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

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has put Falkenhayn in 

command on the Carpathians

& Mackensen in the Dobrudja

near the Black Sea & they

have both been attacking

very heavily. The Germans

are trying to raise a War

Loan just now, & undoubtedly

realise tt they are in a tight

& tightening corner; & the

communiques have been

written up of late in a noticeably

dramatic picturesque style.

They are using all their powers,

even to distortion, to beat off

the grip that is closing on them,

I think. But I'm not sure

today (Oct 3) that both

Mackensen & Falkenhayn

are not at a standstill.

The Russians are f attacking

tremendously hard to relieve

the pressure on Rumania - & I suppose all

 

 

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tt we can do - as Salonica

is too far - is to keep our attacking

w all our might here

too.

Anyway - in case

the German was shortening

his line, orders were &

evacuating much as we

evacuated Gallipoli, orders

were given to raid his

trenches actively at various

points o t British front &

see if he ws still there in

strength. On our front at

Ypres - from the Mesnin

Rd to a mile South of

St Eloi - the German is

positively somnolent at

present. Our losses for the

Corps are sometimes only

10 per day, I believe.

The place is deader than

Armentieres. The German

 

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has bn given orders tt he

is not to use his big ammunition

if he can possibly avoid it;

he is to retaliate with

trench mortars ( "rum-jars"

as they the bombs are called from their

shaped, and heavy aerial torpedoes).

He has bn doing so. Our line

is absolutely open to him

in parts. Going along the

duckboards behind our trenches,

1 day before yesty, w Butler, one was

simply open from head to foot

at times to the German trenches.

It looked like this:

 

Hand drawn sketch showing G. trench, Crater & our "trenches"

 

25

This may be

quite wrong - but one cant

help suspecting it & I dont

blame the men. One of them

sd to Birdwood the other

day in t lines (He goes round

them constantly, exposed to

the ankles, sometimes):

"These Germans opposite us are

good Germans; they don't

fire at us!"

"Dont you believe it,"

he said. "The only good

German is a dead German."

 

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yet we had not one shot

fired at us. I cant help

thinking tt our men are

taking a good rest; & tt

t Germans do not fire at

us so long as we do not

fire at them. The machine

guns, guns, & trench mortars,

wh have to do little "stunts"

by order of the High Command

do fire occasionally. But

the sniper very seldom.

While we were there a

German sniper smashed

one officers periscope. But

why did they not fire at

us when we were going round

open corners?

How this line ws ever

held I dont when things

were touchy here I dont

know. The infantry must

 

 

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always have left the

activity to the artillery.

Our raids by the

4th Divn. on the 27th 28th

& 29th Sept were silent

raids. Only one got in

owing to wire - & that one ws to an empty

trench. Accordingly on

the night of Sat 30 Sept / Sun

1st Oct there were raids all

along the line - by the 8th Corps

& 9th Corps, ourselves & I

believe 2nd Anzac (wh is at

present one Australian & two

British divisions). We had

4 raids - two by 1st Divn

& two by 4th (47th & 48th

Bns). All got in except tt

of the 47th Bn. They ap

found the lines held, &

killed a certain number

 

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of Germans & bought back

some prisoners - practically

all wounded prisoners, & 

mostly badly wounded.

The 1st Divn sd tt the Germans

had previously removed

all marks of identification

from the men in t line,

(apparently expecting a raid)

& altho 14 dead Germans were

searched, not one pocket or uniform contained

anything tt you cd identify

the owner by. The prisoner

who ws brought in died &

ws buried - & "no identification"

ws reported. The 2nd Army staff

ws very angry. The

Bn decided to dig up the

German again & on doing 

so found tt the man

 

 

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had an identity

disc wh showed tt the 

battalion, wh ws believed

to be infront of us, was

still there.

On Friday Sept 29th

Mr Fisher, Murdoch, & Box

went down to see the Somme

battlefield. Birdwood sent

Maj S. Butler with them as guide,

&, as there were two cars,

I ws allowed to go also.

It was a wet day. Fisher

is a hard chap - he

insisted on driving in an

 

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direct us not to take Fisher

to Pozieres but or anywhere

where he wd be under

shell fire - but to have a look

at La Boiselle & then

[[?Fri]]court. As we got out on on to the

Bapaume Rd in Pozieres,

abt 12 noon - a bombardment

suddenly sp started in t

distance: clearly a bombardment

by us preparing for an attack

on t Germans. It ws intense

for abt 5 minutes & then

lengthened - up in t direction

of Thiepval the sound

seemed to be. "Very nice of

them to arrange this for

us" sd Fisher.

As we got out at la

Boiselle & walked up the

 

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right fork of the road there,

the South African 6 in.

battery began to fire. The

guns made a tremendous 

noise. Not pleasant for

a first experience even that.

As we watched, & tried to

spot the shells as they went,

there came a singing from

the sky - well remembered -

& down came a 5.9 German

shell & crashed with a 

black smoke near the 

Bapaume Rd just over

the bend o t hill - not more

than 100 or 150 yds away.

I looked at Butler & he at

me. Mr Fisher took it very

well. Another singing &

another shell - they seemed

 

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to more parallel to us,

some of these ranges, as

we went up t road. The

nearest crashed about

50 yds away - & I suppose

12 fell. Mr Fisher took them

exceedingly well. When we

were standing still I noticed

tt he stood in a little w his

back to t foundation of

La Boiselle church -

but tt ws t only sign tt

appeared at all of his

feeling any apprehension

from these shells. It ws

only afterwds when he

thought (wrongly) tt we were

all going to Pozieres & leaving

him there, that I had any

hint of the strain wh it must