Charles E W Bean, Diaries, AWM38 3DRL 606/48/1 - June - July 1916 - Part 8

6     90
wd send to somebody.
Then he seemed anxious to
communicate with a
Maj. Tinson who ws w / 
infantry on / opposite hill
(just under Lozenge Wood).
Maj. Tinson was to show
a flag.  The Colonel cdnt
get him so he told one of
his men to try flag signalling;
and so the chap stood 
up on / parapet and
for minute after minute
called up / infantry on /
opposite hill with a 
white flag.  When a white
flag ws thought not sufficiently
conspicuous he used
a blue one.
I had never dreamed
of seeing a signal flag used
again in action even agst

6    91
Turks much less in a great
battle agst Germans.  This is a
good place to get away from,
I thought - it is a certainty
we shall get a whizz-bang
shell over us within half
a minute ;  but he called
& called for a quarter of
an hour - & not merely
failed to get a whizz-bang
but failed to get Maj. Tinson
Then it broke in on
me tt / Germans were too
busy to worry abt small
things parties - like this -
they had their minds
occupied w two heavy
infantry attacks - & you
cd stay there in / poppies
& observe them all day
long & they wdnt worry
about you.  This was an

6     92
artillery observing station
tt we had come across
- actually sitting on / fore
slope of a hill within view
of distant Germans - or
at any rate o / German
sausage-balloon over /
edge o / hill, & flag wagging.
I believe they did put
a whizz bang over some
party wh bunched
on / skyline.  But if
you didnt force them to
shoot at you they concentrated
themselves on / infantry.
And they were rattled.
They - as / Colonel sd - they
didnt fire much because
they didnt know where
to fire.  We were trying to
get Fricourt Wood by attacking
w two divns around / two

6     93
sides of it - 21st Div. round
our left side & 7^th Div. (I
think) around / other (the
17^th had bn there / day
before & had done very
well).  The Germans had
very little chance of observing
- we had downed nearly
all their balloons;  our aeroplanes
were up all day & theirs
were not - we had 21
balloons up _^- 18 of them almost in a
bunch - and the barrage
wh / German ws throwing
down our side of Fricourt
Wood ws really feeble. A
few big 5.9s & a certain
amt of shrapnel - but
you wd have readily
taken your chance in it.
We were barraging the far
corner of Fricourt Wood

6     94
where / m.g. was always
barking - but tt m.g. seemed
still to hold us up.
We watched this & Cadge
spoke to / Colonel & we
joined / group - I dont
generally join artillery
O.P.s _^for fear of giving them away - but it ws so obviously
immaterial tt we didnt
mind.  The fellow w /
telephone sd to me "Are you
an Australian."
I sd "yes."
"So am I," he sd.
"I knew you were -" I
told him - & so I had - by
his voice & his looks - not
quite / sleek polish o / British
Officer but a good practical
manner.
He ws a son of John
Darling the Broken Hill millionaire
& he had joined the RFA as he

6     95
ws in England when / war
broke out.
We watched a Tommy
bringing a German prisioner
down / opposite hill.  The
German wanted to lie down
at times & there were
arguments - I thought / Tommy
might kill him if he
gave much trouble.  But
he didn't.  He made him
pull him out of every 
trench & ditch instead.
We were too far off to know
if he ws bullying him or
what ws / reason for his
actions but it ws interesting
to watch as a character
study though I didn't like it.
It was about
We had actually got 
guns up in emplacements

6     96
on tt opposite slope not
far from where / German
trenches had bn - 4 of them.
Two big 60 pounders also
wheeled up behind the
Becourt Wood w a big team
of horses - right in / open
'Hand drawn diagram - see original' & stayed there.
While We were looking chiefly at
the hill in front of us & the valley beyond
It ws quite clear something
Fricourt, where the Germans
were throwing a pretty
ineffective barrage.  The _^Becourt- Peronne
road ran past us lower
down the hill but nothing
was passing along it - in
fact at this time I did not
realise there was a road
on our side o / valley at
all - it had all bn exposed
to German fire for 2 years & so

6     97
the _^long grass had grown long over
everything - I fancy it ws
cultivated land, once, where
we were - but grass & weeds
were thick upon it now. A
few men - & German prisoners
strolled occasionally down
the road on / other side o /
hill valley;  & up in / trenches
wh had bn our front line,
& / German, parties of our
men wandered as if looking
for curios - wh ws probably
exactly what they were doing.
Occasionally a German
shrapnel wd burst in / air
somewhere not far from where
one had seen some of these
men; or a high explosive
shell - 6 or 8 in - wd tear
up a fountain of dust from
these trenches - (perhaps once

98
'Hand drawn diagram - see original' 
Fricourt  
Germans certainly here (Mametz Wood)
White trench
Mametz in here 
The barrage behind Fricourt.
You wd never see more than this shelling
at one moment - in fact rarely
so much.  It wd mean tt / Germans had
thrown over a salvo of shrapnel (bursting
in the air - or rather, having burst within the
last 10 seconds in the air, two shrapnel puffs still
distinct, a third becoming hazy) - the fourth gun has
either not shot or / shell has not exploded).  The smoke of
one of our shellbursts is floating away in / distance.  One 5.9
German shell has just burst near the road ;  another burst 15 secs
before, & / smoke is clearing) Troops cd get thro this w small losses
if they wanted

6     99
or twice in a quarter of
an hour - tho' often / intervals
were longer.  I wd put my
telescope onto the men I
had last seen there last, &
in every case they were
moving abt exactly as before -
possibly / shells were not as
close to any part as they
seemed, but I never saw
any scurrying for shelter.  The
Germans started dropping
heavy shells - 5.9 I expect -
onto the road up the valley
behind Fricourt towards Mametz
& Montauban - They barr were
evidently trying to create a barrage
- the 21^st Divn were attacking
up our side of Fricourt Wood
& the 7^th Divn up the other side.
The 17^th Divn had been working
on / other side / day before, I believe

6     100
xxxxxx  - but this is pure
hearsay.  The barrage in
Fricourt valley I took to be 
connected w this attack;
but and something ws certainly
holding / attack up - but not
this barrage.  It wouldn't
have held up a _^school cadet corps.
I was surprised at its
feebleness. A m. g. ws
constantly clucking behind
/ far corner o / wood - some
German m. g. clearly, wh
cd not be got rid of.
→ The Major who ws
w our observation post,
as he cd not get in touch
w "Maj. Tinson" opposite,
decided to walk across to
him - & did so.  Ten
minutes later we saw him
signalling X - X - X wh