Charles E W Bean, Diaries, AWM38 3DRL 606/172/1 - October 1917 - Part 1

AWM38
Official History,
1914-18 War: Records of C E W Bean,
Official Historian.
Diaries and Notebooks
Item Number: 3DRL606/172/1
Tittle: Notebook, October 1917
Includes references to the 38th Battalion,
Broodseinde, Passchendaele and the British
66th Division.
AWM38-3DRL606/172/1

 38^th 2
Oct 4&12
Original Diary No. 172.
AWM38 3 DRL 606 ITEM 172 [1]

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
38 -
39 -
40 -
___    _______
C        D
________________ B no
________________ A Reserve 

52     2
38^th Bn 
Oct 4&12
38 Bn. Oct 4
Track up past Mitchells &
Bostin unduckboarded but taped.
[At 5.30] There ws some bombt.
overhead on left flank
towards Tulip Cot^s
& much on rt.]
The colm. ws delayed
abt the Zonnebeke (K
by flares this evng by
enemy who had Hill
40. colm had to
stop when flares thrown.
The track had bn
taped same night &
when 38 reached front
they were vague as to

52     3
wh ws right or left
of sector. The tel. poles
on rd from Bostin
to Levi cd be seen &
Capt Orchard D Coy
knew rt had to be
abt 100 yrds to rt
of one of these poles
& got to positn there
The left ws placed
by Capt Selleck abt
opp. the big trees on
the hilltop in rear of
Dochy Fm.
On the rt the shells
were landing not far
over D Coy.

52     4
abt 5.45 am. 37 Bn
moved fowd to get
out of barrage wh
was fairly thick on
37 Bn 160yds or so
ahead of 38 Bn.
This was probly the rt
of Germ. Barrage.
D Coy moved forwd
when 37 did to avoid
 thickening of Germ. Barrage
when ours came down.
They got thro this v.
luckily. When 37 Bn
started they were not
more than 30 yds from
Germ. Pillboxes on
hilltop in front of
Jacobs House.

5
Xx got round there on /
right.
52     6
The left didn't move
up at same time as
rt - a ^couple of hedges ran down
thro / bn positn &
it ws mostly to /
rt of these tt /
Germ. Barrage ws
felt & lines edged
forward.
As soon as D Coy
started the Germ. mgs
in the beforementioned
pillboxes got onto the
men in front of them;
but 37 Bn were past
them within less than
a couple of mins. x
& settled them.

52     7
The left found German
m.g. going (& Green
verey lights) going 
from a Pillbox
abt SE of Dochy Farm.
These ws practically
only one line here - &
practically thro / fight.
After this some
shooting (m.g) & bomb
throwing occurred at a 
Pillbox - probly one
of those at D21A 7.9½
Bombs were coming
over from behind this
P/B as far as cd be
seen in half light, &

 52     8
falling abt 30 ft 
in front of our men.
A party ^of ours cd be seen
working up a trench
or hollow wh went
towards the right of
the P/B. A P.Bomb
fell behind the dugout
& oppositn ceased.
Three Germs at least
came out - one ws
settled by a man of 40Bn.
There ws oppositn 
next from Juday H.
There were eight mgs
taken here - it looked
like a m.g. Coys S.P.

  9
Diagram - see original document
D C M for this
Judah H. had apptly bn a
bty positn - there were shellcases
& carriers abt. There may have bn
a Farm there once & it ws built
under / hedge of this
There were abt 12 positns
here - storehouses &
pillboxes, abt half of
concrete, next wood &
earth, behind a bit
of a rise but not
entrenched, floor abt
a foot below surfaces.
Judah House ws / name
applied early to the system
There had
52     10
The germs threw stick
grenades from here
also. Mc worked
round it - two
in especial, Sergt
Shilliday ^x & Col Damer
were two noticeably
there - & the Germs 
finished the last gun
crew. The gun ws
firing through a door -
S, threw bombs at them &
finished them w his
revolver.
It was very wet
down there.
37 Bn objve was
about 50 yds from bottom

 52     11
of gully but ws
afterwds consolidated
in read of Judah House.
Judah House ws
on the dry slope ^someway
above / creek bed.
38 Bn halted close
down by the creek. When
38went on agn a
good many of 37 went
too.
After the halt (wh seemed
to last till abt 6.55)
the NZs had gone on
& taken Abraham Heights
wh ws strongly held -
At that time barrage