Charles E W Bean, Diaries, AWM38 3DRL 606/150/1 - April 1917 - Part 1

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

Diaries and Notebooks

Item number: 3DRL606/150/1

Title: Notebook, April 1917
Includes references to the escape of 16th
Battalion POWs and to Bullecourt.

AWM38-3DRL606/150/1

49
Escape of
16 Bn Prisoners
150
Original.
DIARY No 150
AWM38
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.
AUSTRALIAN WAR MEMORIAL
ACCESS STATUS
OPEN
3DRL 606 ITEM 150 [ 1 ]

30
1
49
Escape of
16 Bn Prisoners
150

Diagram - see original document

30
2
Diagram - see original document

Germans galloped a gun out with 8
horses where shown & very quickly
hit the tank.

30
3
Our men wd drive them back,
as supply of bombs came up - then
they wd drive us back - & so on.
Our men were collecting bombs
off the dead & using German bombs -
both stick & egg.
Pte L/Cpl H Parsons B Coy 16 Bn ws No 1 on Lewis gun
facing the village -
Pte. G. Stewart ws one o / team of

30
4
L/Cpl. Smiths gun -
Capt. Murray of 13th Bn there ws,
at the last stage , standing in / trench - some
o / men sd What abt it.  Murray
sd well lads youre not going to
surrender - you must give it a go
over the top.
Capt Somerville ws there also -
He ws last seen at / end of this
sap going out over / top to try his
luck. (This sap came right out

30
5
thro' the wire. - The German
ws about 1 bay away from the
Sap on the right - & closing in
from both sides.  He ws working along /
trench with Egg & Stick bombs & our
men had nothing to reply with.
The Germans had seen / men
getting out o / sap & had their
mgs concentrated on the end of
it where it ws blown out. They

30
6
were all bunched up there -
Lt Watson 16 Bn ws wd in the arm -
he did some fine work - pulling the boys
together when things got bad.
As the men tried to get over
the top the m.gs were wiping them
out -  some were directly behind
them - between the men & / Australian
lines - they managed to get out
there.  Stewart ws in shellhole &
Parsons was driven out into a

30
7
shell hole on the left ^with several others..  There he took
his L. G. to pieces, kept all the
parts so tt he cd re-assemble
/ gun - & began crawling back.
Two men were knocked in
front of him - as they crawled
along the flat by a m.g.  So
he got back into / trench.
In the trench they were all bombed
into a corner.  One offr of 13th

30
8
sd "I think we shall have to give in -
its no good getting / men all
slaughtered."  A ration bag ws
put up.
One German stood on / parapet
w a revolver & made them
hold up their hands.  Some o /
Germans took Souvenirs from
them.
The parties were taken down
the sap & then out to the rt of