Charles E W Bean, Diaries, AWM38 3DRL 606/207/1 - 1915 - 1918 - Part 6

as a matter of fact there

were 5 lines of telegraph

poles) wh led them considerably

too far right (Lt Cutts). However

both there errors were

soon mended. After½ hrs 

wait 50 Bn moved off

to take up its positn near

the Southern re entrant.

Lieut Hodges Coy ws

just digging^lying out sorting themselves to dig in on / edge

o / gully - when there

ws a call from ahead

"Who are you?" It ws

in good English & / men

thought it ws a Tommy, or

else / Americans (who had

shouted tt they wd come on

to them).  Some one shouted back.
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"Australians, here, dont 

shoot" - they were standing

up. The voice came back.

"Alright - Come on Australia"

& then a gun only 30 yds or 

so ahead opened on them.

The men still thought it ws

a Tommy & ^started cursing him.

"50th Battalion Australians"

they said. He xx answered
again "Come on Australians."

& put in another burst.  Then

our chaps took a tumble.

They got down & someone

threw a bomb at him.

He ran & left his gun. There

was high crop grass there where

he was - he got away.

From his position his gun
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just swept the slope where
our men were, like a glacis.
He must have had our men
fair agst / sky & seen them
long before in / flares.
In this burst Lieut Bills
ws k with several m.g. bullets
thro / head. Almost all /
men hit tt night were hit
thro / head - the men

were mostly hit by these

grazing bullets as they lay

down. Abt 13 or 14 casualties here.

Maj. Fowler reported the

Bn on its objective - & 13 or

14 casualties - this ws abt

midnight.

The 50 Bn ws then dug in

as shown on ^my map in a 

line of posts - B.C. finally
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dug a continuous line.

They cd get splendid observatn

from their rt down the gully

to Bray. In their Centre they

had not such good observation.

-the cliff side here consists of

a steep series of bumps or

benches. Their rt ws on

the highest ground - from

there / hill sloped down

to a quarry on / hilltop

with a hedge along the N edge of

it.

The contact plane came 

over & they lit their flares

abt 7a.m. Then a German

plane came over - w a

red nose - very cheeky -

must have bn armour plated too
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our infantry hit back at him

w everything they had in / 

way of a L. Gun. The German

cd be seen leaning over &

waving his arm. [The trenches

were shallow for / ground ws

tough limestone esp. on / right].

The plane ws over from ½ hr

to an hr. Abt an hour to

1 ½ hrs later / German Arty

began. ^It began to get the range at once. It ws very heavy indeed.

The Germans had a gun

NE of Proyart (behind 9

Central). It enfiladed the

right entirely. This enfiladed

Hodges Coy especially. There

ws another battery shooting

direct from just behind La 

Neuville. There were also
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guns behind or on Froissy

Beacon. There were field guns

ahead. They ^Germans could see the

white parapets on / green

hill- we had tried to

camouflage these with grass

(a mustard crop) but of course

he could see.

Hodges had 8 men killed.

Capt Beresfords Coy had 2 

posts completely blown out
- one shell fell into the shell hole
where two Lewis Gunners &

their gun were. Maj Fowlers

Coy had a shell into one

post of 9 men & NCO.
- 4 were k. & 3 wd by a 4.2.

No shells were wasted - all 

seemed to fall on / trench. The
55

S/bs did very heavy work - 

& practically all those in two

o / Coys were hit.

The snipers in / Gullies

were also very active.

They fired from behind the

banks & there were m.gs. 

there. One offr of Fowlers Coy

Lt Wills, hearing a man call

who had bn hit, jumped out

on / parapet - his batman

who followed him everywhere

jumped out at once &

ws hit straight thro / head

imdly.

This day / Germans

were seen coming down /

road from Suzanne -
most of them came down /
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road into / village. They

were out of range here.

Our men tried to snipe them

at an open space near /

church wh they crossed - be

they w extreme sights -but

it ws too far. Its Arty were

called A mo for & they landed

a shell fair in / road after

/ first big lot had passed.

At one time a motor
car had come up along this 

road. dropped an officer

at some trenches near /

top, turned round, waited

& abt 10 mins later took

him away again.

The Germans had probly

cleared out during the silent
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attack o / night before.

The authorities at / back

knew wd ^probly know very little

of it till their plane came

over next day. They

probly thought our objve was

Bray & had cleared out & 

this morning they were ordering

their garrison back.

Those whom 50 Bn saw were

clearly making for the

N.W. edge o / village. The

Germans who were shot down

here were ^there on the next day

(Aug 12) after the 51st had 

made its attack.

That day the Germs dug in on foot of

Peninsula. On this night (11/12) 3rd

Divn took Mericourt. On the next night 12/13

Lieut Livesey (at / same as

51 Bn- 1 a.m.) took a fighting
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patrol down the S. gully.

Two parties followed - one under

Lt Billing, to form the pivot

for 51 Bn. - a liaison post

betw. 50 & 51 ; Lt MacIntyre MacBride

ws to dig in a post down

the slope by / road, with

Livesay's party covering him,

in order to block traffic

along / rd entirely.

At / same time a fighting

patrol of Maj. Fowlers Coy 

went down / Northern

Gully under Cpl. Mengersen

(DCM for this). He ws, if

possible, to place a post at

/ mouth of this gully too.

Livesey got down alright-

& the Centre Pln of Fowlers Coy
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