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
Fri Ap. 7
il 7th to Ap 26
Original DIARY No.42 
AWM 38 3DRL 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
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 lin
Maj C Morley 2 Field 501
Amb.. 
[*Treport*] 3 F Am Col Butler
65
5 Bde.
Lieut Bretherton
792
6 Bde. Capt R A
Norman
35 23
Lt L J Walker 2 Div Arty 15
Lt H Cook 2 Div Train 619
NZ&A Divn. 1 NZ FA Bde 353 Capt Harvey
2nd FA Bde 225 Lieut L
Lewin
4 FA Bde Lieut H Milne 101
1st NZ Inf Bde - Lieut Falconer 1592
NZ Div Units Capt. Skelsey
2 Field Coy NZ E. 1931
2 Aug. 9
3    42   1916 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 (M'Cays) & Gen. Irvings Brigade 
which came to disaster
on this march.*]
Yesterday Barton Somerville told us of the 
march of the 4^th 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 tt 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 as 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 Serapeium 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
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 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
sanniy 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