Charles E W Bean, Diaries, AWM38 3DRL 606/43/1 - April - May 1916 - Part 2

4    9
there are now 2 Anzacs & tt
1^st Anzac is in France, 2nd
Anzac in Egypt;  & that ws
the only secret wh we had
hoped might still puzzle them.
I believe our hats, & tunics
are to be changed.  Most
men have / new helmet.
[Hand drawn sketches, see original document]
I like ours 
better than
the French.  
Our men
wear it at
a rakish angle
Got off 2600 bookplates today
__
We are not allowed to have our
articles sent off yet. (7 of mine
are at G.H.Q) because they
"are not sure if we are identified!"
Marseilles papers have published
photographs 3 weeks ago of our

X I thought the B.A. people stupid for not understanding
the reason why such informatn shd not be given
This paper, nevertheless, never ceased in its
efforts to raise comforts Etc for the Australian
soldiers, & was a centre of patriotic
Australian effort in London.  Any blame
that there was should attach to the
Censor & British Authorities for not
making dear the danger _^involved in of such statements.
C.E.W.B
1925 

4    10
men marching through.  The brilliant
British Australasian X 3 wks
ago published Birdwoods address
to / troops on going to France, & a
big heading "Anzacs in France".
The Daily Mail had it from a 
phrase in a French Communique
2 wks ago.  And Godley has
naturally explained the whole
thing -------- & we, who do
exercise some discretion & write
under censorship, are
the only ones held up.
April 29^th Saty.
was at Anzac Book
letters all day.
Went for a walk with
Ross just about sunset
thro' the exquisite greenery
of Spring _^air full of birds song - the beastly
guns wouldn't take a rest.
Tonight there is some

4    11
gun (or perhaps 4 guns) which
is shaking the house - as I
write.  The window in the
living room rattles in a
way I've not known it to
do before.  There's been a
lot of fighting at Givenchy
& Loos - & also at Ypres.
Brass - the little chap who
was in this house for 3 months
from Oct. 1914 looked in
today.  He had bn allowed to
go a holiday on a bicycle.
He ws playing chess w 3
other officers in a dug out
when a "5.9 Crump" (a
naval shell w a fuse in /
base) fell just outside /
dugout.  He says it killed
/ other three, & / batman who
ws sitting at / door &
threw him himself across
/ bed, unconscious.  He

12
1 5 minutes agst tree
2 3.5 minutes     
4 by X & 6 mins
1 2 French 7 mins
3 Fr. 8 mins.

4    13
woke up - & I expect has
bn pretty badly shaken.  He
looks awfully ill.  This ws N E of
Ypres.
He says tt when he ws
out in front of lines / other
day - he had to go out after
one of his men who ws
wounded - he found a
XXX pheasant sitting on 10 eggs
in an area as full of shell
holes craters as a stocking is of holes.
He brought / eggs back 
in his hat. 
April 30.  Watched a wood chopping
competition between Maories
& French foresters in the morning in the
forest here.  (Every Dion has its
patch of forest to work out for
its trenches.)  The French foresters
were mostly elderly men &
rather delicate looking.  I thought -

4    14
They chopped with very 
heavy axes - & in quite
a different way from ours -
right at / bottom o / trunk
& _^chopping all round / tree - & the
stumps were well trimmed
off - The Maories were
accustomed to chop the tree
3-4ft from / ground.  They Two teams
of 6 chopping 12 trees each team.  The
Maoris got their trees down easily
the first - 3 went at about
5 minutes - another in
6 to 7 & the first French tree
after that.  One of the Maoris
got his tree to fall through - but another
tree held it.  He chopped his
second tree to fall across
it - the second tree fell
across the first & knocked
/ first down but ws held
up itself.  The Maori ws
allowed to chop down / tree
(wh ws holding it up) in his

X probly
An exaggeration
C.EWB 1925.
4    15
own way, & did it in less
than a minute.  The Maoris
had to clean the stumps so in
the end they won by 4 minutes
-wh ws real good for / Frenchmen,
whose men of military age are
at / war.
There ws noticed a
smell of gas abt midnight
last night.  This turned
morning we all heard tt / 
Germans had attacked the
5^th Corps at Kemmel - &
attempted to take Kemmel
X
Hill.  They got into / Bull
Ring & were thrown out.
It ws a big attack over
a front of one division.
Two deserters came in a
few hours before & told us
of / whole thing so tt our
men were waiting with
their helmets on all ready.

4    16
Butler & I went round
the 7^th Bde lines afterwards
-thro' Armentieres.
Armentieres is / most
extraordinary case of a
thickly inhabited city under
daily shell fire.  They
shell one side of it, &
it is empty.  The other is
crowded w children 
& women.
Our men everywhere
seem to be making great
going w / ladies.  They
have a wonderful address,
these Australians.
Went round w Lt
Devonshire who is in
charge of / Bde supplies.
One officers batman had 
bn sniping & had just bn
shot by a German.  Devonshire

4    17
sd we were beginning to
keep the German sniping down
-but I must say it seemed
to me as if they were
holding their own comfortably.
Bullets whizzed over off /
parapets.
A bomb gun started
bombarding / salient at
intervals.  We moved on
after talking to two officers
& one minute later we saw a
bomb burst where we had
bn standing.  The salient
is badly bombed because /
parapets are so low _^& broken tt /
Germans can see over
them into / trench leading
up to it.
From some of our O.ps
you can see / spires of
Lille.  One cd see smoke
rising from fires behind.

4    18
/ German parapet in / front
line.  Our snipers have
broken 25 periscopes on / 
German parapet. 
May 1^st.
News last night that Kut
has fallen.  The Germans
put it up on a sheet in
front of their trenches
yesterday.  I think someone
sd tt our men went out
& got it.  Its rather depressing
but not so much as I
thought it wd be. 
Consds are down to 56
owing to "rumours."  We cant
imagine what the "rumours"
are.  Surely not a suspicion
that our Government is
thinking of making peace if
the next big push fails.
I dont trust Asquith - he'd

X I meant, by the current _^& powerful opinion of
that class - not, of course directly.
C.EW.B
1925
4    19
be influenced by the rich manufacturer X
who wants to end the war. 
But I do trust Balfour -
& Billy Hughes.
May 2.  The Germans have been
attacking a lot along our line
lately with gas.  The gas
last Saty night reached Morbecque
at 1 a.m. so strong as to make
some one of the 1st NZ F. Ambulance
staff there, & the sentry, sick.
I met little Brass again today.
He says the gas is an endeavour
to get at our saps & destroy
our mines tunnels;  he thinks the
Germans suppose we are mining
at these places.
I have noticed 3 times
lately how German bullets have
come clean through / parapet
& in one case wounded a
man in a sniping post