Charles E W Bean, Diaries, AWM38 3DRL 606/36/1 - December 1915 - January 1916 - Part 4

29

They used to have names of
units but I believe this gave
too good a chance to spies.

France many thank her
stars for her stone cobbled roads.
No other roads wd even look
at this traffic in this weather.

Every here & there were a 
couple of policemen riding up
& down controlling the road - 
as our police used to do in 
Cairo. Presently abt 10 miles
or more up we noticed tt
these police were Canadians
in their straight brimmed
hats A - so evidently /
Canadian Corps extended 
its hinterland back as far
as this.

Passing through C - 
we came up a big hill from
wh we shd have seen / whole
line from / sea to abt Armentieres.

(At Cassel) →
Bright featured Canadians - 
pretty formal in saluting
V. quiet
No loopholes exc. one
Trenches always falling in
Revetted w wire & posts
Some pt - iron & wood
Paved to walk on.
Trenches low - Germ.
Wire on hill top.
Sometimes a few
bags. Can beat
them utterly sniping & 
patrolling but Gs are
better at mining. [[? At Amiens]]
they blew our RE officers
sders 48 hrs away.
Bn H.Q. far behind 
lines in house.
[Shorthand]

[*One of 6 misty
days on wh 
nothing doing.
---
1st day
dugouts
of French*]

30
but / fog ws too thick.
Coming down / hill Thomas
showed me a shell hole - a big
one - they are almost all
ponds here.  It was a 
shell from a big gun
miles upon miles ∧- possibly 20 - away.
They threw abt 6 at 
the place bec. it had a
H.Q. of / Signallers. Sheer
waste of money.

Then we reached an aged
town w an aged Mayors House
----

Steel helmets. Gs. have them too. 
Trenches cant in any way
compare to Anzac ones.
Germans o. quiet.
Minenwerfer gf thing [shorthand]
very lightly held (2 Coys in firing line).
Bn HQ in Dugouts made fairly [shorthand]
w straw.  Men all cheerful not 
quite physique of Australians
Our H.Q. easier to spot than here.
German planes dont fly

Jan. 18. Caestre, Armentieres.
Arm. being shelled by some
distant gun, sd to be in Lille.

Houses very many of them 
broken in - shell seems to do
far more in city than amongst
dugouts. Our guns in cities &
Germans also - wonder why
(e.g. in Ypres where Germans
shell chiefly one main road).
We found 21 Div. H.Q. in
beautiful house - ∧(Armentieres)^X [2 Corps &
Can. Corps in another town - ]
Army behind them] went on 
from them to 64 Bde H.Q.
Maj. Wedderburn took us to
Houplines - As getting out of 
Arm. into Houplines we were 

31
as much as ours & they dont
use artillery so much; their anti-
aircraft guns are far more effective
than ours.
-----
[*(^x Afterwds smashed up & an officer
- I think Col. Daniels - killed.
C.E.W.B.
14/5/1925)*]

It was civilian killed by shell. We
waited - few seconds later w
crash like tt of our 6 in howitzers
big shell exploded. [It ws 8.2 -
dont know from where but
they say Lille & it ws searching
for some guns round / corner.]
We waited till quiet some
time - then went on - found
road covered w debris.

Left car - Later same gun
restarted.  Went down v.
shallow Commn. trench

[sketch] revetted w wire & W frames
- splendid idea these.

32
stopped by man soldier at roadside.
Don't go there, he sd. they've
just bn chucking them there. I
looked along rd - there ws a
woman running down it
towards / end. On / side of
it was lying something wrapped in
a blanket.

33
Trenches were well floored
w wood & iron wire over it.
Very low parapet but Germans
hardly fire at all - cd put
head up even where distance
only 50 yds at salient.

Surprise attacks here
absolutely negated by wire -
cant be undertaken till wire
blown up. Our guns (4 special
batteries to brigade) do this
often w H.E.  Our guns
much more active than
Germans. One German
gun was throwing 4 in shrap.
into front trench to our left
- always at same point.
Big gun ws still straffing
Houplines. We went met
young Engineer who had gone
w party to German trenches
2 wks ago - after bombardmt

34
previous afternoon - moonlight
night. Killed abt 20 Germans
took 100 yds of trench & 2 prisoners
& came back - Obj. to find out
what Germs. were doing.
Germ. trenches were much like
ours but revetted w hurdles &
wires. Worst of tt is tt if wires
are burst by shellfire hurdle 
comes down.

These trenches always have 
to be revetted.

V. little mining can go
on owing to water.

They dont have to
constantly filch ground as we
did - we did on both sides,
Germans Turks to drive us over
cliff edge - we to increase 
our depth.

Our line ws far more
strongly held & we cdnt

35
empty our front trenches
.^.. v. good job we didnt
have bombardment like
the heavy ones here.

Only thing to do during
heavy bombt. is to leave
front line - both sides
accept tt now - lightly
held during day, heavily at night. Therefore
our trenches came much 
closer together - we fought
more w jam tin bombs
- they never use theirs.

[Germans have new fast
Fokker planes wh are
troublesome].

On getting back we
found 8 in gun ws still
shelling regularly - our
car was not through to 
Houplines. So we went
to bn H.Q. & were guided

36
back by canal. Even here
bits of debris or casing from
the 8 in gun fell quite close behind
us into water.

Tension in firing line is
nothing like so great here as
in Gallipoli - & v. little sniping.
But German shells seem to
contain higher explos.;
guns on whole seem bigger,
shell holes more numerous.
Effect of shells in town noisy but not great.
Lines not so close as w us -
hand bombs not much used - 
mostly rifle grenades.
Lunch w Gen.
& on way back met Sir
John Ferguson at Corps
H.Q.

Strained look on faces of French
women - looking out doors quite
close to shells. Children playing walking abt
French soldier walking thro town w
wife & child - [children sometimes

37
(I have identity disc round wrist)

Ideas as to pushing thro
not hopeful
-----
Jan. 20^th.  Teashop at Bethune where men
got tea after battle - girl serving them.
Hatred of nations much more
evident here than at Gallipoli.
But no one believes in atrocity [[accnts?]]
Some men will marry French
girls.
-----

[Sketch map - see original scan]

38
Deadly persistence of Germans after
those two guards ws something I never
saw in Gallipoli - They fired all day at
them.

Guns in sham haystacks - in shells
of houses - something I never saw in 
Gallipoli - much better concealed here.

39
German wire -  much the same as
in Gallipoli.

German trenches certainly not
more in number - probly not so
many & not so thickly held. 

Germ. front line v. weakly 
held.

German vigilance not greater
that tt of Turks except
artillery - Artillery wonderfully
accurate - (Turks on beach
abt as accurate - T 6 in
gun on Steeles Point wh practically
never missed).

Work in Gallipolli harder,
esp. carrying food & water up
hills.

Relief here 7 days in 7 days out
1 divn in 3 always out. Nothing
like this in Gallipolli. We 
have upper hand in patrolling
here - as Turks do.

40
[*[The English was correspts who greatly
admire Gullett (and he them) told me this 
CEWB 22/1/24]*]

Gullett went out in front of our
wire one night w sniper into
crater & stayed there whole night.
-----
N3.  When writing up evacuation
of Anzac & Suvla remember 
the precautions taken in way of
arranging separate routes, rehearsing
them etc., also padding feet, tying up
scabbards - sending in blankets &
packs (some of Ryrie's men left blankets
behind). Also extreme importance of
working to timetable.

I see the Press Bureau wh has 
ruled out all our mention by us o /
ruse of firing a rifle by burning a
string, has let some RAMC
chap blab it out.

-----
The trenches in France & Flanders
are not as a rule approached thro'
/ sort of desolation we used to have
behind them in Gallipolli. They are
in green fields w / grass
growing round them; or they run

[*Also remember Aug 6 that men e.g. Womack of 1 L.H.R.
refused to go sick because they knew the attack ws coming -
our great hearted boys.*]

41

through mining towns bending
sharp round / corner of red roofed
workmen's cottages - across / street - 
& out into / allotment gardens. They
run along / roadside & you dont
realise there is a road there at all
until you look down on it from
some neighbouring hill. The
German trench on / top o /
next slope looks very much
what / Turkish trench used
to look like - a low embankment,
an occasional sandbag, the 
butts of the stakes in the
entanglement standing out agst
/ sky - But we are not always
pushing to close quarters here.
Why should we? A mile or two
more or less makes v
little difference.

Frid. Jan 21.
Motored this
morning tho' bitter

42

driving wind to Boulogne
(passing Field of Cloth of Gold)
with Phillips & Beach Thomas.
The boat ws crowded w officers
& men coming on leave. It
ws very rough, spray driving
clean over / boat. I ws
driven down to shelter in /
saloon gangway & looked down
from there on a picture of
figures French & British -
stretched picturesquely on /
floor o / lobby outside / saloon;
on one side an officer ws half a
dozen ribbons across his
chest lay hugging his basin
- opposite him ws a sub
doing / same. Agst / door
ws propped a noncom of some
cavalry regt w a lifebelt
around him - A corporal 
of infantry ws sleeping w his 
head on / top step o / gangway