Charles E W Bean, Diaries, AWM38 3DRL 606/274A/1 - 1918 - 1941 - Part 5

Conflict:
First World War, 1914–18
Subject:
  • Documents and letters
Status:
Open to contributions
Accession number:
RCDIG1066713
Difficulty:

Page 1 / 10

-2- PS. If you should ever be writing this way I would be glad to hear when the next volume of the History is coming along, as we could get basy with an announce- ment and book up some orders. PPS. If any confirmation of the foregoing is required, it may be obtained, I know, from Colonel Macarthur, who is now Major J.W.Macarthur, Adjutant for the 24th Battalion, whose Orderly-rooms, are in the Camberwell district, near Melbourne. 3
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6r NARRATIVE Sheet 62 B, N.T 20300 The Battlo of the Hindenberg Line- Bellicourt-Nauroy. The part taken by the 29th Btn. A.I.F. From September 28th to October lst, inclusive, 1918, by Captain C. A. M. Derham M.C., C.O., 29th Btn. On the afternoon of September 28th 1918 I, as C.O. of the 29th. Btn., attended a conference of the commanding officers of the 8th Infantry Brigade called by the Brigade Commander to discuss the proparations for the part we wore to play in tho attack on the Hin- denberg Line on September 29th. Briefly, we were told that our task was to act in conjunction with the 30th American Division and to ex- ploit their attack, as from their objective - the Green Line runn¬ ing roughly North East and beyond the village of Nauroy. Zero heur was set at 06.00 hours on September 29th and the 8th Brigade was to move off from their Bivouac Area some 2,000 yards in rear of the Americans at 07.00 hours. The 29th Btn. to take the "Left Sector" with the 30th Btn. in support and the 32nd Btn. to take the "Right Sector" with the 31st Btn. in support. The general objective was to be "Exploitation of the country be¬ yond Nauroy and to establish a line before Estrees and the Beaure- voir line". The Battalion to move forward by way of Templeux Bellicourt and Nauroy. On returning to the battalion after the conference at Brigade H. Qrs. I detailed an officer and two N.Co's to go forward to the "Front Line" and to reconnoitre the route by which we were to move forward the following morning and ordered the Company Commanders to cross the Canal at the tunnel at Bellicourt on the morning of 29th
September, it being my intention that the Battalion should form into battle formation below Nauroy, so that it could pass through the Green Line. 07.15 hrs. The battalion moved off from the Bivouac Area in Column of Route - with distances between platoons - A Company leading via the Black Road - previously reconnoîtred - dense fog was soon en- countered. O8.30 hrs.- Battalion passed the vicinity of Villeret and reports were received that good progress was being made by the Americans small groups of German prisoners were met - usually escorted by double their number of Americans - also "walking wounded" were es corted by soldiers who might casily have had useful work to do in the battle line. from 09.30 hrs.- Battalion crossed the Brown Line/where the Americans had hopped off and further favourable reports kept coming in. It was here, as we moved along the Black Road, that the first thought occurred to me that the mopping up of the Americans had left much to be desired. As I walked along with the Adjutant to-Battalion- H.Grs. we met various parties of Americans who tried to draw us away to cap¬ ture machine gun posts. 10.15 hrs. Battalion entered the W. outskirts of the village of Bellicourt and came under fire from parties of Germans whom the Americans had failed to "mop up". This necessitated the quick de- ployment of the two leading Companies to deal with the opposition - and this was promptly done. 10.35 hrs.- Battalion formed into a defensive line on the Eastern outskirts of the village. The position was very obscure and little information could be obtained as to the position of the American
24 troops. Patrols were at once sent forward to obtain information and were immediately engaged with German Posts and prisoners were taken. The fog was still very hoavy. Battalion Headquarters was established at G.10.D 6-2 and contact was made with tho C.O. of tho 31st Btn. A.I.F. At this stago tho fog cleared from the high ground in front of Nauroy and the Le Catolet Line and the battalion came under diroct observation and hsavy fire from a Cerman 77-4 gun battery - minnenworfors - M.Cs. and riflo fire, Americans retroating in disorder from Nauroy. Soptember 29th. I met Col. Caddy in Bellicourt when we got thore and he sosmed to be worried about his artillery, and I suggested to him that as the position was so obscure that it would be better he retire his artillery to the other side of tho Canal. He agreed to do this and consequently, in getting a battery out from in front of the line we first occupied outside Bellicourt, they came under direct fire from tho German ?? battery, which forced the pace for them, but I understand they suffored very little damago. 11.00 hrs. The four (4) Tanks attached to the battalion came through Bellicourt into the open. The C.O. Tanks was advised to move his command quickly forward 100 yards into "dead ground" and wait until wo had dealt with the 77 battery. Unfortunatoly, threo of them were hit and burnt during the next few minutes. The remaining tank com- manded by Captain Grenfell remained with the battalion all day and did excellent work. Captain Crenfell, though wounded, carried on in a very gallant fashion. 11.30 hrs. I ordered the battalion to attack Nauroy and tho Le Catalet Line.
B./ 12.40 hrs. Battalion - after a stiff fight and the capture of 4 77's, minnenwerfers and M.Gs, and a tank fort with 2 anti-tank rifles, and many prisoners - is in possession of the LeCatalet Line from the intersection of the Railway line to a point South of Nauroy. Many Germanskilled. At this stage I was very worried at the nonappearance of the 15th Bde. A.I.F. as my "Left Flank" was now exposed for a distance of considerably over 1000 yds and under heavy fire from Cabaret Wood Farm and the LeCatalet Line North of the Railway. I now ordered one Company from the 30th Btn. to form a defensive "Left Flank" pending the arrival of the 57th Btn. A.I.F. 15.00 hrs. Owing to heavy fire from the "Left Flank", which was still exposed, and also to the fact that the "Right Flank" was also in the air, owing to a wide gap between us and the 32nd Btn. A.I.F., which e borne off to the South and gone forward with the British Division on the right, I decided to hold my position in the LeCatalet Line before Nauroy. 18.00 hrs. The 57th Btn. now moved up and jpined with my Left. My Btn, was able to give them great assistance by rifle and M.G. fire as they advanced to the LeCatalet line in front of Cabaret Wood Farm. 18.10 hrs. Battalion now get in touch on the Right with the 31st Btn., which had been moved forward to fill the gap between us and the 32nd Btn. South of Nauroy. 21.00 hrs. In consultation with Capt. Rend, who rendered yeoman sorvice throughout this trying day and who, with me, was the only other original officer of the Btn. present, I decided to move forward and occupy a line East of Nauroy. I explained the movement to the who directed this attack to be carried out at 24 hrs.
BERNARD OREILLY VEIES A BUCA BERNARD OREILLY, expert bushman and mountaincer, has wrieten a book, GREEN MOUNTAIVS 1000 Copes aues Exceed An AHrOG Days! "Green Mountains" by Bernard The photographic reproductions are on heavy art paper and are O'Reilly has had a great wel¬ excellent examples of the come by the Brisbane public. printers' art. Many of the re Several stores report that their productions are certainly well frst supply was sold out in worth framing. half an hour. Ühe Gnurier-HHutl BRISBANE, SATURDAY After he had repaired a telephone OReilly Says- line near his '(Goblin Wood'' home in Lamington National Park last night, O'Reilly told of the effort that went Writing Book into his book. "Wriling that book was harder than harder Inan all the stock work, the pick and shovel work, the wood cutting, and al the physically wearying jobs associated Mard "OrK wich Mfe in a rugged mnountain coun¬ ty," he said. Nearly three years of penmanship, Getting the ''local colour'' was the sandwiched between the milking of only easy thing, he said. That was cows, the mending of roads, and other right at his elbow. Frequently his arduous routine in his 14 hours of daily toil, culminated a few weeks ago writing desk was a stump overlooking for Bernard O'Reilly, hero of the 1937 the scene he was describing; the birds Stinson disaster, when his book, "Green he mentioned often came within a few feet of him. Afountains, was published. Che Gelegraph BRISBANE, SATURDAY 9 LLAEL UA "GREEN MOUNTAINS by Bernard O Reilly Under this pleasant title Mr. OReilly the least arduous part of it came after has related the full story of the inding the inding of the survivors, for of the lost Stinson plane in February, O'Reilly had to forge his way through 1937, and the no less remarkable story the trackless jungle in haste to the of the manner in which he saved the nearest settlement and organize a lives of two survivors. It was an epi¬ rescue party. It was indeed an epic of sode dramatic in its every incident and brave resolution and unfinching cour without undue colouring the hero of it age. has made the details live again in vivid The story is admirably told and it is realism. supplemented with a delightfully in- How he set out on his quest, the teresting outline of pioneering family enormous physical dificulties he had to life. The book is further enriched with encounter in crossing ranges through virgin jungle make up a story of ad a succession of photos which reveal the venture that no fetion could cap. It grandeur of the scenery of what is now was an exhausting undertaking and not our National Park.
SATURDAY, Uhr fierald FEBRUARY 15, 1941 MELBOURNE OREILLYS STORY OF QUEENSLANL BUSHMAN men, he says, "to die so gloriously Four years ago this in the service of others.. God JUNGLE DRAMA forgive me if I ever complain again! mont a The book does not end with the storm sweptover the Mc¬ story of the Stinson. Working back ward, Bernard relates the OReilly Pherson Range, beautiful history in general. He tells of the jungle highland on the life of the family in the Blue Moun- tains of NS.W, and of how, when eastern border of N.S.VV. some of the lads went off to the war, and Queenstand, and at others became pioneers of the Green Mountains of Queensland. heht an a Soon after they opened their selec¬ bound from Brisbane to tions, an area of 47,000 acres was made a National Park, and so the Sydney, crashed into one OReillys remained isolated. The of the mountains and whole band of them-mother and sons and daughters-fought on gal caused the deaths of five lantly against odds, their only lnk of the seven persons on with the outside world a perilous mountain track, and in time they be board. came the guardians of the National Park and the proprietors of a hostel HAT tragedy shook Aus- Bernard narrates the family his- tralia. It gained in poig- tory, with all its adventures and all nancy, because of the its colour, very well indeed, and he pays tributes that are highly merited long searches that were car- to his plucky mother and sisters and ried out before the lost Stin¬ his indomitable brothers and cousins. son was found, and when the facts were revealed the young bush¬ LSO, he discusses the man who had discovered and suc¬ beauty, of the Green cored the two survivors became Mountains (support something in the nature of a national hero. ing description with ilustra¬ Now the bushman, Bernard tons), refers to the appeal of OReilly, has written a book. It is the ancient beeches and other a shm volume of 140 pages and it trees of the area, and includes some carries the title of "Green Moun¬ informative notes on the remarkable tains, a name bestowed upon the birds of the jungle. If the nature area by Brisbane naturalists when notes go mildly astray in places, they they visited there 22 years ago. are on the whole interesting and Bernard OReilly was a boy at that useful. time. We did not imagine then, In a prefatory note the young bush- was shrough this tangled jungle growth that Bernard O'Reilly forced his seeing the shy bush youngster wan- man-author says that he would like way to the wreck of the Stinson. dering about and peering at the to have been able to write of his more or less imposing company that environment as certain naturalists There, in the heart of the jungle had suddenly sprung up in his Nand on he went, wind- have written of it. For my own part lay a mass of smashed and charred haunts, that he would one day (as one of the "ofenders") I should ing among the brood- metal, and beside it, were twe igure in a national drama and go on have been very glad to have written stricken men who were still alive ing old Antarctic to tell its story in book form. some of the passages in this book, The young bushman's inspiration And a very graphic story it is. It and notably one discussing "a lttle beeches, hacking a way had been true - he had found the lost begins with a discussion of the agi waterfall with a merry voice. No, through the tearing masses Stinson. tation that arose upon the disap Bernard has no need to apologise. What the survivors said to thei of lawyer-vine, and scram pearance of the Stinson, andto He has described his Green Moun- rescuer and what he said to them bling over ridges and gorges where relate, how the idea developed tains vividly and faithfully, and cer his discovery of the body of Westray the trees dripped with the spray of that the lner might be lying some tainly with no less fervour than others the gallant Enghshman who had where in the 80,000 acres of jungle waterfalls or the everpresent mois of us manifested in other years. died while seeking help; his night of the MicPherson Range Moreover, he has told a story that ture of clouds. There was little mare journey down the range to get needed to be told —not only of the sleep for him during the night in Leaving his home on the height of a rescue party; and the appalling task inding of the lost Stinson, but of the that formidable region. the range, eight, days after the which the men of the mountains had pioneering courage of his family in storm, Bernard rode along On again he went next day, and in carrying the injured pair on general and his mother in particu¬ track to beautiful Mount Bethonga during the morning he caught a stretchers many miles through the lar. Thus this Mttle book stands as bel and there faced his horse about glimpse of a break in the great ex- jungle- all these events are poig a worthy footnote to Australian his- and told him to go home. Then he panse of greenness. Trees in that nantly told. The whole story is an toryA. H. CHISHOLM. started of on foot, passed the ex¬ place seemed to be dying. What was epic of courage and endurance in the traordinary Valley of Echoes and the cause' He made towards the Australian bush. the towering height of Mount scarred spot and by early after Particularly moving is OReily: Among The Throakban, and carved his way noon had got near to it. Then he salute to Westray for the manner in through a sea of jungle where the heard a voice call. He answered which he dragged his broken body normal tangle had been made worse sharply and hurried through the through that terrible, country in New books scrub. by the cyclone. search of aid. "It is given to few
From eleradin SATURDAY, JANUARY 25t4 A Book Worth Reading "GREEN MOUNTAINS" By Bernard OReilly Book Review from 40R URING the Christmas holdays I The book is exceptionally well illus- read a book which proved more en trated with photographs, and to the average reader it will be found absorb- joyable than I had expected it to be even though its many photographic illu- ing from beginning to end. strations promised interesting letter- Another thing I like about it is that press. This was Bernard O'Reilly's it has no pretensions to literary style, newly published "'Green Mountains,"' it is written in a straightforward, un- surely one of the most noteworthy local assuming manner, though in many eforts in recent years. O'Reilly has given us a picture of an- places I detected a touch of poetry, es- other world which is within easy dis¬ pecially in the author's treatment of tance of Brisbane, and which is still scenery and bird life. Altogether a unknown to many people, a country of most enjoyable book and one which I great heights and savage grandeur. hope will be widely read. GREEN MOUNTAINS 1S OBTAINABLE IN TWO BINDINGS STIFF PAPER COVER 319 Per Copy FULL REXIE 6/6 Per Copy POSTACE, 3d. ORDER YOUR COPY OR COPIES FROM OLDHANL, BEDDOMIE & MEREDITH PTY. LTD. THE SOOK ARCADE, 36 ELIZABETH STREET AND 96 COLLINS STREET HOBART
Issued by the Department of Information July 18, 1941 May be used in organisa- tional Journals A WEEK OF WAR- Miain Points Covered This Week Are: THE WAR ABROAD Russians Still Resisting; Air Force Active; Halys Heavy War Losses; Syrian Campaign Concluded; British Shipping Losses Decrease. HE DIPLOMATIC FIELD Meaning of Anglo-Russian Agreement; Uncertain Situation in Japan; Generous Syrian Armistice. NEWSREELS TO SEE A BOOK TO READ ceeding satisfactorily do not sound convincing. gUSSIAN and German claims about the pro¬ The Russian claim that a force of one million men gress of the fghting on the eastern front are bars the road to Leningrad from the south prob- still confusing, but the broad outline suggests ably explains the Germans' lack of progress. that the Germans are fnding that the Russian On the Finnish front, the Germans and Finns Army is more efnicient than they expected. do not appear to have made much headway. The For over a week, they have been in contact Finns caim to have advanced, but apparently with the Stalin Line, but in spite of their claims they have been brought to a standstill at the frst that they have broken through at several points strong line of Soviet defences. However, the Ger- and that the Russian resistance in these sectors mans are said to be concentrating a large force has been completely smashed, occasional refer¬ in Finland for an offensive against Leningrad ences to Russian Army counter-attacks west of from the north. the areas claimed by the Germans to be overrun give a giimpse of a different picture. The Rus- In the southern sector the two armies are in sian Army apparently is not only defending stub- contact along a lne with Novgorod-Volynsk as bornly, but it is counter-attacking on several sec. the centre, and here again the German claims of tors with some success. deep penetrations have proved to be false. Some The most serious penetration by the Germans days ago, they said they were almost on the out- appears to have been in the centre where Moscow skurts of Kiev, yet the latest messages indicate that they are not within 100 miles of that city. is the objective. Both sides admit furious fghting The delay in their advance here is of the ut around Vitebsk, which is about 80 miles from most importance. The grain of the Ukraine, too Smolensk and 300 miles from the Russian capital. green to burn a fortnight ago, is now almost ripe Before the campaign started, the Germans were and this will allow the Russians, if the Germans known to have massed nearly half their forces in do get through, to implement Stalins policy of this centre sector, indicating the vital importance the scorched earth, and burn the crops. This in they attached to a quick break-through towards itself would be a heavy blow to Hitler, who has Moscow. The battle thatis now raging with large counted on the grain of the Ukraine as one of the forces of Russians being employed in furious substantial gains to offset the cost of the cam- counter-attacks may decide the fate of Moscow, though not necessarily the fate of Russia. paign. RUSSIAN AIR FORCE FIGHTING I NORTHERN ACTIVE SECTOR HE lack of spectacular advances by the Ger¬ mans may be attributed largely to the fact NURTHER north, the Germans seem to be mak- that the Russian Air Force, far from being crip- -ing slow progress around the southern end pled in the frst week of the war, as the Germans of Lake Peipus towards Leningrad. The Ger- claimed, is still a potent factor in the operations. mans have been in the vicinity of Pskov and Ost- The Russians' latest fghter, which is compar- rov on this sector for about a week and their able in performance with the British Spitfre, is claims to the effect that the operations are pro¬

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