Charles E W Bean, Diaries, AWM38 3DRL 606/60/1 - September - October 1916 - Part 2

11                                            9

to face that certain ending.

It may not be believed later,

but every man on this front at

present knows that a single bullet

wound thro' the shoulder is

considered a prize wh you cd

not buy for money: a "cushy"

one - a "Blighty" - every

infantryman envies the man

who goes home w a wound

like that.

And that is quite compatible

with men being prepared to go into

it & fight & die; they won't

hesitate to vote tt they must go

in a third time if they knew tt

others were doing their share too;

they certainly wd not vote to stand

out if others were going in.

But men are men; & the

results of the wracking wh they

got at Pozieres is tt Birdwoods

 

10

Angel

The 2nd Bde signaller, Angel,

who ws shot in the

spine at Poz., but took

on [[?is]] message to an

officer, afterwards died.

He got no decoration at all,

I believe.

[* Later.

Wrong. He is alive.

CEW.B

3.9.26 *]

 

11                             11

popularity has suffered. w

some of them at any rate.

"He's a b____ of a man,"

they say, "wants to put us in

again". It was to some extent

the same after the August battle in

Gallipoli.

All the men do not

clearly distinguish what they

are fighting for. The newspapers

are partly at fault. They speak

invariably of the "Sons of the Empire"

"from overseas" "come to the aid

of the Mother Country" & "fighting

for old England"- & the men,

many of them, gather t idea tt it

is England they are fighting for, &

not for their idea o t world as 

it shd be & fighting against the

German idea tt a treaty is nothing

& only might is right. - It

 

11                                          12

will pass - but that is the

spirit of the corps at t moment.

They have a comradeship for

Scottish troops - at Etaples, (at the

base), & at the front it is

noticeable - but very little

for British troops, who have

not the Scottish independence, &

do not mostly fight so well. The

Brit authorities have, very

foolishly, often put us up alongside

of third rate English troops, like

the 61st Divn (at least an officer of the 1st

Army H.Q. told the War Conspts tt

these were 3rd rate territorials,

so Russell told me); & only now

have they put the New Zealanders

in near the Guards.

I have no knowledge if

what other corps are saying;

probably they are grumbling

at least as much at their fate -

possibly more. But tt is their

 

13

The Divisions are still short -

the 51st Bn is the shortest. (By the

xxx a prisoner reported tt abt 60 men

of There are 22,500 reinforcements

in England & at Etaples, & about

16,000 men are needed to fill

up - roughly 4000 for each

division. But they wont let them

out of England until they have had a

14 wks training - they are under the

War Council.

 

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The German is certainly more

sick of fighting than any - he

has more to be sick at. But

the 1st Anzac Corps is the one I

know - & the fact is it is not

having enough rest to be at its

best if it has to go in again shortly.

And, coming back, I

find tt the impression everywhere

is tt it will have to go back

about the 22nd or 23rd of

October. The men have seen

the 4th (British) Divn just

sent south - our 4th Divn

partly took over their line - T

they know tt the 4th (Brit) Divn

ws badly cut up in the Somme

Battle at the start & was

badly cut up. If that Divn

is in they again, they argue,

 

Newspaper clipping pinned across diary pages 15 - 16

 

THE ARGUS, WEDNESDAY, AUGUST 9, 1916.

STAND BY ANZACS

Magnificent Achievement

SUCCESS CROWNS EFFORT

Fight with Knives ^x and Revolvers

^x we use no knives & few revolvers.

LONDON, Aug 8.

The Paris correspondent of the Central

News Agency telegraphs that Australian

and Kent troops have advanced on the

Pozieres plateau, in the direction of Martinpuich.

"The Anzacs," he says, "won fresh glory

in the fighting on Sunday. They firmly held

trenches skirting the Bapaume road against

the attacks of three Saxon and Bavarian

regiments. Both sides lost heavily in knife

and revolver fighting, but the colonials

would not yield, and their magnificent resistance

enabled a British unit to attack the

enemy on the left flank, and drive them off

in a north-westerly direction. The British

counter-attacks west of Pozieres then

hurled the Germans back to their trenches,

and enlarged the gains towards Thiepval.

"The German losses were heaviest at

Pozieres Mill and Hill 160. Here three

enemy battalions advancing in echelon,

were mown down by the oblique fire of the

British gunners, and the German remnant

scurried back in disorder. This gave the

signal for a fine, dashing attack by the men

of Kent and the Anzacs, who brilliantly

carried two lines of trenches and advanced

200 yards on the plateau in the direction of 

Martinpuich.

An army order issued by General Below

found on prisoners said:- "You must at

all costs recapture the Pozieres plateau. If

the British retain it, it will give them a

valuable advantage. It must be retaken

forthwith. Our troops who first gain a

foothold on it must maintain their ground,

whatever the sacrifice, pending the arrival

of reinforcements. Any officer or man who

does not resist to the death will be immediately

tried by court-martial."

           _____________________

AUSTRALIAN SUCCESS.

Of Great Importance.

The New York "Evening World" publishes

a despatch from the British front

which speaks in terms of commendation of

the work of the Australians in the charge

on Friday.

"For days, " it says, "they had been holding

grimly the village of Pozieres under a

tornado of German shells. Then they

charged over a two-mile front, sweeping

the Germans several hundred yards back. 

"The opinion at headquarters is that

the value of the gain cannot be estimated.

A week fighting with sap & bomb preceded

the attack, *which the Australians

made amidst a volcano of bursting shells

and under a blazing sun. They streamed

into the trenches, and were digging forward

with pick and spade."

       ______________________

Anzac Fights Seven Germans.

Five Killed; Two Captured.

A sergeant-major wo was wounded in

the fighting north of Pozieres on Friday

relates a remarkable piece of fighting by

an Anzac.

"An Australian'"  he says, "was knocked

down by seven Germans, who disarmed

him. A mate of the Anzac arrived in the

nick of time, and, singlehanded, fought the

seven Germans. He killed five with his

hands, and made the remaining two

prisoners."

         ___________________________

 

 

15                                                11

Newspaper clippings folded

AUGUST 9, 1916.

THE ARGUS, WEDNESDAY

ANZACS

 

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We too shall be in abt a

month later. I daresay

tt something also may have

leaked out - I do not know if

it is fixed or certain at all.

But there it is; & it is not popular.

The truth is soldiers are

not the fictions which war 

correspondents have made

of them, but ordinary human

men. And for an ordinary

man, feeling as men

wd feel after Pozieres, to

go into it again in spite

of their natural state

of mind & to do all they

wd do is a hundred

times finer than the

heroics that have been

written in the past. It

is popular to write

the sort of rubbish

on the opposite page

about soldiers.

Not one word of all

this cutting from the

Argus is literally true - except

the American.

quotation, curiously

enough. If the sentence

 

17

Observer.

Sund. October 1st 1916

Newspaper clipping

GERMANS.

DISCRIMINATING PRAISE OF THE 

ALLIES.

_______

AMSTERDAM, Saturday.

The correspondent of the "Berliner Tageblatt"

on the Western front, after referring

to the abundant stores of munitions of the

Allies, says :-

"It is not only the German soldier who

experiences terrible hours under fire. Germans

hurl on their enemy a sufficient abundance of

destructive shells. The enemy will every day

become better acquainted with the relentless

nature of German warfare. The front is

swollen with munitions, the quantity of

German war material is increasing and the new

enterprises of the enemy are confronted by

continually stronger and more threatening means

of resistance."

The writer describes with joy what he has

seen of the German curtain fire. He says :-

"The British soldier is less disciplined than

the French, but he does his duty often in too

sporting a spirit, but often, however, wildly

and fiercely. The Irish join in the fighting

uprightly and desire to have no evil said of

them. The Anzacs are brave, strong and

expert soldiers." - Reuter.

 

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underlined : "a week of fighting

with sap & bomb preceeded the

attack which the Australians

made under a blazing amidst a volcano of

bursting shell & under a blazing

sun" - is excepted, the American

version is right. If the "which"

referred to the weeks sapping

(wh ws done under amidst volcanoes

of shells & under a blazing

sun, all right) then the

American version is literally

correct - the bombing excepted.

The Australian soldier is

a I have made him in these

pages; & if I have failed to

show the impressive nobility

in him, it is not because it

has not impressed me. Tt is the

strongest impression I possess  

- & if I cannot make others

see it, with all the defects, lovable

& unlovable, thrown in - then it

is my powers tt are at fault. The

cutting opposite shows what some

Germans think of him. Another

 

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German, after the Armentieres

raid, speaking of the Australians

"sons of sheep farmers" whom

they captured met there says:

"we do not like these Australians -

we do not like their

faces." I'll be bound they

didn't. Germans wouldn't.

I can imagine the Australian

prisoners whom they took -

300 or 400 of them, wounded

& unwounded; I can imagine

them being told sharply by a

Prussian officer to salute &

click their heels & stand to

attention. I can just see

some of them.

The British, Canadians,

& N.Zealanders have made

great advances since Sept. 15

when they went forwd about

a mile. The Germans seemed

 

 

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to withdraw very far

from some parts o t attack

when the Canadians advanced;

partrols arent almost up

to Maurepas (I think it

was, NE of Grand Court, anyway).

The Canadians have certainly

done very well - got more

prisoners than we & advanced

much further. But then we

were never given anything

but an isolated sectional

advance to make; their

attacks, on the contrary

have been during attacks by

the whole length of the line or

nearly the whole of it - part of a

general advance. That

means everything - makes 

all the difference. It has [[?]]

them to get thro' to open

country. & to a sort of warfare

of wh we never had a taste. Ours

 

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was of the Verdun type from

first to last.

The suspension already arose

has bn very evident in the

minds of our staff & of many

in the lines that the Germans

are clearing out - are going

to retreat from here to

the Belgian border or to

the Maestricht Sedan line

in order to have troops

enough for their offensive

in the East. They want to

take have the initiative again - to

attack; Hindenburg has been

put into Falkenhayns place;

& he is credited with planning

a heavy crushing clow agst

Rumania to teach a lesson to

all young small nations who take

up arms agt Germany

in t belief tt she is losing. He