {Morlancourt raid in daylight

            {Ville

 

[Diary at other end of this
book]