Charles E W Bean, Diaries, AWM38 3DRL 606/42/1 - April 1916 - Part 1

AWM38
Official History,
1914-18 War: Records

 of C E W Bean,
Official Historian.
Diaries and Notebooks
Item number: 3DRL606/42/1
Title: Diary, April 1916
Includes references to the 4th Division march to
Serapeum and Sir Brudenell White's account of
the Gallipoli evacuation.
AWM38-3DRL606/42/1

1916

2
Frid Ap. 7

il 7th to Ap 26

Original  DIARY No.42
AWM 38  3DRL606  ITEM 42 [1]
DIARIES AND NOTES OF C.E.W.BEAN CONCERNING THE WAR OF 1914 - 1918
The use of these diaries and notes is subject to conditions laid down in the terms of gift to the Australian War memorial. But apart from these terms, I wish the following circumstances and considerations to be brought to the notice of every reader and writer who may use them.These writings represent only what at the moment of  making them I believed to be true. The diaries were jotted down almost daily with the object of recording what was then in the writer's 8mind. Often he wrote them when very tired and half-asleep  also, not infrequently whathe believed to be true was not so -but it does not allow that he always discovered this, or remembered to correct the mistakes when discovered. Indeed, he could not always remember that he had written them.These records should therefore, be used with great caution, as relating only what their author, at the time of writing believed. Further, he cannot, of course vouch for the accuracy of statements made to him by others and here recorded. But he did try to ensure such accuracy by consulting, as far as possible, those who had seen or otherwise taken part in the events. The constant falsity of second-hand evidence (on which a large proportion of war stories are founded) was impressed upon him by the second or third day of the Gallipoli campaign, not withstanding that those who passed 

on such stories usually themselves believed them to be true. All second-hand evidence 

herein should be read with this in mind.

16 Sep., 1946.              C.E.W. BEAN 

AUSTRALIAN  WAR MEMORIAL

ACCESS STATUS

OPEN                                                                                                                           

1
1 Bde 1399

2  -     1582
         4606?

Arty 976

Div [[?]]
Maj C Mosley 2 Field Aust. 501

3  F Am Col Butler

65

5 Bde.

Lieut Bretherton 79 [shorthand]

6 Bde. Capt R A 

Norman 35 23

Lt L J Walker 2 Div Arty 15

L^t H Cook 2 Div Train 619

NZ&A Divn. 1 NZ&A Bde 353 Capt Harvey 

2nd FA Bde 225 Lieut L Lewin

4 F A Bde Lieut H Milne 101

1st NZ Inf Bde - Lieut Falconer 1592

NZ Div [[?]] Capt. Skelsey

2 Field Coy NZ E. 1931 

2 Aug. 9

[8 Treport*]

42   2

Frid Ap 7
Friday April 7^th. to Ap 26

Train for - I dont know 

where yet. Probably Ross & myself 

will be landed at G.H.Q.; but we 

want to go on as / divisions 
wh are up near / Canadians

By / bye, / officials at Marseilles 

told Austin (who is a British officer)

tt / two Australian Divisions 
had caused less trouble in going 

through there than any divisions 

they had seen.
A great deal of railway 

bldg is going on all along this

line.  We passed one French
Regiment - not at all unlike 

our own Australian troops in 

some ways - biggish fellows 

all in grey-blue - singing. 

They waved to us in / same 

light-hearted way tt our chaps

3
[*^x It turned out to be the 5^th 

Divn (McCays) & Gen. Irvings Brigade 

which came to disaster 

on this march.*]
Yesterday Barton Somerville told us of the 

march of the 4th Divn  from Tel el Kebir

to Serapeium. The 4th Divn has a  

British commander, Genl. Cox,^X who 

chose an all English staff. And 

they decided to march the Divn 

to Serapeium in 3 days - 15 miles, 15 miles, 

8 miles - 38 in all. I had heard before 

I left it was a mad thing to attempt.
Somerville brings news o / result. It

ws like a retreat from Moscow. They 
started at 8 a.m. on a boiling hot day
- & managed 12 miles; General very 
disappointed said "Well do 18
Very well - you must 

do 18 tomorrow."  They did 12 the 

second day. The 3rd day they began 

to struggle on to Serapeum. Of 130 engineers

& 8 officers in one Coy 20 men & 2 officers 

arrived - & one of those officers,  
little Sturdee, who is one of / best 

3       4

have. The French are tremendously 

confident about

Verdun & whole hearted in 

/ war.
The train is taking us through 

curious back lines - Beauvais, 

Gamache,  Marais et Ponts, Eu down 

a little river valley towards Treport. 
Goodness knows where we go from 

there - Abbeville, I expect.

Travelling in France is quite 

different from elsewhere. A big

hand takes Elsewhere you 

still look up your timetable & 
map out your route. But 

here a great hand takes hold 

of you & you simply have to

 trust it. It takes you up &
puts you down & you dont 

have to use your brains in 

the process at all. British 

policemen meet you on the 

rly stns & show you / way

5 Just now saw a 

mounted British patrol -back of the

3rd Army, I expect.

Further back a ^string of French transpt trains on 

a road.

men in Egypt collapsed when he 

got in although he had been marching 

light. The 4^th Divn, its baggage & 

equipment was strung out along / 

heavy desert sand from Tel el Kebir

to Serapeuim like a routed army.

Where battalions started platoons 

were arriving.^X 
[^xWe learnt later, of course, that it was 

not the English staff of 4 Div, but the 

Bde staff in 5 Div, wh was responsible].

3      6 

& see to your luggage & tell you 

what trains you have to catch.

All your thinking is done for y

ou.  G.H.Q. does it. Does it

very badly sometimes but 

does it all / same. You 

mustn't use your brains at

all - you wd get in someone 

else's  way if you did. 
Here's Le Treport - houses 

overlooking / sea - 4 hrs 
from England - the big cliffs north o / 

town; a crowd of little old shipping 

in / harbour w a couple of 

old steamer full rigged 

steamers like Antarctic ships.

Part o / crowd gets out &
we're off again for Abbeville
- in / reverse directn - 

within 10 minutes, in / same 

carriage. I suppose we have 

to go / same way as / 

war traffic - so they just slip

3       7 

us by a side line to / sea coast

& then back along / main 

routes to / front.

More soldiers now - French 

field artillery - an old Brewery 

stables or something full of their horses &

/ men in / same uniforms 

in wh they fought in 1870. The

French Army doesnt seem to 

change its uniform whenever

a General gets a new idea 

about / smartest shape for a 

waist.

Maj. Butler & I went to a 

Cinema last night - the Tivoli,

Place de la Republique. They gave 

the History of the Freedom of Belgium

- a rather long & somewhat 

svvxx monotonous account (in 

pictures) o / way in wh Belgium 

turned out / Dutch in 1824.

The audience seemed to me

8 

We were a bit very late & when 

we asked if we cd pay they 

simply showed us in & 

wd take no money

3        9 
extraordinarily serious in it

all. They ended with a 

few scenes from / present 

war - the burning of a 

couple of Belgian towns

- pictures of ruins, & ^one of Belgian 

troops & guns hurrying to /

war. An English or Australian 

audience wdn't have sat through

it. But these people - a thousand 

of them, sat there in deep 

silence - rising to the points.

And clapping hard when King 

Albert & Edith Cavell were 

thrown on / scene. An English 

or Australian audience 

wdn't have stood it for 

five minutes.
After we came away I 

heard someone say Good night.

It ws two women & a boy 

who were going homewards.  The 

elder woman said "Je suis

3      10
Belge, M'sieu," & asked us 

when / war wd end. I sd "in
October." "I would embrace you 

if I thought it were true," sd /

little woman.

Paris is quite dull of 

nights. Some o them went to /

Folies Bergères - but everything 

closes at 11 now, & the 

restaurants at 8.30. We had

a Cooks guide to show us 

round / city today. When we 

asked for a restaurant where

/ lawyers go, or / artists, 

he sd. "There are no more 

any artists, M'sieu, nor 

any lawyers."

We were all respectably 

in bed before 11.30 or 12.

---

The women are working in 

/ fields here - women & old men

3      11
(Any young men who 

are abt seem to have white 

armlets.) Everywhere you 

see these strong determined 

looking people. By God, I

am pleased with these 

French! One get more 

confidence every day one

sees them - Their determinatn  

is admirable. I shd say 

there ws not / least chance 

of the Germans getting thro'. 

The Germans have bumped 

into a democracy - a 
democracy w its whole 

heart in / war - and tt 

is why / French are so terrible.

Sat Ap.8. We arrived at Calais 

a little after dark & the railway 

transport officer, who knew we

12
1st Bde Morris

2nd Bailleul 

3rd Straeziel 

5 (at Wallen

6 ( Behind us but 

7 ( going in today 

to Armentieres - a 

quiet part o / line.

Canadians just moved 

off N. to fill / trenches 

taken by / Fusiliers

at Ypres.

3      13

were coming, told us to stop 

there for the night. There were no 

porters, but the three brigadier 

generals and a colonel or two 

after taking about 10 minutes to 

make up their mind where 

they were going to stay, piled 

their luggage on a trolley &

began wheeling it off towards 

the station hotel - crossing the 

line it stuck & ^as everybody started 

tackling it in his own way & all 

talking at once it was about

5 minutes before they got a 

move on. An Army Corps 

staff on the move may be very 

excellent at moving 40000 troops.

But it is like a family of 

great-aunts when it comes to  

move itself. 

We younger ones went off

to a hotel in the town - where