Charles E W Bean, Diaries, AWM38 3DRL 606/214/1 - August - October 1918 - Part 8

Just as / relief of 59 Bn
ws complete, / relief order
ws cancelled. 60 Bn had not
bn relieved & remained in
their positns. The last of the
men got back at 3.30 am.
At 5.30 am. Co. recd orders
to take / whole Bn fowd again
to a positn in close suppt of
57Bn. They moved up to
the earthworks in 33 B5.1
& stayed there till 3 p.m. Then,
swing to / advance of 57 Bn.
it ws considered advisable for
59 again to move to / battlemnts
in I 22D. On night of
4/5  Bde ws reld & went
into bivouacs in O 2B.
60 Bn on / day o / relief
pushed their patrols to Darmstadt
trench & East of it.
71

Lt Malcolm Kirkham k. on /
rly bank ^in St Denis by a shell on first
day of arriving there. (Sept 2)
Lt Pinkerton ws wd in / same
place & R.O.D (Sept 2)

59 (& old 60) Bns
Bellicourt.
Had moved out in columns of
Route at 7.15 6.45  after a hot breakfast
from West of Templeax le Guerard
in L7C. Moved from there 
in Column of Route by an
overland track E of Templeux
to XRds in 28C. 95.20 then
due E towds Malakoff Fm
to the J.O.T. On moving E they deployed
into arty, formatn, lines of plns, Hqrs leading.
They came under m.g.
fire before C.O. ws satisfied tt
they were on / J.O.T. It
came from / directn of
Malakoff Fm.
It ws a v. foggy morning
artificial fog ws put down &
this made it hard to see -
there ws v little wind & the
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smoke made a ground fog.
They did not suspect anything
wrong at this time. They put
it down to bad mopping up
on / part o / yanks. Leading
Coy came under this & some
arty fire & suffered severe
casualties.
As they got near
Malakoff Fm they got m.g.
fire from just beyond it
(it seemed like Malakoff 
Fm at first). The leading Coys
Commdr Capt Hornby had bn killed by a burst (there
Coy ws swung round w
instrns to
were several guns)
& all / officers except one had bn
wd. The C.O. swung them
round to act as flank
guard while rest of Bn went
thro - & meantime he saw
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a big Mark 5 Star tank
knocking abt a little further
back,  went down to it
& got / offr. Berbg
in/c of it to help - & came up
in / tank himself to show it /
way. C.O. took it to the head of 
Column & then got out -
tank went on and th toured.
C Coy under Lt Buckinghame working independently.
Saoot Shooting ws coming
from the left flank - & it
stopped when / tank went out.
(A Bde maj. of some, other Bde
got into / tank for a similar
job - / tank ended up at 
Quennemont Fm. B & went off)
The C.O. led Bn down in
/ bottom o / valley after
this for protection.
C . Coy a had bn swung
round before C.O. went for tank
75

worked out towds quenn
Quennemont  Fm. When
C.O. saw them coming back
with 40 prisoners he for /
first time realised tt /
Americans must have had a
crash & things were wrong.
(C Coy ws under Buckinghame)
Bn got over the top o
/ hill & into / Hindenbg line
at / Lamp Station (where
/ left dealt with a m.g. post)
The right entered / trenches abt
A 27 C.59.
On getting here / fog had
lifted a bit & / Germans cd be
clearly seen in / Catelet line
just W. & NW of Cabaret Fm.
you cd see abt 100 of them. 
76

The C-O sent A Coy under
Capt Dickson down the CT.
(with the zigzag  bend in it)
into the Hindbg support line.
D Coy went over / open just
N of it (Capt Neale M.C O.C. of
D Coy had bn k. by shell fire
in / advance & this Coy ws
under Lt Parr). & getting
into / trench there established
touch w 44 Bn.
Both these Coys came
under m.g & rifle fire
from 3 directions, front,
left flank, & left rear.
B Coy by under Capt
Roberts, less one pln occupied
bits of trench closely supporting
Capt Dickson.
Our pln of B Coy under
Lt Chambers ws kept in / main 
77

Hindbg line with Hqrs,
w a platoon of 44^th Bn, remnants
of a pln of 41st & bits of 108^th
American Regt.
Lt Chambers put in a bomb
stop at abt 27A 6.8.
Abt noon The German bombed
along / main line where Hqrs
were, rushed / bomb stop,
& broke thro. He ws driven
back by a c/attack, the
men using German bombs,
& our bombstop ws put
50 yds further N. The Germans
made a 2nd attempt but
this time they were repulsed
without reaching / block by
bombs & L.G.
At 1.30 ^ Col Clark C-0. 44 Bn
established a joint Hgrs w Col.
Scanlon. 
78

At 4.30 pm Lt Buckinghame
reported personally tt he,
with 12 men / remains of
his Coy, were holding posts
in Top Lane. There were
4 V.guns of 3rd m.g Bn in
Quennemont Fm & 2 in
Top Lane. This gave us our
defensive flank. German
arty ws in actn in Dark
Vally.
There ws still a packet
of Germs at / junctn of Top
Lane & Hindbg line. C.0. 44 Bn
ws arranging to deal w it.
That eo. 44 Bn had a
Coy also in the C.T. (towds
the Tunnel & 28 central).
That evg 59 Bn ws ordered
to move to a positn in / 
79

Hindbg line imd S.E of
Mont Olympus.
Sept 30 59 moved to 
S of Bellicourt (trenches in 10A)
near / "boiling down works".
It ws intended tt they shd
attack / same day to attack
/ Lamp Signal Stn in 2 6D.
Col. Scanlon had fixed zero
for 3.30. He discussed
at Bn ^Hqrs tt they were under orders
to do / same they w zero
at 4 pm. These orders were
then cancelled by telephone.
(15 Bde ws not in touch w
Divn at this time).
At 10 p.m. they were called to
Bde (W. of Bellicourt) where
orders were gn for an attack
at dawn by / Bde in conjn
80