Charles E W Bean, Diaries, AWM38 3DRL 606/188/1 - July 1918 - Part 1

AWM38
Official History,
1914-18 War: Records of C E W Bean,
Official Historian.
Diaries and Notebooks
 Item number: 3DRL606/188/1
Title: Notebook, July 1918
Includes references to the 43rd Battalion,
Hamel, various generals and repatriation.
 AWM38-3DRL606/188/1
 

Original          DIARY NO 188.
43rd Bn
Hamel
AWM38  3 DRL 606   ITEM 188 [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 these 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 Sep., 1946.                   C.E.W. BEAN

AUSTRALIAN WAR MEMORIAL
ACCESS STATUS
OPEN

Gullett
(17736)  Wt. 2205 - SK550. 100000 1/18. Sir J. C. & S. 

108
1
[*Good men in
Aust. Men wh
have bn a success*]
____________________________
Repatriation
Medical
- Shd be staff ^of A.I.F. interchangeable in Evng to
find out what is being
 done in by Germ France
& all countries.
[*Shd be working
for repatriation.*]
188
You cd send them back to Eng if wdnt stop
artificial limbs.
______________________________
The staff, instrs, etc shd be
sent from here.
_________
[*Col Honman
A.I.F.*]
__________________________
Featherstone { 5 or 6 Uni staff on board ship. Where idleness is largely learnt
                            { Lectures on leave
_________________________________________________________
Starting from Aust Shd be examined by a board of
2 good ^well pd men: every man shd sign an
attestation paper & Dr also.
In case of men who are returned there shd be a please explain.
 

108
2
Final Bd of Appeal.
Pensions - Judge of [shorthand]
                     Good [shorthand] offr surgeon
                     Physician
Board absolutely apart from politics. Must be appointed for 5 years as free
as Rly Commiss in N.S.W.
To settle appeals on paper
Big questn is identity
V. Big questn of Administration.
Monash shd go to Aust. at end & go
on w responsibility there.
A.I.F. shd nt end.
Establishing of Austlia after war

108

3
Book.
The best generals were
those who had no
thought for ^themselves xxx  – all
for Australia. Who wd not
risk a stunt for ^mere personal
glory. Who had no
ulterior motive for appting
so & so & keeping in w
so & so —  but just acted
by one creed — What
is right for Aust. ^That simplified things
v. much.

_______________________________________
Angus ^Butler says 16th Divn gave way
also —S. Irish ^Horse gave near Roiselle.
Ken is wounded & prisoner in Germany
21st Divn at Epeby held. 

108

[*43 Bn Hamel.*]
43 Bn Hamel.
Objve - Hamel - whole of it.
Had to move just N of
Pear Trench.
Started to move onto
tapes at 12. & were all
ready by 2 a.m.
Tape ws put out by 2 & 3 Bn
offrs & ran from X Rd in P3C
to 8 Central.
A screen was out
— of 43 Bn. nomansland on left ws
700 or 800 yds. Only on rt
from Pear Trench ws German
m.g. active.
Never heard the tanks
coming up tho' they listened
for them — the planes made
 

108

5
a devil of a noise.
Didnt see the tanks
till they got to / village.
Hand drawn diagram – see original
One pln of Americans to
each coy – they were abt
50 to our 25 (i.e. 1/3 in strength
of each Coy) mixed in
irregularly.
 44^th ws to leapfrog in
Hamel.  As soon as
they went thro 43 ws
to mop Hamel up.
Hand drawn diagram – see original

108

6

6 tanks, 2 with each
coy in same way as Coy.
 5 of these tanks worked
excellently well.
Our barrage ws short from
first — 2 guns getting onto
the 2nd line (moppers up).
Two sections of Americans
never left tape on acct of
casualties.

The smoke blew across
the front & in many cases
the Shrapnel bursts overhead
were / only indication of
when they were up to /
barrage.
Oppositn ws stuck on the
front line — where / German

108

7
got ^abt 6 m.gs. into action.
Capt Canaway – (C Coy)
found 4 guns in / front
trench w / ^canvas covers still on them.
& crews by them, afraid, he thinks, to open w them.
Capt Cope struck serious
oppositn at a/mangel heap
immediately in rear o / 
trench S of the Rd into
Hamel (Hamel–Vaire Rd)
When the line ws 20 yds
away xx when a rifle
ws fired & up went a
flare right ahead. A scrap
started with bombs & rifles
but Cope swung a pln
at once around in rear
of the Germs. by the road
on the left. This ws an
 

108

8
American pln commd by
Lt Symons who had his
runner w him. He
ws wounded in / arm –
his runner (Pte Anderson)
took on / job & carried
on a/c. of the Americans
who had no offr w /
pln.
The germs in the front line
here had gone after / first
few shots. Our bombs Fire
then started from the mangel
heap.  xx Our bombs hit / mangel
heap & rolled down.
Our men wd get down at once
before they threw these bombs
or fired — you cdnt stand up
to a Mills bomb at tt distance