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

6     17

The Germans appeared to unearth a
?minewarfare wh was in Thiepval
a c/attack, succeeded
at Serre
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  the Brick  Factory on the right a good deal
further than we ever intended to go
The French on our right, have met with a very
marked success. The advance has been very
uniform & the No. of prisoners exceeds
3000
They are employing^ their Colonial & 20th Corps
Fighting is still going on at Gommecourt
We are pinching it
We have Mametz
The villages have hard fighting
 

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

This after there was hardly a hostile machine
in the 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 scan.

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.
 Xx

Big shell in Boiselle

[Germans upholding hands.]
    John Darlings son.

  

19

          

6

Sketch of the attack o. La Boiselle & Fricourt

Refer to original scanned document

At 4 pm our attack on La Boiselle 

starts-(after fearful 1/4 hour of our shrap)

Germans put up barrage behind Chateau

Wood at X. Two big guns coming into action at 

Y.  Germs scaling

4 15 Rifle fire in La Boiselle

4.40 still coming up at Z

5pm. 2nd stage at La Boiselle taken

Heavy Bombart.
 

  20
 

 

6   21
(? got crest by 1.30)
Adv. of 21st divs ( 7-1  1.30 ) & of 7th 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 [[G?]]
Villages

No such thing as silencing enemys arty
Prac every shot - is on infantry.
4 Bns gone over & can't be found
 

22
Next Day: Same Place.
We seem to have the (small sketch)
ruins of La Boiselle - Germans
shelling wood beyond it.
we went into Germ trench 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 xxx  our shells
before 12  but 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 M.G. &
Lewis gun constantly going - esp.M.G
Abt 5 past 1 this had eased but
tremendous bombardment in
quick salvos of 4 burst out south
of us.
 

 

6.  23

[The following was, either I think, given       
us either by Charteris or Wilson]
I fancy C. came to thro Correspt at Amiens
We are at the beginning of a big battle
6pm July 3
We shall be playing this game for the best part of a month.
We have done better than we had any right to expect.
In Gommecourt - that was never intended as an important
part of  /  operation. We meant to take the Salient.
The attack failed in spite of the very finest fighting.
He sd at / time the attack was sounded (it is 400 yds
behind the two trenches) the Germans had established a barrage
in front of the 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 French deserters sd / attack
was 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 extraordinarily hard to clear up during
an attack.
 

6     24
 We are well satisfied with 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 of day. & now back
to 1st Anzac who has moved to
Bailleul.  We know saw Gen Godley
at La Motte & our old landlady
Mme Veuve Endot who, Bayley says
wept & kissed him
on both cheeks when he went away.
 

25
On our way home we called in
at the 29⁸th Corps (Gen. Hunter Weston
passed with 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
been in Gallipoli tho one, Fairfax Ross, was
a Sydney man. The elder aide told
us that he had been within hearing when
the 29th Divn went over the parapet.
At 7.25 - in the middle of the bombt.
he could hear among open. Through
the noise of all the bombardmt the 
rattle of a m.g. The bombardment.
went on nothing^different was noticeable

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

6            26

See diagram original scanned document 

                                   

                                                                                                                                   

                                                                                                                                                   

6     27                                                 

July 6. Went round N.Z. battalions
with Brig Gen. Johnson.  His Bde has
[[rec?]] is as written an essay on NZ Artillery:

N.Z. Div Artillery consists of 

12.      4 gun. 18pnd. batteries
 3       4-how 4.5 in. how batteries
 1        Heavy T M Battery of 4. 240mm
           mortars not yet recd.
3         Medium T M batteries each of
                4 - 2 inch mortars.
                with H.Q. ammunition col.

                

3 groups each of  4     18 pn bties
                                  1      4.5 how it
                                  1      medium T M
                                  Heavy T.M. under (KA.

In each Group -zone trenches
are divided into 4 parts approx.
equal. One Bty covers each.
How they 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 battery; &
each Bde w all guns
covering it.
18pdrs for barrage. (not
so much hows.)
This means that now the Artillery has
from 400 to 600 yds per battery
to cover. A Battery can cover
6o yds in perfection [ I saw
two guns fire 10 rounds in
15 secs today - when they were
ready to fire. Davis, of the N.Z.
12th Battery 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 Battery -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 which were carefully
concealed but with the most
obvious tracks all round them.
I saw one with duckboards
leading past it like this. 
 

Drawing see original scanned document

The Germans
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 8in. & 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 been