Charles E W Bean, Diaries, AWM38 3DRL 606/263/1 - 1916 - 1934 - Part 2

PHONE
CENTRAL 5832.
HN
COMMONWEALTH OF AUSTRALIA
PUBLIC SERVICE BOARD OF COMMISSIONERS
10th. July 1926
Dear Bean.
There shd. be some record of
the 1916 plan for an attack on Messines
although the matter had not reached a
very definite stage at the time we left
for the Somme. Plumer & Harington
discussed it with us several times
& we were instructed to submit
our views. These we sent in, in
writing, after many inspections

of the Grounds. I always felt that what
we sent in was not a very mature
effort. We were not at the time greatly
experienced in such matters & I felt
that the task was somewhat
academic & that we wd not really
do it. Plumer commented upon
our scheme, quite kindly; as far
as I remember his most serious
comment being ^upon the number &
frontage of the units

As far as my recollection

serves me the job was a two (2)
Corps one (we to be on the right). We did
not however have conferences on the subject with any other Corps.

The objective was the capture of the
ridge. I am not quite familiar
with the details of the 1917 objective
but am inclined to think that
it was somewhat more extensive
than the 1916 contemplation.

I will look forward to the coming
5 Chapters.

Yours Sincerely
CBB White 

Pte RCJ Murray, 1st Bn,

who enlisted while his father 

was on active service with the 17th Bn,

& died of wounds on 4/10/16 at the age of 16½
Lloyd George Cl
Oatley
NSW.
13/3/22

I am enclosing ^copies of references of my
son's. (RCJ Murray) also letters
received from the front after his
death, as they may be of interest
to the Historian. I may add, that
he had an Aunt nursing in the
Army in France, his Father, is an
orginal Anzac, an Uncle killed
at Lone Pine another Uncle was
Capt W.M. E. Carter in the Imperial
Army, there were no eligibles left
in our family

Florence A Murray
(Mother)

Copy of letter received from the front
from Lieut C H Lee. of my son's Co & Battalion
Pte RCJ Murray

Died of wounds

4/10/16

at the age of 16½

Copy
On Active Service

13 Oct 1916

I regret to inform you that
5747 Pte R Murray was wounded on the
3rd Oct last & died while en route to
Hospital. He was one of the bravest boys
I have ever seen. He was hit by fragments
of a high explosive shell & very severely
wounded in both legs. But in spite of this
he never murmured, altho the pain
must have been excruciating. He was
conscious the whole time until the end
& died with a smile on his face, an example
to all of what a British Soldier should be.
The surgeon who attended him said
he was unique in his fortitude. We
in the 1^st Battalion will ever in recalling
past events, speak of him as having been
all that a Soldier could be & more

Yours very truly
C H Lee

Lieut A Co
1^st Bat A. I. F.

H/N

Silent )
1 Bn Silent Raid) at the Ypres, 6th Oct. 1916

On Oct 6. 1916, about 2 hours after the
2nd Bn raid on that night, 10 men of the
1st Bn made a silent raid upon the German
trenches at the Bluff. At this point the Germans
were believed to be mining - & the men
composing the raiding party believed that their
raid had as its object the clearing up of this
matte. The T.M.s (60th) had blown up the
German wire some hours before. The 10
men crept out - amongst the volunteers was
Pte P.O'Brien, who was ^a newly to the arrived reinforcement
who had volunteered - being keen on fight.
O'Brien went first through the ^torn German wire -
A loose end It caught him & he thought the Germs must
have heard the noise. However nothing
happened. The second man came up with him -
&, fearing discovery, as soon as they were
together they decided to jump into the German
trench. They did so, & began throwing their
bombs - O'Brien into the trench & the
other man into the Commn trench - They
got into an empty bay but the Germans
instantly came at them. They cd see none,
but a bomb exploded at once on the
ground highlighting up the basketwork walls
of the ^dilapidated trench. A second bomb - a stick bomb
almost immediately exploded close to them,
wounding both. O'B. was knocked down, stunned;

coming to, & seeing the figure of his mate going
back over the parapet, his mind received
the vague idea that he too ought to climb
over the breastwork behind him - He did
So, but having lost his, being barely conscious,
missed the did not make for any opening
in the wire & got caught in it. As
he fell into it a third bomb exploded by
him & again this also hit him.

Some of the party carried him
back badly shattered - as was also
his mate. Nothing of importance information was
discovered brought back except that the trench entered
was a dilapidated one.

Hughes' H.N.?

RAID ON CHICKEN RUN BY 8TH BDE, FRANKS' FORCE.

xx8th Bde Raid on 12/13 October 1916.

Map Houplines Sheet 36 N.W.2 1/10,000.

34th Div and 5th Aust.Div. to carry out raids at the same time. (At
this time the 8th ^Aust. Inf. Bde was attached to Franks's Force).
Zero Hour - 7.30 pm. Bombt tp begin at zero. Raid to enter enemys t
trenches at 7.45. and stay there not longer than one hour.
Raid made by 5 officers and 100 o.r. of the 31st Bn. The two battalions
in the line to thin out for 1½ hrs after zero..H. Qrs of 31 Bn-
Cambridge House. An elaborate T.M., M.G., and Artillery programme mos
mostly in C.17 a. One m.g. specially to prevent the enemy bringing
out their m.gs onto their wire. 11 m.gs at work in all. A list of
code words: for example Tommydogg meant All left our front line.
Mary - All in enemys trenches" Sidney "All back except . . . . ." 

Party was from "A" Coy 31 Bn. zEach man to have only a cardboard
identity ticket with a raiding number on it. Faces blackened. Partie
to be in positn ½ hour before zero.

Two parties to move out on either side of road. Flanks to be movd
forward so as to be parallel to trench.
Signal of final lifting of barrage - white flare to be fired low
towards enemys parapet from our trench.
Teams to form stops left and right and work in certain directions
up and down trenches and connect. When nearing points where xxx
likely to meet one another they were to flash violet torches constantly.
Dugout parties to put Stokes bombs down dugouts. Also P. bombs.
Machine gunners to deal with enemy m.gs (armed with revolvers)
Covering parties to protect flanks.
Stay not longer than one hour. N.C.O. to blow French Horn at end
of hout unless both O.Cs decide to withdraw earlier.
To Iie in Nomansland till shelling abates. 

(2)
The raid was carried out on Chicken run
Entered at C 17 a 20 35 and 35 20. 
Wire had been well cut in both places during the afternoon by our
18 pdrs and T.Ms. 
The prelim. Bombt (13 minutes) had done much damage to enemy front
line wh. was almost obliterated in places.
Barrage excellent. Party approached quite close to it with confidence
Retaliation - a few .77 and many minenwerfer, doing some damage to xx
our trenches. No attempt to barrage Nomansland to prevent return
of raiding party. 
Little opposition was made to entry. Parties proceeded along arranged
routes. Bombt had caused many casualties. German dugouts 
were large, made of concrete, not much below surface of ground,
fitted with iron doors, and all occupied.
One dugout had at least 20 of enemy in it. In these dugouts
a "P" bomb was first dropped; then a Stokes with time fuse.
All dugouts were entered after this had bn done. Estimated between
40 and 50 Germans k. this way.
Others were k. by bomb and bayonet. Estimates of officers all
agree that abt 100 Germans were xxxx killed.
We were in trenches 40 minutes. "Out" signal given on French
horn. This was heard by all, and easily carried out.
Torches. Carbon paper was pasted on inside of torches.
 13 prisoners taken. Ten attempted to escape crossing Nomansland
and were k. M.G. brought in with two belts of ammn. Bombs. Box
of flares, 2 rifles, etc.
Casualties 3 men k.; 1 offr and 7 o.r. wd. No missing.
(This is a condensed paraphrase of report, not literal copy of
it).

H.N. - Oct 1917
Tumbarumba
7-12-27
Dear Charlie,
Referring to yours of 21st. Uitimo.
It is such a long time back that my memory may not
be too clear on details but I will do my best and
you will be able to check it up with official records
thereby enabling you to use some of the detail for
what it is worth. I belonged to C Coy 1st. Batn.
We were in the salient near Ypress in October 1916.
The second was on our right left, between 9pm and
10 pm. 2"nd. Bat. raided about 60 strong, we could
hear the machine guns, bombs Etc. Word came along
the line to us that the raid was very successful
and that they had no casualities and they had taken
some prisoners (I forget the number) and secured
considerable information regarding condition, formation
Etc. of that section of the Hun trenches.
This information I heard whilst waiting for our time
to raid which was 11pm. I can remember us complaining
about the 2nd. stirring him up for us. That is as
much as I can tell regarding the raid of the 2nd.
I will give you what detail I can remember of our
raid and it may be useful to you in a general way.
On the afternoon of 6th. Oct. xxx nine others and
myself volunteered for a raid on section of trench
directly in front of us - The object of so small a
raid I am unable to state I heard several suggestions
at the time and afterwards, but never heard anything
definite from anyone in authority. Our instructions
were to be as quite as possible, do our best to get
a prisioners or anything in the way of equipment
Etc. To take particular notice of the formation and
condition of the trench, to see whether they were
keeping it in good repair. I considered that the
object of the raid was to see by the condition of
his trench thether he was contemplating evacuation.
The two front lines at this point was very close
together and supposed to be heavily mined by both
sides. Signs of neglect to trenches would indicate
evacuation prior to setting off mines.
The guns put a few shells into his wire before
dark to make a opening for us. We were blackened,
armed with bombs, nulla nulla, baynet and some of us
had service revolvers but no rifles.
Our formation was. Two bombers to go some distance
along the trench to left of break in the wiring. Ditto
on the right.

[*Ackgd

by Mr Bean

CB*]