Charles E W Bean, Diaries, AWM38 3DRL 606/274/1 - 1918 - 1941 - Part 10

H/N.

Gilchrist - Bullecourt.

Gilchrist brother ws k at St Quentin

on Sept. 1 1918.

 

H.N.

 

REVEILLE             October 1, 1932

23rd Bn. at Mont St. Quentin

Mr. Percy Frost, of the 23rd Bn., A.I.F., proud of his

old unit, thought we had done it an injustice by giving

credit to the 21st Bn. for an exploit which, he contended,

was carried off by the 23rd.

Mr. Frost, of course, had in mind the block published

in last issue showing the 21st Bn. moving from Elsa

trench to the brick wall of Mont St. Quentin. Perhaps

in justice to the 23rd Bn., we should have mentioned that

that unit had also attacked there, but our photograph, we

can definitely assure Mr. Frost, was of the leading wave

of the 21st Bn.

Mr. Frost says: "It was the 23rd Bn. that attacked the wall. I was

with the 23rd when it attacked. 'B' Co. was on the right of the Peronne

Road on the night of August 31, and on the morning of September 1

we crossed the road and Pte. MacTein, who was killed while attacking

an enemy machine gun crew single-handed, was recommended for the V.C.

The machine gun crew was captured.

"We then advanced along a trench towards Mont St. Quentin. We then

came to the brick wall, and three of us - Sgt. Dykes, Lewis Gunner Thompson 

and myself - went through the wood to the opposite side to where the

Red Cross huts stood. When we got within 20 yards of one of the huts

a machine gun was opened on us and Thompson was killed, his last

words being addressed to me, 'I'm done, Frosty.'

"We then came back through the wood and waited for a barrage to

open up on the side of the hill, as machine guns were troubling us. While

waiting for the barrage the mine on top of Mont exploded. We finally

took the objective and after being relieved went back to Cappy for a spell.

Lieut. Fred Jenkins was in charge of 'B' Co. during the advance,"

             ____________________

 

Mont St Q.

H/N.                        Melbourne

                                673 Bourke St

                                8th Sept. 1921

Captn C.E.W. Bean.

Dear Sir.

For some time past I have been disposed

to send to you various accounts of the capture

of Mont St Quentin that I had persuaded

men of the 21st Battn, and comrades of my late

Son Frank to write.

Last evening, when my wife and I were

having tea with Mr & Mrs Caleb Gilbeth, the

latter passed a letter to me saying, "This will

interest you, Robert."! It did :- it was your

letter to Major Treloar, (with whom I had been

discussing War records at the Exhibition earlier

in the day), relative to the attack on Mont

St Quentin and Gilbert's memorial of it.

After my son was killed at Mont

St Quentin, I was anxious to get as full a

report as possible of how he died and sought

out as they returned, many of his former comrades.

When I got into closer association, by various

means, with them I suggested to a number

of them that they should write their experiences

 

2

of the attack on Mont St Quentin. Simply, accurately and in

detail, for the benefit of the relatives of those who had fallen-

in the fight. How I persuaded men, who swear they could not

write is quite a sting.. I then got into touch with the next

of Kin of the thirteen men buried together ion the March as shown 

in the photograph of the graves, sent herewith. So then I

forwarded copies of what I am sending you and you can realise

how they were appreciated by people starving for news of men

who had died so bravely. To Scotland, Canada, New South Wales,

Country districts in Victoria as well as Melbourne, Copies

were sent - I obtained portraits of the thirteen buried together,

which I am having [[?proudly]] reproduced, from a half line block, and

will distribute prints in the same way; fine manly lads

not a weakling amongst them. A whole Company.

Sir John Monash told me the Capture of Mont

St. Quentin was one of the big things in all history,

and but few knew it.  You can tell [[shorthand]] It was the first diggers who did it.

I tried hard to get Sergt. Leverson X.C. to write his

version, but failed.. I am expecting a B. Coy Sgt to call&

see me soon, from where I hope to get an account of B

Coy's experiences, in the centre, between A on the right & C on the left.

 

3

After I had sent John Castle's story to

my friend Guy Jones, Editor of the Melbn

Herald, he wrote me saying "I cannot tell

you how much it moved me." He Knew

my son Frank before the War, shortly after

C.J. Dennis was living with him at our

orchard, "Sunnyside," South Sassepras,

where the "Sentimental Bloke was

completed, and where [[?Web]] Gilbert used to

visit us, before he went to England in 1914.

As one of the founders of the Melbourne

Historical Society I hold that historical

records to be worth anything must be

accurate and should have, what Carlyle was so

Keen on, veracity.

For this letter and what accompanies

it, blame your own. If I had not

read it I doubt if I would have written

and because this is much longer than

I intended, like Strome, blame my

pen, not me - "It governs me I govern not it."

Yours faithfully

[[?J.G.Roberts]]

 

MONT ST. QUENTIN.

 

On Friday the 30th. of August (1918) the 21st. battalion stopped

at a trench in front of a battery of 6" guns manned by English Tommeys,

behind them was a small village, Clery-Sur-Somme; we had been keeping

close up behind the attacking party for several days and the Germans were

making a stand now at Mont St. Quentin. On Saturday, 31st. of August,

we were given the order to prepare to move forward; we got ready, putting

our machine guns on the limbers as they were going to take them as far as

they could for us. We moved off in two's up a road alongside of a canal,

hidden by trees from German observation; we marched on and passed what

looked to be a large wooden bridge or rather the remains of one for the

Germans had burnt it down a few days before, it was still smouldering.

A few hundred yards further, we were halted and sat down along the road

for about an hour - meanwhile the 2nd. Division Engineers were making a

footbridge across the canal for us to go over. We crossed this bridge

in single file and after we had gone about another half mile, we came to

a Battery of 18 Pounders manned by Australians; they had their guns in

the open and were working very hard. We halted there, had our dinner and

took the guns off the limbers and cleaned them, [[the]] limbers had come to

this place by another road. The order then came to move gain and we

moved off in single file along another road. The Germans were trying

hard to shell this road, but most of the shells either fell short or passed

over us; we had some casualties. Our Company (C) was ordered to take

cover at the foot of a hill on the left hand side of the road. All this

time the Germans were shelling hard, some of the shells falling into a

swamp on our right. We then received word we would not move again till

after dark, but early in the evening a shell landed right into where we

were taking cover - wounding Cpl. Les (A.L). Baker, of No 9 Platoons Machine

Gun Section, in the leg. His wound was dressed and he was taken on a

stretcher to a dressing station a few hundred yards down the road, we had

marched up earlier in the evening. Frank Roberts, Roy Smerdon, myself

and a few others were sitting with Cpl. Baker when he was hit; it was

strange being so close together and only the one man getting hit. Some

time later a few of the boys lit a fire and some were sitting and some

standing round it, all talking about the day's work, when a shell landed

in the fire, killing two and wounding several.