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

16                                        101
appeared on the front & both
flanks, attacking with
Everything they had - bombs
going - They gradually
appeared in behind our
men - "they mast have
come from the Farm" sd
Ranshaw - "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
 

17
were 4 Coys of Black
Watch;  then he said
4 Coys of [[xxxxx]] 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 Liége
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 [[XX]] he knew
 

18
comma [[XX]] " [[XX]] had been
pounded to blazes" Ranshaw
noticed looking thro the
chink of his groundsheet.
 

[9 Bn Knightly next page]

                           ↓

19
 at any rate tt Gen.
Paris ws with the
R.N.D. (which was
getting down, probably,
to one o l few things
tt he did know) - ' [[x]]
finally he said tt at
any rate an officer'
whom he ws dining w
lately said tt there, were
English in Liĕge-
           That was Evidently
the root of the whole
imaginatory Effert.
The chap was half or
more than half a Belgian.
But it ws I first time I
 

20
[G Bu from 7 pages back] flop down
& get I men shooting at those Ts.
        So they did - lay down & I
men followed them & blazed away.
They cdnt see anything to snipe at [*then,*]
(indeed tho' they saw nothing our own men were opposite further 
them) but it slayed 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 of he wanted to make I
appearance of a number of Ts being
there when there were only a few.]
                 Later in I afternoon the little
crowd seems to have made its
way back. Gray one the Cooks of 9Bn
ws out there (he ws an {?ord} British soldier
.K told him it ws not his place to be

 

21
had ever met one
of these people who lies
simply for 1 sake of lying
& it ws a strange
Evening altogether. The
wizened lieutenant opposite
woke up in I middle
of I argument &
added to I 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 [?cos] on the staff of a DAQMG.
He said: "you mention- the -
nam -'f-yer-'regimen'-
 

22
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 4or 5 men w
him - simply by [?slimping} his
rifle over his left shoulder &
walking back. He thought he
ws sure to be k either by our
men or I Turks so he might
as well chance it. As he got
near our men they were
9Bn & they Recognised him.
The next day he ws
told to report up 
to a Maj. Saker (on the left at
Popes, he thought - of course it ws
 

23
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.
He's valet was bringing
him hot water bottles
for his feet -
it is hard luck on a
strong man, just made
cabinet minister, to
be skating on 1 edge of
a breakdown. He said
tt he ws trying to get I
Imperial Museum
under him; & if he dis ke
 

24
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 I little offr w. glasses
o 1  day before.
K. thinks this ws abt
noon. In going on
this platean they found man
of the 15Bn everywhere lying
dead behind bushes - very
many,  Ks impression 15.
           On the first day he
never Saw a Turkish
trench (tt he knew of) anywhere.,
nor a T.gun.
 
 

25
wd let us have whatever
arangement we wanted-
but be wanted us to trust
him in i  matter of [?photopopbic}

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

26
her permission to
the London Imperial
Museum to have I
pick of all our trophies.
I wrote a strong telegram
this morning to I Australian
papers, & wrote & told
Lord Beaverbrook of it
tonight.
The DAQMG came
up as I finished wrote.
Hc is a wonderful
Irishman - he had
recovered himself [?far more}
than three parts sober;
& he laughed like the
cheeriest souls when I
sd tt I had met tonight
I biggest blanky liar I
 

27

had ever tistened to.

Feb 16. It ws a bitterly
Cold night. We came on
to Paris by I early morning
train, wh took all
day. In our Carriage
for I first half o I 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
great solidity. The elder
 

28
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 et 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 I course of conversation
- she had been up where
 

29

I 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
I time of their lives in
getting away from I very
 

30
[?narrow] little home
circle - The women
(& the men too) of England
will never be Content to go back to I same
after narrow limits
of life after their
travellings in this war.
            To night Cutlack
& I went with a
friend of his, who knew
Paris well, to the
Folie Bergeris. We
dined at the Cafē de
Paris first - & I