Charles E W Bean, Diaries, AWM38 3DRL 606/192/1 - 1915, 1918 - Part 10

a corner (byon / Jolly side) by himself.
93

93a
Note.
6^th Bn.  Herleville Wood.
The follg acct is not much
good for details being probably
inaccurate. But it gives a
Bn H.Q. view of the fight.
The 6 Bn looks on Herleville
undoubtedly as the best fight it
ever engaged in tho' nothing
like so hard as Lihons.
Its trouble there at Herleville was
due (so other Bns think)
to defective mopping
up - many Germans being
left in / woods behind it.
 

6^th Bn. Herleville Wood.
(additional to report by Bn.)
Aug 21. Bn moved into poor trenches -
newly dug - wh ran at one part under main road
Aug 23- Coys began to move
6 Bn ws. S. of road.
abt 200-300 yds w. of the
big sugar factory.  Bn HQ
actually in trench under the
main road in a tunnel
w just room for a bunk.
Bn was shelled tt night, a
big gun shelling right up the
road into Cerisy Gully where
the cookers were. The cookers
had to be taken away.
Aug 22  Men were told to be quiet as
they were under observation
from left. Men had 3 meals
but nothing cd come up by
day. There were no C.Ts
94

94a

Diagram - see original document

After dark grd flares, etc were
issued. At 2.45 a.m. the
plns began to move up to
Assembly on tape lines.
The tape line ws abt 70
or 80 yds behind the forward
posts (wh were abt 30yds
from Germans). The Bn HQ of
6 & 8 Bns. and T.M.s were together
in one of the outposts, in
an old Fren German dugout.
The coys got up without
a casualty. They went up
overland, S. of the road.
The Germs put down a barrage
at 4 a.m. The battalion went
in less than 400. In this barrage
Lt Rothinger (hit in thigh - he ws
carrying a flare - the shell lit one on
his back & burnt him) & Lt R.A.
Hall hit in / jaw by a fragment. Only
95

95a
Diagram - see original document
^.X^.  When Bn Hqrs ws sniped a runner
Pte Nape & L/Col Spreadborough went
out with bayonets fixed down the chalk
Pit, up the W side, then N across
/ road. The Germs were on / opposite
bank S. o / road. These two killed 5
of them & bought back 7 (including an
officer with the Iron X)

one offr left in support coy.
Tanks were late (4 tanks). It 
ws a good barrage. The wood
began on / edge o / slope. The 6 Bn
moved thro tt very quickly.
A large n^o of prisoners were
taken there - nearly 300 probly.
HQrs got thro to / Chalk 
Pit _^ at 5.10am - & then noticed that they
were being sniped from the
rear ^.X^.↑
A Coy _^ (left support) ws about 600 yds on
left of / main road. Each
Coy had abt 500yds front -
left D Coy abt 600, B Coy abt 400.
It ws in St Martin's Wood
on / N. o / road tt / Bn met
its first oppositn - the right
had gone on. The line Coy
on left (D) had not yet gone
thro / wood.
96

This Coy (D) had heavy fighting
in St Martin's Wood & A
Coy came into / fight. The
troops who got ahead turned
the flanks o / Germans who
were holding up other parties,
& abt 100 prisoners were
got out of St Martin's Wood.
The 8 Bn wh ws supporting
mopped up St Martin's Wood
while 6 Bn went on.
There were some guns in
St Martin's Wood or just behind it -
either one or two. One of these
fired point blank - & the gunner
ws either wd or so rattled that
his shell hit / ground in fr 50
yds in front of / gun. This
gun fired till we were right on
top of it.
In _^ front of Plateau Wood No 2 where
there ws heavy fighting 6 Bn ws held
97

97a
From the Chalk Pit one
runner, who ws being sent back
to Bde, took w him 87 prisoners.

up. There were two guns in
this wood. A Sergt & Cpl. of 6 Bn
(Sergt Woodworth A Coy) ws killed
right close to these guns wh appear
to have bn fired almost to / end.
One of these A pln of 8 Bn under
Lt McGinn turned this positn
(& one of / guns ws allotted as
an 8 Bn trophy).
Bn HQrs ws by
8 a.m. able to move on to
the huts just below the bank
o / second gully, S. of / road. The
German ws very quick to
notice tt / woods had bn taken
& shortened his arty almost at
once. By 8.30 he ws pounding
St Denis & Herleville Woods.
At 9 am. tho' 6 Bn
ws well across the 2nd Gully
the Germans were still strong in
98

Herleville Wood in direct
right rear of them. The orders
to / men were to push
on whatever happened.  If
When / Germs were undergrd
the men simply pushed on &
if / Germs wdnt come up they
were left to come up later &
fire in rear.
The Bn ws out of touch
with its right - & this made
things look ugly. The Germs
tried to get back up their
long CTs from Herleville
Wood but our Lewis gun fire
prevented this.  A German
post at the W. end of one o /
two long  CTs ws forced to retire
by sniping from 6 Bn Hqrs
just 700 yds N of it.
99

One Coy of 8 Bn ws then
lent to fill in any gap on /
right.
By 11 am - abt 2 hrs after
our line ws established ahead
of it, the Germs in Herleville
Wood surrendered to support
coys of 6 Bn & 8 Bn.
By 3.30pm the Coy of 8 Bn wh ws
sent up was put in a 
sunken rd on the far side of
the Second Gully behind the
right of 6 Bn, so as to
strengthen / gap at first &
later fill it. The Argylls
on rt were then reported
from the SE corner of Herleville
Wood, 400 yds in rt rear of
6 Bn rt flank (wh had been
refused in a defensive flank)
100

& hence Southwards & Eastwards
bulging round the N. front of
Herleville village.
B Coy -  the line Coy
on / rt had lost all its offrs
- Capt Johnstone, hit in thigh on final line.
Lt Gaston (just got Commn. R.S.M.-
he went in as RSM attached to the
Coy as pln Commdr. He ws
shot thro / chest by m.g.
Gastons body ws found right
out on / far post.)

Lt. G.P. Day- hit in thigh on / final line
2/Lt Palmer- wd early in / fight.
All these had bn wd in /
morning. For a time B. Coy ws
out of communⁿ for this reason.
Their C.S.M ws wd & it ws hard
to know what ws going on with
B Coy - 26 of them were found
later but they were found mixed
up with other Coys; so B Coy
seemed to have disappeared -
no reports from them - nothing.
Reports from / rt / of / line came from
101

C. Coy Commandr. This Coy went
in under Capt Carne (now M.C.)
Carne ws wd on night of this
fight but R.O.D. till next day.
A Coy ws under Lt Cuzens who ws
/ only offr left (lost all others on tape)
C Coy after Carne had gone away
fell to Lt Tutton & D Coy to Lt
Darby.
This day (Aug 23) Bn
managed to reach a line 200-
300 yds over along the crest of the second
gully, then bending back on left
behind Plateau Wood No 2.
For to m.g. fire on / top ws very
heavy & the posts cd not be
pushed further.
Casualties till next morng.
(Aug 24) were 8 Offrs. 170 o.r.
At 11pm Aug 24, 8 Bn reld
6 Bn in front line. 6 Bn took up positn
to support in trenches wh were
on the tongue between the two gullies
(on W side of Herleville Wood).
102