Charles E W Bean, Diaries, AWM38 3DRL 606/262/1 - 1916 - 1934 - Part 4

8767.
23 July 1934.
Dear Major Treloar,
In the London "Daily News" of November 6th, 1925, 
there was published an article by Major-General Sir Fredrick 
Maurice "blowing out" the long-standing rumour of the Kaiser
having referred to the original B.N.F.as a "contemptible"
little army. Maurice, who apparently went into the matter
carefully, was helped in his researches by a German general
- nee Ponsonby's book, "Falsehood in War Time" (p. 87), if
you have a copy in the War Memorial library.
'  Dr. Bean would very much like to see Maurice's
article and any correspondence in the "Daily News" which
followed, or even preceded, its publication.   If you so not
happen to have this in the A.W.M. library, would it be too
much for you to ask Australian House to have copies made for
the War Memorial, and to let us see them when they come to hand.
It is possible, of course, that the Melbourne Public Library
keeps bound volumes of "The Daily News", but I doubt it;
the Sydney Public library does not file it.
Yours sincerely,
Major J.L. Treloar, O.B.E.,
Australian War Memorial,
Box 2114D, G.P.O.,
Melbourne. 

545
VOL V   CHAP Xlll-FIFTY-SEVEN
The Second Bullecourt was the most brilliant of these
achievements, impressing enemy and friends alike; it was,
in some ways, the stoutest achievement of the Australian
soldier in France, carried through against the stubbornest
enemy that ever faced him there. Fortunately, it was the
last such achievement. In the fighting still to come the
conditions were sometimes terribly adverse; but never again
did some of the chief difficulties appear to be due to serious
faults of the British command. When next the Australian
infantry divisions entered battle they found their actions
directed by higher leadership of a strikingly different order.  

8786.
7 August 1934.
My.dear Wood,
I should have before this acknowledged your
letter, but have been very much preoccupied. You are entirely
justified in your campaign against war propaganda. It is a
vile business, and the thing that I hated the most in all the war.
As far as England was concerned, it was mainly carried on by
the newspapers and not by the Government, and it consisted in
publishing everything that was bad about your enemy and almost
nothing that was decent about him. But the material wasn't
invented - those who made capital out of this sort of stuff
simply used the stories that came to hand, all of which, so
far as I ever traced them, were genuinely believed by those
with whom they originated.
As for the "contemptible little army" story, I find
that this did not originate in the British Army at all, but was
taken in some form from the British press. How it got to the
British press I don't know, but it was probably believed by
the man who first reported it.
I wish you luck in your efforts, and I am sorry
that we ever had to cross swords.
Yours sincerely,

A.W. Wood, Esq.,
Hon. Secretary, University Branch,
League of Nations Union,
St. Andrew's College,
The University of Sydney,
Newtown, N.S.Wales.

                                                                                                                         

 

                                   VOL.  IV.  CHAP.  IV.   TWENTY-TWO.   

     The order for this withdrawal had been issued before the last two

advances by the 45th Battalion in Stormy Trench-indeed,  the 45th's

second assault had been launched only an hour and a half before the

German garrison was due to retire.   The silence of the prisoners

then captured is evidence of a steadfastness more than once exhibited

by men of the 4th Ersatz Division in spite of the reputed lowness

of its morale ;  and the failure to counter-attack was also deliberate-

the trench was due to be abandoned, and its loss an hour earlier did

not then endanger any adjoining position.   One precaution was taken-

the battalion holding the trenches next to the lost section stayed on

a little longer to deceive their opponents, and then retired unnoticed.

In this the fog was of great assistance.   "Through the rain and

mist," says the regimental historian of the 5th Guard Grenadier

Regiment, which withdrew from The Maze, "the evacuation of the

front line went off smoothly and without loss."   The destruction

of dugouts had not been quite so thorough as the German staff

probably believed or intended,59  but the removal or destruction of

papers was remarkably thorough : it was not until March 13 that

any document of value was found on this part of the front.60

     At 2.30 a.m. on the 23rd large craters were blown in the road

leading through Le Barque and Thilloy, and on the main Bapaume

road, rendering them impassable by wheeled vehicles.   The forward

area was now occupied only by the few men with orders to "throw

flares" and "make sounds of activity on the wire-entanglements"-

and even these troops were in some cases from a quarter to half-a-

mile behind the old front line.   The German artillery was ordered 

to keep its barrage line in front of that position as long as it was

possible to do so.   At day-break the flare-throwers were withdrawn

but an observing party remained throughout the 23rd in "Bank

Trench" (on the knuckle east of The Maze) and between 8 and 10.20

there were sent back several mistaken reports that Australian patrols

had penetrated The Maze and the adjoining part of Bayonet trench.

It was for this reason that the German artillery laid its fire on parts

of its old front line.

                                                                                                               [[? February

                                                                                                                  or the ]]                                                                        

     Scouting parties sent out by the Germans on July 24th found to 

 their surprise that these trenches were empty, the supposed intruders

having apparently evacuated them.   On the suggestion of the com-

mander of its rear-guard, the 4th Guard Division sent out again

patrols of 15-20 men under an officer, one in each regimental sector,

to re-occupy the front line, and, if possible, ascertain the position.

it was these which, going out at 5 p.m. on the 24th, found the

Australians beginning to flow into the old German lines, and were

responsible for the occasional resistance offered on the 1st Australian

Division's front that night.61

   The thrust of the 3rd and 5th Australian Brigades on February

25 had pressed chiefly upon the 5th Guard Grenadiers (4th Guard

Division), whose rear parties held the Bapaume road to (and

including) Le Barque.   They amounted to seven sections of infantry

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

   59 In many dugouts only the entrances were blown in; in a few the charges failed to explode.

   60 See p.          (ante).

   61 Their orders were to throw flares from the old front line, but to retire if

attacked.   The patrol of the 5th Foot Guard Regiment in Bayonet Trench gradually retired before the 2nd Australian Brigade, until 4 a.m., when it was entirely withdrawn.

 

London Times 

April 1916

                                                                                          

MR. HUGHES IN

THE CITY

 

FREE  MEN'S  DUTY  IN

DEFENCE.

 

THE  EMPIRE  ON  GUARD.

 

Mr. Hughes, the Prime Minister of Australia,

made his reappearance in the public life of 

London after his recent illness yesterday,

when he was presented with the freedom of

the City.   Before the ceremony he was pre-

sented privately with the honorary freedom of

the Clothworkers' Company.   Mrs. Hughes

accompanied her husband to the Guildhall,

where a representative gathering awaited them[[ -  ]] 

Among those with the Lord Mayor (Sir Charles

Wakefield), the Lady Mayoress, and the Sheriffs

at the presentation or at the luncheon which

followed were the following :-

Mr. Bonar Law, M.P., Mr. and Mrs. Austen Chamberlain, Mrs-

Joseph Chamberlain, Lord Lincolnshire, the Lord Chief Justice,

Lord Hollenden, Lord Milner, Lord Northcliffe, Lord Islington

Mr Andrew Fisher (High Commissioner for Australia), Sir G. K. 

Perley (Acting High Commissioner for Canada), the Hon. Sir T.

Mackenzie 9High Commissioner for New Zealand), Mr. P. Harris

M.P., Mr. Shirley Benn, M.P. Lord and Lady Cowdray, Sir Newton

Moore (General Officer Commanding the Australian Imperial

Forces), the Recorder of London and Lady Fulton, the Agents-

General for New South Wales, Victoria, South Australia, Queens-

land, and Tasmania, Sir Robert Perks, the Chairman of the London

County Council, the President of the Law Society, the Chairman

of the Bank of Australasia, the Chairman of Lloyds Bank, Sir

[[ Eaward ]] Holden, the Solicitor-General, the Lord Mayor and Lady Mayoress of Birmingham, the City Aldermen and the Court of Common Council,

and a large number of mayors and mayoresses of London boroughs.

     A guard of honour provided by the Australian 

imperial Force was drawn up outside the

Guildhall and inside the building there was a 

brilliant scene.   a number of Indian officers

and several ladies occupied the balcony, and

the gallery was filled by Australian soldiers,

many of whom were recovering from wounds.

After the necessary formal business had been 

transacted, the Master and Wardens of the Clothworkers' Company presented Mr. Hughes for the Freedom.

     The City Chamberlain, in his introductory

speech, in which he also paid tribute to the

brilliant services of the Australian troops by

land and sea, said :-

     London has learnt in the last few weeks to know

and to appreciate our distinguished guest and his

remarkable career.   Londoners know, and Welshmen

are proud of the fact, that he was born in wales.

London was the scene of his boyhood, and it is

sad to reflect that his physical strength at this time

did not develop at the same pace with his intellect

and character, but what was a misfortune then may

have been a blessing in disguise, for it is likely that

his departure for Australia saved his life and enabled

him to start a career which has been nothing short

of a triumph of personality over immense difficulties.

(Cheers.)

     Mr. Hughes is visiting this country at a time that

is pregnant with destiny.   The Prime Minister has

recently returned from a truly remarkable visit to

Italy, where he has been putting into practice what

he has spoken of as the necessity for organization,

cooperation, and the well-considered concentration of

all the different resources of the Allies.   But that

necessity is, I think, also the watchword of the

British Empire, and in carrying the war to a victorious 

conclusion, and afterwards in the great problems that

will have to be solved, we are indeed glad to feel that

we have the powerful cooperation of one who, with

the eloquence of the land of his birth, the practical

sense and grit of the land of his adoption, in con-

junction with the force of his own vital and indomit-

able personality, commands the universal respect

and admiration of his fellow-subjects.   (Cheers.)

     The City Chamberlain then extended to Mr.

Hughes the right hand of fellowship, and presented 

him with a gold casket. the work of the Goldsmiths

and Silversmiths Company, containing a copy of the

freedom.

                                ____________________ 

  

REPLY OF MR.  HUGHES.

EMPIRE DEFENCE AND THE PEACE 

OF THE WORLD.

 

Mr. Hughes, who was received with enthusiastic

cheering said:-

It is not easy to express how deeply I feel the

great honour conferred upon me to-day. That you

have deemed me worthy to be admitted as a Freeman

of the City of London quite fills up the cup of

my emotion and almost robs me of speech. The

words in which the Chamberlain referred to me and

to the great Dominion which I represent have made

fitting acknowledgment still more difficult.

Yet this ceremony, which is only incidentally

personal to myself as the representative of Australia,

is indeed one to kindle the imagination and fill the

mind with glorious images of the greatness of our

destiny. Consider the circumstances under which

we stand here to-day in the Council Chamber of

this great city, the throbbing heart of the mighty

British Empire. For close upon two years we have

been engaged in the greatest war of all time. At

the very first peal of the tocsin the whole Empire

stood on guard, the citizens of the Dominions with

one accord laid aside all other things and rushed

to the standard. (Cheers). And here, in this ancient

citadel of our civic liberties, after nearly two years

of the Empire's trial in the fiery furnace, you have

conferred upon me the Freedom of this the greatest

city of the world, the cradle of our race, whose

glorious traditions stretch back into the grey dawn

of time; which was before Caesar and his legions

came; which has seen Celt, Saxon, and Norman

merge into one people; which has defied the arbitrary

power of kings; whose growth has kept pace

with that of our race which has watched the nation

send out its sturdy broods to the fathermost corners

of the earth and seen them increase and multiply;

whose power for centuries has extended throughout

the world; whose fame is known wherever men

gather together; and which now, resolutely determined

to continue this great struggle until victory

crowns our arms, stands and gathers Australia into

her ample bosom and in fitting token of the part

she has played, and is playing in this war, bids her

stand by her side as her equal and dowers her with

all the rights of her ancient citizenship. (Cheers).

 

BINDING INFLUENCE OF THE WAR

What a spectacle does this Empire of ours unprepared

for war though she was - present in this,

the hour of her greatest trial. What a thrill goes

through all who boast British blood in their veins

at the sight of a united people fighting with indomitable

courage for all they hold dear. This war,

which has plunged civilization into an inferno, which

has saturated the earth with the blood of our sons

and brought the bitterness of sorrow that waits upon

death into the homes of those who loved them, has

welded the scattered nations of our Empire into one

united people. Though now we pass through the

Valley of the Shadow of Death, yet shall we be lifted

to heights where, illumined by the spirit of self-

sacrifice, we shall see a land more glorious than we

have ever known, into which, if we prove ourselves

worthy, we may enter. The British race has found

its soul, and I, as an Australian, as a citizen and representative

of a Democracy that, hating war, yet prepared

for it-(cheers)-rejoice that I am privileged

to live in these days and be akin to the valiant

dead, who died gladly, and to the valiant living, who

daily walk into the very jaws of death in order

that their country and their liberties may be saved.

(Loud cheers.)

This war has drawn all parts of the Empire and

all classes closer together. I feel, and I am sure

that my fellow-citizens in Australia will feel, that

by this ceremony you symbolize that unity of ideals,

of purpose, of race, and of destiny, cemented by

blood and self-sacrifice that now binds together the

citizens of the British Empire. When I speak of our

Empire and the great destiny that opens before it,

I do not speak of territorial expansion nor of increase

of wealth, but of wider opportunities for the development

of the institutions of free government and of

such economic and social conditions as are worthy

of a great people, compatible with the integrity of

the Empire, and which will ensure the peaceful

nations of the earth absolute security from all who

seek to disturb the world's peace.

THE FREE MAN'S FIRST DUTY.

This is what the Empire and its maintenance

mean to me. It is an ideal which should spur all

sections of society to united action. And the possibilities

of its realization are even now unrolling themselves.

In the sky darkened as it is with the blood-red 

clouds of war, the dawn of a new and better

day can be clearly seen. We shall see its glories if

we prove ourselves worthy. But we can only do so

by deeds. Much has to be done. The British Empire

covers one-fifth of the habitable globe. Much

of it is a veritable land of promise, an alluring bait

to those Powers who know but one law--that to the

strong belong all things.

Visionaries may babble about peace, but the stern

lesson which the history of all ages, as well as the

great conflict in which the nations of the earth are

LONDON TIMES

now engaged, has to teach, is written in letters of

fire so that all but those wilfully blind may read and

mark. If we are to hold this great Empire, we must

be prepared to defend it. (Cheers). And since the

defence of his country is the primary duty of every

free man, this task is one which as a democracy we

ought gladly to undertake. The responsibility of the

world's peace, of true civilization and the future of

democracy depend upon our ability to do so.

But it is no light task. See where we stand, and

take heed. Look at the spaces covered by the great

Dominions of Canada, Australasia, and South Africa.

Australia and Canada are both larger than the

United States of America. South Africa is larger

than France and Germany combined. The United

States of America has a population of a hundred

millions and is not secure from danger. Yet these

three Dominions-to say nothing of the Crown

Colonies and other outposts of the Empire--with a

combined area nearly three times that of the United

States, have a population of only 15,000,000. After

making every allowance for desert and barren lands,

think how the palms of nations, inflamed with the lust

of conquest, desiring room for expansion, for a place

in the sun, itch to gather those vast, rich and fertile

lands within their grip, and then you will better

understand what the defence of our Empire means.

Is it not as clear as noonday that in unity is our

strength and our safety? How can the scanty populations

of our Dominions-cast upon their own resource--

hope to hold their great heritage? The day

may come when the Dominions can do so, but certainly

that day is not yet.

A VIRILE POLICY NEEDED.

Now, the other fact that stands out is that if we 

are to keep this Empire as a heritage for the British

race-as I feel sure we are resolutely quite determined

to do--(cheers), we must create conditions

under which the population of both these islands and

the Dominions will rapidly increase and multiply.

And as mere numbers avail nothing, we must create

an environment which will breed a viril and resourceful 

people. (Cheers). Wealth will not save us, if

our crop of such men fail. Lacking men, Rome and

the might Empires of the Ancients fell, and the

dust of ages covers their proud monuments. The defence

of our Empire rests ultimately upon the basis

of such a national policy in Britain herself, as well

as in the Dominions overseas, that will organize and

develop our tremendous resources, that will promote

the welfare of the agricultural and manufacturing

industries, and ensure to the great masses of the

people those opportunities of employment, those conditions

and remuneration of labour, and that standard

of comfort which are the just heritage of a civilized

people, and lacing which the British race will

dwindle and degenerate and our mighty Empire

crumble to decay. We must see to it, therefore, that

from one end of this great Empire to the other the

gates of opportunity shall be slammed in no man's 

face. (Cheers). There must be a chance for every

one.

I have a profound faith in the destiny of the British

race. We are yet, despite conditions that would long

ago have plunged lesser men into the abyss of

degeneracy, full of the ancient valour of our race. I

believe and rejoice that it is so, that the temper of

the people is such that, realizing to the full the

gravity of the situation, they are prepared to endure

all things to undergo all sacrifices, to subordinate all

things, in order that decisive victory may crown our

arms. (Cheers). It is because of this spirit, in which

the British people are everywhere facing the present

situation, that I believe we shall not only emerge

triumphant in this great struggle, but that, purged

of dross and purified by the spirit of self-sacrifice, we

shall prove ourselves worthy of the great opportunity

which now beckons us on. (Loud cheers).

SAVED FROM DECAY BY WAR.

A REAL SENSE OF EMPIRE.

Mr. Hughes was afterwards entertained at

luncheon at the Mansion House by the Lord

Mayor.

The LORD MAYOR, in proposing the health of the

new Freeman, said that Mr.Hughes was a man of

visions, and his visions mostly materialized. He had

iron in his blood, and no one could ever accuse him of

being anaemic. (Cheers). His visit would go far to make

co-ordination of Empire an actuality and to emphasize

the value of Imperial statesmanship. They honoured

Mr.Hughes and the great country he represented for

the splendid contribution from the Commonwealth

of nearly 300,000 men to his Majesty's Forces.

(Cheers). They were glad to know of what Mr.

Hughes and his Government had done in respect

of German trade and on behalf of the commerce of

the Empire. When the time came for a righteous

and permanent peace to be declared we should need,

as we did now, all the wisdom, the statesmanship, and

the courage that the far-seeing representatives of our

Colonies and Dominions could provide. (Cheers).

Mr.HUGHES, in his reply, said that Canada and

Australia together were putting into the field close

on 600,000 fighters. What an effect that must have

upon our enemies! Every attempt by them to cow

us with their policy of frightfulness produced the inevitable

response of "More men and still more men".

(Cheers). This war had done great things for the 

Empire. Among other things, it had saved it; it had

saved us from moral, aye, and physical, degeneration

and decay, for he firmly believed we were slipping

down with increasing velocity into the very abyss of

degeneration. He believed that the principle of greatness

of the Empire had been slipping from us. We

were becoming flabby, and were in danger of losing

the ancient qualities which made the race. This war

had purged us, and was still purging us, and, like

the glorious beams of the sun, it had quite dried up

the mists of suspicion with which class regarded class.

There was more hope for us now than ever there had

been.

He could not believe that with the prospect we

had clearly before us now we should falter in

achieving what our destiny invited us to do. It did

appear to him that this war had enabled us to find

ourselves. The Dominions and the Outer Seas had

come to know England and England to know them.

(Cheers). Before this war, Empire was a name which

fell from the lips of men but found no responsive

echo in their hearts. To-day it was real and, no

longer a shibboleth, it had pierced the hide of the

most pachydermatous of us. He believed that this

war, which threatened us with destruction, was to

be the means of our salvation. (Cheers).

LORD LINCOLNSHIRE proposed the health of the

Lord Mayor, who briefly replied.

CASUALTIES IN GREAT WAR.

The loss of life in the Great War is given in "The Reduction of

Armaments", by J.W.Wheeler-Bennett, as follows:-

                                                MEN KNOWN DEAD

British Empire                    1,098,919

France                                  1,427,000

U.S.A.                                        107,284

Italy                                           507,160

Russia                                   2,762,064

Belgium                                   267,000

Serbia                                        707,343

Roumania                                   339,117

Greece                                           15,000

Germany                                 2,050,466

Austria-Hungary                    1,200,000

Turkey                                         300,000

Bulgaria                                        101,224

                                                   _______________

Total                                           10,873,577

                                                   ________________

To this must be added 20,000,000 wounded, 9,000,000 war orphans,

5,000,000 war widows, 10,000,000 refugees.

These figures do not include the indirect losses from revolution,

famine, and pestilence, the increased death rate, and the total

losses due to the war. According to the Swedish Society for the

Study for Social Consequences of the War, the total loss must be

put down at 40,000,000 lives.

 

COST OF THE WAR.

The cost of the war to the four chief Allied Powers was:-

British Empire    £10,054,000,000

France                         8,126,639,000

U.S.A.                           5,519,594,000

Italy                              3,502,200,000

 

(Taken from Disarmament pamphlet, issued by the L. of N. Union)

1931.

War left Britain with a debt of over £7,000,000,000. She has to

raise each year £350,000,000 for the service of this debt. At

present rate of repayment of the debt it will take 140 years to

liquidate it. British taxpayers have to pay on xxx debt services

£1,000,000 per day, £40,000 and hour, over £600 a minute. Add to

this the £115,000,00 Britain annually spends on the fighting services,

and £56,000,000 for war pensions, the total is £520,000,000 a year,

£1,000 a minute. x (Mr Snowden's speech, "Times", 10/2/30) 

Sydney Morning Herald 9/5/31

ASHMEAD BARTLETT.

Most Brilliant of War

Correspondents.

(BY C.E.W. BEAN) 

I.

So Ellis Ashmead Bartlett is dead - the

war correspondent who gave to the world the

first, unforgetable story of the landing of

Australians at Anzac. It is strange that

Australian soldiers never appreciated his true

worth. I have heard scores of them use

the name "Ashmead Bartlett" as synonymous

with a writer of untrue, showy pictures of

battle. Actually the quality in him that

most surprised the other war correspondents,

myself among them, and roused their admiration,

was his persistent regard for the 

truth.

For Bartlett was just the sort of man who

could, if he had wished, have given his newspapers

brilliant inventions, and whose rather

carelessbringing-up might have led a less

naturally-truthful man to "fake" his war

stories without restraint. But the stuff in

him was too good for that. He was there

not for the sake of his salary, nor for the

fame that his articles might bring him, but

as a restless born adventurer, and his delight

was to pick every bit of excitement out of

momentous, dangerous, enthralling adventures

and to give the public, by his swift, brilliant

messages, an understanding of it all which

would for the moment rob the public of its

breath. He would go to any amount of 

trouble to see personally the actions of which

he wrote, and he hated to write without

seeing them.

HOW HE CAME TO ANZAC.

It was at Anzac on April 28, three days

after the landing, that I first heard, not

without a pang of jealousy, that another war

correspondent had been moving about the

Anzac area. I came upon his tracks when

climbing the steep, then only half-made, footpath

up Walker's Ridge. My permission to

write for the newspapers had not then come

through from the Admiralty (or rather it had

reached G.H.Q., but had not yet been sent

on to me); and I been put ashore at the

landing solely by the kindness and courtesy

of Sir Ian Hamilton and General Bridges,

with leave to go where I liked and take notes,

but not to write a word for the Australian

Press. And here was some outsider who would

be well ahead of me with his despatches,

working over the area that I was already

beginning to know fairly well. He had been

ashore also on the night of the 25th, but I

had not heard of him.

A week or two later the incoming newspapers 

from Alexandria brought his first

brilliant cable message describing the landing,

and one's envy was at once swallowed up in

admiration. It was a magnificent despatch-

probably the finest of its kind ever penned

by a war correspondent. Two British correspondents

had been privileged to sail with

the expedition--Ashmead Bartlett representing

the British Newspaper Proprietors' Association, 

and Lester Lawrence for Reuter's.

Lawrence was one of the most unselfish and

sweet-natured colleagues that any man could

wish to be associated with. They had come

out together from England at the end of

March, and Bartlett was quartered on the

battleship London. I have always understood

that when the day for the landing approached

they arranged to divide the work between

them. Bartlett by his own wish, watching

the Australians and New Zealanders at Gaba

Tepe, and Lawrence the British at Cape Helles.

Why Bartlett chose to follow the Australians

I never knew--whether it was that he could

not or did not wish to desert his friends in

the London, which was to carry our 11th

Battalion; or whether, he hoped that the

Anzac battlefield would be easier to watch,

being hilly and less obscured by shell smoke;

or whether he saw special interest in the

first performance of these untried colonial

soldiers, whose physique he greatly admired -

I do not know. Whatever the reason, it was

good luck for the Australians, though bad luck

for Lawrence.

HIS MOST BRILLIANT DESPATCH.

Bartlett wrote his despatch on the battleship

London, from which he watched the

landing; it reached London before Lawrence's

message, and it completely overshadowed the

story of the 29th Division's landing. Bartlett

had marked his message "urgent" which, he

explained afterwards, was not intended to be a

direction to telegraph it through at "urgent"

rates, but only a mark of his desire that the

Greek post-office officials at Alexandria should

deal with it promptly. However that might

be, the Greeks took it as a direction to send

it at urgent rates. Lawrence afterwards felt

that this was a breach of an understanding 

with him, but he accepted Bartlett's explanation.

The newspaper proprietors' association

was faced with an enormous bill for the

cost, which it immediately questioned. But

the despatch describing the Anzac landing

electrified the world; it displayed the first terrible

struggle in Gallipoli, and the qualities

of the Australian and New Zealand soldiers,

in one brilliant flash before the eyes of every

nation, and the world has never forgotten.

Even to-day the tradition of the Anzac landing

is probably more influenced by that first

story than by all the other accounts that have

since been written.

And then comes the question. How far was it

a true narrative? To answer that you must

really answer the question. What is a true

narrative? If a true story is one in which

every detail is carefully verified, this message,

and many others, of Bartlett's would be open

to a good many criticisms. He made the

battle of the Anzac landing finish on the wrong

day with a charge of Australians and New

Zealanders. I was going to say a charge

"which never occurred", but I do not think

Bartlett would record any unsubstantial

rumour. It is highly probable that he did

see from the London the bayonets flashing in

the scrub on Russell's Top when the New

Zealanders and Australians cleared part of

their front there on the Monday (April 26),

and he chose to wind up his glowing cablegram

with that spectacular incident. Actually,

the battle was far from over - the charge

was not in the least a decisive one, and there

was heavier fighting next day.

But another correspondent might have recorded

these details with absolute accuracy

and yet failed to impart the spirit of the event

and of the troops; it was these that Bartlett

grasped and recorded with extraordinary effect

and real truthfulness. He was the first to

impress on the world the main facts of the

landing, and the impress is there still.

 

LESTER LAWRENCE.

Bartlett may have been too careless of detail

when describing the magnificent advance

of the 2nd Australian Infantry Brigade near

Krithia on May 8--the incident which the

British official historian, General Aspinall-

Oglander, has cited as an unrecorded "Balaclava"-

he attributes it to the New Zealand

brigade; and these mistakes, though unimportant,

so far as his civilian readers in England

were concerned, naturally spoilt the effect of

some of his articles at the front. But nevertheless,

they were unimportant compared with

the essential truth with which he described

the position. His colleague, Lawrence, had

exceptional literary power of a different-perhaps

rare--kind. He has given us Australians,

though few of us know it, the most

exquisite verse, probably, ever written about

our dead-the poem in the Anzac Book entitled

"The Graves of Gallipoli," and signed

simply "L.L." Like the modest fellow he

was he refused to sign his full name to it;

it was simply his anonymous tribute to our

mates. It is the poem beginning 

The herdman wandering by the lonely rills

Makrs where they lie on the scarred mountain's

flanks.

Remembering that mild morning when the hills

Shook to the roar of guns, and those wild

ranks

Surged upward from the sea.

"Wild ranks," by the bye, is an editorial

error for wild "Franks" (the Turkish designation

for all Europeans); Lawrence's handwriting

was in parts undecipherable.

But the gentle poet who wrote that-formerly

Reuter's correspondent in Berline-could

not even if his account of the landing had

reached London before Bartlett's-have given

the world the impression that Bartlett did.

Nor I think could any of the other war 

correspondents even H.W.Nevinson, who came

out to Gallipoli later, or those fine journalists

whom we met afterwards in France. Bartlett's

opinion of my own method was: "Oh-Bean-

I think he almost counts the bullets!" (It

was truer than he knew, for on some nights

at Anzac, in an endeavour to see if one could

reach a standard by which to measure the

amount of disturbance as compared with that

on other nights. I used to note down the

number of rifle shots heard, on an average, in

a minute.)

Bartlett's method of obtaining his facts,

and one's recollections of his camp, must be

matter for another article.

FL.4151

5869.

21 May  1930.

 

Dear Sir John,

If I might presume to do so, I would advise you to

let it be known that the articles in "Smith's Weekly" were not

from your pen. I think they went down with a certain number of

the more or less unthinking and less well-educated members of the

A.I.F., but I could hardly tell you how many ex-soldiers and

officers of the other sort have spoken to me about them and

expressed themselves as puzzled or astonished that this style of

thing should have come from a great commander of the A.I.F. The

basis of knowledge and erudition in them was evidently so slight

and the generalisations so empty, that I felt sure they were not

your considered work, but what hurt more than anything was the

sort of implicit assumption (though it does appeal to one class

of Australian) that there was nothing worthy outside the A.I.F.

There is such an idea in Australia, although anyone who knows the

facts realizes that it is based on a deplorable ignorance; and

one who is out all the time to safeguard the reputation of

Australians among the thinking and enlightened people of the

world has more to fear from that attitude, adopted by a section of

his countrymen, than from anything else. I know very well that you

do not believe this stupid, vain myth, but, when articles purporting

to be yours appear to be steeped in the spirit of that fallacy,

it makes one feel as though the name of the A.I.F. - which I

cherish more than anything on earth - was being dragged through

the mud by its unwise defenders. I realize that you are not a

prey to that ignorant self-conceit, but the man who wrote those

articles was, and if they are read abroad they will do to our

reputation the very damage which they are intended to avert. I

would urge you, for the sake of your own reputation, to be

cautious in your interviews with the press, and, when you do

speak, to give them something that we can all feel is really

worthy of your great calibre of mind and of the very great

position which you occupied.

 

I have to thank you for writing to me frankly, and I

hope you will realize that this^ frank reply is xxxxx deployed  written in the spirit of entire goodwill towards yourself, and solely from care

of that precious thing which you and I and some others have to

some extent in our keeping- the great name of the A.I.F.

Yours sincerely,

C.E.W.BEAN

General Sir John Monash, G.C.M.G, K.C.B.