Charles E W Bean, Diaries, AWM38 3DRL 606/240/1 - 1915 - 1918 - Part 1

AWM38
Official History,
1914-18 War: Records of C E W Bean,
Official Historian.
Diaries and Notebooks
Item number: 3DRL606/240/1

Title: Notebook, 1915 - 1918
Includes references to the 53rd Battalion, 4th
Infantry Brigade, Bellicourt, Polygon Wood,
Fromelles and Gallipoli.
AWM38-3DRL606/240/1

240
Original  DIARY NO.240.
AWM38    3DRL 606 ITEM 240 [1]
DIARIES AND NOTES OF C. E. W. BEAN
CONCERNING THE WAR OF 1914 - 1918

THE use of these diaries and notes is subject to conditions laid down in the terms
of gift to the Australian War Memorial. But apart from these terms, I wish the
following circumstances and considerations to be brought to the notice of every
reader and writer who may use them.
These writings represent only what at the moment of making them I believed to be
true. The diaries were jotted down almost daily with the object of recording what
was then in the writer's mind. Often he wrote them when very tired and half-asleep;
also, not infrequently, what he believed to be true was not so - but it does not
follow that he always discovered this, or remembered to correct the mistakes when
discovered. Indeed, he could not always remember that he had written them.

These records should, therefore, be used with great caution, as relating only what
their author, at the time of writing, believed. Further, he cannot, of course, vouch
for the accuracy of statements made to him by others and here recorded. But he
did try to ensure such accuracy by consulting, as far as possible, those who had
seen or otherwise taken part in the events. The constant falsity of second-hand
evidence (on which a large proportion of war stories are founded) was impressed
upon him by the second or third day of the Gallipoli campaign, notwithstanding that
those who passed on such stories usually themselves believed them to be true. All
second-hand evidence herein should be read with this in mind.
16 Sept., 1946.                   C. E. W. BEAN

AUSTRALIAN WAR MEMORIAL
ACCESS STATUS
OPEN
[*9 Bn Landing (other end of book)
pp 99-102*]

1

53 Bn
[*(? from ... Ridley)*]
Bellicourt
Sept 29/18
On Sept 29 53 Bn bivouacked
in / trenches from wh /
Americans had jumped off.
These were very much torn
by shell - in G2 or thereabouts.
They got there easily & were
a little shelled during / night -
there ws a good deal of gas
lying in / shell holes from /
previous bombt.
Abt dusk 53 Bn recd
orders from ahead (probly ^from 55 Bn)
tt they were to go forward
to a trench beyond Bellict.

2

Later it ws found tt this
trench ws still in / hands
o / Germs. The orders
were cancelled abt an
hour later - 7 pm.
It was a v. dark
rainy night. The troops
were a bit scattered over
/ hill mostly in bivvies in shellholes.
Abt 0.30 am (30 Sept)
the Brigdr. came down
& told 53rd tt they were
to attack / Le Catelet
Line & clear it. They wd
be supported by 55 Bn &
were to go over at 6 am.
The Bdier spent abt
2 hrs w / Colonel in /
dugout. Abt 2.30 the Bdier
left. The Coy Commdrs were

3

called in to / C.Os
dugout & had a conference
lasting abt ¾. hr. They
were to move at 4.
The Coy Commdrs didnt
leave till abt 3.30 a.m.
There ws a great diffy
in getting / troops together in
 / dark, rain, & wind.
By a little after 4, 3 of the
Coys were assembled on
/ track but A Coy didnt
turn up for ½ hr afterwds.
It ws just after 5 when
they started to move.
They moved down the
road & turned off it to the
N. 55 Bn had promised
to leave a guide to show

4

where to turn off to /
H Qrs of 15 Bde, who were
to give them a further guide
to the J.O. positn. The
55^th didnt leave a guide
as they sd they had no
one who knew / way.
Col. had accordingly to lead
by his own knowledge &
they were delayed about ¼ hr
while they searched for
H Qrs of 15 Bde, wh cdnt
be found.
Just as Bn reached
/ outskirts of Bellicourt
the alleged barrage opened
- a few 18 pdrs. - just abt
at the X Rd.
They turned to / left up /

5

rd & then struck / trench
crossing it from W to E
just N. of / town. The time
ws then abt 6.20 & they
were still 500 yds from the
J.O. point.
The C.O. told the Coys
to break out into arty
formation & advance from
tt trench in columns of
sections as if it were the
J.O.T.
Ridley isnt sure where
their rt ws in this trench
but they were fired on from
Cabaret Wood Farm tho
they didn't take it.
The Coys were as

6

follows:-
Diagram - see original document
200 or 300 yds from the J.O.T
the German m.g.s opened on
them & it wsnt long before
the supporting Coys had mingled
with the front line Coys.
B crossed the Le Catelet
line & seems to have gone up
astride of it.
C started to follow the Canal

7

but later charged into
the Le Catelet line; &
D took the Canal bank.
While C was crossing
to / Le Catelet line Capt.
Wilson ws k.
B had some heavy
hand to hand fighting with
bombs in / Le Catelet
line. Capt Johnson, O.C.
of B Coy rallied B & C
again & again, when things
looked pretty serious &
our men seemed to be
convinced they cdnt break
/ Germs. J. ws mortally
wd abt 9 a.m.
Lieut. Hill was with D

8

Coy on the Canal Bank,
& as ^Lt Thompson, who was
in/c of D was seriously
wounded early, Hill took
charge o / fighting on /
canal bank & did exceedingly
well there.
The Lewis Gunners were
firing from / hip when C
Coy crossed over - some
of A Coys L. Gunners were
doing / same thing. One
gunner - Battese - a small
chap & very young who had
won / Military Medal at
Morlancourt for work w his
gun, ws standing up in /
open (A Coy) between the
tunnel & / Le Catelet line &
ws killed as he swished his gun