Charles E W Bean, Diaries, AWM38 3DRL 606/57/1 - August - September 1916 - Part 1

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Attack of Aug. 28/29/30                                Aug 29/30/[[?]] To Sept 1916
A storm down came up
v. black at 4 o'clock. It
brought down a balloon.
The French bombt wh ws
on [[???]] all tt day continued to
on into/middle of the storm, &
then ceased. It cleared later
by not thoroughly - the sky
was still dripping & showery.

I thought our attack
might be countermanded
but at 11 o'c. we heard
I big guns behind us open,
so it ws clearly on. I
I went out & stood by Charlie                     
- I big Gippslander at I
 

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coffee stall; & as we
watched I lights it seemed
to us tt I attack had succeeded.
The German flares seemed
to have died out altogether
in I direction o I point
attacked although bunches
of green & orange & occasionally
red lights came from I
points where I flanks wd
be.

Next morning the boy
on I coffee stall told me tt a
man coming down had told him tt
the 13th Bn had two goes at their
part of it & failed both times.
 

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I went across to Divn
& later saw Capt. Harwood 16 Bn
(who had a bayonet wd. in
the knee) at I dressing stn
in Albert (13th F. Amb.)

He said tt the artillery
barrage ws splendid - they
followed close up to it
- all in one line - & got
into the trench NE of
Mouquet Farm.

They got in at 31, & 42
but not so far as 73.
Those the other side o I Farm
got either to 77 or 29. We
are not & never had been
at 59 before tt night, he sd.
 

4
The 13th did not get
up from 91 as far as 73.
 

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There were plenty of Germans
in I trench, in shell holes
& in craters dugouts &
common trenches. Our men
bombed them hard from
the parapet. We threw
bombs down I dugouts - in
one instance a German
threw a bomb up & wounded
I man who was throwing
bombs down.

As we tackled one
entrance the Germans wd
be bolting from another
- or jumping out of shell
holes back into I trench.
We only took over a
weak force (there were perh.
 

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600 in the 16th Bn.)
& they were not continuous
in I trench. The Germans
came back from 69 & 12
& began to attack with
their little long distance
bombs. We became broken
at 42 & Harwood &
 his men s. of 31 lost touch
w I party between 42 & 73.
H. sent orders across ↑
for that party to retire &
some at any rate of it
got back - some may have
bn captured or killed.

In the Farm we rounded
up 50 prisoners & just as
we were preparing to
 

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send them back a
machine gun opened from
I out buildings on the
N. end of the farm (or where
I outbldgs had been).
The prisoners were lost &
we were driven out.

On the right the
13 Bn going for 36-66-95
found it hard to keep
up w I arty barrage
but they got to [[?]]
intermediate [[?]]. when
they reached the far
[[?]] the Germans are
sd to have bn all ready
standing up w bombs.
The wounds are very
 

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largely bomb & m.g.
The men are plastered
with mud - thick with
it - yellow-red paste
scraped on as if with
a pallet knife.

One chap sd he
tried "14 bloody times to
scramble out of a crater
& fell back on his end
every time."

The attack went out
too weak. They are attacking
now nearly as
big a front as we attacked
w a division when first
we came in. White
 

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told me afterwds tt he
asked for it to be done
with 3 battalions but
Gen. Cox could only spare
2½. "I wish I had bn
strong - & asked for it to
be done by a whole
brigade," White said.

To take a
position wh I Germans
consider as important
as tt one you need
your men to be swarming
over it after I attack,
like flies. It is all very
well for army generals
to sit w their maps &
talk about attacking
w patrols. That is the