Charles E W Bean, Diaries, AWM38 3DRL 606/43/1 - April - May 1916 - Part 7

4   73
or bn killed; the right
half ws not so bombarded,
but these miserable
trenches had there no parados,
of any kind - the mens backs
were absolutely unprotected
& the side slash of the bursting
shells was as dangerous
as their impact. While the
bombardment ws still on
Lieut. Blanchard, (B. Coy) the bombing
officer o / bn, went round to
see tt his men were at
their posts;  & as he passed
up / salient either he or
Capt. Hoskings (2nd in Comd.
of B C. Coy) told the Lewis
gunners, who had retired
to / right end o / salient
to come up to / apex of it.
They went up for a time, but
as / place ws so hot withdrew
down to / right again to their 

4    74
emplacement & stayed there
looking out in a S.E direction
- This ws not / directn from
wh / attack eventually came.
Hoskings ws sitting at /
mouth of their dugout for
a time - "very game" they
sd.   I
The dugout in wh /
Very's Lights were ws
destroyed at almost /
first start, & so no
lights cd be thrown. The
burst of our shells & theirs
ws / only light in front o /
salient except tt Lt. J.W.
Conolly Connor. (B. Coy)
ws throwing flares from /
right hand lower end o /
salient - "very game, too"
as / men sd. He ws hit
by a piece of shell in / back
in this damnable place - & 

4     75
his breath came & went
thro' / wound altho he
kept very cheerful when hit.
Capt. Hoskings ws hit too.
It ws after Blanchard
went up into / salient tt
Hoskings sd some of  / men
from there came down to the
right corner. "What are you
going for?" someone The Lewis gunners asked.
"Lieut. Blanchard's orders to
withdraw from / salient,"
they sd. They had not gone
more than a minute or so
when Capt Hoskings ws heard
telling them - "Come on back
boys," weve got to hold /
line"- & w a little
urging they came back
into it alright.
This appears to have
bn just abt / time when a
change suddenly came over / 

4    76
action. At 9.45 or 9.50,
just an hour after it started,
the bombardment suddenly
lulled - "struck one as if /
gunners were cleaning their
guns," sd Corpl. Kearns who ws
through / whole thing up in
/ salient.
Kearns got his head over
/ trench to see what ws
doing. Presently / bombardment
went on again. But during
/ lull he saw, by / light
o / shells, a group of abt
12 Germans running forward
a little to / left of him.
After this he saw two other
groups. The bombardment 
ws still He fired at them -
& there ws a m.g. _^of ours going
away on / left & another on
/ right, but they the Germans were probably
too close to / trenches to be 

77
They had
rifles
 

4   78
caught by these - / guns were
firing over / top o / parapet.
The Vickers gun just to / left of
where / Germans got in did
not fire.
Not more than a minute
later Kearns getting his head
again over / parapet saw
abt 8 Germans a little to /
left of him standing up about
knee-high above our parapet.
A shell burst near him - &
threw / parapet in on him;
& when he got up there were
no Germans in / trench - he
doesn't think they got in;
but he dos and it ws just
here tt Herbertson saw lying,
as we passed, a German
hand grenade, dropped just
on top of some of our dugouts
behind / parapet. It does look
as tho' they got no further 

4    79
than / parapet in this case.
Kearns didn't see any anywhere
else in / trench. But as a
matter of fact they certainly
did get in on / S. side of him
also. A man ws shot thro'
/ hand by a German officer
w a revolver. The German
gunfire subsided _^at 10.20 - 1hr & 35 mins. - & Kearns
looking over cd see flares
being thrown by a man
out between / trenches.
The German horn (? for
Stretcher bearers) ws going
& / Germans were all out
of our trenches before they
threw / flares. These were
in case we followed them
up. No Germans were
left on / ground at all.
The knuckle duster, & an entrenching
tool, wh they left behind had
no marks on them. 

80 

The m.g. of 6th Bn on / rt
wh ws to cover this front
didnt open bec. it didnt
see Germans & didn't want
to give away its emplacement.
The Lewis gunners o / 20^th
Bn on / rt dont seem to
have fired either. No one
seems to have known whether
it ws right to leave / salient
or keep it. Men who were
right in it saw nothing o /
Germans & some of them,
even when we were there,
didn't know / Germans had
bn in / trench. / only evidence
tt convinced them ws / things
/ Germans dropped.
 

4    81
The battalion had rushed
up supports to / flanks in
case / attack were a
serious one - some o /
18th Bn were brought up.
The Commn. trenches -
Queer St (South) & Safety alley
(N) were both blocked by
shells, & / chord line ws
badly knocked abt -
4 men of C. Coy were
hit here. 300 men were
put on at once to repair
damage & by morning
they had a fairly presentable
trench again. But /
commn trenches were
at first so damaged tt
/ supports had to be put
in "over / top".
Lt Blanchard, when it ws
all over, ws not to be
seen. Nor were Sergts O'Shea 

(I wrote Slesinger as

Stokes were secret

at this time. 
C.E.W.B.)

4    82
& Stewart nor Corpls. Jewess
or Austin. The last 3 were
all of Blanchards bomb
party. Also, as far as we
now heard tt two Slesinger
mortars were missing -
they might be buried or might
have been taken away. No m.gs
were missing - & it ws not
clear whether / missing
men mightnt yet be found.
Xxxxx - Commn with
the bn H.Q. ws cut at 8.15
& / trenches were impassable.
But I believe tt / bn intelligence
officer did good work by
going up himself.
I saw Kearns
& got home to / Chateau w
Butler & Herbertson at abt
5.30. The first thing we heard
there ws a report just read
from Gen. Plumer: German 

TRENCH RAIDING ON
BRITISH FRONT.
_________________
PRISONERS TAKEN.

_________________
BRITISH OFFICIAL
The following, dispatch; dated May 6,
10.7 p.m., has been received from General
Headquarters:-
Last night we made a successful raid under
cover of a bombardment on enemy's trenches
near Authville. Our casualties were slight.
Five prisoners were brought back and it is
certain ten Germans were killed and many
wounded.
The enemy made a raid on and entered
our trenches south-east of Armentieres, after
bombarding them. He was at once driven
out. He also attempted to make an attack
on our trenches cast of the Cabaret Rouge,
but was repulsed.
To-day there has been some artillery
activity north of Roclincourt, about Souchez
and Carency, and in the Hohenzollern sector,
also about Wieltje.
Yesterday a considerable amount of successful 
air work was carried out. The few
hostile machines seen were driven off.

_____________
KAISER PROMOTES AIRMAN.

________
REPORTED CAPTURE OF FRENCH
BALLOONS.

_____
GERMAN OFFICIAL.
BERLIN, Saturday.
German Main Headquarters reports this
afternoon as follows :—
WESTERN THEATRE of WAR.—To the south-
east and south of Armentieres some operations
carried out by our patrols were successful.
Some prisoners: were captured and two
machine guns and two mine throwers were
taken. At Givenchy-en-Cohelle an English
attack against a few craters held by our
troops was easily repulsed.
To the north-east of Vienne-le-Château 
(Argonne) an important French patrol operation 
failed, after hand-to-hand engagement.
On the left bank of the Meuse the infantry
and artillery battles are continuing in the
region to the south-east of Haucourt. They
again resulted in some minor successes without 
coming to a definite conclusion.
To the south of Warneton Sergeant Frankl
brought down a fourth English biplane, and
has thereby put his fourth enemy aeroplane
out of action. His Majesty the Emperor has
given expression to his appreciation of the
achievements of the capable aviator by pro-
moting him to rank of an officer
To the south-east of Diedenhofen a French
machine was forced to land and its occupants
were taken prisoners.  A great number of
French captive balloons broke loose last night
owing to a sudden storm and floated over our
lines.  More than fifteen have been salved up
to the present.
Wireless Press.
 

4    83
wireless says tt /Australian
trenches were entered, some
prisoners, 2 m.gs &
2. trench mortars were
Captured.  This is the first
tt I have heard of this " -
& he wanted to know
-why?
It ws a very reasonable
question. White ws furious
- / first he heard of it
ws in going round Col. Patons
trenches at 8 a.m. this
morning. They had heard
rumours of it there. White
sd it ws not so - of course
not - & then found out
tt ws all true!  Division
certainly ought to have sent
someone up to see.
The last tt ws seen o /
Slesinger guns ws lying
outside a dug out, dismantled, 

4    84
at 6 pm. Until / trench
mortar officers can be seen
it wont be known what
happened to them.
May 7th. (Sunday). The
prisoners were taken, &
the Slesinger mortars, but not
/ machine guns wh / Germans
claim.
My word, they'll poke
this up against us in all /
other corps.
May 8th (Monday). I hear
tt orders were given to trench
mortar officers explicitly
tt Slesinger Mortars were
not to be left in / front
line on any acct - & were
not to be brought within
[[shorthand]]
danger of capture by the Enemy.  They were