Charles E W Bean, Diaries, AWM38 3DRL 606/278/1 - Folder - Part 3

8 Aug 1918

"A" Battery RHA (The Chestnut Troop)

(16th Army Bde RHA)

Bty.

Private diary

Limbered up at 8.28 a.m. & were the first away through Hamel.

Mist thick. Groped along. Turned Turned to left

outside village, then to right down main Cerisy road.

"Here we found Aust Engineers repairing the road at

a wonderful speed, filling in s/holes etc, & a man.

stationed at each awkward place telling us

the map reference and the news."

Turned to right, down steep valley leading to

Bois Arquaire and Tailloux. Progress slow

but arrived at rendezvous with "U" Bty

Huggins "Huggins & myself" rode forward 

& found ^ 46th Bn ^ Pleased to see us. All going
well & only one anti tank gun firing in area.
On returning to bty, found "Q" Bty had gone on.
Ordered into action but cd not shoot owing poor

visibility. "We were convinced that with

Australian infantry we might have been alld. to go on, each

bty on its own." Did nothing till 9 a.m. then

limbered up & advanced to join "Q" one mile further on
[*a hun o. p.
finding &

materials all
left behind, got
a v. good periscope

wh we used to / end
o / war.*]

Patrols sent fwd to keep with infy to keep in touch.

Patrols were sent forwd with our Infy to keep in t. We occupied

Very little firing was done, as it was too risky, 

"but a Digger who had captured a Pip Squeak" was

2

firing it for luck into the blue."

9.45 a.m allowed to take one section (left) on.

The left I rode on & got in touch with 48 Bn.

who were collecting themselves in / gully S. of Morcourt for

their final advance to Blue Line.

Huggins came into action just N. of Valerie Wd

The Light ^ was now better but ^ there were no favble targets.
[*& a long line had
to be run out to
an O.P.*]

As Germans Hun infy were all surrendering & any fit Germs wh

had escaped capture had got away in / mist . . . .

I saw Saw German a Hun gun firing in / open and cantered back

for a gun to take it on but found an Australian

bty was doing so, "in fact they were ahead of us

all day in that respect, x having started

by attaching one section RFA to each attacking

battalion." The remaining guns came in later betw

Q & V & we dug in & camouflaged & laid out lines on
[*Proyart Ch.
water ws a
diffcty for

our teams
wh were
now in
Hazel Wood

as we were
overlooked by
Chipy Ridge. . . .

At 2pm the O.P.

pty went forwd.

past / steep ridge

of Morct. . . .*]

After sharing some ^ German cake & cherry brandy with a

Digger "we went on to bn HQ." The Digger Colonel

was awfully pleased ^ with life as they had got their objective with

little loss.  He said tt there were still parties of Huns

in S/Points and what the "Boys" really wanted was a one tank

& they cd do the lot in xx. I promised I would do what I

could, I xx ^ and wd send them a liaison officer and phone. On my way home, met a I came across a lieut colonel of tanks

gave him / map ref. of 48 Bn HQ. & He said he would do what he

cd but tt his men were dead beat after their long 

day.

Vereker went up as Liaison Officer and the

3

Bde ran my O.P. wire up to 48 Bn HQ.

"It had been a topping day, but we did not

feel that altogether we had pulled our

weight, and the Diggers were always

allowed to get ahead of us".

The staff work, timing, & roadworks in

connection w / day was perfect.

Before Vereker

8 Aug

3 Div Arty

A Sub Group.   (Lt Col L.T. Raikes)

23 Army Bde RFA

189  "         "         "

12    "          "      AFA.

B Sub Group   (Lt Col G H M King)

7 AFA Bde   (Lt Col King)

8   "      "         (Lt Col W G Allsop)

3 Army Bde AFA (Lt Col G I Stevenson)

C Sub Group  (Lt Col T M Archdale)

16 Bde RHA

10 AFA Bde

11 AFA Bde

Emplacement had presented diffy owing to deep ravines and because

Vaire Wd masked the fire of guns over considerable area. Guns had therefore to be emplaced

farther back as at short ranges the trajectory would not have cleared tanks going
over ridge in front. Posns. were nearly all in open under direct

observn from spur Malard Wd - Sailly Laurette, at average range 5000-6000 yds

Mostly among the crops.

At zero + 2 hours 20 mins C Sub Group advanced in

close support of infy.

At zero + 4 hrs B Sub Group advanced as defensive arty

At C Sub Group became Corps Reserve

3 Div Arty

Trench Mortars

6" T/Ms sited as close as poss to front line. 12 of them.

Fired 400 rds during barrage. Then ordered forward

to man captd German guns. — 300-400 rds fired

from these guns at enemy.

7 FA Bde      8 Aug

Barrage finished 8.20. Bde moved forward.

9000 rds 18 pdr shell }

2000 rds 4.5 how  "    } expended during barrage

Enemy retaliation very weak.

8.20 Bde cdr & staff went fwd to reconnoitre. At Q 7c 22

met C.O. 10 FA Bde & inform obtd that one of his btys was pushing

forward to vicinity of Forbes Wd. Then 7 ^ FA Bde C.O. went

& reconnoitred Green Line & Valley in Q14d.

Returning to bde rendezvous it was noticed that 

16th Bde RHA were still in action in Q19c

Efforts made to find staff HQ of 16 Bde RHA & 4 Aust Inf

Bde but without avail.

25 Bty ordered to Q14d

26, 27, 107 Btys to Q13d & Q19b

Movement complete by 11 a.m. HQ at P18d72

Shortly after 4 Inf Bde HQ located.

26, 27 & 107 Btys then ordered forward to Q14d

in succession. Bde finally settled down, under

orders of 16 Bde RHA., covering 4 Inf Bde

25 Bty  Q20b13 20

26 Bty  Q15c26 82

27 Bty  Q20b20 30

107 How Bty Q14d70 25

During move forward Hamelet Cerisy Rd shelled ^ at intervals by 4.2 gun

2

7 AFA Bde     8 Aug

8 Aug (contd)

Enemy guns firing from Chipilly and Malard Wd caused

considble damage to btys.

Night passed quietly.

9 Aug Relieved 10 am by 23 Army Bde RFA.

10 Aug 5pm. Marched out from waggon lines to relieve 10 FA Bde.

Relief completed ^ abt 9p.m.

25 Bty Q22d44

26 Bty  Q16c35 80

27 Bty Q22a05 70

107 How Bty  Q21b75 45

Bde HQ (with 11 Inf Bde HQ) at P16a45 45.

7 & 8 FA Bdes now formed left group (under Lt Col GHM King)

No firing during night

Enemy arty very active. One gun 107 Bty put out of action.

Enemy planes "      "

11 Aug  Btys spent quiet day.

8.30pm put down barrage for 11 Inf Bde attack.

between Mericourt & Somme.

12 Aug  Btys relieved at night by 17 Div Arty. 

8 FA Bde

8 Aug. 8.20am limbered up & advanced to near Morcourt

abt Q14a. Had to take river roads

Came under direct observation from Malard Wd but

fortunately Germs, although they opened fire, "really

failed to take full advantage of the opptys presented."

Became a subgroup under 10 FA Bde

All btys arrived in good time. Bde HQ at

Q 7a 32 (dugout).

German guns fired into them from left rear.

9 Aug Relieved by 12 AFA Bde 1 pm.

10 Aug Orders recd to relieve 11 FA Bde by 6 pm.

in Suzanne Wd area abt Q 21 22

Night bombing bad. 108 How Bty suffered 26 casualties

among horses during night

Gunners fired about 1000 shells from

captured German guns near by.

11 Aug xxxx two btys supported attack on Cateaux Wd

12 Aug  Relieved by 17 Div Arty 8.30pm

Aug. 8

5 Div Arty.

Orders of 6 Aug.

additional brigades attached to 5 Div Arty

14th Army Bde RFA  to cover 8 ^ Inf Bde advance

4th and 5th AFA Bdes to cover 15 ^ Infy Bde.

6 Aust (Army) FA Bde after completion of their

task will cover advance of 8

task with 14 Inf Bde will cover advance of

8 Bde.

The ^ three 15 pdr Anti tank guns were manned by

personnel from 2^nd D.A.C

Two allotted to ^ front of 8 Inf Bde

One       "          "           "     15 Inf Bde

On 9 Aug. two of these were

located at Q 36 a 40 80

Q 36 a 40 40.
[*5D*]

5 Div Arty   8 Aug

5 Div Arty HQ, W. of V/Bret during operns 8-11 Aug

8 Aug.

5 Div. covered by 13 & 14 AFA Bdes

4 & 5     "       "

6th (Army) Bde AFA.

71^st Bty RGA

14 (Army) Bde RFA.

Prior to zero btys were subjected to fairly heavy

shelling — Among the casualties was Major N.L. Dreyer

Casualties 13 FA Bde  1 officer killed

C.O. 114 How Bty, killed.

Barrage rolled back to depth of just over 4000 yds.

Hostile shell fire during barrage practically nil.

From Green Line onwards 14 FA Bde allotted to 15 Inf Bde

 "                "                    "          13    "              "           "   8 Inf Bde

Lt JJR Punch with a section of 53 Bty} moved forward in

Lt K.H Jones         "       "                51 Bty } close support of infy
allotted for 2nd & 3rd
objectives.

Right Section

Prior to Punch's section moving off at 6.43 a.m. an aeroplane dropped 3

bombs among teams, killing 4 & wounding 6 ^ men, and killing or wounding

16 horses. These casualties immed. replaced. Section moved

forward without delay & folld on abt 500 yds behind infy.

As the tanks & cavalry got ahead ^ of infy it was found necy to bring the

sections to within 100 yds of infy as it was ^ otherwise difficult to keep in touch with enemy.

Except for m/gun fire from Guillaucourt, which was soon silenced by a tank,

the tanks and cavalry met no resistance until they reached the S. of Harbonnieres

when enemy opened point blank m/g fire from the road running N. from the

rly bridge at W 23 b 80,00. This checked cavalry. The

m/g fire was silenced by time shrapnel fired over open sights at