Charles E W Bean, Diaries, AWM38 3DRL 606/100/1 - February 1918 - Part 2

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appeared on the front & both
flanks, attacking with
everything they had - bombs
going - They gradually
appeared in behind our
men - "they must have
come from the Farm" sd
Ramshaw - "did they get
back into the Farm after,
did you hear?"-
R. & the other man lay
for 3 days in the shell hole
before they were picked up
by German s.bs & taken
to / rear. R's. thigh was
crawling by that time with
maggots. They were carried
on groundsheets slung on 
poles through the big German
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17
were 4 Coys of Black
Watch;  then he said
4 Coys of Gordons were
there also;  then -
that he could not say
exactly what day they
arrived but it ws
some days after August
3rd - & tt they were
somewhere near Liège
or near Louvain;
then he sd tt he cd not
have said tt he acted
as guide to two British
officers;  then he sd tt
the Royal Naval troops 
tt he ws with formed 
part of the 7th Division;
then he sd tt the he knew

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commn trench "wh had been
pounded to blazes" Ramshaw
noticed looking thro the
chink of his groundsheet.
[9 Bn Knightly next page]  →
 

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at any rate tt Gen.
Paris ws with the
R.N.D. (which was
getting down, probably,
to one o / few things
tt he did know) - &
finally he said tt at
any rate an officer'
whom he ws dining w
lately said tt there, were
English in Liege -
That was Evidently
the root of the whole
imaginatory effort.
The chap was half or
more than half a Belgian.
But it ws / first time I

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⇣ [9 Bn from 7 pages back] Hop down
& get / men shooting at those Ts.
So they did - lay down & /
men followed them & blazed away.
They cdnt see anything to snipe at then,
(indeed ^tho' they saw nothing our own men were further opposite
them) but it stayed them. [There had
never bn many Ts visible here - 
the man w black baggy trowsers
kept on jumping up, blazing, then 
running along to his flank & blazing
agn as if he wanted to make /
appearance of a number of Ts being
there when there were only a few.]
Later in / afternoon the little
crowd seems to have made its
way back. Gray ^one the Cooks of 9 Bn
ws out there (he ws an old British soldier
.K told him it ws not his place to be

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had ever met one
of these people who lies
simply for / sake of lying
& it ws a strange
evening altogether. The
wizened lieutenant opposite
woke up in / middle
of / argument &
added to / amusement
by saying tt Cutlack
& the ^Anglo-Belgian were
improperly discussing
the location of their
battalions. In a thick
stumbling Irish he said he
ws a staff officer - he ws on the staff of a DAQMG.
He said: "You mention- the -
name -'f-yer-'regimen'-

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there) - Gray got back to Australia.
A man named Gibson ws
there & insisted on going to sleep
K had to wake him up - he
never reappeared so he ws
probly captd or killed. K got
back with 4 or 5 men w
him - simply by slinging his
rifle over his left shoulder &
walking back. He thought he
ws sure to be k either by our
men or / Turks so he might
as well chance it. As he got
near our men they were
9 Bn & they recognised him.
The next day he ws
told to report up to Maj Saker
to a Maj. Saker (on the left at
Popes, he thought - of course it ws

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Heard yer-m'ntion-it-
m'self!"
After dinner I
wrote to Lord Beaverbrook.
I saw him two days
yesterday. He was in
bed - clearly he is scarcely
recovered from his breakdown.
His valet was bringing
him hot water bottles
for his feet - poor chap
it is hard luck on a
strong man, just made
cabinet minister, to
be skating on / edge of
a breakdown. He said
tt he ws trying to get /
Nat Imperial Museum
under him; & if he did he

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on plateau 400). He & one
companion went up & found
3 offrs standing together, one
of whom looked at him hard
& sd: Do you remember me.
It ws / little offr w. glasses
o / day before.
K. thinks this ws abt
noon. In going up to on
this plateau they found men
of the 15 Bn everywhere lying
dead behind bushes - very
many,  Ks impression is.
On the first day he
never saw a Turkish
trench (tt he knew of) anywhere.,
nor a T. gun.

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wd let us have whatever
arrangement we wanted -
but be wanted us to trust
him in /  matter of / photographic

organisation wh he proposed
to carry thro - his main
principle being to cut /
military right out of it
except in / simple matter
of censorship -  I told him
we cd not give up our
control of our own photographs
- but tt if he let us know
his wishes we wd help
him all we could.
I talked it over w Treloar
& we decided to act at
once, ourselves, &
get Australia to revoke

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her permission to
the London Imperial
Museum to have /
pick of all our trophies.
I wrote a strong telegram
this morning to / Australian
papers, & wrote & told
Lord Beaverbrook of it
tonight.
The DAQMG came
up as I finished wrote.
He is a wonderful
Irishman - he had
recovered himself ^& ws more
than three parts sober;
& he laughed like the
cheeriest souls when I
sd tt I had met tonight
/ biggest blanky liar I

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had ever listened to.

Feb 16. It ws a bitterly
Cold night. We came on
to Paris by / early morning
train, wh took all
day. In our carriage
for / first half o / way
were two officers of the
W.A.A. Corps (Womens
Army Auxiliary Corps-
"Warned against all
Colonials", as our
men call them). One
ws a very pretty Scottish
girl & furs, & the other
a decent old spinster
of great solidity. The elder

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had bn suffering from
Railway Transport Officers
- like any ordinary ^male officer
 - & had been given a
movement order to Rouen
when she ought to have
had a movement order
to Havre - & had bn
told to get it altered by
the R.T.O. at Roven (where her
train wd only stop 15
minutes). The other
had been in Servia the
year before, evidently as
a doctor or nurse, & ws
most proud to slip it in
in / course of conversation
- she had been up where

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/ dead were still
lying abt / plain
(quite like any real
officer).
They got out at
Amiens; but two of
their soldier W.A.A.Cs got
in later - they were
hoping tt they had
missed their officers.
They were two Lancashire
or Westimoreland girls
& were clearly having
/ time of their lives in
getting away from / very

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narrow little home
circle - The women
(& the men too) of England
will never be ^content to go back to / same
after narrow limits
of life after their
travellings in this war.
Tonight Cutlack
& I went with a
friend of his, who knew
Paris well, to the
Folie Bergeres. We
dined at the Cafē de
Paris first - & I