Charles E W Bean, Diaries, AWM38 3DRL 606/67/1 - November - December 1916 - Part 8

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X The training Bn is in
the 3  old 3rd Divn trenches &
is carrying on its methods.
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The way men are scientifically slaved to death
in this war can  is illustrated by / follg:
At Bologne J. tells me tt he saw an old
Private of his Bn - 
a Pte Kettlewell.  3rd Bn. _∧K ws an old malingerer in 
Mena when there ws a route march on
peace  but always in a scrap - Shot thro
brain - ( bullet took out piece) in Gallipoli.  Unconscious
7 days.  Sent back _∧to G.  Became m. gunner.
Shot 3 times in arm before evacuation -
Back in Pozieres ; also thro' Somme in
November.  Buried by shells 4 times ;
Evacuated with Shellshock ; 1 wk in British
Hosp.  1 day in convalescent home - sent
back to Base details camp - (Eye pupils
used to be small - now very large -
eyes filled w tears if you spoke to him
& put hand on his shoulder - He told
Jock - I'm getting near the end of
my tether, Sir - & if he sd it he
meant it).

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way wh brought gt credit
on the whole divn.
X  Left 12 instructors (of very
best - bombing  instr. etc.) behind
(A & I staff men some of them)
with training battalion (1 at present
wh will be expanded into 3).
The whole of the British Army
Staff, with Birdwood, Woodward,
Haig, Robertson were agst
the splitting up of 3 Divn; & the
final cable about it (saying it wd h. to be done) went
from Bonar Law (& not the W.O)
to  Australia.
Dec. 8.  Smart & Baldwin & I
were taken by Gen. M^c Nichol
round his trenches.
McN. whom I had not
seen since the night of May 8
at Helles, sent is able to walk
quickly, but with a stiff leg.
but walks quite rapidly - & 

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long distances. They had 3 cuts
for the bullet in Alex & Wandsworth
before they found tt / bone had
grown round it. (M. is a schoolmaster
& a good training general).
The ceremonial drill of
the 11th Bde - (40 Bn ws on guard)
is not so good as tt of / old
1st Divn either here or at Mena.
But the men are big & look good.
McNicol says they are better than / old  1st Divn.
At / same time I noticed tt one
officer of the 38th sd - when we
found one sap crowded by
men going in & out: " They will
crowd into this sap(Cambridge Ave). - they prefer it
because it is less dangerous
than / other (Irish Avenue)." The
old 1st Divn  wd never have had tt said of them.
The front line is being left & all work concentrated
on reserve lines in case the ft : is abandoned in the spring.
The Germans opposite here
& opp. the N.Z. Divn have 

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practically abandoned their
front line & gone back to live
in their back areas.  The N.Z.
patrols have gone over & sat
in / German front  line lately
- often, almost every night
I fancy; & the 3rd Divn had
2 men in / enemys line
last night.
One man o / 9^th (N.S.W.)
Bde (NSW. is practically always green
 - Vict. Red, & the rest of
Aust. Blue - in this Divn
as in the others) ws
blown over the parapet
into Nomansland by a shell, two
days ago.  He struggled to
get out.  He was pinned & /
Germans fired at him.  At
last a Sergt got over &
helped him out.  When he 

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got in he prayed to be put
in the first raiding party -
to get his own back!
They say that the
line here is worse than ever
they thought it wd be !. It
is supposed to be fearfully
muddy & uncomfortable.
I can only say tt after
the Somme it tooked paradise.
"Guerre de-luxe" Smart
sd to me quietly afterwds.
Sandbag parapets ! Duckwalks !
Commn trenches ! only one or 2
inches under water at /
worst - great broad drains
Our snipers are sd to be
keeping / German snipers
down now.  The men have
certainly settled down
wonderfully easily & quickly. 

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You see smiling faces &
cheerful men everywhere
up here - in the Somme
Smart saw the 10^th Bn - & the
8^th & 5^th going in, in single
file - along the road near
Longueval." Not a single smile
amongst them," he told me ws
what struck him.  Not one -
no one talking - not a sound.
No grumbling - just walking
grimly ahead, one stern set
face after the other, into a
job they every one disliked.
They are resigned to it -
that is their attitude now.
Herbertson tells me tt
in spite of all our staff
says (it is always publishing
orders etc to show tt / Germans
are suffering worse) our 

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men are having a worse
time than the Germans. There
are poor chaps coming in
who will lose both feet. "It is
all G - rot to talk of criminal
neglect of themselves," he sd.
"They shd go & see them.
They know jolly well tt if
they take a boot off their feet
are so swollen tt they'll
never get it on again!  They
shd stand there & stick it
out & dont go back & its
a damned heroic thing
to do."
The Germans have no
trench feet.  As a matter of
fact, amongst other things,
they have a far better boot.
Before last year we were
to have adopted the leather 

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top boot also - but we
never did ; we relied on
our dry trenches.  And
this year we have bn
caught out with our putties.
Men may must wear no
putties but may put
their socks over their
trowsers is the order
now - (we havent got
long trowsers, anyhow, but
breeches, we Australians )
Why shd tt order measure have
bn necessary, anyhow ?
H. says tt after all the
orders published abt / Germans
_∧having no duckboards, our men
saw them bringing duckboards
into a trench.  The 5^th
Divn raided this trench &
took off the duckboards 

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to their own trench.
The difficulty of telling
wh is your trench & wh the
enemys is to be judged
by an incident tt occured
to old Elliott of 15 Bde.  He
ws going round his front trenches
with Lt  Sams Salmon - a fine
scout officer who did / scouting
at Fromelles.  He saw a
trench ahead & told one who
ws w him to go to it.
"If he does I'm sure
he'll not come back, Sir"
sd Sams.
"Nonsense" sd Elliott
He sent him out. The
officer went over - & found
himself looking down into
a trench w men in it. "Im
the _∧scouting officer of command the - Bn " he 

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sd - when and then the men put
up rifles & fired at him.
They were Germans. He
ducked & ran off with them
blazing at him – & dropped
into a shell hole.  They
threw egg bombs at him
& 2 exploded in his
crater & wounded him.
He ws brought in after
dark.  It ws a very
brave thing to run back
from / Geman lines
like tt - he might
easily have surrendered.
I believe tt we have
had informatn tt the
Germans are concentrating
to attack some part o /
French line - any way.
Our heavy guns are going 

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out by / dozen. The
arty is being reorganised
to give 2 Bdes (6 gun batteries
to the Divn); & 2 Bdes to
the army - to meet
the case of Divns needing
extra artillery.  At present on the
Somme they  borrow the arty of
other divisions.
Arty stays in 6 weeks
agst Infantry 14 to 21 days.
The Germans stay in from
20 to 40 days - ie. they
have taken away their
reserves Bns in order
to make / Roumanian
Armies & are working
their men in double
shifts as it were ; they
must be working them
out - indeed we know tt