Charles E.W. Bean, Diaries, AWM38 3DRL 606/55/1 August 1916 pt10

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/ strain had bn during /
night. But I know what
Gellibrand or little Howell
Price wd have done - gone
along & seen for themselves;
&, if necessary, sent a
patrol out in front of
their trenches to see what
was happening in front. R.
may have bn up all /
night & previous days & been utterly worn out.
Personally I think a devoted
officer wd have gone to / spot.
And we must have devoted C.O.s
Casey & I got a guide
from / Bn to take us on to
the Coy. Commanders in the
front line.  The guide was not
always certain of the way;
and he was more careful of

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shells & snipers than these
men usually are. Poor
chap - he had a strained,
almost hut hunted, look. He
had probably been dodging shells
& bullets for days. He came up
like a shot & took us out.
The way led back along
O.G.1 ; over those of our
dead whom we had seen
before; & then to the left;
& then suddenly, at a
meeting of sharp corners
several [[trenches]], to the left
again. A little trench
ran out here into [[symbol]]
with a dead man in
it. The guide hesitated at
/ corner - "oussrdd
"I've only been here by night

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before", he sd - & things
looked different by day.
We took the left [[trench]] - O.G.2
We passed tho' I didn't
realise it at the time.
This [[trench]] led us presently
past a number of sleeping
men of the 1st Bn
(wh had bn left in as a
garrison of this flank o / attack)
-the rest of 1st Bde had gone
out for good). Presently /
guide looked over his shoulder.
"It's here you have to look out", he
said; "they look right into
us at this dip." "They snipe
you with a whizzbang here
- even if its only one man".
The trench bore a little right
& turned straight down a
moderate slope. It was fairly

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broken in & you had to
hurry over it very fast. How
the German allows us to keep
a bit  xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
You could see the
shoulders of two ridges
opposite clearly standing
out o / mist & as
 
far as I know there are
Germans where I have put
/ crosses - (White had this part
battered in / night when he 
heard / attack was held up
on / right.)
We came presently on
a company H.Q. in a
German deep dugout. They
didn't know very well

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what was happening in
front (I suppose / little officer
didn't care to leave his part
o / line (wh looked down /
valley towards Courcelette)).
We went uphill & came
to where
It was about here
tt we saw a procession
coming slowly in from outside
the [[trench]]. There were five men
standing up erect & walking
at a snails pace, like a funeral,
up to the parapet o the [[trench]]
The one in front carried a
white handkerchief on a short
stick. The two behind carried
stretchers. They were some of
our S.Gs. bringing in / wounded
of the fight.

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We were walking hurriedly
- but I cd have got them
to stop a second; & what a
photograph tt wd have made
for our history! - we were
walking hurriedly & very
quickly reached a turn in
/ trench where one of our men
was slipping in, crouched up,
past the low timbers of some
dugout.
 
These were / old artillery
dugouts wh the 3rd Bn reached
& then failed to keep the other
night. We had dug a trench
round them in / night & they

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were now in our lines.
They sd there ws a sniper
shooting on them - it ws best
to keep low - (symbol) xxxxx
[*But that is where
the Coy.HQ.S were. *]→
We ducked down
into / hole in front of
entrance. & then down into
/ dugout someone ws below,
busy w / Coy Commander;  we
waited till a messenger
came out & then ducked
down below.
At a table were sitting
a Captain of the 10Bn &
another.
They sd the Bn ws
digging a little way out
from the [[trench]], not quite up
to / nearest road. They
had had very heavy losses
in the half hour before the attack

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 -120 men, they sd, "The men
were badly shaken by it." They
had had their attack ready for
hours - the men were all in
place, everything had gone like
clockwork - like a programe,
they said; & then, suddenly,
there came down this bombardment
on them. The 4 waves had to be
changed into 2.
The men went out. The
right ws held up by an
unplaced m.g. The left 
got in - across 3 [[trenches]], they sd;
But they had been dril  What
had happened then ws not
clear.  The men were still
dribbling back in 2's & 3's, they
sd.
While we were there Halahan

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As we sat here we cd hear our
barrage 1, 2, or xx ∧3 shells in
fairly quick succession,
whizzing low over / top of us
& bursting just beautifully
out in Nomansland 50, 100, 150
yds NE - exactly as ordered.
A German shell would cross
them in exactly / opposite direction
every minute or so & burst
a good way inside our lines.
We met tt gentleman later.
 

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of the 11 Bn came in - who
had been about down in Becourt
Wood. He ws superintending
the digging of the 11^th Bn.
He sd the 11^th had stuck a
pick handle up, & the 12 had stuck a
pickhandle in / point they
had reached to, & they were
sapping across from one to /
other - across / sunken road.
He tol
It was good to hear tt
the 12^th were in their captured
[[trench]] still; & we got Halahan
sd he wd take us along &
show us where this digg gap
was. We started after him
along the front line from wh, I
believe, / attack started. The
line led along an almost

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level hilltop. You cd see
over it / whole way, but
it was not bad.  In The mist
outside allowed us to see abt
60 or 70 yards fairly clearly
& I don't know how far
dimly. The surface ws very
level. About 40 yards outside
us was a line of men digging.
As we went on we saw them 
digging standing right in / open,
out of the trench, full height
some of them. A stretcher
party ws coming in.
Decea  The men in our 
trench, such as there were,
kept low when they moved,
wh struck me as strange - but
they sd there had been occasional
sniping & we afterwards found