Charles E W Bean, Diaries, AWM38 3DRL 606/274/1 - 1918 - 1941 - Part 9

(2)
The Trench soon turned south following
the river course but we suffered some
deadly enfilading from rifle and machine
gun fire. One particular spot which first
turned east then sharply south with a
drop of several feet to a continuous
southerly trench was under very heavy
enfilade fire. Men paused at the corner
with bullets smacking into the trench walls
and timed their rush and jump; however a
number of good fellows mistimed it. When
the enemy realised we were in possession
of this southern Clery line his bombardment

with 5.9s for a time was demoralising.
Personally, I think he contemplated counter
attacking from a spossible line about 300
yards east on a slightly higher contour.
Here I saw a strong movement of men, who,
in the fading light and without glasses,
could not be identified. I withheld fire
because of vague mention (before leaving
Clery) of co-operating troops on our left
and such troops could have turned south
as we did, but further east.
However, I personally think now that it
was either a counter attack or the defenders

of the trench system we had captured,
concentrating on a retiring point. I am
now sure they were Germans and the sharp,
heavy bombardment was to cover a retirement
or an attack that did not eventuate and
which, over such open ground, would have
been useless.
It was now dark and we had reached the
end of the trench where it dropped sharply
to the river, but we had secure a jumping
off ground for the assault on Mt. St. Quentin.

Our position could not be determined
in the dark but several enemy machine guns
opened at surpirisingly close range.
Shortly afterwards Lieut. Anthon captured
a fairly large party of Germans sclose at
hand. The enemy did not seem to realise
the extent of our success.
 

(3)
H. Q. Staff must have acted quickly as the
rest of the Brigade was soon in the area.
The men were given a rum issue and further
rations. Colonel Forbes appeared on the
scene at midnight and the Company Commanders
(McDonald, Broadbent, Barlow and myself)
conferred with him and received operation
orders, these for the daybreak attack. This
was to be wedge-shaped and to pierce 2 kilos
to the Bapaume Rd. the canal forming our left
flank.
I think we occupied the trenches from
which Anthon had captured his prisoners. The
troops were given a further rum issue and
after a heavy bombardment the attack was
launched.
One of my platoon officers was wounded
immediately, leaving me only Lieut. Ayling
who performed gallantly. The advance was
very rapid and the element of surprise accounted

for rapid capture of prisoners. Sgt.
Inskip put the Lewis gun on the horse teams of
a Light Battery as "C" Company neared its
objective, the Bapaume Rd., which was raised
like a railway embankment and gave a measure
of protection from fire. My position was on
the left flank; from here the road gradually
lost its embankment to the village of Feuillancourt.

McDonald and Barlow occupied positions

towards Mt. St. Quentin. Captain Broadbent
did not take his objective and I did not see
him until after the operation. Our Company's
strength was now so low that his presence
might have arrested our subsequent retirement
from the Bapaume Rd. There was a bricked
culvert and a dry watercourse passing under
the road here and our H.Q. and aid post were
established there. Ayling early lost some
men on the left with rifle and machine
gun fire and as our flank was in the air

some of this came from the left rear.
 

(4)
rifle and machine gun fire and as our flank
was in the air some of this came from his
left rear. A Lewis gun under Sgt. Inskip
was placed in the ruins of Feuillancourt
and the flank was brought in under the lee
of the road, as Mt. St. Quentin could also
search this low ground with its machine
guns. The position was quiet until midday
when a movement of men in small parties was
observed about the road sides coming to our
left flank from the Bapaume side; also there
was a general movement on our front and many
ranging shots on the road by batteries
using what we called "woolly bears". Our
artillery was on the move and calls for their
aid were unavailing. Soon after this a man
reported to me that he had seen a party of
Germans leave the creek bed and approach the
opposite side of the road. I proceeded through

the culvert to investigate and, on stepping

from some bushes at the enemy end, ran
into a party of five Germans only five yards
from the culvert mouth. I pointed a Colt
revolver and called "prisoner" and the men
put their hands up but demurred about being
ordered into the culvert. The three rear
men made a dazsh for the creek bed and as the
others turned to follow I shot one, the
leader, an Iron Cross man, and wounded another.

Lieut. brought him in later
for first aid and I tthink they were Scouts.
They had no rifles but carried large packs
and were equipped with a neat message pad so
arranged that it threw an attached thorch-
light on the pad for night work.
McDonald who was in the culvert when I
passed and who heard the shots discredited
the activities which pointed to a counter
attack. Just after this Sgt. Jack Corps
was fatally wounded near the mouth of the
culvert on our side by a shell that seemed
 

(5) suspiciously like one from our own
artillery. He was beyond aid and was
placed in the culvert. Shortly afterwards
the Germans were advancing in rushes on
our immediate front and lin8ing what, I
think was a light railway line at 200
yards. The remaining men of Companies
"A", "B" and "C" who were few and mixed,
put up an effective fire, showing them-
selves over the road despite a fierce
barrage of "Woolly Bears" and machine gun
fire. The former were bursting 10 feet
over the centre of the road and a man on
my right, firing from a kneeling position,
dfell forward with a shell splinter piercing

his steel helmet. Enfilading and
rear fire from our left were playing havoc
and I definitely ordered the men about me
to retire to a line of trenches some 200
yards to the rear. These presented some
cover and a field of fire. Major McDonald
and Captain Barlow were not on the embankment

when I gave this order. Soon the remainder

of the men were racing for the rear
trench and McDonald and Barlow did not
know of the retirement until I personally
shouted the information into the culvert.
We raced after the men together but Barlow

was shot down before going 50 yards.
Our wounded were left behind but from post-
war consvervsation with one of them, were
treated as kindly as possible by the enemy.
On reaching the rear trench McDonald
and I decided to defend the canal end with
Machine guns and draw on Keppel's reserve
men who, according to operation orders
should be somewhere in the vicinity. I
found Keppel who manned our new line with
half his reserves and whil with him I carried

out Colonel Forbes' specific verbal
orders to me regarding "accurate disposition"

and "intelligence report" which
 

6)

as the ex-adjutant I knew Battalion and
Brigade required. I handed these to a
runner with instructions to take them to
Btn. Headquarters. On meeting McDonald
three-quarters of an hour later I found him
in possession of the Despatch which the runner
wrongly delivered and which he, unfortunately
held up. However, eventually, he rewrote it
verbatim and duly despatched it. Sgt. Inskip
with his machine gun team missed the retiremement

and spent the night in hiding with the
Germans mpoving about him. Barlow crawled in
during the night, which, otherwise, passed
without incident. The following day we remained

in this trench, the enemy knowing our
exact position to judge by his constant
machine gun attentions That night the 6th
Brigade relieved us and successfully attacked
at daybreak and the Battalion remained in
reserve for a few days before being sent back
for rest.
This is a truthful account from memory (without

notes or map assistance) and is the first
time I have expressed my impressions of these
operations. Major McDonald, in temporary
command of the Battalion after the Armistice,
sending me on an ammunition salvage reconnaissance

the day that Captain Bean visited us
at Beaurepaire in order to obtain the particulars

of the engagement.
 

43rd. Battalion.
11-1-19.
Capt. C. E. W. Bean.
Dear Captain,
In reference to the enquiries that you
were making in connection with the battle of the 1st.
and 2nd. of Sep. near MONT ST. QUENTIN when the 43rd.
Battn. was operating with its right flank along the
Canal Du NORD, I was Coy Commander of the right Coy (A)
in touch with the 2nd. Australian Division, am able to
state that at no time during the attack on the 1st. Sep.
was the whole of my Coy on the south of the Canal although

during the very early stages of the attack more
than half of it crossed the Canal to assist the left of 2
the 2nd. Division and the capture of FEUILLAUCOURT.
I hope that this information is sufficient to cover
your verbal enquiry,
Yours faithfully, Y.G
L. G. Tucker Lieut.
 

Cope of recommendation for which 1153

L/C Weathers L. C. 43rd Battalion AIF

was awarded the VICTORIA CROSS.

During operations on the morning of The 2nd of
Sept 1918 whilst one of an advanced bombing party
he showed great courage in bombing up a
trench strongly held by the enemy namely
SCUTARI TRENCH. After an hours continuous 
fighting he went forward alone and located
a large body of enemy engaging them, killing
an officer and capturing a boche.
He then returned for more bombs and volunteered

to go forward to attack the enemy.

Taking two Lance-corporals and a man with

him he lead them forward and attacked again

under very heavy M.G. fire. On getting to

the trench the enemy appeared frightened, so the

above named N.C.O. jumped onto the parapet

and although fired at by M.G.^s he waved

a bomb and called on them to surrender.

This they did and when counted the party

numbered one hundred and eighty (180)

and several Machine Guns.

This NCO^s coolness, initiative and bravery

were remarkable and a great factor in the 

ultimate success of the Attack.
 

[*H/N*]

450
Mt St Quentin. 
From L^t Irvine

18 Bn (4 Dec. 1930)
5 Bde officers who took part could

never see so very much in the Mt St Q. stunt —

it did not seem at all wonderful to those

who were in it. They knew very little about

their position or direction & some now

(1931) suspect that they were really

meant to attack Peronne.

On reaching the objve they had not

a good field of view. Irvine & An officer L^T Joe Maxwell

beside him thought of going further, Irvine

stood up to look when he heard a click

& a further 20 yards away fired 

point blank, knocked him over, but

only grazed him. The German was bayoneted

in 20 places immediately - he must have been a

"fanatically" brave man.

On this occasion Irvine met Capt Hobbs of the 17^th(?)

going back to report the position of his company.

Irvine told him he shd send a runner but Hobbs

sd he ws going himself Irvine "told him off" - it was 

not an officer's job to take back such reports & leave his men,

 

[* Reveille

March 1930*]
VEILLE     19

BONDI-WAVERLY

LIBRARY
Brave Fritz: Stuck to his Gun
(By Joe Maxwell, V.C., M.C., D.C.M.)
With the approach of Anzac Day and its memories,

one is apt to recall little acts of bravery and
devotion which were associated with our "friend,"
the enemy.
The 5th Brigade, of which I was a member, attacked

Mont St. Quentin. Our Battalion (the 18th)
was reserve battalion.
During the attack ours was a simple job—
merely following the other three battalions and
collecting souvenirs overlooked by them. However.
on reaching "Gotleitt Trench," the front Iine which,
owing to casualties, we were compelled to occupy,
we got a pretty warm reception.
One shell landed among B Company, of which
I was OC, and killed 14 and wounded 20. The
place was a hot one, and as a
runner arrived with the news
that there were no officers left
in D Company, I thought it advisable

to link up both companies.
A machine gun in front of
our position was playing "hell"
with D Company, who were
moving towards us. A lucky
shot from a rifle grenade momentarily

silenced the gun. and
two fellows hopped over to capture

it.
Newspaper sketch of Joe Maxwell - see original document

A German whose right leg
was blown of just above the
knee scrambled to the gun. His position immediately 

exposed him to the whole of our front line.
Three times he was hit, but gallantly kept up a
rapid fire in our direction. One of the two men—
he was unwounded—fired a revolver at point blank
range, and the bullet entered the shoulder of the
German, who fell backwards. But he rose and
grabbed a stick bomb and puled the string. By
this time the Digger was on top of him and a few
seconds later the bomb exploded, smashing the gun
and killing both the German and the Digger.
Next morning when things were again quiet we
buried our dead, and with all due reverence and respect

a place was found among them for our
"friend," the gallant German gunner
 

HISTORICAL NOTE.
When the 5th Bde took Mont St. Quentin the 10th M.G.
Coy near Bouchavesnes had a section in position to enfilade
a German trench which was facing the 5th Bde. The four
guns of the section under Lieut. - played up and down
this trench and possibly in part accounted for the success
of the 5th Bde.