Charles E W Bean, Diaries, AWM38 3DRL 606/180/1 - 1916 - 1917 - Part 1

AWM38
Official History,
1914-18 War: Records of C E W Bean,
Official Historian.
Diaries and Notebooks
Item number: 3DRL606/180/1
Title: Notebook, 1916 - 1917
Includes references to the 31st and 58th
Battalions, 2nd Battalion, Argyll and Sutherland
Highlanders, Ypres and Fromelles.
AWM38-3DRL606/180/1
 

[* 31 Bn. Ypres

&Fromelles.

58 BN Ypres till Sept 17

at Racquinghem

On evg 24 Sep

Belg on / 
gard*]

Original
DIARY NO. 180.
AWM38
3DRL 606 ITEM 180 [1]
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.  C. E. W. BEAN
AUSTRALIAN WAR MEMORIAL 
ACCESS STATUS
OPEN

Sec Lt R Thompson MC
31 Bn
ill in a 3^rd ✓
100 2 doz Xmas Books
to adjt 60 Bn

10
1                
31 Bn. Ypres 
& Fromelles
58 BN Ypres till Sept 17
Racquinghem

31 Bn - had bn at

Wippenhoek 23^rd Sept. On evg 24 Sept
moved to Cafe Belge on 4
Chateau Segard
Bn had studied the big model
at Poperinghe.
Orders were issued for
moves for 8 Bde on Sept 25.
At dusk on Sept 25 a warning
order ws recd to be ready to
move at short notice
at 9 p.m. C.O. ws instrd
to report to GOC 15 Bde
at Hooge – The 29^th & 31st were
to take 2nd Objve, 59^th 1st objve.
33rd Divn ws to be on rt.
It ws also stated tt Bn wd
go in on rt of attack.
At midnight C.O. with
one Coy Commdr (O.C. A Coy who
ws take in leading Coy) Capt.

10
2 
Hibbs, & 3 offrs from other
Coys arrd at Hooge.
They recd Bde order
N^o 116 15 Bde.  Before leaving

Col. Toll decided to attack on

one coy front.  This ws told
to offrs,  but ws altered at

Bde – so arrngt ws.

B   A

D   C
(as it turned out the fight ws

in Echelon & D Coy acted
as reserve but were thrown
in early.)

The Bn had already moved
at abt 11p.m. & head of column
ws at Hooge crater by 1 a.m.
They had to pick up extra
picks & shovels etc there. There

10  

3
ws a dump of material
there – Toll ws just able to
get to / head o / column (after
/ interview) as it passed
Hooge & lead them into /
line. There ws a good deal
of shelling on / road but only
7 casualties. They had guides
from 15 Bde & led them along
/ tape line as far as the
Tunnel on / Menin Rd.
From there it found its
way to Blackwatch corner.
At Bn Hqrs of the Bns wh shd
have attached guides were
given to / assembly tapes.
They were in positn and
reported to C.O. who ws w
them 10 mins before Zero.
H.Q. was Pillbox at BW Corner
 

4
Maj. W.W. Tracey C.O.  C. Coy died in hospital
wd –  at Welwyn (Herts.)
L^t R Thompson M.C.
Die
※
A Coy. Capt Hibbs k. NSW (Victoria)
k L^t Brodie (Q)
L^t Nancarrow (Orange) N.S.W.
L^t. Chute . (Q)
L^t. Rose. Killed abt same time
as Brodie. (Q)

10
5
The line ws pretty well blocked
up when it started. Bde
had suggested, if anything happened
on rt to refuse / right
flank. During / operation
as the final objve ws gained the
right noticed tt / P/Bs at
Cameron House.  A & C Coys wh
were on rt extended their
flanks to meet this oppositn
from Cameron House. Even
before this while ^waiting on 1st objve,
the 31 Bn ws fired at by mgs
from Jerk House & Cameron H.

Hibbs with L.Gs & some of the
officers went off to this direction
to clean these places up. Hibbs
& several other offrs were killed

here ^※ The Germans attacked
from these P/Bs almost at once; &
 

10
6
these offrs got out there
quickly w small parties.
This had to be cleaned up
before there cd be any advance.
Just before the barrage went
ahead again the C.O. heard
tt the ^bn on right ws unsupported falling back.
& ws able to The Germans
held ^attacked them at / same line as they
attacked flank of 31st, & they
fell back from / line wh
they were holding wh
ws just in rear of our
jumping off line. (The attacking
Bns, it ws heard later had
never arrd at their J.O
positn.)
Later the British were ordered
to attack w one Bn through
the 31 Bn from the NW ⇢.
 

7
Lieut. Blomfield. O.C.  D.
Maclaren on left O C  B.
            _____

10
8
They did this but it ws
an impossible positn to
attack from in daylight as
the Germs on / opp. side o /
gully got them against /
skyline.
 

9
Hand drawn diagram – see original

10
10
Lt. Blomfield ws over
on right away from D Coys
flank. men were a mixture
of A & C Coy.
A & C Coys were consolidating
on a postn wh in parts
looked down S. into the
Reutelbeck. The line ws
then N. of Cameron H.
Fire ws coming from Cameron
House & from places W
of it. The fire seemed to
be coming almost from
the British line.
L^t Thompson A Coy ws there – 
Capt Hibbs ws killed early
abt where marked; this ws
Lt Coutts D coy ws killed
 

11
In aftn, supporting Tommies who
attacked, there were k. Coutts after
Gamble k. first
This spot where Coutts ws k ws
5 yds ahead of British suppt
line on Sept 28. Abt 50 - 70
yds behind their front line.

10
12
abt / time Blomfield got there.
Hibbs had made a line just
looking down into the valley, &
he ws trying to eradicate
the snipers & mgs wh were
annoying them from the imd
front (S) of him & his left.
Some of these snipers were in
P/Bs some in shell holes. Hibbs
ws sniped thro the head.
L^t Brodie ws killed in the
taking of a P/B, shot by a sniper
thro the head just NW of Jerk
House.
L^t Rose ws k. almost on top
of Jerk H. abt same time as
Brodie. Rose ws k by a shell –
uncertain whose.
Our line included & ws in
front of the P/B in 15 B 3.8 There
ws a mound & rise by
this P/B – our line ws ahead