Charles E W Bean, Diaries, AWM38 3DRL 606/67/1 - November - December 1916 - Part 2

9
Hand drawn diagram – see original

 

71
10

dugout passage leading from

this entrance almost straight

to the cellar where / kitchen

was. On the left hand side

of this, half way down, ws a

passage blocked up with

sandbags & chalk - I had

a cold but they sd it ws very

ill smelling (Z in the sketch)
- there had been an unknown

number of Germans buried in

it. How far this tunnel went I

dont know, but it looks as if

it might be the one communicating

with the diagonal trench; if so -

our men were right about its being

the means by wh reinfts reached

the Farm. Id
The walls of the
Mouquet Farm  tunnel about
there were scored with bullet

 

11

Hand drawn diagram – see original

 

71
12

marks - so thick tt it is

clear a Vickers or Lewis

gun was fired down it.

I thought there were some in

both directions but Sale thought

they were only from the 

S. end shooting N.

Thise tunnels led to

a transverse tunnel at the

S end, wh communicated with

the kitchen-cellar ^x at one end

& with some another narrow

exit ∧Y facing West. at the other. Sale

had no doubt this ws the

exit facing Zig Zag trench from

which his sergeants patrol ws

fired at.

At the N. end the passage

led up into a big cellar with

iron rails over it, P - quite

undamaged by all our big stuff 

14
13

- It had an exit facing West.

They said they believed

there ws a communication

- now walled up - with

the Bde H.Q. in the orchard.

but the Bde H.Q. afterwds

told us they doubted this.

We went along the

duckboards there. As we

passe got out o / entrance a

German shrapnel shell burst

fair over the other end o /
duckboards perhaps 70 yds

away & I saw the shell

case go whizzing past on

the right like a streak -

Sale remarked on it too.

I wd have stopped but he went

on. We found the General at

lunch as I opened the door; so

I quietly closed it & ∧we went off to

14

 

X place where Jones saw his duel with bayonet.

Z Shell holes where Sale saw some of

22 Bn bombed out by Germans.

The German m.gs were on this

bank (really the bank of the rd

running to Thiepval).

Hand drawn diagram – see original

 

71
15

 

see Point 77. As we did so

that old shell burst 3 or 4 times

behind us & I heard afterwd

wounded 4 men at Bde H.Q.

-xx they evidently know what

they are shooting at. Baldwin

stood all this excellently well - he

was not getting pictures of any

value to him - only to me; &

so I ws sorry to drag take him into

this shelling. However, ∧I judge it was

very trifling from the way in

which Sale treated it.

We found 77 or thereabouts

on the shoulder of the hill where

I had thought was 54.

54 was as clear as anything

across the valley! I had never

looked for it there - there were the

two mounds & the X roads

as plain as cd be.

16

Hand drawn diagram – see original

 

71
17

 

We followed Sale's track back

to the trench running out of

the Quarry. There was only

one big shelter. A at / bottom o /

quarry before our people got there.

Baldwin took a picture of the

Quarry. Then we sent him

to the car, as he is a slow

walker, & Sale & I hurried

off to Bde H.Q. again, passing

near 55 on the way & the two
trenches dug by our men one close

in front of Quarry (in Sales time)

& one further out (for 13 Bde attack).

We found the General coming

up the stairs. "Who are you?"

he asked. We told him.

"Yes go down & see it," he sd

"I never get my dugout to

my self for a minute - there

is a constant stream of 

71
18

people through it!" But

he pinched my arm in a

friendly way & went on.

It was more palatial

dugout than those in the Farm

(this is N of the Farm). It contains

3 or 4 rooms of quite decent

size. Certainly in view

of these dugouts it is absurd

that we shd ∧ever have attempted

the Farm with a company or

two. In two places the

Farm dugout had been smashed

in - or perhaps three - &

repaired - not big breaks in 

any case. The Northern dugout

never seemed to have bn

smashed at all. They did

not know tt the two connected.

They had found the bodies of

Australian soldiers above

71
19

the dugouts of the Farm.

I arranged to get a 

drawing of the Farm dugouts

from the draftsman of the 184 Bde

who ws there. Then we

went & explored outside,

West of the Farm. We cd see

no dugouts in the trench

behind the hedge W of the

Farm - but there were some

baulks of timber; & as the

trench cd scarcely be traced there

may have been an entrance
there. We found an

Australian officer, dead, in

a shell hole nearly opposite (due West)

the secon Bde H.Q. dugout

- A few shell holes there showed

traces of having been organised

into a trench & this officer (B)

with a pick was lying in them.

20 

Thiepval

Hand drawn diagram – see original

 

71
21

There were a couple of

16 Bn men a little S. of

this. North of it the hill

sloped away in a slight

shallow hollow leading gradually

into the valley toward Thiepval.

Down the bottom of this ran a

German Commn trench. Just

short of this ws a crater with full

many of  German bombs - looking

as if the Germans had bombed

the trench from there after our men

had got into it. We cd see

only German stuff in this trench

but in front of it were packs

apparently of British soldiers

but with a tin disc on

them much as our men wore

then. I must ask Ross if the

51 if his men carried packs.

22

Hand drawn diagram – see original

 

71
23

We went over to 54 & found

it exactly as Jones had told

me - including the 3 dugouts.

Hand drawn diagram – see original

24

Hand drawn diagram – see original

These drawings & those on next 2 pages_⇣ were

taken from those in my Red Pocket book made on

the spot tin 

 

71
25

Hand drawn diagrams – see original