Charles E W Bean, Diaries, AWM38 3DRL 606/216/1 - August 1918 - Part 9

It ws even grassy ground.

A message at 8 am (2 hrs

after Zero) reached the C.O.

tt they cdnt get ahead & asked

for orders. The C.O. sent orders 

to reorganise & push on & 

get / objve. They reorganised

& pushed on to the road

& / factory at / crossroads.

w heavy casualties.

The C.O. getting no infn

went up again to / Copse

in 23 c & met a wd

man who told him tt / 

Bn ws finished. The Bde 

major sd: "The British are

in Ponchaux - you can take 

tt officially." A message from

Ponch Greene had sd tt he 

cd get no touch w his left.

It turned out tt some of our men
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w / British had got into 

Ponchaux but were driven 

out. C.O. sent this back & it

ws presently confirmed.

Abt this time / Germans 

were seen going in arty 

formatn into Beaurevoir. 

Proudfoot had formed a flank

in the Torrens as ordered.

Green swung back his left flank

to Chalmers. Later the Tommies 

pushed up & got touch on / rd 

from / cemetery to 17 A & C.

The resistance had come 

from the high ridge opposite 

the 23 & 22 Bn. & from 

m.gs. in Ponchaux & on left

at 17 B. 1. 7.  

Bn held this positn for

24 hrs & lost 20 k & 65 wd

& 2 missing bel^d k. They took 2

 

 

2 heavy m.gs. 13 Light MGs

& 21 prisoners.

In the 24 hrs two attacks they took

23 offrs 123 o.r.

1 5.9., 4 77, one 3in mwfr.

10 heavy mgs & 33 light mgs.

Lt Dorsett ws killed

this morning in 23 A 9. 4.

Lt Speak ws wd this 

morning also by the m.g.

above mention abt 17 c 7. 3.

The Americans relieved - 

117^th Regt. a very fine lot of 

men but hopelessly mismanaged.

^As the C.O. arrived they just saw / British going

into Beaurevoir under a barrage.

and were very impressed  

They brought in no phones,

nor L.Gs.  22 Bn left all its

L.Gs, at 2 or 3 phones and signallers, 
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who worked straight on - & 

Maj. Matthews stayed on w

the Americans.

Many Germans were killed 

in this fighting & Bn took more

Prisoners than it had casualties.

6 Bde were / first Australian

troops in the line in France (?) ^or were the 7 Bde? & 

were / last out of it.

To Captain Bean

Major Matthews DSO. has suggested that

I make a note here bringing under 

your notice that from the beginning of 
August to Oct L/Col. Wiltshire was 

commanding the battalion continuously

in the front line. without a second 

in command ^& without relief. Major Matthews was 

away for this period at the Senior 

Officers School Aldershot.

Eugene Gorman [[I/C?]]

22 AIF
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20 Bn Pozieres.

On July 26 1916 when

20 Bn went into Sausage Gully 

a message came from Bde at 5 or 6 pm

tt they wd have to attack tt night. They 

had not time to see / place. ^Col Ralston

& McCall ^(adjt) led the Bns up & called 

in at 12 Bn Hqrs. They had bn
 told to attack at midnight, between 

the main rd & / rly, against OG 1.

& if they got on they were to send 

a second pty through to O.G.2.

They knew nothing o / place 

so they asked Elliott & he sd 

he wd show them. He took them 

up Copse Avenue – the Bn following.

In Copse Ave he stood on / top 

& showed McC. & Ralston the

Copse & [[ag?]] the flares & where the 

railway ws & pointed: If you go in

 

tt direction for 400 or 500 yds 

you come to / German trench, " he

sd. "You may find a line of

our men out a bit ahead of 

the Copse, but it is not certain" 

(or something to tt effect). xx

Ralston & McCall came back 

to the men of their 2 Coys (only 

2 Coys were there) in Copse Ave.

The men had not bombs. McC. 

had to find out where a dump ws.

He found tt there ws one at / quarry.

He came back & took down a 

party to carry up bombs; when 

they were issued it ws found tt

some were not detonated – & so 

every one had to be looked at.

It ws now 12 p.m. The zero 

ws at tt hour. The Artillery ws

to continue its ordinary night 

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shooting & then go off OG1

at 12 o clock so as to let 

the attack get in – & it 

ws doing this now. Ralston 

sent to Bde & sd tt he cdnt 

possibly do / attack. He wanted 

it postponed altogether – if 

he did it, he cdnt do it before 

3 a.m. The answer ws tt it 

ws to be done at 3.

R. & McC then organised 

the Bn into 3 attacking Coys 

w one carrying wire. They 

led them out into positn a 

little E of the Copse. At 3 a.m. 

Hand drawn diagram see original

the 3 pties 

moved out, 

more or 

less in single file. They headed 

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towards / xxxx Germ. trench.

Abt 100 yds or more out,

there ws a tree growing. Ralston

& McC. were w / centre party – 

R. took it tt this tree wd 

be a pretty good mark – 

recognisable for Bn H.Q. so they 

dropped into a shell hole by 

it & the Bn went on past them.

Presently / flares began to 

increase; then m.gs. Then /

sound & flash of bombs. The 

party got thro / wire – the other

two cdnt find a gap (so it is

sd), & wandered up & down 

it. The centre pty got in –

Harper ws hit on / head by a bomb 

& lay on / parapet directing 

operatns. Then / Germs began

to bomb down from either 

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flank – & at last there ws 

nothing to be done but for 

/ party wh ws in to get 

out. They did so – & brought 

in Harper.

The ^Hqrs party in / shellhole 

had all bn hit by now exc. 

Ralston – by bits of shell.

A man presently came 

running by in / dark calling 

for Bn Hqrs. They dragged 

him in. He sd tt / attack 

ws no good – it had failed.

Then men were seen coming 

back thro' / dark – & 

all went back into Copse 

Alley. They C.O. went to 

Bde to report. McC & / others 

didnt know if they were in view 

o / German at Copse Avenue, so 

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they kept / two coys in Copse 

Ave / whole o / march back 

& thence into Black Watch 

Alley where the 19 Bn ^& 17 ws 

just coming in & they had to 

file over the men lying in / 

trench – a horrible congestion.

So they got out to Sausage Valley.

Next came / big bomb 

fight when / whole bombing pln 

went out; then came / attack 

of 28/29 July when they had 

very much / same task as 

on July 26; then came Aug

Aug 4: when they got in they found 

no one on their right at all 

in O.G.2 – O.G.2 ws abt 20 

yds this side of a tree on / 

rly line – they only knew it 

by some broken wire & a

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