Charles E W Bean, Diaries, AWM38 3DRL 606/211/1 - 1915 - 1918 - Part 8

forward in this rain &
were into / trenches before
/ Germs knew it. The Germs
had lanes in their wire &
their machine guns were covering
these lanes but there ws
practically no fire from /
Germans. The Arty had partly
broken / wire.
There were over 500
Germans in these trenches opposite
46 Bn. The Bn. Commandern
ws in a dugout on / main
road (the remains o / old Roman
Rd) just beyond their trenches.
He wd not come up when
asked to so they killed him. There
were abt 4 German prisoners
to each Australian - no over 500.

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They were going to c/attack us
at dawn - a mixed body
 marched from St Quentin, bussed up. from
St It ws during this fight
tt one of our men, a
young Scotsman of the 46 Bn,
getting into / German line
(only 126 of our men to abt
1500 yds of trench) ws grabbed
by / Germs & taken down
into a dugout. He ws
asked by them where /
Australians were. He sd
they were down there in
thousands & they were going
to attack these trenches.
They sd he ws better down
there. "Too right" he sd.
Then presently ap came / voice of

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an Australian down /
stairs calling on them in
/ usual language to
surrender. They The youngster
sd "There you are - they're up
there now." He asked them
what they were going to do.
They agreed tt they wd
surrender & he took
led the 30 of them up. (On
top they wanted to know
where all / thousands of
Australians were).
Our line ran right to the
tangle of trenches on / Bde
boundary. But artillery
fire - Corrigan sd it ws our
own - drove them out of
there &  / line ran down

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Onoto trench to / Bde
boundary, while 48 Bn
(2 Coys) made a flank down
/ road just to the N of it.
This nest of trenches on /

high ground to / rt ws
very vital – / ground ws
high there & / system converged
on it. Accordingly Leane
decided to attack on night
of Sept 19.
48 Bn tt night took
over the rt half of 46 Bns
positn w instructions to
attack & retake this ground.
This was done abt 10 pm.
with arty assistance - no ^regular barrage -
there were strict instructions
not to fire on / English front on

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/ right - the Bn took the
-trenches, ^practically up to their boundary,
put in stops & had posts back
inside / Tommies'  boundary
to Fourmi trench where
/ English now were (for a
short  distance on / right).
The trenches were fairly
well cleared by arty fire
& the 48 bombed up &
took 11 m.gs. & 5 prisoners.
This gave them / high ground
& / control of the C.Ts. to Bellenglise
& put them within 700 yds o
/ Canal where / British later
crossed it. Fighting Patrols were sent
out to see if the trenches and imd.
west of / Canal were could be peacefully

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penetrated. Some were wd.
They found / trench strongly
held. One party north of the C.Ts
at night ws seen by / Germs &
a party of Germs came out from
the CTs &  tried to get round
them. They got back w 2 wd.
A few posts were ahead of
our line.
We handed over to the
46^th Divn. - a good relief.
From /  positin wh we held
we could look down right
onto his canal. The trenches
were hopelessly badly sited from
/ German point of view. They were
there to preserve essential
ground. But they gave us 2 tiers
of fire. The Eastern line ws lower

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than / western one - & the E. line
can have bn of no use to /
German at all under any
circumstances. They were
an ideal position for us.
In the attack of Sept 18
12^th Bde took in 3 weak Bns
& got (roughly)
45.................400 prisoners
46.................550       "
48.................500      "
That is about over 1450 prisoners
including 51 officers & 80 m.gs.
& many T.M.s & guns up to 6 in.
abt 12 or 14 of them - abt 6000 yds
advance against strongly held
fortified lines.
The German artillery protecting
his front, as always, came from

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the two flanks (as we do w
our m.gs.). We do not adopt
this principle for some reason.
12 Bde came out on / night
of Sept 21/22.
In the ^old British trenches on this
post there ws no sign of
bombardment or fighting of
March 21.
4 Bde: When the 16 Bn ws being
fired into from / rear by Germ
batteries in / rear o / Chipilly
Spur, Maj Smith C.O. of the Bty (39^th)
supporting 4 Bde (whose guns early
arrived very far forwards) ws not
allowed to fire on them as / British
sd they were there. Finally, after hours,
Burgess gave him leave to fire if he saw
/ flash  o / guns & he did so. As a
matter of fact they cd see / guns all / time
& had bn reporting them but had bn informed

from Divn: The British have got Chipilly

and are on their green line. This ws not so.

D Brockman sent Bradley across next
day to see.
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On Sept 18. as soon as / troops
got forward waggons picked up
ammn & wire & took it forward
from a dump on / rly to a point
in / ^steep valley close under behind / Red Line;

then they went back & got another
load & brought it up. Coming
over / old British main line
they were in full view & cd
also be seen before from /
time they left / rly line. The
waggons got thro without a
casualty. The Germans had
high ground behind Bellenglise
& Bellicourt w observatn
over this country on / crests.
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13 Bn Aug 8.
Great trouble in finding
way. Formed behind Hamel
(from Vaire). They got onto
tapes without trouble abt
½ hr before the fight - 200
yds ahead of field guns, in
Square E 3. The German barrage 
fell here when our first barrage opened & 5 men were k or w.
Fog thickened at once
after start - moving in
arty formation. Smoke
thickened it - it ws v. thick
indeed.  Each Coy ws cut off
but worked simply by compass.
Ground knowledge ws unknown
- Tanks too went by
compass. Coys kept pretty well
together by moving very close.
There ws no trouble between Coys.

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