Charles E W Bean, Diaries, AWM38 3DRL 606/68/1 - December 1916 - January 1917 - Part 6

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fight again - it is as bad as that -

peace at any price rather than that

misery. (I dont know tt they would

vote for it - but tt is what some of

them write). They are certainly

having a worse time than the

German - & the one thing wh we

ought to be trying to do is to keep

their spirits up so tt they will be

really fit for attacking in / spring

if they have to.

What does Birdwood do?

He is always for fight rather then

agst it, on principle  - "hit the

Boche hard, never relax, keep

up your grip on him & never

let him rest. . . " & all tt sort

of thing, as much by

disposition as by any

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reasoning. The active vigorous 

thing seems to him to be to hit

the German hard on Xmas Day;

& so either he, or the shallow

forheaded British G.H.Q., has

ordered a straff tomorrow. We'll

hit the German at 11 o'c. get

him just as he's sitting down

to his Xmas dinner -

Very clever & bold - But

what does it mean. It 

means tt while GH Q 

is having its comfortable

Xmas festivities - while 

even Birdwood is making

nice speeches to troops

in / rear, the Germans

is retaliating on our

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poor chaps up in / front trenches

& support trenches on / one day on

wh they might have hoped

for some peace & a little remembrance

of comfort.

Its all very well to talk 

of Birdwoods consideration

for the men - As Herbertson
says - one knows what /

men will think when he goes

round. "It's all very well,

but you why doesnt he

come & have his dinner in

the front trenches if he wants to 

straf the Germans at their Xmas

dinner."; & they will be 

right. What is the petty mean

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advantage tt / killing of a

few Germans on Xmas day

will mean compared to the

loss of a chance of refreshing

our men - & the certainty

of further (& deservedly) embittering

them. It is very well to be

strong at other peoples expense.

German prisoners say they

rather expected a straf on

Xmas day bec. it is our 

reputation amongst them to 

show severity (that is G.H.Q

shows the severity) on these

occasions.

A prisoner taken by /

Australians / other day sd

62
:X: a good number of other people have

guessed Germ shells - with plague etc.

bacilli. But Two later German prisoners

confirm the idea, ^they say that there is some new

shell of power to kill at 300 yds - & one I

believe says it is poison. He also says they

have a new bomb - his bombing instructor told them of this latter -
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to Kapp tt the reason the

Kaiser proposed peace ws tt

he had some wonderful

new engine of war up his

sleeve, so terrible tt he did not

want to use it until he had

tried to make peace first.

Herbertson told the Army

of this - & G.H.Q. & the Army

are quite fluttered abt it

& have sent urgent requests

for the prisoners name  -

further particulars etc.

An officer since captured has

supported this statement.

Except for Bacteriological

shells I cant xx imagine what

this cd be, if true.  :X:

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They might try & infect us

all w / plague or something

pestilential - Or it may be

a x distorted version account of /

German "tanks" wh we know

are being prepared.

Very depressed tonight
by all these horrors of Xmas.

Why cant the English play

their true game? - It is really

the nervousness of their

leaders tt makes them

refuse ^to allow any sign of relaxation

or softening - tho' it wd do

/ Germans six times the military

harm tt it wd do to us. xx

soldiers Anyway its our

faith & why cant we stick

to it?

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Christmas Day. 1916. Took

Sherrington & Evans up to

the Switch Trench beyond Waterlot

Farm. The Christmas On our

way looked in & saw Genl. Legge.

Legge told me that the straf upon the

Germans was to begin at 11.30.

"Im not I dont know that I'm altogether attracted with

it, myself," he said. Which I

suppose meant tt he felt

very much as I did - tho' I

hadn't mentioned the subject.

We went up along the

duckboards to Switch Trench. We

were just after the bombt & the

Germans ought to have been

retaliating. I saw a line of

their shrapnel - black stuff, just

over the crest to the right - but

there were only a couple of salvoes.

They never retaliated as I had

expected - at any rate not then

66
^{x O}ur 18 pdrs gave the Germans

abt 2 mins bombt. The heavies

were on his tracks & likely

routes at 11 & again abt 4.

As we came away we cd

see big German shrapnel falling

in retaliation over near

Bazentin.
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Perhaps Birdwood's judgment of

them was right that if you hit

them eno' they wdn't hit back 

It was a cheerless day -

low hurrying clouds, a cold, but not bitter,

wind; more strafing than usual, but

not like a day of bombardment.

One couldn't , for the life of one,

wish the men there a "Merry 

Christmas" - I couldn't. A

"Good Day" as we passed was

all that I could get past up my

throat. The other was too much

of a mockery.

And yet we heard that

the men did have a good Christmas.

The ^Australian Comforts Fund got up its presents

for the First Australian Divn on

Christmas Eve, Each man got

something; & the light that came

over the men's faces, & the 

warmth & pleasure wh. suddenly

lit them up, when they got their

parcels, made the occasion a treat

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to some o / officers who were

standing by. Old Budden of the

Comforts Fund, & Woodburn have

the thing excellently organised &

they ask for no advertisement

of themselves but of their fund.

I think I was a bit xxxx

over bitter about Birdwood

yesterday. I hate this idea of

playing the German game - hate

the British rectitude of a decidedly

priggish type which makes these

Generals insist on hitting the

German whenever he might

expect us to  relax - just in

order to have no dealings truck with

the unrighteous; hate their

suspicions of any decent

observance of the Red Cross

(the German is sd to have bn

responsible for this at the 

beginning). But I dont

69
Amongst the cold days

we have had one or two warm

days lately - days when you

left your cold bedroom & found

the wind outside blowing

warmer than your own

temperature; when the frost

(or rather the condensed moisture)

was on the Outside o / window -

not inside it.
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think he is really inconsiderate.

He thinks he is more popular that

he is - &, under the strain wh he

is putting on them, the little tricks

of his, the smile, & ready, cheery,
salute, the little talks with the men,

& the use of the term "boys" are not

sufficient to maintain his

popularity at its old pitch. He

is a dear, straight little man;

but he has asked too much of the

men sometimes.

I went to see old Ted Colles at Montauban Rly

siding - but couldnt find him.
-----

Dec. 26 Yesterday was a better

day for the men than I thought -

The Rd in N 20 D was taken

in the following way:

A German runner came into

our lines with a paper; it ws

from the German Bn C.O. or some