Charles E W Bean, Diaries, AWM38 3DRL 606/83/1 - July - August 1917 - Part 6

6  50
July 30. Forecast Thunderstorms
- overcast - fair later.
Evening shelling Bailleul daily.
Fairly quiet day exc. Germs
shelling Messines & Pleystraat
July 31.
7.5 am. Contact aeroplanes
report all 2nd army objves
gained & being consolidated.
Stubborn fighting in La Basse Ville
8.30 a.m. All corps of S Army
report Capture of Blue line
9.25. As far as known - all 5
army & French got
1st objve & gone to 2nd objve.
2nd army: 9 corps all objves.
2nd Anzac all objves. N.Z.
had hard 50 mins fight
in La Basse Ville (25 [shorthand] ).
11.30 am. All 5^th Army got black line
Exc. 2nd Corps on right, where
obscure. Inf. held up opposite
Inverness Copse.
 

6  51
11.45. 5^th Army unofficially report.
tt French, 14^th Corps, & left Bn
of 18 Corps are on green line on
W. Sloopes of Steenbeck. Nothing
from 19 Corps. Germs. heavily
c-attackin from Langemarck
towds St. Julien. Another
c. attack developing N of Pilkem
2nd Corps held up.
Forecast - overcast, some
drizzle, improving later.

1.20 5^th army: French have captd
final objve for today E of canal
& are attacking Bixschoote. 14 Corps
believed to have crossed Steenbeck
& progressing towds Langemarck,
w 18 Corps cooperating on right
w view to gaming line of
Langemarck Zonnebeke Rd.

3.30. We have Hollebeke village, line
100 yds E of it. Germs still in Foret Fm
& at O6D, OI2B w m.gs
 

[diagram-see original document]
 

6  52
5.10 pm Unofficial 5^th Army.
At 3 p.m. 2nd Corps on black
line eac. E of Shrewsbury Forest
in J 25 B. Line thence via
rly crossing D 26 ?25 B 9.4 - Kansas
Cross D 14 A 2.1 - N of St Julien -
along Steenbeck to Au Ben
Cite U 28 central, thence
Kortekeer Cabaret U 13 D 9.2
w pocket N of Colonels Fm.
U 20 B 0 3, thence just S of
Bixschoote.

6.15. French have got Bixschoote
& Red Line. 14 Corps along Steenbeck
18 Corps left on Steenbeck, rt
1000 yds in front of St Julien -
19 Corps. Border Hse, Vampir, Potsdam,
to Black line; 2 Corps Westhock
[* Black{
2 Corps. {
Line { *]
Ridge, W of Glencorse Wood, W
of Inverness Copse, Dumbarton Lakes.
3000 - 4000 [shorthand] Tanks helped
in capture of Pomman Redoubt, in
crossing Steenbeck, & elswhere.
 

6 53
Forecast: Wind NE. Risk
of thunderstorms, some rain,
or drizzle - Prob cloudy &
indifferent visibility.

7.10 p.m. 5^th Army ordered all Corps
to consolidate preparatory to
renewing attack details of
wh follow. 9, 10 ^Corps & 2nd Anzac
to consolidate & make arrangements
to meet c-attacks. Vigorous
c-battery work to be done.

Evg. report 2. army. No alteration to
line. Fovet Fm still ^in German hands.
At 3.30 pm Germs c.attd. La Basser
Ville but repulsed by mgs. ^barrage & arty.
Enemy shelling betw La Basser Ville
& Gapaard. Contact patrols all day
at 500 to 1000 ft. Recken, Coucou,
& Herseaux aerodromes att^d at
300 ft w mg fire. One German
plane burnt on Herseaux. Continual
attacks on troops & transpt from 400ft.
 

6  54
Enemy machines did nothing or little.
7 combats, 1 shot down.

10.30 p.m. 2nd army Now captd
Forvet Fm. Touch between 19 &
41 Divns.

This Evg. day Mouveaux aerodrome
attacked w m.g fire from 20 feet.
One ^our machine missing.
——
Night 31/1. S. of Ypres Comines
Canal. Minor attacks agst
points held be Germs. Forret Fm
O 11 B captd. Rifle Farm O 23D
& Beep Fm O29B still german.
Post at Windmill on Warneton
Gapaard Rd at U 5 B taken by
Germ. c-attack but retaken
abt 12 p.m. Enemy c. attack
mg N. of Ypres Comines Canal
driven back.

[ German ^Switch to Langemarck line has
[ therefore bn reached at Kortekeer:
[ we are in front of his Langemarck -
[ Gheluvelt our gun Line. He has beginning of a
 

6  55
Switch from near Langemarck to
S of Poelcapelle. (unfinished), &
a line of wire & half trench
from Bercelaere thro' E of
Zonnebeke due N for many
miles. Then some redoubts
behind Passchendaele.]

French took Kortekeer
42. 43. }
 — SA. }
windmill [shorthand]
28 onwd.
2 c. atts before 9.
9 pm. [shorthand] windmill
We took back at 12.30.
we took 2 mgs
——
I went over in evening to
take a telegram to 2nd Army ^at Cassell (where
G.H.Q. - I/D Press - in other
words, the Censor, is) and
 

6  56
saw / correspondents. They
are nearly mutinous. They
were not allowed to mention
/ name of a single village we
had taken, in case a c-attack
drove us from it; they had bn
told they must not infer anything
they must confine themselves
to facts & not comment (this ws
overruled after protest); & they
must not state are mention
anything tt had not previously
bn in / communique. The
G.H.Q (wh means Charteris)
has ordered at last put in charge o /
Press an educated man of
broad ideas, Faunthorpe,
an Indian Civilian, who in
they all work well with; &
 

6  57
with clumsy cleverness has
prohibited choo him from
deciding anything; & then has
put over his head a good enough
administrator but an entirely
inexperienced & unsympathetic
& obstructive man - Col.
Church, formerly (& still)
Censor of letter - correspondence,
- to whom every decision,
great & small, has to go.
The result is Faunthorpe is
on the eve of resigning - has
lost interest in his work,
& the old system is victorious.
Church will not send on
their letters to the Chief of
Staff or others, when they
protest. They think of resigning -
 

6  58
One subject they are
not allowed to mention is
the new German gas, wh,
Gibbs says, does blind
its victims for life in some
cases. This is horrible - it is
far more merciful to kill.
We are using now a gas wh
goes thro' their helmets.
Gibbs says, & kills them. One
off told him he saw a
whole ^German brigade staff, with
helmets on & lying dead.
If this is so - the German
casualties seem too light to
account for it, and / effect too
small. If / Germans were
holding their front system in full
strength 3000 - 4000 prisoners is not
 

Later (1946). I doubt whether this
is fair to Gough. At any rate
by the end of this phase he
has learnt his lesson - at
last.
 

6  59
enough to support this. I
doubt if it is so - it looks
as if they were fairly thin
in their front system.
We were going on today -
Gough was - if it had bn
fine - To tt extent / weather
has saved us - it has
preserved us from Gough. To
plan a limited offensive, &
then, bec. it succeeds (as presumably
you expected it wd) to
chuck all plans to / winds &
on / spur o / moment make
it unlimited & go on next
day - is worthy of Gough.
The weather has saved us proby
from exactly / same results
as we have had whenever we tried
an unlimited offensive.
We lost St Julien last night.