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.

 

 

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

 

19           1                  Sept 3

58   51st         51st shd have

           ↑             got to here

                                   ↑                  → 52nd.

Farm ws cleared.

[[shorthand]] 51st shd have

taken up

We were 50 - 9.30 in farm -

Abt 8.45 Germans began

to break through -

Before attack men were 

6 hrs in Nomansland. men went to sleep.

[[shorthand]]

13th Canadian Bn supporting

2.15 p.m. Patrol has gone

out from 77 to look

for B & C Coys. The m.g.

 

2

Germ. ws sent down dugout

[[shorthand]] to look for

Germs. [[shorthand]] & 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. .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 [[shorthand]] 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.

 

Diagram - see original

D & C 

51  42  94  36

59 

- British

xx Germans

 

19     4

The Canadians have

gone up to 42.

The 13th 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)

Diagram

1 coy

1 coy

Bombers etc.

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

 

Sketch - see original

 

19                    7

our men scrambled

over the dugouts & went

on. The 5th 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 (& 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 51st. The 51st

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