Charles E W Bean, Diaries, AWM38 3DRL 606/45/1 - June 1916 - Part 4

36

※ The trench mortars were
turned on to this wire in /
morning so as to make
the cut appear to have bn
caused by them.

It was too late to start wire
cutting at any other point
as / dawn begins now at
a little after 2 a.m. So / party
sent back a message

2
37
Gill & his corporal lay quite
still for 10 minutes & then
crept very stealthily back,
joining up / cut ends o / 
wire quietly as they xx went.
About 40 yds back - near /
wire (there were 40 yds of wire)
they the assault party, wh xx
had bn waiting in a ditch near the willows & ws
now creeping up, met them creeping 
back. xxx
It was now 11.30
 Amessage When Gill turned
back & it ws abt 12.30 when
they reached ^/ redu to xx trench & a when /
message reporting the ^check reached
Bde. Headquarters. Gen. Paton
had then to sit down & decide
on / spot whether to go on w /
raid tt night under a
bombardment or to
postpone
it. He ws very cool abt it -
Herbertson, who ws there, says
he is very good in action -
 

2
38
& decided not to turn / guns
on. As it ws too late to try at
any other place / party ws
withdrawn.
Orders for a bombardment
^next night were sent out to / 2nd Divl.
Arty; the heavy guns were to
put in a few shells just to 
show tt they were there. The
big bombs were to break up
/ enemys wire; & / rest
o / bombardment ws to
be the 2nd Aust. Divns
howitzers & 18 pdrs [[c̄?]]
1^st Aust Division helping on
/ flanks.
The party went out in
exactly / same form as on / night
before - it had bn a trying wait for
/ men - at 9.40 pm. They
crept out to the Twin Willows,
where there was a ditch to shelter
in, & later into some old rifle
 

39

The 60lb trench mortars
opened onto / German
wire at / point
where it had bn
cut / night before.

2 40
pits dug by us at some early
stage o / war. & long forgotten -
they don't show in an aeroplane
photo they are so overgrown,
but Foss had come across them in
his wanderings in Nomansland.
At 11.15 our artillery came in
with a crash. First it started
away on / right agst Cape
Blanco in / enemys line; then
it opened up to / North agst
xxx Wez Macquart, & the
Rue de Bois salient - Then at 
11.25 it all turned onto /
little point o / line to be attacked,
just south of the rly. All our
infantry ws delighted w these
fireworks. They only stayed on 
the trench for 10 minutes (till 
11.35 & then suddenly lifted &
formed a barrage - Foss told
me tt afterwards from / enemys
 

41
The limits o / advance were to
be: I 21 c 5½ 2¼., 6.1½,
7.2, 8¾. 3¼, 8.4x

2
42
trenches he looked out across
the hinterland at tt barrage &
it ws quite complete. Noone
cd have come through it.
When / guns lifted / party in no
mans land at once went forward.
The scouts were there to cut /
wire, but it needed no cutting.
The trench mortars had made a
clean sweep of it & there were
only two or three strand wh
might possibly have tripped 
men. It took abt 2 minute
to reach / enemys parapet - 
just 10 yards south of the railway -
going in / same order as /
night before. Then Foss got up
onto the parapet & lay there.
The left & right assault parties
crept up & as each man
reached / place parapet he lay down
to left or right of Foss along
/ parapet. The moment they
were there they all jumped on
Foss's signal, into / trench.
 

43
 

2
44
It is a surprise tt they
found no parados. The back 
o / trench parapet ws 16ft
thick on top & about 9 feet
deep - & below it was the
duckboards exactly / same 
as ours; but you cd see
away from / back of it
right across / rly line to
/ north.
Here Foss jumped down
he found himself looking into
a woodenframed dug outi the
open doors of a low dugout
under / parapet. There ws
no light inside - it ws jet
black - but Foss flashed his
torch & saw a heap of blankets
in one corner at wh he
fired. There ws nothing in
them. Then he flashed / torch
round - & there in / other
corner was a boy with his
 

45
Their faces had all previously
been blacked with burnt
chalk & soot (as is / custom) ----
& they must have looked a
terrible crew.

2
46
hands above his head - 
in / corner o / dugout. Foss
took him by the scruff o / 
neck - the chap didnt seem to 
know what to do but ws
rather abject - & flung him
bodily over / parapet towards
 /scouts who were waiting there
for prisoners. The chap fell in /
German wire & ws torn a bit
abt / trousers, but I believe
is one o / prisoners.
The parties went along /
trenches exactly as arranged. ^
The communication trench parties
found one sht trench a mere
shallow cut abt 2ft deep
w brushwood hurdles to 
screen from observation;
the other had a solid 6 foot
parapet but not on one
side but ws open on / other
(just as some of our Comm
trenches are where only one
 

2
47
side needs protecting from /
enemy. The parties went
along from dugout to dugout
- finding 3 or 4 like the first,
abt 8 ft and generally rolled
a bomb inside & killed the 
men there in this way. The
dugouts were 8ft by 8ft
mostly in the parapet, at
the foot of it -the framework
projecting just a little
into the trench. They were 
5ft high & abt 8ft long &
went in 8ft, & had two
bunks, one above / other.
The 4 ft of solid sand bag
above them wd stand / ^.
field gun shell & perhaps the 4^..5
howitzer, but not a 6 in shell.
We had only fired xx 20 big shells
altogether & / trenches were
absolutely undamaged except
for a breach made about 60yds
s. of the rly by a trench mortar
 

48
The trench near / rly had no
bays; but further it ws just a winding
ramp. But further along it
had bays; & where the bays
were were little bits of parados
each containing a dugout
for one man.
[The prisoners say tt /
rest of their trench all has
parados except this little
bit - & / photographs make
this seem probable].

There ws no sign of m.g. fire
or any sort of movement or rifle fire
from / support line where our shells
were playing like ^brilliant summer
lightning.
 

2
49
probably. xxx Candles were burning in some o / dugouts,
& in one an electric light bulb ws
glowing & was broken by a
corporal. There might pos
None of the Germans made
any attempt to resist. They 
Only one reached for his rifle
& he ws shot at once. Two
men came running up / trench
in / dark & were bayoneted
_- they were not known at /
moment to be unarmed but
they carried none; probably
messengers. The right party
went along over / broken
parapet & / other side of it
but found nothing there & so
returned - xxxx It ws 6
minutes after / entry. Foss
→ waited one minute for the
left party & then put up his
green flare. They all congregated
 

2
50
& went silently over / parapet
& back into No mans land
taking either 4 or 6 prisoners.
About 6 Germans had to be killed in
/ trench. Three men had gone 
along and found / listening
post which Gill had struck
on / previous night. It had
two layers of steel plate
round it, painted green; &
in it were / remains of
a man who had been blown
to pieces by one of our
bombs. There were possibly
3 men in the post - wh
wd make 9 killed. X
The German artillery
had opened uo on our
trenches 8 minutes after we
opened on theirs. We of course Their fire was dispersed
wasxxx possibly because, About 3 or 4 minutes
after our guns started, when the
enemys infantry sent up flares for
 

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51
his artillery to help him, we
sent them up too, from various
parts o / line - & he ws
possibly deceived. he kept
however a curly snakey
rocket (first white ⇥; then
green ⇥; then smokey
yellow - I think tt ws
/ order) wh we had not
got; & so I doubt if he ws
much deceived really. But
what did deceive him were
our "diversions" on other
parts o / line. he first
opened up on / South;
then on / north; afterwards
generally, but rather wildly
- not the sharp, straight, well
registered fire wh we have
generally had from him.
We had thinned out our
line; & yet / bombardment
did us a good deal of harm.