Charles E W Bean, Diaries, AWM38 3DRL 606/87/1 - August 1917 - Part 3

10
20
a sergt at the ambulance dressing
Stn at the Crossroads came
out & said: “The C.O. wd
like you to have dinner
here if you wd care to.”
Vormezeele is only ruins
over cellars - the Dressing
Stn was in a big series
of cellars down stairs
all very cleanly white washed.
and there this most
hospitable English mess
gave dinner to the whole
3 of us - They had an ex-cook
from Trinity College Cambridge
who did all their cooking
(with two offsiders) over one
Primus Stove.. They
asked us to come in any
day or night tt we wanted;
& their advanced post at
 

10
21
Norfolk Bridge told us there
ws always a drink for
us there- halfway to /
dressing Stn.
No aeroplanes this
night- more rain.
Hill 60 is an 
Observation station xxxxxxxxxxxxx ^a.p. [shorthand]
for our Australian artillery 
[shorthand]. That is to say
Young Australian arty
officers go up to / top of
it from any side, swarm
in a little cluster on /
skyline, stand up or sit
down as they please,
within a mile o / German
coke can whose country
you overlook quite close
on / flat beneath you.
It is an Australian way
& I’m not saying tt it is
anything but bad soldiering;
 

10
[*4*]
22
but I'll swear / German
leaves / place alone simply
because he thinks that no
arty in / world cd be such
fools as to swarm over an
O.P. like that.
He does put in an
occasional shell. But he put
xxx none ^there today though
we crowded there for half
an hour.
Aug 24. Went with
Gullett & Wilkins to Proven
& Droglandt in order to see
the 29 & 32 Sqns. R.F.C.
They are fighting Squadrons
& have had attached to them
officers of the A.F.C. squadrons
which are about to come
out to France; the Austln policy
 

10
23
being to let these pilots get
Experience first, wh these
R.F.C men tell us is a good
policy.
We went to the 5^th Bde R.F.C.
& there they told us - yes, these
pilots had been doing some
really good work - fighting. The
29^th Sqn. certainly had had one
& the 32nd many - so the
wer 29^th Sqn ws rung up
& we went along there.
They The C.O. 29^th Sqn
was out away but he a captain
was in command. He
had received the telephone
message & had made out
a list of the Australians
with his squadron by the
time when we arrived.
 

Lieut V A Norvill
taken prisoner
 

10
24
He read it out. we looking
over his shoulder.
"There was Hill - he was
an Australian- He was missing
on July 24 - a most extraordinary
case. He lost his patrol on our
side o / lines, near Poperinghe,
& ws never seen ^or heard of again.
He ws an Australian in the R.F.C.
not A.F.C.
"Then there ws Norville of the
A.F.C. - he ws missing on 29th July
"Palmer, I think he was
R.F.C., he was killed on 17^th July,
shot down just the other side
of Ypres - he had only been
out four days.
"Whitehead - he was an
Australian in the R.F.C- he
was missing on July 12 -
nothing is known of what
 

10
25
happened to him -
"Oh, then there ws Capt. Shepherd
- he was missing on 20th July -
- he ws an Australian &
a D.S.O. & M.C. - xxxxx
xxx we are xxxx very proud of
him in this Sguadron. He came in
from the Australian Infantry to the R.F.C.
We asked if he had done
fine work - "Many splendid
things," sd the youngster. "Perhaps
one o / finest was the last.
His best pal had 'gone west'
three days before he, when
Shepherd came back from
leave. He was tremendously
affected - I never saw a
chap more down in the
mouth - & he was out for
the Germans blood. They
tried to calm him down &
dissuade him from
make him promise no
doing anything foolish;
 

10
26
He went out next day with
3 other men & ran into about
12 Huns. He led straight
for them, like a bulldog,
& they got him. He brought
down a great number of
Huns in his time here.
Did any of the A.F.C.
men do anything notable
we asked. Well, there was
Norville - he was A.F.C. He
had only just went out with in
a patrol of 7. They struck
25 Germans, & got split up
in the Scrap. He ws last
seen going down in control.
It ws reported by / infantry
tt he hit / ground out of
control on / other side o /
lines. What ws remarkable
in this fight ws tt all /
 

10
27
rest got back, & they
put down 7 Germans.
Norvill ws the one new
pilot of the lot all the others
were experienced men. The
was a scrap started
8 miles over the German
line, Douai way."
The acting C.O. of
32 Squadron, a young
Canadian, Capt. Joy, was most
warm about / Australians
he had had. They were
all 6 of them. A.F.C. men
& had just bn sent back
to England to bring their
planes over the channel.
"What one liked about them
was that they were
all six of them always
ready for any job you
 

They seldom open at more than
100 yds, & they fight often almost
touching – 15 yds or so is common.
It is just a snap as they flash
past - all done by tracer bullet,
at point blank range -
very little by sighting -
One of our machines ^in 32 fouled a
German / other day. Genly they
crash when tt happens, but
this time both got clear. The
German ws brought down by 2
of ours almost at once.

10
28
suggested to them,
whatever it was. There ws
never any hesitation
or unwillingness . . . . 
I think they must have
been six very picked
men," he sd.
He was a fine modest
chap. He told us how
the winter brought them
relief, a decent hours
of sleep. "No sitting out
in the plane ^before dawn," he sd. "waiting
for the light daylight to grow
sufficiently for you to see
your instruments so that
you can start up.
The machines wh
they use there – D.H.4 I
think he sd - will not
fly by night. We have
 

29
 

We asked Edwards:
^X Are the "Archies" any use
agst them? We asked.
"Oh, they serve to tell
you where they are - they're
a sort of warning" - he
sd. "They are no sort of
use in bringing them down-
they might help by barraging
a particular spot.
Yet Campbell of our
C.P.S. C.C.S. told us tt of 3 planes
wh had bombed ^near his
hospital on 3 nights
running, 2 were brought
down by our guns in searchlights
 

10
30
special night planes . The squadrons for
night flying. The moment
a German plane comes over -
& it has come over ^near these
aerodromes xxxxx every
night of late, word reaches
the squadrons wh do night
flying; & they get up straight
away & go off & wait for
the German to light up his
aerodromes, for them to
guide his returning planes.
^X & then they bomb the aerodromes.
(Perhaps this is why /
German has done his night
flying of late on moonless
nights. But there is a story
amongst / French tt he has
dropped a note saying tt he
is going to blow Hazebrouck
to / ground - & some say Cassel.