Charles E.W. Bean, Diaries, AWM38 3DRL 606/54/1 July August 1916 pt4

31 

[Hand drawn diagram- please see original scan]

Bend Rd.

 

Bealth Rd

x going out here.

 

Midsx

XIX

Trench being dug here

Dinkum Alley

x19Bn HQ x

My Route July 31.1916

 

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in. Others cdnt get past wire.

Some of them joined Harper.

B Coy ws waiting to take 2nd trench

in similar pty. (They were turned

of to reinforce 17th Bn).

C.Coy made the raid.

Got mess off from Harper to say

he was in trench w 40 men but

had not connected up w anyone.

No. of there partys rushed back

[*Ralston 19Bn*] past Maj Col. Rawson who ws

w Adjt & 3 runners in shell hole

in nomansland.  No of men sd they

had bn unable to get in.

Germans were using m.gs.

& 5.9s. It was just dawn break.

[*20thBn→*] Capt. M’Coll went back to collect

men who had fallen back &

w asked   straighten them again.

Ise went to a better

ole - 3 runners were

hit. Cdnt get bombs

up so Col. went back to

Bde to ask for barrage to

protect Harper. "I then

got another message to say

tt Harper had bn bombed

out as has trench by Germans

who came out apparently

33

26th/27th July

H Broadbent (bombing officer) ws in tt [?] & he w

w 17th in Munster Alley.

60 men in trench [?]

20th Bombers & m.gunners were in 17th Bns

show in Munster alley. (Have only 10 bombers left Bn & Coy)

[Symbol?] This attack ws made by 2 coys. B & A.

(They were tired out already). B Coy has

only 28 men left & 7 w shell shock.

 

our right of O.G. I - flares & m.g. first

from there. Then worked round to Bpme Rd.

Casualties 50 to 60.

We cd hear mg on our left going

heavily. They probly had listening posts

in craters. At XIXth H.Q. we didn't

know the thing had failed till nearly dawn.

The Infantry told tt I affair has

bn rushed (only 2 hrs notice) & insuff.

arty preparation. Men were tired out

before attack began carrying -

 

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from 2nd Trench and bombed us from

craters. We had 78 casualties incl.

Lts Harper & Evans. Harper ws hit on

head & [?] by a bomb before he got

into trench. Lt Evans ws hit by m.g. bullet

before he got into trench.

 

Harper lay on parapet &

tho he cdnt stand directed operations

from there for the 1½ hrs O I men

were in I trench & finally gave

I order K withdraw (43 still

unaccounted for). A number of

men did not get in till fully night

(remained in shell holes). S.Bs in search

for men came across one of 9 & one

of 11 Bn who had bn out 3 days.

 

8 Germans were seen killed in

the trench, 5 by bombs & 3 w bayonet

wound among them being a German

Captain - [[- poss. shorthand for quite]]

 

28/29th July 

[Symbol]

2nd stunt. we had to attack betw. tramline & [Bpme?] Rd.

Men started to get into position abt 11.45. First

line had started to get into position when Enemy

opened. They had bn observed under flares. There

were 4 m.gs. on Bpme Rd & 6 in front. At same

time opened heavy arty fire. They sent up red &

green fire before our barrage - gas shells, h.s.,

tear etc It was prac. imposs. to get I disorganised

men into position. They were seen from 

35

Albert

July 31  7.30am.

The villagers come in here & sleep in I

cellars every night. I can see

a little girl in white stockings & an old little

bow legged father with a bundle going off

down I path as I write (Hobbs H.Q. 2nd

Red Flag) Of an evening when the big house

is full of bright lights - clerks working

typewriters, Gen. Hobbs & Miles & Clowes

busy over the nights work & old Brown

of TMB, you see one or another of these

women perk. w a youngster descending

by I cupboard door underneath I stairs

-a laugh & a joke w I men as they

go down - but otherwise they are as

completely forgotten as the rats & I

cockroaches.

 

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9

July 30. It was a pure rumour that the

guards were attacking Thiepval.

They are not. The fire last night

ws our own arty [hand drawing]

doing this game. I believe they

are about again tonight 3 times

instead of the attack wh ws to have bn tonight.

Our infantry sent up 3

S.O.S. signals last night & down came

our barrage & cut off a patrol

of wh we got one man prisoner.

Jangye today told me tt there were very

very few spies that at present in the Somme area except spies in

khaki. The Mayor of Bapaume however was a person likely to be

arrested if ever we got so far. [This last paragraph was initially in shorthand, and looked to be written in later.]

 

Wilson tells me my articles

have been a little too full lately -

too many exact particulars -

e.g. we attacked at 6 o'clock. I

sd "Surely the German knew" - but

perh. he is right. He might

draw something of use from exact

detail.

 

The French last night attacked

Fuillan Maurepas & the British

Giveley Gillemont. The French reached

the outskirts of Maurepas & the

British I station & edge of Gillemont.

 

The Germans say they [[comm]] 7.5

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2000 dead in front of their trenches

in the "trench raid" at Laventie. Then

British censorship is very s Hutton

Wilson told me tt of course this ws

very exaggerated & it must be; but

there it is too near I truth to be pleasant -

much nearer than our rubbish

about "trench raids".  Is

We retook Delville wood a few days

ago & I Germans have c.attacked

but not bn able to seize it.

38

July 31

 

[Hand drawn Diagram}

[Hand drawn map}
Tramway Ave
OGI
Copse Ave
Pozieres Trench
Munster Alley
Sunken Rd
Black w alley

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9

July 31. Went thro Pozieres today

all round our front line from

21 Bn H.Q. to 19th Bn - where

Sherborne was on his own at Bn H.Q.

resting his tired m.gunners. He has

60 men of his coy left there. The

route was like a road thro a

desert. Nearly half I way I ws

going thro deserted trenches full

along wh I dead lay sometimes

in batches of 10 or 12 together-

[eop?] of the 28th. I saw one fair

bunch of dead Germans.

 

You strike I dead on the Chalk pit

road before getting to the 21 Bn H.Q. From there I was

told to go straight along I road

& I shd find a comm trench. There

ws not a soul in sight - only

the powdered grey earth o I

craters w a trodden path thro it.

I went first up I roa track to I

right - but it seemed to me

I ws getting too much into I

centre o I village. By me

ws a filled in trench - no shelter

whatsoever in it - & two biggish

shells fell straight ahead. No

signs of any trench of ours -

all as still & dead as a deserted 

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9

ash heap. I turned back -

& followed I goat track path to I

right. There were only blackened

dead and occasionally

[hand drawn diagram]

bits of men - torn bits

of limbs unrecognisable

along it. I wandered on

for 5 mins without seeing

a sign of any one till I

came to a gradually improving

trench - quite deserted - peopled

only by dead men half buried

-some sitting upright w bandaged heads -

apparently little hurt except for

the bandaged wound - others lying

half covered in I little holes they

had scratched in I trench side.

 

There were deserted tools - g

& country ws  I ws going down

a slope & I country ws quite

open ahead of me - a gentle up-

slope on wh there must have

bn German trenches. At last I knew

I track must be used bec. it ws

trodden - but it might have bn at

night. At last I came on some

Pioneers hurrying back - 5 of them.

They sd I Middlesex were ahead

& then some of our T.M. men. I 

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went on again over battered trench

& into deep hollows of good trench

switchback like - hurrying to avoid

m.g. wh cd have caught me any

time - but it seemed ages before

I trench ws peopled. At last I came

to I end o I dead men - & into

a decent trench held by the living - British
- & thro them to Australians - 21 Bn

at our extreme left.

 

Poziers looked a surprising

distance behind - we were ½ a mile

beyond it, on a further slope. I

took a picture of it from near here

-the point the 23Bn. got to the other

day. One cd look out & see I cut

-a very shallow cut - wh the 7th

Bde charged over I other day.

 

The men were crowded on the

floor of these narrow trenches & one had to

step over them - but on the whole the

trenches were good. A German trench ran

out to the E. & I heard tt Gilley, who

had bn all round just before me,

had told them they must dig along

this tonight. Beath's Rd arises covered w

& I terrible sprinkled earth but not much

cut up ran in up there - & I

X i.e. The Bn 

 

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had to leave I trench & walk

along it for 20 or 30 yds. Then

I got into further trench from wh I

looked back and saw I Cemetery

I had passed thro without knowing

it. A few battered stones marked

it. Wherever you left the trench there

were a few dead men.

 

I got into good trench agn - still

21Bn, xfairly fresh & not badly

strafed (only in 24 hrs) & the

trench curved round, quite good.

Until it struck the Old German

gun dug outs & trench [hand drawn diagram]

wh are show on the map. These

were occupied where it crosses

them but not beyond. Shortly

after it petered out in I back

hedge o I houses N. of I main

road.

 

The 5 Bde came next, but

their trenches were 100 yds away.

They sd tt I only way ws to

crawl behind I hedge until one

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reached I trench. Their S.Bs were

sniped there so it ws necessary

to be careful.

 

I didn't want to go back

thro I deserted trench to I 21st Bn

H.Q. so I went on. It was an

eerie feeling clambering over

craters - the whole ground ws nothing

but craters, behind I hedge, ws no

sign of any trench anywhere or of

any living thing. I kept as much

as possible in I bottom of the

craters & presently found the wall of

a house in front of me [hand drawn diagram]

I clambered over the

broken bricks (the

windmill where they say the Germans

have observation ws always

unpleasantly obvious ahead.

However, as I got thro the house I

saw a tramway ahead of me

& beyond tt a line of new earth.

I clambered hurriedly over the