Charles E W Bean, Diaries, AWM38 3DRL 606/114/1 - June 1918 - Part 10

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altho it ws morning; it drifted
slowly across / country as far back
as Corps HQrs & then gradually lifted,
he sd. Carruthers sd he had noticed
this fog -; & what they told us seemed
to have been drawn from conversations
with the aeropl Flying Corps.
There have been so many strange
stories in this war, thoroughly believed even
 

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at Headquarters & yet entirely without
truth, that one hesitates to believe the whole
of this story . Unless / infantry were & are
completely deceived, surely we shd have
heard it from them first, as Freddy
Cutlack says.
———
I had yesterday two long conversations
with Monash & with Dodds, about /
changes in command. Monash asked
 

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I went in to see Monash to congratulate
him upon his promotion to temporary Lieut.
General & to give him / chance to speak
to me if he wanted to do so. He started
the subject by asking me if I had seen
Murdoch. I told him that I had & tt
I thought tt Murdoch was right. Monash sd
tt he had always been on friendly terms
w Murdoch & tt he thought is ws "very
cruel" tt M. should attempt to deprive him
 

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of the high active command wh he had attained
in / field just at / moment when he had attained
it. Gen. Haig had told him tt he had every
confidence in him;- he had gone further, he
told him had come down & had said tt even if
the Australian Corps had not been vacant he
would have bn quite prepared to give Monash
a place anywhere amongst his Corps
Commanders. It was the natural ambition
of every soldier to hold a high command in /
 

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field, & no position of G.O.C. in London could
make up for it. "In fact, I would rather go back
to Australia than accept it," he sd. He wd
do anything tt ws in / interests of the country to
do - but he wd prefer to go to Australia if he
had his wish rather than be removed from / Corps.
I told him tt there ws no question of
trying to remove him from / Corps agst his will
- I sketched it cd not be altered & no one wd
dream of altering it now without his consent.
I sketched to him / very big things tt were to be
done by a G.O.C. A.IF. and that were not
 

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at present being done. The Australian Govt
really ought to have a big administrator
in tt positn, & it wd not be too much to give
him / rank of General. White was a brilliant
man for operations ^but ws not so suitable for the administration. Monash ws capable
of both - the ideal thing wd be Monash as
/ Administrator & White in / Corps.
Monash was unquestionably inclined to
consider this favourably. He has written a
letter (I find later) warmly objecting to
Murdoch's proposal - but he was more than
 

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half swung round in this conversation
"Mind you," he added, "Everything tt I do in this,
I do in a spirit of most complete loyalty to
Gen. Birdwood." What precisely ws the
meaning or / truth of this last remark I
cannot quite fathom.
Dodds, whom I saw later, struck
me as a much more loyal genuine man.
After a long talk w me he, too, ws more than
 

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half inclined to see eye to eye w me.
But he is x strikingly loyal to Birdwood.
He has bn struck by / fact tt Birdie has
put up several good strong fights for Australia
& he likes him for it. He has bn asked
by Birdie to put / case to Hughes & Cook,
& he will do it loyally & to / best of his
ability. At / same time he is not happy
about having Monash in / Corps & not White -
 

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& he is not happy abt losing White.
And I think he does not belief that
a man can be G.O.C. A.I.F. in his
half time.
He told me, what I did not know,
that White Birdwood, after his apptment
had been temporarily confirmed, had
wired to Australia that if the Govt thought
he must give up the G.O.C.-ship on taking an
army, he wd give up / Army; & / Australian
 

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Cabinet wired back agreeing to his keeping
both. This, of course, alters our obligation
to Birdwood very considerably. I dont
xxxxx think tt it binds us to continue /
arrangement, all / same.
However it made a difference in my
letter to Hughes. I ws bound to correct the letter.
I tried to draft anoth a letter wh wd
correct it - but cdn't word one wh I
cd honestly send thro / Censor. He only