Charles E W Bean, Diaries, AWM38 3DRL 606/98/1 - February 1918 - Part 2

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Sat Feb 9.   Working on a 

list of points for White, in

addition to a list from Treloar.

Saw White for over an hour this

afternoon.  He exhibited just

l same wonderful quick grasp

 & quick flashes of judgement

that he always has done.

The scheme abt l artists in

a few seconds he turned upside

down - cut it right away in

favour of a bigger better & clear

simpler one.

          White ended by saying

tt he often wondered whether l 

best place for this force really

ws not in Palestine.  There

are great reasons for it -

health, short transport, fewer losses.

Then he made me think

furiously by saying tt he was

still not decided as to whether it

 

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cd not & might not be

arranged - he thought it

 might be worth taking up &

tackling l proposal seriously.

    To have us half way to

Australia at l end o l war

wd be an enormous advantage.

For one thing - no men wd stay

 in Palestine; & we want them

all back in Australia.

        Gelly told me today tt l

idea now ws tt l English

brigades shd be reduced to

3 battalions; that l same

shd happen to Austln battlns

brigades; but tt whereas the 

British wd keep their 4th Bns

& make other Bdes w them, we

shd (after any losses) do away

 

 

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with ours & draft l men

to l remaining three ( It wd

be a great loss of esprit

but possibly unavoidable) -

rather than break up any 

division.  The Canadians

will form an a second corps,

partly out of their surplus battalions

xxxx It is a mistake on our part if this hides from

Austlian the fact tt the force

division has really been

diminished.  When any

dimination comes, Australia

shd know it, & take l full

responsibility frankly.

     A post of the 45th Bn - 6

men - ws surrounded and

 

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captd by the Germans without

firing a shot, Birdwood tells

me.  The little mans voice

showed tt he was not

over pleased with Gellibrand

in whose brigade the 45th is -

so it seemed to me.  (Gelly

has been detached to a 

m.g. school & knew nothing

of this post till we told him).

If so - it is another bit of 

Gelly's bad luck for he is 

improving tt Bde hand over

fist.

Sunday Feb.10.  Went

down w Cutlack to Rollencourt.

Heard there from the Corespts

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that the British are piling up

troops in the Cambrai area - 

we saw guns on l way down -

Cutlock says 9 divisions have

gone down there - The major

commds the army anti aircraft

batteries told white yesty tt

7 searchlights had bn sent there

also.  No sign on our Austln

front of any attack - but

an attack is expected down by

Cambrai on March 1st.

     The 3rd Austln Tunnelling Coy

abt Loos also told Cutlock &

Wilkins tt an attack with Tanks

is expected there.  Our 3rd

Tunnellers have been putting in 

a wonderful system of 

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underground defences there -

the front & support lines are 

practically underground, w

many exits up to l line above

& strong concrete slabs tt can

be shut across the dugout

entrance shaft & m.gs. firing

up them.  Wilkins tells me tt

our airmen have found 1000

German tanks concentrated

there - they cant say exactly

what l tanks are like but there

they are.

     It is sd tt l Germans are

after l Loos coalfields (∧or so the

Paris Conference believes) & that

the main push will be at

Cambrai. Gough saw l

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Correspts l other day & told them

tt he thought we cd xxxxx? only

xx finish this war by crushing

l Germans in fighting; but he 

went on to explain tt if l

 Germans broke through ∧even to Calais our

routes & retirement xx right to

l sea were already well

laid down & plans prepared.

  

Shorthand transcribed

 

 One notices at the same time tt 

our people have

 prepared other things (i.e.

seem to be making offensive preparations

w tanks etc possibly for c-attack).

 

Monday Feb 11th  Went with

Cutlock to see the one part o l 

front here tt I do not know -

in front of Wytschaete.   The reason

one cd never see Wytschaete before

(or very little of it ) is tt it is on

l Eastern slope o l crest.

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we found the long slope on l other

side almost xxxx? very much

unmarked by battle compared

w l country we fought in at 

Ypres or even w Messines.

The old fields were covered, of

course, w hoary grass.  But

Here & there turnips grew still

grew.  Col. McConoghy (∧now of the 54th

Bn), cheery soul, whom we found

in "Prince Rupert" dugout (named

by us, not l German) told us tt

they had given them to l men 

sometimes when they (that is l

turnips) were young & slender;

& tt even now when they were 

old & very big they gave them 

to l horses.

     The far e slope of this

long hill is crossed at

intervals by camouflage

screens on posts - to hide

 

 

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movement. And along the

hill, at intervals down it,

run the various ∧fortified lines wh

our men have dug during

l winter & wired.

     These lines are quite

different even from what they 

wd have been a year ago.

They are now no longer

continuous lines of trenches.

Sometimes a shallow partly dug

trench exists l whole way; but

the garrison only holds certain

strong posts (deeper & better

lengths of the trench at intervals

in Commanding positions, placed

so tt each one helps l other.

(This system was really used by 

l Germans against us as long

ago as the Somme winter - we

cd tell later by l broken bottles

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thrown out opposite ∧on l parados of certain

parts ∧of trench where the posts were -

we adopted it later from them).

 

There are, in theory, three lines

of fortification here at Wyschaete

 - the Divisional line, the Corps line,

& the Army line.  They each consist 

of three trenched posts wired.

The three trenches in each line are

the Outpost line, the Support line,

& the Reserve line.  The whole three 

in the divisional system are

garrisoned; but in the Corps

system behind it, though the troops

to Garrison the line are near 

at hand - within 1/2 hour they

cd be in the trenches - they are

not camped in l actual trench;

even in l reserve line of the

Divisional system they are

sometimes camped in

neighbouring "pill boxes" - old