Charles E W Bean, Diaries, AWM38 3DRL 606/227/1 - Folder - Part 2

207

9.
During C Coy's advance Lt. P.S. Robinson
had his platoon hung up near the railway.
He moved to the flank with Pte Ollis. Robinson with his revolver
and Ollis with bombs blew the head off the German officer
in charge and the whole post, 40 Germans with 5 M.Gs put
up their hands (About 7 A 5.2. on railway)
B Coy (Capt Dimant) moved by a right incline
passing gradually rear of 21st Bn. Soon after passing the
road before the railway they got heavy M.G. fire from the
railway near Neville's cross. and from the Copse near the
Quarries. A tank was diverted by an officer of 21stBn
to this point and with the assistance of 2nd Pioneers fire
they silenced guns.
B Coy continued to advance crossing the road south
of Montbrehain Railway dump and in getting over the top of
the hill came under very heavy M.G. fire from Doon Mill Copse
and whizzbang. A M.G. got them also from the left flank-
behind their flank. They got M.GL fire from both flanks
and had to dig in behind the crest, retiring a little way.
They could see the German gunners working their field guns.
The shells burst on the crest infront and the crest behind
going over their heads harmlessly.
As C Coy was hidden from them by a rose they put
two L.Gs between to cover the gap. B Coydug in about from
A central to 2 C Central.
The Germans began to dig in about 1.40 pm. in the
gully at I 8c.1.0 to I 8.A.00 a line of posts very close
together. (These were ultimately shelled at Col. Amand's
request.)
Later the 18th Bn (50 men) were obtained to reinforce 

the aft plank of Pioneers. They were under Lt.

Bryden. They went up in the afternoon te and had no
casualties.
Two Vickers Guns took up position dominating
the valley in I 7c and D They were under Lt. Wilkinson and
had some splendid shooting.
A Coy (under Capt. Roth M.C. killed next day
at the rear by a shell) during the early part of the attack
came under heavy M.G. fire from a post on the lee left (near
the the cemetery probably) They tried to rush the post
and Lt. Edwards was badly wounded. The platoon sergeant
Howell took charge. By making a diversion they captured
the post and got 8 M.Gs and en 4.2 Howitzer with the crews
They then followed parties of the enemy on the
left and mopped up through the village. As they got to the
E end of the village and were turnig back after mopping up
the Cerman put dewn a heavy barrage on the village and they
lost a number of men. When Capt. Roth was collecting them
to t ake up position in support he noticed that 21st and
24th were being driven back on the left and through the
village, so he slipped across and took up a position from
H 6 B 3.5 to B.30 c 9.3/ Colonel Annand later ordered him
to extend his flank and join up with the 23rd and sent up
another Vickers gun which did escellent work there.
They were then conected up on the left with the
23rd Bn. They did good work in reporting conventrations
of ermans in the sunken roads and valleys N of the
village and the artillery were put on to these.
Casualties
1 officer wounded and captured.
21 O.Rs killed
2 died of wounds
6 officers 81 o.r. wounded.
Captured 8 officers and 327 O.Rs of Germans.
 

208 

10.
Battalion probably went in about 450 rifles.
A. Lt. R.W. Edwards) severely wounded. Rich in the
Lt. H. Rich                 )village.
Lt. J.Ride hit in the face in the village.
B.
Lt. A. E. Robertson on the objective - by M.G. fire
from Doon/
C. Lt. Traves, while inspecting posts after Bn dug in
was wounded by shell -
Lt. S.J. MacCullagh, early
Bn was relieved by the Americans - Not a shot
was fired after 8 pm. The relief was a good one.
2nd Pioneer Bn was first in the line in
France, and owing to a delay in this relief through an
American Coy getting lost was probably the last out.
21 MMs.
1 Bar to MM
2 D.C.M.s
2 M.Cs.
Bar to D.S.O.
Mention in Corps Orders.
-------------
 

209
 1. 

11th BATTALION
Landing and
Battle on T Posts.
13th BATTALION
Russell's Top - April 26th
49th BATTALION
August 1-7
Domart
August 11-16
Etinhem
50th BATTALION
August 11 -
52th BATTALION
Mouquet
51st BATTALION
Noreuil

SOMME WINTER
STORMY TRENCH

-------------------------

ANZAC LANDING
-------------
Louch - N.C.O. 11th Bn. landed - not knowing
where he was to go or what he was to do or anything.
Most of the menwere in the same condition, he says.
He saw a flare low down on the beach as they
came in. Then the knock of rifles - a relief - They
landed N. of Ari Burn[[?]] Turks were firing at them from
the left - what looks like the foot hills of Walker's
Ridge - 500 yards away. They could see this. Heetook
cover and Colonel Johnston was beside him - they sat side
by side till a Turk bullet hit the ground between them -
from the enfilade on the left. Then they lay up very
close to the bank both of them. They were not allowed,
by their orders, to load and fire. Louch asked the
Colonel: What are we to do sir - What do you think we had
better do?
Old Johnstone said:- "Oh, I don't know I'm
sure - everything is a terrible muddle." They waited
there and then saw men rushing up the hillside south of
them. These everyone took for 9th Bn (though it may not
have been) because it was to their right where 9th Bn was
to be. They decided that they had better go on up the
hill. They pushed inland South of the Sphinx and then
up the steep hill on their right (South side of Reserve
gully) Louch had a mate with him carrying ammunition.
The Turks were still shooting at them. The way they got
up was up a bit of a watercourse north of Ari Burn[[?]] and
then up the very steep slope.
On the way up Louch's mate was slightly wounded.
That ammunition box was awfully heavy.
At the top they crossed the plateau and got into
some old Turk trenches. While they were up here the first
Turk shrapnel sang over and there was still sufficient dusk
for the shell to flash brightly - and the shrapnel fell in
the water off the Ari Burn[[et?]] point. The men were fascinated 

watching these first shells for a time.
 

210
2.
Then Louch was pushed off behind Crowley, down
the steep slope past some T. Tents with a pick handle
sticking up which everyone advised each other to avoid.
Then up a steep slope ppposite (Braunds) then down into a
watercourse, then up another slope and over the top into
Wire Gully.
It was at the top of Wire Gully - some way down
the slope that Louch and party stayed. Crowley was somewhere 

to the left. There were Turks (no one knew who they
were at first) to the right front.
On that evening the Turks came up saying that
they were Indians. Louch was in a pothole with a man
named Thompson (an old Indian soldier, I fancy who spoke
Hindustani well.)
Thompson said he would go put and see if they
were Indians. He hadn't gone 10 yards when he was shot
dead/ Louch could hear Crowley swearing away on his left
though he could not see him. Crowley too was seeing if they
were Indians
About three of the Turks came u- opposite
Louch's pozzy - not far away - he only saw about three of
this lot.
On the following afternoon about 5 pm. little
H.W.(?) Goldring of the 3rd Bn. came down the valley saying
"We've been ordered to go down here" - there had apparently
been a post further down the gully and some of the men had
been killed and MacConaghy of 3rd Bn had given the order to
reinforce the post (at any rate he was in that part.
Goldring grabbed the 7 or 8 men near him - and they all went
down with him - "Come on you seven!" he said.All but two
were hot on the way down. Goldring had just reached the
post below - they had just seen the potholes and were diving
for them - and Golring was xxxxxxx flinging himself flat when
he was hit across the chest and abdomen. Louch and another
man (Clark, I think) and a 3rd Bn man who was there already
were down there - Clarke(?) and Louch in the same pothole.
One could stand up while the other sat, so they took it by
turns.
Goldring got delirious soon afterand was calling
for stretcher bearers. Soon after dark however, when they
had given him up. (Louch tried to dress his wounds) he

seemed to wake and said sensibly: "Well if you won't get a
stretcher-bearer, I'll walk in myself." He got up and began
to walk. They got the 3rd Bn man to help him and the two
went up over the top of the gully. Goldring had tried to
take some morphia- but Louch not knowing if it were good for
him (he had the tabloids in his pocket or purse) would not
let him - and when he asked for water would only moisten
his lips because he was hit in the abdomen.
The post in which Louch was had another man dug
in about 20 yards up the hill on the left and they continualxxly 

"amused themselves" by passing or throwing wit written
messages. Thatw as probably what they were there for.
There were men of ours on the hill on the right - it was
a high ridge - and Turks on it also on the right front/
They did not know on the first night, when these men were
digging in, that they were Turks.
On the second day a young stretcher bearer came dow
down to them with a wate bottle - a most brave thing to do.
After that for two days they had no water at all. The last
day they were pretty well dazed. On the fourth evening some
men of the 7th Bn came looking for the 4th Bn and said they
were to relieve them - and asked if this were the place.
They relieved the two there - and Louch and his mate after
sitting low in their hole for so many days found themselves
sitting on the side of it with their backs to the Turks,
yarning to the 7th Bn men. Then they went off up the
 

211

3.
gully. They were surprised there to drop into big excellent 

trenches - and eyeopener. Louch found a tin of
water and then fell to sleep. After that he went down to
the beach, got some sticks. boiled a dixie for some tea.
and. while it was boiling, cleaned his rifle! Then he
tried to drink the tea and didn't want it. Then he
started off to Hell Spit along the beach, trailing in one
hand, by the tab, a 3rd Bn overcoat which he had brought
with him from Wire Gully- and with the other trailing his
rifle through the same by the sterag [[?]]. When some Westralian
friend asked him where Clark (who had not been with him
since [[?]] aving the Gully) was, he ceuld said "Yes - he's
here" - and then realised that he was not and had not
been (Clarke turned up later. Louch had beenscratched by
a bullet above the eye and his face was all blood and he
had four days' beard.
Goldring had taken a photo of him on the first
mornigg in a pothole at the top of Wire Gully.
-------------
April 26th, 1915
On the morning of April 26, 1915, Capt.(?)
Herring who had just arrived, was told by Col. Burnage to
take his Coy of 13th Bn up on to Walker's Ridge and junction 

west of New Zealanders.
Having led them up Monash Gully past Pope's and
then up the steep slope through the scrub. The Turks fired
a little at them there but not much on the say up. On top
they could see no one. They lay out in the scrub and the
Turks from the Baby 700 direction fired at them. They were
also under fire from their right, There ware no New
Zealanders to be seen. The man on one side of Herring was
killed; then the man on the other sde of him.
Finally Herring told them to withdraw - and as
they did so they came under very heavy fire.
When they got further back some of them did
find the New Zealanders there - a good way further back than
where our trenches afterwards were. The place where the
Coy first got to was further forward than our original trenchs
towards the Nek.
---------------------------
 

212
34
49th BATTALION
On August 10, during day, 49th Bn had outposts,
along the canal. There was still fighting in Gressaire
Wood that day.
Got ordes about 6.30 pm. for attack at 9.30
pm. Left at 7 pm. to march to the point of assembly in
Gressaire Wood where it covers bothsodes of the Bray-
Corbie road.
There was a slight taste of gas in the wood going
up the bottom of the valley through the wood and got on
to the Bray Rd at 9.25 pm. The two tanks were wiaiting
on the road for them at the bend in 18 C.
They got away at 9.30 in sections in artillery
formation on the south side of the road. There were Americans 

right and left but 49th Bn did not see them in the
dark. Directly the tanks started the Germans heard them
and opened fire with MPGs and fired flares. There were
outposts and night posts 200 or 300 yards. They were
sweeping the country. The M.C fire was much too high
and Bn was able to advance beneath it without casualties.
These M.G posts withdraw before Bn got there.
About 1000 yards out Bn came under more accurate 

M.G fire. The tanks had gone up the road (on
Bn's left)and wers well out un front. They (the tanks)
were firing pretty heavily. At this point Bn broke down
into lines of skirmishess. These posts wese fired a few
xxx (see next

page) xxx
flares and a few shots - and then got up to retire. Bn
could then see them in the light of the flres and opened
on them.--After this and they retired. After this they
Ccy reformed into Artillery formation and ontinued to advance.
The next opposition was near the crucifix at the final cross
road. (The huts on the map near here do not exist)
The Coy again shook out into line i took a few
prisoners in potholes and shellholes abd fixed their outpost 

line on the objective. They were just behind the
Crucifix - scattered posts covering eavh other. The tanks
after the Coy was on its objective were heard coming back
and returned to the rear down the road. The tamks probably 

went about 200 to 300 yards ahead and a bit left.
B Coy dug in with its left on the Bray road,
thence round W of the Crucifix and around the head of the
first reentrant/ Here (as soon as the posts began
to be established) they got in touch with 30th Bn.
From these postes especially round the reentrant
the E of Bray, the church, and La Neuville were visible.
Things were very quiet during the night. Flares
were coming from the bottom of the cliffs and from the
next ridge E of Bray.
August 11
An aeroplane came over at daybreak and dropped
flares all over the position of 49th Bn.
About 9 am. the german artillery opened with
all calibres and gas and lasted till about 2p.m.They were
firing from a ridge ahead. There were 49 casualties in B
Coy (110 men) alone.
Therew ere a number of Germans at times noticed
working down the canal bank southwards. All this afternoon 

the germans were dribbling down the face of the slope
NE of Bray with the dead ground NW and SW of Bray. It
looked evident that his idea was a converging counterattack. 

There seemed about three bns in all (coming down
in driblets for four hours) to NW of Bray.
A message was got back to the artillery and thi
shelled the reverse slope with heavies (it was too steep
 

213

4(a)
xxx diagram xxx
 

Capt Tampling
Coy breaking down
into platoons and.
to sections.

Major Swaine
 

214
5
for 18 pdrs) No attack developed against the Crucifix
front. The germans eased off its harassing fire for the
rest of the day (A red bodied German plane whith short
wings used to come over very low down at dawn and dusk.
Every rifle and machine gun was turned on it. It wauld
coolly come round and drop a bomb near any post which annoyed 

it.) Our fighting patrols were out ahead all night
and got in contact with German posts which were working about
300 yards ahead either evers wiring or idigging. The covering 

parties would be what fired at our patrols. They were
down the reverse slope.
49th Bn was reliev ed on night of 14/15 and came
back to a sunken road. Through 19 Central in support.
On 16/17 they were relieved by 3rd Division. THe
backareas were all fairly heavily shelled p Gressaire Wood
was heavily shelled all the time.
---------------------

August 1 - 7
DOMART - HANGARD
When 49th Bn went into Hangard Wood its line
there was in two quarries with small T head saps.
They had relieved a French Arabian Bn in suport Aug 1 and in
the front line on Aug 3. The French had left a bout
3000 tp 6000 grenades in a dump in quarries and a couple
of their grenade rifles (where the bullet goes through)
The 49th Bn fired about 350 grenades from the quarry
each day- firing at the point where the Germans fired
his M.G. and flares at night. The Cermans one day
retaliated with rifle grenades. They saw where these
were coming from and Lt. Cutts and a rifle grenadier took
out two rifles with cup fixtures [[?]] one on each flank of him.
Whilethe Germans fired 6 they fired 10 and 11 respectively
and no more grenades were fired. But the Germans turned
on a pretty heavy artillery
-----------------
When B. Coy 49th Bn was reconnoitring to take
over the line from 15t Bn on Aug 3rd a German patrol got in
between two posts of 15th Bn and wereousted but cleared withot
casualties.    --------------------------
The same day a tank officer walked out from the
front along the road south of the wood and was going towards
the Germans when he was called in by a sergeant of 15th Bn.
On night of August 7/8 at duek there was a Canadian lieutenant 

and a sergeant who came through to reconnoitre. They
went straight out towards Hangard village and were fired on
by a German M.G. post and both wounded. The officer was
shot badly through the chest. He crawled into a post of ours
The sergeant came in to report. It was not known if he had
any papers on him which oould have given the show away. The
stretcher bearers may have found him on the way in.

---------------------
 

215

6.
49th BATTALION - August 10th
-----
As B Coy was getting settled near the Crucifix
they rooted out two or three germans. One German is a
hold there wanted to attract attention without attracting a
bullet. He kept low and kept calling "Alloo, alloo, alloo
me corporal." Lt. Cutts cottoned on to what it was. He
said "Alloo, alloo, alloo, me Australian officer, come out
you ---- " A big German came out.
The right flank of B Coy about the head and the
ravine was at first not in touch with 50th Bn. A small party
of germans under an officer with a M.G. in a hedge took up
a position and tried to bluff us by firing the M.G. Our
scouts were out and tackled this party. The officer was
wounded badly and the rest bolted/ The officer was found
next merning. The stretcher-bearers brought him in and
the German snipers down by the river banks on the right
fired on them and shot them. B Coy lost 8 stretcher-
bearers. one killed (Pte Sutton) and 7 wounded.
When the German of Alloo fame was waiting at
Coy HQrs they told Capt. Tambling O.C. a pitiful tale. They
were alll three, (two others were there) were under 19 years.
They had been there four days. They said "the next thing
we knew when English soldier came along". Tambling said
"Not English- Australian!" They all three jumped up after
sitting there an hour) and said "Kamerad, kamerad". The big
chap at Bn H.Qs asked Maj. Arroll "whether he was going to
be killed or not".
A scout called Hockey (they were out about 100 yds
ahead in threes - during the advance to stir up any trouble
that might be there) came on a German post firing on our
advanced platoon (Lt.S trike) Hockey was apparently not noticed. 

He threw a bomb and then jumped into the post with
his bayonet - and got 6 prisoners (and M.N.) This was as
they were getting near the crucifix. He took his prisoners
to Bn. H'Qrs.
Next day. Aug. 11, the Coy suffered from sniping
down on the main to the right. They themselves saw the
Germans in artillery formation working down across the mouth
of the ravine (on the other side of the river) and got L.G.
and Vickers Gun on to them at 1100 yards. The Germans had to
deploy at once. The Germans were fired at by 59th Bn in one
direction down the ravine and the 49th from the other. The
Germans opened heavily with artillery on this post with the
Vickers and 7 men with the L.G. team were blown out. The
same day the hermans were seen coming down from Chalk Pozzies
from about 1 till dusk to the N E of Bray and they got artillery 

on to them. That evening everyone was ready for a
counter attack but it never came off. It weuld have been a
heavy counter attack.
This day the runners were subjected to rifle fire
and M.G. fire from both sides.
There had been an anti-tank rifle on the front of
the woods at the start of the attack/
Lt. Fearnside was wounded rather badly in the
shoulder on August 11 by shell fire. He was down the
ravine in his platoon post at the head of it. He came back
to Coy HdQrs at was going back to Bn HQrs along the Corbie
Rd. when he and two other wandesed wounded men were grabbed
(one had a broken arm) This German post was still left by the
road. C Coy saw them later (about 1 pm.) and sne out but
the party came under heavy fire.
 

2i6

7.
Corporal Crouch (who had a Belgian Croix de
Querre) / Paschendaeie [[?]] one of the bravest men in the bn who was known as
the best scout in the bn - cpl in the leading platoon but not
scouting that night - was killed by a shell on Aug. 11
A fine youngster - linesman and runner by name of Bogg -
was killed working on the lines near the road - it was a
very heavy day for linesmen and runners.
A German M.C. post at the bottom of the ravine
was annoying the 49th on the morning of Aug 12. Tambling
got the artillery on to it and the 4th shot lobbedright
into it.
The Bn was not sure if the tanks would be there
or not - and it was a great source of confidence to the men
to see them turn up. They looked on them as a sort of
flank guard. One tank stayed by the cross roads at Cressaire
Wood and fired NE. Two or three others went out along the
road.
B Coy had 10 killed, 1 missing and 31 wounded.
Lt. Fearnside wounded and prisoner
Lt. Armstrong by one of our own shells
Lt. Carroll wounded during later stage
B Coy had 1 officer and 9 o.rs. wounded
Fires in NE Bray were started on night of
August 11 by our artillery/ Others were started in Neuville
apparently by the germans/ The wbole back country N [[?]] of
Bray seemed to be burning villages- the Cerman had set fire
to them.
---------------
There was no regular hop over by the germans
against the 49th. A few germans may have dribbled up on the
left.