Charles E W Bean, Diaries, AWM38 3DRL 606/45/1 - June 1916 - Part 5

52
Lt. Murdock - the bombing officer 
of the 28^th ws killed by a shell 
wh went through ^corner of our parapet.

2     53                                                                  
∧For example, We had only five sentries 
in one salient- under an 
officer. When / Germans were 
bombarding, (so / officer told 
me,) he cd see / men 
there - the five heads, by / 
light of German shells, 
along / parapet, all steadily 
sticking to their job. The rest of 
our men were in / support 
line or in / Bois Grenier
line.
Yet so miserable is our
protection that about between 20 and
30 men were hit even
in spite of / precautions
& / enemies in accurate 
fire. The
The raiding party ws in
/ meantime waiting out
in Nomansland for the 
Enemy's fire to cease on
our parapet. It ws left to 

2    54
Foss to decide whether he wd 
bring them straight back or wait 
until the enemys fire eased, & 
he chose / latter. Ather abt 
an hour the They lay out near 
the twin willows in a ditch -
a good many big shells falling 
near them; & it ws here 
that our only men were hit.
One ws hit thro / chin One 
shell did / damage - killed 
one man, hit another thro'
/ chest below / shoulder so 
tt he died as he ws being 
carried in; & wounded four 
others. One o / prisoners,  
when / time came scouts wanted him to move, 
would not face the German 
shrapnel. He lay down & 
squealed & struggled - so, 
as they had no xxx means of 
keeping him quiet, & did not 
want to shoot, they cut his

2    55
throat. Two _^more of the 6 men who 
were originally taken prisoner 
did not seem to understand 
what we required of them -
at any rate they didn't do it 
instantly what ws required of 
them - & were shot on the spot.
(I think this ws in / trench before 
our men left it - two other prisoners
I fancy were taken in their 
place. ) The men were told to 
bring back 3 if possible. One little 
fellow they took because, as they sd,
"He ws too young to kill.")
So ended the first raid.
The prisoners belonged to the 
50^th Reserve Divn. (Prussian)
& came to this front a little 
before we did. They are of
the 231^st Reserve Infantry 
Regiment. The 231^st is 
across the rly, the 229^th
to its North & the 230^th to /  

56
'Diagram - see original document'

229

Railway

231

230   

2    57   
South of it.  They were fighting 
before in Champagne, & 
before tt in Russia
Freiherr von der Goltz 
commands the Divn; Graf von 
Moltke (whoever tt may be) the 
brigade (wh we dont quite 
understand, bec a "regt," is 
practically a brigade) & 
Col. August Fritsch the 
battalion. They have abt 
6 m.gs per company (4
coys of 250 in b.n), each divided 
into 3 Zűge (platoons of abt 
64 or 70) divided each into 
8 gruppe). Half of each 
group is on guard at a 
time at night - abt one 
sentry to each bay of 
trench. They
They have 2 or 3 listening 
posts out in front of each 
company in _^each of which are kept

2     58
3 men - one on guard -
one connecting file to 
carry messages to the 
3^rd who is at the end of 
the sap leading to the post.
The listeners men in / post are armed 
w rifles. Patrols go out 
as well but not on 
stated night regular nights.
As soon as a bombardment 
begins a hand bell is
rung & the men go straight 
to their "Trommel feuer posten"
or (Bombardment dugouts).
These have steel bars over 
head, 1½ inches thick, with 
steel plates on top of 
that & sandbags & earth 
over that up to / level o / 
parapet. They are about over 
6ft long & 3ft deep & their 
floor level is / same as tt o /
trench. They each hold 4 men,

2     59
& there are eno' of them 
for all men except /
sentries (who I suppose 
have to stand _^to their job & get 
killed). These are quite apart separate 
affairs from / dugouts where / men
who are not on guard 
sleep at night. [The entrance 
is not / whole width of the 
dugout bombardment pozzy,
apparently; & they cannot 
tuck their feet in, all of them
- with comfort. Still the thing 
will keep out a 5.9 shell,
clearly].
The prisoners sd tt their
company had only lost 4 or 
5 men in a month - &
this clearly is / reason of it -
their protection is so good. The 
only reason why we 
have not as good is sheer 
want of backbone on / part of /

60
The 50^th arty Regt is w 
the 50^th Divn.
The 4^th (Posen) m.g. detachment 
is also w the 231^st Regt.
 
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British soldiers & officers who
have been in this line before.
Each battalion does 
18 days in / firing line trenches;
Each coy being 6 days in /
support line & 12 in / front 
line.
[Our men noticed that _^the part o / line into 
wh our men got had bn 
made very solidly to begin 
with, & no work had bn 
done on it for a long time.]
This raid ws made after 
an artillery bombt. with 
light guns -
The Germans make theirs w 
heavy guns.
It lasted only 10 mins on /
point attacked. The Germans 
bombarded us for 1hr & 20 mins.
It had no effect at all on

2    62
their trenches - theirs practically 
destroyed our trenches.
Our men were all exceedingly 
pleased w / fire of our guns & 
trench mortars - wh is
a good thing. But these 3in. 18 
pounders & 4.5 in howitzers
are pop guns to the enemy's
5.9 (60 pounders)^x. If we 
had dugouts like he, his 
ammunition might be 
wasted; at present in spite 
of all our sniping it is we
who lose / men & not he.
One of prisioner 
Our guns fired abt 10000 
rounds in this bombardment
- about 5000 on the 
actual point of attack & 
5000 on / flanks & rear.
There were 34 _^of the 2nd Divs guns shooting 
at the point attacked - all
field guns, & 4.5in howitzers; & some

2    63
o / N. Z. & 1^st Div guns 
on / flanks. The _^2nd Div fired for 
abt 40 minutes, abt 200 
rounds each battery.
An hour after it had finished,
when they expected / Germans
were out looking at things,
every gun opened all at
once for one minute -
at about 1.30 am.
June 8^th Gen Russell asked me
to lunch today.
The Germans opposite
his men are Saxons & have 
always been friendly. When the
They put up a notice about 
Lord Kitchener two days ago -
so Russell says - but I think
it must have bn yesterday. They
wd hardly know before /
British public. They also 
put up a  notice abt the 

64
Another notice at / same place ws
"Shoot High - peace will be declared
on June 16^{th "}.
————
.X.  ^Ross tells me that There is a strict order from G.H.Q.
agst men putting their heads over /
parapet & fraternising w / enemy.
When their message went up one of our
people, reading it, realised tt he
had his head & shoulders over / parapet .X.
& / Saxons were not shooting at him.
When our message went up  
first one of our heads 
appeared - then one of theirs -
then about six of each - they waved 
their hands to each other. Then an 
officer came along & asked / men what 
they were doing. When they told him
he sd "I dont think you'd to better do 
that, had you ?" He told them tt they had 
fire on / Germans - over their
heads to warn them. So they did 
& / Germans disappeared & we 
took in our notice. After wh the two 
messages mentioned opposite were
taken down put out by / Saxons. (We 
shall probably put ours up again)
This is all of a piece with the 
deliberate policy of the British army 
authorities to encourage anger in 
the troops because they think the

2    65
British fleet:
English defeat at Sea.
Seven Cruisers sunk 
One Damaged 
Eleven other crafts 
sunk Hip Hip Hurrah,
This was reported; & our intelligence
(Butler is a sport) agst all orders from G.H.Q., next 
day sent down very wisely a message giving the 
actual losses as we take them to be. This message
was put over / trenches & shortly withdrawn. Soon after
there appeared on / Saxon parapet: "Once more wd you let us see 
the message."
We still put up no message
- as it ws thought to be agst orders - & there 
appeared:
"We beg of you to show again 
the table of the fleet"
———————————
British Soldier wont fight well
enough without it. When first we
came here they sent down a lot of
stuff abt German atrocities (wh may
or may not have been exaggerated)
and asked that lectures shd be
prepared from it to be given to / 
troops. Butler, good chap, asked