Charles E W Bean, Diaries, AWM38 3DRL 606/113/1 - May - June 1918 - Part 5

104   42
Secretary. Now a military secretary
is not exactly a popular person as a rule.
There are more people who think they have
grievances than people who think they have
not; & xxx those of xxx who have a growse against
the military secretary are more numerous
than those who love him.
"Well, K. chose to put this 'Simla
darling' (as most people wd consider him)
into the command of the Kohat Brigade. He
 

104   43
was, I think, junior to every commanding
officer in it; & when he went up there
you may guess the sort of popularity which
his appointment received.
"He went there. He did just as he does
here - attended to his garden; read the paper;
and at the end of three months there was
not an officer or a man in that Bde who
didn't swear by him - They were devoted to
him. He has a remarkable way of getting
 

104   44
thro' a great deal of work, as you know - -"
"I have wondered who gave him / tip
as to how to handle Australians," I sd. "I
wonder if it was K."
"No one gave him / tip," sd Carruthers. "He
was chosen by Lord K. because K. knew tt he ws
/ man for it. K. knew Austlns - he had seen
them in S. Africa & Australia & he chose
Birdwood because he knew tt he went
amongst men as a man. I have known
him a very long while. And / moment I heard
 

104   45
of his appt. I sd. "He is / one man in the
army & in / Empire who & and can do it
better than any other."
I asked Carruthers how Birdwood's staff
ws chosen, because he seemed somehow to choose
/ right men. Did he choose Skeen, for example.
"He chose them all except Walker, I
think," he sd. Walker ws chosen for him
& I think he ws / only one. I was a very
old friend. Birdwood chose Skeen; &
Wagstaff he knew very well. I chose
 

104   46
Hancock for him - he could not get quite
all / men whom he wanted - most o / best
men in India had been taken of course.
He chose Lesslie, I think."
Poor old Carruthers - it must be
a great wrench to him – he will not be
half happy w Monash but he is
so true a man, such a loyal generous
Gentleman tt he will do whatever he thinks
best for his country without looking to right
 

104   47
or left or any other consideration. He is
/ most lovable character, in some ways,
on tt staff - Not a firmly decisive character nor
^a brilliant mind but / straightest & most unselfish man on
Corps; & a good brain into / bargain, quick to
seize a certain sort of point of philosophic argument.
He has taken White's interference (which was
quite justified) in his work, with great sweetness
of disposition.
June 1st. lot more 4^th Divn left to take the
 

104   48
place of 5^th Divn at Bussy. (Fifteen 13 German
tanks - by / way - were spotted by the planes
today in the Bois d' Aquaire ^(3 going in there), opposite tt
sector - not far from Hamel; & / wood ws
heavily strafed). 5^th Divn decided to go to
Coisy not Allonville. So we shifted camp to
/ wood at Bertangles. We shifted the gear
in four car journeys in / morning, & spent
/ afternoon digging down the floor of this tent
abt 1 ft to 1½ ft in accordance w orders. We
 

104   49
are away by ourselves in / wood, Hqrs being
¼ mile from us in the Chateau.
This morning Dodds passed me as I
ws writing on a stone seat near / Chateau &
asked why Murdoch & another irresponsible
pressman ("I don't mean you") interfered &
wired to Australia that the force universally
desired Monash to be G.O.C, A.I.F. & White G.O.C.
Corps. ^("Which is not true" - Dodds sd, "its a lie".) Only one General out of 5, whom he
had consulted, wanted this. The Censor
 

104   50
seems to have let thro two telegrams from
Murdoch, & censored the names out of
a third; & then he, or I think, (or possibly
Watt in Australia) sent to xxx the wires on
to Birdwood or to Griffiths for Birdwood.
Gen. Monash, Dodds sd, had sd he wd go
back to Australia rather than accept /
position of G.O.C., A.I.F. and he thinks
we want to Stellenbosch him in favour
of White. Dodds therefore took / step of making
 

104   51
inquiries himself, & telegraphing to Australia
tt we were wrong.
The effort wh we made is clearly
too late. I cant reconcile myself to / loss,
without a word, of White to the A.I.F., And
Dodds told me he had bn worrying over it
too. He admitted, in fact he agreed more
strongly than I asserted it, tt White had never
considered his own interests in anything he had
done. "That counts for nothing with him," he