Charles E W Bean, Diaries, AWM38 3DRL 606/102/1 - March 1918 - Part 1

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

Diaries and Notebooks
 

Item number 3DRL606/102/1

Title: Diary, March 1918
Includes references to No 3 Tunnelling
Company and the German offensive.
 

AWM38-3DRL606/102/1

 

Original   DIARY No.102
AWM 38    3DRL 606   ITEM 102 [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 Sep., 1946.                   C.E.W. BEAN

AUSTRALIAN WAR MEMORIAL
ACCESS STATUS
OPEN

 

1
A & N^.C^.S^.Lⁿ
STATIONERY DEP^T
105 VICTORIA S^T S.W.

2/Lt. D.A.CASEY
1 Battery RHA
1^st Cav. DIV.
___________________
Aust Corps
G100
arrangements satisfactory

78
Diary: March 19 to
March 25^th
1918
2

March 15^th Litchnovsky
Shell at [[?]] nights
[[Parsick?]] . OBE
The S/B picture
_______________
Mar 21. Lichnovsky

[[?]] why??
air Raid?
__________________
Batman:                Contra
Dinner     }           17 fr.
Breakfast}  28 fr.  Ex^s am.
Lunch        12.       [[?]]
______________________________
Boddy.
____________________________________
 

78
3

Tues. March 19^th.
I went to the theatre
opera this night with Herbertson
& his two sisters (one of whom
is a novelist) & Johnston
(the Corps Court Martials Officer, a
young Tasmanian lawyer
who came over in 26^th Bn).
Johnston Herbertson is leaving
our Corps at last - still a
lieutenant - as he is a British
officer & the policy is to fill all
promotions & staff positions
with Australians.
xxxx We saw Samson
& Delilah at Drury Lane
& I was amused at what I had
never noticed before - the difference
between the ballet & the chorus
 

4

They were rather like people dressed
up for a charade or dumb aunts,
with shawls or turbans
The chorus moved amongst them
slight & pretty, all dressed alike,
& slyly laughing at them or
chaffing with the old male
singers..


78
5
of singers. The Chorus of singers
you could pick out, if in no
other way, by the "impressment"

w wh they acted their parts.
They played to ? audience,
poor old things - appealed to
it, almost; each one separately
with all the airs of a great
singer each one of them -
vieing with one another to
get a few steps towards the
front of  stage - each one
making his ^or her little break from
the crowd, as it were - like
old Peter & ? rest in ? Strass
Strassburg clock - They are
mostly well trained minor singers no doubt.
Outside Herb. took
my arm & told me lt he
 

[*78*]
6

had seen Cornwall,
at the War Office, who
used to be at 2nd Army &
G.H.Q. Cornwall told him
that we expected an attack
at once. They thought it wd
come in 3 places, he said.
One against us to tie us down,
near Cambrai, & so occupy
us tt we cdnt help ?
French. Another small
attack near Armentieres where
we had to our surprise, he sd,
identified 4 or 5 divisions
on a front of one division.
The main attack away in 
Alsace against the French. The
idea ws believed to be to
cause quarrelling between
 

7

19 Hub.
Wed 20
Thurs. 21 ....
Frid 22 -
Sat. 23 -

78
8
ourself & the French by
bringing abt a situation
in wh we shd be unable
to take over more o / French
line when they asked us
to undertake the relief
of portion of their front.
(The rumours have all
been of an attack near
Rheims, & so this rather

supports / Americans ^ after in all / 
seriousness w wh they
regard their front.)

Wed 20 March.
Dictating at the office 
till 11 - not my own work
yet, but to finish a series
of articles giving Australia

78
9

the history of each infantry
battalion so tt / states
& towns may know (for /
first time] what their 

own battalions have done.
Then at 12 to lunch
with little Bassett Christian
who was being married to Iris
Jean Campbell of Bombala
at St Margarets. Westminster
& had asked me to be his
best man. We lunched
quietly in his chambers
at Jermyn St & then
where he had two old
friends - a Mrs Mathias
& her daughter - to lunch
w him. Then to / Church.
Our difficulty is to get
 

[*78*]
10
the taxis. You cant get
them to wait - its agst
the rules nowadays -
so we had to send ours
slowly on from / church
to / Hotel w / luggage &
to return by / time /
service ws over - a
very simple pretty
service - & a terrible big
bill to pay for it. I thought
- £25 or more. X It ws
a beautiful day & Bassett
& his wife went away
to Winchester very happy.
I xx managed to get away
from tea (with an Australian 
wedding cake) at / Grosvenor
early ; & got / guard &
 

78
11

porter interested to
keep them a carriage
to themselves - wh is 
most difficult to obtain
these days. Bassett is
xxxx xxxxx in the
Yeomanry (tho he acted
as A.D.C. to his brother cousin
Gen. Christian of our
artillery). He got leave
to go to Australia where
his father ws dying, as
they have a very big
stretch of territory to
manage. He has to
report back to the
W.O. in a few days &
is told he will probly
be sent back to