Charles E W Bean, Diaries, AWM38 3DRL 606/102/1 - March 1918 - Part 2

12
^※I reckon tt they will

bombard 4 days - i.e. to Saturday

- & so I shd be in France

for / attack on Sunday.
78      13

France "for dismounted

duty."

Thurs. March 21.

Going out during the morning

from the office to Charing X

to pay for a cable sent for

Bassett Christian I bought

a paper. No newsbills

are allowed to be printed

- so as to save paper;

but there on a blackboard

the old news vendor had

chalked up "Bombardment

on / whole Front". ^x I looked
at the latest news. Haig 

reported tt at dawn

today the Germans laid
down a bombdt on

our whole front from

78        14

Vendhuile near St.

Quentin to the Scarpe."

Just tt short message.

My heart and 

spirits jumped up

100 degrees - So / 

German ws attacking

after all - he ws really

going to do it. The 

bombt ws on a front of

over 50 miles!

It is curious how 

slowly it sank into

people in London tt

this ws / great battle

begun in earnest.* There

was one other paragraph
only in / paper about

it connected w it -

78           15

a statement short message by the Kaiser

to some burgomeister

or district council tt

"the great day had

come ...."

I cannot say how

relieved I felt at the

coming of this news. Even the

little tinge of anxiety lest /

Germans may have some

new gas, or some wonderful

tactic, to induce them to take

this step, doesnt really affect

ones feeling - of One has been 

hoping almost beyond hope

that Ludendorf & Hindenburg

were (as they sd they were) so

confident of their strength tt

they would commit Germany

78          16

to a great offensive in the

West in order to justify the

Army, & the mailed fist method,

& the inflated brutality & pompousness

by which they & their system

stand or fall. One hoped almost

beyond hope tt they would fling

themselves upon our army

here in order to justify their

boasts to their people & end /

war by an offensive this year -

and they are doing it. One 

does not for a moment believe

tt they will succeed. The attack

always loses more men in /

second stage o / fight than /

defence; they will get 5, 10,

perhaps 15 miles. They 

may very likely take Bapaume.

78        17

But at / end of it their army

will be brought up agst an unbroken

wall - ^a wall pushed back a few miles

but still barring them. They will

have lost a million men; &

the German people (& / soldiers)

will begin again to cry louder &

louder - To What End? You have 

killed & wounded & wasted a

million of our people, & what

have you given us?"

That is the best thing tt

could happen for us. Our

men will be hammered - but

at least they will lose less in

defence than in attack. It is 

not an easy time for / actual

battalions in / line. But

it is better than an offensive.

78        18

It is possible of course tt a 

bigger attack will follow agst

/ French; or an attack with

tanks. But one cannot help

rejoicing tt / best has happened.

This morning the

newspaper reports tt Prince

Litchnowsky has been

degraded, in Germany, from

/ rank of an Ambassador.

What a nation it is that

thinks tt by this sort of

discipline it can "straf" the 

truth or alter / course of

history. Prince Litchnowsky was

the German Ambassador in 

London at / beginning o / war.

He was a man who was

genuinely anxious for peace.

78         19

He thought tt peace ws possible

until the German Govt clearly 

abandoned his policy of

peace & threw itself (as he

said) onto the Austrian side

& made war certain. When

he ws recalled, he made a wrote

a statement memoir, wh he

meant to be preserved amongst

his family papers, giving 

an account o / German policy

& how, in spite of / efforts wh

England made to / very end

to preserve / peace, Germany 

made the murder of an

Austrian prince a pretext for

war. The memoir is absolute 

proof o / truth (wh one always

78     20

knew) tt there ws a peace

party in Germany & a stronger

war party; tt / danger always

ws tt xxxxx things might

some day shape themselves so

tt / war party in Germany

wd have / nation & / Kaiser,

for / period, completely in its

power or under its influence.

And that this happened.

That England did not want

war & Sir E. Grey tried every

means to avoid it - tt Germany

cd have avoided it, but / 

war party deliberately

embraced it. .

This memoir somehow,

thro' a breach of confidence,

became public; only 6 typewritten

78        21

copies existed; but one of these

became public - first in

select circles in Germany;

& on March 17 somehow

reached a Swedish newspaper; 

& so the terms of it - its 

existence had previously bn 

known - became were published to

/ world.

Today comes news 

tt / German Govt has

decided not to prosecute

Litchnowsky for high treason

(for writing / truth) but has

determined accepted his

resignation of his rank

instead!

March 22. Friday.

Dictating all day - last

22
later: the correspts tell me

4 or 6 hours
I went to / Information Dept

(my old Norfolk Hotel)

to see Lord Beaverbrook. As I went

up / stairs John Buchan ws

coming down. He told me tt

/ news ws good as far as he cd

hear. The Germans had fallen

into pretty well every trap we

had laid - we had retreated

intentionally behind the

St Quentin Canal.
78        23

articles on the Australian 

battalions & their history.

The Germans attacked

after only 3 or 4 hours ^x

bombardment with their

infantry.  This was far 

less than I expected - I

wonder if ^in France they expected

the advance within 3 hours

of the preliminary advance.

This argues a v. heavy bombt in those 3

hours. The Germans seem to have

used trench mortars to get

forward quickly w their infy.

The fight has reached

Doignies - wh ws taken by 

our old 56^th Bn. They must

be within gun range of

Bapaume - Lagnicourt

must be theirs.