Charles E W Bean, Diaries, AWM38 3DRL 606/60/1 - September - October 1916 - Part 8

11  77
that is why we did get
on so very well - anyway
we did.
“When we had to evacuate
the first thing I did ws to go
straight across & see him. We
are going to evacuate, Monsieur
le General,” I said, “& J’ai
besoin de votre cooperation.”
“ ‘Oh oui- cooperation’ he
said and was most pleasant
about it - ‘cooperation’
ws about all the French I
knew __
"I said: ‘It is going to be
a most delicate business,
& we shall not be able
to carry it out under two heads.
The first thing I am going to
do is to evacuate all your

11  78
infantry - We will withdraw
them all within the next two
days. We have ten days
altogether.' "
"He agreed quite reasonably.
"But I'm afraid there is
one thing I shall want,' I said
'I shall want your artillery
I cant let them go'
"He was very anxious
at that. 'My precious
seventy fives' he said. 'I
cannot lose them'.
" 'You will not lose
them, general.' I said 'You
will have them all back.
I will undertake to withdraw
them pari passu with
our own artillery. You
shall have them back I will

11  79

guarantee, - all your guns
unless there are any that
cannot be taken away.
Are there any wh you
know of tt wd have to be
left behind.
" ' Only six' he said.
'There are two old 9.2s
which some old guns which
have fired 7000 rounds,
two old 9.2s & four 6 inch.
We shd not take them off in
any case. We wd leave
them here'.
"'Well', I sd, 'leave
them, & your own engineers
shall blow them up before
we go'.
"So it was all arranged
with the best of good will -

80

Such a contrast you know
to our way - a despatch in
June saying that this officer
(Birdwood) had already
been rewarded: etc.  →

11                                    81
Old Brulard kissed me
when he said good bye - I had
always thought a Frenchmans
kiss was a ceremonious 
affair, but he old man's
cheeks were wet with tears
when he kissed me. I think
he really was fond of me.
"The very day after
the evacuation I had a
telegram from Joffre thanking
me & giving we the Croix-de
-Guerre; & next day came
a call from Poincaré giving
me the Legion of Honour.
→
Of course the first thing I
did ∧at the time was to wire home
asking them to give something
to Brulard _^to mark on account of
his friendly cooperation. It

11   82
was only the other day
when I was at home that
I managed to get them
to do something - six
months after the event nothing
had reached him about it.
I was asking Wigram - they
said that something had been
sent him, but it had gone to
Salonica & not reached him
crossed him. Anyway
it was never gazetted."
Fancy Munro getting
something for the Evacuation
- Munro! who only
seems to have suggested plans
wh were not adopted, &
who ws not there when they
were carried out; & Birdwood
nothing from his own country. Of

11   83
course one strongly suspects
it was a certain jealousy.
They say tt Birdwood will
never be approved for an
Army command of an Army
because he is not a staff
college man. That is what
Murdoch tells me.
Birdie says tt Kitcheners
first words to him on reaching
the Dardanelles were: "If you
only knew what a relief it
is to get away from politicians!
Men who are always at you -
to whom you have to explain
things as you would to a
little child & who cannot
understand them even then!"
Kitchener while on the
Peninsula was entirely

11   84
opposed, Birdwood says,
to evacuation. He was
firmly set against it at that
time.
One of the things that are
said to be counted against
Birdwood himself on this
political intrigue of a Dardanelles
Commission (so Murdoch
tells me) is that Munro
has reported that of all the
Corps commanders whom
he consulted at the Dardanelles
Birdwood ws the only one
who ws agst evacuation.
& tt when he ws asked for his
reasons they were rather
vague, but chiefly insisted
on the blow to our prestige
in the East.

11   85
Well, supposing there had
been the 20 or 25 per cent
losses which everyone expected
(instead of a sort of moral
victory in not losing a man
- or _^losing 5, I think it was) -
supposing we had lost 20,000
even in two or three days
to the Turk, in through running away
- mightn't it have bn a heavy
blow to our prestige. Some
people say it has been
so even now.
These people are very
clever after the event.
_________
At last, today, after 6 months
from the War Office there arrived
that portentous institution's
decision as to my car. After 6
months writing & counter-writing upon

11   86
my request that my Govt
shd be allowed to have a
cheaper car than the car
tt I am allowed to have, because
a cheaper _^smaller car wd do quite
well & xxx I am ready to
put up with it - the War
Office (upon reference to the
Commander in Chief - who of course
didn't refuse really decide it)
has given its decision tt I
cannot be permitted to save
this money for the country.
The reason is tt "all press 
correspondents must be put
on an equal footing."
Col. Anderson has therefore
applied for me to have the
large car, just like the others, at 
£11 per week.

11   87
I honestly cannot find
an explanation to this - unless
the Censor, possibly, in his
mean little mind thinks I
am trying to take an advantage
& get a car in which I can
run about, in some unexplained
way, more at large & loose
than in a big car - I 
cannot honestly see why the 
War Office has done this. I dont
pretend tt my motives are
always simple or altruistic
- very far from it indeed, as I
know only too well. But in
this case I have been trying
from first to last to avoid
one thing only - & that is the
waste of my governments
money during a war like this.