Charles E.W. Bean, Diaries, AWM38 3DRL 606/54/1 July August 1916 pt9

9
101

"The bugger kids he cant talk
English," sd Norman in a loud
aside. But we found it ws true
enough - he cd not talk more than
a little.
I asked ' Did in German "Did you
sleep last night."
"No.”
"Or the night before."
"Not then either-“
I thought tt ws  largely / matter-
that & / shelling he had bn thro.
I asked him if the shells were
bad:
"84 men of my company were
lost in 4 days," he said "by your
artillery fire."
His shrapnel helmet I noticed
had a dint in it. That had been
English shrapnel, that night, he
said.  It had knocked him (or his
helmet) down but / helmet had
saved his life.  His regiment
(162) had bn 4 days in /
line & ws going to be relieved
tt night.
As he sat there Norman
after one of his perio periodic
 

9
102
visits to the xx valley upstairs
(Man w leg broken & shot thro abd)
(where the guns were smacking
and thumping all / time) but much 
slower now - brought down another
youngster - a thin chap with a bright 
intelligent face  & quick  rather
anxious - grey w dust.
"Here, I've brought someone
for you to talk to, " sd Norman
as if he were setting down
a child.
The second boy cd talk
English. After a few of Norman's
sentences his face lit up in a
bright intelligent smile - not
a bad looking youngster.
He belonged to the 84th Regt.
He had an iron Both of them had in
their buttonholes / black & white
ribbon o / Iron Cross. The
second youngster said when we
asked him:-
"Yes, I got it since yesterday"
"Got it yesterday - what for.
"For defeating three attacks"
 xxB I asked if these were /
attacks we made the
Saturday morning before, &
[*29^thJuly
attack*]
 

9
103
he sd "yes."
"So you saw our men attack
on Saturday morning"
"The attack wh we defeated - yes"
"How many were there?" he asked
"A regiment" someone sd.
"We thought it was a brigade."
he sd.
The Germans thought they
had caught our men in a
semicircular trench, he sd- apptl
a new trench dug round the Mill
(but I'm not sure of this). The
Australians came on into /
middle of this semicirclle
& they shot them down from /
flanks- & he tumbled his
finger over & over to indicate
tt they had very xxx exciting
shooting.
" Our men came upon
barbed wire uncut" I sd,
didnt they ?"
He looked up blankly. He
had never seen any- he
shook his head.
But / officer sitting on
/ bed beside him corrected
him. "Yes there was wire
 

104 
[hand drawn diagram - 
see original document]
The shot wh hit an
aeroplane.

9 
105
in front of us "  he sd.
Our men got into / first
trench they sd - but not into
/ second, they sd. One or two
They took 26 prisoners, they
thought - wounded men who
were left behind. They knew
they were Australians & had
known it for a fortnight.
They had found one wounded
Australian in a shellhole. He
had bn there for 4 days, shot
thro the intes abdomen & with
a broken leg. "He seemed was very
pleased to be taken in", Hx
said / younger officer.
How do you find /Australians
- not rough? we asked.
'No - " he shook his head decisively
"We think that they do not take 
prisoners _∧while they are fighting a 
battle, but
afterwards "- wh is just abt
 truth really.
He sd he had relatives in
Australia; he did not know if
they were alive now. We told
him tt of course they wd be 
alive - we didn't kill people.
 

9
106
"But you killed our hospital"
he sd.
"What hospital - of course we
didnt - no  Australian wd
hurt a wounded man."
"Oh but I know - you kill
the men in our first hospital
nearest to / lines - near
Courcelette."
“Oh, you're taking nonsense,"
sd Norman.
"No - it is so...." sd / youngster.
"Well there are no Australians 
there - tt must be up near High
Wood" -  sd Norman.
[I suppose we may have
shelled a hospital by mistake. You
cannot tell what is one & what isn't.
Or possibly troops in some mad
rush in / dark may have got into
a dressing station & killed some o /
people - proby bombed them, without
realising what they were. It ws
not our men anyway).
"Why did you fire on our
stretcherbearers?" the youngster
asked.
"We don't fire on Stretcherbearers"
we sd.
 

9
107
"But I know you fired on our
stretcher bearers w machine
gun as they go along the great
road to Bapaume -"
That must have been our
in direct m.g. fire down / road"
we sd. " we cant see them - we
simply fire on / road - we do tt
a lot."
He had no use for / Austrian
soldiers. We told him / Russians
had a number of prisoners.
"In Germany or in Austria" he
asked at once.
"At Riga" we sd
"Oh - I did not know "he
replied. " I don't think it is
right"
"Yes - 90000 prisoners at
Riga-& Brody".
"Oh Brody"  - he sd turning to  / other
German”- tt will be in Galicia" - they
wd be Austrians, he meant.
"What do you think of the Austrian
soldier?" we asked
He shook his head. "Not so
good a/s de Germans,"  he sd.
Not good "The Bulgar is a
 

9
108
brave soldier - better than Austrian."
The Turk is a brave soldier too.
He didnt 
Do you think you will win
/ war?" we asked.
“I dont think any country
will winning / war " he sd.
He thought it wd be over in
September.
Norman was awfully pleased
with him. Things were slack for a
time - only a few reports coming in.
Savage (the young intelligence officer)
little file of the 28 ^th one of their
survivors, & one or two other
boys - all youngsters - were
down there; and the conversation
grew quite merry. The fair
haired German too joined in in
/ end - tho he cd not understand 
it all - & became quite jove
pleasantly interested.
"You are all kamerad -
all offizcers are kamerad?"
said the young German.
"Why of course - arent
you?" we asked.
"No-No" he said shaking 
his head. And we had noticed
 

23 have lost
14 [shorthand]x

9
109
how the _∧ 2nd Lieutenant  clicked his 
heels & saluted
the first lieutenant when he came
into the room. He opened his eyes
Every time our signal _∧ clerk came 
into  / room with his hands in his
trouser pockets & delivered
his message. I wonder what
he thought.
Gellibrands staff too - "The
worst of it is," as Gelly sd to me
today, "tt other people, I'm told, sometimes
never don't quite know whether
we are in earnest!"
Pozieres has been a terrible
sight all day - steaming with pink
& chesnut & coaly smoke. One knew
[hand drawn diagram-see the original document]
tt the  
Bdes wh
went in
last night were there today & tt two
in that insatiable factory of ghastly
wounds. The men are simply
turned in there as into some ghastly
giant mincing machine. The
have to stay there while shell after
huge shell descends like a
with a shriek close beside them -
 

9
110
Each one an acute mental torture-
Each shrieking tearing crash
bringing a promise to each man
-instantaneous - I will tear
you into ghastly wounds - I will
rend your flesh & pulp an arm
or a leg-fling you, half a gaping
quivering man ^[*like these that you 
see smashed around you one by one*]  to lie there rotting
& blackening like all the things
you saw by the awful roadside,
or in that sickening dusty crater.
Ten or twenty times a minute
Every man in the trench has
that promise instant fear
thrust tight upon his shoulders
- I dont care how brave he is -
with a crash that is a physical
pain & a strain to withstand.
 _______
The 8 27 Bn has been shelled
out of part of 0.9.2 - there
was no trench left  & the
Germans  dont hold it.
They (26^↑- 25^↑- 27^↑ )are in
that order.
The Germans threw much
more big stuff today both at
/ valley & on Pozieres. They
have brought up some new
 

9
111
batteries of 8.2 guns - one ws
shooting down / valley ( Sausage 
Gully) this morning.
Aeroplanes reported  this
afternoon tt they  saw many
white hooded vehicles going
to Coucelette from Bapaume
way. It is suspected tt they
will c. attack - possibly from /
absolute N.W.
The tired old 5^th Bde is now
coming out -  they are passing
along / road beyond this
trench. They have  had 12 or 13 days!
I asked some o /  18Bn abt Cadle
but they think he is all right.
Didnt see 20Bn for Morgan Jones.
The 12 Bde takes place of 5th
& part of 7th. 7th (now reduced
some say to 1 Bn) push 
squeeze up a 
bit; 6th hold on
If only we had had
2 or 3 divns to go thro