Charles E W Bean, Diaries, AWM38 3DRL 606/193/1 - August - November 1918 - Part 6

61
without authority. Foch
sd tt they cd send the
captain one of their party
back w / terms, & they.
wd be allowed 72 hours
to accept them or leave them.
The German pty decided to
send back / terms by /
captain who was with
them. [Today, like yesty
has been a vile day -
raining most o / time.
The line went forward
5000 yds at least, they say;
& we expect / outposts to be
past Avesnes Early tomorrow.
Nov 9^th. Saty.  A beautiful
day - cold, sunny. I took /
 

62
chance of driving (with
Cutlack) to Dernancourt
in order to get 20 photos
of / battlefield before it
is completely altered. I
must do / same at Fromelles
(of wh we have not a
single picture). Then I have
to go to England to arrange
for the continuance (if possible)
of Gullett's & Cutlack's
positions; my passage to
Australia to establish
the museum etc; the printing
of the little book on Reconstructn
wh White says they will make
"the bible" of the Education scheme;
& other things.
I noticed that in all
 

63
/ country we got went thro' we
did not begin to see signs
of really heavy artillery
fighting till we got nearly
to Beaurevoir. I shd say
tt / artillery put down a
good barrage for / Americans
when they attacked towards
Premont - but tt tt ws
/ last stiff fight up to this
point. The Hindenburg line  battlegrd
was of course pitted w new
shellfire of Sept 29 & the
first few days of October -
far heavier than anything
since; tt ws quite obvious.
On / other hand there
ws certainly heavy fighting at
Cambrai - it was heavily
knocked abt by recent fighting
 

64
especially on / outskirts. The
centre ws, in one part,
blown up by / Germans exactly
as Bapaume & Peronne were
in 1917.
The Le Cateau has also
some signs of heavy fighting
tho' nothing like Cambrai or /
Hindenburg line - (Nauroy,
Gouy, Beaurevoir, Bellicourt,)
Bellinglise). Possibly it is
partly / result o / original
battle in 1914. I havent seen it
in full daylight.
On our way to Dernancourt
we called at 4^th Army &
Herbertson told us tt this
morning our troops cd nt find
/ German. He had gone in /
night - cleared right away.
 

65
The nearest place our aeroplanes
had found him in was
Siveret (or some such name).
They thought he ws off to /
Meuse. He was do
delayed us in every way
possible by his delay
action mines - just a 5.9
shell w a clever fuse almost
impossible to tell from other
fuses, wh delays its action
for weeks or days, as required
by / amt of acid put in. (We
have ^an unused one in our War Museum
- from Mericourt). He buries
this under / lines of rly;
sometimes he buries them blows
a crater in / line & then buries
/ shell at / bottom o / crater;
our work party fills / crater
 

66
in and a day or two later
shell blows it up again.
On coming back this
evening we heard that /
aeroplanes wh went over
today found tt they cd not
drop their bombs on / Germans
because when they went over /
French towns the Germs there
were the French inhabitants
out in / street waving ^the French
tricolor flag, & / German soldiers
mixing in amongst them.
Gen. Debeney of the 1st French
Army (so Arthur Maxwell told
us) considers tt / German soldiers
are out of hand & have broken
away from their offrs, just as /
fleet had done. They are 
resisting well in parts,
 

67
it is sd ; but in other
parts have clean gone.
This is all rumour.
We hear Glasfurd hears tt our
4^th Divn has had its move
Counter manded. The 1^st Divn
is to go into / line about Nov 14
or 15. The Germ 4^th army
is not advancing its line
much beyond Avesnes for /
moment. It has instructed
its divisions to hold a line
thro' Avesnes w their
main body ; & will follow /
Germans with mobile columns.
We met /  Gr Scots Greys, w
their grey horses, on / road
near Vermand today,
moving up.
Lots of these details are
fighting etc are inaccurate;
 

68
they only represent the current
talk at Army Headquarters
or Divl Headquarters on the
actual day when the things
are happening - vague rumours
of the Mxxx Armistice Conference which have
no doubt come to Rawlinson on
the telephone from Haig or Lawrence
- several times repeated to our
Corps & Divl Generals & thro' them to
their staffs.
Nov 10. Sunday. Another
glorious cold day. Coal is our
difficulty here. We are going to see if
we cant get some from old railway
dumps.
I suppose there is no armistice yet
for our planes are flying over.
Anyway the 72 hours is not over
till tomorrow.