Charles E W Bean, Diaries, AWM38 3DRL 606/126/1 - 1915 - 1917 - Part 5

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54
went back, & ws being
sent on to Albert to
fix billets when, near
K's. Dump he ws hit
by fragment of 5.9.
4.9 ws relieved by
Scottish Canadians
(See also other end
of book.)
 

55
10.30 Rain stopped 
11.10 Raining again 
[[Shorthand]]
I hope theyre all right
there are these poor chaps lying out there
and / rain
beating
on them.
? Promised bombing of Hazebrouck & Cassel
They have no tents
6 September That is the anxious part.
 

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56
[*Hurley Wilkins
Dyson in trench 8}
1 2 &3 Btns had been getting an 
awful time
Aug 26. Gen Maclagan with
whom we dined told us that
[* POZIERES *]
in the first 5 nights & 6 days
at Pozieres he got no sleep at
all. He tried to get to sleep
once but could not manage
it. Poor old Tollemache
about the second night said
to him, as he ^(T) sat over the
table in tt dug out w his
head nodding "I'm afraid,
Sir, I can't keep awake
any longer - - -  You
want some sleep, Sir -
wont you lie down - -
I'm afraid - I - can't -
manage - it - any -
longer" & his head
dropped on his hands on
the table. They led him to
a corner of dugout - in
the kitchen of it & there 

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57
he put his head on his
pack & fell straight away
into a deep sleep.
One of the runners came
in exhausted after a run
on July 24 - the barrages
had begun to be dreadful -
went outside into / passage
where they used to rest, &
lay down - A little afterwds
tt runner came in to the
General - Please "X - has
had an accident with his
rifle sir - shot himself."
Maclagan went out - &
there ws / poor chap - he
had found it more than he
cd bear - put his rifle to his
head - & "went out," uncomplaining

58
The dugout was hit by an
8 in shell while they were all
in it. A man came running
down / stairs. "There a shell
made a — — hole in the roof;
— near knocked it in."
"Oh that ws what it
was!" sd Maclagan
"Yes shall we fill it in?"
"yes go ahead & fill it" sd
the General.
And they did - standing
right out in / open where
it had hit (& where another
probably would). filled it
w chalk stones & rubble
 

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59
On the last day Maclagan
simply couldnt get up his
dugout stairs - they were
choked with runners asleep
dead tired. He sd tt one
of these days he ws going up
the trench he had tried three
commn trenches - There
was a heavy barrage of 5.9s
& a heavy barrage of 4.2s
and he could found each
trench impossible - Finally
they went across the
open. But when they
got through this they found
another barrage still heavier
& deeper ahead of them.
Maclagan simply said: 

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60
"I'm damned if I'm going
through that [[shorthand]] & sat down
in a shell hole for ¾ hour.
Meanwhile all the time
s.bs & runners were coming
through it exactly as if there
were . . . . . . (.)
ANZAC June 28.
Maclagan told us
that the June 28 attack was
forced onto Anzac. He knew
it ws bitterly opposed to it.
A demonstrn in / trench
wd have done just as
well. He put his views onto
paper.
Anzac Leanes trench x
on Aug 5 when Leanes
trench was being retaken
- the Ts. having got into a

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61
part of it, Maclagan ws
up into the left of it the
moment be heard it was
retaken by us. It was very
ticklish but the Turks began
to be frightened & to leave the
trench by twos & threes at
first. As they went m.gs
cut them down. Maclagan
says tt both he & the officer
who ws with him remarked
tt it us not our m gs tt were
shooting / Turks - it ws their
own guns - one on Snipers
Ridge, one on the Knife Edge,
& 2 up towards Lone Pine. We
found / orders afterwards
for these guns to be turned on
the Ts if they retreated.

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62
Ap 25.
Lush Xx the The signalling officer
of the 2nd Divl Arty ws
telling me tt / other day
tt he had to go with Gen Bridges
& White & Casey (?) on the
first morning at Anzac
When they climbed up Pluggers
Plateau. Bridges sd to
White in / trench at / top
"Well I think we'll go across
here" & out they got
& walked over to /
edge overlooking Shrapnel
Gully (: & down / winding
path & back down / gully).
[* I am
hazy
abt
this *]
Bridges saw several men
coming back & asked them
what they were doing.
He told them they were wanted

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up in / lines & up they went).
Abt 2 wks after the
landing - I think on Sunday
ANZAC
MAY 9th, Lush heard White
& another officer discussing
Bridges. White sd "I give
him just one week at this
rate" - Bridges ws shot in
just under the week.
FLERS NOV 14 (xx 13 or 12 this wd be)
Lush tells me tt Holmes ws
down with him (they often
walked together) reconnoitring
just before the Nov. 14 attack.
He reached a point in /
trench where they told saw a
man lying - They sd he had just bn
sniped & it ws dangerous to
go out of it on overland, but he insisted
on going. An infantryman 

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64
ws waiting there, &
Seeing Holmes & Lush
after him, go across, he
followed. They were in
full view o / Germans but
not a shot came until
the had reached / other
trench. Holmes got in
& Lush - & the sniper
shot & caught the infantryman,
poor chap in / abdomen.
Lush tells me tt he
had recently heard tt /
famous message of May 17
at Anzac "we give you big
mine tomorrow" etc was
a fake. He has promised to
produce me the facts. 

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65
When Bob Ramsay ws here
the other night at dinner he
& Old Smith were talking o /
early days at Anzac, & Smith
reminded him of a story wh
Bob often tells – how, when
he half came to himself out
of his sleep, one morning
Early in May at Anzac, when
1st Divn had just gone to its
upper terrace, he heard
half thro his dreams the
Crack crack crack of rifles
far over his head up by the Sphinx.
"That's those bloody boys again
- racing the cows in" he thought
said to himself - he could
see them in his mind driving