Charles E W Bean, Diaries, AWM38 3DRL 606/66/1 - November 1916 - Part 3

72  14
braid ever did.  I know my
brother - working day & night
without regard for himself, in spite
of his smashed hand (he wrote to
Howse / other day a letter wh old
Griffiths told me ws "a very good letter
indeed" - offering I believe to go
wherever he cd be of use - to a battalion
in the field or anywhere, & saying
that he thought he wd be of most
use in a general hospital) - &
the idea of these hidebound R.A.M.C.
leaders trying to squash him & snub
him down, while he is giving to the
country a quality of unselfish devotion
which they cannot _^even imagine, is one
that touches me on the raw.
November I sent Bazley up to
Herbertson in the car
with some tins of cafe au lait,
salmon & some other things he
wanted - also newspapers.  But
the roads are in such an
awful state that I hardly like
to send the car up there.  The
rain country ws drying so well
& the skies were getting so clear &
 

72  15
blue tt it almost looked as
if the two armies could think
begin to think seriously about
killing one another again - and
another attack on those same
trenches was planned to come off
very soon - Nov 9. I believe.
But this _^down has come the violent rain & has put off the
day.  The rain
November 8th.
White told me that ^/ attack on Lard
Trench the other day had not
been properly planned.  "They
never attacked the real seat
o / trouble at all", he sd.
[hand drawn map - see original document]
Diagramatically
the place is like
this. The German
strong point is the
steep bank by the
road at 3.  We
attacked at 1 & 2
& got in at 2', but we never went
for 3 at all, & the German defence
 

16

^X the attack ws shortly afterwds
made by the 6 Bn. I hear
tt they sent out some bombers
agst Lard trench &, finding the place
full, came back.
So I suppose Antill had
his way. It is a question
whether Antill has not been
worn out since the early days
at Anzac. 

72  17
was never really touched.
White had talked to Walker
who agreed w him tt it shd be taken
by an attack on 3. But Walker sd
tt Antill did not agree - & ^as it ws the
2nd Bde tt ws to attack, the Bdier
wd probably get his has a big say.  What
happens is - the Bdier objects;  the
Divisional Genl. argues that he is
wrong & the plan arged ought to be adopted.
The Bdier finally says: "Very well, Sir,
if you will order me to do it I will
do it but not other wise." A
Divisional General will not take this
course unless he is very convinced
& / matter is very important.  ^X
As for Bayonet trench, White
sd tt it seemed to him tt it
ws quite unnecessary to take
the part to the S.E. of the Maze,
as it ws already on lower
ground than our trench.  It ws
enough to go for Gird trenches & the
Maze - i.e. The left of the xx Nov 5
attack, where the Germans were
 

18

This day, I fancy, a big
decision has been come to.
Everyone up to now has been
facing the prospect of an advance
on Bapaume - we were to get
Gird trench & then 90 on until we
had reached a line where we
cd dig in for / winter on top of
Bapaume Ridge.  Either tt or come
back a bit to a positn near Switch trench.
The awful road conditns I
fancy have draw now decided them
- & Bapaume is off.  The Commander
of the 14^th Corps - I think it is - is going
on leave & leave has been reopened.
The Gird Trench attack is "off" indefinitely;
& the Lard trench attack will be undertaken
when Gen. Walker thinks fit.
 

72  19
if anything above us - or at any
rate not commanded by us.
"If Legge does it again that is
/ way it will be done," he sd.
This chronicle seems to 
contain a great deal more of White
than of anyone else - But really he
is the A.I.F, & has been since
Bridges died & even before.  Birdwood
is a determined little man too - &
I dont know tt he like White having
such quite complete control.
Griffiths tells me tt Birdwood
doesnt at all approve of matters
being taken in to White wh he
thinks ought to come to himself -
he gets quite strong about it. 
On these awful roads,
when they were evacuating
the wounded the other day after
the Nov. 5 fight the ambulance
cars had 100 punctures, 20
burst tyres, & one broken axle.
they keep Caterpillars at the
 

72    20
important points junctions of the road up
there to pull damaged cars
out.  These old things are so
weighted that they can be made
to sit back on their haunches
& paw the air & then put their
heavy forepart down somewhere
else & try again.  Smith (the APM)
says tt an effective form of No 1
Field Punishment wd be to box the
prisoner tied to a tree with one of
these Caterpillars pawing round
him.  Some o / Caterpillars
themselves have broken down
in trying to help lorries out of holes.
There are dead horses or mules
occasionally in the mud along /
roads - you rarely go to / lines
without seeing some;  the traffic
is apt to pass over their necks
-indeed it is a wonder they
do not get lost altogether in this
mud.
Nov. 10.  A bumping of guns all night &
day such as I have never heard
before.  Cant find out what it is.
 

21

The bombardment stopped eased this
day. We had no idea what it
was. Later Butler told us tt
/ Canadians (whose 4^th Divn)
was still here) had taken a 
part of Regina Trench.
 

72  22
Nov 11th.  Went up to stay the night
with Herbertson at Montauban.
He is directing the Corps Divisional observation
officers up there - They have a
fairly comfortable x set of rat holes
in various parts of what were
the old church grounds - as
you walk over them you
find yourself looking down
occasionally into the old
church vaults. 
I spent the evening with
the 28^th & 27^th in their round
tin huts in reserve in a sea
of mud.   It was very foggy
& the only more
or less dry
[drawing-see original document]
way to them
was along the
parapet of an
old trench wh stuck
out of the mud like
a causeway.  Going back it ws
hard to find this - & for 20 minutes
I was floundering about in thick
mud up to my knees - so heavy
tt at times one really doubted if
 

23

We met the Scots Guards
moving in.  I saw / Welsh Gds
moving up a few days ago. 
[hand drawn sketch - see original document]
 

72  24
it wd be possible to get out without
help.  One kept burn coming
upon shadowy horse lines, &
past tents - little islands in the
mud.  I asked / way several
times & at last found it by
the sound of the traffic along the
road in the fog.
I ws w Herbertson while he
examined two prisoners down at
the Cage - Barber of the 28^th Bn is
in charge o / guard there, a newly
joined officer.  It ws reported to
him by his sergt, while we were
there, tt some odd men o / 28^th & 27^th
are still being brought in or
coming in,  wounded, from
the front of our trenches after the fight
of Nov 5 - award
On the way back from the
cage we met Glasfurd going
up with his orderly ^riding along the road
thro' Montauban to have a look
at the country.  His brigade,
13^th, takes over part of the 1^st
Divn line tomorrow.
 

25
Nov. 12^th.  Today being misty, the
observers were in camp & I took /
opportunity of getting from Connell (12 Bn)
what he knew about the Pozieres
attack.
About lunch time Herbertson
came in - the two observing officers
have another dugout across the
Church grounds off an old trench - &
said that Glasfurd had been
wounded.  He was out looking at 
/ place where his front line ws to
go when he ws hit by a
shell.  An officer o / 4^th Divn told
Herbertson, and said tt it was
a nasty wound.
This is a terribly expensive
place for senior officers - Paton,
little Howell Prize, Fitzgerald ^X of the
^X [*I was afterwards not
so much impressed by Fitz G. C.E.W.B 1927*]
24^th Bn.  & now Glasfurd. We
cannot afford to lose men like
that - a man like Glasfurd or
Howell Price makes all the difference
to the force he commands.
Last night I was rather
depressed by the state of muddle
in wh our Corps seems at present
to be involved. The 7^th Bde was talking
 

72  26
of the lack of organisation when Bns are out
of the line.  There really seems to be
Nov. some failure on the part of
our staff here. The 7^th Bde tol
attitude is tt they do not object
to having to do fatigues;  but they
do object to having to send hundreds
of men miles down to some point
to which they are ordered;  & then
finding nobody to meet them
or tell them what is wanted
of them - having them kicking their
heels there & finally tramping
home having done nothing.
I spoke to White about this
- it happened too often at Pozieres -
& to Birdwood also.  White tells
me that he is making it a rule
tt in future it is a condition
of the supply of every abnormal
fatigue party tt / man who
wants it must send down &
get it & bring it up. If he doesn't
he will not get it. The same
instruction will be sent to all /
divisions.  This is Gen. Carruthers
 

27
.X.
Poor old Glasfurd was 10 hours on
the way from the front line to the Ambulance
- 10 hours! White saw him at the
Whit 38^th Casualty clearing Stn (Jack
has just left for No 1 A.G.H) &
said he ws conscious but in
great pain - & tt it ws a
serious wound in or near
the kidney.
White sd that thinking over
it it struck him - "Now what are
you doing to help to prevent
things like this?  Who  It is all
very well deploring it but what are
you doing to ensure improve it?"
and tt ws one o / motives wh
made him decide tt come what 
whatever way there was of
improving these conditions should
be found.
 

72  28
job really.  Birdwood ws
speaking very straight to Lotbiniere
& Carruthers abt it / other day
when I ws there.
^.X. White says he is also determined
tt the traffic control shall be
systematised by some expert;  &
that there shall be some foreknowledge of
& regulation of the amount of
traffic wh will be coming along the
roads. It shd be possible to say
what big sections of transport
want to use it, & at what times;  &
if tt can be done it can perh.
be regulated a bit ^& parcelled along various
roads -
Nov. 12.  Glasfurd died last night.
A real shock.  As simple old Smith
said, when we walked down to
his funeral together (sandwiched
in between some very comic
stories of how he took Glasfurd
 

29

My car today took from
1.30 until 7 p.m. to get up 10 or
12 miles to Montauban - with
Bazley;  it started back at
once & did not reach Heilly
till nearly mid night -
11 at the earliest.
 

72  30
round w / police patrol one
night at Alexandria ^just before
Gallipoli).  "Well, if anyone
goes to Heaven I reckon
he ought to get pretty near
it - oughtn't he?" Smith
stayed ^back at Heilly (& so did I today)
for this funeral. "You know you'd
be following a good man, don't
yer?" he said.
A straight, clean minded
Scottish boy, grown into a straight
honourable man - that was
my idea of Glasfurd.  A simple
man, clever but not quick,
capable & brave & ever so simple;
never told anyone of the things
he did because he ws there & saw
they needed doing.  Well - we
owed ^him more than anyone, perhaps,
except White & myself & a few