Charles E W Bean, Diaries, AWM38 3DRL 606/58/1 - September 1916 - Part 1

AWM38
Official History,
1914-18 War: Records of C E W Bean,
Official Historian.

Diaries and Notebooks

Item number: 3DRL606/58/1

Title: Diary, September 1916

Discusses Capt Duncan Maxwell and Capt C A
Littler, the VC award and Mouquet Farm.
 

AWM38-3DRL606/58/1

Original
DIARY NO. 58
AWM38
3DRL 606 ITEM 58 [1]
DIARIES AND NOTES OF C. E. W. BEAN
CONCERNING THE WAR OF 1914 - 1918
THE use of these diaries and notes is subject to conditions laid down in the terms
of gift to the Australian War Memorial. But, apart from those terms, I wish the
following circumstances and considerations to be brought to the notice of every
reader and writer who may use them.
These writings represent only what at the moment of making them I believed
to be true. The diaries were jotted down almost daily with the object of recording what
was then in the writer's mind. Often he wrote them when very tired and half asleep;
also, not infrequently, what he believed to be true was not so - but it does not
follow that he always discovered this, or remembered to correct the mistakes when
discovered. Indeed, he could not always remember that he had written them.
These records should, therefore be used with great caution, as relating only what
their author, at the time of writing, believed. Further, he cannot, of course, vouch
for the accuracy of statements made to him by others and here recorded. But he
did try to ensure such accuracy by consulting, as far as possible, those who had
seen or otherwise taken part in the events. The constant falsity of second-hand
evidence (on which a large proportion of war stories are founded) was impressed
upon him by the second or third day of the Gallipoli campaign, notwithstanding that
those who passed on such stories usually themselves believed them to be true. All
second-hand evidence herein should be read with this in mind.
16 Sept., 1946.
C. E. W. BEAN.
AUSTRALIAN WAR MEMORIAL
ACCESS STATUS
OPEN

15
19
1
Sept 3
58
51st
[[?]] ^51 shd have got to here
^                             ↑         → 52nd.
Farm ws cleared.
[[shorthand]]. 51st shd have
taken up
We were 5.0 - 9.30 in farm -
Abt 8.45 Germans began
to break through -
Before attack men were
6 hrs in Nomansland. Men went to sleep.
13^th Canadian Bn supporting.
2.15 p.m. Patrol has gone
out from 77 to look
for B & C Coys. The m.gs.

2
Germ. ws sent down dugout to look for
Germs. & tell them to come up
He went down talking German
sd tt there was a tunnel
& that the Germans had gone
away down it.
Lorenzos 34 B 1.7
H.Q.
Sap to it blown out.
2.27 Lorenzo reports consolidation
going on O.k. 3 Lewis
guns blown out. Wants
some more guns w teams
& also some xxx of
19
3
right to be taken over by
Canadians.
At abt 3.30 I came
down (by the tramway &
the Bapaume Rd) to
Div. H.Q. I was having
tea ^w Gen. Cox when Gen. Gough
came in & told the General
how pleased he was - our
men had not got the
Farm but they were past
it - the news is tt they are
past in on both sides
being up the trench from 59 to
42 as well as at 94.
(There are Germans in between).
The position on the W of the
Farm is still uncertain.

Hand drawn diagram – see original
19
4
Hand drawn diagram – see original
The Canadians have
gone up to 42.
The 13^th Canadian Bn
is to go in tonight between
52 & 51 (2 Coys only
there at present).
What happened last
night was :-
As soon as the barrage
started our men got
over under it - a little
close under it, perhaps -
But it was an excellent

19
5
barrage . Very few were
hit. The moment the barrage
lifted they were into the
Farm. [A white tape
had guided them to their
lying up place (the 51 Bn)
Hand drawn diagram – see original
They lay out
for 6 hours
& the difficulty
was to keep the
men awake - They kept
on dropping off to sleep.
(with this attack ahead of
them!) And their officers
were really anxious lest
a patrol might come
over & find them sleeping.
It was bitterly cold.
The N.C.Os had to xxx

19
6
wake the men before
the attack!
When they got in they
found many Germans,
20 or more, killed by
the bombardment. The
Germans were in dugouts
& wd not come out.
The mouths o / dugouts
had bn barricaded. & d
- they were simply
openings in the rubbish
heap, leading to cellars
& all facing to the German lines
Hand drawn diagram – see original

19
7
our men scrambled
over the dugouts & went
on. The 5^th wave stopped
to consolidate. the 2 platoons
of the 52nd who were to
help them under an officer
were there amongst them
doing first class work.
They had no sooner got to
the Farm (x the first 4 lines
gone over) than they found
a m.g. firing on them in
the half light. It ws hard
to tell by / sound whether
it ws 30 yds or 50 yds away
but it ws damnably close.
They were hunting for it - &
bombing & presently it
ceased. Undoubtedly it had
bn dragged up out of one of
the 5 dugouts and was

19
8
firing from behind the dug
out mouth - enfilading.
2 m.gs were captured (one
ws afterwds blown up by a
German 9 inch shell - the other
ws smashed by us w a rifle
grenade.
The Germans had a barricade
in / mouth of one of their dugouts
at / bottom o / stairs - with
a 2 ft hole left in it out of wh
they fired a rifle grenade &
wounded some of our men.
We threw bombs, & then smoke
bombs, down. The smoke
bombs did the trick - brought
the Germans out of an entrance
farther back, w their hands
up. 3 Dugouts were cleared -
2 remained wh were probly
cleared also - tho' one or

19
9
two Germans may have
remained in them.
The 52nd got some
men also into the trench
at 42 & to the right of it;
but But there seems to have
been a gap between 12 & 42
wh ought to have been
filled by the 51^st. The 51^st
under Clifford & MacCallum
^C & D Coys had swung (according to
Morrell) too far to the left
& were holding a line
in the open far with
200 yds beyond the Farm
but not quite up to 12 which
(he says) we never got.
The support Coy under
Williams was digging in
the Farm & a sap had been