Charles E W Bean, Diaries, AWM38 3DRL 606/246/1 - 1916 - 1929 - Part 18

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PHONE: B. 4650
2nd BATTALLON A.I.F. ASSOCIATION.

(NULLI SECUNDUS)
Formed on the Return of the 2nd Battalion, A.I.F.,
from 5 Years’ Active Service, 1919.
President:
Lt.-Col. E. E. HERROD, C.M.C., D.S.O., V.D
Watson House, 11 Bligh Street.
Sydney
Hon. Secretary and Treasurer:
F. W. TAYLOR,
"lmmarna."
Hawkins St., Artarmon.
Sydney, 5th April 1929
[*BATTLE HONORS
Landing at Anzac
(1915)
Sari Bair
(Lone Pine)
Pozieres
Bullecourt
Ypres (1917)
Menin Road
Hazebrouck
Amiens
Albert 1918
(Chuignes)
Hindenburg Line*]
Capt C. E. W. Bean
Dear Sir

In response to your
request I approached.
C.S.M. J. Murphy M.M of A
Coy 2nd Bn & he supplies
the following relative
to booby traps in 1917.
Sgt C. Lutton M.M is also
preparing one for upi in
reference to the wounding C
Capt. J.J. Collingwood M. M. This
however occurred in 1918.
Yours truly
Fred W Taylor

Re. Booby Trap.
A party of men of the 2nd Btn. were billeted
in a house in Vaux, a village just behind
Bullcourt. One of the men, poking a stick
up the chimney to ascertain if any valuables
had been hidden there by the previous occupants
was surprised when a package fell down into
the fireplace. The package was about the
size of a double block of Sunlight soap &
was enclosed in a yellowish paper wrapper.
It was proved to be a block of German high
explosive known as Donnerite. It had been
placed in such a position in the chimney,
that any sparks going up would have
ignited the wrapper. Had a fire been
started in the grate before the discovery
of the package, it would have been an
unlucky day for the 2nd Btn.

[*Hn. From Capt Newland 12 Bn.*]
12th. Battalion A.I.F.
Account of Operations LE BARQUE 26th.27th. February 19127.
LE BARQUE
26/2/127 This date found the four Companies of the Battalion in position in
MALT TRENCH, with right flank resting on BLUE CUT ROAD, and with the c
centre of LE BARQUE VILLAGE about 1000 yds. direct to the front.
Action was taken to patrol the front and to locate the exact position
of the enemy, and an isolated post was established forward, from
our left to watch for enemy movement in BATTERY COPSE, which was directly
in front of left of our sector.
At 2200 hours Officer Commanding "A" Coy. received one of the ever
anticipated messages, which meant so much although consisting of only
eighteen works, forwarded from Battn. H.Q. and read as follows:-
"You, with your Company will occupy Bark Trench please let H.Q.
"know when you are prepared to move"
The Company Commander having carefully read this communication
exclaimed "Excellent idea but for the fact that the enemy are there"
After a hurried consultation with the Platoon Commanders it was
suggested to H.Qrs. that the position be occupied immediately before
dawn. This time was selected as it gave the enemy no opportunity of
launching a counter attack during the hours of darkness.
Each man in addition to his usual ammunition was issued with
two Mills Grenades.
LE BARQUE At 0300 hours "A" Company very silently moved towards its
27/2/217 objective by way of BLUE CUT ROAD, thence obliquely to a covered position
to the left front, which position and farther to the front had already
been patrolled and reported clear of the enemy.
At this point "A" Coy. assumed its battle formation each Platoon
being in file and in line and the interval being such that they could
keep touch in the advance, and varied according to the ground, being 25
to 50 yds.
The advance was timed to coincide with the movement forward
of details of other Coys. who were to form STRONG POSTS in the territory
when gained, and within LE BARQUE.
PLATOON COMMDRS. led their Platoons and from Right to Left were;
Lt.A. HERITAGE. Sergt. WHITTLE, Lieut.L.BUTLER and Lieut.BENSLEY. 
The Company Commdr. (Capt. J.E.NEWLAND) led and gave the direction
from head of No.2 Platoon.
The Company moved forward without any Artuillery Co-operation,
as it was very difficult at these times to indicated what ground was
actually held by the enemy.
So silently was the advance carried out that it was not 'till
the Troops came in contact with a tension wire which was held up by a
stunted hedge immediately in front of the enemy position, that the alarm
was given by the enemy.
The alarm was a verbal challenge frem the enemy trench, and
immediately followed by a red flare being discharged which landed fairly
in the centre of "A" Company. This flare brought considerable M.G.
fire from the left flank and accounted for most of the casualties
received by "A" Coy.
The Troops took shelter in shell holed in the vicinity and
many had to be content with flattening themselved outo on the bare
ground.
Word was quickly and quietly passed to rush the position, and
on the signal to rush being given so good a demonstration was made that
very little resistance was then met with with the exception of a
lively bombing duel. Lieut. L. BUTLER and SERGT. WHITTLE were observed
foremost in the rush and actively bombing the position.
A little incident occurred here which has always created some
merriment when referred to. The Platoon on the right in the movement
forward got slightly out of touch, and in the dull light were later
observed stalking the position with a view to capture. In the subsequent
evolutions of this Platoon, the Company Commander found himself
gazing down the barrel of a pistol held dangerously close to his head,
by the aggressive Platoon Commdr. Lieut. A. HERITAGE, who was prepared
to capture the position at any cost irrespective of the occupants.

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LE BARQUE
27/2/17
cont. The Enemy Machine Gun Crews were observed moving to the left
from BATTERY COPSE and offered good shooting to Sergt. HILLMAN
who quickly get his Lewis Gun into action, and scattered them.
The action of Pte. MC GRATH who was very badly wounded (he
afterwards had his arm amputated) is worthy of special comment.
As soon as this very excellent soldier reached the R.A.P.
he took necessary action to acquaint his Company of the position
where he had left his Spare Parts belonging to the his Lewis
Gun. These as a result were recovered.
The Coy. Commdr. (Capt. J.E.NEWLAND) received a bullet wound
through the nose, and a piece of bomb in right cheek, and later
left for necessary repairs and to report verbally to Battalion
Commander the capture of the position, leaving Lieut. A HERITAGE
in charge of "A" Company.
J.E.NEWLAND Capt.
O.C. "AC" Cpy. 12th. Bn.

[*Corrections
Vol III (addition)*]

EXTRACTS FRON PRIVATE DIARY
H.E. ELLIOTT
1916
26th October Yesterday I went into the old 7th Battalion Camp and
saw a number of my old boys. In the afternoon I attended
at Conference at General McCay's Head Quarters (Fricourt).
A vile day. Today rather fine. Sent B.M. to reconnoitre the
Assembly position of the Brigade as Divisional reserve to
see if we had room to form up in artillery formation, to
decide on positions of companies and arrange for them to
dig in. Developing bad cold as result of wetting yesterday.
Wrote home.
27th October A bleak bitterly cold day. Ordered to relieve 14th
Brigade tomorrow. I rode up to their Brigade Head Quarters.
A storm came on and about 4 p.m. it became quite dark and
we (B.M. and self) lost our way and somehow got over near
Martinpuch and had to beat back. We passed High Wood the
scene of fierce fighting some weeks back. Its condition is
indescribable even yet. The water oozing into shellholes
is still in dozens of cases stained with the blood of the
fallen. The shellholes are literally touching each other
now and our horses sank over their knees in the mire for
the existing shellholes simply replace earlier ones filled
in by later arrivals. It is literally true that not one
square inch of the original surface of the soil remains in
its position. We rode back in pitch darkness illuminated
by the flash of the heavy guns ahead of us and following
the tracks made by the 18 pounder batteries being pushed
still further in advance to prepare for the renewed --
offensive which is to come off soon. Heard today that my
brother has been moved to the advanced dressing station.
Many officers and men of the 14th are suffering from --
exposure.
28th October Morning dry but bleak and windy. General McCay sent

for me. I judge he is not satisfied with the preparations
made by the 14th Brigade. Relief carried out satisfactorily
by our people but we were able to get very little --
information about the position from the 14th Brigade.
29th October Drizzling rain. Made my first full inspection of the
trenches. They are wretched in the extreme full of water
and slime, in places over your boots. No sanitary arrangements
whatever. In places the trenches have been blown in
and they are not three feet deep. Where deepened they are
very narrow. Men could not pass with a stretcher. Large
number of dead in the trenches with a slight layer of earth
thrown over them. Behind a small embankment a great many
English dead, one an officer, all unburied. Wagstaff came
round with me at my request. Very wet. Enemy shelled our
Head Quarters considerably.
30th October Very wet day. Trenches in a dreadful state. Enemy
again shelled our Head Quarters very heavily. Bomb Officer's
Batman Killed. Captain Bowes visited us. Sent him to the
front trenches with Salmon. Bowes very soon got fed up and
went back home. Relieved the 57th in Front line with the
14th Brigade personel sent up to dig assembly trenches -
because when they got there they were too exhausted to work.
I put on all the 57th and about 400 59th to dig the assembly
trenches. God knows how the poor devils will get on for
the trenches were thigh deep in mud and men were exhausted
after a walk of 100 yards. I appealed to Division against
the proposed attack but they said the attempt must be made.
Our Head Quarters again shelled heavily at intervals. Some
blighter has ordered a Wireless Station to be erected on the
Hill just above us and the enemy are evidently using the
mast as an aiming post, and the wires are constantly being
shot away.
31st October The trench digging last night was not a success. The
deeper our men dug the more earth fell in. The trenches in
a fearful state. The 14th Brigade took over from us again.
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I walked back to rear Head Quarters about 3 a.m. in the
darkness and I believe fell into every shellhole between
there and here.
1 =November Called to see General McCay and told him that proposed
attack was madness and impossible in the present state of
the ground. Wagstaff backed me up and McCay telephoned to
General Birdwood (I had told General McCay that if I was
to carry out the attack I would require an order in writing
from him stating that I had objected to the atteck and had
been overruled and carried it out under protest.
Later - As a result of my protest attack has been postponed
till 3rd inst. in the hope that the weather will
take up. Moreover the plans for the attack have been
greatly modified. Assuming that their present objective
is taken on the 3rd inst. by the 14th Brigade the 15th
Brigade is to take over on the 5th inst. and take the
line called in our present orders the 2nd or Final --
Objective.
On Colonel Wagstaff C.S.O. 1 telling me this I again
pointed out to him that these alterations only met one
of my objections viz. that the men would be so exhausted
by the mere exertion of moving forward over the heavy
ground that they would not have been physically capable
of reaching the final objective let alone be fit for the
labor of consolidation. That my objection that no means
- such as light ladders or bridges or even stout stakes
- were provided for helping the men to get out and over
our present front line (which had by now been deepened
very much) and which was being temporarily abandoned (as
I had requested) during ^the preliminary bombardment in the
hope of reaching the enemy wire in a terrace of the hill
just in front, that all the Stokes Mortar ammunition in
the forward dump was spoiled by the rain and had not been
renewed still remained. He said the latter was now
having attention and he would mention about the ladders.
2nd November The morning has broken withpouring rain and threatening sky.

It seems to me our offensive effort will have to come to an
end now. We should devote ourselves at present to improving
our roads and making new ones before we can think of going
forward.
3rd November. Finer. Ordered to fall back to Dernancourt this
evening to make room for the 7th Brigade 2nd Division
who were coming in. Moved off accordingly. Called in at
Division Head Quarters and met Brigadier General Paton
went through the scheme with him sending on our horses and
grooms and myself and B. M. remaining to dinner. Later we
were sent on by car. Our baggage waggons were being used
by the Supply Column to send up supplies and there being
no time to notify them we were obliged to move without
them. Consequently we arrived at Dernancourt and finding
that the people in fear of bombardment had sent most of
their furniture off out of the way had to sleep on a bare
mattress without blanket or covering as I had foolishly
placed my great coat in my valise with my other belongings
so as to ride light and ease my horse in the mud.
Sent Baggage Waggons for kit and blankets. Our Head
Quarters baggage waggon we learned later broke through a
bridge across the old German Trenches and snapped in half
so prepared to spend another night without blankets, but
about midnight our interpreter managed to get some from
the Brigade Q.M. for me. Greatly disturbed however by the
noise from the adjourning estaminet where a number of men
were evidently drinking and very noisy.
4th November Removed to another billet for the sake of quietness.
Yesterday I saw Jack Campbell moving up but missed seeing
Bob Smith who passed through the village. No baggage yet.
5th November Despatched Staff Captain to old camp to investigate
baggage question. The Q.M. Sergeant left in charge --
appears to have neglected his job and much of the baggage
looted. My own intact except that camp bed has disappeared.
Lieutenant Salmon'’s our Intelligence Officer’s kit has
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vanished completely also the Signal Officer’s (O’Brien).
Must report this to Division. It's the limit when
Australians loot their own people's kit.

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