Charles E W Bean, Diaries, AWM38 3DRL 606/198/1 - 1915 - 1918 - Part 1

AWM38
Official History,
1914-18 War: Records of C E W Bean,
Official Historian.

Diaries and Notebooks
 

Item number: 3DRL606/198/1

Title: Notebook, 1915 - 1918
Includes references to the 1st, 11th and 12th
Battalions, the mutiny of 21 September 1918,
the armistice and Gallipoli.

AWM38-3DRL606/198/1

[*198*]
19
do not
photostat
1st Bn.
Sept 21.
(10 Bn at other
end)
5 6
 

Original
DIARY NO. 198.
AWM38
3DRL 606 ITEM 198[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 Sept., 1946.                   C.E.W. BEAN

AUSTRALIAN WAR MEMORIAL
ACCESS STATUS
OPEN
 

Copy Lt Howe's Note
to end of book
(where marked by
pencil in margin)

1

Hand drawn diagram – see original
 

2
Lihons 10 Bn. 
(Probly from Neligan)
CEWB.15.6.34)
 

Aug. 10 - 10 Bn followed 90 Bn & centre
of Bde. 12 Bn were supposed to be
on / left but were 2000 yds
behind.
9 Bn ws to attack & take Crepy
Wd & halt at Auger Wood. They
took the wood w / Chimney
Stack in it ^in 29A9.9 & (thinking it was
Crepy Wood stayed there. They
were on the two flanks of
Crepy Wood & on / west side of
it - &
Hand drawn diagram – see original
/ Germ.
ws in / wood holding the whole
of it v. strongly w m.gs snipers &
even m.gs. in trees, & guns in / wood.
XXX We had never bn
in / wood. 10 Bn put in
Major McCann's Coy & took /
wood - pulling people in from /
 

3
flanks & mopping up backwds,
(shooting back at Fritz from his
rear) - very cleverly without
many casualties.
(The row of trees in 29 B
looks v. like a wood).
M.Cann got into / wood &
Fritz put down a very strong
barrage on Crepy Wood (3 or 4 p.m.)
There were [[5?]] offrs & 122 men in the Coy at /
start & they came out w 2 offrs & 35 men.
L^ts Younger & Pearce were killed
in / German attack. L^t Shepherd ws wd.
There were stab wounds in this attack.
The Germs attacked. McCann
organised a party of runners &
all he cd lay hands on -
shooting w his revolver & retook
one post wh had every man
dead in it. Our line at / end
o his c/attack ws intact &
there were 90 Germans dead -
many bayoneted. Fritz then
gassed / wood fiercely - but
he apptly gave up / idea of attacking
the wood again.
 

4
That night ws quiet but abt 11 pm.
Neligan had orders tt he ws to
attack in conjunction w Hearn's
Bde at 4 am to take Anger
wood, whole o / rest o /
high ground & / N. half of
Lihons village. He ws to have
4 tanks. A barrage ws arranged.
The tanks wh were to turn up
at 4 didnt turn up till 5.
N. put in 3 Coys of 12 Bn, 2 of
10 Bn & had in reserve 1 Coy
of 12 Bn & the one remaining
pln of the COy wh he had put
into McCanns the evg. before
after the c/attack.
The people on / rt were the
5th Bn & were out of touch;
so the 3rd Bde swung to / rt
& took in / whole of Lihons, &
reached / final objve. The 5th(or
8th?Bn) had got to / right &
N. going up later met a Coy Commdr
 

5
in Lihons village who asked him
to hold on to / line his troops had
reached until the 2nd Bde cd
relieve him. N. sd he wd do so
for a while but he had to move
left & close up so to be quick.
This ws done.
There ws a fine canteen in
Lihons prunes, gin etc.
N. put 9 Bn along (wh
had bn in / old front line around
Crepy Wd) along / Framerville
Lihons Rd in support o / Bde.
11 Bde were supposed to come
up & link hands ^w 10 & 12 in front of
Anger Wd - & sd they had done
so. A small platoon had
done so. But the rest of /11th
Bn had done nothing. There
ws a big gap in X 24 & S 19
quite 1500 yds across. There ws
 

6
a German tent hospital in S 19 & /
whole place ws a maze of trenches
- the old French front line. In /
early after late morning / German (who had
shelled all / mg so tt it ws
impossible to find / positn o /
line) - the 11 Bn had not had their
orders - only one Coy - the Germans
got back into Crepy Wood with
about 40 men. There were
not may men, tt is to say, who
reached / attack, but others
were involved, possibly arriving
late; for abt a battalion ws
seen moving from xxx near
Olympia Wood (where he had
a number of guns including
one 8 inch gun - he hadnt bn
able to get them away - later
he tried to & we sniped / teams).
Abt midday - abt 2 hrs
after / first c/attack - / Germs
put in anor c/attack w very
 

7
heavy artillery support, (his planes
had bn flying v. low so he knew
where we were). The second attack
did not get through at all.
These attacks probly told
him where our weak spot was.
Neligan ws trying to get troops to
fill / gap but they did not realise
it existed & were slow in moving.
In / early morning o / aftn /
Germans filtered troops thro down /
saps into / hospital - there ws gas
but nothing to indicate an attack -
we had to keep in gas helmets
nearly all / time.
Neligan ws up having
a look around. He had a
pozzy in 23 central. he had
gone up past Crepy Wood towds
Anger Wood (see time in diary) when
he noticed shots flying at him from
/ rear. They saw a few Boche
straight behind them - betw them &
Bn H.Qrs - Neligan sent back to
 

8
Bn H.Q. in 23 central & sent up
/ adjt (Maj. Campbell Perry O.C.
Hqrs Coy (wh is an irregular formatn
of Neligans in 9 & 10 Bns) & Intelligence
Offr. He ws still in touch w /
front line in front of Lichons by telephone.
The people on / rt in front of Lichons
sd they were O.K.
The 11^th Bn had heard nothing.
^※9th HQ hadnt seen them go thro
but they were not in touch & cd
say nothing. N. put an arty barrage
down across / front.
By this time Campbell Perry
& I.O. were going forwd to find
out what had happened & to
send up the reserve Coy 12 Bn,
/ remaining pln of 10^th Bde
[[mining?]] coy who were on their
way to / front line w loads
- & dumped them - signallers
H.Q. details (only keeping one man

^※Newman, who ws running 11^th Bn & Mullins who ws C.O. of
9^th Bn were sent to England (or Australia) shortly after this battle. Both
were out of touch with their Bns during this fight, apparently.