Charles E W Bean, Diaries, AWM38 3DRL 606/96/1 - January 1918 - Part 5

39
They foretell a clean sweep at
GHQ or war office on /
same lines as the clean sweep
at / Admiralty. The Cambrai
report apparently found tt there
was a breakdown; but tt
Haig ws not surprised by /
German attack - & no commander
has bn sacked.
It has always seemed to me
tt / responsibility there rested
right back with G.H.Q for undertaking
this particular job without
reserves. Charteris has gone
on acct of his miscalculatns
abt Paschendaele in October,
I believe.
Jock tells m today finished
his bread ration at breakfast &

 

40
declined to eat any bread at
lunch, though it ws there. I
sd he ws not saving / bread
or other rations by going on /
lower scale - someone else
eats it for him.
He sd he knew this - but
tt all / same his rationing was
of use." The others in / mess
down there know tt I stick
to it  - & they see tt I keep well,"
he sd. "I don't preach it -
I don't say anything at all abt
it - but I can see tt it is
having an effect - They think
more about it - they dont
waste so much - I can see tt they
are taking pains to avoid waste
-Morris, for example, has given
up porridge for breakfast - &
so on; even / batmen in / kitchen
are thinking more of economy &
 

41
inclined to be less wasteful -
altho' I dont say a word
but simply go on in my own
way ---
" And then - I cant bear
that while I am having full
rations all / workers families
-these poor women w their babies -
shd be lining in queues for
their food & having all sorts of
difficulties to get it while
I (who certainly do no more
active work to deserve it)
get a big ration in comfort.
One must feel tt one shares
their discomfort & troubles
before one can talk to them."
He is right - splendid
old fellow.
Jan 21. went to lunch with
Nevinson at the "Nation" round
 

42
table at the National Liberal
Club- wh is now at the
Westminster Palace Hotel.
I found Tomlinson there -
who used to be corespt for
the Times & Daily News in
France. He is a most lovable
democrat - with a face like a
cleanshaven Socrates, very
deaf, & with a capacity for
slipping out brilliantly cynical
remarks with a kindly
warm hearted smile which
more than belies them.
I sat beside Massingham -
the Editor. For the moment
they are all agreed on / necessity
for / war to go on vigorously;
but I can see they don't believe
tt / Germans are going to attack
us. Massingham, a thin
intellectual clean shaven face,
 

43
creased with kindly lines,
spectacled & rather pale -
asked me if the soldiers
did not want / war to
end. I sd that they did not
want it more than _∧ they had done a year
ago. They The Nation staff seems to me to
half-accept the necessity of
holding on this year in order
to let the Americans push
in 1919. But when someone
mentioned tt / Americans
might need a very long
preparation Massingham said: 
"Oh Goodness! it can't possibly

go on until then - it will
have to be stopped before
then".
Masterman was
there opposite, a sleek
clean shaven man with
clever eyes and the single
 

44
big thin cowslick of hair
falling over his right eye.
He, like the rest, was very
cynical about Lloyd George.
"George" is his name amongst
them at present- " George
will be at the head of the
revolution after the war -
he knows which way, the 
cat will jump."
"The Labour Party will
have nothing to do with
him," sd Massingham.
"No - but they will
have to support him - that
sort of denial is always a
sure sign of it, "sd  Master
that they will have to do /
opposite". sd Masterman.
Hurst of the "Economist,"
was there - a man who
does not look a clear thinker
 

45
however lucid be may
really be; Brodribb - &
many others whose names
I scarcely knew.
They talked politics all
the time, which relieved me;
bu for the life of me, I can
never keep up with the clever
small talk.
Jan 22nd. The Harmsworth
papers have all opened a
sort of preliminary barrage
to what is obviously going
to be an offensive on_∧ Douglas Haig &
Sir Wm Robertson. First you
heard one small gun yapping,
then another began to yap too;
then the big curs (to change the
metaphor) started in the hue &
cry & the lot of them are now
yapping all together- What is
 

46
so contemptible about all
this is not that Haig &
Robertson ought to be immune
from attack – they had no
business to be occupying this
very high pedestal on which
in the upper air of the Sacred
"High Command" whatever
that may be (it is literally
treated as some sort of marvellous
incomprehensible deity spoken
of in a sort of grovelling awe, with
head with bared & bated breath). But
then they did not put themselves
there. Whatever may be sd of
him it ws not Haig who
caused his name to be credited
with the deeds of all his soldiers
"Haig today made another
glorious advance" - Sxxx " The
invincible determinatn of
Sir Douglas Haig has resulted
 

47
in another splendid success."
"Haig captures 10,000 prisoners;
He told us at Cassel when we
saw him tt he wished / names
of others cd be mentioned more
freely & that the army
commdrs cd be gn their full
credit -It was the "Daily
Mail" & "The Times" which
put Haig up there on tt
pinnacle - quite undeservedly
& quite unasked.
Now they are pulling him
down.
The secret ws tt Lord Northcliffe
visited Haig at / Somme or
just before it, & got one of his
shallow impressions - he was
immensely attracted by Haig.
Now At length he has changed his mind.
 

48
Jan 23^rd The Government has taken
the Howard Hotel, where many
Australian _∧ officers (& men also) stay when in London,
- part of it is to be Foreign office,
& part information Bureau.
The let the staff stay on if it
cares to do so - but the staff is
rather scornful. "I don't want
to be in a room will a lot of
flappers who make tea all
the morning & drink it & repeat
the process all the afternoon -
that's all they do in these
Govt. offices _ No thank
you" - said the girl in
the office.
I have come to a boarding
House at No 1 Lexham Gardens
where there are abt 20 people.
One saves somewhat - at the
Norfolk Hotel it was £2.12.6 per