Charles E W Bean, Diaries, AWM38 3DRL 606/169/1 - September - October 1917 - Part 4

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27 Bn. Malt Trench.
For a couple of days before
Malt trench the 27 Bn had to
reconnoitre it by day & night.
The authorities thought it ws held only
by a few mgs & scattered posts.
Lt Davis & a patrol ws sent there

during / the night, up Loupart Rd.  This

35
The 27 Bn scouts reconnoitered /
wire, found / gaps, & paced them, before
/ attack;  & were thanked by / Brigade. 

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ws crossed w wire.  They reached /
wire & then must have bn heard; for
first one m.g., then another, started
all along / trench.  Then before they
knew where they were - bang bang
a couple of bombs in / road.  They
got close in to / bank and got out.
Next day a party ws intended to
go straight at it over / top, I believe;

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a party of the 5^th Bde did this, &
were badly punished.  They sd they
were ordered to do it & were going
to do it.

                   ______
In the Malt trench fight a party
of abt 5 with L^t Davis went down
Malt Trench at a tremendous rate
from Loupart Rd working right.

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One man ws completely cut off by
/ Germs. but got back.
The 27 ws (?later) driven back &
the Germans cheered - our people
heard the cheer as / Germans got / 
trench back.
When we finally moved down it
tho 27 Bn met the 5 Bde.  What happened
first ws tt a Stokes mortar bomb (they
didn't know what it was ) landed in /

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trench near a dugout & blew
one man into / air, dead & wd
another.  Maj. Devonshire sent a
man round over / back to see 
where the 5 Bde were and then went on
down / trench.  Rounding a traverse
he at last found an officer of the 5 Bde
- & there were some strong words.  Devonshire
told the officer what he thought of having

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Stokes Bombs into them;  the offr
sd:  "But you hit us w rifle grenades" 
wh ws true.  1  ws killed and 1 wd on each
side, apparently.
Lagnicourt.
At Lagnicourt the
27 Bn scouts had their pegs all properly
put in & were standing by in / shallow
sunken road to direct / companies

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onto them - & did it splendidly.
The men had to be placed in positn 
- they were cold until / fight began.
They got to about the crest - their
right near the Mill Stump wh / Germans
had beautifully registered.
The Germans came out of Noreuil
& got up to within 40 - 100 yds of
them.  They were led by an officer.  When
this offr ws shot by an Australian private

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the heart seemed to go out of them.
They lay down & did not come on.
Col Slaney ws given the couple of guns battery
of Maj. Sinclair to work for him - &
? St Clair a direct line; & he got it to enfilade
the German  line.
                     __________
The rifles of part of this line of ours
were so chocked w mud tt in one
case - / post near / mill - ^there ws in use only one
German rifle;  out of ^12 or 15 of ours all were chocked.

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The post near / mill ws aftwds
shelled by / Germans so heavily tt we
had to leave it.
Cherry ws in touch w them tt
day.
                 __________
Bullecourt.  27 Bn ws 19 days in /
line holding / posts on / right.  One
platoon in / post nearest / German
line ws pretty well wiped out;  but /
rest o / bn had few casualties.

AWM 38  3DRL 606 ITEM 169 [1]
Strictly Private and Confidential.
C.E.W.. BEAN.   Book No 169.
THESE diaries and records are the personal property of Mr. C.E.W.
Bean, Official Australian War Correspondent, and are kept with
the Australian Government records only for convenience and safety.
They are on no account to be inspected nor to be used for the compilation
of any history except by express permission of Mr. Bean.  In
the event of his death they are left by will to Brigadier-General John
Gellibrand, A.I.F., whom Mr. Bean has made his Literary Executor
in all matters referring to  his War History, and whom he desires to
succeed him in writing it ; the New Zealand records amongst them
to go to Captain Malcolm Ross.
While Mr. Bean's records will eventually be given by himself or by
his executors to the Australian Commonwealth, they contain a great
many matters which are on no account to be fully made use of within
present lifetimes ; in any of them great caution must be exercised in
judging the value of any criticisms made or comments passed at the
time of the event.  The system on which these notes were written
was to put down from day to day exactly what was present to the
writer's mind ; but this was very often wrong, and in such cases it
does not by any means follow that a contradiction appears in the
diary.  The diaries must, therefore, be judged as a whole, and daily
comments should not be taken as signifying anything more than
what the writer at the moment believed to be true - C.E.W.BEAN.
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