Charles E W Bean, Diaries, AWM38 3DRL 606/49/1 - July 1916 - Part 3

^X I think this ws the big southern crater
at La Boiselle - (there were 2, a northern
one, on the rd, & one on the edge of
Sausage Gully. But I didnt know of them
at the time).

11     23
post.  They too had been in
Fricourt, but further up than we.
They had had a patter of machine
gun bullets not far from them, they
sd. & so they came back. The Germans
began to shell Fricourt shortly after
we left, so I daresay I did not
miss much - I dont think I'd
have stayed there with big shells
falling in / place.
Boiselle was smoking
gently & German shell were falling
on / Northern part of it - so
one judged tt it was ours; on the
white bank, were our men the day before had rested,
one cd see thro' / telescope 6 or
9 of them still lying. ^x
The fellows who really have
got into this battle much further

11     24
than any of us are the photographers
- the cinema men & little Brooks.
They were in a front trench on /
first day, I believe, & Brooks the cinema
man had his camera leg shot through.
Capt. Faunthorpe who has been about
w them has been far closer to it
than any of / other Press Officers.
I wish one cd have had / same
chance.
He ws telling me yesty evg.
tt he went up Dantzig Alley
(a German commn trench near
Montauban) & for climbed out
onto / hillslope; & there in / long
grass he found lying everywhere
the bodeis of the 22nd  Bn Manchester
Regt - part of the 30^th Bn 18^th
Divn (or 30^th - I forget wh). They had fallen
under m. g. fire in a long

11     25
advance - their & there he
found in our spot 6 men & /
regimental dog - a white terrier,
I think he sd, - all lying together
dead, just as th close to one
another, just as they had
fallen. The battalion did
splendidly - 560 casualties,
I believe, but went straight on &
reached its objective. The
Gordons, who were with near it,
lost 800 men, they say, from
the machine guns in / corner of
Mametz.
[I saw a m.g. emplacement
in Mametz afterwards - in the
S.W. corner o / village. The house
stood on / rd, & had bn knocked to
bits. But / m.g. emplacement was
there in / corner of it w a steel
plate, painted brick colour, just below it.

26
While in Fricourt we saw coming
towards us a german - a grizzled
man, fairly tall, with a guard in
charge of him (you can always tell a
guard of prisoners - our own or german -
by their fixed bayonets: when we saw
a fixed bayonet in Gallipoli, we generally
behind / lines, we generally knew
a Turkish prisoner ws coming along).
This german ws a captain - a
man of about 40.  He ws unshaven
& Thomas looked at & was looking
about him with wild eyes, I thought,
but with his lips purs pressed together -
rather proudly, I thought. Thomas looked
hard at him as he passed & he turned
and looked at Thomas as if he thought Thomas meant to
speak to him - he was jerky & it struck
me his manner was that of a
madman or very near it.  [Poor old chap
- perhaps a father of a family!  It gave one a notion of
what he had been through.]

11    27
There were abt ½ a dozen bullet
marks on the plate. I dont
suppose this ws / one - it ws too
obvious.]
I wrote up something an article about the
dug outs for / evening papers - & next day Ross &
I started for Hazebrouck.
[As I write there is a lot of noise
in the Vignacourt Streets & 3 or 4
of the 13^th Light Horse - one of thr
worst regiments in the A.I.F. if
not quite the worst - are staggering
about amongst a number of others
who are not visibly drunk - getting
our country a bad name.
What on earth Williams & his
police are for he knows best. ].
The reason is it is 8 p.m. - closing
time. ].
I hear later that one of the cyclist

11    28
Battalion, three parts drunk, was
turned out of the wineshop - they refused
him any more drink, but he swore
he would get some more; so he jumped
back suddenly through the open window.
The woman of the shop called in the
police - & this chap was hauled up.
This sort of brawl gets our whole force
a bad name.  ] It is not unheard of
amongst English troops, but it is
certainly commoner with us. Drink
causes 90 per cent of the Australian
offences.]
July 4
We know when we left La Motte
to go South tt / corps wd probably be in
Bailleul by / time we got back.  As we
drove up the street of La Motte the
girls - whom I had scarcely known to
even by sight - all waved their hands at

29
Jeanette (who is from the grocery store at /
corner) dresses prettily in black. She lost her
sweetheart in this war. She looks a very
nice girl to me, & attractive. But the late
Mess President says she has the temper of a cat.
She runs / mess for them, so he may be prejudiced.

11    30
us out o / cottage windows.
All the faces of / men were strange to
us. The Chateau ws inhabited by
Godley's staff - 2nd Anzac - of whom
Trust is abt / only one I know.
It ws like walking into an old home
wh has bn bought by new people.
But / girls o / village seemed to
regard us as old friends; & as
for Madame Endot - the old lady
nearly fell upon us. "Un petit
verre de vin, Messieurs," she
sd in a courtly manner & clinked
her glass with ours.
Trust said that conditns
were quite changed. The B mess
(wh ws in / room adjoining / chateau
- where Jeanette, whom I had scarcely
known even by sight smiled sweetly at
us & waved her hand -) is a

(^x De Rothx of Sydney)
DDMS 11 Anzac.

11     31
most Spartan affair. The mess president ^x
insists on tin mugs - no wine
but only water, or tea, at meals,
bare rations for food. They had a
French chef, but as he cd find
nothing to cook he left. The C mess
(in our old mess room) is most
exclusive, on / other hand - fine
wines, choice cookery - so Trust says.
I think I can see what it is.
Trust says tt / President of B Mess
is an old Colonel with wierd ideas.
It is Col. Roth, D.D.A.S. of the
2nd Anzac Corps.  He is almost a
solitary Australian officer living
amongst these most unaustralian
surroundings - & he probably has
his back up agst Godleys staff
wh (though good fellows) is ultra English.
Or it may be just a fad, tt while at

x instead of NZ Div.
HQ.
x He had been at
1st Anzac before

11    32
war you shd not live as if you were
in a first class hotel. There's a good deal to be
said for that.
Ross asked Godley abt going to
live at 2nd Anzac.^x  Godley didnt seem to
jump at it at first - but afterwards
sd he thought it wd be a good thing
- I cd come & work at the Ross's & Ross
cd go across & work at my rooms
- a sort of double office for each of us.
Ros We went on to Bailleul & found
our Corps installed in the great
rooms of the Mairie, where I went peered in
so diffidently with Col. Wilson when
we called at 2nd Corps on our way
to the trenches last January. It is
qu much more homely when
you know the people. I had a
room for the night in the Maison du
Sacrē Coeur, Rue D'Ypres & our

11    33
mess was in the ground floor
front room 43 Rue ' D'Ypres de Lille.
From my bedroom window,
wh ws very high & overlooked the
country Armentiēres way, I cd
see tt night the flares going up
along the line & the flashes of
the guns all along it. It was
a very disturbed night - heavy
firing from the direction of
Armentiēres. I was wakeful
for I thought the N. Zealanders
must be in it & a really big
fight going on.
July 5. Ross & I went to the New
Zealanders to pick up details
of their raids since we left. The Anzacs
had been raiding several
most times in our absence.
The raids wh took place on July 2

11    34
or thereabout where fairly bloody for
the Germans as they seemed to expect
a big attack & had their trenches
full. One night they raided / N. Zealanders
& left a wounded German behind who
lost his way & whom we captured in / morning.
He sd tt they had captured (in his
raid - before he ws lost) 4 or 5 of
our men in a bombing or listening post in
the Spinette Salient.
Bombing post 
He also sd tt
the deserter whom
went over from the N.Z.s had told
them tt our trenches were full of
Stokes mortars & crammed w men
& tt we were going to make a
big attack. One o / raids wh went
over from the 11^th Bn on these nights
found (they sd) 50 Germans killed by