Charles E W Bean, Diaries, AWM38 3DRL 606/48/1 - June - July 1916 - Part 2

6     17

The Germs. appeared to unearth a
? minenwerfer wh ws in Thiepval
At Serre a c/attack, succeeded
in driving back some of our troops
I can't state whether we are in Serre
Hamel not fallen yet as far as I know.
We got to / Brick Factory on / rt a good deal
further than we ever intended to go.
The French on our rt. have met w a very
marked success. The advance has bn very
uniform & the no. of prisoners exceeds 3000.
They are employing ^their Colonial & 20^th Corps -
Fighting is still going on at Gommecourt.
We are pinching it.
We have Maimetz
The villages have put on c/attacking hard fighting. 

6      18                                                
29 Divn.
2nd Guard Reserve Divn is in
front of us. ^Fought them at . Neuve Chapelle.
Loos. & now.
We have bombed rlys at several
places 8 yds N of Lille

This aftn there ws hardly a hostile machine
in / air since 2 pm.
Fight still hard & will be for many days.
My note:
Really the attack seems to me not to have gone too well. 

6
Diagram – see original document

[Attack on
La Boiselle
July 2.

see p. 104]

Our left attack is in

C & A & in front of trench

at B.

Our men are in the wood.

& round right of Fricourt

Wood. The Poodle seems

to be disputed - our

men are bombing along the 

reddish trench on the horizon.

La Boiselle is getting a hell of 

a time. Shrapnel, 12 in T.M. etc.
Diagram - see original document

Big shell in Boiselle

[Germans upholding hands.]
John Darlings son.  

19
[*(Sketch of the attack on La Boiselle & Fricourt July 2)*]

6

Diagram - see original document

At 4. pm our attack on La Boiselle 

started - (after fearful ¼ hour of our shrap).

Germans put up barrage behind Chateau

Wood at X. Two big guns coming into action at 

Y.  Germs. scattering

4 15 Rifle fire in La Boiselle

4.40 still coming up at Z

5 p.m. 2nd Stage at La Boiselle taken

Heavy Bombt.
20

6      21
Adv. of 21st Divn (? got crest by 1.30) & of 7^th Div.
near Dantzig Ave. Germans seen on
summit in front of attack - bunch of
men - thought might be ours. Secret of
German success Deep dugouts in Villages.
Diagram – see original document

No such thing as silencing enemys arty.
Prac. every shot is on infantry.
4 Bns gone over & cant be found. 

22
Next Day: Same Place.
We seem to have the 
Diagram – see original document
ruins of La Boiselle - Germans
shelling wood beyond it.
We went into Germ. trenches in Fricourt
Abt  Our guns just behind Fricourt
German Our men beyond
corner of wood little further
than yesty. Abt 12.45 two
white lights went up in middle
of Fricourt wood xx Our shells
before 12.  had bn falling beyond
wood fairly thick. Germans began
barraging in Fricourt & on Perronne
Rd beyond w 5.9. Also on
Crucifix trench & Supports on left hill slope. The as M.g. &
Lewis gun constantly going - esp. m.g.
Abt 5 past 1 this had eased but
tremendous bombardment in
quick salvos of 4 bust out South
of us.

6   23

[The following was, either I think, given       
us either by Charteris or Wilson]
I fancy C. came to the correspts at Amiens
6 pm July 3. We are at / beginning of a big battle.
We shall be playing this game for / best part of a month.
We have done better than we had any right to expect.
In Gommecourt - tt ws never intended as an important
part o / operation. We meant to take the Salient.
The attack failed in spite o / very finest fighting.
He sd tt at / time / attack ws sounded (it is 400 yds.
behind the two trenches) the Germs had established a barrage
in front o / trenches, on trenches, & behind trenches.
The men went forwd exactly as if on parade.
They came thro / other side. We past / Germ. line
when / Germs. came out w / the m.gs.
It has done its job as we know by a captured order,
This order sd tt three French deserters sd / attack
ws to take place on 1st July. from Roye to Lille.
We have bn at some pains to make them think so.
We decided tested the source of leakage & found it ws so.
All these villages have taught us agn / lesson of Verdun
that villages are extraordly hard to clean up during
an attack. 

6    24
We are well satisfied w yestys & todays operations.
We are capturing prisoners & Germs. are capturing
prisoners - of every divn between here & Rheims.
We are thro Boiselle.
If you have a wide battle front
you get m.g. fire. When it
is a narrow front you have
arty - they know where you
are. It is a choice betw. the
two.

July 4. Four heavy days - working
most of the night & out at the battle
most o / day. & now back
to 1st Anzac wh has moved to
Bailleul.  We know saw Gen Godley
at La Motte & our old landlady
Mme Veuve Endot who, Bazley says, xx
xxxxxxxxxxxx wept & kissed him
on both cheeks when he went away. 

25
On our way home we called in
at the 29 8th Corps (Gen. Hunter Weston
passed w a friendly nod, but I'm
sure he doesn't remember where
he saw me last), & on to the 29th
Divn. We saw two Aides - neither had
bn in Gallipoli tho' one, Fairfax Ross, ws
a Sydney man. The elder aide told
us tt he had been within hearing when
the 29th Divn went over / parapet.
At 7.25 - in / middle o / bombt.
- he cd hear among open. through
/ noise of all / bombardment the 
rattle of a m.g. The bombardment
went on - nothing ^different ws noticeable

at 7.30; but at 7.34 under the
noise o / bombardment again
he heard machine guns come into
action with a rip
6    26

Diagram – see original document                                                                             

6     27                                                 

July 6. Went round N.Z. batteries
with Brig Gen. Johnson.  His Bde Maj.
Richmond has written an essay on N Z Arty:

N.Z. Div Arty consists of 

12.  4 gun. 18 pr. batteries
 3    4 - how 4.5 in. how batteries
 1     Heavy T M Baty of 4. 240 mm
mortars not yet recd.
3     Medium T M battys each of
4 - 2 inch mortars.
with H.Q. & ammn col.

3 groups each of  4  18 pr bties
1   4.5 how bty
1   medium T M.
Heavy T.M. under CRA.

In each Group - zone trenches
are divided into 4 parts approx.
equal. One Bty covers each.
How bty covers whole group
Zone, & med. T.M. Bty.
can fire from any part of
it by means of taking guns
to emplacements.

Each portion of trench is 

6      28
connected with its bty; &
each Bde w all guns
covering it.
18 pdrs for barrage. (Not
so much hows.)
This means that now the Arty has
from 400 to 600 yds per bty
to cover. A Battery can cover
60 yds in perfection [I saw
two guns fire 10 rounds in
15 sec.s today - when they were
ready to fire. Davis, of the N.Z.
12th Bty also had rounds in
various pigeonholes by / gun
already laid with all the likely
lengths of fuses - say 3050, 30100, 30150 &
so on - abt 8 or 10 of each.
One gun fired a premature in
another Bty - it was retaliating.
Johnson said:  "Thats one of the
shells made by ladies, I suppose."
Some of the N.Z. batteries were 

6     29
in emplacements wh were carefully
concealed but with the most
obvious tracks all round them.
I saw one with duckboards
leading past it like this. The Germans
Diagram – see original document
had got onto
it clearly 
from photos &
had thrown
shells just too
far just
missing the guns. The craters really
seemed to me about as thick as
these dotted - lined circles & were
biggish ones.

They had got onto another
N.Z. gun (near the Asylum in
Houplines) with 8 in. & had
blown up the house in which
it stood. The craters were all
close together in a field & were
very large. The tubular iron
frame of the emplacement had bn