Charles E W Bean, Diaries, AWM38 3DRL 606/60/1 - September - October 1916 - Part 5

11    45
but they must have been
old because I we saw no
arrangement for taking
the recoil. Further along
in the “Copse” were two
more, & I think some others
must be there buried. Indeed
it is a wonder these three
remain above ground. The
gunners dugouts were by them,
& the Canadians now use
one of these. They also
use a dugout on the S. side
o / rd nearer to Gibraltar
wh I dont think we knew
of.
While we were looking
at these guns we saw,
further across the country
S of the Windmill, another
object which I spotted for a
tank. I have drawn a picture
of it in the other last diary.

11       46
Evidently it got stuck coming
across Walkers Trench
on its way back from
Martinpuich. There it
was, straddling the trench,
with its nose pushed up
into the air, pushing a load
of earth in front of it under its breast.
I fancy it had got stuck
there owing to its catterpillars
not having enough earth to
grip - the open trench ws
underneath them. It
had bn hit by one or two
shells wh went through the
outer steel & set fire to the
gasoline, & the tank had been
burnt out. Empty cartridge
cases lying all over the
floor pointed to it having been
in action; and under the
two machine gun loopholes 
in the forehead plate one could

47
Diagram - see original
11        48
see clusters of bullet
marks apparently made by
machine guns fired at it.
One can fancy the German
machine gunners directing
all their energies at it as
this ^new monster first appeared
lurching over / trenches toward
them.
Diagram - see original
We didnt stay there too long
or sketch it because we were
very likely to be arrested.
Murdoch was in his
civilian trousers, a khaki
overcoat & a tin hat & I
in khaki overcoat & a cap without

11        49
any badge - so we clearly
did not belong to the place.
I was carrying a bit of the
keyboard of a piano picked
up by Murdoch (he is
awfully quick at noticing
things in the landscape, much
quicker than I) just S. of the 
road in the shreds of a house;
& he ws carrying a short fragment
of steel rail

Diagram - see original

smashed
off by shells. If they got at all
suspicious of us up there it
ws / most likely thing in / 
world tt we wd both be
arrested. And as Murdoch
we had to meet Fisher Butler &
Box at the last house in
Albert on the left side o /
road out of Albert at 4.30,
& Fisher ws apt to be
very restive & say let out
sparks about military
staff work if anything went

11      50
wrong, we did not want
want to keep him waiting.
Murdochs quick eye
spotted two other "tanks" north
of the Bapaume Rd near the 
Windmill - both “waterlogged”.
It was an extraordinary 
scene. The country there to the
forward slope of the hill was
pitted & crevassed in the way I 
have mentioned. A party of 
four officers had passed ahead
of us going towards the Windmill.
They were picking their way
along the a winding path between
the craters about the O.G.
lines. They reminded me of resembled
nothing so much as a
mountaineering party
making its way on the ice 
ridges between the crevasses
of a glacier- indeed that
was ^more like what it than

11       51
anything else. As far as
you cd see, to the edge of the
slope, ws this dry crinkled
xx brown fretwork of thin
crater edges - like a brown
turbid sea suddenly frozen.
And cast up on it, dead
& desolate. leaning heavily
on one side or the other, in
various parts of the landscape,
were these sea-monsters; -
Four of them. like It was like
an uncanny glimpse into
some dead, forgotten, prehistoric
world in the early new
emerged from the early chaos
of the universe.
The Germans seemed to
have been shooting at the tank
on Walkers trench though I think
they can only have seen it
from an aeroplane; for the craters
around, it were covered with

11       52
the fine earth thrown up by
recent shells & the footprints in
this were quite new. That new
sprinkled earth is always a sort
of danger signal to anyone who
has been at this war any time.
If you see it in the trenches, or
in the open you know that
that has has been a point of
activity within the last few
hours - or days - & probably is so
possibly is so still. If you
want to know where the Germans
register on a trench - where
their shells are likely to fall if
they shoot, & you are a stranger
visiting the place, you always
take that new crumbled earth
as a sign to keep you eyes open.
The Germans were shooting
at the Tank near the Windmill.
As we walked, Murdoch saw
them hit it. The thing shifted -
heaved a bit & then rolled back
into its rut, so he said.
There was some new

11     53
erection near the Windmill
- further on towards Martinpuich.
An observation port, I suppose,
well built up on the skyline so
it seemed to me. The Windmill
itself was just a heap of red
dust with a few sticks &
splinters jutting out projecting
from it
Diagram - see original
Over the hill you cd see the
slope trees of Courcelette. We
went forward until we
cd get a view down that
side a bit. But as
occasional shells were bursting
in the air & in the ground
we didn't stay very long.
There was heavy shelling by
Thiepval. Our guns had bn
firing away over us all
daily & now the time & we

11    54
cd see many black bursts
out in tt directn.
We came back from / Windmill
towards the road. The road ws
not distinct, there; but
between / Windmill &
Pozieres were met the gang
of men we had seen.
They were rediscovering
the road; digging it out.
They had to go thro abt
9 inches of mud to find
it . And even so they
hadnt got it quite straight.
But I suppose by now
it will be all rediscovered
& changed.
The Canadians on the road
some of them looked at us
curiously. I know tt situation.
It is awfully likely to end in
their stopping & arresting you. The

11     55
only thing is to look as though
you were not aware of it,
& to talk to them first. Our
smashed piano was a
godsend. They looked at
that first as a rule. I
said "That's a piano." They
looked at it puzzled & then
broke into a smile. "By
Gahd – so it is!" - & the
tension was gone. This
did two or three times, till
we got through the crowd.
I was very glad to be
clear as we had no time
to spare.
The old centre way ws
still used as a trench,
apparently; a Brit group
of British officers wanted to
know where the H.Qrs of
the 34th Bde were - the