Charles E W Bean, Diaries, AWM38 3DRL 606/117A/1 - October 1918 - Part 2

to blow up / bridge. The
Australians told him -
never - you wont have
to do it at all. After 3
weeks they told him tt /
place line there was safe agst /
whole German army, if
it attacked. He seemed to
appreciate / spirit.
He did not appreciate
(I guessed) the Australian
method of housecleaning at /
Daours Rly Stn - wh consisted
of taking all / interior o / house
out into / yard & burning
it. [Probably it ws in a 
very fithy state]. Changed at 
Tarascon. Cd hardly get a room
at Nimes at all.
 

dressing stn. had not
been xx medical offrs
to a battalion as ours
have & knew very little
of the needs of the units.
Whilst he was up there
they completely missed
their rations for one
day - the division
omitted to get up its 
rations that day. When
/ stretcher bearers asked
Wall about it he cd
only say tt / Divisional
General & Headquarters
 

^X →→→→→→
Gen Lewis seemed a kindly old
chap - rather like an old English
gentleman called on to manage a
war & managing it from his library
- running in & out whenever a message
was received but not with any obvious
close grip on what was happening -
not obvious to the outsider anyway.
One of these divisions with its
staff and our officers attached to
it, before Sept. 29, was in some
difficulty as to its rationing arrangements.
Our man advised their
"Q" man to go in & see the general
- so in he went with some request
for an arrangement about the rationing.
"Rations!" said the old
chap - "don't talk to me about
rations - I've got a battle on!"
It seems almost unbelievable
to our people. Yet I think they might
almost have done the same some
years ago - Perhaps not - we always
had a pretty good appreciation of the
importance of "Q" work.

were in exactly /
same case - they had 
received no rations
either. ^X
 Wall stayed had
missed his ambulance
by staying up w them.
So I gave him a lift
to our place. On / way
we called at / Hqrs o /
American Corps, the 2nd
American Corps, at
Tincourt, in Buire Wood,
to get any reports
possible from them
as to Sept 29. We
 

been treating some of their
wounded from the Moutbrehain
Hindenbg Line section.  He sd
tt they spoke very highly o / 
Australians & liked to have
them beside them.  The Americans
were apt to advance very
fast & they complained tt
The french on their flanks
genly got left behind - but
/ Australians were always
dependable.  The details were not
clear - I dont know what ground
there was for / statement or
where; but tt ws the opinion, 
anyway.
An English engineer also
told me tt when / Australians
come to Daours he was
wondering when he wd have

 were referred to a 
Lieut. Parkes, who
ws / press officer
- they have one attached
to every Corps apparently
to get together what 
material is suitable 
for / press.
The edition of the Paris
"Daily Mail" which Bennett
our Despatch Rider brings
back from Amiens contained
an announcement that
the Germans had asked for
an armistice. Dyson
pointed out that this - the
biggest event since the war
 

& / Germans were reminded
tt at / very time of
their peace demands their
army ws burning towns,
& the Submarines sinking the
Irish passenger boat Leinster
& the ?Hitachi Maru, & firing
on / boats wh were saving
/ passengers.
A First rate note - Wilson
has xxx risen well to / trust wh
ws placed in him. The
German ^Govt wants to save its
face but tt is just exactly
what we cannot allow
it to do.
Two American officers in
/ train. One a doctor who had
 

began, if there was
anything in it, was
printed with a heading
just the same as that of
the daily account of the
fighting - covering only two
columns. It showed an 
intention to refuse to
regard this news as being
important - indeed this
is all the value that
people give to German statements
nowadays. The
German is in the position
of a man who has dealt
in frauds before & been
found out; & when his next
xxxx statement comes on
 

President Wilsons
reply to the German Note.
Nothing could have been
better - Foch to settle
/ Armistice so as to give
up no tittle of military
advantage; Germany is
reminded tt in / speeches
w wh she expressed her
agreement was a clear 
statement, tt we cd make
no agreement w / German
Govt so long as it ws in the
power of any arbitrary
authority in Germany to
settle questions of peace or war
& disturb / peace o / world
without consulting / people;

 the market very little
attention is paid to it -
people all realise that the
only thing that matters is
where our armies are & what
they are doing. The German
will change his tune simply
& solely in accordance with
our military position &
that is the only thing our 
people look to nowadays.
Prince Max of Baden,
the new chancellor, has
made a speech. He was
appointed there as a pledge
that a new democratic
programme would be
carried out & that the
 

example.
I stayed all the
near the Gare de Lyons.
Last night they had the
English review "Zig zag",
with Daphne Pollard, at
the Folies Bergères. 

Oct 15 Tuesday.
Came S. by the early
train. The French lawyer &
his wife & son ^(an artillery officer), who shared
my compartment, were
all insistent tt they must
get into Germany & beat
/ Germans there & let them
see what France had suffered.
Towards / evening
I saw a paper giving
 

Government wd be
responsible to the people.
Unfortunately, some time
ago he wrote a letter to
Switzerland explaining to
one who held the Conservative
point of view that people
were blind - were mistaken
in him. They thought his
object was to reform
- to give constitutional
effect to the reform
movement. As a matter 
of fact it would defeat
that movement. I dont
know - but I shd say
this letter will xxxx
cause him a lot of trouble.
 

of Honour: "We must not
have Peace!" He meant
of course - we must not
have an armistice on 
what appeared to be
Wilsons terms in his
first note.
The Germans have
I believe abandoned done away with the
political section of their
General Staff; & they have
done away w most of their
censorship restrictions -
they had to do this when they
took some of their Social democrats
into / cabinet. The result is
pretty interesting - unheard 
of criticism of / Kaiser, for
 

 I stowed Prince Max's
speech into my pack to
read on the way over &
left Barleux early this 
morning, taking Wall
as far as Belloy near
Picquigny. On the Quay
at Boulogne I picked
up Col. Barraclough who is
in charge of our Australian
munition workers in 
England; & he came over
with myself & Wèlch (who
was O.C. ship). It was
rough & for the first time in
crossing the Channel since the
war (if I remember right) I
was seasick. In the vestibule
 

him for what Australia
had done - Anything tt
Australia asked of them in
/ future, they sd, they 
were bound to give her
- and they thanked
Hughes too, personally,
for what he had done -
for his strong leadership in
their struggle.
He had a talk w
Pichon abt New Caledonia
& / Pacific but I didnt
hear what they decided.
Old Poincaré said
to him, when he first saw
him on Saty & presented
him w / Grand X of / Legion
 

of the ship, also very
seasick, was James,
the Canadian war
corrspt - Apparently they
have two. - [[Livesay?]] the
one for their Press Association
& James for / Govt. James
used to be in / Canadian
infantry. As they have a
number of units in France
outside the fighting line -
16 Forestry Companies &
about 4000 ^a great number of men in
Railway construction companies
& many in the Royal Air 
Force - James has who would be
neglected to some extent by
the Press Correspt who deals
 

lunch w M. Pichon. No
speeches there, I believe.
But the French War 
Cabinet all received
him - in a body - & he
was allowed to make
his speech to them. He
made a straighter stronger
speech even than he had
written, so he told
Murdoch - & I have got
the M.S.S. of his amendments
too, for the Museum.
They received his speech
very well. And at / end
of it I think it was M.
Clemenceau who thanked

almost entirely with
the Canadian infantry,
James (who succeeded
Rowland Hill) is charged
with writing an account
of these outside branches of
the Canadian Force as well
as of the fighting corps.
He told me tt /
Canadians were ^had been very
satisfied to be fighting down 
near / Australians on the 
Somme. They went up to
the north from there; & he
gave me the successive stages 
of the battle for Cambrai which
was headed all the time by
the Canadians - (I copied noted this
 

back ^to Austlia without trenching
on questions of 
repatriation & Millen
will not allow that.
I hope this cable will
settle Millen (if / censor
passes it) & yet allow
him a way out. xx
Hughes but  It points
amongst other things /
need for a strong political
support to the A.I.F. in England
- & if Hughes takes
advantage of this they are
surely certain to appoint
him.
Hughes today had his
 

on the cover of another
notebook). The heaviest fight
was on Oct 1. when the
Germans came at them with
at least 6 divisions & with
the artillery of 10 (apparently
in a desperate attempt to
prevent the taking of 
Cambrai.) The Canadians
were driven in a very
little. But this morning
before James left he heard
tt / Canadians had
taken Cambrai - they
had thrust two divisions
down from the N of it, &
the British had thrust
up from the S. & joined
them on the E side o / town.