Charles E W Bean, Diaries, AWM38 3DRL 606/113/1 - May - June 1918 - Part 4

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up in nearly all / shops in Doullens.
The Frevent population some of it placed
all its goods upon carts & ws off to the
houses of relations in other parts o / country.
Others went a village or two away, & seemed
to be arranging lodging for / night. One lot
looked like camping in a field between / new
rly & / roadside. Most seemed to be
resting about a mile or two out, along /

104         33
roadside, ready to go back towards evening.
Monash told me yesty tt he did not
expect an attack on V/Bretonneux. If it
had bn coming - he made feints at Locre
& at Montdider & he wd surely have
made one at V/B on acct of its great
importance to us & to him.
They have built a wonderful set of
dugouts for 3rd Divl HQrs at Glisy - a terraced

104        34
verandah for offices, w deep dugouts leading
off them for living rooms.
One is beginning to doubt the signs
but A month ago I wd certainly have
sd tt all this shooting tonight means an
attack in / morning: Possibly it is / little 
attack from Buire to Aveluy of wh we got
/ map in Ville.
Friday May 31. 1918. Indr This morning Cpl. Castles,
brother of the singers Amy & Dolly Castles, who

104          35
runs the "Smart Set" Pierrot troupe founded
last year after Ypres, in the 4^th Divn, came down
to tell us tt there wd be no performance tonight.
One of those shells last night had smashed / barn
in wh they were playing - had killed 18 & wounded
120 men of the 14^th Bn ^who were sleeping there. He had come really
to see if Wilkins wd care to get a photo of
the smashed up stage.
It appears tt two shells hit these
buildings. The real losses were 18 killed & abt 50
wd. The Germans were really shooting for
the chateau. They were told some time ago, apparently

104            36
prob. by th a man of ours whom they captured, that
this was 3rd Divl Hqrs. They got this fool to
talk - made him drunk, I suppose, or put him
in with a sham Englishman, or perhaps they
simply impressed him w / fact tt they knew all
about his division by telling him / name of
a few officers. Anyway - if any man of
ours gave this news to them he himself killed
those 18 comrades as directly as if he clubbed
them.
Gen. Birdwood & White with Gordon Chernside

104         37
left Corps this morning. Birdie told Monash tt
I did not approve of the arrangement by wh
he remained G.O.C. A.I.F. & they both tried
to dissuade me. But the point neither of them
really met was the crux of the whole thing - that
the work wh really waits to be done by the G.O.C.
A.I.F. is greater than any army commndr can
undertake in his spare time.
Dear old Carruthers took me aside afterwards,
walked me up & down in / sun in front of

104         38
their beautiful chateau at Bertangles, &
told me tt this was exactly / objection which
"Archie" Murray had made originally, when
/ Corps left Egypt. He sd he ws not going to
recommend the system - "My dear fellow," he
sd to Birdwood, "You have no idea what /
work of a Corps Commndr means in France.
You wont have time to look at anything else."
And ^Murray didn't recommend it - it recommended
something else.
But Carruthers argued tt Birdwoods

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great powers of leadership had made it
a success. "He chose / men whom he thought
/ best men competent men," he sd, "& then
he left them absolutely to themselves in running
their departments. He never wanted to know
how White & I did our work - he wanted to
know / results of course. And so he will
with Dodds - but from / first he has never
worried about / details in / least degree.
Somehow Gen. Birdwood has always

104       40
managed to get great devotion out of
men who worked w him.  "I have
known him ever since he was a subaltern,"
sd Carruthers. "He was xxxxx  He has always done his
work in / same way - making you puzzle how
he does it - reading sitting reading / papers for hours
each morning, busying himself about
getting a neat set of gardens going,
- & he has always had / same result. There
There ws ws never a better instance than
his work with the Kohat Brigade. The

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Kohat Bde ws part of the Frontier Field Force, &
in all / Indian Army, it was the Frontier
Field Force which was 'It' - they thought of
themselves tt they were the part of / army
which knew everything there ws to know
about soldiering. They were constantly in
active service, & they thought a very great
deal of themselves.
"xxx  "Birdwood had been in South 
Africa & he came back & became Military