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
AUSTRALIAN
 WAR MEMORIAL    
RCDIG1066746
 

  
Original  
DIARY 
No.42
AWM 38  
3 DRL
 606  
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 
mind. Often he

 wrote them 
when very tired 
and half-asleep;
also, not 
infrequently what
 he 
believed to be 
true was 

not so -

 but it 
does not
follow that he 
always discovered
 this, or remembered
 to correct the 
mistakes when
discovered. 
Indeed, he could 

not always remember
 that he had written 
hem.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
with
standing 

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 Bre Thirton
792
6 Bde. Capt R A
Norman 
3523
L^t L J Walker 2 Div Arty 15
L^t H Cook 2 Div Train 619
N Z & A Divn. 1 N Z F A Bde 353 Capt Harvey
2nd F A Bde 225 Lieut L Lewin
4 F A Bde Lieut A Milne 101
1st N Z Inf Bde - Lieut Falconer 1592
N Z Div levels Capt. Skelsey
2 Field Coy N Z E. 1931
2 Anz. 91

3 (43
1916
Frid Ap 7
2Friday 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 o / divisions
wh are up near / Canadians
 By / bye, / officials at [[Marsailles?]]
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 the 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 
Serapeum 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 we'll 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 / 30 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 
& / 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

[^X We 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
you. 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 is a couple of
old steamer full rigged
steamers like antarctic ships.
 

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

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 [[?]]
 

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
was - 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 - [[?]] 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, [[?]], nor
any lawyers."
We were all respectively
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 gets more
confidence every day on
sees them - Their determination
is admirable. I shd say
there ws not / least chance
of the Germans getting thro'.
The Germans have bumped 
into 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 Straezeel

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