Charles E W Bean, Diaries, AWM38 3DRL 606/113/1 - May - June 1918 - Part 3

104  19
/ scheme. I did so. I did not like the
scheme when I had drawn it & I told /
General so when I handed it to him.
However tt afternoon he signed it & sent
it on to Rawlinson.
"Rawlinson came down next day to
talk over it. We stood in front of / map &
Rawlinson went thro the details, every now
& then referring to me & saying - "is that your 

104  20
idea?" or "that is how you wd do it I
suppose." I kept quite quiet & sd nothing.
But presently when he got towards / end I
sd to Gen. Birdwood: "General - would you
mind if I were to tell Gen. Rawlinson what
I told you yesterday abt this plan." "Oh no,
certainly White," he answered.
'"Well general," I sd, 'this is a plan
about wh my general & I do not see quite 

104  21
eye to eye..." & I told him tt I thought it
wd cost a division & tt the result of it
seemed to me to be of very little value.
"Why exactly," sd Rawlinson," I quite
agree w you."
"Then why shd we carry it out?" I asked
"Well, / truth is / French have asked us
to do it - they will not attack unless
we do something o / sort."
"If we have to carry out a perfectly 

104  22
valueless attack at the cost of a division
wh it is earnestly desirable not to lose not to waste - there
seems to me something very wrong in our scheme
of arrangements," I sd -'
"and / result of it ws tt / next day
this attack ws called off."
"Gen. Birdwood made a strong stand
agst Gough tt time at over Bullecourt," White added.
"In / end he gave way on / ground tt it ws
a direct order . . . . . I dont think I shd have 

104  23
given way even then -" sd White. "I should have
let him send me back to England first - & I
dont think he wd have gone on w it."
"Ws it really Gough who insisted - or
was not he ordered in / same way by Haig to
carry it out?" I asked. "Churchill told me
tt this ws / case  . . . ."
"I dont believe it," sd White. "In / 
middle of / discussion Gough ws called away
to / telephone; & when he came back he sd "I was 

24  104
Kohat Bde
I think Birdwood has complete confidence
in his luck, White said. He has certainly been able
to undertake projects which involved great risks -
I mean risks of heavy losses - with a complete
absence of care as to the danger. He has embarked
on them without hesitation or a suggestion
of doubt as to what might follow; where I
should have been exceedingly anxious, he
has not given the danger a second thought.
In tt way, I mean, he has been
markedly courageous in dealing w his
superiors."
"In dealing within his juniors  →
(next page but one)
 

104  25
speaking to / Chief of Staff & he told me tt it ws
the C in C's desire tt this attack shd be carried
out? Bu As we left / room I told Birdie tt
I didnt believe it. Gough is an Irishman
& he wanted to do tt attack. Unquestionably
he ws speaking to the Chief of Staff but I think
he made tt / excuse for this story - I think
he lied. There is no question tt Gough wanted
us to make tt attack. He ws xxx anxious
to do something - he ws up against Allenby . . . " 

26  104
→ (with his juniors) with men he personally
knew, he has not struck me as particularly
strong," I sd - "I fancy he is really hampered 
there by his kindness."
"That's what Howse says of him," sd White. "A
great man - a great man, White, if he cd only
excise two thirds of his heart"! As a matter
of fact his dealing with juniors when he had anything
to censure goes wrong is one of / defects of Birdie's
nature. I should be included, myself, to tell
them straight out what is the fault found with matter
them xx to say definitely that they must go -
no definite fault found with them but they must
are not considered / right men & they will
have to be dispensed with. As a matter  →

104  27
I asked White whether he though that the
attack agst / French was Michael III.
"It's hard to say," he sd. "This Boche
has certainly some means of moving his troops
quickly & very quietly & he has thrown them
agst a quiet front. This Boche is a soldier
Bean. I think he will go on throwing them
against points where he thinks he can get

through - especially agst the English. I doubt 

 28
→ of fact when it has come to saying tt in
certain cases it is I who have been
sent to do it. I have had to tell divisional
commanders - & quite lately there was
the case of Gelly, I had to go down &
explain to Elliott why it was he could
not have a division." 
104  29
if he has any big rigid set-piece."
The Germans are nearly to the Marne.
The English divisions seem are believed to have fought well.
The French reserves, Moroccans & French poilus,
were leaving / district today.
One can hear German long range guns
everywhere tonight. One has bn shelling /
X roads by this wood. Another St Gratien - we can
hear shrapnel, too, Querrieu way. The sky ws 

104  30
full o / hum o planes - the little lights
of our planes crossing every few minutes,
the ^red spit of the m.g. bullets from a German
plane, high up over head; the ^many coloured
lights fired, by way of a pass, by our own
planes on / way back; a clear white 
light, obviously on a parachute, dropped I
think by our plane near / lines; the "strings 

104  31
of sausages" from / Germans, white phosphorescent
strings of three or four little beaded lights floating
up / sky - & the glow of a fire low down
on / horizon.
The Germans have bn firing at Doullens
& Frevent all to day & last night - probly on /
rlys, to prevent French troops moving South.
The inhabitants of Frevent were stringing out
for miles along / road westward. The shutters were