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

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48
at / new H.Q. Nobody

could 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 o this burst
/ next minute. The

We are building a new

tramway, there, & they have

seen us. This afternoon
 

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49

they put 6 or 8 shells on it and

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, this

sleeping at their feet. The

whole trench garrison apparently

has to keep watch all night.

Work is done by parties from

/ corresponding rest bn;

about 280 each night - for

including {?}  and men

for other fatigues.

All say it is not so hard

as Gallipoli.

But it has this draw back

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

 

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51
allowed to do ^ in the 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. There

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 Lottiniere - Lottiniere,

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

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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; and even in

places like Ypres it is very

seldom - pert. never - that

a German gun causes

casualties at / rate which

the one old 6inch howitzer

or Sari Bair did in June or

July.

I asked Herbertson what

they would 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. ]

 

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54

We walked to Found Col.

Mackenzie at last. You can't

have lights in this witches

breastwork of ours - a

great part of it has no

parados at all! -  you

are absolutely open

to / rear, and if / line

curves at all they can

practically see in behind you.

The trenches were quite dark,

our occasional every here and there a sleeping figure looking

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

over half an our to get

 to him) had a yarn about

Popes Hill, mostly, where

the 19th were. (They suffered

chiefly from broomstick bombs

there - things you cdn't

dodge - but also from Wine

Glass towards / end. From

/ main range it was

50

[shorthand]

Stronghold

300

Ferguson 3

Rocket

HQ

Connor? Connolly

Plummers message

rifles

3 groups

seen down & [?]

B. 2 of 50 far along as K.

But passed Lewis Flanners

"withdraw from / right

didn't start so far as K

 

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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

and South of us far inland -

it looked like this

Diagram-see original

but of course it was really like this

Diagram-see original

The machine guns, wh we could

not hear nearer to / trench, were

still rat-at-atting when we

got back there.

At one time when we were

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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 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, and better ones.

Everyone is very caustic

about our artillerys retaliation.

"They put 347 shots around a

farmhouse and we ask them for 

retaliation" they said. "About 5

minutes before the enemy stops one

of our batterys opens - and 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

Le Bridou

Maisnil RD

Cordomnerice 

 

Diagrams - see original

 

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. For 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 out enemys parapet

all the time, they say. Old Johnson

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60

when I asked him sd: Well, we

didn't get our own trenches at all-

I suppose that's something"

May 5th   Got up early 4am-just daybreak and went

with Herbertson to the trenches.

Blummer?We met Plumer, intelligence

officer of the 19th and went round

some o. p. s with him. Had a 

cup of tea at about 6 with major

Ralston; and then as we had

an hour to spare, looked at the

dug outs of bn Headquarters

& compared them with an aeroplane

photo. The shadows on the roofs and

what looked like the entrance turns

out to be /  green grass growing

there. The smallest speck on an

aeroplane photo has always some

counterpart in existence on the

ground - you can't ignore anything.

While I was doing this

Herbertson suddenly discovered

H 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

 

There were / two lines of front 

trenches looking as tho' they

were two walls along either

side of a road; beyond / gunman

trenches a green hillside

with a road running along

it - a house; two

separate lines of wire and

some support trenches or

strong point - and a big green

roofed ^ mound dug out, I suppose. Presently