Charles E W Bean, Diaries, AWM38 3DRL 606/84/1 - August 1917 - Part 2

7    9
the Somme, with a brand
new sparkling reputation,
is to go on a Sunday to
Cassel - 2nd Army H.Qrs. -
& shake that venerable town
to its foundations by causing
a scene in / Grand Place.
It started by some man going
up to a Sergeant of the British
Military Police & asking him
for a "French Letter."  Sergeants
of Military Police don’t expect
to provide these Commodities,
& the worthy man charged
/ Australian w being drunk
& tried to arrest him.  His
mates tried to rescue him;
& at / end Smith had a
violent ring from the Army
H.Qrs asking him to come
up there at once as the

7    10
Grand Place ws filled with
Australians & a riot ws
in progress.
Smith found the Army
Provost Marshal attempting
to deal with about 200
Australians in / Square.
They tried to break into
the Hotel Squxxxx by breaking
/ windows - the police sd.
Smith went round & found no
window broken & the story
whittled down to one of
them having tried to open a
shut door. ^He asked the Provost
Marshal to let him deal w
/ men in his own way;  went
up to / man who ws arrested.
Had a look at his pay book
to see if he were a spendthrift
& loose liver;  decided tt

7    11
he ws not drunk -
(it ws this tt had caused /
affair;  the man's mates sd
he wasn't drunk, and had
tried to release him) &
then told / men, after a bit
of cross-talk, to go away
-wh they did.
The Provost Marshal ws
furious;  he ws simply fuming
for a fight.  If he had had his
old army way the thing wd
have developed into a
real big riot - but it
did not he thought the way
Smith met the crisis ws
most infra dig for an APM
& an officer.  But It
prevented a molehill from
growing into a mountain -
but what is tt to / dignity
of an A.P.M.

7    12
That ws at Cassel -
Army H Qrs.  Last nights
little affair ws at
Arcques - near G.H.Q!
The australian will never
go down to fame for his
absence of faults - You have
to estimate him on his
positive possession of virtues!
He's the most colour-ful
animal in / world.
The British have lost
a little ground between St
Julien & Westhoek - hold
West End of Westhoek. The
authorities are a little
depressed, it seems to
me.  What did they expect?
Aug. 3rd.  All day
with 49 & 50 Bns near

7    13
Steenwerck.  We passed
through mile after mile of
wheat & oat crops all
beaten absolutely flat by
/ rain - lying like drenched
hair - with only the thistles
& weeds sticking up from
them.  In / end we ran
into a stretch of road wh
wound away like a river
between wooded banks, &
for nearly ½ mile we
were washing through water
6 inches deep.
Really the Kaiser must
be priding himself that
his Gott has come to his
help indeed.  "The Kaiser's
ally's alright" as one
Australian put it to me
today.  As we drove to

7    14
Bailleul between those
flattened fields it seemed a
part of the senseless fatuity
of the world that a great
nations good cause can be
ruined & a just war lost
in spite of the devotion of millions
of lives by some blind turn trick of
the weather.  Of course the
only thing is to allow for the
weather in your plans &
assume tt it may be the worst.
It quite negatives the idea
of God having a hand in /
worlds affairs.  If a God
exists he has certainly no
influence on these natural
happenings of nature.  There
may be a life after death,
& there may be some
great universal mind;

7    15
but it is very sure that
this sequence of nature is
purposeless.  It is unthinkable
that a good mind could
favour Germany's cause
against that of the liberal
nations in / way in wh
the weather has done again
& again.
There is just some
sign o / weather turning tonight.
The clouds are higher & it
is not raining now (1 a.m.)
tho' it has drizzled all day
& is as cold as November.
(55 degrees).
Henderson, the minister
for labour, who went to the
Socialist meeting at Paris,
has explained himself &
been defended by Ll. George.

7    16
It seems X probable tt the
British Govt wants British delegates
to attend the Stockholm Conference
& to put the British case there;  so
tt / Russian & German delegates
may get a fair conception of it.
This is right at last - & it is
what Ramsay Macdonald
pleaded for.  They have a just
case & can only improve it by
abolishing their senseless
secrecy.
Wrote to Pearce urging the
establishment of some nucleus
of a national museum, gallery,
& library - & recommending Trahair
as assistant.
Aug 4^th. 3rd year of war ended
this morning;  4^th year begins
today.
I heard that the 1st Divl Arty
had had a very heavy time & so went out to see

17
^x to near Larch Wood, just
N of the Dump.

7    18
their H.Q.  They were under 30 Div. 2nd under 24 Divn.
2nd Div Arty.
(with 24 Imp. Divn)
2nd Div Arty were about - Speelbank
at 2 hrs & 10 they went up^x. They
cd be seen from Stirling Castle -
but this had bn taken before they moved.
They were in action agn within the hour.
All ammn has now to be
packed up to / men, who are
working for 48 hrs, in shifts.
There is shooting all / time -
Ammn is all wet - & you
cant dig down.
One of our guns wh they tried
to get out yesty is so bogged tt
only one wheel can be seen above
/ mud.  The conditns are / worst
/ men have ever been in.
[6 batteries in 4 of 8 Bde,
2 of 4 Bde.]
Other 2 in reserve.
Several guns have bn knocked out
by German shellfire.

19
Came in night 19/20
sketch - see original scan.

7    20
Our 1st Div Arty.
with 30th (now with
18th) Impl. Divn.
1st Bde. 1st 103 101st & 3rd ^Bties. cmnd S of
Zillebeke Lake as follows:-
1 & 101 in 21d;  3 in 21 c.
2 Bty ws in (28 Central) by the Verbrandem
Road.
Had bn getting a lot of
mustard gas, & other gas shell.
In 3rd Bty only 2 drivers xx had to go away.
The men are very alert to
gas now.
2nd Bde. were S of Rly line in
21 B & 21 D (Blauwe Poort Farm).
21C.
[101 Bty drivers were on horses in
gas.  They cdnt do anything (w
the horses) in their helmets - so
took them off & were gassed_
20 or so of them - before
this July 31, I believe.  Enemy has
not thrown gas since Rain].