Charles E W Bean, Diaries, AWM38 3DRL 606/82/1 - July 1917 - Part 5

5                               34

heard from Bazley

afterwards that our ^he had met a

gunner who sd that

12th Arty Bde ws in this,

& th they had been firing

over their sights at Germans

advancing in thick masses;

& that their horses had

bn brought up & I guns

got away at a gallop

just in time. It may or

may not be true.

 

It gave people a 

shock in England but

probably ws less important

than they thought.

 

I took a run to Oxford

to get away from I war - to

read in I Union quietly,

really; but it ws too cold.

So I took a walking tour

for a couple of days instead,

5                               35

starting from Woodstock,

thro' Blenheim Park, &

picking up the old Roman

Akeman St. to near

Charlbury; then to

Moreton in I Marsh by 

train; & next day over

the Cotswolds on foot,

past Broadway Hill &

Roman Camp, on foot, to

Evesham. This is in another article.

 

The Nieuport reverse

made one anxious to get

back to France. I found

came over w Dyson & his

batman (& brother in law)

Dan Lindsay. I left Bazley

in the War Records Section,

in London, where the kid

will get promotion one

5                          36

he deserves. It is a

really great wrench

because we have become

very close friends, & 

I also rely on him more

than I ever have on any 

assistant.

 

We found 1^st Anzac I found

still at Querrien. The

Corps had had a wonderful

holiday. All divisions,

especially the 5^th, looking

magnificent.

 

The 4^th Divn while

I was away had lost Gen.

Holmes. I have never done

Holmes justice. Gellibrand

points out to me th he is I

first successful Australian

leader. Bridges ws not

a leader but a Commander;

5                                37

White has never had

I chance to be a leader.

He is easily our leading

soldier, but a staff soldier

& scholar, not a commander

yet. Holmes is I first

Australian commander.

He had I power of

command wh Hobbs

& Monash have not. He

saw Monash get a Division

to wh he himself ws more

entitled (having already

commanded I second

Divn) but he bore no malice.

He had a bad time almost

every day w Legge who ws

jealous; but Holmes did

not complain. He stuck to

his work. He ws able to keep

  5                              38

his Bde up to it at Pozieres 

in a way no other man

cd have done - through

4 attacks and for 12 continuous

days. He set I

example to his brigadiers

as at Messines - He 

had driving force &

attraction -& was as 

straight & unselfish as

any man ever was.

He had stood all sort of

slander after New Guinea

& come out superbly.

The Germans wd have

shot him for having Germans

whipped who had whipped

I missionaries. One

Australian opinion ws

party attacked him for 

being too lenient w I

5                                39

Germans, & another

for "looting" German

curios. It fell off his

back harmless & he

emerged one of our

great leaders; & the first.

 

I had always discounted

Holmes as being no great

strategist nor especial

tactician. When Gelly

came & sd "I dont like

to criticise ones friends

-but have you done

Holmes justice - wasn't 

your paragraph meagre"

I cd see th I had not

done Holmes justice - I was

very remorseful. His 

courage ws all th I had

grasped.

 

[Old Gelly never said

5                              40

a word to me of his

own troubles, which are

heavy, or his grievances,

wh are really greater not

one breath of them, tho'

probably people wh saw

him take me aside thought

th was I subject].

 

[July 29th

RIAR Robelt

went up & saw the

12 AFA Bde at Wulpen.

Rex's Bde arrived in 

Ghyvelde on July 14^th

& moved in by Wulpen ^Nieuport

on 15th. Heavies were 

already there. Night of

17^th & 18^th the Germans

attacked & they were firing

1 1/4 hrs s.o.s. Again on

21st July Germans tried to

get ground between

Lombartzyde & Nieuport

for 2 hrs. The batteries

Find out this Bty.

 

5                        41

are in v. advd positns.

E of Nieuport. The shelter

is only camouflage. One

of our Siege Btns ws

in Triangle Wood during

the German attack-

& one after another the

guns were blown out

of action - 3 out of the

4 were actually blown

out of action. They 

never stopped firing

-all through the day, and

when Germs. fired an 11

in. dud they cheered it.

 

Lanst. Tun. Coy. Arrd in 

May 1916 & went to

Sailly (No 3 at Laventie

& No 4 at Ploegsteert (Bailleul).

No 2 w to Anzac &

Germs blew us a lot here 

but only 2 men killed.

 

Prof Pollock is w 177 Coy

R2. Proven (c Pop)

O.C. 2nd army. listening C.

 

5                               43

then trench Anzac.

There : front line moving system

at Cordonnerit^x. Put up

a mine in (shorthand) on July

19 - McCoy thought it

served 300 men.

Germans ^were active mining there but aftwds went

back there & held front

line only w outposts.

Also had a mining system

at Armentieres (shorthand 75 & 88)

German not mining there.

We entered his gallery-

tunnelled into it - at 3 ft -

& found an electric geophone

(for mining sounds) & cocoa nut

malting on floor.

 

Put in Deep Dugouts

at V.C. ave, Cellar (shorthand) Ave,

Wye Y Farm, & started another

at Cromwell Ave. These were

pioneer work wh the Coy sd ws possible,

& 2 Anzac pushed thro" in the teeth of army.

^XWe listened also at I existing

mines at I Ravine.

 

5                         45

In Jan. went to

salient, (H.Q. to Busselboom)

Took over defensive

mining at Bluff; ^x

we fought him there-

he blew twice & we blew

twice. We had none killed.

 

Here the dugouts were

I most impt work. They

were at Bluff, & Spoil Bank;

(also O.Ps there for submarine

periscopes). Dugouts at

Verbrandennolen, Larch Wood

(behind 60); the Ramparts

at Ypres, where they put

1500 men underground in

6 weeks in April; at

Swan Chateau they put

in dugouts meant for 

1 Bn, but unfinished, in the

blue clay. (They reckoned it

impossible to get thro' the