Charles E W Bean, Diaries, AWM38 3DRL 606/211/1 - 1915 - 1918 - Part 7

He sd he had bn retiring 

before them since Aug 8 &

tt he wd greatly have preferred if

/ attacking troops had bn British.]
48 Bn dug in in

posts ahead o / old main

line - (later, when they found

it ws not shelled, most of

them lived in / ^old main line

bec. it ws good w many

dugouts).
The barrage rested there.

The 45 Bn ws in rear

getting into positn under /

cover o / ridge.
46 Bn moved just in

time to reach positn supporting

45^th half an hour before

45 Bn attacked.  This ws to

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save them from backlash &

they lost no one getting to

this positn.
The Smoke ws very

heavy this morning & greatly

helped them as far as the

first positn.  Afterwds it

helped but not so much

bec. it ws now light.  Neither

Bn had any difficulty in

finding / way.
To guide later troops &

runners especially pties

of pioneers went up w

both Bn HQrs to lay tapes

up to Bn HQrs all /

way - to both objectives.

45 Bn had a pretty stiff 

60

fight in the Gully S. of

Collins Quarry (i.e. S. end

of Grand Priel valley).
At the Tumulus N of

the Bellenglise Rd there

were Germs & a lot of

trouble came from there.

We never had touch w /

Tommies from / first.

We had a liaison party of

British with us, who

fought well right thro - but

no others were any where

near.  Two sections of guns

were afterwds put by Gen Leane

to protect / rt flank near

Salt Trench.  (Trench mortars
- 2 w each Bn w 48 rounds

of ammn for each Gun on

4 mules each carrying 12 rds - 

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went w / Bns right to their

objectives & got thro',

mules and all.  The same

ws done w V.m.gs but some

o / mules for these were

lost.
The 45 Bn had its

chief oppositn from the posts

of the old British outpost

line.. (48 Bn had bn working

out well ahead of its line

when it caught / c/attack

party).  They got round this.

Holman of C. Coy had a stiff

fight but worked round a

copse & enfiladed / Germs &

caught a number.
45 Bn reached the

second objve on time

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There ws now only one

Bty of arty coming forwd

to assist Col. Corrigan 46.

There were definite orders

to Gen. Leane tt he must not

risk a man in attacking

this line - he must not

attack but merely exploit.

There ws only one way of

taking a ^strong line like this -

by a definite attack.  Leane

ordered Corrigan to send /

whole Bn forward, but send

it in very great depth, in

parties dribbled forward.
This ws done.  There

ws heavy enfilade m.g.

fire from Pontruet, St Helene,

& 6D (very high ground) - &

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there were a number of

casualties as they

crossed / valley.  But

by 6 pm., the 46 Bn

were definitely reported

at Victoria Cross Rds &

along / Sunken Rd further

N.  The rt flank ws

thrown kept back in a

southerly directn.  The

British were not yet at

/ Red line - they reached

/ road thro 2D pointing

twds 8 central by 11 pm

(but had still not Berthancourt.

at 6 pm.)  We either had to

get back or

take the line

AB.  Gen

Diagram - see original

Leane had a talk w Corrigan &
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decided tt it must be done

tt night.  46 Bn ws very tired.

They had a hot meal abt 10 pm

 - attack ws fixed at 11 p.m.
The rt flank ws /

difficulty.  The British were

not sure where they were & so

Leane sent 2 independent

patrols from 2 Bns to find out

& one of these found, where /

Germs Tommies were supposed to be,

6 m.g.s & a no. of Germs & bombed
them & brought in one prisoner, & killed some - / rest ran.  Then
captured them.  The British

another German post came at him & he jumped onto / parapet

and bombed them and they ran.  The British G.O.C.

(Gen Strickland) persisted tt

they were there.  Maclagan sd he

believed our account but tt he wd

like it made certain & this patrol

ws sent out as a result.  The

youngster who ws sent out up for a

V.C. was Pte Woods.

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Leane wanted to support

this attack by moving over

2 Coys of 48 Bn to do a

flank attack facing SSE.

The German main line trenches

ran in exactly where our rt

flank wd be & gave / Germs a

great chance of bringing up

troops.  The British Observatn

Post wh Leane placed on /

high ground (near / Red line  over

4 Bde Bdy in 25) saw

during / aftn Germans

debussing on / far side o /

canal SE & marching

twds Bellenglise.   This

made this flank an anxious

problem.
The British G.O.C. Gen.

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Strickland strongly objected

to our troops encroaching

on their front.  The troops had

already moved to get into

positn - there ws only an hour

to go.  But Leane had to send out

to warn 48 tt they must

only throw back a flank &

not encroach over / boundary

line o / Tommies.  The British

sd tt they were going to attack

it themselves at 12 p.m. & asked

wd we wait.  Maclagan

passed this on - & Leane not feeling

sure of their c/attack sd he wd

not wait.  The British attacked

at 12 & made no headway

 - but their guns shot our

rt flank out o / trenches wh

it had taken.

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In our attack at 11 p.m.

the arty. wh ws now up,

put down a barrage for

5 mins. on / German wire

while our troops crept up

to get into positn.  While this

ws on the mgunners were

putting a heavy barrage on /

support Hindbg outpost line & /

line in rear.  When a
The attack ws made by

2 Coys of 46 Bn of not more

than 60 rifles each.  They had

2 Coys in support wh followed

/ attack.
Exactly at 11 pm a very

heavy rainstorm came up

& this helped more than

anything.  The Germans got into

their shelters.  Our attack moved

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