Charles E.W. Bean, Diaries, AWM38 3DRL 606/55/1 August 1916 pt7

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was not pressed.
4Bn attacked 2.1 & 0.1
but found positions untenable &
strong post ws made at 34 A2.9.
34. A.0 .9. appears to be held
by / enemy.
4Bn occupied 33B55 where
we have a m. g. & have constantly
bn attacked by bombers. Rifle
fire now brisk N.E. of Mouquet
F.
Owing to our [[trench]] being damaged
stong point at 28c71 ws not
made but [[trench]] remade for 250
yards w fire step.
1 Bn has occupied enemy
Gunpit at 34 B 26. One
unwounded prisoner ws sent in.
Aug17- afternoon very heavy shower
at 6 p.m.
Yesterday (Aug 18) dull & some slight
dampness
Today (Aug 19) Scotch mist & dull

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145 Bde are moving up into 
line with skyline [[trench]] -
They are at X2B.06 - X2A22
& are moving up to: A27, & 79.

____________________________
R28 c. 85.00 R28C50.07
Heavy shells sd to have fallen
there yesty & bn picked up.

______________________________
6 & 7 Bns now fix their junction
at R34 d 25
Front line now: Dot Lane
(Jumping off [[trench]]) X6a24,
R35D42, 25, c. 95, c. 48.
Casey went up this morning
 & could see a man in
the captured [[trench]]one of them
got out & waved his hands.
So the 7. Bn did get in & ws isolated.
It seems rather supine of the 2Bde
not to have assumed this instead 
of being  so ready to assume / opposite.
I must say, The Bdier ws not

77

Note on July 22/3.
X^th Bn. on July 22/3 The 10 Bn on 1st night
in dark, under shellfire
& gas - took rd up to
chalk Pit - Col. & Adj. had not gas helmets 
on & cd see but
most of men
cd not.

Reached
B watch alley
by going further
forwd & coming
back to it down 091.

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78
 at all inclined to believe
tt this coy was lost; nor 
ws / little x staff Captain. I
didnt hear Ulrichs opinion.
The men had 2 days rations.
I believe we are cutting thro
to them & will be there before
night.
[ I spent last night at 2 Bde
H.Q. 1 Bde had moved up
to near Pozieres - all its lines were
cut at once.

Cake.
Chewing gum
Milk.
Newspapers.
Envelopes for Beyers.
Sugar. Cwt
george wants song book
Shall 

The French (?local) authorities
will not help our authorities
by closing the Estaminets. I
don't know why this is - probably
 

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bribery of the local mayor - or
pressure of some sort. But
it is almost the Sole cause of
all trouble in our force & in
the British forces. I have seen
as many Englishmen drunk as
Australians - not to the pitch of
a scandal, but far more than
is good
Birdwood was hooted or sworn at the
other day by some drunken
reinforcements of the 4th Division.
They didn't know who he was -
he asked them, I believe, if they
did. They were making a
thorough nuisance of themselves
- a clump of them - so he
sent up Major Williams &
I believe they were dealt with.
The 1^st Divn has heard of it & some of men are sd to be
deadly sick with the 4^th - which 
is scarcely fair.
incl officer - Edgley Baker, I
think his name was – of the
division & Bde (143) next on our
left told me tt they had never had

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more than abt 120 casualties
in his regt. in any one
fight. This of course proves
tt they were never in any
fighting comparable in intensity
to tt wh our force has had.
The British attack on our left (wh
has well succeeded) cost them few
casualties. But then our men were
already far ahead of them & they
were attacking a German salient.

Aug. 20. It had been wet for two
days & I had feeling no clothes
properly dry & my good old
Melbourne boots were for
the second time worn through. I
got wet thro' in coming back
from Pozieres two days ago -
& was feeling like a chill; so
decided to come to Contay & get
a change of clothes & boots. The 1st
Divn (as they always do) offered
to give me a car for the journey,
& I dropped slept last night

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at Contay.
Today I wrote a letter for
the morning papers & went in
to Amiens to deliver it to the
Censor & see if I could clear the 
situation as regards my letters in
London.
Smart wrote to say to tt /
War Office now permitted my
despatches to go thro' - but only on
conditn th they were not signed
by my name. He called on /
Press Bureau & they cd not explain
/ proviso; & then called on the
High War Office where Maj. Knox
Kniven told him th he did not
know / reason but imagined th
it ws / jealousy of / other War
Correpondents.
I was quite sure tt Gibbs
ws not in this, nor Russell; &
today in Amiens I had a chance
of talking it over w them.
Gibbs told me after dinner tt there

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had bn, on / part of most
o / correspondents, no sort
of objection. But some one of
them (he & Robinson told me
this, but didn't say which) had
protested tt my name ought not
to be put to my despatches (or
tt my despatches ought not to
be published); & the Colonel
had taken this as an opportunity
for ruling me out. Gibbs sd /
Colonel had mentioned it to him
one morning & asked him what
he thought - & he sd it ws
a damned shame if any such
thing were thought of. He heard
no more, but noticed tt my
despatches were not in /
papers & asked me today - why?
It seems tt one correspondent 
is jealous of my obtaining

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a little notoriety and /
Colonel is very nervous of
me.
 And there is another
reason. G.H.Q. acts w funny
motives; it ws thought at
one time that the Canadians
were getting too much Kudos &
orders a hint was given to close
down on them  - wh, I suppose,
/ Censor enforced.
G. H.Q. has apparently
chosen this time to insist
that too much appreciation
shall not be given to the
Australians - It is a rotten
miserably foolish decision
when my country is fighting
the greatest battle in its history
& / hardest battle (British

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Army has ever fought. Still,
it appears to be deliberate.
Perhaps they are afraid of
hysterics  - if so, they might have cut
them out when they gave orders
tt / British correspondents
should write up our paltry little
end of June- July raids.
Hes I cant help thinking it
is another & far more important
instance of jealousy. They put
us in to fight the brunt of this battle
& the A.I.F. has done it - broken
itself & broken the kernel of
the fight opposite to it. Most
British officers give us credit
for this; but an officer or two at
/ head o / Intelligence or /
Censorship is able to make grant
or unmake our reputation withhold the credit for it

85
Met the B 1st Bde going out - at
Warloy.
Bought 1 cwt cake & 2 cases sweet milk
for Dexter for his coffee stall.

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& they (or he) have decided
to withhold it. I don't think
the Howers public has the
least idea of  / battle we are
fighting. There is nothing like
it in this Somme Battle
unless it be in Delville Wood
- so I am told. It is like with
Mort Homme & Vaux - one of the two or three stiffest
fights ever fought on Earth.

In a battle like this the day
of periscopes is at an end.
It is over / parapet all
/ time. I believe I have
seen [[trench]] periscopes - I
think it ws on the first
day - July 22.
I went have come back to 1st Aust. Divn.
They were making an attack
near Mouquet Farm & when