Charles E W Bean, Diaries, AWM38 3DRL 606/91/1 - October 1917 - Part 9

D41 81
 - who had then also
Zonnebeke Rly Station (on
/ same hill ^as Hill 40 in a cutting)
while we had the Church.
Outside Bremen, (wh
was also used as a 
dressing stn there - later as 
a Bde HQrs, Cannans Bde)
were some AMC men,
some stretchers, & a whole
heap of German kit. I
took one rifle & fixed bayonet
(the only German rifle I ever
have seen w Bayonet fixed)
for the A.W.R.S. The 9 Bde
medical offrs & Padre inside
told us tt / place ws /
 

D41 82
centre o / German barrage
& I think they added tt
it ws constantly hit without
breaking it. I had a 
cup of tea w them, &
then cut off S. across
country towards Westhoek
Ridge.
On the way, in the
valley abt 100 yds or so
from Bremen, I passed
another redoubt like
a brick waterlogged in
a  swamp - Potsdam.
From there one cut up
the hill, across the Railway
on / south side of wh
a much used path ran to a Bde
Hqrs in some long low
 

D41 83 (on / Southside of it)
concrete dugouts beside / Rly 
- "Railway. Across a
rather green unshelled
space in which a battalion
I think of the 9th Bde was
digging itself little pozzies
in shell holes for the night 
- the first time I had ever
seen a promiscuous shellhole
bivouac like this.
I went on up to /
top of Westhoek Ridge - the
ground becomes frightfully
shelltorn as you near /
pop top; on the rear slope
o / ridge just clear o / 
crest some of the 6th Bde
machine gun coy were digging
 

D41 84
themselves into little
new trenches. The whole
Broodseinde Ridge &
Abrahams Heights & Hill 40
cd be seen from there too -
& I thought tt a shell hole
in / green patch on tt front
slope where the 9 Bde were
wd be / very best point
for watching a fight.
As I stood there our
guns suddenly opened a 
very heavy fire - it ws
abt 5 or 5.30 pm. & it
ws clearly a practice
barrage. A line of officers
were breasting a bank just
 

D41 85
by one o / tall Westhoek
blockhouses, watching it;
x We followed / barrage up
/ hill - it ws ^the individual bursts were soon lost in
smoke & dust as at Messines.
The German began to
put a big shell over into /
valley filled with 18 pounders
at our back. I found a 
duckboard leading back
across the hollow, & followed
it. The big German shell
pitched first 100 yds on
one side of it & then 70
yds on / other, & one had
to walk thru the dust cloud.
But you see / men serving
/ batteries walking about
 

D41 86
them as if nothing were
happening, far nearer than
yourself, & it gives you
wonderful confidence &
makes you even a bit ashamed
of your nervousness.
Anyway I was glad when
the big shell ws behind me.
The track led over
some frightfully marshy shell
torn country to a number
of craters x (our old front
line of course) wh I found 
- by a map wh a padre
at Cambridge Rd showed me 
- to be Railway Wood. You
dont notice / wood - but I
 

D41 87
did see one piece stump of
a shrub a little further
back with green leaves on
it -
Sale at / head of abt
20 men of 21 Bn passed me
on / duckboards. They
were camped in some old
German line over wh /
duckboards passed E of
Railway Wood - that
indescribable area of mud &
waterfilled shellhole was more
or less inhabited by four
heavy long howitzers painted
like boar constrictors, a
wireless tank, & an
ammunition dump.
 

^X
i.e. hurried
C.E.W.B.
25/6/32
 

D41 88
I found / car ^in Ypres got home
fairly late.
The next night ws
Oct. 3. Gullett was back
& Murdoch ws here (having
flown ^X back from London on /
news tt Gilmour ws here -
Gilmour left on Sept 30 & 
came back on Oct 9 - staying
as well as Murdoch till Oct 20 -
Murdoch's brother acted as
press officer. x I shd say
tt Murdoch beat Gilmour
in every way.)
Murdoch came up w
Gullett & myself to Ypres.
We started at 3 - old Boddy
drove me to N. Barker
sat up to wake Boddy & get
 

D41 89
some hot cocoa. Boddy
came round & drove me
down to N. Camp where
the others (who shared half a
Nissen hut) were getting up.
We drove through Ypres,
the roads being fairly clear,
to the school on the Menin
Road; & then struck along
the duckboards for Kit &
Cat - the same duckboards
I had come back along /
day before. Kit & Cat ws / 
point on Westhoek Ridge where
I had seen / Bombt from.
It was lowering &
drizzly & the German flares
looked dull & glazed like
fishes eyes.
We reached Westhoek
 

D41 90
Ridge about 5; & as
we were too far right I
struck left along / edges
o / shellholes over /
top o / ridge till we
hit the rly track & then
in again towds Westhoek
On a decent night we shd
have hit our shellholes
in / green - & this night
we must have passed
within 150 yds of them;
but it ws so overcast
& drizzly tt we cd not
see; so I decided to
head again through the
muck to Kit & Cat &
lie up there till daylight.
At abt 5.20 just as
we were floundering on /