Charles E W Bean, Diaries, AWM38 3DRL 606/145/1 - 1916 - 1917 - Part 1

AWM38
Official History,
1914-18 War: Records of C E W Bean,
Official Historian.

Diaries and Notebooks

Item number: 3DRL606/145/1

 

Title: Notebook, 1916-1917
Includes references to the 9th and 29th
Battalions and the 5th and 6th Infantry Brigades.
 

AWM38-3DRL606/145/1
 

Original
DIARY NO. 145.
AWM 38
3DRL 606 ITEM 145{1}
DIARIES AND NOTES OF C. E. W. BEAN
CONCERNING THE WAR OF 1914 - 1918

 

THE use of these diaries and notes is subject to conditions laid down in the terms
of gift to the Australian War Memorial. But apart from these terms, I wish the
following circumstances and considerations to be brought to the notice of every
reader and writer who may use them.
These writings represent only what at the moment of making them I believed to be
true. The diaries were jotted down almost daily with the object of recording what
was then in the writer's mind. Often he wrote them when very tired and half-asleep;
also, not infrequently what he believed to be true was not so - but it does not
follow that he always discovered this, or remembered to correct the mistakes when
discovered. Indeed, he could not always remember that he had written them.

These records should therefore, be used with great caution, as relating only what
their author, at the time of writing believed. Further, he cannot, of course vouch
for the accuracy of statements made to him by others and here recorded. But he
did try to ensure such accuracy by consulting, as far as possible, those who had
seen or otherwise taken part in the events. The constant falsity of second-hand
evidence (on which a large proportion of war stories are founded) was impressed
upon him by the second or third day of the Gallipoli campaign, notwithstanding that
those who passed on such stories usually themselves believed them to be true. All
second-hand evidence herein should be read with this in mind.
16 Sept., 1946.                   C. E. W. BEAN
AUSTRALIAN WAR MEMORIAL
ACCESS STATUS
OPEN
 

25
1
45
A Bn during
advance
Feb 29 -6
German attack
March ?
6 Bde Feb [[?]]
Bd
291 on at Alon
Sunray?
29 Bn July 19
FROMELLES
✓ 9 Bn Pozieres July1916
 

25
2
9 Bn. (& see record)
Feb.25 Before dawn.
D. Co. had bn digging from
Yarra Bend to Bayonet Trench.
Exc. abt 25 yd this ws finished.
At 9 a.m. Lt White ws instr
to collect D coy & report to Capt
W.A. Collin (O.C. D) who ws holding
an outpost in front of chord line

 

Each man
(abt 90) ws
equipped with
full waterbottles iron
rations, picks & shovels. & bombs.

(certain men carrying books of bombs)

It had bn raining, & misty.

They we wet & had been 

working all night

Party move in single 

file along yellow cut.

 

3

4 or 5 snipers

were behind us

in Shellholes - There were killed-

Bank trench was partly

covered with rush work

camouflage over the top.

Wh. quite hid the trench.

 

 

55

4

from our trench to where Bank trench

joins yellow cut. Owing to 

heavy mist there were no

casualties. Men were left

in yellow cut while offrs

reported to Collins on Bank trench

(a shallow cut without any

improvement.) About 12.20

the mist began to rise quickly

& snipers from all directions  

got busy. One party ws

down Yellow cut in the old

and arty dugouts there.

White ws detaled by

Collins to lead the Coy out

in single file, 6 to 8 yds

between men from where

Bank trench crosses Yelllow

cut to Blue cut (as on

dotted line, the link up

 

5

10 Bn hopped out of first trench

in 2 lines — red flares

were seen to go up from

Oat lane & Corn Lane

— you can just see the wire

& trench frames _∧of Oat Lane down the slope

Barrage ws aimed at them.

D Coy. The were to move up as

soon as 10 Bn got up

with them. Order had only come abt 12o'c

& there ws only just 

time to get men dressed, putties & wet boots on,

 bombs issued etc & they

were in it

 

6 

25

with 10 Bn on Blue cut.

The mist had lifted - sun 

was shining & from now 

onwards they were under

heavy enemy barrage & heavy

m.g. As while fire traversing 

from the opposite hill.

(sketch - see original document)

White reported 

to Collins tt he ws liked up

with 10 Bn & ws now 

advancing (first wave)

C. coy came up as

reinforcing wave over the

top sometime later.

White when he got 

to Blue Cut found 10 Bn

just coming over —

lay down for 2 mins in

 

7 

25

shellholes waiting for

signal to advance.

When 10 Bn came up

White gave signal

& then whole line went

on agst rifles, m.g. 

barrage — no man 

getting down (D Coy ws

90 men extended 6.8 

yds — 10 Bn in two

waves). Very few men 

were hit — barrage

ws 5.9 & whizzbang H.E.

It sounded as if it 

came behind Ligny or 

Bapaume — It ws a heavy 

barrage — Our own guns

were quite quiet.

 

 

8

25

 

18 pdrs were not able to 

fire; & Heavies _∧aftwds sd Germans

guns had got too far back.

This _∧advance ws done at the quick

time. The trench in front ws

fairly heavily occupied.

White cd see a m.g. & 

2 or 3 snipers on our right

of Blue Cut in Oat Lane.

When we got to withing 50 yds

of trench the Germans began 

to run. Most of them got

away. There were none 

in dugouts  — Germs had

blown these up.

Haig had The m.g. ws

going till our men were 

abt 25 to 50 yds away.

 

9

25

Then two m. gunners 

ran — White after them w

revolver gaining on them.

Abt 10 yds away they

dropped on their knees &

put up their hands. He

took them prisoners.

Such Germans as

were found in trench were 

killed. Abt 30 Germans

seemed to get out of 

trench in front of this section,

& got back into village.

They seemed to be empty

handed. Some were

shot as they went.

9 Bn was then in 

Oat Lane from Yellow cut

to Blue Cut.

 

 

10 

25

 

W. brought back prisoners,

gave them to L. Cpl &

went _∧on into the wood in

search of Australians whom 

he had seen go too far into 

the wood.

They were wandering 

around looking for some —

the Germans had some

right into 1 village — one

offr & one man of 10 Bn were 

hit there.

9 Bn had abt 15

casualties on the advance

into Oat trench & holding it,

incl. Lt Barnett. The

only shell wh landed right