Charles E W Bean, Diaries, AWM38 3DRL 606/246/1 - 1916 - 1929 - Part 14

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with the 2^nd Austn Divn on our Left,
while our Right outflanked the Town
on towards Beaulencourt.
Three Coys occupied our front line
“D” Capt Cheeseman on our left
“B” Capt. White in our centre
& “C “ Lieut. Rickard on our Right
with “A" Coy. in Support.
All Intelligence Reports & other
information received by me
pointed to a possible early
retirement of the enemy & my
orders were to to watch & follow
closely. I accordingly instructed
the Coy. Comds. to keep as close
touch as possible by Patrols at
frequent intervals & I kept in
constant telephonic communication
with them all night.
The enemy was extremely active
during the night, mainly with
 

4. 
Machine Gun fire & towards Dawn
when speaking to Capt. Cheeseman
& urging him to allow no stone
unturned to keep hot on their trail,
he replied that he estimated there
were about seven Machine guns
active on his Coy. sector alone &
I could distinctly hear the bullets
striking the parapet above his
head in the trench when he drew
my attention to it, yet what
seemed like 15 minutes later
I received a message from Lt.
Rickard in our Right Coy. Sector
to the effect that a Patrol under
Sgt. King of C. Coy. had entered
the enemy front line in fire trench
& found it unoccupied, they followed
laterally to their left along the trench
for some distance but found it
empty & I therefore conclude
the final demonstration was
 

5.
made in front of Capt. Cheesemans
sector & possibly some of the Machine
Guns were shifted from one

emplacement to another to give
an idea of being held in strength.
On receipt of Lt. Rickards message
I suggested an immediate advance
to Capt Cheeseman, he however
thought it was a bit premature
& pointed out that only a few
minutes before his line was
being raked, I replied that I
thought it was their final flutter
& gave orders to commence the
advance with a light screen 
of Scouts & follow in Artillery
formation, the order I also gave
to Capt. White & Lt. Rickard
the time being about 6.15 am.
The next news I got was a runner 

from Capt. White of B. Coy. to say
his Coy. was just entering the
 

6.
town without opposition & toward
our right flank. There was a race
between Capt. White leading his
men & one of his NCOs for the 
honour of being “first in”
which Capt. White won, presumably 
had there been any opposition
at this spot they would have been
compelled to move more cautiously.
The whole advance was under
distant enemy artillery fire
but we had no casualties by
reason of the very open formation
adopted, until a Platoon of D.
Coy. under Lt. Barbour was held
up by enemy machine guns & we
lost about 3 killed & 4 wounded.
Capt Cheeseman on coming forward
to investigate, allowed Barbour with 
his Platoon to remain where they
 

7
were & started an outflanking
movement by penetrating the
Town by another road farther
to our left, this caused the enemy’s
retirement & they were closely 
followed through the Town & our
men dug in a short distance on
the enemy side of Bapaume &
commenced the job of establishing
communication which took some
time as Lt. Rickard with his
Coy. had deviated a little 
too much to our Right, however
this was remedied later in the
day & I moved forward & took
up Bn. Hqrs in a dugout close to the
Town. It is of course well known
that we did not meet or see any
signs of the Civilian population,
the Town was in ruins & still
burning freely. After establishing
 

8.
our line, further resistance still
came from our left & from a
position close to where the
BAPAUME - CAMBRAI Road leaves
the Town, & still by Machine Gun
fire.
As explosions were still going 
on in the Town, evidently from bombs
left behind I decided to establish
myself in the ruins of a House
closest to the Town Hall I treaded and to give
the latter a wide berth as it was
the only building left intact.
Although reported “no civilians“,
two French Deputies arrived with
money & comforts & they unfortunately
with others, lost their lives in the
Town Hall which blew up at
Midnight, the force of that, 
explosion sent bricks & mortar
down on us but no one was

9.
injured of my unit. We later provided
from the 30^th a Firing Party for the
funeral of the Deputies.
Our Bn. Canteen was established
with stocks in the Town the morning
after we entered.
You will gather from the above
that our advance covered three-fourths
of the Town and it seemed wonderful
to me that Baupame, the first
Town recovered for France, which
for months before had been discussed
as an important Strategical point
& almost the goal of our ambition
in the Somme offensive, should
finally fall into our hands
with such a small loss in
the final advance.
Certainly the opposition was
not very strenuous but there

10
was quite enough artillery & machine
gun fire to cause alot of trouble,
especially as our orders were so
insistent that the enemy was
not to be allowed to get away
unknown & unmolested & it shows 
how well the officers & men in our
front line carried out their job
when we were able to follow so
closely & successfully on their
heels with only 7 casualties to
the Bn. in the whole operation.
I omitted to mention that Capt.
Cheeseman who was formerly a
signalling officer seized the opportunity
of salving old German wire in
the advance & was thus able
to speak to me by Phone from
a position in the Bastion at
Bapaume about 8 am or within
an hour of our first entry.
 

11.
I trust the foregoing will give you a
rough idea of what happened &
if I can be of further assistance
I am at your service as far as 
my memory serves me but
naturally after 12 years I am
a little bit hazy about exact
happenings & times etc during
the whole operation.
With best wishes
Yours Sincerely 
J.W. Clark
 

FL.4151
4251.
5 March 1929.
Lieutenant-Colonel W.J.R. Cheeseman, D.S.O., M.C.,
Stevenson Street,
Taree. N.S.W.
Dear Colonel Cheeseman,
I am writing the account of 17 March 1917, but find
that there is no detailed narrative in the brigade or battalion
war-diary dealing with the fighting of the previous night or early 
morning of the 17th or giving any times. In particular, I should
be glad if I could obtain an account of what happened during the
preceding night and early that morning, and evidence as to what
originated the discovery that the Germans had retired, as well as
facts and times connected with the advance to and through Bapaume.
1f you have any notes concerning this, or if your recollection is
sufficiently vivid, I should be grateful for any assistance which
you can give me. For the time being I am leaving the story a
blank and proceeding with the rest of the narrative. I am
writing also to Colonel Clark and Captain Barbour.
Yours sincerely,
C.E.W.Bean