Charles E W Bean, Diaries, AWM38 3DRL 606/155/1 - 1915 - 1917 - Part 1

AWM 38
Official History,
1914-18 War:  Records of C E W Bean,
Official Historian.

Diaries and Notebooks

Item number:  3DRL606/155/1

Title:  Notebook, 1915 - 1917
Includes references to the 22nd and 23rd
Battalions, 6th Infantry Brigade, Bullecourt and
Gallipoli.

AWM38-3DRL606/155/1  

22 BN}
23 BN}  Bullect.
May 3
& (at end) Gallipoli      2
May 3rd. 

(Original)                                                                         DIARY NO.155.
AWM38
DIARIES AND NOTES OF C. E. W. BEAN
CONCERNING THE WAR OF 1914 - 1918
THE use of these diaries and notes is subject to conditions laid down in the terms
of gift to the Australian War Memorial.  But, apart from those terms, I wish the
following circumstances and considerations to be brought to the notice of every
reader and writer who may use them.
These writings represent only what at the moment of making them I believed to be
true.  The diaries were jotted down almost daily with the object of recording what
was then in the writer's mind.  Often he wrote them when very tired and half asleep;
also, not infrequently, what he believed to be true was not so - but it does not
follow that he always discovered this, or remembered to correct the mistakes when
discovered.  Indeed, he could not always remember that he had written them.
These records should, therefore, be used with great caution, as relating only what
their author, at the time of writing, believed.  Further, he cannot, of course, vouch
for the accuracy of statements made to him by others and here recorded.  But he
did try to ensure such accuracy by consulting, as far as possible, those who had
seen or otherwise taken part in the events.  The constant falsity of second-hand
evidence (on which a large proportion of war stories are founded) was impressed
upon him by the second or third day of the Gallipoli campaign, notwithstanding that
those who passed on such stories usually themselves believed them to be true.  All
second-hand evidence herein should be read with this in mind.
16 Sept., 1946.             3 DRL 606 ITEM 155 [1]                                                   C. E. W. BEAN
AUSTRALIAN WAR MEMORIAL
ACCESS STATUS
OPEN

1.
^x Alderson's batman
ws / only man he
knows hit by this  
 35
22 BN}
23 BN}  Bullect.
May 3
& (at end) Gallipoli       2
22 Bn.  May 3rd.
See Gellibrand's story
On left
Alderson _^ (w 2 plus of B) in / c of 4^th wave.
Took up positn on left of wave
20 mins before zero. 10 mins
before zero ^X enemy laid down
light barrage on J.O. positn.
A wondered if waves wd be
entirely confused but they werent.
10 secs after they left jumped
off enemy m.gs. began.
After 100 yds leading
waves began to split abt
centre of 22 Bn.   Rt wave
appeared to be going to rt.
It looked to A as if German
shell on one point caused
this, but at m some say
it ws our barrage not lifting.
By time reached wire this
gap was 50 yds broad.

35                                                        3
Alderson tried to check
split & saw other offrs
trying to do same.  A. tried
to hurry part of his wave
up to / gap.  At enemy
wire / line ws very thin
— abt 8 paces between men
it seemed; shell craters
here were very large (our own
wire breaking arty) & tended
to make us lag behind
barrage & split line into
small parties in file.
Waves by this time were
mixed owing to men w
heavy loads being unable
to keep pace w leading
waves.
20 yds past enemy's
1st line wire the m.g. fire
became very intense &
our barrage seemed to have

35                                                  4
lifted from OG1. The m.g.
fire from first seemed
to come from the nest of
trenches betw O.G 1 & O.G.2
where they separated at
NE corner of Bullecourt.
Casualties became very
heavy & the waves
ahead disappeared.
M.gs were firing from
half right & enfilading
from left. Advance
became a dash from
shell hole to shell hole &
so ws slower. The Germans
cd be seen in 3 or 4 groups
of 8 to 12 in each, standing
up on / parapet & firing.
Alderson reached abt
U 28 B 4.9 & ws met by
a shower of stick bombs. 3x
x of our men were in a shell

35                                                        5
hole firing. A joined them &
got a L. gunner & a couple
of others in – the only L.G he
saw. The German groups
were standing – one man
wd coolly point out some
of ours to his mate — the
mate wd coolly aim & fire.
A got the L.G. to hose them & they
at once got back into trench.
A collected & got his men to
collect some panniers of
bombs ^from shell holes around - but two were
hit through back while crawling
over to get more.  He
L^t Scammell got in came
crawling in, wd in
stomach w 3 other men of
other units.  A sniper ^The L gunner ws sniped thro' head. They
looked around for sniper
& A. while looking to front
saw his _^head on his left. He

35                                                      6              
bobbed down. He & Scammell
got rifles. A. told S where
sniper ws & they bobbed
up agn suddenly to shoot
him — but before they got
aim the Sniper, who
must have bn waiting,
shot S. through the head almost
/ moment he showed.
During   A second L. gunner
who took over gun from
first ws shot thro' head; a
third who took it from him ws
shot thro' head also.
This pty did not know
whether our men were in
O.G.1 or not.  They ^Once in 1 day one
man sd they were, on rt; he
sd he cd see them. Others
thought not. There were bombs
going in / trench in front
& on right front, at two

7
 Under bombing from left they had
to withdraw 10 yds to anor crater.
Remaind here till 11 bombg & sniping
Reinf^d at 11 am by two men of 23 Bn, one wd.
They sd tt they with (12 men) had
bn in O.G.1 but had bn bombed
out.  Driven back by bombs to
wire by 4 p.m.  Strength 2 offrs. 5 ors
(3 wd).      
35                               8
points, but they were
not Mills. They Germs 
cdnt see any sign of Mills.
The Ge Germs tried to get
round in small bombg
pties of 4 or 5 behind
our men on left in shell
holes. Alderson in shell
holes w his men kept
their grenades for these –
At 6 a.m. They saw some men in shell
holes there surrender but
probly not Aust^ln 22 Bn
because of 170 missing
pretty well all are still
missing.  That
They dug from shellh.
to shellh. durg day &
made quite a decent post
& finally dug on right into
sap abt 28 central.

35                                                9
Alderson put map
out in shell hole
when plane
came over &
thinks they were
seen.

35                                               10
Thwaites ws in 4^th wave
on rt of Bn linking w
24^th Bn.  The pre-zero
barrage went over & to
left of this part but
got some in left of wave.
No barrage flares went
up, so barrage ws
probly practice, by order;
it had happened for
several mgs. before.
The 4^th wave moved up
a little into / old J.O.
trench of 4^th Divn & shell holes,
as precaution.
Barrage ws good –
moved quickly close behind
it. Abt U 29 a 33 the
apex of a German barrage
in front of his wire seemed
to strike us. At this point
the attack had had to