Charles E W Bean, Diaries, AWM38 3DRL 606/204/1 - August 1918 - Part 2

There were a fair number
of Germs in the trenches - but
41 Bn got over 200 prisoners
/ men were on them so quick
- you cd only see a man
at 8 ft - the m. gunner

hadnt time to switch his
gun round after he saw you.
42 Bn had / road & /
river to guide them.
The tanks had got up
just at Zero - they opened
/ throttle out & the whirr
started.
42 Bn had started w
on one Coy front
Diagram - see original document
The had to narrow down to
one Coy to pass / narrow
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neck & widen out again
later.
(The Brigadier had fought hard
to have ^part of his Bde put across
/ river for liaison - probly
/ Divl Genl also - against
/ Somme being / boundary).
42 had 3 tanks.
[41 Bn had 4 Coys in front line
& one of 43 to be Support xx Coy.
They had 3 tank sections ^(9 tanks) w them]
Between Gailly & Cerisy a
77 gun on / road opened up
agst 42 Bn & agst a tank
wh ws on / road. The tank
was hustled off / road into /
hillside just in time.
2 plns of 10 Bde (38n39?)
worked / N. bank o / Canal,
/ pln of 42 Bn worked / S.bank
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as far as Gailly Red
Chateau, & dug in there.
The party working on the
river bank struck several
m.g. posts & dealt w them.
A second pln o / same
Coy secured Gailly Bridge;
the remaining 2 plns were
extended along / terrace E of
this, (& 100 yds N of hospital) - for
500 yds. The next Coy
went took a further 600 yds
around the terrace Ewds.
The 3rd Coy worked from
there in a semicircle round
to the right of Bn objve.
The Support ^Coy ws placed
along the track from 
Gailly hospital towds
Cerisy gailly to subdu support the
other 3. The 42 Bn ws
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really securing / left
flank o / Australians.
The gun wh had bn firing
point blank down / road
ws found near Cerisy Cemetery
& ws mopped up by our
patrols also fired thro / 
barrage on it.
The mist started to thin
after some hours - 15 Bn
passed thro exactly to time
looking splendid - deploying
as they cleared / green line
- everyone cheerful.
In / mist Lt Tardent
w Lt Patterson (Sig. Offr) found
a tank in / mist just
going towds / Somme &
managed to save him by
shouting at him & turning
him off (agst his will) in / right direction.
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Everyone ws lost but
everyone found himself
& got into their right Coys
& so on.
Till abt 8 am our
people were fired on by
a German m.g. across
/ river. An 18 pdr
pulled out on 12 central
& fired 4 shots in tt
directn & it stopped.
The pioneers were at
work within abt 5 mins
o / barrage passing -
o / rd.
When 41 Bn passed thro 44
they got heavy fighting at
the Xrds in 7 c where
there were a lot of Germans.
In / valley East of them they
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got 9 field guns & 20 m.gs.
They got to their objve - &
found tt Hamilton & Forbes
Woods were heavily held,
by arty & infy. These were

just beyond / objve.
Lt J. Lawson went out
w a tank & some infy. The
tank went straight into /
wood & they got over 200
prisoners in these woods.
As / mist rose the
mgs from Cerisy & the ridge
in 15 Central became very
active; the field guns
N. of / river (at Chipilly
& Malard & Celestin Woods).
The Germans were also firing
an m.gs from / Sailly Laurette
quarry.
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This Sailly Laurette gun
ws silenced by 8 a.m. by
/ field gun.
When 4th Divn passed
through in lines of sections
in file w rifles slung,
& tanks in between them , the
41 got up & cheered - but 
ahead were tanks out by
themselves dealing w
machine gun nests - by Cerisy
& crackling of m.gs. now
and then as they reached
them - & the ger transport
& arty creeping up at /
road from / rear -
Presently / Germans
got their guns from Chipilly
and Malard Wood onto this
road made it very dangerous.
The 10th How Bty ws on / reverse
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slope just S. of Cerisy Gailly
during just abt 9 am covering
/ advance - they were
very good. The Germans
got into this bty from
Malard Wood (the Chipilly
guns fired more into the
4th Bde) & knocked out
all / guns. From 10
From 8 till 10 am the Germs
gave 41 Bn a very bad
time. These bties all day
gave caused the 4 Divn a very
large no of casualties
out ahead.
42 Bn had 2/Lt Germain wd
abt during / advance agst /
line of resistance between hospl. leading men
& Cerisy Gailly.
Lt Conrad ws k. at /
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same place - instantaneously
by a shell - probly our own.
He ws leading his men.
Casualties mostly probly half durg advance - m.g. fire
caused these casualties - shells less. V few killed.
41 Bn:  2/Lt  R H O Roberts  d of w on 
battlefield during / advance, by a ^Germ. shell.
Capt ^H Chumleigh. wd in /
head by a ^Germ. shell during / advance,
Lt Dimmock wd. in /
advance by a German shell.
Lt Clark
The casualties amongst
men were mainly during
consolidatn.
41 Bn, 480 actual fighting men,
had to capture / mile front to a 
depth of 1500 yds.
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On Aug. 9 at 4.30 p.m. the
Tommies & Americans attacked.
A m.g.s in Chipilly firing up / 
valley northwards stopped
/ advance. There ws no
barrage on it. The barrage
was in front o / Tommies
going E, and nothing ws done to
this m.g.
Some of 42 ^& 50 & 1st Bns were
over on / N. side - on
their own without orders,
helping to deal with the
German posts wh were
holding up / Tommies.
These guns were mopped up
before dusk at 8.30.
The 42 Bn got indirect
fire from m.gs. on the N.side.
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