Charles E W Bean, Diaries, AWM38 3DRL 606/192/1 - 1915, 1918 - Part 1

AWM38
Official History,
1914-18 War: Records of C E W Bean,
Official Historian.
Diaries and Notebooks
Item number: 3DRL606/192/1
 Title: Notebook, 1915, 1918
Includes references to the 1st, 4th and 6th
Battalions and Lone Pine.
 AWM38-3DRL606/192/1
 

1st Bn  - } 23 Aug
4th Bn -}18 Sept
Lone Pine. (Oxfd Circus)
5th Bn (little value)

T (2)

Original DIARY NO. 192
AWM38 3DRL 606 ITEM 192[1]
DIARIES AND NOTES OF C.E.W. BEAN
CONCERNING THE WAR OF 1914 - 1918

THE use of these diaries and notes is subject to conditions laid down in the terms
of gift to the Australian War Memorial. But apart from these terms, I wish the
following circumstances and considerations to be brought to the notice of every
reader and writer who may use them.
These writings represent only what at the moment of making them I believed to be
true. The diaries were jotted down almost daily with the object of recording what
was then in the writer's mind. Often he wrote them when very tired and half-asleep;
also, not infrequently what he believed to be true was not so - but it does not
follow that he always discovered this, or remembered to correct the mistakes when
discovered. Indeed, he could not always remember that he had written them.

These records should therefore, be used with great caution, as relating only what
their author, at the time of writing, believed. Further, he cannot, of course vouch
for the accuracy of statements made to him by others and here recorded. But he
did try to ensure such accuracy by consulting, as far as possible, those who had
seen or otherwise taken part in the events. The constant falsity of second-hand
evidence (on which a large proportion of war stories are founded) was impressed
upon him by the second or third day of the Gallipoli campaign, notwithstanding that
those who passed on such stories usually themselves believed them to be true. All
second-hand evidence herein should be read with this in mind.
16 Sep., 1946.                   C.E.W. BEAN

AUSTRALIAN WAR MEMORIAL
ACCESS STATUS
OPEN
 

1st Bn Aug 23.
Diagram – see original
1st Bn started just short of top of
ridge W of Chuignolles
attacking N of West East.
The main ^Cappy Proyart road ran on the
ridge top dividing German
posts from posts of the Bn.
The J.O. line crossed this
Rd W. of Chuignolles.
Diagram – see original
The Germs had posts
in the old trench system
in 9 B. & roughly
N & S rt abt 300yds

 1

from our J O line wh
ws 200 yds in rear
o the outposts (wh were
withdrawn (59 Bn) ¼ hr
before the barrage)
Some German posts
fought till we got to them.
Some posts in the trench system
had to be fought down.
The fight moved down hill
- the left being fairly level.
Lt J.P. Kelly who ws k. did fine
work in leading agst these
posts, & ws shot there
rushing straight on a m.g.
which shot him in the stomach.
Lt Vic. Fowler (long w / Bn) ws
wd at the same place system
but not the same gun. Fowler ws
ahead & finding F. in trouble
 2

Kelly moved his pln
across to help him.
(A 14^th Bde Bn swung
w the flank to Luc Wood).
The left flank after
passing the trench system took
Little Wood (S.W. of Long Wood)
& there the easier progress ended.
The 1st Objve  included Little
Wd & ⅔ of Chuignolles
village
Hand drawn diagram – see original
It ws C Coy on left.
D Coy in Centre got thro on
rt of Chuignolles with little
trouble working along the spur
As far The first objve in the
3
 

village ws reached without
great trouble, one or two
little fights in the streets, Germs
firing from walls & having to
be chased out. The Bn
left the main village
st along, worked thro the
back gdns on each
side & mopped up
backwards later. It ws
in the mopping up tt the one
or two little fights occurred.
Only one strong sector w
a L.G. was sent on
this work the rest of
the pln responsible
for Chuignolles being
kept by Scales for
exploitation.
4

Long Wood contained many nests. When exploitation
began A Coy passed thro' C Coy on instructions
recd on the spot. One pln passed to the left o the
wood & one to the right. The wood ws fairly
thick. They skirmished towd the wood by section
rushes, well extended, under heavy m.g.
fire from another point - across the valley R 5 A4.6.
A bty of guns (H.A.Coy) were attached to the Bn
for this fight & they were put onto these m.gs.
This kept the fire down while the infy got
across the open on both sides o the wood towds
the wood. We had a few casualties getting across. As
soon as the infy got into the wood some of the Germs surrendered
& some ran. A tank ws working w A Coy there - it cdnt
get into the wood but fired its gun at the m.gs., circling round the wood

B Coy on the right got on
well, xxxx their
boundary being the road.
The exploitation on the
left into Long Wood ws
w the aid o the Support Coy
- A Coy wh took the leading
part. There ws strong
oppositn in Long Wood.
The Germans were thro the wood
w m.g. nests thro it &
largely on the NE edge
o the wood; & there ws
also heavy m.g. fire
from Marly Woods opposite.
The tanks were signalled to
& succeeded in crushing out
some m.g. nests - working
6
 

Just as the tank started to get back it ws hit
just by the wood & had to be abandoned. All
the tank crew got away. This ended the morning
fight. At 2 p.m. they went on again here .... &
were relieved the same day.

during this ^Exploitation period without
any smoke cover.
L^t Blake managed to
get a line estab. thro the
middle of the wood -he 
won his M.C. in this
fight.
The Exploitation line
ran from there, thro the
valley, E of the village
(in SE direction) including
the whole of Chuignolles wood
down to the road corner
by Arcy Wood.
In front of Chuignolles
some interesting scraps occurred.
In the main st. Sergt Osmund
ws going ahead by himself
(of D Coy). He met 4 Germans in
the street there & went for them
8
 

with the bayonet. He killed 2
& wd. 1 - the 4th ran away.
One o the Germans shot him across the
face. He got a DCM.
This ws during exploitation.
A little later D Coy ws
debouching from Chuignolles 
Wood when some Germs. in
dugouts on the SE side of the
main road (in roadbank)
just E of village saw them
& brought out 2 heavy
m.gs.
A party of C Coy saw
them just as they were
getting the guns up; two
youngsters shot the two No1s
on the German guns dead
with their first shots. One
was 200 yds away - he simply
9
 

took a snap shot at him
standing - Pte Semler, a
youngster who ws pln
scout to Scales. We captd
these guns. The exploitation
here reached its xxx
objective.
The posts in the valley
Nxx of ^E of village came under
v. heavy 4.2 fire; but
as the 2 German m.gs
abovementioned were
mounted & were covering
valley from the road
Diagram – see original
the posts
in that part
were withdrawn to the
road where there were
dugouts & the men had
a chance of a sleep.
10