Charles E W Bean, Diaries, AWM38 3DRL 606/83/1 - July - August 1917 - Part 2

6  9
At / moment all seems
going well w / Germans.
They are driving /
Russians back on a
130 mile front, tho /
Russo-Rumanian army
is advancing. But
Everyone knows tt there
is in / air this great
blow wh we are to
deliver in a few hours
time.
G.H.Q. & army are
intensely optimistic about
this fight. They think /
war will end this year.
I believe / plan ws
originally to attack
along / whole line to /
sea; but the German
attack at Nieuport
 

6  10
disorganised this. Our
tunnellers mines up there
were both captured
anyhow - & we are only
undertaking a little
offensive there tomorrow
to get a better jumping
off ground.
But there is a
tremendous offensive
E of that sector, around
Ypres. It ws to have
been on July 18 or 19;
then ws put off, bec. the
French had not their
arty up, until
July 27 & 28^th; & finally
at / French request again
until July 31st. (It has
just gone 12 now)
Gen. Rosenthal came
 

6  11
down to Querrien (he ws
after the 4^th Divn, actually,
at one time!) and he
told Chermside the plans
as he knew them. The
5^th army had gone in next
to the 2nd; then the French;
then the Belgians; then
the 4^th Army; & they were
going to push in echelon
from the right. The Germans
expected us at the Sand
Dunes (4^th Army) but we
were going to push in
front of Ypres where they
did not expect it.
We - 1^st Anzac Corps -
came up to Hazebrouck
on July 26, the 3 divns
following; & here we
 

6  12
learnt [or rather I
gradually gleaned from /
very few who knew
anything real] That
the attack ws to be made
by our 5^th Army & a
French army of 6 Divisions
(? Corps) who were moving
through / Belgians. The 2nd
army wd do something
on / right of  5th army
but not very much - &
there ws a good deal of
inter-army jealousy
between the 2nd & the
5^th army staffs - the
5^th having come from
the Somme. It is scarcely
 

6  13
"good form" to mention
the Somme in the 2nd Army
(of course this is greatly
exaggerated - but the seed of
the feeling is there ) but I don't
think it counts for anything).
The French had, it is
true, been in a pretty
difficult temper. White
told me tt their artillery troops
had refused to dig themselves
in & the NZ Divn had been
sent up in bits to do /
work for them.
The Germans, White sd,
had acc to certain
information, considered
whether they cd make
 

6  14
an offensive on a
big scale & had
deliberately turned it
down owing to /
enormous expenditure
of ammn. involved,
& decided to remain on
/ defensive.
In July we began
battering them upon the
sea coast - we cd hear
it in England. And
on July 17 or 18 the big
bomb t. at around Ypres ws to
have begun. The sector
had bn getting increasingly
hot, of late; "v / Germans
 

6  15
had just broached a
new sort of "mustard
gas" shell, wh causes
/ skin to blister & /
eyes to become swollen
& temporarily blind. The
stuff is a liquid & the
troops in / salient
abt 1500 of them- became
affected thro sitting in
shell holes where the stuff
had burst. We too had
bn using a new brand
of gas. Only last night
/ Germans gassed some
hundreds of civilians
in Armentieres; & life in
our trenches (so Arthur
 

6  16
Maxwell tells me,
has become less tolerable
The shelling is worse
these days.
Abt July 28th I went up
w Dyson to Mt Kemmel
& we saw one of our
bombts - a practice
one as at Messines -
right round / salient.
Next day 29^th we heard
tt / Germans had retired
opposite our Corps of the
5^th army & / corps had
bn ordered to follow them.
It crossed the Steenbeck -
we all thought / Germans
had made an extraordinarily
 

6  17
clever move
just in time (/ attack
ws to have been on the
29^th). Then a wireless
message ws intercepted
ordering this division,
with a brigade added,
to attack its trenches &
retake them & wipe
out / stain on its
honour. It had left its
trenches ^near Pilkein(?) without orders.
That shows what this
bombt must be like
The Germans have
had trouble w troops
leaving their support [trenches symbol]
 

6  18
on / plea of sickness,
They have relieved all
their divisions in / last
3 days - those in / front
line are now brand new,
w / tired ones in /
reserve line. And they
have bn ordered to stand
at all costs. But /
guns have gone back.
We are using 300
tanks - it is / great
tank experiment. Now
or never. If they succeed
this time we will build
them at full speed. If
not, we will cease