Charles E W Bean, Diaries, AWM38 3DRL 606/43/1 - April - May 1916 - Part 5

4     48
at / new H.Q. Nobody
cd tell us where it was. We
found Maj. Ralston, &
he passed us on to /
charge of another Major-
officer who brought us through
miserable communication
trenches where you felt
absolutely naked above / 
knees into a support
trench where you felt 
very bare about / head- 
You cd see over it comfortably
by stretching your neck.
Just before after we left old H.Q.
there were four quick gun
reports & four shrapnel
shell sung  over far over to our left & burst.
Along wi over xxx others burst
/ next minute. They
We are building a new
tramway, there, & they have
seen us. This afternoon 

4     49

X they put 6 or 8 shells on it &

tonight they probably saw some

darned fool light a cigarette.

They were right on top o /

working party but hurt

no one.

The men were all along

behind / parapet - not

very many of them but 

some in each bay, & others

sleeping at their feet. The

whole trench garrison apparently

has to keep watch all night.

Work is done by parties from

/ corresponding resting bn;

about 280 each night - for

trench digging etc. and men

for other fatigues.

All say it is not so hard

as Gallipoli.

But it has this drawback

Here all the infantrymen

docs - or appears to be

50

*I spoke of this w White

& he sd " Yes, that's the

old British system all

over; I hope we're going

to get away from tt."

*This may be an unfair judgement- it

was my estimate at the time, but backed on

little more than casual impression.

CEWB.

1925

4     51
allowed to do ^ in / way of fatigue - is to fetch

and carry for / engineer. In

Gallipoli the local infantry

commander had some very

big say in the planning of the

fixed defence of his front. Here

he has little or none, at any

rate in carrying it out.

The engineers do all / interesting

work - building etc. The

infantryman is looked on

as incapable of doing more

than manual work. Very

likely the Englishman is; but

our men are not -  & it

hurts, Old Lotbiniere - Lotbiniere,

amiable, dilettante incapable

old muddler x - is responsible

for our defence plans as

much as anyone here bec. he

happens to command our

engineers.

The Germans were

4     52

constantly throwing flares out

into No Man's Land. There

is little gunfire at night

here; indeed as often as not

the rapid salvoes of the day

- wh you often hear - 40 or

50 shots in a minute or

less, are fired at aeroplanes.

The bombardment normally

is not trying here; & even in

places like Ypres it is very

seldom - perh. never - that

a German gun causes

casualties at / rate which

our the one old 6 in howitzer

on Sari Bair did in June or

July.

I asked Herbertson what

they wd think of 200 casualties

in one battalion in a fortnight

from shellfire - and he said

"Oh it wd be very heavy

indeed - heavy - I should think so!!

53

[Popes. H. ]

4     54

We walked to Found Col.

Mackenzie at last. You can't

have lights in this wretched

breastwork of ours - a

great part of it has no

parados at all! -  you

are absolutely open

to / rear, & if / line

curves at all they can

practically see in behind you.

The trenches were quite dark,

our occasional every here & there a steady figure looking

in its tin helmet over / 
parapet. Mac. &I (it took

over half an our to get

 to him) had a yarn about

Popes Hill, mostly, where

the 19^th were. (They suffered

chiefly from broomstick bombs

there - things you cdn't

dodge - but also from Wine

Glass towards / end. From

/ main range it ws

55

Strengthened
[[shorthand]]

300
[[shorthand]]

Ferguson 3 [[shorthand]]

Rocket

[[shorthand]] from HQ

Connor? Connolly [[shorthand]]

Plummers message

Rifles

3 groups

Seen down to knees

B. not so far along as K.

But passed Lewis Gunners

"withdraw from / right

didn't start so far as K

4     56

hard to hit it without hitting

/ Turkish trenches also, so

they didn't often try, if ever

Walked home by midnight.

Going along / trench with my guide

one could see / flares North

& South of us far inland -

it looked like this

Diagram - see original document

but of course it was really like this

Diagram - see original document

The machine guns, wh we cd

not hear nearer to / trench, were

still rat-at-atting when we

got back there.

At one time when we were

4     57

in the trenches there ws an

outbreak of firing & machine gun

fire in the German lines - much

like ^ that the Turks used to give way vent to.

But the general crackle of fire

thro / night ws nothing

approaching tt of Gallipoli.

They probably thought they

had seen one of our patrols.

The Germans throw many

more flares, & better ones.

Everyone is very caustic

about our artillerys Retaliation.

"They put 347 shots around a

farmhouse & we ask them for 

retaliation" they said. "About 5

minutes before the enemy stops one

of our batteries opens - & fires three

salvoes; then we see in / communique

next day 'Our batteries silenced

/ enemy south of Armentieres"

The guns, of course, are not being

called to use more than one shell

per gun per day.

58
Rue de Bois

Le Bridou

Maisnil Rd

Cordomnerice 
4     59

Diagram - see original document

There are times, however, when the 

artillery is allowed to fire all it is

worth. The other night the 7^th Bde

on our left- set up an alarm. of gas

 (as a matter of fact a few "tear

shells" may have fallen); & the

2nd Divn artillery let go - let go

for all it was worth! Our infantry

speak with enthusiasm o / result-

right on / enemys parapet every

all the time, they say. Old Johnson

4     60

when I asked him sd: Well, we

didn't get our own trenches at all -

I suppose that's something!"

May 5^th  Got up early ^ 4am-just daybreak, & went

with Herbertson to the trenches.

?Blumer We met Plumer, intelligence

officer of the 19^th and went round

some o. p. s with him. Had a 

cup of tea at about 6 w major

Ralston; & then as we had

an hour to spare, looked at the

dug outs of bn Headquarters

& compared them w an map aeroplane

photo. The shadows on the roofs &

what looked like / entrance turned

out to be /  green grass growing

there. The smallest speck on an

aeroplane photo has always some

counterpart in existence on /

ground - you can't ignore anything.

While I was doing this

Herbertson suddenly discovered

4     61
tt from where we were (overlooking

/ roofs) you could see / German

lines and / country at / back

of them quite clearly. And so

you could.

Diagram - see original document

There were / two lines of front 

trenches looking as tho' they

were two walls along either

side of a road; beyond / German

trenches a green hillside

w a road running along

it - a house; two

separate lines of wire and

some support trenches or

strong point - & a big green

roofed ^ mound dug out, I suppose. Presently