Charles E W Bean, Diaries, AWM38 3DRL 606/45/1 - June 1916 - Part 6

66
Another
 

The N.Z. trenches up in the
Epinette salient are awful -
worse than anything I have seen.
Half the time you are looking
over / top of them at / German
trenches. (Our scheme is being
carried out all thro' them.
It is only abt 10 days old.)
[sketch, see original document]
I cant make out
how it is we werent
shot at more - possibly
troops opposite being Saxons
accounts for it. The New Zealanders
in / line were quite new &
had scarcely a periscope
between them.
 

2  67
back: what moral he ws expected

to draw from in / lectures? Was
it tt our troops shd do likewise?
and the stuff was thrown into the
waste paper basket.
Ross has bn allowed to send
a cable w a vague account of
this to / British papers. It will
show tt / Germans mistrust
their own paper official account.
Some people are attacking Balfour
for having given out our whole
losses before he knew / whole
loss of enemy & so making people
think it was a naval disaster
- when / fleet came home, rather
proud of itself, it was somewhat
hurt. All my feeling is: Thank
Goodness he did take us into his
confidence & let us know /
full loss at once. When / Germans
find out thats their Govt has
been deceiving them it will not
 

2  68
be such a merry day for 
them.
Besides - the fight was
a pretty even one. If we drove /
Germans back to port agst their
will this was / main thing; but
in / actual fight I fancy / losses
were somewhat agst us.
Ryan, the Premier of
Queensland, visited our
lines today - not / front
lines but / troops in reserve.
Birdwood says he is one o /
stupidest men he ever met -
with the least general knowledge.
He didn't seem to know tt an
aeroplane drops bombs. He 
seemed to be relieved when he
heard they were not necessarily
going into the front trenches.
But he had his own experience
for after a stokes gun had bn
fired in practice & only 7 out
 

2  69
of 8 bombs had gone off & 
they had strode over to look
at them ^the craters - someone - when
Birdwoods foot ws abt 18 
inches from / unexploded
bomb shouted "Look out, Sir;
its going to go off now !"
"We got th all jumped
into a trench (a practice trench
wh ws there)," sd Birdwood, "&
we got Mr Ryan in somehow
- he's very fat & I don't
know how it ws done -
& then sure enough the thing
did go off . . ."
Birdwood has had lots
of squeaks like this. The day
Hughes ws here I saw Birdie
hit on / hand w a tiny
fragment of sham bomb - enough 
to bleed. The first day he
went into / trenches here he
ws hit by a spraggot of bomb,
 

2  70
fortunately spent; early at
Anzac he ws hit on / head w
a bullet bits of wh were got
out o / scalp, suppurating,
after / evacuation; &
in Quinns one day a 
man told him that our
own bombs never went
off. "Surely!" sd Birdwood.
"No they don't, sir," he sd
lighting one & putting it
down - "see here!"
"Isn't that dangerous -
wont the thing explode?"
sd Birdie & turned
his back quickly - & /
next second it did 
explode - by a marvel
Birdwood & / man were
not injured (our bombs were
not Mills in those days).
"The man wasn't a
bit flurried" - Birdie says.
 

2  71
"He ws / coolest hand I
ever met. He simply sd:
'Well now, tt's / first
time I've ever known it
do that!'."
Birdwood told me that
himself.
I saw a beautiful
straf on the "Station House"
(a low roofed rly bldg
near / Distillery on the
Rue de Bois) yesty.
The Ger aeroplanes had
put some old Grimwades
guns onto a target of their its
own (they sometimes do this
if / guns have no special
target). Capt Waller ws
observing from the aeroplane
& he put the guns on to this
place where they say there
are some stores. From /
upper windows of the 4^th Bde 
F.A.
 

2  72
H.Q.s we cd see the firing.
The guns were howitzers
the 104^th Bty of 4.5s. They
are supposed to get off
one round a minute but 
there were nearly 90 fired
in no time by only one
section (2 guns). We saw
bits of roof & building & 
shreds & tatters of stuff go
up into / air over / lurid
brick dust clouds - & /
lurid flashes thro' it &
/ mist rolling away across
country. The Germans
started straffing / aeroplane
w ugly black shrapnel &
Grimwade & I went down
to finish our morning tea.
Before we had finished it
there ws a ring at / telephone
& - there ws Capt. Waller ringing
up from 10 miles away at /
 

2  73
aerodrome to congratulate
Col Grim death (as they call
him) on / way / guns had
bn firing. "What were they?''
he asked. He cd hardly
believe they were howitzers
as they fired so well & fast.
Grimwade tells me tt
they get lots of help from
/ aeroplanes but practically
none at all from / captive
kite balloons. They never hear
what / balloons have
observed. I'm sure there's
something wrong w these
balloons - Probably / link
between them & / guns is
faulty. They say themselves
they   cant help / guns
that they cant spot enemy's
guns, & so on; but /
Germans dont have 9 of
them along / horizon for
 

2  74
nothing. Ours are under
our "Survey section " - &
I expect that is what is wrong.
One of our aeroplanes - 
- the very latest of 125 H.P.,
a battle-plane wh ws to
bring down / Germans - has
arrived over here : but the 
air people tell Butler 
(when he rang up to say tt
our people reported a
monster going over at 
night) tt it is in / German
hands. It came out
& on its f arrived behind
/ German lines at Lille
instead of on our aviation
grounds - tt is all.
One is inclined to
think it must have been
spy work! If it is literally
true.
The troops - especially /
 

2  75
rather new N.Z. troops
are simply full of spy 
stories - Grimwade told
us tt two women yesty went
up to one of his batteries.
Today a sentry told one
of his men tt they had bn
arrested & found to have all
our battery positns marked
on drawings. I shd have
believed this before / war.
As it is I have not / least
doubt it is a wild yarn.
Last night Herbertson & I
walked with Williams, the
A.P.M. for 1st Anzac Corps,
down / road xxxxxxxxx
toward Neuf Berquin
to see a cottage window,
from wh signalling ws sd
to be going on. Williams
had seen a light coming
& going there himself; &
 

2  76
he hurried up & got the 
master of SIgnals - a British
N.C.O. who went back w
him & watched / window
make / word "Tonight" -
so he says. The signal
master told me it ws
undoubtedly morse. There 
are an old man, & old woman
in / house, & one daughter.
I don't think it likely /
daughter ws signalling
for a man lover - there is no
reason to go to such a
length where a word spoken
wd do; & they are not
educated enough. It is
a very foolish method for
a spy - so what is one
to think: - that the master of
signals was imaginative?
That is what I really suspect.