Charles E W Bean, Diaries, AWM38 3DRL 606/156/1 - March 1917 - Part 7

36       73
on the road where Cherry
was, killing him; also
killing Jerry of 28, & anor.
offr. of 28 Bns; & wounding
a T.M. offr. (Hay) & an offr
of 26 - 5 offrs in all. It
ws a 5.9. They were all
sitting down, Stapleton with
them. Notley asked S. to
come along w him & see if
his posts were alright.
They had gone abt 10 yds when
the shell lobbed.
Another shell lobbed into
the crossroads by the Quarry
& severely wd. ^Capt Cooper
(Pozieres DSO) & Lt Milner
of D Coy (who ^ws sent on with
part of D when B Coy ws lost). It

Mrs. Eliz. Cherry, Craddock, Huon, Tas.
74
Pte C H Nutt sd: During / attack on Laquist.
on / mg. of 26^th March 1917 I ws w Capt
Cherry thro out the whole attack. He ws
always in / lead of his men, & whenever
Snipers positns or m.g. positns ha or a 
house had to be stormed Capt Cherry
personally took / lead & led us w superb
courage & coolness. I personally saw
him shoot at least 12 Germs. When /
attack ws held up by a strong pt in /
village, Capt Cherry ws only offr in his
coy left, & he led us agst it, captg
it in one rush. Right throughout / day,
tho he had bn wd durg / early part
of attack, in / face of great odds, Capt
Cherry remained at / head of his Coy,
encouraging & organising, &
during / stiff fighting when / c.attack
developed, Capt. Cherry ws always in
/ thick of it, & by his cheerfulness
gallantry & resource inspired / handful
of men who were left to beat off /
overwhelming odds wh / enemy
brought to bear agst / positn.
Lieut. C.A. Stapleton states: During /
attack on Laquict on / morning of
26th March 1917 Capt Cherry led
his coy thro / village agst a strong
resistance by / enemy. It

36      75
is 6 months since then - and both
the latter were still in hospital.
The 28 & 26 Bns are very close
friends. V C. for Cherry
D.S.O. Robinson
M.C. Stapleton
2 D.C.M.s  9 M.Ms also specially mention
for Jerry (scout offr of 28 Bn.)

-------------------------------------------------------------

several cases he himself led
an attack agst std. points in / village
& in one case I saw him go ford
& bomb / enemy out o / str pt by
himself. Durg / fighting thro / village
Capt Cherry ws wd in / leg by a Germ
Offr din in spite of wh he led his men
& by his courage & self sacrifice inspired
them w / confidence wh caused them
to move forwd w great dash &
eventually gain / whole o / village.
Some time after having gained /village
a c-attack ws launched by / enemy.
Capt Cherry displayed gt courage &
coolness in tt he moved durg very heavy
shell & rifle fire amongst his men
regardless of any personal danger & by
his conspicuous gallantry inspired

76
his men w such coolness
& determinatn tt, even when
surrounded by / enemy, they
hung on & repulsed them w
heavy loss. Also durg /
attack he noticed tt I enemy
were using yellow flares to
mark their progress, &, w gt
presence of mind, he collected
some enemy flares & a pistol
& fired these from our own
positn. This caused I enemy
at left his arty, wh, no doubt,
saved a number of casualties
in our ranks.
 

36     77
Bullecourt:
26 Bn took over
from 25 Bn
The Bn had at this
time 8 offrs attached -
4 from 25, & 4 from 28.
They went ^up into reserve of
on 19 Ap. H.Q. in Noreuil.
27,28, 25 holding line.
28 were pulled out &
26 shifts to Noreuil long after RS.
on 25 Ap. when I fight ws to
take place, ^& ws suddenly postponed Col. Norrie of 25th
cd not change his coys - so
26 Bn sent half men in
each night alternately. They
were reld. by 21 & 23. The
Bn suffered v. heavily in NCOs
on this rly. NCOs had to

36      78
move along. / line & I back
blasts of shells behind / rly cutting
wd & k. a big number. Came out
on May 1.
On night of AP.28 we fired
gas projectors into Bullect. &
Germans put down a heavy
barrage upon his own trenches
there. The Germs there sent up
an S.O.S. There were no
flares going up in Bullect
but only further back. Travers
rang up Gen. Wisdon & told
him he thought it ws evacuated.
A pln under Lt Perritt (D Coy)
now of 9 Bn. ws sent out
along rd in front of rly embankt
& struck Germans just past

36      79
Germ. wire.^There they ran right onto a G. bombing post. We threw abt 30
bombs & then retired.
They 26 Bn came out
& went in agn on night of
2/3 & took over the rly
embankt line. For the
attack 80 men of 26 were
told off to carry Stokes M. Ammn
& bombs' this left abt 320 men.
These were organd in 3 coys w 5 L.Gs. each.
D↑   B↑    A↑
At 5 a.m. Murphy (D Coy) rang
up to say Tommies were coming
back & had not taken Bullect.
[we were always ahead of the
Tommies there]. C.O. rang up for
2 vickers guns to be put there.
Abt 5.15 a.m. Wisdon rang up &
sd tt Gellibrand had sent forwd
A Coy under Maj. Thorne after

80
as by dotted line
[Hand drawn diagram - see original document]
All the allied offrs were either
k or w.
36     81
5 Bde had failed. Travers
got a messinger out to make
certain. He came back & sd
tt ^Maj. Thorne (A) & ^Capt Anderson (B) had
both gone forwd. Travers
rang up Wisdon & sd 2 Coys
had gone ford. No one ws holdg
/ embankt exc. Murphy (D)
on left. Wisdon sent up 2 Coys
of 25th to replace A & B. Travers
then took his H.Q. up to the
embankt. He found tt Anderson
had bn wd by a shell & had not
gone ford but some of his men had
gone w Thorne. McCullage Crossland attd (of
28 Bn) had also had his jaw shot
away there. Lt Kerr ws put in / c of
B Coy (from D). Wisdon then sd 25 Bn
were coming to take over whole line
& attack Bullect. Murphy, ws
to connect up xx I right of
6th Bde w rt of 5 Bde ^._.x^._. Travers

82
X Kerrs pty found Germs
abt 75 yds back up the
O.G.1. (O.G.2 ws same). Our
rt ws along the bank of
sunken rd. Germs had no 
block but there were / remains
of blocks wh had bn built &
blown up.
36       83
saw Gellibrand, just as Murphy
ws got out to do this, ^? a lieut tt the
5 Bde ws not in. If T. had
any men to spare G. sd he
wd like them to bomb up OG,
& OG 2 towds the 5 Bde Objve.
At I same time 6th Bde
were asking for more saa
& bombs. Travers put Murphy
on to carry bombs. They did
each 4 trips up (each pln), & Kerr
w B Coy, & some trained
bombers from D Coy, bombed
up OG1 & 2.X Kerr handed
over to 5 Bde. they got
abt 200 yds up this
trench. (O.G.1) There were
bombs flying all I time.

84
This / Germs blew up
when they took it.
36     85
They put a block in w OG1.
The of sand bags & dead
bodies.x They then came
out for a rest handing
over to some offrs of 51st
Bde. They spelled in /
sunken Rd - where 200 or
300 of 5 Bde were under
bank. They had abt 1½ hrs
in O.G.1. Then out ¼hr.
Then 6Bde sd their rt
ws in air in O.G.2. (A
major of 6Bde - proby
Trew came along).  K. took
the men up into O.G.2.
They bombed past one
C.T. & started bldg a
str pt w inf. abt 250
yds up. The Germans

86
Kerr says 5th Bde
had no fight left in
them & used to get out
of the trenches without
much resistance &
line the road bank. They
were scarcely defending
even this. They must have
had a very severe shock
in / morning.
36      87
came down the 5 Bde ws put in to
hold O.G.2. The Germs
worked down the C.T.
& got in behind
Gibson. They came at
him then both ways &
he got back overland 
to O.G.1. Gibson had
a protecting pty of out
& 10 men digging. There
were none of the 6 Bde
in OG1 or 2. They
on E of rd; they were
on W of rd & out
ahead. The Germs
came down the CT.
& down O.G.2 from
rt. abt 10.15 a.m.

88
Gibson ws originally a
driver in one o / batteries.
This ws his first fight &
Kerr's.
36      89
They did not come over
the top. O.G.1 ws held
at this time by 5 Bde
after having bn 2ce
cleared by 26Bn.
Gibson & 4 other men
decided to bolt for it
across to O.G.1 as
Germs were bombg in
on them. Some of the
26 Bn who were wd
& cut off were taken
prisoners & there were
some 5 Bde in there
too. Gibson came back
then & Kerr ws already
back by then having
handed over to 5 Bde.