Charles E W Bean, Diaries, AWM38 3DRL 606/58/1 - September 1916 - Part 5

47

The essence of this part of the

fight is the difficulty wh both

sides had in finding their

whereabouts & settling

their line.

Secondly the fact that we

(and the British on both sides

of us) were up against the best

troops Germany had.

19      48

but he happened to have a bomb.

He had bn wondering whether he

shd pull out the pin - but

tt is a dangerous thing to do

because, if you fall or are

hit, the lever, wh is only

kept down by your hand pressure,

is apt to fly out & the bomb

explodes & kills you & the man

with you. He ought to have straightened

the pin, but he didn't. When

he saw the sentry he tried to

pull the pin out, but couldn't

get it out. The German fired,

& the Canadian fired, & then

both sides ran. From about

100 yards back Arthur looked

over & the Germans were

plastering the landscape

around their part of the trench

with bombs - showers of them.

No one of our side ws there. But

clearly the sentry had gone back

to a post. We were firing big

stuff into the Farm & they may

quite probably have had their

whole garrison out in shell holes

in front of it.

19      49

Macpherson was rather

undone. He had also about

7 wounded men in a dugout

behind our lines but otherwise

rather difficult to discover with

the trench blotted out. When the

battalion was going out he

did not turn up, nor the ^two men

with him. Arthur went back

to make quite sure that the

Canadians knew where this

dugout was - it was like a

field mouse hole in a ploughed

field & it might be overlooked

for many days. Arthur

found tt two men who knew

the dugout were going out

with the intelligence officer

of the 13^th Canadian Bn to

find the show him the line. They

promised, & their colonel pledged

himself, that they would look

in at this dugout &, if any wd.

men were there, bring them

in. Arthur had been without

sleep, working hard, for 4 days -

so he came out (He never hading

had leave to stay back.)

49a

Diagram - see original

You often mistake a tree ^on / skyline for a

shell burst - it looks very like

the burst of a 5.9 or 9 in. howitzer.

You have to wait & see if it

fades & melts before you can

tell which it is.

Diagram - see original

19      50

To go back a little, before this

fight, on the night afternoon of Sept 2.

I ^had strolled across to La Borsille

to see if the abo Mouquet Farm cd

be seen from the fore slope

of the hill. It couldn't.

[A big German shell was

continually falling to the right

of the crest of La Borsille -

probably ^counter-battery work after some howitzers

of ours but always utterly out 

- nothing was near it - this

was going on the day before also].

One cd see shells bursting

beyond the top of the ridge,

& a few on our side;

but the firing line ws in everywhere

case beyond the slope -

Mouquet Farm was one whole

hill further back.]

I found that A Coy of the

52nd had not yet gone up,

& the officers had not reconnoitred

19        51

the line. [Arthur's guides, Arthur,

Maj. Dickinson, & little Clarke,

guided them in splendidly

that night - they were in

positn long before time. &

went to sleep, some of th

They had practically no loss

getting in.] One of the big anxieties

of the night was that a crowd

of men was crammed onto

the Mouquet hillside during

nearly the whole night &

heavy German shelling would

have blown them to bits -

might have destroyed the Bde.

However, they must have

got in unnoticed.]

I stayed, as I had done

the night before, to have tea

with Duncan Maxwell. He

had his C.O. - Capt Littler there,

the man who, for the whole time

we were at Anzac, was in

charge of beach parties on Anzac

19       52

Beach. Littler was in

the 12^th (Tasmanian) Bn,

& transferred to the 52nd

when it ws formed from the

12^th. He had been for years

in the American service in

the Philippines - fighting the

Philipinos. He had been on

the staff at Anzac, & had bn

made A.P.M. for a time;

but he was a talker, like most

men who have had much

to do with Americans. He had

an opinion on every point

and always gave it outspokenly

& got the name of "The Duke

of Anzac". "The Duke of

Anzac says the war is going

to end on such & such a date,"

you used to hear. "The Duke

will manage that." "Ask

the duke". & so on. All

the same, his opinion was

worth having when he gave

it - & there was more horse

sense in old Littlers sayings

19     53

than some gave him credit

for.

He wore a beard - a short

grizzled beard, - at Anzac.

He was an elderly man - &

two of his sons were serving

as officers here - practically

in the same rank, the two

sons & their father. The third

son could not get in because

he was blind in one eye.

I fancy old Littler was

disappointed at not having

his promotion. He was ill

with lumbago & rheumatism

& Duncan told me the night

before that they were having to

go in without their C.O.

"It means a lot", he sd, "because

the C.O. is a grand man - the

men wd do anything for

him. Capt. Macnamara is

new to the work & therefore more

inclined to get jumpy" (very

naturally).

However, on this night evening,

there was Littler back. I didn't

54

Sketch - see original

19        55

recognise the frank old face

when first I saw it - because

the beard had gone. But

something in the calm blue-grey

eyes which looked at you

so straight; & the kindly

weather beaten smile under

the tawny moustache reminded

me of the man on Anzac Beach 

- & I tumbled to him.

He wasn't well at all,

but he had come back, in

spite of doctor's advice, to

take his part in that battle,

& I felt more confident

because I knew he was a

man. As a matter of fact he

was certainly a much better

officer than any of his seniors

in the regiment & they wd have

been a better battalion if he

had been the Company officer Colonel instead

of a company officer.

He said this would be

his last fight. He thought

after this he would retire

right out of it - & probably

in the end go back to the

56

This has been a very

stiff fight - much the

biggest the Austr 4th

Aust. Divn has had.

19       57

American Service - he had

two boys in this war now & one

had the D.S.O. or military X, &

their old Dad was due for a

quiet different life - one that

liked suited him better.

He was cheering the other officers

"Well Maxwell - you'll come

out with a nice little 'blightly' -

a bullet in the shoulder which will

give you 3 months in London -

& then you'll go before a board & they'll

say 'Take another two months, my

boy, & come back here again!"

and so on - wouldn't let the

conversation get too serious for they

all knew what they were in for.

"They wont let us wear boots

like yours," one young officer

sd, "we have to go in in putties 

- boots wd mark you for an

officer & you'll be sniped at once."

"They dont tell you not to carry

a revolver", retorted Littler.

"I reckon I'll carry a rifle,"

sd another youngster -

"Well I'm going in with a

stick," sd old Littler. "I've never

58

carried anything except a stick in

any fight I've been in, & I'm not

going to begin now."

An hour later as dusk

was He had a talk to his

officers (I left before this as I didn't

want to intrude); and an hour

later, as dusk was falling, they

went in.

In the first charge in the

morning - just as the sky was

reddening - Littler was hit

by a bomb thrown by a German

as they neared the German

trench. He dropped to his

knees, holding his chest, &

went on directing his men.

"At them boys - go along - give

it xx to the beggars!" he said - &

he was hit again. He was

hit a third time, by shrapnel

I believe, thro' the head as

he sat there - & that killed

him. Macnamara was killed

& "little" Maxwell (little Maxwell

is 6ft 3in, but his brother big Maxwell

is 6ft 5in) assumed command,

& took control of his battalion in the

19        59

firing line for 48 hours until they

came out.

Sept Col. Lorenzo tells me tt before the

49^th came out today (they were delayed

by a counterattack) the line to Point

36 & down to O3 was restored -

no doubt w t help of Canadian

bombers. Fortunately this flank

had bn left alone by / Germans

during the first night & they the

49^th had got their trenches down

7 feet & 6 ft & the Commn

trench 7 feet.

The Canadian support

companies were taken &

pushed up into the line

rather arbitrarily - as it

seemed to them - but fortunately

while the argument was going

on a Canadian officer from

the line came down & said

that his company had clean

gone - had been blown to

bits & that he had scarcely a

man left - so this convinced

the company commanders of the

necessity. Our people are satisfied

to hand over the line to the Canadians. "They

will hold it all right," they say.

[* The Canadians are fine troops & the appearance

of their bombers amongst Duncan Maxwells tired troops

was like a draught of wine P.T.O*]

[*P.T.O.*]

60       19

The 52nd had been letting the Germans walk

about outside the German trench & show themselves

As soon as the Canadian bombers arrived our men

were up with their rifles & blazing into the Germans again.

Diagram - see original