Charles E W Bean, Diaries, AWM38 3DRL 606/95/1 - December 1917 - January 1918 - Part 3

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very remarkable power -

he is an intensely humorous

man, with a power of extraordinarily

incisive speech; & he can get

his work done w his superiors

& inferiors by speaking to them

in a way wh makes them

laugh & at / same time carries

its point right home - most

forcibly.

For example - after dinner,

on a bitterly chilly night,

the 5^th Divn A. Mess had

drawn its chairs around /

fire. But while everyone ws

still standing, Col. Bruche, &

two or three others, had taken up

a stand in front o / fire &

no one could get see much

of it. The conversation ws

 

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proceeding when there ws a 

pause; & in it old Peck

said. "I'm ready to bet

any one there's a fire behind

those three men," nodding at

Bruche & the ^two others. They had

to laugh, though Bruche is his 

senior officer. Peck used the

same power in his battalion -

the 14th, from Victoria. He has

been a Colonel of a Victorian

Bn, & he made it; & he

agreed w me, afterwds the

others had gone, as we sat

over / fire, tt a Victorian

battalion must have a 

different sort of Colonel to /

majority of its officers. He needs

to be strong. & blunt. There is

no bn. so responsive as a 

 

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Victorian one to good

leadership - its young officers

are of a splendid spirited rather

polished type, & will do

anything if well led. But

(as Peck said) "it mustn't

be one of themselves who

commands them."

Dec. 20. To 53rd Bn at Menty;

thence to 14th M.G. Coy - where

a young officer told me that

little Single, & Hubert Thompson

of Bathurst, both of whom I

knew in the days about 1907

when I used to go to Bathurst

[*56 Bn*] dances, were both killed

in Polygon Wood on Decem

Sept 26. Single was killed

just before the "hop off" by a

 

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shell, in / assembly positn -

Thompson saw him fall, &

had time to bury him; & then

was killed himself shortly after

our barrage came down & / 

line moved off.

I visited 55 Bn, (under a

fighting Colonel, Woods), & then

back to 53rd Bn, where Col.

Cheeseman (from the 8th Bde)

had that day had his "step"

confirmed.

Dec 21. Back to 1st Anzac for

the night.

Dec. 22. Boddy going to England

(Wynter worked it for me, sending

him on duty) as his daughter is

to be married on Xmas Eve, &

 

 

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he has never yet seen / man

(a Canadian soldier) whom she

is engaged to. I called in at

No 14 ^Genl Hospital at Wimereux & found

Maurice Maxwell, who ws hit

on the 4th October by a shell, very

ill indeed. Maurice ref was

offered by his brother a chance of

getting on to the 4th Divl. staff

as he is not really strong eno'

for / infantry. But he sd

tt, before he took it, he must

go once into battle w his

infantry battalion. He went

in - & walking about, perhaps,

a little openly, on / objve,

while / men were digging in,

he received a tremendous blow

 

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on / thigh. He ws given up

at the Casualty Clearing Stn.

But later he pulled together so

well tt they dec shipped him

off in haste to the Coast hospital.

There he did splendidly until,

as always, the shattered splinters

of bone decayed & began to

suppurate. (These ^shell broken thighs wounds

always suppurate at first

because of / dirty fragments

of cloth carried into them).

The wound had to be kept

open & is at times terribly

painful - at other times for a

day or two it eases. The boy

is at present very ill, the

suppuration having affected his

 

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digestion & his kidneys. He

worries a little, thinking tt,

if he had bn more careful

& exposed himself less, he

wd not have bn wd. of the 

four Maxwell brothers.

Kenneth Maxwell has a 

Military Cross & has just bn

made Commander of the 25th

Manchesters;

Arthur Maxwell won a

M.C. at Mouquet Fm & a 

D.S.O. at Messines;

Duncan Maxwell ws

recommended for the Victoria

Cross & given the M.C. at Mouquet;

& Maurice is the one

above mentioned.

Spent / night at the

Hotel de France, Montreuil.

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Of the three sons o / house,

one, a very nice boy, is not

old eno' to serve; one is

serving in Champagne, having

been at Verdun & goodness

knows where else; & the

third was serving in Champagne

when he ws captd by /

Germans. He ws sent off

to work on German farms &

so forth. He escaped 3 times; on

the first two occasions he

ws recaptured; but / third

time, after travelling for 10

days - or rather nights -

he reached Holland; & two

or three days ago he came

home. He had bn a sergt

but ws promoted to Sous-lieutenent

 

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/ very day he ws captured.

He has gone to Paris to give

information to / Intelligence;

then he will come home for 

a months leave; after tt he

will go back to join his

battalion at the front!

He told his father tt one o /

German farmers with whom he

worked spoke more freely to

him than he wd to a German,

perhaps. He sd he too has

a son at / front; & he cursed

the Kaiser for the war wh

made it necessary to

endanger all these good lives.

Also the boy sd tt there

ws next to no food in / German

shops.

At / same time, w /

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Russians treating for peace,

the Roumanians in armistice,

& 14 or 16 boats down every

week & 12 or so more sunk

by German cruisers or t.b.ds

off / English Coast things are

not over cheerful;

And news comes today

tt Australia is voting agst

the Conscription - 500,000 for;

700,000 agst. One is most depressed

abt it. The Times says it is /

women's vote wh I dont believe.

Canada has just voted, for

the Govt wh advocates conscription,

a majority of over 60 in their

Parliament.

However - one is not going