Charles E W Bean, Diaries, AWM38 3DRL 606/45/1 - June 1916 - Part 2

2 15

charge over shoulder to shoulder
I told him afterwds tt I wd
have to speak to / staff
abt tt photo - it is an
absurd fake, no one in his
senses wd ever get men
packed behind / line like tt
He sd: "It's not a fake - its
not developed yet. It cant be
a fake until it is developed."
Brooks got his position
because he was a friend of
the king & queen - their
private photographer. And
this is the sort of rubbish
the Home Govt sends as
as its "official" "photographer
who to may be trusted - while
Ross & I may not be trusted.
I got deadly sick of it
but hung on pleasantly in
order tt they cdn’t say tt
I obstructed them through
 

2 16

prejudice or jealousy. They
told Brooks - the war office
did - tt we were asking
urgently for him. I shall
get through my 5 days w
him pleasantly if I can; but
never again.
When I realised xxxx
& went into / mess late for
dinner, one of them cooking
& asked xxx if I had heard
/ news - the Queen?
Just before Brooks arrived
this morning, I ws going
up from / Mess to / Chateau
when someone said - I
think it was de Crespigny:
"Have you heard o /
naval battle. They have
sunk 18 of our ships. They
seem to have caught our
light cruisers.
when I got to / Chateau

2 17

someone else told me tt
Evans, the ^O.C. signals, had it
on the wires from G.H.Q.
that the German wireless had
bn heard a week couple of
days ago congratulating their
brave sailors - A message from
/ Kaiser - but they had had /
same thing before & no one
thought much of it. Now
however it had arrived on
our own wireless. Then they
mentioned / names o / ships
sunk: Queen Mary, Invincible
Indefatigable .....
I could hardly believe my
ears - Light cruisers! why
this was our battle-cruiser
squadron - Defence,
Black Prince also sunk;
Warrior abandoned sinking ...
three good cruiser but not
first class rate ships - about
 

2 18

the equivalent of their Blűcher
wh we sank last year in /
North Sea. Of course they wd
go first - tt is a lesson of this
naval war - a weak ship has
no chance agst a high much
newer ship.
Agst this we claim "One
battle-cruiser & one battleship
sunk & possibly one more of
each disabled - we have lost
12 xx destroyers sunk & they
a good number.
It isn't clear Up at
H. Qrs they are inclined to be
depressed & I must say it
makes one very anxious.
But until we know what German
ships were sunk, & whether
their Zeppelins were the cause
of their success, one can’t tell
the real effect of the action. If
the we really sank two new
 

2 19

battleships & a battle cruiser
it wd be a success for us.
It looks as if we know our
full loss anyway - & we
don't know / German. That's
a good thing.

Sunday
June 4^th. The German losses
xxxx ^in / naval fight are said by our
communique to be big
one battleship & two
battlecruisers - & possibly
a second battleship; a
third battlecruiser damaged.
The Germans think they have
sunk the Warspite & the
Marlborough, wh they havent.
It is, of course, the talk of
the whole corps - & everyone
is anxious for more news.
The result doesnt seem
so bad. Zeppelins dont seem
to have taken any great part
 

2 20
(if they had proved of great
use in giving / Germans knowledge
of our position your tactics
or in observing his gun fire
for him it wd have bn far
more serious - for we cannot
get Zeppelins now to rival them,
starting a this late hour. Birdwood
agreed w me / other day when
I sd tt we were all to blame
for tt. We none of us believed
in Zeppelins before this war).
And the losses seem more
equal. The We know the extent
ours; / Germans have
not admitted theirs.
Took Brooks & Tony
round again today - first to
take pictures of a church
service w Padre Dexter preaching
Afterwds to / 1st ^Aust. Cas. Clearing
Hospital. Padre Dexter is
a man w a good way w troops -
 

2 21
a little stout button nosed
rather red faced old sea captain.
He used to study / stars
while carrying Mahommedan
pilgrims up / Persian Gulf.
or / Red Sea, - a trade just
one degree better than / slave trade,
Then  He read / Bishop of
Durham's writings on astronomy
& went to Durham University
& later w / church - & went
to Melbourne. He was a
trooper in Some Ceylon contingent
in / Boer War & won a
D.C.M. He practices
buffoonery of a rather crude type,
& plays for popularity by
joining in every questionable
joke - & talking something in
the same style, if he thinks
the company stands it. He's
a brave man & hardy, & I
daresay unselfish really - but
 

2 22
a very crude ordinary
type of man really - a good
regimental padre perhaps
but quite unfitted for the
job of Senior Chaplain
He is full of gossip
& scandal - & how White
is so misled in him I
dont know. I daresay he
wd be a good true friend
to anyone in trouble but
like many men  o / world
- but he is essentially a
man o / world & not at all
a spiritual man.
Brooks ws grumbling
this morning at only being
allowed to take "cushy" stuff
not / sort of pictures tt editors
want. "They wont print a
picture of a sentry looking over
a trench" - he sd. Of course
they wont so long as he supplies
 

2 23

them with faked charges &
sham battles & makes up
out of his imagination all
tt be thinks they want -
this "official" British photographer.
I told him straight we wont
have faked ^pictures - & he objected
to / word & there ws a
row. Since then I have bn
dragging him round much
as you might lead a
bad tempered bull by /
nose. I dont know how
long I shall be able to
stand it - only two days
more.

June 5^th Took Brooks out again
this time to the 2nd Bde.
The biograph man ws too
ill to come any further
than La Motte - poor delicate
little Chap, we walked him
 

2 24
off his feet two days ago;
altho' we carried all his
load for him.
Brooks we subdued
- Butler had a word w him
last night - & didnt try
to fake again today - he
sd before ^he took each photo: "That's
how it really wd be" - or
"There's nothing unnatural
in that, is there?" - So l
lesson seems to have
penetrated just a little.
When we reached /
trenches - down Watling St.,
- I cd hardly recognise
them they were so extraordinarily
improved. great section o /
front line had been thickened
& / old dugouts pulled down
& new ones built. There has
bn more material taken
out of the Engineers store during