Charles E W Bean, Diaries, AWM38 3DRL 606/91/1 - October 1917 - Part 1

AWM38
Official History,
1914-1918 War : Records of C E W Bean,
Official Historian.

Diaries and Notebooks
 

Item Number: 3DRL606/91/1
 

Title: Diary, October 1917
Includes references to Broodseinde.
AWM38-3DRL606/9/1

DIARY
Oct 18 -
(incl Oct 4)
 

No 91
D 41

Original                      DIARY NO. 91
AWM38            3DRL 606 ITEM 91 [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.
AUSTRALIAN WAR MEMORIAL
ACCESS STATUS
OPEN

 

Oct 16 Day fine. cold.

Oct. 17. Day fine till 3. Night wet warmer

Oct 18 Day fine. Night cold fairly clear.

______________________________________

1 as w came up to / troops

in / sunken road another

plane - a german - came

over very low - not 1000 feet

I wd say. We stood still by 

a shellhole as he passed - his

gun started going popping but

not at us. He ws so low tt we

cd certainly have seen his arm

if he had waved it.

A little later _^when we were on / Ridge over came

another plane, low down - but

he was ours. He came over

half a dozen times or so before

we left, lower than any,

wheeling when he got a little

past our post Ridge top.

About when we were at / crater

I saw another going low over _^/ height S of

the Rly Cutting. He dropped a white

star flare. (I wondered if he were ours - but I

believe he ws German. Our patrols following / German

who returned tt afternoon sd tt he saw them, dropped

a white star, & brought arty on to them).

 

(written Oct 18 from here)            2

walk with Wilkins on

D 41 Oct. 15 cont)                     91

& crossed the railway

just where it enters the cutting 

- scrambled on past thro' the battered

hedge & across towards /

top o / Broodseinde

Ridge. The enemy ws

shelling / cutting w big

stuff shrapnel just before

& after, so we didnt wait

there but hurried towards

the S.S.E.

The ground was

a rounded hilltop, &

the actual summit ws

abt 200 yards away

to our left - a hedge

3

running along / skyline

itself. The Germans

started shelling over

with whizz bangs as 

we went. We cd see a

great thing like a notice

board over the hill - I

think it was a barn, xx

called Assyria, on the

next hill top really - wh

had bn the objective of

our 2 attacks by _^South of the Rly

on Oct 9 & Oct 12. I

daresay they could see

our movement from there.

We dodged from shellhole

to shellhole & xxx made

D41   4

forward a bit as the

shelling seemed to be

about 200 yds - 100 yds

behind us. We lay up

under a bank & 3

shrapnel shells burst over

/ hedge in front at / same

moment & the stuff

whizzed overhead, (but

too distant I daresay

to do more than tear your

clothes) A man dodged

along behind / hedge, showing

tt we had a line there,

& into another hole - "like

a rabbit" as Wilkins

said. A rabbit at / same

4a
^x Passing two officers of

the 2nd Divn lying beside

one another - within 6 yards

both dead.
 

D41    5

time, curiously eno; I 

was watching a rabbit

wh had come over / rly

& ws hesitating on / edge

o / bank - disturbed by

/ shells, I suppose.

We made our way

South along / crest ^x

which at once became

perfectly flat. The soil

was sandy, with shallow

shellholes; & a little

to in rear of us wandered

what looked like a battered

communication trench -

or support trench.

The summit here

was entirely exposed to /

D41    6

Germans, & to our own

hinterland. On / hill

opposite us (the Keiberg)

 

Sketch

 

the big barn (Assyria)

stood out exceedingly clearly. 

Behind that, I think it 

was, on the further hill,

wh ws obscured by a

shadow at / time, were

some red bldgs (I think

this is where they were -

Morslade). Down / 

valley to / right of us,

most clearly visible

on a spur of our

D41    7

own ridge running down

towards Lille, & covered

with dark blue grey

trees, ws the silhouetted

the dark grey tower &

spire of Bercelaere Church.

We could not get off

the sky line - the summit

was so flat - & so /

only thing was to walk

down / length of it

southwards. A short sharp

shower came on from

the country behind us

& turned the shellholes

very greasy - I noticed

D41    8

tt they were greasy in

spite o / sandy nature

o / soil. It passed -

we made along / lines of

a trench, roughly - there

were two of our men lying

dead in it. A road

was crossing our front,

coming from Zonnebeke

up / hill; on the

top, near some tumbled

rubbish wh had once

 bn a house of Broodseinde,

where it ran into square across

another road - the road

running down / whole 

crest. We got onto this