Charles E W Bean, Diaries, AWM38 3DRL 606/116/1 - June - September 1918 - Part 13

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road two old parallel overgrown trenches (with the white

chalk showing only here and there through the grass on the

parapet) made their little zigzag up the hill. In these,

the artillery observation post told us, the front line now was.

I couldnt see any movement their either. But on the road

from Aziecourt into the gully towards Haute Allaines we saw

German infantry- three or four of them - moving in file and

keeping well in to the right hand side of the road; and

higher up where the road bends round thetopofthe towards

Aziecourt there was a cart or some vehicle and Germans occasionally 
moving around it.

The 43rd Bn (a major there) told us that they had

never seen a better sight than the attack by the 6th Bde at

2 or 2.30 or thereabout. There was a barrage first. The 43rd

watching could see no sign after the barrage and thought at

first, as one often does, that there was no progress. Then

they noticed Germans running back through St Quentin wood; and

Australians moving up the trenches which run up the nose of

the hill to the Bapaume road. One party of Australians came

out onto the road and moved along it to the left; and there

stopped and got down into the bank - a machinegun holding

them up. Txxxxxxxxx But they could see another party further

along working up across the road and onward. The Germans fought

a little and then ran back into a quarry beyond the wood. The

Australians crept up to this and then a bomb fight followed.

One Australian would crawl up, throw his bomb  and then get

back as quick as he could, another crawling up and delivering

his bomb and so on. The Germans replied with bombs - I fancy

they said for 20 minutes; then the Germans started to run from

the quarry. They cut back xxxxx along the long spur which ends

in Mt St Quentin, with the Astralians after them. The gunnero

observers saw them and chased up the running Germans with

their shrapnel. T he infantry for some reason that they could

not see (but which was doubtless good enough) didnt follow

the Germans ver y far.

Gilmour wandered up the trench on his usual quest for

trophies. I dont know if the Germans saw all this movement -

we went after Gilmour to get him back as it was late for the

car - and a high velocity shell came over and whizzed into the

earth 100 yards away. We didnt notice that one very particularly;

but 30 seconds after a second whirled in and burst 15 yards away.

I was wearing my cap, and the earthclods coming down gave me

several thumps on the top of the head which reminded one of

the fact - as heavy as I have ever had from a shell. We hastened

down the trench and another shell came along it and burst furthe

down exactly as if he had followed us. After that they burst

mostly on the plateau behind the trench. But they were quite

nasty enough to make one keep pretty close to shellholes on the

way across. It was like musical chairs - trying to get opposite

a goodlooking grassy shellhole before the distant bang of the

gun gave us about 2 seconds warning.

The 3rd Divn is being squeezed out tonight by the 74th

B ritish division which we met going in. The 74th will take

most of the 3rd Divn front - all except that of the 43rd Bn.

At Corps todaynt Blamey had a general with him from

some other corps - I suppose he was the B.G.G.S. of the 3rd

Corps. Blamey was telling him that he thought that the

objectives which he was suggesting were too far. They wanted

us (as far as I could gather for I was waiting in Blameys room) to

go to Tincourt. Blam ey thought that line too far and suggested

another. He last said that he didnt think that we could well

attack for a couple of days at the least - possibly more. The

others seemed to want the attack earlier. The other general

mentioned something about Nu rlu, but I didnt gather the

exact sense. It was clear that they were discussing some operation

proposed to the north of us; and that they British northwards wer

sugg esting a well advanced line to be laid down as the general

objective somewhere well out on the hills N.E. of Peronne - on the

plateau there.

 

113.

Monday, Sept. 2nd. Godley has for some time been commanding

the 3rd Corps to the N. of us. And he, having the 74th (Yeomanry

from Palestine) Division coming in fresh last night, pressed

very heavily to take advantage of what he believed was the

German demoralisation and push these new xxxxxx fresh troops

straight through at once for a distant objective. Our Corps,

Blamey at any rate, didn't want this. But Godley managed to

persuade th John last night. And at the last moment it was

arfanged that we should put in our last brigade of the 2nd

Division - the 7th Brigade; and the 3rd Corps should push

with this 74th Divn at their southern boundary and try and

break through to NURLU (vert like Paschendaele, as Murdoch at

once commented). The 74th Divn was put in this morning.

They had no time to see the ground - though this is oftener

dispensed with now than formerly; they were very green and

had their packs - their full packs someone said - up (an

almost unheard of thing for an attack that has to go so fast

and so far - indeed for any attack on our side nowadays,

though the Germans do it) In the first rush they say that they

got ytheir posts out beyond Moislains - or at least some of

their troops. But they are said to have run into a German

counterattack on the far side of it, already prepared. And 

they are now back on this side of Moislains. Out 7th Bde

was told to watch its left flank and on no account to go away

beyond the British. The centre of the attack of the 7th Bde

got to near the edge of Aziecourt; they sent out a post and

there they still are, jutting out in a pencil point. Their

left is brought well back to the valley to join the British.

No British troops could be found on the flank of the 7th Bde when

they started. But some time after a British battalion wandered

in behind the left flank of the 7th on our side of the gully.

Goodness knows how they got there; but the diggers kept them

and put them to work. And Wisdom is now u sing them to help

in making the defensive flank with our troops behind them (so

Murdoch says - I didn't hear this point). Their own division

rang up for them while we w ere with Wisdom.  But Wisdom
answered that if they were wi thdrawn that night he would have

to come back from his forward position, and so I presume they

have been left.

Murdock arrived last night late - we found him asleep

in his bunk in my tent when we woke up. So we all went up with

Boddy to the 5th Divn; 6th Bde (in a quarry near Feuillieres),

then up a cutting S of Buzcourt. Left the car there and

walked over the top. (I insisted on going two by two and not

too much movement, this day) to the little wood on the edge of the

hill NW of Biaches, opposite Halle. From a trench just S of

the wood we had a splendid view. The Germanwas throwing no

shells into this angle at all.

We could make out no Australians forward of the Mont

St.Quentin Peronne road. Or rather, there was one post just

forward of it behind what looked like a ruined house (the last

in St.Q.) but w saw that shelled out and the men had to leave

it hurriedly. Stretcher-bearers were carrying a white flag

up the St.Q.Peronne road as far as the first buildings in the

Mt. St.Q. village, and then le aving the road and coming across

the fields towards the river. On one occasion a shell dropped

right where they were and another just after it. I fancy this

was a mere shelling of the road - the white flag is a sign to snipers

not to artillery.

There seemed to be no Australian forward of this road.

The road from Aziecourt we could see coming down at an angle

beyond it- they met at St. Denis near the town, where we could

see the ruins of a large red brick building, probably the sugar

factory. There was no movement on that road. Beyond it -

probably really on the further side of a valley - was a white

trench; and Germans were trickling from the direction of the

woods behind into this trench. The wood from which they came

would be the northernmost of the three woods behind (N of) Doignt. 

114.

S and W

On the/edge of the southernmost of these three woods, and

between in and the next wood to the N., and along the right

hand (S) edge of it, up over the hill to the back, there was

a god deal of German movement.

Just before we left there were Germans seen - a

good many of them, moving into the trenches on the hilltop

just N of B ussu. A heavy shelling ringed ronnd the village of

Mt St Quentin. There had been very heavy shelling of St

Denis all the time - I don't know who by; the place was

smoking and duest seething up from it against the hills behind.

It looked very much as if there were a counterattack being

launched against o ur position on the ridge near Aziecourt where

we were so far forward; but we saw Wisdom on our way back, at

B uzcourt in dxxx dugouts' and he hadnt heard of any c/attack.

We heard today that the citadel of Peronne has been holding

our troops up for the last two days. The 14th Bde couldnt

get at it. N o one back at Corp s seemed to know the position

in Peronne at all. T his afternoon the citadel was taken. It

had been a nest of machineguns and had made that triangle

between the roads, which we had watched from the hill during

the afternoon, so hot that it was impossible to pass; and had

made the position in St Denis almost impossible - and uncertain.

At various times one heard far back that we had the sugar

factory or the brickworks; but Wilkins says that we had not

the sugar factory.

The 15th Bd was to move towards Doingt - or onto
the foothills. But it hasnt be en able to get ahead from

the Somme c rossingsat all. It has now the 58th Bn in the

SE part of Peronne. (Later I heard that the 15th Bde was the one

which cleaned out the citadel of Peronne that afternoon. It

was cleared out xxxxx by the time we saw Wisdom - and it made

a great diff erence to the xxxxxxxxxx the position at Peronne.

After dinner tonight Wilkins came in. He let drop

in the course of conversation that he had been over with the

6th Bde yesterday when it took the village of St Quentin in its

afternoon attack. He had got a photograph of the men going

over the top; and had then followed them up with the second wave

They were working through trenches, and the losses were mainly

(in that part) by the Germans having machineguns laid on the

shallow or tumbled parts of the trench. When men started to

go through these the first man might get through but the second

man would get shot.They got as far as the xx Bapaume road and

worked through a hole in a wall. They could not get further

to their left up the road because a machinegun would have to

be passed there both going and coming. Wilkins says that the

second line was getting shelled and he went forward partly

because he thought he would get away from the shelling,

taking Sergt.Jackson with him; but they did not avoid the shellig

that way for the German soon shortened onto them and made

it very hot.

Today he was in Peronne where the 54th Bn had a company

headquarters near t he bridge. They xxxxxxxx He found the Coy

commander who sent a man with him to show him the posts which

held them up in Peronn e, before their own posts moved. He

was told by this there that the 54th as it swept down on

Peronne found a few Germans running away from it towards the

bridge. They sh ot down some of these but one German managed

to get across and bllw up t he bridge. At any rate the bridge

blew up in fact after this man crossed. The x 54th managed to

get planks fixed up and mended the bridge roughly so that it

would allow a man to cross it. They worked through the town,

but in the main street found themselves held up somewhere

near the centre of the town by a M.G firing down it. They

placed a post here on our side of the road; that was the

position xxxxxx at dusk on Sept 1st. After dusk they put out

another post across the road. A barrage was arranged for

and the advance was to go on at dawn. The first shell on Sept.

2nd blew out the men in that post across the road and killed

5. Wilkins that afternoon photographed these posts. The Germans

 

115.

were shelling P eronne in a very nasty fashion earlier

in the afternoon when he was there - we saw very few shells

later. T The citadel was taken during the afternoon and things

eased in the town. Wilkins was down to the S.edge of the

town - he didnt realise then that the Germans were holding

Flamicourt across the moat to the S.

The X attempt by G odley to break through failed 

today.

The Australian newspaper editors and proprietors

are coming tomorow. Murdoch and I want to get some of th em out

to see a bit more than they will see by following the official

programme. T he official programme gives them the first day

travelling with John across the battlefield of August - John

explaining to them the tact ics. It lands them at 3rd Divl

headquarters at Suzanne - the furthest they will gothat day.

Murdoch, who crossed with them, says that they want to see

something of the actual fighting; and they certainly ought to

see something of the men. On the second day they will spend the

morning seeing the trophies of war and all the Divl headquarters

which they do not see on the first day. Last of all they will

be taken from 5th Divl headqrs to a point forward of Herbecourt wh

wh ere they will be able to get a distant glimpse of the

battlefield. Murdoch is the mover in our effort to get them to

see a bit more than this - also to prevent them being quite

overshadowed by John. Murdoch is a most forcible man- goes in xx

straight to Monash and tells him what he thinks. Monash keeps

on fair terms with him, and says that he does not mind plain

talk. Monash has less resp ect for me - he is very dissatisified

with the  publicity that he is getting, and has always been

a man who would have like to have his own publicity in his own

hands. I xx often think he would like to get rid of me if he

could - of course he would; I sometimes think that he will

try, but Keith doubts it.

 

August Sept 3rd, Tuesday.  I had not, until this morning,

been invited by Monash to meet the editors; nor even officially

told that they were coming. I had a short note this morning

from Sinonson asking me to come across and see them after

lunch. (They arrive at 12, have a lecture, and are then

lunched by John.) Later I heard from Moss that the G.O.C. had

a trophy which he w anted to give me. xxxxxx I went across

and John brought out a couple of trick delay action fuses

of the Germans , looking exactly like all other fuses but able

to be put in shells in a German dump -unnoticed by us when

we find them - so that they will blow up later and destroy the

dump and make us ver y wary of touching dumps. John wanted to

pass  this over to me for the War Records. This was obviousl y

intended to console me for what I might consider the slight

of not being b rought into the lunch and other proceedings with

the editors.

John told me he was sorry that there was no room for

me at lunch and hoped that I would come in at 2. I said that

I intended to be there at 12 when they arrived, if it made no

differ ence. He said that xxxxxxxx  asked if I thought of going

round with them and said he had no objection to my attaching

myself to the party if I wished. On the strength of this I came

in w ith them when he recieved them. J. looked very black, I

thought. Murdoch  and Gilmour came in too. We went over to

our cottage for lunch, and then, with Bill Dyson, went out

with them in the afternoon.

J ohn tried very hard to block our plan of taking them out

with us tomorr ow, some of th em. He promised Murdoch to back

it if they asked for it; and then during lunch leaned over to

Maj. Norr ie the conducting officer and said to him: I hear

Murdoch wants to take some of editors out nearer the front

tomor row. Mind, if that is done I want you to understand tht

I will take no recponsibility for their safety. "Norrie said

he would stop it. But tonight, at dinner at Amiens in the Hotel

se la Paix, he was talked over by Campbell Jones and agreed.

The party is J.O.Fairfax, owner of the S.M.Herald: Geoffery

116.

Syme, owner of the Age (when I say owner - part owner in eah

case); Prior of the Bullet in, (owner I believe in good part):

Heney of the S.M.Herald, to wh om the Governments invitation was

first sent, the firm deciding that J.O.Fairfax was to come.

T here was a row over this in Australia and the proprietor of

the paper and the edi tor of it are travelling around together

in the same party  and are not on speaking terms. The row was

brought to a head when the question arose of xxxxxxxx whether

they should write. Heney ,  who eventually came as the representative 
of the Journalists Institute (who had protested against

the xx attitude of the firm in saying that Heney would have to lea

leave the paper if he accepted the Prime Ministers Offer - a

protest which solved t he situation by causing Watt to offer

to send Heney as representing the Institute while J.O. came

rep resenting the S.M.H.) - Heney was one of the journalists

of the party while J.O. and Syme were not. The proprietors ddnt

wish that any articles should be written about what they saw-

natur ally because they were not used to writing articles;

the journalists thought they were bound to write. It was

decided to wr ite. Heney t hen said that he should consider

it incumbent on him to make anything that he wrote available to

all the newspapers. Fairfax said that he though thatHeney

ought to have consulted him before making any such statement.

Frm that time the breach was so wide that it looks as if it

would never be healed - and Heney thinks so.

Syme is a thin rather delicate looking Australian - not

very articulate or explicit; h e must be very rich, but he

looks as though his tastes were simple (Murdoch says they are

all except a taste for poker which costs him £5000 a year). I

should think he manages his paper (the Age) more by his 
i nclinations than by an especial ability, and Murdoch thinks

he will ruin it. All the same he is one of the most Australin

of the lot. The part xxxxxxxxxxx that he enjoyed in todays

round was when G ellibrand lat them have a bit of time to walk

round amongst the men and talk t o them.

J.O.F air fax is (as I have always known him) a man who

is above a ll things extremely conscientious - if he realises

that an injustice may have been done by the firm to any of its

employees nothing will prevent him from going back on the firms

decisions and trying to do justice to the man. He is not a

snob though he is in the society which is largely composed of thm

He is a very rich ma n who lives very quietly - he has good

things about him but like all the Fairfaxes looks every expense  v

very hard in the face before he incurs it. He is a bit of a

sport - he is thoroughly on for this little expedition near to

the lines tomorrow - and is the sort of chap who would do it

in an aeroplane if he were given half a chance. He is one of

the most human of the party - but out of touch with the others

partly on account of his wealth and partly by the Fairfax

nature. T hey were never boys amongst the other boys.

Carson is a curious lit tle shrivelled man from

Western Australia who in his gaiters and tweed cap (which shut

him down almost like an oy ster) was a through amusement to

the boys. When the y see civilians they are inclined to shout

as they did when Murdoch was out at Bullecourt time: "I say

chaps, the war's over" - or similar remarks.

Anstey is out of it somewhat in the party - generally

travels by himself. He got in amongst the men at several of

these headquarters and had a crowd of them round him listening

and laughing as he might have had his constituents. He was a

genial friendl y looking old gentleman, this worry of Commonwealth 
ministers, who might have st ood for a model of one of

the Ch eru ble Brothers - half way between a retired sea captain

and a fat sch oolboy.

They Heney is an honest generous man but so highstrung

and nervy that he is never the same two days together. He

comes to one decision only to adopt another to correct it the

next ti me. Yet through it all he has kept the Sydney Morning

Herald wholesomely radical - never unfair to Labour so far

as Heneys influence has been able to prevent it.

 

117.

Prior s eemed a quiet sel f contained man - rather the type

of quiet Syd ney professional man.MacIntosh was rather stodgy

and inclined to impart imp ressions rather than receive them.

Camp bell Jones was the manager of the party, not by election

but by natur e. Will Dyson said "There's a man who will go to

the front and  will xxxxxxxxking with his eyes wide open and

will see nothing". Simmonds was a little Englishman, without

much force, who had lost one son in a British battalion in

the war - he would well suit the Hobart Mercury. Knight has

become bigg er since I knew him as editor of the Brisbane

Courier. He has a will which I should say that he enforces

more than he used to do - probably his status as part owner

of several of the B risbane papers has given him the confidence

he lacked. But the f orcible men of the party I should say

w re Campbell Jones , Fairfax, and probably Prior and Syme.

August Sept. 4 th Wednesday.  The editors visited two mores

divisional headquarters this morning and lunched at Corps

Hqrs where Bishop Long explained to them his Education scheme.

Sen ator Millen by the way is getting his back up in Australia

and has tried to b lock the putting of this scheme into action

by anyone who is under the defence department - even going

to the extent of holding it up by cable. x Pearce's position

in Australia is shakey; but he has the confidence of his

men and officers over here, and to have a straight man at the

other end, in spite of any defects, has meant more to them

than can easily be written explicitly. All soldiers have a

dread of Millen as a politician first last and all the time.

This afternoon Murdoch, Dyson, Gilmour and myself took

Campbell Jones, Knight, Syme and Fairfax away from the rest

of the party immediately after lunch and hurried them up by car

through Flau court to just above BIACHES where they could get

a first rate view of Peronne and the opposite side of the

Somme. We divided into couples. Fairfax ended up with me at

the Maisonette. Wilkins was on the top of the trench all the

time, getting photographs until some German at very long range

sent over two sniping bullets at him which added just the touch

of realism needed. It was exceedingly quiet on our side; but

opposite the Ge rmans were being pasted with our artillery which

was putting down area shoots first on one German trench then

on another - especially below the woods near Doingt and Bussu.

It was exactly as if the day had been arranged for them - plenty

of activity on our side and none on the German. Away in the 

south were clouds of distant dust and smoke where the French

were making an advance - it looked like a great distant

battle. Our artillery put down several barrages and one was

inclined to think that xxxxxxxx probably what was happening

was that the Germans were showing signs of retirement (a fire

started amongst the hills while we watched) and that our patrols

were being given these barrages to help their advance here ad

there by keeping down the heads of the Germans and distracting 
their attention. The 15th Bde has relieved the 14th and

is being relieved by the 8 th. The 74th Division is coming

southward a bit; and our front is to be held by one division

of B ritish tr oops and one Australian division - for a few

days at any rate. We have 4 divisions out for the first time

this year. T he attitude of John and Rosenthal and those

of their type seems to be to suppose that the Germans are being

shattered by our constant bl ows; that at each stage we Australians 
have forced him to retire from a position he meant to mkke

permanent; and that we must go on delivering these blows as

often as we can get the troops fit to make them. Six days rest

and a bath, in Johns opinion, restores the elasticity of a

division and makes it quite ready to fight again. The troops

are not tired "-a little footsore" was Johns xxxxx comment.

In the meanwhile the numbers are going down pretty fast.

Battalions are going into some of these fights 150 strong; 300

or 350 seems to be a big xxxxxxxxx number in the fighting line

118

nowadays. They are not done as they were after Pozieres but they

certainly are feeling that they have had more than their share

of fighting. They are always fairly well spirited as long as

they are following the Germans - "Its not so bad as long as he's

going back"; but there is a feeling that "There wont be any

dominion army left soon". "Theye'll be no more A.I.F. before

long". Dominion troops have been the spearhead of almost every &

reallystiff assault and breakthrough of late - and though they

are very proud of it they are inclined to think it unfair.

All tha t can be said as to this is that provided the

command and the staff see that these troops are used on vital

occasions and are not worn out in fighting that is needless and not

vital, there is little fault to find. But one has no confidence

that this is so - either that Haig is a capable of judging

what is and is not vital, or that Monash cares. To him the

inducement is to make out that every bit of fighting is vital.

We brought our four guests back to our cottage for dinner,

We couldn't get any whisky for t hem - though I am sure that

Knight Syme and Jones would have relished it at the end of

the day. But we gave them a dinner of exactly the same sort that

battalions would normally have out of the line. After dinner

Murdoch and I took them through Bray and Albert to the

American visitors chateau - a large moated place at Radinghem.

Murdochs driver has had his eyes damaged by gas, and his lights

went out as well. When they had burnt out all their oil we

lent them one sidelight from our car which Campbell Jones

had to hold over the side of the car. They had to creep

along on our tail taking advantage of our lights. It was

1.30 before we reached their chateau, but they were cheerful

enough. Murdoch and I stayed the night there with them. The

Chateau with its sham moat, and drawbridge, and pannelled

walls (even though the pannelling I think was deal) struck

one as just the p lace to please Americans and very wisely

chosen.

September 5th. Thursday Back to Mericourt by way of

Rollencourt. At R ollencourt we found that Gibbs was ill and

Lytton away for the day. Ronnie Cmpbell, the bayonet fighting

colonel, looked in - a big quiet chap - hard looking, a good

type of officer I should say.

As we were coming back across the old Somme field

between Albert and Bray the sun was throwing its last rays

agains t a great upbanked thunderstorm in the east. The

rich brown of the Somme ground where it was broken, the dull

red brick of buildings. the dusty grey of tree trunks, of

wagg ons and lorries of tents of broken graves in the Becordll

cemet ery made one of the richest colour pictures I have ever

seen.

We passed 7 whippet tanks near the road marked

in white paint: "Erobert von der 2te Armee"- evidently marked

as trophies for the German war museums.

The thunderstorm had swamped our house out. We had not

realised that the roof in t he battle villages was so broken.

There have been signs that the Germans are evacuating

the area behind Peronne.

September 6th Friday. Murdoch left for Boulogne and

England. G ilmour is staying but has gone with him to

Boulogne.

The Germans at ?midday? yesterday xxxxxxxxxxxx pulled out of their

positions beyond Peronne. Wilkins, who as usual was there,

saw them xxxxxxxxxxxxx on t he hilltop between the woods S of

Bussu and N of Doingt. A party collected on the road about

4 pm. One man walked over to their huts, and xxx set fire to

them. And then the pa rty moved off up the road - no artillery on

it though our artillery fire was heavy upon the German positions

5 00 yards away. The Germans were still holding their trenches

in front of those woods.

G ilmour and Murdoch tell me that John is very

119

angry with me for saying in one cable that we had "scooped nearly

the whole of theG erman rearguard" north of Peronne. And

says that the whole of his artillery is seething with indignation

because I said that our guns were quiet on the evening when

we were watching the German transport on the roads S of

Peronne (the day ourpeople reached the river). He has the

two articles cut out and lying there by him on the table. He

said that I ought not to write merely what I saw, because

I could not see the whole. HWhy doesnt he come to me or

Casey?"He said something about lack of imagination - all of

which means that John, as he told Murdoch, would like to see

the fighting written up with a lavish hand - not too much

accuracy, as he himself told both me and Murdoch - in the

fashion of some of the old War Correspondents. "What a pity

that we havent an Ashmead Bartlett" he said once to Murdoch.

The Germans definitely retired today. Fires were burning

all over t he countryside. We got Doingt after some fighting

in the morning. Wilkins who was out as usual was first into

Tincourt. The Germans were leaving it on the far side as 

his car went into it on this - so the infantry who followed

him told him later. The Germans towards evening could be seen,

Wilkins said, digg ing in along the hillslope for about

3/4 mile N of Marquaix. In this part our pioneers - 3rd

Pioneers, again being used as infantry, were following them.

The pioneers one company of them - had come against the

Germans in the Bois de Buire. They were brought up by

machinegun fire. The company officer told Wilks afterwards

that, not being infantry, they didnt know what was the right

way to tackle a place like that. They had an idea they were

right out ahead of any one else, but they didnt want to

go back. So they decided to rush straight for the German post.

The German machineguns caught 16 of them as they rushed the

trench. But they then killed e very German in the place - at

least a dozen; xxxxxxxx all except one youngster who --

put his hands up and ran for dear life straight back towards

our lines. They hadnt the heart to shoot him. Then they scoured

that wood backw ards and forwards in search of more Germans.

They were deadly tired when Wilkins found them, having come

from Cleryon foot. (By t he bye, the 1st Divn is going up

on bus ses and the 4th Divn marching up). They were just pushing

towards Hamelet, where they were to camp for he night facing

the Germans. Whilst Wilkins watched, the Germans finished thiir

line of rifle pits. The ir supports moved off back over the hil-

top to some position in rear leaving the frontline to hold its

riflepits now dug. Two German guns moved back quietly through

the line and over the hill out of sight. There were three big

sudden explosions - like a 15 inch shell but without any

screech - on the roads ahead, which must have been the Germans

blowing craters to block the roads. And the Germans were setting

fire to their huts as they went back. Everything except

7 trench mortars and a few small shell dumps (which may be

tricks) had been cleanly burnt. The German retirement is completely

orderly in its present stage. All my cables are

design ed to show t his. I dont know what the atitud of the

authorities is - but that is a truth which the people have a

riht to know and the soldie rs know it.

It is a question now - shall we assault he Hindenburg

line? An orderly who came in last thing tonight with a telegram

said that t he war was going well. When I assented

he xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx bet houg ht him that this was the

War Corespondent or official attitude, and added: "I suppose

the war is goin to begin now". By which of course he meant-

they'll be throwing us against the Hindenburg Line, I suppose.

September 7th S aturday. Gilmour back from Boulogne.

The German line was placed by our planes yesterday just this side

of VERMAND. That is their outpost line. They had machinegun and

other positions a go od way this sid of it - and the rear

guard had not dug itself in at that time near Marquaix. xx

120

 

Possibly the Vermand line is the one in which they will have

their outposts before the Hindenburg line. Their main idea

(as we know by an order from Ludendorff in todays summary -

captured by this corps - is to have their defence so deep

that our tanks and infantry will really be fought very far

back from where the fighting appears to begin - where they

will not have the help of their guns and where on the contrary

the German guns or some of them will have free play against

our tanks. That principle is even more important than the

mechanical defence against tanks by means of obstacles. The only

great defect is that it allows great chances to infantry as

enterprising as ours in cutting out the outposts without the

people behind being able to support or even knowing of it.

The order also blames the German soldier for not digging.

The extraordinary absence of defences that we have

noticed both at Pozieres and at V Bretonneux is a sign of the

deteriorating morale of the German soldier, as one has

though for some time.

The aeroplane which carried out the contact patrol this

morning dropped a map showing our men advancing almost at

Vermand - away in front of others. On their right there were

cavalry seen returning at the gallop. It would have been

inte resting to  go our and see if one could have had a glimpse

of St Quentin which is not far away now - but I have stayed

in in order to ge t this diary right up to date. And today

one has managed to catch up with it again.

Murdoch and I saw White on Sept. 5th. He was rather

pessimistic about the divisions which they have in their

army. Only four of them all told (not counting the Portuguese).

Of these the 5 9th consists of B Class men - and cannot

xxxxxxx walk more than 6000 yards a day. Birdie in his visits

to them asks them what is the matter with them. One chap

says: "Well Sir, I have a rupture". Another had a bad heart.

And so on. The 19th Division was very very young. The 61st -

White didnt know exactly what was the matter with the 61st,

but certainly he didnt appear satisfied with it - thestaff

I fancy, though I'm not sure. They are none of them the sort

that can move anyway. The other day they captured two batteries

of German fieldguns. They lost one of them. White said they

were not counterattacked. They were not even driven out so

far as he knew by shell fire. They just thought that that part

of the line was rather advanced and thought it better to

readjust it a bit, and left the guns out ahead thinking that

they would fetch them in later. Of course the Germans got

the guns away in the night.

Per ry Robinson told us that the correspondents were

told before thepush of August 8th that the Australians were

given the xxxx easiest place in consideration of the good

work which they had been doing for the whole of the summer.

It was known that the British would have heavier fighting in

the Northern part of the field; and that the Canadians would

have a more difficult task in dealing withthe loosely

organised German defences on the right.

I have had an answer from Dawnay at G.H.Q. to my

letter to Lyt ton in which I spoke strongly about the 
withholding f om the Australians and Canadians of the credit of

the first days fighting on August 8th. He says they would

not dream of withholding our credit, much less of taking any

of it f or themselves. The word "British" has always been used

as covering t he whole lot of us, he says. One feels mean to

stand up to him and fight on these points for our boys credit;

and yet meaner and weaker to let it go by default. I do not

for a moment believe his explanation, though he may.

 

121

Sunday September 8th. The last three days the Corps has

been advancing in 24 hour stages. Four lines w ere laid down-

green, red, blue, and brown at what were considered to be

24 hour stages. The troops did not quite reach the green

line (Cartigny) on the first night, indeed the Germans

were on that line. The next day they passed the blue red line

and last night they were well beyond the blue. In Roisel yesterday

the Germans seem to have made some mistake and let

our troop s into the village before they evacuated 40 m.gs.,

50 waggons and 2 4.2 hows. Wilkins says that their retirement ws

as orderly yesterday as the other days. He was standing with sme

artillery off icers watching a stream of German traffic moving

slowly across the front. "Seems a shame to see a thing like

that", said one - "Cant anyone get at them". "Its 9000 yards",

said another - just too much for my guns. They agreed that

the heavies could do it and were getting on to the heavies

on the telephone, but some question came up of moving abattery,

and by the time the officer of the heavies was up there the

Germans had gone. One knows that the Germans missed similar

targets hundreds of times during the British retreat.

We are only going to patrol out beyond the Blue line

for a day or two, not press the Germans. The 3rd and 5th

Divns will d o this, and the 1st and 4th will probably make

an attempt t o find out in what strength the German is holding

his lines. He has three - a line near Hargicourt - then a

switch and part of the old British line of last winter; then

the Hindenburg Line. We had a series of Careys forces facing

us for a time. But the Germans during the last four days have

disengaged themselves - we have let them ever since we knew

they were going to the Hindenburg line; and they are now

probably reorganised to some extent. The forward area, Monash

says, is very disorganised on our own side - the roads crammed

with traffi c and the lorries finding it very difficult to

get even the food up to the troops.

There is all sorts of talk in Paris of xxxxxxxx

xxx an American offensive. The Germans have moved three good

divisions round to t he area in front of Strassburg - of

which the French talk so much that it tempts one to think it

must surely be camouflage - unless it is an intention to

deceive in the "second degree".

John says that if the Corps comes out for the winter

he will have a full corps again by the spring. The army

council (which means Murdoch, probably, or Hughes) is at

the present moment trying to make him agree to cutting down

his brigades to 9 battalion brigades now and he doesnt want

to do it. He says that in principle it may be wrong to keep

the divisions weak, and the battalions under strength - 750

for example. But the corps had never been so successful as

during t he past few months and it started them with the bat-

talions averaging 750. "I welcome any pretext to take the

fewest possible number of men into action", he said. "So long

as they have 3 0 Lewis Guns it doesn't matter very much what

else they have. Of course for recruiting purposes I have

used the argument that it is necessary to keep the battalions

at full strength if the men are to avoid over work, but it

is not really quite true. One tells them it makes a first class

argument - that there are the same number of xxxxx horses to

groom, the same fatigues to do, whether the battalion is weak

or strong - but it is not really sobbad. A battalion with 750

men is quite ready to fight. We have always picked up our

strength in the winter. I do not want to cut down any units

until it proves absolutely unavoidable to break up this one

or that - and then not the whole 15. January would be the right 
time f or it - not now."

We went up to pick out a new camp today at that Hqrs

at Belloy an d at Barleux. Probably we shall go with Wilkins

into an old German dressing station at Barleux. 3rd Divn Hqrs

were bombed last night. Poor Conley Connelly lost his leg-Jess had a

lucky escape. G aby 28 Bn, K at St.Q., fought a grand fight I believe.^x

^x(actually Coy 8.)