Charles E W Bean, Diaries, AWM38 3DRL 606/61/1 - October 1916 - Part 2

12    11
too. It is only 300 strong
Even now; & yet it is one
of the most cheerful battalions 
in the whole force. Ross
somehow manages to
keep a sporting cheerful
spirit in the men after
two hard fights. He
says tt Clifford ws / finest
officer he had.
Came home across the
flats after dark - the
Germans far on the left
suddenly shelling our
front line. A raid I
suppose. Perhaps their
agents have told them o /
appearance o / Australians
in the Somme area & they
want to test it by 

12    12
seeing if we have gone.
The Germans
xxxxxxxx are pressing
the Roumanians fearfully
hard. The report is, now,
tt we ^the British are to fight on at
the Somme & keep up /
attack all thro’ the winter.
The N.Z. staff, (who are back
at Sailly now, whence our 
5^th Divn has gone) say 
there is little chance of
breaking thro’. “If 
they wd give Divl Generals
the power of going ahead, 
& resting their flank
brigades & simply screening
German strong points
& pushing past them,” Russell 

12    13
said (When I asked him on
this point) & "it might be
done perhaps. But until 
it is tried- it cannot be
done.”
If the Canadians, 
Australians, N.Z.s &
guards had bn put at
it together, alongside 
of one another, he
said, he believed they
would have gone thro’.
"But they wasted the 
Australians at Pozieres
in my opinion," he sd. 

12    14
Sund Oct. 15
Worked till 4.30 am
on the Anzac Book correspondence -

Got up at 6.30
- a wild night; but the
morning cleared, L'alew
for Ross at Sailly & brought
him, Lewis (his fine
big servant) & Bazley (for
Anz. Bookplates- returns
tomorrow) to Boulogne
We were in London at
4.10
Last night White told
Bazley not to let me go
on any account
without seeing him.
Hughes had sent a

12    15
cable to Birdwood from
Burnie in Tasmania.
It said that the opposition
to conscription in Australia
ws due to the formidable
intrigues of the ultra-socialists
& the Fenians; & that xx
everything depended upon
the lead which the vote
our force in France gave to
Australia. He called on
Birdwood, with all the
earnestness he could muster,
put into the Cable, to
put aside precedent &
to use his great influence
with the troops to get
them to carry conscription
by a big majority & give
a lead to the people.

12   16
White wanted me to see
Birdwood & urge him
to do a really big thing
for the Empire - & take
this step. But At the moment
we both took it that what
Hughes wanted was a
message to the Australian
people.
I hesitated a moment.
Perhaps I am weak -  I
know that White's decision,
whichever way it. ws, wd
have settled me in mine.
But I have a very great
fear of anyone in Birdwoods
position - a military servant
of the State using his influence
in a big question at the
polls. I shd have liked

12    17
a few minutes to think - I
wasn't sure which way White
was. Then he told me he
"wanted the little man to
"play the man -& to take a 
"big opportunity of doing a
"great thing for the Empire."
The loss of this measure
would be a terrible smack
in the face of the Empire -
wd count enormously
He wa It seemed to me
tt Birdwood might very
well tell / Australian
people what the military
necessity was ^for reinforcements - as their
chief military advisor. It
wd have enormous effect
White added: "Yes - & get

12     18
him to point out that
every effort tt we have
made up to / present
wd go for nothing - wd be
utterly wasted - if this
were lost." White means,
I think, tt it wd lose us
the good name wh our
energy & public spirit have
so far won.
When I got to London
I started to search for
Birdwood. I couldnt get
a taxi to begin with.
Bazley nearly had a fight
with the driver of one wh
he had gone all the way from
Horseferry Rd to Victoria
to fetch. He had just
engaged it when an officer 

12    19
came up & hailed it. The
driver wanted Bazley to
turn out - but the kid sd
he wdnt. The officer spoke
to the driver & the driver
ordered Bazley off again.
Bazley at once offered
to fight him - & he
came away victorious
with the cab & without
the fight.
After a fair hunt, I
heard of Birdie at
the Charles Buckleys,
where his daughter often
stays. Birdie ws at Clifton
& wd not get back till
8.20. The pr I decided
to miss the train & stay 

12    20
& see him. Fortunately 
I found out tt / train
left at 11.15.
Birdie, who hated
/ idea of being made to give
evidence at the Dardanelles
Commission during the
war, had got away quietly
to Lincoln & only went
to Clifton on his last
day.
He came in to the
Buckleys w his pretty
daughter - the little Harefield
nurse - at about 8.45.
We had a long talk in
Mrs Buckleys sitting room
by ourselves; Mrs Buckley