Charles E W Bean, Diaries, AWM38 3DRL 606/66/1 - November 1916 - Part 5

43
Ap.25 
5th Bn party.
G.O.T       Blanket trench    Jolly
Hand drawn diagram - see original
Steeles
All
? this. The
places are
rather
doubtful.
Hibbert, Col Griffith's batman says:  he ws
in Lt Ross' Party of 5^th Bn on
1st day.  Started up White's
Gully (under fire in boats)
Came over towards Jolly.
(near where L^t. Manger ws hit
probly) onto N. Slope of J. Jolly
facing Mortar Ridge.  Saw no
Ts. while going across Jolly, but
Ts were on Mortar Ridge, firing.
Ross ws hit somewhere on way.
Some strange offr ws in charge
There ws no line.  They overlooked
the Flat in front of Mortar Ridge.  There
were no Ts on the flat;  but our troops
were on Baby 700 & on the tower  

72   44
Nov 15. Today, White told me,
a report came in tt / Germans
were massing as if to attack our
newly taken part of  Gird trench.
He got the whole of our guns to
turn on - 60 pounders & all - &
any attack wh was maturing
was very quickly sq must
have been squashed pretty thoroughly.
It is now certain what
trenches we hold because little Holmes
himself went through them to see. 
At one time he was in 50 yards of trench
___________________________________________
^upper part of Mortar Ridge & on Baby
700.  About dusk a party of
35 under an offr. (sd to be
Capt. Clemens 5 Bn) started out
for as if for Mortar Ridge.  No
more ws ever seen of them by
this party.  The pty retired as in the
sketch & found itself amongst
N.Zealanders, 1^st Bde & 3^rd Bde,
probly at Steeles or Courtneys.
Ts were on Baby, Mortar Ridge, & Gun Ridge.

72   45
which were absolutely unoccupied.
He shoved our men into this, I
believe.  He needs to be careful.
It is only too easy to go down these
unoccupied trenches & find yourself
looking into a nest of Germans.
We did not get into the Maze,
White said.  (I believe this ws not
bombarded, & tt / enemy ws ready
for us there).
Nov 16^th.  Tonight at 6 o'c. the
troops were driven out of the
Gird trench which they took the
other day. at such cost. All tt is
known at present is tt a "verbal
report has come in from the O.C.
of the left Bn. left Bde tt Gird trench
has bn retaken by / Germans by
a front attack. from the N.W. &
across the open from NE.  Our
infantry with a detachment of
the 50^th Divn retired to Jumping

72  46
Off Trench M18 C03 to M24 A45.
Artillery put down barrage to N. of
Gird Trench at 6.40 pm.  Lewis Guns
& Rifles had beaten off frontal
attack but men were bombed out.
[It ws added tt a wounded officer
sd tt an attack _^led by a young Australian
officer, immediately had driven
them _^Germans out].
As I ws reading this telegram and there came
in:  Left Bn back in Jumping Off trench owing
to strong enemy attack.  Strong patrols
out to find whether Gird trench held in
strength or by small parties only.
If latter it will be reoccupied.  It
strongly held, regret deliberate attack
not advisable without fresh troops.
Of course this sealed the fate of Gird trench
for the present.  Strong patrols - or patrols of
any sort - wd only bring in one report
in my experience - tt / trench is
strongly held;  & no doubt it is.

47
*Wilson - the Padre of 3 Bn sd to me
tt someone had put it to him:  "Their faces
wouldn't look any different if
they were dead."  He too had bn
struck by it.

72   48
Nov. 17.  It was bitterly cold last
night & today the roads have
been frozen all day long.  The _^German attack
last night was made after dark
& I daresay this cold had something
to do with it.
I was out _^in the Rest area getting details of
the Armentieres Raid all day &
the wind was bitter.  I have chilblains
on all my fingers & toes & at times
it is difficult to walk. 
I heard a chance remark - when
our 5th Divn were being relieved, made
by the British paymas field cashier 
here;  X "they say the Australian
infantry are standing it very badly."
I saw some of our men coming out
as I was going up to / line some
days ago & was rather shocked
with the look of the men.  Not
demoralised in any degree - but
grey - drawn faces - & very
very grim.  It is / first time I
ever passed an Australian
Bn without seeing a single smile
on any man's face.  * Some of

72   49
them limped along after their little
trench carts as if worn & haggard
as ever I have seen a British
Tommy - very pale & unshaven
for two or three days or more.
There could be no doubt tt
these men had been through very
severe hardship & were feeling it
very heavily.
Nov. 18  My 37^th Birthday.  I
had meant to run down & see
Jack and to get some more
Armentieres details;  but this
morning when Bazley came in
& said:  "Have you seen outside,
Sir?"  I knew what had happened.
The road, the cottage roofs opposite,
the tops of the big motor lorries
over against my window were
thick with snow. 
I decided to go up to /
battlefield & see how / men
stood it & what / battlefield
looked like.  By the time

50
*Wisdom has got the 7^th 
Bde vice Paton;  & Robertson
of the 9^th has the 13^th Bde
vice Glasfurd.
Hand drawn diagram - see original
Frontal attack
W. Yorks 28 Bn
West Yorks

72   51
I started, with Butler, at
10.10 am. the road had completely
thawed.  The traffic ws thick
& the slush as yellow as ever -
we reached Montauban abt
3;  & it ws too late then to go
anywhere;  so I just waited
for Kapp (who ws being relieved
from the prisoners cage ) - Barber
had gone just before) & came 
straight back.
White told me that Holmes Wisdom *had
given him a pretty full account
of the loss of Gird trench.  There were
abt 150 Tommies (West Yorks) in
the left o / trench.  They certainly
held a rather nasty corner -
flank quite in the air & a nest
of German trenches (possibly full of mud
but still trenches wh cd be used if desired)
capping Capping their left flank like a sort
of T head.  The first thing our line

72  52
knew o / attack was an
outbreak of bombs on their
left & the West Yorks coming
running back out of their trenches
part o / line & through ours.
They went on thro' our men
& got back thro' our commn
trench into their own battalion.
A young officer of the 28^th
got our men out into the
open & C. attacked the Germans.
The 28^th had beaten off an
attack on their front.  The
young officers party was getting
on well when he ws hit
& the spirit went out of the
attack.  The 28^th came
right back into our own 
lines & left Gird trench to the
Germans.  We remain in the
lower end of the Maze - & I am
not sure tt this ws not British

72   53
before we came to the area.
It is very depressing to
have had this happen.  It is the
first time in this war that
Australians have ever lost
a trench which was once
solidly theirs.  They had been
in this trench for 2 days, &
tho' the position on the left
was difficult it ws not
impossible
Hand drawn diagram - see original
A T head
cd have been put at X or
a trench dug round the flank
facing the Germans, such as I have
dotted.
White thinks - & so do I -
that the 5^th Bde wd never have
come out of these trenches - They had
bn relieved by the 7^th Bde wh

72   54
has never been a good Bde.
The 28^th Bn, it is true, is the
best Bn in it;  but the 7 Bde
has never had the discipline or
the spirit of the other Bdes.  Why
Legge believes in it I dont know.
The 2nd Divn _^staff, Herbertson
says, are very sick w /
7th Bde (MacCallum, being 5 Bde)
naturally wd be.
The men are as good _^material as
any - "rather better if anything"
White sd.  It is the Officers
that make the difference.
Nov. 19^th.  Was shocked today
to see the list of Officers lost
in that wretched little attack
of the 14 November.  The 20^th
Battalion lost 12 - 6 killed
or missing & 6 wounded! and

72   55
they included Capt. Rush,
a fine officer, I believe;  &
the 19^th lost Capt. Sherbon - 
a splendid boy, son of little W. 
Sherbon in Sydney, of the Defence
Dept.  He wdnt agree to the boy's
going to New Guinea, but he went.
He ws the chief interest his
father had in life.  He ws all
thro the frightful days of Pozieres
in the dugout in Rail trench
where I found them about Aug 1.
quite cut off from all other
trenches. 
Another who ws lost - in
charge of a composite bn of the
6^th Bde, ws Maj. Nicholas of the
24^th Bn - the youngster who
for a time commanded
his battalion & who made
his name by going out