Charles E W Bean, Diaries, AWM38 3DRL 606/48/1 - June - July 1916 - Part 1

AWM38

Official History,

1914-18 War: Records of C E W Bean,

Official Historian.

 

Diaries and Notebooks

 

Item number: 3DRL606/48/1

 

Title: Diary, June - July 1916

Covers the attack on La Boiselle and Fricourt

Wood and the fighting of early July 1916;

includes sketches and typescript copies of 

despatches.

 

[Bar Code]

AWM38-3DRL606/48/1

AUSTRALIAN WAR MEMORIAL  RCDIG1066811

 

Original  DIARY NO.48.

ALM 38   3DRL  606 ITEM 48 [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 those terms, I wish the

following circumstances and considerations to be brought to the notice of every

reader and writer who may use them.

 

These writing 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 Sept., 1946.      C.E.W.BEAN.  

 

2  1916

June 29/July 

1

(48)

Distant guns to S.

[Hand drawn diagram]

On the night of June 29/30

there happened the biggest

raid so far undertaken.

It was carried out by all the

battalions of the 6th Australian

Brigade - the 22nd 23rd & 24th

making three ^assaulting parties, & the

21st making a covering party.

Ross Herbertson & I went down

after dinner to the Rue Marle &

found that Brand (who ws in charge

o / raid) had gone on w Gellibrand - just

back - & Plant. We followed on, &

reached a crowded dugout in the Bois

Grenier line - Lloyd (5th arty Bde) ws

there, & one man from each regt, & little

Clowes o / trench mortars ^ & sometimes HO[[?]] of the m.gs. It ws

very crammed - but we were a

very jolly party - old Gelly very

quizzical & funny; Brand very earnest.

 

They were to have used smoke. The follg

messages came in:-

11.45 wind. Unfavourable.

11.55. P.B. out     11.55.  22 Bn arrd.

(centre partys   11.59   23   "   "

 telephone)       12.00  24  "   "

11.59  Guns like an orchestra

12.13   24 Bn entered

12.20  23 Bn  out.

_____

12.25.  R & B. Cease fire

P.A. 

Nothing yet from the centre

22nd Bn.

12.27½   23 out. P.C.

One prisoner just arrived. Dont know who got him

[Hand drawn diagram]

 

24th got the first prisoner.

24 C7.

A Hun prisoner there recognised that this raid ws very

cleverly carried out. He spoke English: "Bloody clever".

1916

June 29/July

2

3

Cut on 20th June -{ in diversion for another scheme.

Kept open by Shrapnel & m.g. at night

Without gas.

Wire cut at { 1.26 b. 9¾ 8¼ &

                      {1.21.c. 2¾ 0¼ &

                      {1.21 c. 6¾ 2 & 1.

3 Covering parties from 21st Bn.

6    4

Message    

12.35 To keep up the fire on supports behind centre 

battalion.

12.40 Hit on the top of the telephone dug out 

put light out.

"Are you still there?"

12.42  Centre Out.

Hearsay message tt the 22nd got a man in.

Decided to cease fire & stand by to open? on? mgs

12.45 firing

22nd got in and found nobody there.

__________

O.C. Attack. Capt ARL Wiltshire  22 Bn.

Rt Raiding Platoon  Platoon - Capt H M Conran 23Bn.

Scouts Lt. W.A.Cull 23Bn

Covering Pty. Lt. A.R.Macneil 21Bn.

127a. 0¼ 8½

121.c.7¼ 3.0½

Centre raiding platoon - platoon Lt WR Hunter 22Bn.

Lt R.D. Fussell 22Bn

21c7¼.2.    Lt F. Sale 21Bn.

 

Left raiding platoon platoon   Lt J. Carwick 24Bn

Scouts Lt AJ. Kerr 24Bn.

Covering pty.  Lt H Sandford 21Bn.

5 Parties 

3 of 61 & 2 offrs 

240 men & 8 offrs. Covering Pty 60 m. 3 offrs

7k & 8wd.

They found the Borrow pit very sticky.

Wire good where hit it - but

He had seen one man lying in

trench dead - no one seemed to know him

3 missing men: Carwick ^ & some others went out to

find them but they had come in another way.

The 24th that cdnt cross had to hide in shell hole from the m.g.

Six tried to get into one shell hole. Bairns [[?fathers wag]]

? (someone quoted him)

Conron's party missed 3 men- all but all these 3 are in.

Party went in 2s.

One man of 25th k. in their wire just

coming out by m.g.

24th had 5 k - / one wire

4 in enemys trench on

left they met opposition. 

6 or 7 prisoners

Three men were firing from / parapet by 

the common trench and one on right.

We brought everyone in & all 

back - 5 had to bring them.

They were big men & the ditch is full of water & his

wire. Took minute to get thro this wire

 

6  6

1.2½p.m.

22nd got in, killed several, bringing prisoners back but

did for a couple on way home.

24th 3 prisoners taken.

22nd left bombing pty. Wire well cut but a deep ditch

22nd. One in dugout showed fight. K.

2 on post.

A lot of galvanised iron for overhead cover.

apparently merely to keep off

the rain.

24th had 5 killed: (got 4 prisns.)

23 had to cut thro. wire. There ws

a German listening post &

23. had 3 k.

______________

5 slightly wd in trench

3 a.m. heavy firing

7

Trench ws broken down 

past bay

Bde report dawn.

Right & Centre parties met w great

opposition. Left party took 5 prisoners, &

killed 2 officers & 80 men. We had 7 k & 15

w. all of whom were brought in.

________

Same night: The 39th Divn attacked & reached / enemys 

support trenches

Our 7th Bde released gas.

________

June 30. Down to hilly country. 

Albert

At night continued, but not heavy

intensive

The light in the air.

Amiens Troops passing - "Tipperary"

Cathedral all in helmets. "I got a little motor car"

Poor beggars

The Correspts. One thought they were

thinking of their people

probably

 

6  8

Concrete Dugout in wh battle

H.Q. was filled hit twice &

filled w dust but not smashed.

Rt Party k. 5 or 7

They saw one man in dugout.

Left trench k. 5. - (Our loss: - One shot on wire

coming back. One mg. k one w.

22.  Hunter killed 3. himself

10th Coy 231 Reft Hanoverians.

15 known to be k. 

7 known pn. (1 unter offizier)

The first prisoner who came in

cd talk Eng. quite well, they sd. His 

first words were. " Dont kill me -

I'm married." The fellow who got him 

tapped him on / shoulder &

sd," You're all right, sonny". He

ws an Unter offizier & had been

a merchant or commercial traveller

 9

in England. He pretended he

didn't know what regts were

on his right & left. The second

prisoner ws a kriegs freiwilliger;

a third was a barber. I ws in the 

dugout while Herbertson ws talking

to him. He sd they expected we 

wd attack on June 29 at 4.5 am.

They expected we wd use gas & had

given special instructions to be careful.

They thought the attack might be at

Armentieres. [The N.Z. deserter

told them - so a later prisoner taken

abt July 2 told us - tt we had our

trenches crammed w Stokes guns 

& were going to make a hell

of an attack!].

On getting back abt 5.20 am 

to La Motte we heard tt a ^signal messenger

had bn for us. Next morning abt 9

a signaller came in w a telegram

from Hutton Wilson. If convenient

wd we come to Amentieres Amiens tomorrow

Friday

Frid. June 30 Motored down to 

Amiens. Went out in afternoon to Albert to

6

see / bombardt. Strangely little doing - it

seemed. Went out again at night. Bombt going

at abt 4 guns per second. - Cdn't believe we

were later to attack tomorrow.

July 1st. 5 a.m. Waked by a knock from Ross. To be down 

by 5.30. Had a hot cup of coffee in restaurant. Other

correspts all there. Motored to hill above Albert. Just as

we reached it the Bombt (at 6.30) suddenly increased - like the

banging of many packing cases. Sun behind

Germans - our Last balloon just going up.

Albert & church tower & two tall chimnies

standing out. After ¼ hr or [[relax]]  10

7.10. 6 aeroplanes up.

Low hiss of big howitzers imploding

Flashes only of our guns.

Albert stands up in shade & then

fades out again.

7.15 noticeably hotter. (trench mortars)

Occasional flash heavy cramp.

Can feel ground shaking.

Heavy T. M. - Lighter stuff like rifle fire.

7.20 Stokes mortars coming in I shd say.

__________

Mistral                                             Fricourt

3½ mins Heavies to go              Heavies

Dist - Guns seem to keep up but 

heavies - less

7.32 No shells but rifle fire. Shooting

at aeropl. Very distant - in between th

bigger stuff

White puff round an aeroplane

7.35 m.g.

-----------German shrap.

on our infantry - distant roar of

 

11

(hand drawn sketch)

The Bombardment 7.30 July 1. 1916.

6  12

7.37. Distant --- clearly Bosch salvos

on our inf. on our left

7.45. Infantry moving over fields to N

all w yellow square on back

8. Shrapnel in air. - Continual [[?]]

in front of further hills. Albert much clearer.

Horizon steaming like a low simmering

fire.

8.15 like burning off or a bush

fire w odd marks & notes & queries

& points.

Gas or smoke seemed to be escaping along the ridge. Everything is going well. We have attacked / Germs. on

a front of 25 miles, ourselves & / French. We & / French have

captd. the German front line on tt front, N & S. of / Somme

Albert. Many prisoners taken, & so far very slight

casualties.

 

13 (29 Divn near N end of attack)

Gordon were caught in square in ?Thiepval.

We passed troop load after load of wounded

in Red X cars - perh 20 of these cars.

going to Cas. Clearing Stn nearby. There at

C.C. Stn sev. men of Middlesex told me tt there 

wsnt much; the 

suffered little in getting

to 1st trench; shrap. began

as they were gettin to 

2nd trench. M.gs. in 2nd & 3rd trenches gave trouble. Germans

were on firestep - not many in 1st line. Trenches 

were tremendously smashed up. Many losses by m.g.

one man sd his regt ws nearly wiped out. Col. k. Capt k.

Serre N. & Montaubon S. two most imp places.

In / afternoon Ross & I with Coldstream

went out to Morlancoourt again

(thro Corby) to see some German prisoners,

& to ask some questions of any

slightly wounded men we cd find.

In a compound at Morlancourt were

lying about 7 wounded men - the rest 140

had ^just been sent away. We were allowed to talk

to / wounded prisoners as they had bn examined.

I called up one & asked hnse for im if our bombardment 

had bn bad. He sd it had. Many Germans had bn k.

They It had lasted 8 days & then intense for / hr.

They had had food eno, but nothing to drink, he 

sd, for 6 days as / bombt made it too difficult

to get water - bombt of commn trenches. He ws

in the 2nd line. Their mgs. had not been

smashed & were good. He ws in the 2nd line &

was on the firestep when taken.

 

6  14

11.45. Heavy firing still to NE of Albert.

While at Fricourt.

Colonel H. Wilson tells us the situation

at 12 30: (from N to South): He sd-

"We hold Serre & some ground or position to / SW

Not Beaumont Hamel but the attack is now being

made. We hold a good position N of Thiepval.

Obscure and heavy fighting going on there

Our position N of Th. almost runs up to / Germ.

second position. The Germs still hold Ovillers

la Boiselle. We are holding a bit of

Contalmaison. We hold ground north of 

Fricourt but still remains German.

But we are in process of getting round Fricourt.

We hold about ½ Mametz - probably all.

The French have made good progress at Carlu & Faviere

Wood taking both

Prisoners - a good many. Prisoners surrendered

freely on / 1st attack. We are thro' / 1st line everywhere exc. possibly

Thiepval.

German is firing a good deal.

 

15

⇢He had a map of the battle on his table -

on it were three lines - red, 

blue & green. The green

lines were marked 3.30 & 

2.30 & 1.30 (if I remember

right.) They were / lines of

the objective. The red & blue

lines were considerably short

of them. They were the lines

which the British had actually

reached - Only in the South the red

lines ran further inland than

the green. At Fricourt the 

position was as follows

(hand drawn sketch)

We are trying to move in / direction o / arrows.

Charteris said - 

 

6  16

At 5.45pm. at Beauquesnes Gen.

Charteris saw us all.⇢

"Between Ancre & Somme we have done 

as much as we intended to do.

N of the Ancre fighting is still proceeding

We are thro' the Germ. trenches there too but we

have not yet taken several strong points in

their system of defences. The no. of prisoners

exceeds 1500 Full reports not yet in

This no will be very largely added to.

Fricourt is still holding out tho nearly

surrounded.

We are getting in on either side.

At Mont Auban a fairly

strong Germ. c/attack ws driven back

At Thiepval / position is v. obscure. Apparently

our troops went thro' Thiepval