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,

& tt they had been firing

over their sights at Germans

advancing in thick masses;

& that their horses had

bn brought up & / 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 / war - to

read in / Union quietly,

really; but it ws too cold.

So I took a walking tour

for a couple of days instead,

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starting from Woodstock,

thro' Blenheim Park, &

picking up the old Roman

Akerman St. to near

Charlbury; then to

Moreton in / 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 as

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 tt he is /

first successful Australian

leader. Bridges ws not

a leader but a Commander;

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White has never had

/ chance to be a leader.

He is easily our leading

soldier, but a staff soldier

& scholar, not a commander

yet. Holmes is / first

Australian commander.

He had / power of

command wh Hobbs

& Monash have not. He

saw Monash get a Division

to wh he himself ws more

entitled (having already

commanded / 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 /

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

/ missionaries. One

Australian opinion ws

party attacked him for 

being too lenient w /

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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 tt I had not

done Holmes justice - I was

very remorseful. His 

courage ws all tt I had

grasped.

[Old Gelly never said

[July 29^th

R.L.A.R Rabett

5           40

a word to me of his

own troubles, which are

heavy, or his grievances,

wh are really great - not

one breath of them, tho'

probably people wh saw

him take me aside thought

tt was / subject].

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 15^th. Heavies were 

already there. Night of

17^th & 18^th the Germans

attacked & they were firing

1¼ hrs s.o.s. Again on

21^st July Germans tried to

get ground between

Lombartzyde & Nieuport

for 2 hrs. The batteries

Find out this Bty.

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are in v. advd positns.

E of Nieuport. The shelter

is only camouflage. One

of our Siege Bties 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.

2 Aust. [[?Tun.]] Coy. Arrd in 

May 1916 & went to

Sailly (No 3 at Laventie

& No 4 at Ploegsteert (Bailleul).

No 2 were w 1^st Anzac &

42

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 [shorthand]

5       43

then 2 Anzac.

There: front line mining system

at Cordonnerit^x. Put up

a mine in [shorthand] on July

19 - McCay thought it

saved 500 men.

Germans ^were active mining there but aftwds went

back there & held front

line only w outposts.

Also had a mining system

at Armentieres (trenches 75 & 88)

German not mining there.

We entered his gallery-

tunnelled into it - at 3 ft -

& found an electric geophone

(for mining sounds) & cocoanut

matting on floor.

Put in Deep Dugouts

at V.C. Ave, Cellar [shorthand] Ave,

Wye 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.

44

^X We listened also at I existing

mines at / Ravine.

5        45

In Jan. went to

Salient, (H.Q. to Busseboom)

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

/ most impt work. They

were at Bluff, & Spoil Bank;

(also O.Ps there for submarine

periscopes). Dugouts at

Verbrandenmolen, 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