Charles E W Bean, Diaries, AWM38 3DRL 606/205/1 - 1915 - 1918 - Part 3

The German shelled the Omiecourt
crossing v. heavily with
8in. One batch of 20-30
German prisoners ws knocked
by a shell in their midst.
At 6 am. a German
m.g. ws firing from abt Boutle
Alley straight into / bank where
HQrs ws.. Several German
prisoners were hit by this
gun as they stood in front of
Hqrs. This gun ws subsequently
silenced by an Australian
forwd observatn offr & runner
the observatn offr being
badly wd in / process. (He
ws an Australian with the
17Bn - He went up & bombed
it). (Col. O'Callaghen wd C.O of group
& ws know his name.)
 

Before midday 5 waggon
loads of m.gs and captured
material were cleared from
that bank (collected from / trenches
around - m.gs. forwd
cdnt be bought in for lack
of men).
When the started they
made such a noise, & kept it
up so well, tt they bluffed /
German.
Lt Noble ws k. abt the
start - on the way off at Zero.
Capt Barlow A Coy ws wd.
Jeremy Obeling wd
Lieut Elliott wd.
 

20 Bn. Beaurevoir.
Oct 1 st. Marched up _∧ from Villers Faucon to Villeret.
C.O. had a walk up to see
/ country. Abt 5.30 pm
Brig. told CO. they were to
take over from 15 Bde -
Cdn't say where Pompeys HQrs
were. Having seen /
ground by daylight C.O.
saw / only way ws by /
plank Rd. He took them
by a track to ^strike / plank road
near / bottom by Bellicourt.
C.O went up to find
Elliott. Elliott sd he wd
have guides at his rear Hqrs
to take the Bn in.
Front to take over ws
from Mint Copse to / Cemetery.
21
 

Elliotts guides met 20Bn
but lost / way finally
near Nauroy. Col. Forbes
guides (at relay stns) lost
him. Eventually he stumbled
on 1 Bn. He decided /
best thing ws to put a bold
face on it & to advance
towd / flares in what he
thought ws / directn. When
they got to G 6 D the guides
decided they knew where they
were. It ws now 11.30 pm. There
were a few shells; also it ws pitch dark.
(Pompeys fowd Hqrs ws at /
other Camp signal Stn).
Col. then found tt Bn Hqrs wh
he ws to relieve ws in
the sunken Rd on G 6 B.
& / rd to Folemprise Fm
ws well delined. The guides
 

took Bn up. Col Forbes took
over from Col. Denehy & Col.
Scanlon. Their line ws a
bit short of the Sunken Rd. NE of
Folemprise. Col. Forbes instrns
were to take over / road.
The 20 Bn got into / road
easily - any Germs tt were
there ran.
At the Cemetery there ws
some trouble in getting touch with
19 Bn.
Oct 2.
Next aftn an officer ws coming
back from the line beyond
Folemprise to Hqrs w his batman
for g in order to go to a school,
when a low flying German plane
came over & after trying to
machine gun him dropped
a bomb at him. He took cover
23
 

from the m.g behind a telegraph
post, keeping an eye on / plane.
He saw / bomb leave /
plane - judged where it wd
drop, & ran / other way.
The bomb dropped within 10yds
of the telegraph post behind
wh he had bn sheltering.
This ws Lt Bardus, D.S.O. (at
Hangard wood)
All this line ws handed
over to 7Bde for Beaurevoir
attack. 20 Bn ws withdrawn
into / Sunken Rd in B25 D
S of Folemprise Fm. In additn
to ordy rations, while
waiting for / start, they had
hot stew wh ws taken on
packhorses right to them (by
Lt MacGill, asst transpt offr).
 

19 were for Beaurevoir Line.
20 were to mop up
Lanotte Fm & take Beaurevoir 
7Bde on left.
19Bn for some reason
- unknown to 20Bn
offrs. failed on 1st objve -
20 Bn took the Beaurevoir 
line & went on to the
outskirts of Beaurevoir.
They cd see no troops whatever
on / rt - it as all open
& lots of Germs - Lt Cameron,
senior offr present, withdrw
onto / line of the Canal. He
sent back to Col Forbes giving
an outline of the situatn &
asking for instrns. The
7Bde on left, he sd, had
got on very well; meanwhile 

on informatn from 19Bn, Col.
Forbes had instructed him not
to go beyond line of canal
& this order crossed Camerons
message. Col. Forbes sent
informed Bde of this order-
Bde ordered tt 19Bn shd
link up thro Lanotte Farm
& hold line o / canal.
Once again / arty ws
splendid. Sinclairs Bty ws
there ^w 20Bn The English 150^th
army Bde did some splendid
shoots throughout / morning
on hedges, Sunken rds, banks
etc.
The whole brigade ws
put on in the area above
the mill (N of it] In the 1st
rush 20 Bn passed this mill 

- this shoot ws to get a
gun wh ws firing from
there. Six guns from another
mobile Australian Bty
reported, & they did an
excellent shoot on exxx a certain
hedge. The Heavies were
up & anxious to do
anything.
The 20 Bn had its gas helmets
on in / Sunken Rd S. of Folemprise
farm for 2hrs. The gas ws heavy
tt night.
Shortly after the start
Col. Forbes, getting no ^definite detailed informatn
from of 19 Bn sent his I.O, Lt
Beattie up on a byke to
ride up as far as he cd
go & get it.
On clearing / village 

Beattie found himself fired
on from the trenches imd in
front & saw Germs - there.
He tumbled off his byke
into a shellhole by /
roadside. He sent back
his runner w very clear
informatn & then later
came back himself saying
tt the Germs cd be seen thick
on / white house & /
trenches in front.
He sd that there were 2
tanks up there at tt time
knocked out - (these wd
be the mark V tanks).
2/7Bde tanks were
sent down eventually.
That aftn the 6th Bde
went through. As they came