Charles E W Bean, Diaries, AWM38 3DRL 606/88/1 - September 1917 - Part 10

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all accounted for.  They got up to the Fl. Stg
abt midday.  They c/attd at different
times.
Butler has got a German code.
Other papers were coming on a runner who was blown up.

357 Sergt Maj used to be in 4 Gds Divn.
He is a gt gt friend of Austlns.  He knew them at Le Banque Switch.
He had a v. high opinion o / Aust. infantry
He sd still he didnt think we wd be able to compete w their
heavy guns.
The Att ws expd on the 18th. They had bn told tt / Austlns
were training for it. The barrage upset them.  Each time our
protective barr. came down they sprung to, & this had annoyed
them.  He expressed / gtest admiration for / TMs, &
advised them not to wear their badges.
He picked up a dud 18 pr after he had passed our
lines, put it carefully on one side, & sd
※ "They're valuable - they're valuable." He has
a 1st class Iron X.
Autos?

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The sectors in / Fl. Stg wh they had come to c/a
from were points to guide them & not for them to
occupy & c/a from, the intentn being tt they shd not
stop in the Flanders Stalling.
They adopted / wave formation after they got over
/ Keiberg.
They left Waterdamhoek abt midday.
They went over the Keiberg later. The S.M. & a Coy officer
stayed behind to [shorthand].
The other 2 went on ahead for the C/a wh ws to have
tn place at 5 or 6 pm (Sept 20) The Coy offr seeing
no signals went forward.  He didnt return.
S.M. went forwd & found a few stragglers -
abt 30 (50 -) & led them on
back to the Fl. Stg wh had bn gvn him as a
point of direction.
He left them there & then went on. 

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As they came over / Keiberg they came under
gas-shell fire. This caused them.......[shorthand]
& affected their moral.
Capt J  3d 8.4.

3rd Bde( Chateau Segard)
tomorrow Dickebusch.
Steenwoode tomorrow morng 23rd.
2 Bde. Zillebeke Road
Dickebusch
Ouderdom 23/
 1 Bde    Hooge
_________________
5
7 Reninghelst xx 23.
2 Div H.Q. H21 D5.2
left at St Hubertushoek

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The German Sergt Major who
told / above story ws captured
yesty (21st) by Seymour of
the 2nd M. T. M Bty who
had to cut wire tomorrow in 
front of Julien trench & decided to
pick a shellhole in Nomansland to
observe from.  He got / infantry
to cover him, & ws crawling
out from shellhole to shellhole
covered by infy & folld by
his men when he saw German
move in neighbouring crater. He
seized bayonet & rifle from
man behind as quickest
thing to do, & saw one German
hand go up.  He nearly jabbed
him, thinking he ws feeling
for ^his revolver, when ^/ man rolled over & / other 
hand went up.  It ws this
same Sergt Major.
Wertheim interrogated
him & got some funny things out 

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of him.
Burke the arty offr (?Lloyds
Bde) ws in shelter in front of
infy when infy went past
& had to explain from interior
who he was - & listen to a
very audible discussion
outside as to whether it ws
good eno to give him a bomb.
The observers went w /
3rd wave, & some of them got
tel. lines right out!
The 10 Bn saw an officer
killed in Glencorse wood, &
simply went mad & killed
most o / Germans they found
there.
1st & 2nd Divns are
tomorrow being reld by 4th
& 5th, & later by 4th.
1st & 6th Bdes now in. 

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They ^60 pdr line have many of them
gone up on tanks.
The S.M. sd that a British
offr had bn captd who had
told them all / plans for
the offensive.

Sund 23 Sept. Germans put a
barrage on our front line
this mg. along Polygon Rd at
anyrate, where our divs. meet
& killed about a dozen men
there.
We went up & found tt
part o / trench abandoned for
50 yds left of rd. Then 5th
Div posts in craters in
trench abt 150 yds to rt
rear, in "wood" wh ws
just a low firing of small 

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scrub.  Leist, Gullett &
Gilmour came w me. I
havent time to describe
[*see pp 95-100*] / day^x Germs were shelling their
own line.  Another fine day.
Sept 24 The Germans at 5.15
placed a barrage on our 5th
Divl front.  Probly they will
do this every morning for
safety.  A wireless ws heard
last night from rear: "Do you
think / English will attack?" The
answer ws "No". (May have
been a ruse)
Another fine hot day.  I
went up to tell Wilkins what
photos to get: and found he had
got them on the second day - the
man rest with him ws hit on
finger by a sniper. 

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I have so much to do in
the way of administration -
arranging for records & photos
& the Xmas Book & fifty other
things, that I have scarcely any
time to get the history of this battle;
add to it that my car is laid up
(on the opinion of Farmthorpe tt I
shd get another in substitutn) &
tt another has not come - & I
am at my wits end how to cope
with this work.
3 Dec 1931               ——
It is a long time since that trip on∧with Gullett, Leist & Gilmour Sept 23
but I remember this much:
After leaving our car - probably
just beyond the Menin Gate, we walked
up through the 2nd Div's sector, across
Bellevaarde ridge ^& Westhoek. Here we got little
fire, but a 5.9 shell was bursting at
intervals on ^one of our lines. - I think it was our red line trench but it
may have been in Bellevaarde ridge.
Anyway it was on one of the lines
that ran along a depression in country
which reminded me of the Libyan Desert. 

96
It was dry & dusty & the shell
plumped down & crashed when
we were quite close to us &
hurried us along.
We reached the front line
held, I think, by the 6th Bde, &
worked along it to the right onto the
Polygon wood plateau. Our troops
were holding a continuous trench.
No sign of the enemy in front although
we heard that they had been seen there.
xxx Our movement could have
been seen by / enemy & it struck
me that we must be endangering
our chaps in / front line by
showing ourselves there.  However
they were very kind & didnt
show any annoyance.  As we
neared the Polygon Wood we
came on a length of trench
which was occupied only by the
dead. It had been shell lashed with
shell that morning, & the remnant
of the garrison had been withdrawn
out of it ∧along / trench & not sent back. The 

97
officers in charge told me tt the
trench ended here, but we would
find the continuation of the
front line about 120^x in
rear.
Gullett & I got out of
the trench (which ended near
the road through Pol. Wd
to Glencorse Wood) & struck
across in the direction indicated
to us.  Polygon wood, through
which we were passing, was
merely a stubble of thin
sapling - stumps projecting
between shell- holes. The
dusty track was visible
running through it. About
Leist & Gilmore followed us
at about 50 yards interval.
There was no sign of a soul
either in front or behind us.
We reach At 120 yards
we came on a line held
I think by the 58th Bn- anyway