Charles E W Bean, Diaries, AWM38 3DRL 606/250/1 - 1917 - 1937 - Part 8

-2-
After arriving in France you have my record - serving
in the Peronne area and all along the Flanders front.  The only
inconvenience felt by me was the leg continually becoming numbed
with cold, and you will see by my leg it was then a 16-inch calf,
being only 9 inches on return. The Medical Board on my return
recommended me for a slight pension for further aggravation by
war service, but Hobart turned it down and upon my interviewing
them told me I had no right to enlist. That is the satisfaction 
of a 3½ years' service after serving in France until after 
hostilities ceased! When any appeal is lodged they religiously
leave alone the doctor's recommendation and refer only to "The
leg is a pre-war defect".
The most amusing part of the biz, was, each camp I
went to our unit tipped would be the last one, but we found
out in each camp in our final medical inspection there were
men turned down as not fit to go further, some bad feet, others
veins, etc., but I weathered the storm with my one good leg and
the other artificial.
Trusting the information is to your requirements,
and if you require anything further I will be only too pleased
to supply.
Sincerely yours,
(Sgd.) Harvey S. H. Blackburn.
24 Mayne Street,
Launceston,
Tasmania. 

A.WM. No. 7/4/85.
456.
24 October 1925.
Director,
Australian War Memorial,
Box 214D, G.P.O.,
Melbourne.
Dear Sir,
I have to thank you, for sending me a copy of Warrant-Officer 
Blackburn's letter, which I think will prove of
interest to Mr. Bean when engaged on Volume IV of the History.
There is hardly need to emphasize the fact that any interesting
information relating to the A.I.F. which you obtain in like
circumstances will be gratefully received by us.
Yours faithfully,
CEWB 

CHANGES.
 

A.M. Form A.99.
Revised Nov., 1922.)
AUSTRALIAN MILITARY FORCES.
(PERMANENT FORCES.)
FORTNIGHTLY STATE AND DISTRIBUTION as at 9 a.m. 
Formation, Unit, &c....Date.....

D. 2084/12.22. - C16410.. - 20M
 

On 22/3/18  Pte J. T. Heneghan
of the 14th Field Ambulance,
a Roman Catholic priest
from Warracknabeal, Vic,
was killed in action, aged 35.
He had come out to Australia
from Ireland when 26 years
old. 

Dr Bean
In connection with the
Bethune message, the SM Herald
rang up to say that a
Mr J A Madden
14 Coles Street
Concord
Tel UJ 4778
has personal knowledge
of this incident
CEWB
10/7/33

MEDICAL HISTORY CHAPTER IV THIRTEEN
Diagram - see original document
CAIRO DISTRICT SHOWING CAMPS AND HOSPITALS AT THE END OF
MARCH 1915 

COMMONWEALTH OF AUSTRALIA.
TELEPHONE NOS.                                         
F 2597.
F 2598.
COMMUNICATIONS TO BE ADDRESSED TO
"THE DIRECTOR."    
IN REPLY PLEASE QUOTE        
No. 
TELEGRAPHIC ADDRESS
"AUSWARMUSE."
AUSTRALIAN WAR MEMORIAL.
POST OFFICE BOX  214 D.
EXHIBITION BUILDINGS, MELBOURNE.           
"They gave their lives. For that public gift they
received a praise which never ages and a
tomb most glorious - not so much the tomb in
which they lie, but that in which their fame
survives, to be remembered forever when occasion
comes for word or deed . . . . . "                  
10th August, 1933.
Dear Mr. Bazley,
Thank you for your letter No. 8095 of the 2nd August
and for letting me see your papers relative to Captain
Bethune's famous order. I am returning the latter herewith.
I have told McAllan to take no further action in
connection with my minute to him of the 3lst July of which I
sent you a copy. Prior to this he had dug out one or two
statements which do not deal with the order directly but,
from what he says, indicate the circumstances in which it
was issued. When he sends me these I shall forward a copy
to you for what it may be worth.
Yours sincerely,
J S Treloar
Mr. A.W. Bazley,
c/o Official Historian,
Victoria Barracks,
Paddington, NSW. 

14/7/33
CAPTAIN BETHUNE'S ORDER.
Historian Gives Details.
Further details were given yesterday by the
official war historian (Dr. C. E. W. Bean) of
the now famous order issued on March 13,
1918. by Lieutenant (afterwards Captain) F.
P. Bethune–"Hold the position to the last"–
to section No. 1 of the 3rd Machine Gun 
Company, A.IF. The section, said Dr. Bean, was
holding a point on the Spoil Bank next to the
canal at Ypres when the order was issued.
Dr. Bean said: –"It was related by
Lieutenant Bethune later that he heard one of his
men say to another, 'Do you reckon that
bloodthirsty chap in there means he would do
for a fellow if he tried to get away?' His mate
replied, 'I reckon he would.' Then the first
Digger said: 'I'll send my copy home for a
souvenir if I set a show.'
"At the time the order was issued, exactly a
week before the great German offensive, some
sort of attack was expected on all parts of
the front, although up north it was known that
it would be only a feint, and the main assault
on the line took place farther south, on the
Somme.  On the day on which he wrote his
order, Lieutenant Bethune said to his
Brigadier:  'If the army has to retire, and it comes
back within three days, you will find the
machine-gun company still there.' These
machine-gunners were part of the 1st Machine
Gun Battalion which had recently been
formed; the companies were old companies
but they had just been formed into battalions.
"The order attracted the attention of the
higher authorities, and was quoted as an
example of stubbornness.  I believe it was used
in some of the British military schools. Colonel
Milligan, then on the 1st Divisional Staff, went
round the front with the Brigadier on March
13, when Lieutenant Bethune made the
statement I have quoted. Colonel Milligan took
away a copy of the order, and he probably
showed it to General Walker, who was in
command of the 1st Division. General Walker
published a copy of the order, and many
copies were sent home as souvenirs."
Dr. Bean added that in communicating his
original statement on the subject by telephone
he had referred to Captain Bethune's sermon
on board the Transylvania, but the name of
the ship was published as Pennsylvania.

14/7/33
FAMOUS ORDER.
TO THE EDITOR OF THE HERALD.
Sir,–The very interesting war incident
quoted in your issue of the 12th inst.,
referring to the orders issued by Captain F.
P. Bethune, M.C., of the 3rd Machine Gun
Company, AI.F., is in the main quite true.
I have a typed copy of the order signed by
him on March 13, 1918.   Mr. Chambers is
not quite correct.   The facts are that the
order quoted was given out on March 13,
1918, when the company was occupying Spoil
Bank Tunnel dugouts on the Ypres-Commines 
Canal.   As the Hun was expected to
launch his big attack about that time, 
instructions had been given to the O.C., No. 1
section, to hold up the enemy at all costs.
The strong post was well ammunitioned and
provisioned, and I believe a platoon of B
Company, 12th Battalion, was occupying the
post with us.   According to my diary, Fritz
was fairly active, but no direct attack was
made on our post; and, apart from fairly
heavy gas shelling, nothing of much
importance occurred to our section in the period
from March 2 to March 21, 1918, when we
were relieved.   As the Passchendaele stunts
started with the Glencorse Wood "hop over"
on September 20, 1917, and continued to the
end of October, 1917, It is quite obvious that
the order had no connection with any 
operation in that area.   As I enlisted at Hobart
about the same time as Captain Bethune, and
was with him practically all the time until
he was wounded, I can endorse Mr. W. D
Evans’ very fine commentary on the history
of a very fine gentleman and a game 
front-line soldier.
I am, etc.,
ROBT. BROWN.
53 Chandos-street, Ashfield, July 12.
 

SM Herald
13/7/33
FAMOUS ORDER.
"Hold Position to Last."
COLONEL VINEY'S SUGGESTION.
ADELAIDE, Wednesday.
Discussing the "hold the position to the
last" order by Captain T. B. Bethune, of
the machine gun battalion of the 1st Australian
Division during the war, which is mentioned
by Colonel E. G. L. Thurlow in his book,
"Pill Boxes in France," Lieut.-Colonel H. G.
Viney, who was a member of the headquarters
staff of the First Division, said to-day that
the order was not legendary.   Although he
had no personal knowledge of the incident
he saw clearly that both Colonel Thurlow and
Lieutenant E. H. Chambers, of Kalgoorlie, who
has the original in his possession, made slight
mistakes in regard to it–the former as to
the locality of the pill boxes, and the latter
as to the date of the order.
"I do not think the order could have been
issued in connection with the Passchendaele
fighting, for the First Division was not driven
out of any positions it captured during that
battle, as is suggested by Colonel Thurlow,"
said Colonel Viney.
He added that the First Division was not
relieved at any time by a British unit during
the Passchendaele offensive, but only by other
Australian troops   On the other hand, the
First Division did hand over its trenches on
the Messines-Wytschaete front to the 9th,
19th, and 25th British divisions during the
first week in April, 1918, when it followed
the rest of the Australian corps to the Somme
area to assist in holding up the German 
advance there.  The Messines-Wytschaete front,
which was only a few miles south of
Passchendaele, had in it a number of German pill boxes
which had been captured by the 3rd and 4th
Australian divisions in the battle of Messines
on June, 1917. As most of them were
occupied by the 1st Australian machine gun
battalion during March and April, 1918, the
order was probably issued at that time.
The least that could be said for this theory,
he added, was that it was much more likely
than the statement from Sydney, attributed
to the Commonwealth War Historian (Dr.
Bean), that the pill box order was issued
during a critical period of the fighting at 
Passchendaele.  There was no occasion for such
an order during the 1st Division operations
there.   As regards the date at the top of the
order in Lieutenant Chambers’ possession,
Colonel Viney expressed the opinion that the
figure representing the month was probably
three and not eight.

SM Herald
13/7/33
WAR EPIC.
TO THE EDITOR OF THE HERALD.
Sir. - Reference the paragraph which 
appeared in the "S.M. Herald" of the 10th inst.,
under the heading "War Epic–Story of 
Australian Heroism."  The author's publication of
the orders promulgated by the officer in charge
of a post in No Man's Land at Passchendaele
referred to is really better in its actual form,
which I give as follows:–
SPECIAL ORDERS to No. ....... Section.
(1) This position will be held, and the section 
will remain here until relieved.
(2) The enemy cannot be allowed to interfere
with this programme.
(3) If the section cannot remain here alive it
will remain here dead, but in any case it will
remain here.
(4) Should any man through shell-shock or other
cause attempt to surrender he will remain here–
dead.
(5) Should all guns be blown out, the section
will use Mills grenades  and other novelties.
(6) Finally the position as stated will be held.

|A copy of the above order came into my
possession shortly after the incident actually
occurred, it having been circulated by Major-
General H. B. Walker, Commanding 1st 
Australian Division, typifying "the courage, 
devotion to duty, and splendid front line discipline
of the A.I.F." I still have the copy of the
order in my possession, and thought I would
notify you of its actual wording, as it created
a deep impression on the troops on service at
the time.
I am, etc.
A. P. O'MALLEY.
Orange, July 11. 

Cluny
Ouse
Tasmania
5th March 1932
Capt. C. E. W. Bean
Dear Sir
In reply to your enquiry of 25^th Feb. my
personal details are as follows -
Born. HAMILTON. TAS. on 8 Ap. 1877
Belong to HAMILTON district
Profession CLERGYMAN
I am enclosing a copy of some battle
orders issued by me at Spoil Bank in 1918.
to my detachment of machine gunners.
I had orders to hold the position at all
costs, & gave a copy of the orders enclosed
to each man
Col. Milligan of Div. HQ came round with
the Brig. on 13^th, & took away a copy of my
special orders.  Later on I heard they 

were being used at a Machine Gun
School in Blighty, as an example of what
such orders would be.
Should you find them worth incorporating
would it be out of place to mention that
their author was the Padré mentioned by
you as saying the right thing on the
Transylvania, – as the identity of the said
Padré has been doubted, & after I have passed
on my descendants might like to have your
authority.
By the way - if it would be any use to you
I could give you details of -
(a) How junior officers were victimized on
troop ship to Egypt. (Cost 4 of  x us about D30)
(b) How I got to the line by complaining of
graft of Quartermaster in Base Camp.
(c) How one avoided recommendation of
unworthy candidate for Commission in
spite of pressure from Division - &c &c