Charles E W Bean, Diaries, AWM38 3DRL 606/149/1 - March - April 1917 - Part 1

AWM38
Official History,
1914-18 War: Records of C E W Bean,
Official Historian.
Diaries and Notebooks
Item number: 3DRL606/149/1
Title: Notebook, March - April 1917
Includes references to the 13th, 14th and 16th
Battalions and Bullecourt and contains cuttings,
German postcard and messages.
AWM38-3DRL606/149/1

14Bn )
16 Bn ) Ap11
13 Bn ) 
Original Diary No.149
AWM38 3 DRL 606 ITEM 149 [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 those 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.  

29    1
14Bn )
16 Bn ) Ap11
13 Bn )

29         2
14Bn
Ap11. Tanks.
Jacka, Mackinley, & 4
scouts led out 3 tanks.
1st tank arrd at Rendezvous
(Rly line) at 3am. By
3.20 am. 2 others were
to arrived; 4th wh ws
to operate on {14 Bn sector
{16
did was left 2 miles behind
thro' engine trouble.
3.20 Jacka, led them
out and put them on Jumping
off positn before infy
(infy were already there
- 2.45 they had moved out
& at 3.30 were ready
to attack. The J.O line had
been taped out by Bradley 16 Bn
& Jacka night before. The
tape had been snow covered 

29     3
but J. ran out agn
second night & ran tape
thro their hands to bring
it to surface.
The inf. were 700 yds
from enemy but in snow
storm they cd nt see them
- heavy snow during early
part of night.
The 3 tanks were
moved up to positn
in abt 100yds interval
& 150 yds in front of
infantry. The Germans
started gunfire on them
- they cd hear them but
certainly cdnt xxxx them.
2 were females & 1 male.
(1 male broken down) The 

29       4
2 tanks for the flank
were led up ind. after
the others were put in
positn. One blundered
(in spite of Jackas direction)
into the Sunken Rd &
stayed there with its nose
in the further bank. The
other had engine trouble
& stayed where marked
on map.
Push off hour for
tanks ws 4.30 - for inf.
4.35.
The tanks moved off.
abt the time to move off
a very big shell lobbed on
the sunken road where x
road crossed it & xxxx 

29      5
killed abt 20 men of the
4th L.T.M. Bty. The 3rd tank
ind. opened fire & wiped
out 4 of the remainder -
lost his head apparently.
At 4.30 the tanks
moved out. 2 stopped
in No mans land & began
to open fire on their front
No 1 tank got thro
(male)
wire & stopped astride
o the trench.
By this time the inf.
pushed on past the
other 2 tanks & went
on alone.
The first wire (abt 30 to
50 yds in depth) ws
well smashed by heavy 

29     6
shells - beautifully smashed
mostly by 6 in blows &
4.5s with instantaneous
fuse. The crest ws
abt halfway ^ across m.gs
from left were sweeping
the parapets before
they crossed we started.
Not very many were
lost before the wire
exc. in left coy.
The wire had very
heavy stakes, like big
fence posts, but the wire
was cut clean away
from it. Those coys
wh went over it had
little trouble. Those wh 

7
D C B A
Each coy in 4
waves on an
80yds frontage.
Each wave one platoon
in line, 25 yds betw. waves.

29     8
went for gaps were
bunched & lost.
The left coys got to their
right in order to cross the
wire at gap.
The front trench where
A Coy crossed it ws so
pounded tt Wadsworth
didnt know they had
crossed it.
The wire betw. the two
[trenches] was abt 5 yds
wide - not so much cut.
There ws a gap on the 
road in 29 B & many
got thro' there.
[J. on right ^before one of his patrol
had got thro' the wire
abt 29B 4.6 - & moved 

29      9
along to right till they
met a German patrol -
lay down till patrol got
in - then came straight
back thro a patrol track
in wire.
The same night
when putting out the tape
they noticed two or 3
Germans advancing
towards the tape. There
were only the 2. They
went back to a sentry
group ^- wh had some. J doubled back
for a Lewis gun, took
it out at the back o the
Germans - xx shouted to 
them. They wdnt surrender.
Jacka pulled his revolver