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

3  25

S. of Armentieres to get a little 

experience of the trenches in 

this country. The 2nd Divn

moves in first - they began to 

go in yesterday in trenches 

occupied by the "Bantams".

McConaghy sd  tt the Bantams 

went into trenches wh / guards 

had held before them & had 

to level up the banqueltes

two feet; this week, three of  

our people going round / 

trenches of the Bantams to see 

/ ground, were sniped as 

their heads stuck over / 

parapet.

The corps wont be   

formed, probly, till the 20th. 

N.Z. are going into reserve.

2nd Divn has bn at Walten.

We reached our small

3  26

house & Churchill asked /

land lady if she had room.

"But yes, for officers," she sd. 

Officers gave less trouble & left the 

house in better condition - men 

were apt to break things.

There ws plenty of room in 

/ house -"my husband ws 

killed in Arfonne, Msieu"

she  sd - "for fifteen years 

adjutant, & ^just promoted to 

officer on the field of battle."

"Its the same I find 

everywhere," Churchill sd. 

"'Yes theres room - there's 

' the room of my son - killed 

'at Verdun - of my husband, 

' killed four months ago"... They 

tell you the same everywhere.

There was a long narrow 

table covered w ail s American 

leather, & a small neat 

cooking stove in / front

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room. One bedroom led off it,

& / other ws upstairs.  There

was a washstand in the 

front room - clearly the living

room, neat with an old tiled

floor.

Our landlady is a good mother,

I shd say, of her two sons - & they

seem good boys - Jacques Celestine

Eudot, & Marcelle Eudot.  Little

Marcelle is very shy; Jacques

is 16 ½ & just approaching

military age.  Their whole career

has been turned upside down by

/ loss of their father.  Jaques

was to have gone to an English

family to learn English & they 

wd have had a young

Englishman here in exchange.

The father went off to / war in 

August - an adjutant as he

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went up / street he did not

weep - he told them - "it is for

you, my children, that I'm

fighting that there may be no more

wars" - (& so it really was).

After he had gone the Prussians

came - & stories of what they 

were doing, Eudot had been a 

child in 1870 - but his brother

in law, who had seen, had told

them all that / Prussians did

"you were only 2" he sd -

"but I, I was six & I remember".

Eudot was a forester in the 

state forests & very fond of shooting 

-he wd bring fifteen twenty

rabbits every day.  The

rabbits destroyed the woods &

so the Govt let the foresters

shoot them - 15 rabbits a day

& Madame could sell them for

a franc - sometimes one franc

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fifty - yes they couldnt get enough

and the the for The Govt let him

have wood, & cows beside - 

yes. he employed many men.

But When the Germans ^were coming

she knew what to do - she

hid the shot guns, & the old

rifles & swords - relics of 

the Crimea & of her husbands

service in garrison towns on

the Oise - the Germans wd

have killed her if they had

found them; yes, he had

always told her - if the

Germans come, flee, thyself

& the children; whatever you 

do, flee - because his brother in

law had told him.

And then one day the 

German cavalry appeared

at the station - five of them

they came in & inquired if

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the English had been there; & went

away again -

& they say tt they shot two porters;

& there was a German cavalry

patrol in the village - & a

Great trooper whose casque hand knocked

against the door as he came

in, came & asked the widow

Charnot if the English were

there & fort (which he knew

better than she) & fortunately

she answered / truth for he

wd certainly have shot her

otherwise - tt there was quite 

a number of German cavalry

at Aubequerque - only a

few kilometres away - and 

fortunately the English cavalry 

came. Oh that saved us

all  M'sieu -  what shd I have 

done if they had cut off

the hands of my little

Marcelle there - as they did

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everywhere - yes everywhere!

And then came the English & we had 

a sergeant billeted here - yes he

became lieutenant in the corps

of aviation - & then an English

M'sieu ∧who was here for 4 months - a M'sieu very rich

 - a Msieu Bras. Ah, his poor 

father, he too has had great

sorrow - two sons killed - this

Msieu Bras killed at Ypres & his 

brother - a corporal - also in the 

British army.  And then we

had a young Scotch Officer -

[[wounded]]

My husband wrote all the

days a letter to his famiy - 

to his brother in Paris - And then

[*1915*] in February 1914 for three days

no letters arrived.  So his brother

wrote to his commanding officer

& there was the reply Msieu

 - there it is - our grand

misfortune.  He had written to us

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before, telling us that they were

 to attack in two hours - he

had had a good dejeuner & he

was lying down smoking his

pipe behind the trenches.

They tell me that he was killed

only a few yards from the

German trench.

I do not know what I 

shall do after the war - my

country is all devastated -

I was from the Champagne Msieu - 

my relations are there - with

their beautiful farms - but I do 

not know if they are there

any more.  We cannot hear

of them, of course.  We know

that my father is dead - he was 

an old man & I think he

was killed by the shock.  My

sisters son was taken prisoner &

so we wrote to him - he has the

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right to correspond with those in 

the invaded country.  So we

wrote to him to find out how

our relations were - and

after a while we had back

this answer - "father dead ...

& some other things M'sieu.   Oh

they are terrible, the losses.  All the 

richest people in France, the

wool manufacturers ∧& mine owners that we

knew at these places Landrecies,

St Quensoy - all the places

where for 15 yrs my husband

was in the Garrison - they

are all as poor as the stone of 

Paris - living high up in the top

stories.

And we  - I trust in the

Good God - but after this war this

house will be ours no more - there

are persons already after my 

husbands post - & the forest is

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no longer - it is all in the trenches - 

a beautiful forest & of great value

for the state.  Not for 15 years can 

it be fit to labour in again.  There 

is plenty of work for all the

people in the village today - they

are all well pleased - but after

the war - the foret is no more &

they are all foresters ..."

Lille was the great centre

for all these people around here.

The older boys school certificate 

came from Lille.  The roads

are all marked 'to Lille'.  But no 

one here now knows the condition

of Lille.

This night, walking home 

we could see quite clearly the 

flashes of the shells from the

big guns in the direction of

Armentieres & Plug Street.