Charles E W Bean, Diaries, AWM38 3DRL 606/192/1 - 1915, 1918 - Part 7

past up the rd. N. noticed
tt he had a message
twisted round his collar.
N. wd have fired but
for fear of ricochetting
onto the scouts he called
to them. They looked round
& in the meantime the
dog darted in amongst
the ruins & away. The
road ran into a dead
end. N & his men worked
thro the ruins there to the
E outskirts of the village
& there ws the objective.
He reorganised the Coy
63

& established 3 platoon
posts.
There ws heavy mg.
fire from in front E
of Hargict & the Coy had
to keep in behind the
hedge until 3rd Bn
went thro & this m.g.
fire ws stopped.
There were some mgs.
in the Quarries & ^by the old water
tanks on the rt hand side
of the road out of Hargict.
(to Bellicourt) & these gave
Robertson some casualties.
He went out & cleaned this
place up before 3 Bn passed
through.
64

Lts Lane & Parkes
were wd.
Capt. Newth had a crack from
one of our nosecaps
 

 hands up. There ws
a German offr w them dressed in a

71
grey uniform. They were put in/c of a
man & taken off by the trench ZTB.

Selden then took the party on to
the point where the C.T. joined at A -
& as they went down into Owens Gully
where the Ts from J. Jolly cd see into the
trench he ws sniped & shot dead imd.
in front of ^Pte Back (now Lt Back 4 Bn). This
ws abt 5 yds short of the trench junction.
The trench leading into the valley ws v. deep
& v. narrow. The pty cd see the Turks in
the Jolly Trench which ran in a loop

72
back along the S. Edge of J. Jolly – the
Turks were visible retiring along tt trench
- a few of them getting back. Two of them
stopped & began sniping over the trench.
The first shot got the man behind Back. The
2nd shot got the man Lt Selden in front of him. The
pty came back to a slight bend further up
/ trench & sniped from there at these Turks.
After abt ½ dozen shots being exchanged the
Turks got down.
This pty ws the first down / trench
towds A.