Charles E W Bean, Diaries, AWM38 3DRL 606/244/1 - 1916 - 1933 - Part 5

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2.

(Contd.)

January 26th. defence a mile out. A report is about that Turks

have been seen not far from the Canal and the

naval police patrol the Canal ready to shoot at

the first people they see between posts.

January 31st. Sections 1 and 4 marched out from camp for the

front. The road runs out some two miles and the

railway about 4. About three miles from the

railhead is Hill 353 and to it marched No. 1

There are several low hills occupied by troops and

we turned off to the left for about 4 miles; the

marching was not bad and we stopped about 10 miles

out from Ferry Post.

The desert is a hopeless waste of endless sand rises,

dotted with stunted leafless bushes and our site is

in a saucer shaped depression on top of out of these

rises. It is occupied by the 17th Infantry from

New South Wales and just as we arrived, an Indian

patrol galloped in to report having exchanged shots

with a Turkish patrol.

February 4th. As a result of visit by General Staff we are to

shift to new site, about 1500 yards nearer to the

front. Our position does not fit in with the

scheme of defence and we spent afternoon in marking

out redoubt at the foot of a steep sand hill to hold

half a battalion of infantry.

February 7th. The sergeant has a redoubt two miles to our rear,

a corporal has our redoubt, and I have trenches,

4 and 5 (sited yesterday) together with their

communication and support trenches to supervise.

Another corporal has a similar group further away,

so that each of us has command of a section of

defence, together with half a dozen sappers to

help supervise and to do the technical work.

February 8th. The trenches are beginning to assume a definite

shape, but the sides are continually falling in,

and what with the shortage of food and the sand

in their eye and ears, the infantry are not very

enthusiastic over the work.

February 14th. Started digging trench No. 5 It is on the same

alignment as No. 4.

The hurdles for revetting are of matting tacked on
wooden frames and are anchored back with wires to
anchors in front of and buried under the parapet.
February 15th. Started support trench to No. 4. It is at the foot
of a steep hill 60 yards behind No. 4 and crossing
the communication trench at right angles, and
consists of an ordinary fire trench with dug out
beneath the parapet and holds 2/3rd of the platoon
allotted to No. 4 trench.
March 15th. Demolition! We are to leave to-morrow for
France and are busy checking stores.
March 17th. We got into Alexandria at 10.15 a.m. after the most
interesting trip I have undergone, and after
skirting L. Alexandria and the back of the city,
pulled up on the wharf.

(40)
3.
1916
March 17th.  
(Contd.) Went on board the "Arcadian" at midday, and
left at dusk. Our horses went by another boat
an hour earlier.

(41)
4.
1916.
March 23rd. At 2.30 we marched ashore (Marseilles) and to our
camping place for the night.
April 6th. One of our Cpls. was stopped and interrogated by an
Imperial officer who found it extraordinary that
Australian natives were as white as he was. This
is almost unbelievable but it is a fact.
April 10th In company of our Subaltern and some other N.C.O's
we paid a visit to the trenches. They are three
miles from Eguinghen, and up to within a thousand
yards or so of the firing lines the peasants are
still working their farms. The houses nearer
the lines are badly knocked about and are tenantless.
We entered the trenches from a communication trench
marked "Shaftesbury Avenue", revetted with boards
and hurdles. It is over 1000 yards long and
the level of the late waters is still shown on the
sides. We were shown over our work in the 2nd
support trench, roughly 40 yards from the firing
line. It was much quieter than I had been led
to expect and but for the occasional smack of a
rifle bullet there was nothing very exciting until
just before leaving, when several shells lobbed
about a hundred yards away.
When the company moved out it moved at five minute
intervals per section and we arrived at our billets -
16 huts - opposite a terrace of ten houses. These

houses have for some reason or other up to now not
been touched by shell fire nor has our billet been
touched. It is supposed that in one of them there
are spies and as the terrace is between us and the
enemy we have escaped, their information being of
more value to the Germans than the loss or the two
hundred or so men who might be billetted there.

Anyhow we hope that the billet will have the same

luck while we are here.

 

April 11th. The company was split up into squads of sappers

under Cpls. who were given sections of the work to

look after. Mine is about 200 yards long, and is,

in parts in pretty bad state.

 

April 13th. The Australians took over the trenches during the

night and next morning the Germans had "Welcome

Australians" written up on a board. They called

out to them - "Hello Australians, you're going to

take Lille in June aren't you?. They evidently

knew more about our movements than we thought they

did.

 

April 25th. The "Mad Major" was shelled as usual to-day. He

is a battery Commander who takes his own observations

from an aeroplane and takes great risks from the

German anti-aircraft guns.

 

May 6th. Last night at 7.45 Germans started terrific bombardment

of our salient and kept it up for nearly two

hours. The noise was terrible and the reports and

explosions were continuous. We could see the

explosions from our billets and also the rockets

that our people and the Germans sent up as signals.

We fell in on the lee side of the terrace and

waited for orders, while the infantry reinforcements,

(42)
5.   

1916.

May 6th.

(Contd.) ammunition and stretcher bearers hurried by.

Some of us were sent down to the cottage to unload

our stores at ten o'clock, but were sent up to clean

out a communication trench blocked in the salient.

The wounded were being carried down then from the

dressing station, and one of them was a sapper from

our No. 4 section, who, though he had a dislocated

shoulder, blown off wrist, and six other wounds,

walked down for assistance about a quarter of a mile.

and waited for the worse wounded to be attended to.

We got tools and shifted up into the salient. It

was fairly dark and only one of us knew the road and

he led us wrongly. The parapet was blown to ground

level and while we were crawling along we came on to

a dead man blocking up the trench and had to shift

him - up to our knees in mud. There was another

unfortunate to our right, blown to pieces and we

had to get back to the right road. Machine guns

and flares were fairly busy and we had to crouch

a lot whilst working. Cleared the trench and left

at 3 a.m. for home - wet, muddy and tired. The

day party also had the job of clearing out our

trenches, which were levelled and smashed to pieces.

We had altogether - killed and wounded and the

dead were all over the place - some of them buried

beneath the parapets.

It appears that a party of 50 Germans raided our

trenches after bombardment, armed with bombs,

bludgeons and revolvers, probably with the intention

of making off with one of our Stokes mortars, of

which gun they have not the pattern. About 12

reached the salient but our men killed them.

Nothing stands out better than the conduct of the

wounded, not one of whom complained.

The stretcher bearers and machine gun men worked

splendidly in that hell of fire and one of our men

met the 20th Batt. Q.M. with a bullet in his arm,

carting up rations to the men of the front line.

One of our M.G. men was shot by a sentry for not

answering the challenge. It appears that the

poor fellow had been dazed and deafened by the

continued concussion of the bursting shells.

Rode into Erguinham, and had a hot bath and change

of under clothes this afternoon.

 

May 8th. The Germans obtained two of our trench mortars the

night of the raid, and also it is believed Lieut.

Blanchardt, who is thought to have gone after them.

These mortars are the first that have been captured

by the Germans and the credit belongs to the 5th

Brigade. It was not the fault of the men, they

died at their posts. The officer in charge of

the mortars had been given instructions not to

leave them in the salient after 5 p.m. and through

his neglect the mortars were captured.

 

June 3rd. Tramsay Avenue has been extended up to the firing line

and so completes the formation of a strong point that

will be needed if our front line is driven back.

The artillery are receiving shell reserves in large

quantities and everything seems to point to

"something doing" before long.

 

June 8th. Last night a Sergt. of the 18th, who speaks, German

perfectly, asked a German working party where their

sally port was, and finding a listening post bombed

its occupants and cleared.

(43)
6. 

1916.

June 16th. General Birdwood is reported to have offered to

take Lille with the Australians.

 

August 4th. Work with party on Walkers' Avenue, with 100

infantry as usual, and utilized large shell holes

for R.E. stores and bombs in preparation for the

attack to-night.

Towards dusk hundreds of infantry began to make

their way up Shrapnel Gully, but a Taube above us

noticed them and dropped several signal flares.

As a result the German artillery opened up and

plastered the place with shells. About the same

time we were given a good number of pickets to

split and began to work furiously, for shrapnel

was bursting ahead of us and flying uncomfortably

close. As it grew darker the pandemonium

increased and the sky was filled with reflections

from flares and flashes, and just as we were

finishing a shell burst on the road about 20 feet

away, covering us with dirt; by some miracle

nobody was hit. We all ducked and then worked

like blazes and threw down our tools on finishing,

when we bolted through the smoke to our dugouts,

only just in time.

While we were squatting there, in addition to H.E.

and shrapnel, the Germans sent in a lot of gas shells.

We got our helmets out and just as we finished

examining them a shell came through the rear of our

dugout and burst in the one next to us, where there

were five huddled together. Luckily it was a gas

shell, and only one, Jones, was wounded, and the

others staggered out, gasping and chocking. After

some time we put off our helmets, but put in a

miserable night, the three of us taking it in turn

to do gas picquet. Shells fell around us until

early morning, when we were able to get a little

sleep.

August 21st. Marched out in detachments through La Boroelle Boisselle to 
Sausage Gully. Just as we got there our artillery

opened up, and we were in the middle of the heaviest

strafe that I have yet heard. The noise was ear-splitting and Fritz must have had a fearful time

of it. At first I did not recognise Shrapnel Gully,

much grass has grown up there, and the pioneers have

constructed a good road up as far as the chalk pits.

 

August 22nd. There are dozens of dugouts about, and ours is of

the usual pattern, about 30 feet deep with shelves

to sleep on. The dugouts are splendidly built and

absolutely shell proof. Some of them consist of

long galleries with side off-sets holding bunks and

tables, the centre-way evidently being used for

parades. Inside they are intensely dark and one

can hear very little of the bombardments. Rats

are rather plentiful and scramble over one of a

night, and I have been feeling lice lately.

 

August 23rd. Our trench (Munster Alley) is running at right

angles from O.G. l through the D.O.2, and the

German artillery pounds very near it, but not in

it as they evidently are not sure of its position.

Whenever they shell our front line the German

infantry immediately send up great flares.

7.  (44)

1916.

October 31st. Moved off 7.30 to complete semi-circular huts

at Becourt Woods, the other side of Fricourt.

This district is changed in a great degree, and

where we before saw craters, smashed trenches

and levelled houses, is now a vast camp of horses

and men with good roads and railways running

everywhere, loaded with miles of transport

of all descriptions. There were also a great

number of baloons up near where we were working.

Everything and everybody is covered knee deep in

mud and slush. It is the muckiest place I have yet

seen and the roads are flooded with muck of a 

porridge like consistency.

 

November 7th. Late at night we felt several terrific concussions,

accompanied by deafening explosions. We got up to

see great bursts of smoke and flame reddening the

sky, and searchlights and anti air-craft guns

searching for Fritz planes. Guessed that Fritz

had go on to an ammunition dump.

 

November 8th. To-day it was suggested that the great flares last

night were intended to blind the flash of some of

our big guns.

All last night there was an intense bombardment on

our right - one of the heaviest I have yet heard-

it wounded more like the continuous roll of a drum.

Rain and mud everywhere.

 

November 9th. Heard that the explosion last night was that of a

bombed French ammunition dump.

 

November 13th. Carried on with building of huts. Everywhere

we are knee deep in mud and slush.

There is a "tank" near us, stuck in the mud. It 

was smaller than I expected to find it - about 8'

high, 30' long and 12 or 15) wide, running on two

elliptical caterpillars. It had two Hotchkiss

6 pdrs. and five M.G.'s on board and the 6 pdrs.

protruded from revolving turrets on either side.

The whole affair had a decidedly naval appearance

and inside it was very compact.

 

December 25th.

Christmas Day. Where we are the ground is still a sea of great shell

holes and it is a job at night to move about and to

find out the various dugouts.

I wonder what sort of Christmas they are having at

home. Have nothing to read other than "The

Merchant of Venice".

Les. Bull returned from leave last night.

There are three 'tanks' near us; and hundreds of

half and unburied bodies - mostly Germans - lying

about rotting. Delville Wood is near us and is in

a fearfully smashed up state.

Map - see original document

[*HN See

p2*]

 

Point Lonsdale

12^th March 1923

 

C E W Bean Esq

Historian

Tuggranong

Federal Territory

via Queanbeyan. N.S.W.

 

Dear Mr Bean

I beg to acknowledge with

many thanks yours of the 9^th inst enclosing

your notes of the action of 7^th August. Its

perusal has clarified my conception of

the situation. The object of the german

counterattack is difficult to understand

(46)

unless they hoped to throw back our men

& disorganise the attack. The confused

chaotic fighting is almost like a gigantic

football scrimmage.

Sgt Field whom you refer

to lost his leg on the field (no joke intended)

that same day Whilst Appleton was killed

on 8.8.1918 - the last but one of the 14^th

officers killed in action.

Jacka always complained

to me that Dobbie lost his nerve & if he

did it is hardly to be wondered at. Jacka

expects men to come up to his own standard.

The line ^on the 7^th August appears to have been

weakly held with gaps & the success of

the defence appears to have depended largely

on the nerve & resource of the platoon

commanders.

Among the 15^th Battⁿ fighters 

(47)
 

^that day (on the left of the 14th) was Cap^t Dumvortle

afterwards captured at Bullecourt on 11.4.17

(I think he advanced the furthest ^of the 4^th Brigade on that

day 11.4.1917 nearly reaching Riencourt).

I agree with you that it is

probable some of the 14th may have individually

drifted back as some of the 48^th appear to

have done. In a terrible crisis like that

unless weaker men are in contact with one

of iron will there is wary temptation to

drift. Jacka told me when he saw what

he was in for he never expected to come

through it alive.

It is difficult to express my

obligation to you for your extreme kindness

Yours Sincerely

Newton Wanliss

P.S. I will treat yours as confidential.