Charles E W Bean, Diaries, AWM38 3DRL 606/42/1 - April 1916 - Part 6

3     55

to Anzac by this days boat, so

I'm afraid the request has been

again turned down.

All leave has been 

suddenly stopped. Todays boat

was full of officers recalled

from England - generals,

all sorts.

Old Jock is doing a great

work in London. He is running

his venereal diseases hospital

on such lines as not to make

the fellows there feel outcast.

Heseltine, for example, has

given him £20 to spend on

the place, & 5/- per week

for flowers. Jock makes

3     56

it an object to have

concerts regularly, & to

get in friends - our own

cousins for example -

to be present - or to help.

The place was taken over

from the Salvation Army,

& one of them (whom I

only knew as Mac)

remained as chaplain

 - & he is splendid. Jock

is specialising in treatment,

(probably will take it up

as the most useful work

he can do after the xxx war -

3     57

The authorities at Harefield

noticed tt cases treated

at J's hospital did not

recur - & that those at 

other places did - &

a report ws made on this

& the Harefield authorities

came down to investigate.

They fo The result is

that medical men

from Harefield now

come up to Great Peter 

St. (J's hospital) for

training.

Had dinner at St Omer. Motor

met us at Hazebrouck. Delivered my

Anzac Book - first copy - to staff

58

Diagram - see original document

3     59

at the Chateau - who promptly

devoured it.

Ap. 19. Wednesday.

There is a conference at the

Chateau xxxxxx every morning x.

All the staff gathers, apparently -

& it is very soon over. After it

they split up for / work o / day;

& Gen. Curliffe Owen motored

Ross & myself to 1^st Div. H.Q.

at Sailly. They are just moving

in there - today - to relieve the

Bantams (35 Divn. Second Divn

relieved the 34^th & has 3 bdes in

the line. So xxxx has 35^th.  35^th

are now moving out one Bde,

& 2nd Austln Divn another

(6^th Bde) so as to have 2, each, in /

out at line & one in reserve.
Diagram - see original document

3     60

The 5^th ? Divn ?Bde.  moved in first (Joffre

saw it on / way) on April 7/8.

(The first man k: was a gunner).

The 1st Divn starts moving in

today. We have been a corps

since Ap. 11 but were under

the 11^th corps for a time. We

were first temporarily under

1st Army - now in 2nd Army

1st Divn is to be completely in

by April 30.

The men found the line

very incomplete - the trenches

not good.  The system of relieving

bdes so tt one bde only

improves them for another to

take them over does not

tend to make a good line.

The men every where have

got a mild touch of spy

mania. The wire ws certainly

cut behind / lines, in

one place it ws cut at

61

1.15 pm is 3pm on 20^th Ap.

C. Coy 9 Bn. in billets.

at Rouge du Bois

50 - 60 shells H.E.

1 in Canvas hut w. 4 men.

Some ran to assist w

& caught by another shell.

K. 1 offr. 2 NCOs 22 privates

Lt Fothergill.

W. 1 off. 9 NCOs 39 privates.

Capt A McKillop. Struck by

piece of shell.  S

Men buried near by.

Sgt. SA McKenzie

Sgt W Morgan

Private ^C Emery

Corp. E. G. Mance.

Pte F. W. Perrett.

5.9in shell.

3 huts 1 barn & big loft
3     62

40 points & rolled up.)
Fothergill was calling / men in.

There ws a battery close 

behind these billets at wh

they may have been firing

First 3 shells to left.

4th in entrance of hut

5th to left

6th into wall.

63

There may be some

traitors in the lines. White

tells me, who contrive to

leave messages to be picked

up by / Enemy's patrols.
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40 different places & rolled up for

100 yards. The people who were

in these lines before told the 6^th tt,

just before they left, 3 Germans

got over / line at night & ^2 escaped

into our hinterland. The other

was caught. The two who escaped

are still a large & may account

for some of these occurrences.

Still, the main thing that

is making the men nervy is

the burning of billets - within / last

few days 5 houses behind / lines,

where our men are billeted,

have bn burned down w incendiary 

shells:  An officer, Brindsley o / 

20th, & Father Goidenich, who had

seen it, told us: "First came

a shrapnel on / near side o /

house; then, 30 seconds later, a

shrapnel on / far side of it; then

30 seconds later a high explosive

shell right into the house

65
written sideways

The men do not realise tt / eyes o tt far ridge

are on them all / time; tt there are eyes

in / distant trees, & telescopes, too, probably. They

are being watched here as never have they bn

watched in their eyes before. And if / enemy

sees movement about a house - there comes goes down

abn on his map a cross agst it (he has almost

every tree mapped); & next fine day tt house is on

/ list for shelling - as part o / normal procedures.

Our men speak w respect o / German gunners.
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to bring it down; followed by

an incendiary shell to set it

all on fire; followed by a

couple more H.E. - that was

all - & there is / result." We

saw one result - still smoking.

No one, so far as I can hear,

has bn killed in these billets

so far.

The men put it down to spies - a

White ⁠⁠man ws ploughing w a white

horse in front of a battery wh ws

being shelled; they stood it for a 

day & then went in the night &

stained / horse brown w permanganate

of potash.

But I think / real cause

is tt they do not realise tt all

this country has eyes. Through

/ trees you can see a ridge

only abt 1 or 1½ miles away.

That ridge belongs to / Germans -

they have all / high ground.

67

A E Fotheringill k.

1 officer 24 k

49 w

Roue de Bois

x

In writing to the papers

of course it is utterly

impossible to write of

this - it wd probably

mean / shelling of hundreds

of other places behind / lines.

I dont draw overmuch

attention to the subject of

shelling at all in order to

avoid telling / enemy / effect of

his shell fire. In every article

one has to exercise / greatest

care & I often alter little details

as to / position where events took place,
written sideways

[[*if the alteratn makes no difference to

/ public - it makes it useless to an enemy

It is different in describing a past battle - I do

not alter any detail then.

But by.

speaking of 

a farm 

when you really 

mean an

in or by

putting things on

consecutive days

when they really

happened on /

same day you

make it impossible

to trace events*]]
3    68

Ap 21. Good Friday: The first

serious loss yesterday. The

poor old 9th Battalion, just

gone into billets, got it in

the neck. The men were

in a house in Laventie 

or Fleurbaie when the Germans

flattened the billet out. On the

first shell the men all ran

out, on the second (they

^x were standing under the wall)

the side of the house fell flat

& killed 25 & wounded 40.

I suppose the day before

the Germans had seen

movement about the place;

ticked it on a map with

a red pencil; & yesterday

that was one of the houses to

be flattened.

I went to the 5^th Bde - 18^th Bn.

this day, with Ross. They are in 

Briloux

Salient

C.E.W.B.

4.11.25
3     69

The White City; & Col Wisdom

took us up to the Chord &

the salient (a different chord

from the one in 6 Bde lines). They

are only 75 yds from Germans

here. Their H.Q. has ^been shelled

but not badly - mostly 4.5

stuff.  The men were sniping

over the top - loopholes seem

to be too dangerous. The enemy

doesnt snipe much. But when

we put in 2 shots w a bomb mortar

(wh then packs up & goes away) he

replies w 70 shell.

One of their snipers ws

placed in a tree / other day. We

got onto it w a machine gun &

sniping from there has stopped.

German sniping is very

slow & very accurate. There

little of it compared to Gallipoli.

The morning being fine,