Charles E W Bean, Diaries, AWM38 3DRL 606/246/1 - 1916 - 1929 - Part 3

Probably the most interesting was that of the

5^th 6^th & 7^th Field Companies who by working at

night gradually carried forward the line from

Martinpuich to almost the front trenches facing

the Warlencourt Butte at the rate of 50 to 60

yards each night.  It was found that by

straddling the 18 pr guns over the low trucks the

track would carry these and several batteries

were pushed forward in this way.

The Road to Bapaume was in bad condition 

but not destroyed from the Martinpuich-Courcelette

cross Roads to Deshemont Farm and from there

through Le Sars entirely wiped out, the original pave

being smashed into a series of shell holes and

covered with debris from shelled buildings.

A reconnaissance beyond Le Sars showed a

large crater blown by the Germans near the Railway

depot.

B^r General Joly de Lothbiniere was anxious to have

this road made passable as early as possible

and for a fortnight prior to the [retirement?] of the

Germans regular reconstruction mainly by the 1^st

Pioneer Bn. repaired the road to [[Deskemont?]] Farm

and cleared a passable track through Le Sars

most of the work being done at night despite

considerable interuption by shell fire causing casualties. 

 

 

On the 28 (27) February when the Germans fell back

from the Warlencourt line construction was well

advanced and clearing could be undertaken

to La Coupe Guele, from Le Sars Gates to the

Warlencourt brook the road was in very bad

condition, frequent shell holes and a number 

of railway vehicles having to be filled up or secured

but the principal difficulty was a number of

springs which made temporarily filled in

spots traps for heavy motor lorries.

The demolition of the culvert and Warlencourt

brook was made a more difficult obstacle than

the crater.

A further reconnaissance towards the Grevillers

cross road slowed the road to [be] less destroyed than

was expected there being two large craters and

a series of dug outs below the road which rendered

it precarious but not many shell holes.

On the 17th March the position of the road was

that it was passable as far as La Coupe Guele

but blocked beyond for field artillery used no

where east of Le Sars fir for regular traffic.

Arrangements had been made for rushed

work immediately an advance through Bapaume

was required, the 5" & 6" Field companies 1st

and second Pioneers, and an English Tunnelling

 

company with some Australian Infantry each

taking a section.

The first work was to get past the craters blown

in by German [[deciedlitanes?]], this was the easiest

of all the work, a road was cut round the lip

of each crater, sleepers taken from the old railway

line placed in the soft earth work and in four

hours it was possible to get field guns through.

Throughout the remainder of the 17th March and

the night regular 'relief' in working parties took

place and by 8 o'clock on the 18th March the road

was clear for reasonable traffic from Le Sars to

Bapaume.

At this stage an amazing spectacle presented

itself, a line of transport estimated at seven miles

long comprising almost every vehicle used in the army

except tanks commenced to pour through, it was

the only passable roadway for some miles north

& South to reach the Bapaume line, probably the

most exasperating sight to the men slaving to

keep the road open was motor after motor filled

with officers from various staffs palpably bent

on pure sight seeing.

Motor lorries loaded with large telegraph poles

beyond their carrying capacity  for ordinary  well made

roads, others with pipes for water supplies equally 

 

 

over weight and even a large caravan containing

an analytical laboratory came up, while the drivers

in majority of cases appeared to have no conception

of the necessity for slow careful driving .  The

consequence was ∧one motor lorry after another would be

bogged in a soft place necessitating the stoppage

of the custodian parties to throw off the load and

haul the vehicle out, all other traffic being blocked.

To add to these exasperating blocks the sight of a 

complete F.A. Brigade belonging to an English

Division which had apparently rushed up without

orders, and solemnly  returning over the crowded

route was sufficiently annoying.

The work done by Lt. Col. W. Smith APM. of the

Aust. Corps controlling this traffic after the first morning

and for a full week was applauded and facilitated

the construction work greatly.

In four days the road was fit for regular traffic

the Decauville line had been extended from Le Sars

to the Grevillers Cross Roads and the work ready for

the permanent road construction parties.  During

that time no less than seven British divisions

used it as a main communication and it is

possible to suggest that the rapid advance made

possible provided the occupation of the Beugnatre

line previously prepared by the Germans and

necessitated retirement to the Bullecourt line.

H.N. Work of Pioneers on Bapaume Road  1 Feb-Mar 1917

On taking over from the 15 [[?]] Division 16 2nd Gun. Div
found that morn good work in [[?]], road making

and [[?]] [[?]] had been done. [[?]] was really expensive. [[?]]

The [[Gordon?]] Highlander Pioneers were a first rate battalion

very well officered and the engineers of 1st Division a

keen unit.

The thaw after the severe winter of 1916 however made

the roads almost impossible quite as bad as in

the [[?]] [[?]] October & November approaching [[?]] [[?]] [[?]]
the [[?]] from [[?]] in to [[?]] being [[?]] bad &

to get over field guns forward was difficult and

finally it was found that by placing them while

trucks in the [[?]] railway they could be sent

along the valley from [[?]] towards the
Battle of [[?]]

The whole [[?]] [[?]] in the area was

good and the running water Lt.  Pigeon 6th Field [[?]]

who was afterwards killed at [[?]] turning the

attack in [[?]] was well carried out.

The heavy artillery caused much unnecessary work

[[?]] their [[guns?]] in cuttings through while the

roads passed especially between [[?]] & 

[[?]]

Shortly before the [[?]] of the Germans The Chief

Engineer Aust. Corps Bn Gen John [[?]] had

advised the construction of a trench [[?]] from

[[?]] towards Wasley crossing the main

Bapaume Road west  of Le Sans, this was carried 

out manually by the 6th Field Coy.

The progress made [[?]] the construction of

the main road from Paziers to Le Sans -

 

a fair supply of metal was provided and no

difficulty experienced in recess traction as far as

the cross roads from Martinpuich to Courcelette.

From there on the road was under observation and

work could only be done at night.

The main effort was given to the 1st Pioneer Bn when

quickly made it good to the outskirts of Le Sars.

At this point there was very little semblance of the

original pour left, what did exist was found

about 2 feet below an accumulation of earth

thrown up by the continuous shelling of the village,

the whole being covered by the debris of buildings

which had collapsed in to the road.

The work was plainly observed by the Germans and

who at night disturbed the working parties and

caused a fairly regular number of casualties each

night.

In spite of these obstacles a passable road was cleared

through the town nearly as far as the big German depot.

A reconnaissance showed that xxxxx in the bottom

of the gully an immense crater had been blown

across the road - and later these similar ones were

formed to be blocking the way.

With the retirement of the Germans the reconstruction 

of the road followed, the idea of bridging the craters

was discarded and two road ways formed round

the lip, old sleepers from the railway being used

as a surface.

On March 17' when Bapaume was taken the position

was that the road had been cleared as far as La Corpe

Guele, one way track formed round the Le Sars

crater and a grade cut through the crater formed

 

by blowing up the culvert over the stream near La Corpe

Guele but the surface between the Butte and La

Corpe Guele was too much broken by shell holes to 

permit traffic.

From La Corpe Guele to the top of the hill was in fair

order except for German Dugouts under the road

and one large crater and from there into Bapaume

the only obstacle was some very soft ground near 

the junction of the Greviillers Road and another large

crater on the reverse slope to Bapaume.

The section from the Le Sars crater to La Corpe Guele

was distinctly the most difficult- as in addition 

xxx day back all available 

to the almost continual shell holes filled with water

a number of railway wagons were had been capsized

off the line on to the road and had to be removed.  Capt.

Coylan of the 5th Field C doing good work.

By day break the road was occupied in sections by

Engineer Companies 1st Pioneers Bn and an English 

Tunnelling Cmy. and by mid day a track had been

made practicable for Col Johnson to move his field

artillery forward several batteries being carried

from their positions on the Decauville to beyond

Le Sars.

By day break on the 18th probably one of the most extraordinary

sights of the war was seen.  One unending line of

motor and other vehicles pressing from Pozieres to Le Sars

among which numbers of cars containing only

curious visitors from every staff in the Army.

Motor loads of telegraph poles, pipes, and even one

motor caravan containing an analytical chemist outfit.

A continuous column of troops intermixed with the

traffic and to complete the trails of the road construction 

visits a complete brigade of British Artillery was

returning having apparently gone forward without

orders.

 

To those unacquainted with road reconstruction of and

a road the filling in of shell holes may seem simple

but over the La Sars- Le Compe Guele section across the

Warloy valley the whole ground was saturated with water.

Simply filling in a hole with timber and earth left a

spongy spot which no fast [[?]] lorry could cross and

constantly the whole traffic was held up by injudicious

drivers becoming bogged.  A catterpillar tractor sent

forward was of great value in hauling many out but

the labor involving in the construction parties was enormous.

No less than five divisions contracted in this one

means of communication  to Bapaume and from

within six hours of the xxxxx occupation of that

town traffic was continuously maintained.

After the first second days wild [orgie?] of traffic the

work done by Major W. Smith in controlling traffic and

checking tourist enabled the work to go on uninterruptedly

certain hours a day being set apart for the expenses 

& Pioneers and on the third day the road enabled a

6" mark 7 gun to be taken forward.

At the same time as the road was being remade

the 6th Field Co laid a decauville railway to

within two miles of Bapaume and the 7th Field Coy

moved xxxxxxxxxxxxxx in advance Bapaume

clearing roads and xxxxx arranging a water supply

the whole of the wells having been protected by the

Germans, while the 2nd Pioneers  reconstructed a cross road towards

-Major afterwards killed at Ypres doing good work.

when it is considered that seven miles of road had

been the centre of the whole of the Somme battlefields for

two years, had been deliberately destroyed by the

German to hinder the advance and subject to most

severe weather conditions the work of the Australian

Engineers and Pioneers in getting it fit for traffic of

unprecedented volume in a few hours found a 

record apparently unapproachable but was afterwards

 

surprised somewhat by [Lennel?] work during the Passchendaele

operations.

It was an abject lesson to show that a comparatively small

number of men well organized can carry out a task simply

impossible, and∧It could not have been done but for the

extraordinary initiative of both officers and men.  There

was no opportunity for preparations of plans, and

material required had to be taken from the debris of

destroyed building along the route and bought by vehicles

returning from Bapaume.

 

 

Pte H.C. Moor  18Bn             Died of wounds 21/11/16   at age 18

 

Feb 1920

 

Part of a letter I have only just received from N.S.W.

from Mr. Edgar Payne, address I have given on enclosed

paper, kindly see him if it is possible.

He can explain about by dear son, as they were

side by side in No Mans Land:

He writes me as a true friend of my boy

He says he was a [Goaffer?], at Experimental Farm with

my boy & they enlisted together at the ages of 17 years

when they went into Camp sailed together in the same

section in the boat & struck together he remarks that

my boy was as straight as a die, & his word was his bond

he says my dear Hubert, took his Lewis machine gun & crawl

out into No Mans Land, to protect a party of men

who were trying to advance our line, by digging a

trench at night, but in front of the front line

The Germans spotted them and attacked them with

heavy machine gun fire, Hubert stuck to his post until

the last man had reached out lines safely, far

enemy shot. The Germans gave my boy paid them back

with interest & then he got shot through the

stomach & was carried off the field to the 38th C.C.S.

he says he was a true hero.