Charles E W Bean, Diaries, AWM38 3DRL 606/185/1 - 1915 - 1918 - Part 6

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Then he left them & bothered no more

abt them. He went back to the Xing & kept

on shooting at anything he cd see, firing

from his hip.

We took 39 (?) prisoners & ^settled 3 offrs

killing 2 (?of these) offrs (& capturing one). The

Germs left 30 or 40 dead inside / lines. These

men were coming down from / directn

of Albert.

The Germs made some little attacks 

durg / day - nothing to speak of - three or

4 times.

In / first two days, by promiscuous

shelling on front & supports, 47

Bn lost 170 men. The N. Fusiliers

attacked from the West agst Dernancourt

& were cut up by m.g.

fire 
Hand drawn diagram - see original document
on / level ground

where the X is.

It ws sd at this

time tt Dernanct ws

unoccupied. Finlay ws to cooperate w them,

but, seeing tt they lost 51 men at once,

he did nothing.

The Bn refilled & replenished w blankets,

bully beef, 50 or 60 rifles, petrol tins etc from the

abandoned British camp behind Edgehill.

On the night of 28/29 March some horsemen

turned up at dark. Their offr sd they were an "arty

patrol" (British) who had bn sent up because they heard

tt / infantry had evacuated. He belonged to G

Group. They were to find out where / line was.

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On / afternoon of March 27 a tremendous lot

of aeroplanes were up. They started to fire on

our men & managed to kill 2 of 47 Bn &

wd another (& / same with 48Bn). They made

our men lie down very close. We learnt

later tt someone had told the R.F.C. tt everything

forward of Lavieville ws German.

On / night of April 2, 47Bn relieved

45Bn again & took from the rly arch to

above 15 centl. The 46Bn ws then on /

left. On / morning of Apl. 3 the Germs attacked

on a 300 yds front just along the centre

o / Bn. There ws a bit of bombt first;

the SOS went up; our arty came down.

We battered / Germs back w Stokes mortars,

L.Gs & rifles. Not one of them got on to our

rly line. They ran Northward to / boundary

between 46 & 47 Bns & got onto / rly line

there - The right Coy of 46 Bn battered them

& so did / left Coy of 47Bn. There were

80 dead in front o / left Coy of 47 Bn -

47 Bn got one prisoner, & 46Bn one.

These sd tt one Bn had made / attack.

This attack ws made abt 8.15 & ws over

by 9. They had come by the Sunken

Rd W of Vivier Mill down to / rd on

/ other side of rly, where there ws a

platform & stone dump wh hid them. They

had 250 yds to come after crossing the 

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Hand drawn diagram - see original document

stone dump

& they were

under fire /

whole way

across.

About / same time a little party came out

opposite / rt of 47Bn. They left 4 killed by / rly

line.

In 15C the 47Bn ws on the E of the rly line;

in E20 they were on the W of it & were sapping

thro' it to get to / East side. There were to be tunnels

with T-heads [hand drawn diagram] on / German side o /

Embankt - but / earth ws friable & needed holding

up & / Engr 4th Pioneers had nt finished / work.

During these days 5 German planes attacked

3 English ones thro a rift in / clouds & a chase ensued

so low down tt / English planes were scuttling like

skates just above / ground (one actually

seemed to touch) w two Germans after 
Hand drawn diagram - see original document

one & 3 after the other (one having

dived straight & escaped low). One

German & one British disappeared. [[shorthand]]

behind Edgehill & presently appeared [[shorthand]]

again over / crest & down / valley so

low tt you cd see the hill & bivouacs over the top

o / German plane (wh ws above - 50 ft in / air).

All / British escaped. The Germs were Albatross

(Finlay says) & ours SE5 (doubtful - but maybe)

_________________

On April 4/5th at 4.30 (we had

out offensive patrols, with lamp from / rly

arch to the Bn. O.P., & tel. from Bn O.P. to Bn H.Q.)

at 4.30 a.m. thro / ground mist we heard

some Germans moving. A scout ws

sent out & he reported 200 Germs at

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[[shorthand]]

the X Road at 21 A 9.9. An officer

volunteered to go out & disperse these.

[[shorthand]]

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the X Rd at 21 A 9.9. An offr

volunteered to go out & disperse these. He

sd he cd frighten them w a Lewis Gun.

This ws Lt Taylor. He went out & saw

these Germs. He reckoned there we only

50. He fired at them 2 magazines

from his L.G. & he says he did not

see one man get away unhit [of

course this is an estimate of no value].

He ws abt 100 yds away.

Presently they heard transport

moving along the Albert Vivier Mill

road & the Morlancourt Rd  & we got

the arty onto these.

The ground mist became heavier

you cdnt see anybody on / ground. The

lamp signal ws still being maintained.

Finlay determined to send a chain

of scouts down from the Bn O.P. abt

14 A 2.9 to / front line. (They were to

be sent but the arrangement ws not completed)

Our arty opened on / Germs at

5 a.m.? & continued till 7 a.m. & our

men sd it ws a most perfect

barrage. At 7 punctually / German

barrage came down, not on

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/ front line but on the supports right

back past Bn HQrs to Millencourt.

It ws abt the 3rd best barrage in /

bn's. experience - H.E., sensitive

fuse, shrapnel, gas. Telephone wires

were cut. At abt 8.30 the support

coy reported tt they had very few

me left x C. Coy on / right under

Lt Goodsell had 108 men when they started.

But by this time he had lost all his offrs -

Douglas, Hinds & Marson, & ws badly wd

in / back himself, & had only 24 men

left. The trenches were half full of

water for it ws had bn a rainy night. as it

Reinfts were sent down from a

Coy of 45Bn wh ws in Pioneer Trench.

Capt Simmons o / left suppt coy

(who ws in w his men) only had 50 men

left out of 124 - & one offr of his, Lt Smith,

had bn wd.

At this time the front line stated

tt they were being heavily shelled.

This ws abt 9 a.m. The message came by

wire from the front line from both Coys.  The

linesmen had repaired / line (many signallers

were hit, Finlay sd.) The lamp ws also

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74

Diagram see original includes names

(McDougall)

Heard 

Young 

Ward Taylor Lt.Reid I.O. [[shorthand]]

(Sergt Brown Scout Sergt ws w him)

Rose Cooksley Ulcoq

 

working. The previous

night 2 more L.Gs

had bn sent down to

/ left Coy. This gave

a total of 13 L.Gs in

/ front line; 4 Vickers guns

were in / quarry in 14B.

The Stokes mortar ^ws in / valley

in 15C & in addition there ws a party of

25 pioneers (4th Pion. Bn) under Lt Pennefather

who were driving tunnels - none o /

tunnels in / embankt were yet ready.

There ws a small reserve

at Bn HQrs - 3 L.Gunners, runners,

signallers, & a couple of batmen.

At 9.40 an S.O.S. went up N. of

the Amiens - Albert Rd where the

?Essex were on 48Bns left - &

the left Coy 48Bn were also attacked.

[The main front of the 48Bn ws not

attacked at all, Finlay thinks.]

It ws thought tt this ws probly

/ real attack.

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at 10.20 the lamp cdnt be seen. The

chain of scouts ws not ready; but / wire

had bn repaired just in time for them

to say: "Fritz is attacking heavily". The

lines were repaired twice durg the bombt.

& twice during / fight.

At 11.15 the a runner sent to / support

Coy came back & said that "Fritz is in

the support trenches". The Germans at

this time were in C Coys trench. Goodsell

ws badly wd & had only 24 men. He

ws supported by a pln of 45 Bn under

Lt. Perry - sent up w 24 men of whom

only 15 arrived & Perry ws K by a

shell on arrival.

Fritz was expelled by C &

D Coys in the support trenches -

they attacking from / road (this is

very vague & unreliable) & was

thrown down the hill. At this

time I observed a long stream

of men coming over the hill

in 24 B & 13C (Edgehill). I saw

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78

tt these were the 52nd Bn, "wh

"explained how / Germs got up

"into the supports". [A fair number

of 52nd Bn left Coy. certainly did

retreat up / road in this direction

at abt 10.30 But the break ws almost

certainly thro right of 47Bn].

"I sent Lt Robinson, L.G. Offr to

take command of C.Coy. No more has

been heard of him. A runner

came back & sd he saw 3 or 4

men taken prisoners near the

quarry in the Sunken Rd."

Finlay then went down to

see to the gap of 800 yds between 47

& 52. 47 ws then with its rt (in

the supports) on the X Rd on grid 13-14

central & (in / front line) on the Bridge

on / rly line (impossible). The visibility

was clearer. Lt Smith, asst. adjutant,

ws ordered to gather up spare men"

at BnHQrs. & come to the

right of Pioneer Trench (i.e. a Trench

thro E7, not the 3rd Pioneer Trench near 52 Bn)

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to fill the gap. Finlay told C.O.

52nd Bn tt his line was intact.

A few minutes after 12 noon a lamp

message ws recd from / front line

[probly from left or from a position in rear of

front] saying tt / line ws intact to their

right boundary (the rly arch). Then

a runner from Capt Young reported

the state of affairs on his sector

(left front). This gave the C.O. to

understand tt / Germans had

got over thro the 52Bn & cut

the supports of 47Bn in / flank.

The Stokes mortar on / left

ws blown out & the crew joined in

w / infantry under Lt Y Kenyon &

Lt Bone who fought as riflemen.

The Pioneers also joined in.

At 1pm they saw the Germs

all round / country on their

right rear. They decided to fall

back along / rly line & form a

flank. They had bn subject to very

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fierce attacks but had settled them all.

No 4 platoon post in the right coy

reckoned tt they had over 400 dead

in front of their post. They had one

loader to every four rifles - some

of / rifles they got from / German

dead. The value of rapid firing

practice came in here.

At Capt Youngs Coy HQrs they

got an anti aircraft Lewis gun & a

number of spare men of Coy Hqrs; & Heard

(rt) & Young (left coy) reckoned they

must have had 40 m.gs - their own

& German, - at one time. The Germs.

came out in solid formation - bunches,

not waves or lines - the rear lines

clambering over / front line of dead.?

They brought up 2 field guns wh

fired (probly really from right rear of

Dernancourt) at 250 yds from /

Albert Rd just NE o / junction E o /

village. Young picked off / gunners

w a rifle from Coy Hqrs in / rly embankt.

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