Charles E W Bean, Diaries, AWM38 3DRL 606/96/1 - January 1918 - Part 4

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Jan 15th.  Who shd
walk into / Hotel
tonight but little Lester
Lawrence, Reuters Correspt
in Gallipoli. He is ordinarily
w / French, but has just come
back from Italy.  He told
us some very interesting
things about the French-
He is x all He sd tt
the morale of their ar
We heard in / summer
_∧(in June) tt / morale of the French
Army was very bad. The
New Zealanders were
digging gun pits for / French
& they near Nieuport & they 

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confirmed this.  Some o /
French Artillery refused to
work for themselves , it
ws sd ; we also heard
stories of recruits going
to / front baa-ing thro'
/ streets like lambs.
I asked Lawrence
how / French morale
was now.  It ws quite
sound & good, he sd. There
ws no fear of / Germans
getting thro' / French.
In / summer (he volunteered)
it had been bad - that
ws / work of Caillaux, / 

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very man who is now
on his trial by impeachment.
Now tt they had
Clemenceau & not
Caillaux, they were as sound
as we.
Caillaux, he sd, ws
not a man who cd
be bought.  But he
ws consummately
vain & ambitious.  He
believed tt he ws /
man who shd be ruling
France.  He hated England
bitterly.  He thought he
cd obtain / reins in France 

32
by making a separate
peace & he determined
to do this & so gain /
ascendancy.
In order to make
peace he had to arouse a
demand for it & come in
on top of it ; & decided set to work
to create / demand. He
ws not in power ; but he
ws in almost entire command
Malvy who was.  He
had the a good number of
public men also in his
debt.
He so worked things
tt / French Offensive, as 

33
soon as it was heavily
checked was stopped -
broken off on / fourth day.
At / same time /
rumour ws spread tt
 / losses had bn 240,000
in 4 days - which was
3 or 4 times more than the
truth.  The men coming on
leave were met by every
sort of agitator & pacifist,
& depressing talk pumped
into them ; all sorts of
suspicions suggested - &
/ result ws tt a few crack
battalions did refuse to
work or march or something. 

34
o / sort.
But Caillaux ws too well
known.  His visits to Italy
(where he cd deal w /
Germans) & to Argentine
were known.  His relations
with Malvy were exposed.
Clemenceau, who ws
a stubborn determined
Frenchman to / back bone,
came in determined to win
/ war for / old Ideals for
wh France went into it;
he is an old man -
70 or more.  He knows he
has only a few years to go ;
& he is determined to
do this thing for France. He has 

35
/ confidence of leaders
& public men - though
/ people are tired of / war
like most people elsewhere.
And Lawrence thinks tt
w him in France France
is safe.
Italy is very much
shocked by / knowledge tt
/ Germans cd get through
when they thought their line
impenetrable.  Of couse it
ws propaganda tt did it.
The Italians put their weakest
troops into that _∧particular army always,
Lawrence says.
He says their line, though 

the Germans cd be seen to pass. His
idea is to get out there with a flash
light, wait until they come by & then
photograph them as they sometimes
do with wild animals in America.

36
we hear a lot of it, does
not really show signs of
the amount of work put
into / line in France or
Gallipoli - it is not a
line as we know it, he
says.
Jan. 16. Wilkins returned to
France.  He wants to get
a flashlight photo of a
German being ambushed
in Nomansland. Some infantry
officers had told him of a point when almost any night
There is no excitement
in / war in France, he says, but
plenty of anxiety.  He is
a brave hunter of excitement ;
I can see that is the main
motive.
Jan17.  The pressmen who went
round the fleet with me last 

37
year got on so well together
tt they formed an Oversea
Press Circle.  Tonight ws
its birthday dinner.  They had
Buchan there & Burnham in
the Chair ; & too many speeches
for a press dinner.  Old Rae.
of the Melbourne "Herald" cut out
his own speech, which was an
act of supreme self sacrifice.
Jan 18.  Jurys have found one
part of that lost film.  They
rang me up to see it.  Before
I saw it old Jury - Sir Wm.
- had me in & tried to get
me to say it wasn't their fault.
I would not do this. I fancy he has
xxxxx just an idea that there may be trouble ahead.
The Russian Bolsheviks
are certainly highly impractical
people. They have just ordered the
arrest of the King of Rumania. 

38
Jan 19 20   I have been xxxx
in perfect health (except for a few
epidemics) during 3½ years of
very heavy active service ; And
now the moment I come to
London to easier conditions
the first sign of an old weakness
has recurred - the stale air &
want of exercise I suppose has
xxx lessened ones working powers.
I saw Howse this morning & he
tells me that if I am to do my
work here I must get daily
exercise & if possible a clean
break from 12 o'clock on Saturday
until Monday morning.
There is the beginining - the
first beginining – of an agitation
against Haig in the papers; especially
noticeable today when they comment
on the report of the defeat after Cambrai.