Charles E W Bean, Diaries, AWM38 3DRL 606/63/1 - October - November 1916 - Part 6

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dugouts & revetting trenches,

will make a splendid 
position of it - an eye opener 
to the people around them, if
I know anything of them.
For some reason the
British troops down here have
been telling the villagers that
the “Anzacs” (our men hate to be
called Anzacs) are wild unruly
troops, & they are quite frightened 
of us. The landlady here has
sent away her pretty daughter
to Paris - & I shd not wonder
if tt were the reason.
As a matter of fact our
men behave in an 

exemplary manner. The

Xx P.M. of the Ind Army sd

that they had given less trouble

 

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than any division in

leaving the area; & the

staff wh had to handle their
quick movement up to /

front on the Somme told

Smith (I think it ws he) that 
they had given less trouble than

any division here.

There chief trouble w /

English officer. I suspect, is 

tt they dont salute him. The

New Zealanders, whom my 
friend Lieut - Smith of the Irish

Guards said to be “of course

uttterly useless as soldiers”,

have won themselves more

reputation than any division

on the Somme.

When I went to Amiens

I called at the War Correspondents

place. There I was told that
 

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Frederick Palmer ws

just abt to leave for America

for the winter. He had engaged

to deliver a series of lectures

on the Somme fighting. He had 

just scratched the lectures. And

why?
The egregious British 

individualist had given away 

the sole right of dealing in

cinema films to a private

concern; to a syndicate

of film producers. When Palmer

asked the War Office for leave

to have some of the official

British films, taken by the

official British cinematographers,

the British Govt 
had not the power to allow

 

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Drawing - see original document

This day, going again into
Amiens for the mess, I
met endless auto-buses
full of troops streaming along
the road from Amiens to
Albert - at least a hundred

of them ^ French Caps with French drivers,

carrying 30 men each -

As we went back, 2 hours

later, they were still streaming

along the road.

I suppose we passed

a complete infantry division

being carried to the front - 3 bdes

I fancy our divisions were

carried in / same way this time,

or some of them.
 

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him to use its national

films. A private syndicate
has the sole right & the Govt
wd have to beg the syndicate
to allow him to use / official
films. They promise us Australians
all sorts of things -  but I expect
when it comes to be point they
will not be able to let us have
the official films taken of our
Australian soldiers-

Quite a fine day today.

I believe the cavalry a

being organized into pack

transport.
Nov. 1st Wed a ^second fine day xxx

Xxx Herbertson & I start

Early to try & reach the front 

line. We left Heilly about

ten minutes to 8 & got into

the endless traffic just before
fine day

 

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Fricourt. We left our car there

& pushed on towards Montauban

We never were out of the

traffic again - one endless

stream - until we were

nearly to Longueval. It was

well managed. As far as 

Fricourt there seemed to be

traffic both ways - once you

got into / stream you had to

be content to move with it

-they wd not allow you to 

pass any other vehicle, & 

Quite right to do.

The metal on the road 

was becoming loose &

liquid  mud was streaming

down th roads -oozing

slowly into the deep holes

wh have bn cut at /

sides, called “sumphs’,

 

56
Drawing - see original document

a road from above
now looks like this

 

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or else draining slowly off

onto lower lying  xxx fields.

There was remarkably little

blocking although the artillery

of some British divisions

was coming out.

Ar Pommiers Redoubt 

the 1st Aust. Div H.Qrs were

in shallow dugouts and huts

leading of the trenches. We

reached the about 10am.

they told as they did not

think we cd reach the

front line that day. We 

pushed on at once through

Montauban - the road here

going into deepish holes, getting

through the stone road metal.

It was laid down on wooden 

sleepers hereabouts - xxx

& was fairly good - but the
 

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horses  were splashing one

almost up to the eyes.

The poor old things themselves 

we’re covered with dry mud,

Xx their tails clotted with it,

their eyes blinking at you

through it. There was a 

parallel line of horse traffic

by the side of the road, behind

the hedge; [[was ?]] this ws not

metallic the horses were

some of them standing up to

their knees in this liquid

yellow grey mud, in a 

Drawing - see original document

long line of 

traffic waiting 

for the

block about 

to clear

& the

waggon to

start again.

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59

They have a rly ^ along the valley up to Lonqueval

or very near it - several

lines. The sleepers were laid

ahead. There was a train & 

several lines of trucks & engines

opposite Montauban, where the

siding ws just being laid down in

cinders & coal dust. The sleepers

were laid up the valley for some

way towards Lonqueval. All

traffic on the crossing ws held up

by the train; but we crossed

the rails ahead & cut up the 

hillside - a few. The hillside was

all mud with a fair number of

tents & dugouts - one big camp.

A German shell or two banged in

Xxx somewhere about the crest.

There were shell stripped trees

ahead, & a few hedges, & a deep

road running in liquid mud - quite

impassable for traffic - the traffic

was climbing along a better road

 

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Drawing - see original document

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further on. Between the roads

& as far as the was, ^on & over the crest,

was what looked like a muck

spread out dumping ground - a

site for shooting municipal 

rubbish - it was Lonqueval.

This is only the first

place I have seen which seemed

to compare with Pozieres. There

rubbish mounts - like the interior

of a big French farmyard. And 

yet the place was not so pitted

as Pozieres - the shell holes were

not so big or so deep. I kept 

my eyes open for this at the

time. Delville Wood, which

obtained the reputation of the

most desolate corner in the 

British front, was badley shattered

but hardly so shattered as the

Pozieres copses - though at times

I had my doubts on the whole

I came to the conclusion tt it

 

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was not so sheltered as the

Pozieres woodland wooded acres around Pozieres.

And certainly I never saw

anything to approach Pozieres

Windmill.

Of course the lapse of time

soon heals these scars. Within two 

months or more the grass shoots,

the sharp edges of the craters

become rounded, & trodden down

by paths. There is not much to 

choose; but of the two, Pozieres

Hilltop shows marks of heavier

shelling than Devils Wood - &

that is what I wanted to know.

We passed big 8 howitzers

all along the edge of this road
Drawing - see original document

with open network

success of “camouflage” over

them to hide them

from aeroplanes. They were 

firing occasionally. We inquired