Charles E W Bean, Diaries, AWM38 3DRL 606/49/1 - July 1916 - Part 4
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35
/ bombardment
as only
one man
alive - whom
they killed. Possibly
the trenches were
crowded bec. of
this chap's warning. If so, it
was acted in
our favour.
We want /
trenches
crowded
when we
go over,
& when we
bombard.
[The details
of all these
raids, & notes
of the daily
occurrences
are in other
notebooks].
xxxxx Ross
and I
were in
a different mess ^f
rom our old
one. B mess, with
Smythe, Kennedy, Seys, Capt.
Young, Carruthers, Herbertson,
Smith, and a Baker (the barrister
who acts as expert on courts martial)
& a Belgian captain of the
Belgian Grenadier Guards - a really
nice chap who was in the Siege
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36
of Antwerp, & retired last out of
it, pretty well; & for 2 days wandered
through woods with 200 picked
men (the rest he had sent, I fancy,
over / Dutch Frontier to be interned),
through woods, scattered at times,
parallel as / German Cavalry till
they reached Ostend.
It Griffiths sd to me at
dinner- "Oh, I know you'll go come
along with us" - a propos of
Ross staying in Bailleul.
It made me think immediately
: "Hallo - he must have orders
to go South". What I heard
from N.Z. Div. H.Q. the next
day made me sure. xxx
Hastings (G.S.O 3 - intelligence) sd:
"We're particularly sorry to be
out of it now - we shd have
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37
it is particularly sad to leave
just when there is something
doing."
So that was what was
in the air.
I went to White at once
& asked about the permission
to take photos. A letter had
arrived from Sellheim in England
saying th / war office had sd
th if I were given a Commission
I cd be allowed to be Official
Photographer - & it was left to .
Sellheim sent it on to the Corps
to make me a Captain if they
wished. I thought they wd do it
but was not sure. xxx Griffiths
who referred it thought so too - but
when he had seen White he
told me th White ws against it.
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38
I had suspected somehow th White
was against it. It is a very hard
position for me in some ways - &
one th I hate. I did not call
myself Captain Bean - was particularly
careful not to altho' honestly
I shd have liked / rank bec. it
recognises (in a sort of way) th
one is doing ones duty for
/ country and 2 make [[?]] &
not making money out of / war;
& it gives one, undoubtedly, many
privileges - it is a passport in /
British army, nothing less. However
I'm not an officer & ws particularly
careful not to call myself anything
exc. Mr Bean until for a
whole year the Commonwealth Govt
had put it at / head of all my letters
& the war office had bn written
39
11
to in th name, & the General had used
it in orders - It was no use my
standing out agst it. But I don't
want my enemies afterwards to say
"Oh - he called himself 'Captain', much as
a rough rider calls himself "Professor".
I saw White - & he sd "Of course
we can give you a commission, Bean,
if th will settle it - I think its
impt you shd take these photos."
I sd: "^I have an idea you think it will might in
xxx some way tie my hands if I
have to criticise this force afterwards
or any members of it - "
"Well - that is the point,"
he said, "I've a feeling th it
is wrong in principle, & yet
I do think it is important th
you shd get th record."
I sd: "I'm inclined to think with
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40
you th it is better not. After all
I have it gives one some satisfaction to think
th one is making nothing out of
this war - I am working at /
pay of an officer without its
increasing - as it does with others;
I get no promotion, & no
honours; I xx think ^I can feel th I have
been doing as much for my
country as if quite as public a
service as if I had been in /
army - Of course, all my
inclination is in favour o / commission,
undoubtedly it carries privileges
wh are valuable; but if it is going
to tie ones hands in writing this
war it isn't worth it."
White sd: Well I'll tell what
I think we'll do. The 'little man'
(Birdwood) has exceedingly true ideas
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41
on these subjects. We'll I'll put it to
him & see what he says - &
we will go by what he says."
So it ws left at th.
A few days later after we
came South White told me th Birdie
ws agst giving me / comm if it
cd be avoided.
I too think it is better. I told
White I ws ready to lump my pride
- after all it is a personal matter -
& what does it matter? But at times
I long for the war to be over just to
get me out of this ^half false position wh
I loathe.
On July 6 or 7 White told
me there ws no immediate hurry
about the photos. Our artillery
were steadily moving into the
line about Ploegsteert - a little N.
42
Our 7th Bde had our only
experiment with our gas -
released some for the Divn next
door (41st or 24th - 41st had
relieved the 9th
x on Mt Kemmel
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43
of it & S. of Kemmel. The
7th Bde ws in & the 2nd Bde
ws moving in. Streams of our
arty passed clattered every day down the
long Rue de Lille.
July 8. I went with Butler
& Casey to see our new line.
We went by motor to Hyde
Park Corner - it was a
wet day - but we also The
trees let you motor up quite
close in this part - there
ws a whole collection of
motor cars standing under
the dripping forest.
We clambered up in the
rain between the tree trunks
to a green open bit of hill top x
where ws one of our the British survey
posts very neatly dug in to the
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44
hill.
Sketch
It had a little window w a good
telescope. The Germans possibly
suspected the ^hill as being an o.p. for there were
several recent shell craters in /
grass around it - they may
have bn aimed for a trench
being dug nearby.
We wanted to get from
there to the front line held by
our men in / valley. No one
knew quite how it cd be done.
The hill was full of our O.Ps & one o /
officers of our arty then told us that
he thought we cd get down
by going along a trench near
by. It led us by numerous o.ps.
Kemmel Hill
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45
(in the making) down awkward
corners - from wh Messines stood
up in a very naked way across
/ valley.
Sketch
to our subsidiary line. There
ws nobody in this line. Many bays
in it were so thickly overgrown w
nettles etc th you cd see nothing whatsoever
from the fire step. In passing others
your whole head & shoulders
were exposed to view. We cdn't find
a single commn running down
towards our front line. At last
the trench ran into a battered bldg
farm near Dead Cow Farm. The
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