Charles E W Bean, Diaries, AWM38 3DRL 606/242/1 - 1918

AWM38
Official History,
1914-18 War:  Records of C E W Bean,
Official Historian.
Diaries and Notebooks
Item number:  3DRL606/242/1
Title:  Notebook, 1918
Includes references to the 57th Battalion and
Cabaret Wood Farm.
AWM38-3DRL606/242/1 

242
[[?]]
Maj. T. Kerr, 60^th Bn.
?Denison
Gippsland.
Other Schemes.
For 9Bn - 1st day -
Capt Fortescue, (jewellers, Towoomba)

Original.     DIARY NO.242
AWM38     3DRL 606 ITEM 242 [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 those 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
ACCESSS STATUS
OPEN
( 17735)  Wt. 2205-Sk550.  100000.  1/18.  Sir J. C. & S.
& Wood
11 to 19

Cabaret Wood Farm.
57 Bn
When the 57 Bn attackd
on aftn of Sept 29 the
right front coy & its
support Coy found tt
though there was an
intense fire coming from 
the Nauroy Le Catelet line in front of
Cabaret Wood Fm, the
down slope on / right gave
them dead ground.  They
instinctively made
round to / right,
crossed / rly & got
into a very marked
gully which ran right
up to / Nauroy Le Catelet
40 

line.  Getting into this
gully,  / trench cd be seen
quite distinctly ahead
of them up / gully &
no fire ws coming from
it - only a few odd
shells were coming over
blindly.  There ws an old Bty positn in /
[*trench here, 4 pits of its in / parapet & 2 horses (long dead) &
good accommodatn
(for 1
nt in
/ subsequent
night
during
/ rain.*]
The 2 coys were
together there.  Capt Keys
went up with O.C. of
front Coy (Lieut Meara).
They front line coy took
up abt 500 ? yards? lines of
trench wh it found
evacuated.  Keys went
on exploring / trench
without finding / enemy.
41 

He went back for /
coy, & ws taking them
up & in process of
looking at a German
pack (all ready made
up for flight, apptly)
when a couple of shots
cracked overhead.  He
looked over & saw
abt 50 yds away a
body of some 20 or 30
Germs, coming up from
their rear twds /
trench in file.  He got one
of his Lewis gunners
to mount his gun on
/ parap - the gunner
ran out to / skyline o
/ ground (wh sloped a bit)
42 

w his gun & scattered
/ Germans (either Pte Hocking
or Pte Wilson?  see awards - he
got a M.M.) & presently
20 of them came in
to across the front of
Key's Coy in / trench &
gave themselves up to /
support line.
At / same time as
he saw this pty Keys saw
other Germs. along / trench
(on / other slope of the
dip S. of Cabaret Wood Fm -
see sketch below).  A blo
These Germs started bombing
/ empty bays of / trench
just South of them.  A block
43

Hand drawn diagram - see original document
was put in a little way down
/ slope by K. & a L.G. put up
there wh fired into these
Germs.  _^This block was at G5A6.8.  This is where / line
remained till 14^th Bde
moved through them.  Cabaret
Wood Fm was not taken
at this time nor until the
15th Bde went thro it on
Oct 1st.
44 

That night / rain poured.
There ws not a scrap of shelter
in / trench wh got half full
of water.  A hot meal saved / situation.
During / night Capt Elliott
ws trying with B Coy ws
trying (from / left rear) to
find Keyes.  He stumbled
into a trench which he folld
till it came to a lot of wire
& a bomb stop.  This turned
out to be the trench A-B.
They did not stop in there.
It ws noticed tt / map 1/20,000
was minutely accurate.
I That mg - on coming in the 
57 Bn in / fog followed / blown xx down
wire o / telegraph poles on /
Hargicourt-Bellicourt line.  They knew
45 

by reconnaissance tt this line
ws there.

46

Hand drawn diagrams - see original document