Charles E W Bean, Diaries, AWM38 3DRL 606/66/1 - November 1916 - Part 7

72  67
wrong. "Nothing the Germans
have done can equal the
atrocity of the Baralong
case. . . . " he said.
Well the Baralong 
case was a brutal case, I 
think, & so was the refusal 
of trawler - - - - . to lend a hand
to help the crew of the sinking
Zeppelin - They cd have found
a way to do it without danger
of being overpowered, if they
had tried. But these things
were done by men who had
been suffering the German
procedure from / beginning o /
war - seeing women & children
sunk & blown up by the hundred
& civilian & neutral sailors
drowned. Of course we
are not always right - of
 

72  68
course our newspapers
made sensational lying
statements about the gassing
effects of Lyddite in the Boer
War, & of "Turpinite" (wh
never existed) in this; The
newspapers wd nt exist to
line their rich proprietors
pockets if they did not lie
& exaggerate to their the national
detriment - & a Govt. wd not
be a British Govt. if it 
attempted to stop them. We
are not all right - but
tt does not make us all
wrong. tt makes this
sort of insect imagine tt we
are all wrong . . . . . 
The subject ws skirted
& Smith sd something wh
 

72 69
implied tt any man
who did not hate the
Germans ws in favour of
them - wh is a common
view w a certain type of
Australian & Englishman.
"Do you think it's necessary
to hate the Germans?" Sheldone
said ^quietly "I dont think its necessary
to hate them - I think you
can fight this war like you
play a game of football,
dont you?"
And that is the attitude 
of many of these Englishmen -
the bravest of them too. They
will not & do not hate the
German - but they are opposed
to his views & they will fight 
him as very few people fight.
 

72 70
Boelcke, the German
aviator ws killed the other day
by collision w another aeroplane,
after killing bringing down, I 
believe, his 40th British or
French machine. The ^Royal Flying
Corps dropped a wreath some 
days later for "a gallant
& chivalrous adversary,"
expressing their "deep sympathy
& regret" for his wife &
family. That is quite
genuine - they feel it. Many
people in London & sitting by
their firesides at ease think
that it is all nonsense, & 
weakness. Well - if the flying 
Corps had not / privilege of
deciding how it ws to regard
Boelcke I dont know who
had. They daily risk their
 

71
The hard heads [shorthand] the dixies
4 [shorthand] autos.
out at Buire
Fricourt - Packed them in when / officers were sleeping
[sketch-see original document] Montaubun - 200 at a time
[shorthand] whole bde in abt ½ acre
[Diagram see original document] had dug out the tents in dry
weather to give head room.
Patted them round
stopped water coming in, drained water out - got tin, wood,
men wd carry sacks of coal 2 miles for fatigue
or great bits of wood. By / time they went out they were thinking
Themselves quite comfortable.
Walker & man who lost his pants digging out the trenches 
my bloody oath! I'm looking for my pants.
Mans dugout slipped in on him. G Div. next door to us
Guards drowned
Pants & all
A good bde
The mud
& photographer
Butters Birdwood.
[shorthand]
You had better keep away - There's a war on. 3rd Div. They have declared war at last.
Jacobs. Fore slope of Shorties Ridge [sketch-see original document]

72  72
lives in fighting him - he
has tried to kill hundreds
of them & had killed I suppose
more than 50. If they
have not / right to be generous
to him make up their minds
how he shd be treated, who
has?
Nov 22. Mother's Birthday - I
wanted to get along & see
Jack but received a wire
that the Official photographer
was going at last to arrive
in France today & had to
send the car to Boulogne
to meet him.
Nov. 23rd. Took the
Photographer, Baldwin,
up to Montauban - We
——————
away to right open plain. Ts crossing it in distance anor man carried up / water bottles.
Dead man's ridge.
Set of cowardly bastards. [shorthand]
 

73
[Diagram - see original document]
Last evening I took Baldwin ^our photographer in to
Amiens to the Press Headquarters.
As we got into the pleasant sitting
room there I was wondering how 
the other men would take him.
He is not perfectly educated, but
a good little chap with an opinion
which I have already learned to
respect. I did not take him to
dinner there as I was not certain
how they would welcome him. The
moment he got inside the door it
was: "Hullo old man - How's 
Bucharest?" "Let me see, didn't 
I know you in Constantinople?"
"Where was it I saw you last - Calais
no - Dunkirk?" Phillip Gibbs,
Phillips - all of them seemed to 

72  74
found the road better than
usual, but the the wet sloppy mud
had stiffened into stuff thicker than a 
stiff cream, very hard to pull
your boots out of Baldwin got
several photos of the traffic - I
told him I wanted some typical
mud pictures for record. Presently
we saw a horse & water cart
strike off the road ^on a across a
track through a field of mud
by the roadside near Montauban.
Baldwin dashed after them, headed
them off & plunged into the track
ahead of them to get a photo.
He let one cart go & was taking
a second - a waggon with two
horses. He tried wanted to
shift his position to get this
properly - but found he cdnt
move. I thought he wasn't
trying, at first. Then he pulled
his right leg out very slowly,
hauling it with both his hands
But the process sent his
 

75
have fore gathered with 
him in some corner of the
earth. It was an eye opener
to me - & I was just a 
little ashamed of not having
brought him there to dinner;
after all, it looked as if I
were the snob & not they.
Baldwin was in Constantinople
before the war for Central News,
& ws at Lule Burgas -
Then he ws sent to Austria for
the funeral of the Crown
Prince. He ws in Belgrade when
the first shot in / war ws fired
from the Austrian shore - & ws
sniped at across the Danube
getting a photo of the broken
bridge. The Servian Guns used
to be in sort of shallow dugouts pits
in the Belgrade Parks in those
days; & the Servians dug themselves
a few holes & took chairs from
the cafes & put in them & sat
there & took pot shots at the

72  76
left leg so deep that he was
completely stuck. He took his 
photo of the waggon. Then a policeman
who was riding by took his horse
along side of him & tried to help
him with his stirrup, or with
the horse's tail. Baldwin couldnt
get hold of these - so four infantry
men went in quickly & pulled 
him out.
We took Some photo at the
prisoners cage where Herbertson was
examining a German - went on
as far as the Switch trench &
came back. The pin which goes
through the front spring of the car
& ties it to the ^fore  axle had shifted
back bodily about an inch
on that side. It was dark
- but we had been walking
since 12 & Baldwin had had
 

77
enemy across the river.
Where he heard of the war
in England B. went over,
through France, & was sent to
get what he cd in Antwerp.
While he ws there, Winston Churchill
came up like a whirlwind & stayed
in the same hotel. The central
news men wanted to find out
where our Naval Brigade was,
& one of them said he wd see
Churchill & ask him.
He did so & Churchill turned
on him - (I daresay not at the
first question) - "You war
Correspondents are a _____
nuisance," he sd; "if I
had my way I'd have every
war correspondent shot!"
"You'ld have looked a bit
funny, if they'd tried that a couple
of years back!" said the Central
News man.

72  78
nothing except a little French
breakfast - poor ^the little chap walked
very gamely for his legs are short
- so but we did got Herbertson to
let us have some biscuits & jam
& butter & tea while he wrote his report
of the prisoner's examination -
which we took to H.Q. for
him. There we took the car very
slowly & steadily home. I stopped
off at Dernancourt to get
Capt Gale (21 Bn's) account of the
fighting at Mouquet Farm; &
arranged to take him up to the
place when dry.
The German non-commissioned 
officer when Herbertson had finished
examining him today said: "I
suppose I have betrayed my
fatherland". Herbertson said : '- I
 

79
Baldwin used to go over 
to England with his photos.
When he came back he started
searching the North of France
for his brother. He had a big
official letter saying that his
parents had died & tt his signature
was wanted to some document
making a transfer of property
- only his signature . The letter 
was addressed to his brother in
the 113^th (or some such) battery -
& he hunted him from place to
place all over the British
front, on a bicycle. The address
was perfectly correct - the brother
ws in the battery; but the
battery ws in York.
He chased this brother
almost into the German lines.
Indeed at Auchy he went
into a public house & the

72  80
dont think you need worry
- you told me practically nothing
I didnt know before!'
The man said: " Yes - I noticed
that - you seemed to know more
about our trenches than I did -"
They many of them express
surprise at this - especially at our
trench maps; them's that I have seen
are by no means perfect & all
on a small scale - the prisoners
at Mouquet Farm used all to say
tt they had nothing like our big
1 in 5000 trench maps.
I wonder they talk so freely
all the same. I have hardly even
seen a German prisoner who
will not tell you almost anything
you ask him. His first desire
is to tell you why he ws
captured - but he goes on to
 

81
proprietress hurriedly closed
a door & put her fingers to
her lips. "Hsssh! " She said
"Allemands!" - and there
were 5 sleeping Uhlans in
there. Baldwin finished his
beer - ^& went, afterwds he heard
tt we had captured the
Uhlans later.
He ws sent to Salonica &
then to Mesopotamia where
he arrived just when Kut fell.
He came back to England;
& was going to enter the Flying
Corps when the idea of applying
for the present job struck him.
Well - he'll do. A modest
little chap, wh very many
of them are not, in his line.
 

72  82
almost everything - I have
spoken to many & seen many
examined. Even the N.C.Os
will do this - not often the officers.
I wonder if our own men are
ready to talk in this way. We 
regularly kill their mates thro
the information they give us.
We ask them the routes by wh they
come up to / trenches & the nights of 
their reliefs; & today Butter has
published a statement of the reliefs 
wh will be happening behind each
part o / German line, the night
when it will be happening, & the
best places to shoot at - & the
best guns to shoot with (field guns
& inactive guns) - every bit of
which was got from the mates of
the men who will be coming