Charles E W Bean, Diaries, AWM38 3DRL 606/214/1 - August - October 1918 - Part 2

/ valley they got into dense
smoke & fog - far thicker than
tt of Aug. 8 - so thick that
they cdnt see 10 yards ahead.
Their only guide was
tt they knew there ws a line
of telegraph poles wh ran
down / hill to Bellicourt
- into / S. of Bellicourt.
They didnt take / road because
they knew it wd be shelled.
They struck these poles. The
wires were trailing from
the cross pieces; or else, where
/ top ws entirely broken off,
/ wire ws lying beside / poles
on / ground. The C.O. got his
half Bn here into one single
line - not a good formatn for
a battlefield but what else cd he
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do. He & the I.O. went
ahead stooping down to see /
wires & follow them to / next
post. When / post ws reached
the one ahead wd shout "found
it" & they wd come up to him.
They got thro old wire -
very tangled - & from / look
of / place / C.O. guessed
they must now be by /
Hindenburg Line. He accordingly
halted the Bn & struck off
N.-wds to see if he cd
find the road - which he
knew ws now N. of him - & wh
he ought to strike at a cutting.
He found it about 100 or 200
yds away. He had to be f
gn Bn strict orders not to
move, so he came back to
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^':X:' While they waited in / fog
3 Germans without arms suddenly
stumbled in upon them. "Merci
Pardon!" they began to cry. The
men looked up at them laughing
& motioned them / way to go -
& off they went, very pleased, in
/ direction of our rear.

them & found them where they
had been ^':X:' - & extended a
line of men from there (in
/ ordinary way, each knocking
/ next mans back) from
there to  / road - & then
marched by tt line.
The fog cleared as they
got to / road & / enemy
just then began to shell
it heavily. They got
across quickly & into
a good trench / other side
wh (he took it) must be
the 2nd Hindenburg trench
of the first system.
He got / men up it
& just there in came their
other two Coys (who had bn
coming down separate) & also
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the 58th Bn from further
N. They 57 now worked
round (my where their positn route ws
laid down intended to be)
N. of / town.
In / trench where they
had got to a party of abt
10 Americans with bayonets
came down / trench. Denehy
asked who they were - They
sd they were moppers up,
& they were dealing with
dugouts - D. asked what trench
this was - The Americans sd

it ws the 2nd trench. This
turned out to be right.
The Bn ws led off in two
long single files thro the wire
of the system N. of Bellicourt.
They had to go in this formatn.
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for / wire ws very thick &
there were few gaps.
As they came thro it
& clear of it, N. o / town,
they saw ahead / mound
of spoil from / Hindenbg
tunnel. On top of this
they cd see men moving
in bunches. Suddenly it
became evident tt one of
these men ws waving to them
& trying to prevent them from
coming. However, they
went on. They found tt
these were Americans; &
tt they were occupying this
embankment over / tunnel
(wh here, of course, is hidden
90 or 100 feet below in / bowels
o / Earth). There were a lot
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of others in / tunnel dugouts
hopelessly at sea as to
what ws happening or what
they were doing; & hopelessly
fo without any knowledge of
what ws happening ahead.
A few isolated groups
cd be seen ahead by / rly
but otherwise / place was 
and about them a few
bullets whizzed past from
/ rear. Col. Denehy
told his men to dig in
as fast as thy cd.
The 58 Bn ws in the
2nd Hildy Hindbg  trench
on the left; the 59 Bn
cdnt be seen at all -
they had (tho' this wsnt
known) struck trouble away
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back by Quennemont or
Malakoff Farm, & were
fighting their way through.
The Germ C.O.
decided to dig in & report
/ positn to Bde. The Bn.
worked up to the isolated
Americans ahead & reported (I forget
whether this ws before digging in

& reporting, or after)

Then orders came from Divn to push 

on. The 
Americans clearly had
failed (it ws thought they
had when news ws so
scarce in / early hours &
when / few wounded men
seemed to know nothing
at all abt it - prisoners
had also passed early under
absurdly strong guards according
to our experience of Germans Americans
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The order ws gn for an
attack at 3 p.m. with a barrage..
What happened to / barrage
Denehy doesn't know - he
thinks they fired on a
wrong map reference (? were
they prohibited by 4^th Army from
firing at all). Anyway, some
men thought / germs fired
somewhere else - they attacked.
The tanks were all knocked out on / hill.
The 57 got into the Bet
Nauroy line on the S.
& SW of Cabaret Wood Fm;
the 58 got some men into
/ trench on the N.W. of it.
The C.O. of 58 kept insisting
tt they were in touch (but
they were not) in the trench.
What happened ws tt
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Diagram - see original document
58 had its right out o /

trench along a road &

this ws in touch with

57 Bns supports. The

resistance from the Farm

ws very strong. But / men

got into / trenches & there

ws bomb fighting going on in
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/ gap between 57 & 58
(The right of 58 Bn,
earlier in / day, had
made a good advance
under Mearer?) by working
around / rly cutting on
/ rt when / left ws
held up.)
A line ws moved 

roughly made defensive
flank ws thrown back
towards 59^th Bn by
an advance of support
Coys (after / first advance
towds Cabaret Wood Fm).
(An American Bn reported to C.O. 57 that
night & ws advised by him to make a flank
echeloned on left rear.)
Next day (Sept 30) The 53rd Bn
came thro & bombed up
to the N. and cleared
Cabaret Fm in / process, tho'
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