Charles E W Bean, Diaries, AWM38 3DRL 606/98/1 - February 1918 - Part 4

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to see where Van Hove farm
ws - because Arthur Maxwells
left ws near there in the
Messines fight. It is of course
now well within our line.
The intelligence officer of the
54th Bn showed ^me its direction
from / top of Prince Ruperts
Dugout (so quiet are things
now tt they actually stand
on top of their huge turfed
bn headquarters dugout -
a quite inexcusable bit of
carelessness - but our me
will never be good soldiers
in tt way). Van Howe
is almost directly in
front of Oostaverne Wood.
It is abt 2000 yds due E
of Prince Rupert dugouts,
 

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& well N. of the Wambeek.

The twin tower
of Comines. They
are known as the Towers
of Commines Francais
& Commines Belge - I
suppose the frontier runs
between. Houthern, I believe is over the rise
beyond Van Hove. The
country there looks beautifully
undisturbed but they say
there is a big hole in / side of
Houthern church.

The boy must have crossed
tt valley w his men &
reached a position almost
in front of the centre o / 
battle. He was blamed for 
doing it. But no one
else ws there; &, looking
back from / top o / hill
at [[?]] it looked to
me as tho' it might have
made it very difficult for
us had / Germans been on
 

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tt rise between / Wambeek
& / Roozebeck undisputed
right in between our positns
on / spurs N & S of it.
The 3rd Bn the other day
got out of Oostaverne Wood for
us a "camouflage tree" -
a sham tree of iron with a
hollow steel tube, up wh the German
artillery observer used to
crawl to a seat near 
top. The battalion got their tree
out for the Australian
War Museums - Sergt.
Hamiltons V.C.'s name is 
pencilled on it. It is a
wonderfully good imitation
tree & we must get it to
Australia at all costs. Indeed
 

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when I saw it I thought tt
it must be one o / real trees
from Pozieres wh we are getting.
They tell say tt / men o /
3rd Bn are out for souvenirs
for all they are worth. It is
told here tt when Gen. Birdwood
ws round / other day he got
back to his car just xx in
time to notice a man w
his hand on / little flag in
front of his motor car. "Here, you
mustnt take that!" sd Birdie,
"what do you think I'm going
to do without my flag!"
"Oh, I've got another one
here I ws going to put in
/ place of it," sd / man.
 

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"No No," sd / little man, "You
leave me my flag - I'm very proud of it - I came out just
in time, eh?"
"Oh, we'll have it some
day yet, General," ws /
reply.
I told this to Birdie -
(without bringing himself into
it - to see if it were true -
told him tt the 3rd Bn ws
after his flag & one man nearly
got it / other day, & had a
little flag to put in place of it).
It seemed completely unknown
to him - for he did not show
a sign of ever having heard of 
it before; so I expect tt /
story is like most o / good stories
 

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abt most o / famous
characters of the long ^the war & perhaps of history
completely news to / people
to whom they are supposed to
have happened.
MacConaghy told me tt
/ other day Birdwood came
round his battalion in its
present trenches. He went
through it pretty thoroughly &
you cd tell he was pleased.
"As a matter of fact we
had every button & strap in
/ right place & / battalion
thr just as polished as
if it were on parade
in a rest area - you
can do it here. The little
man ws obviously
 

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well satisfied - & everything went
grandly until they got back
to Battalion Headquarters
when out came a ragged
individual to meet /
General & held out both
hands to him & shook him
warmly - "Well General,"
he said, "I am pleased
to see you - shake hands

General. I knew you
on Gallipoli" etc etc.
It was some chap
who ought to have been
in / line - who had been
waiting to see Birdwood. He
had ^somehow got hold of some rum,
& had had one drink &
 

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then another, & another
on top of that, while he
was waiting. When everything
was just working up to /
finish of a most satisfactory
inspection out he came
from some quiet corner
where he had stowed himself.
Birdie is very used to
this sort of awkward incident
& can turn them off very
well without unnecessary
stiffness. He hates drink
& drunkenness but he does
not xxxx estimate an incident like
this with any lack of
proportion - he knows tt it
 

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means very little.
I saw him at night
after dinner - & he showed me
a letter to Senator Pearce
which he had sent a
fortnight before. It was
a suggestion tt our force
might, as a wise & 
statesmanlike move, now
be moved to Egypt when /
German offensive is over -
(say,) during the winter of
this year. He pointed out,
in addition to / reasons tt
I had thought of, tt our
reinforcements wd then
have an almost safe voyage.
 

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(We shd have to run / risk
of submarines once," he
added to me, "in getting
to Egypt. But from tt time
on we shd have a safe line 
of communication."
It wd save / necessity
of our having to send reinfts
right to England, & England
having to send them to
Egypt as at present & so
substitute the short
line, AC for the
long line ABC.
It wd also be
possible to give
Australian leave. [Australia's
duty is, as a matter