Charles E W Bean, Diaries, AWM38 3DRL 606/73/1 - March 1917 - Part 2

11
We went on the Decauville
(or rather light rly (16lb. rails)) to Clarke's
Dump. The 1st Divn are getting 60 lb
rails on their sector, but it is being
laid by Col. Futrell's Corps Light Rlys -
& all the Divns & Engrs are very much
up agst Futrell. They dont realise tt
a big part of his job is to carry ammun to
the heavy guns.
 

74  12
below them - probably possibly an echo
of their own footsteps in / tunnels
of the old monks wh are sd to be
there. There ws a  tunnel from
Bapaume towards Le Barque, used by
/ Germans, not far from / Bap. Rd.
I went on past out arty
wh was above our old dugouts in
the bottom o / valley below the
Butte. I met Sale there who told me 
[Hand drawn sketch-see original document]
tt / Battle ws just over 
the top - so I
went over the shellholed
top to it. The bodies o / men who fought
for the Butte ( were still there. I went across
[Hand drawn sketch-see original document]
between the shellholes
wh were like a 
chain of lakes -
you had to
walk on the isthmus 
between & it was - the crust
of frozen earth was ofter soft thin & you
had to go carefully not to be bogged.
The mist was thick at half a mile
& one solitary German gun was
shelling towards the Bap Rd. The
 

74  13
Butte ws a big mound, probly an
old burial place,
(This day written up in Evening Papers
Letter no 26.)
(Contd 3 pages
ahead)
[* [shorthand]
Lesars Stn
[shorthand]
Snow *]
 

74  14
March 6^th: Went to 5^th Bde, a 5^th Divn, & 29^th Bn
today. Bu Came for night to Corps to get
a couple of articles written.
Butler tells me tt there has been
a heavy explosion in Irles - 3 or 4 houses
going up; also that German the air people report
tt the Ger 14 trains have bn seen going
Eastward today, from behind Bapaume;
and tt there are fires in all / villages
behind Cambrai. G.H.Q. at last believes
tt they are really going back.
The report tt / Germ
More open warfare - our men report it as almost a
sport at present.
Also, up north in front of 3rd Army,
they have a message noticed tt / German
wireless has closed down (as it did here
before /evacuatn). The news of the wireless
closing down, tho' it reached Corps H.Q.
before the evacuatn ws noticed ws not
sent out till afterwds, Herbertson tells
me. Surely tt is a bad bit of work.
White tells me tt he had a
note from Hutton Wilson saying tt
Baldwin had told him tt he was under
my orders ^- tt I told him where to go & what to photograph;; & saying that he trusted
this ws not / case - and tt Baldwin
ws directly under Intelligence /D. G.H.Q.
 

74  15
As a matter of fact, through my
reports to Aitken & Smart, the whole
photographic paraphernalia at G.H.Q. is
being overhauled - they have evidently
received short sharp instructions - Baldwin
is to have his own developer, his own
car, & his own developing establi room
here; he has obtained the help of an
Australian to develop for him, & is
at once to be allowed the use of his
cinema. I suppose H. Wilson realises
tt this ws my interference - or he may
resent my having written to remind
Gen. Charteris of Sir Douglas Haigs
promise to me tt we shd be treated
exactly as / British & / Canadians.
White ^had written him back - for at once -
just exactly what he thought, without
stopping to be discreet.
White says tt he suggested to
Gelly tt if the X Divn were kept
much longer in front of Grevillers
the 4^th Divn wd be called in to do the job and
give . 2nd Divn a rest. Gelly sd "Oh but we
dont want anybody else to do our job for us".
Bridges got quite "Stuffy"; & Barnard says
 

74  16
tt he doesn't like to go up & reconnoitre
They dont look at all pleased to see
him up there at rpesent.
Little MacCallum made a very
good reconnaissance of their whole front
yesty - including the new front wh.
they began to take over from 1st Bde
yesty, the Xxx 5^th Bde moves up
tonight - to have a 1 bn front - with
2 Bns in each sector - whole of each
bn practically in / front line.

March 7^th. Wrote up the first part of the Evacuation.
March 8^th. Snowing - wrote part of the Evening part of
the Evacuation & an Evening paper letter.
March 9^th. Finished Evacuation letter.
Baldwin returned from England with
the material for his dark room. Some
of his shell photos taken on Feb. 26
were excellent. 48^th Bn passed looking wonderfully well.
The Dardenelles report is out.
March 10. Stayed at Anzac to finish up
"Rising Sun" w a last issue; & get
correspondence clear. The
Dardenelles report is out
 

74  17
& occupies more than 5 columns
of the "mail" — 5 columns of backlash
- acrimony - I told you so:
anything but the one big task ahead of
us; & all this because a few excited
conservatives on one night in the House
of Commons thought they had obtain
an opportunity of beating the Government
still lower, & forced Asquith either to
include the Dardenelles in his
Mesopotamia inquiry or resign. Of
course - being Asquith - he gave way to them.
It is a big extraneous hampering
interest & excitement at a time when
only one thing matters.
Well - politicians are the same
mean crowd all the world over. In
Australia they the Senate has forced a
general election; it cannot take
place till May 5; & Hughes cannot
come to the Empire War Conference -
until then, at any rate. England is
just beginning really to feel the pinch of
war now - just really beginning to know
potato hunger; Australia still goes on with
her belly full - as if no war were on. It
is like a parting of the ways. The one
 

74  18
country now making ^a real sacrifice,
going into it, now, for the first time, like
a machine; Australia is letting those
sacrifice themselves who want to
sacrifice themselves - The rest hardly
know there's a war on.
It is the Scottish Farmer, in Britain,
who seems to be rising to the situation best; and
facing it as one might have predicted. The
British potato merchants etc. seem to be looking
out for themselves almost entirely.
The 2nd Corps attacked tonight on
a front of 2 Divns (2nd & 18^th) at Irles -
& got to / German trench to find / Germans
just packing up to go; & took 200
prisoners.
Two nights ago, it being a beautiful
moon, Kapp, the intelligence officer at the
prisoners cage - a small Jew, of great
assurance but plenty of pluck, -
went up to see what it ws like with
the other officer there, Scott. They walked
up the Bapaume Rd, right over
Malt trench, seeing no one; past the
second hole in the road - tank trap blown
by / Germans just before leaving, -
 

74  19
- & if they had gone another 300 or 400
yds wd have certainly been shot or
been taken prisoner. They thought at
this moment of getting back into
the trench they had passed - & were
no sooner in it than crash began
to come German shells onto the road
- & machine guns & all sorts of things.
They say it ws an attempt to smash
our m.g. near the road - but I dare
say it ws really a touchy sentry who
saw Kapp, Scott, & Kapp's batman &
though they were an attack coming
up the road. They put the shells
all round - Kapp & the others lay
down in Malt trench; then a German
shell cam right into / trench. They
were covered w bits, & / trench revetting
began to burn - so they jumped
out & ran along S. of the Road towards
Le Barque. Then / batman shouted tt
he ws wounded - & indeed he
had two pieces of shell in his arm
(or the holes of them) & one in his
leg. They put him on a trolley as
soon as it ws safe - & the procession
 

74  20
came home.

March 11^th. First real warm sunny day of Spring.
Went up with Baldwin to get
photos of Le Sars, the Butte, Bapaume
Road, Warlencourt, & the old German
Le Sars Rly Stn. After that to Mouquet Farm
which we finished measuring (with
Whiteman).
The artillery were straffing the
wire in front of Loupart Wood; & the
Germans were replying pretty fiercely on
2nd Corps area. I took a sketch of the position in a
pocket book. It sounded to me as
though the Germ British were attacking,
but it ws really only the Brit wire
in front of Loupart Wood wh ws being
cut. Birdwood tells me that the Xxxxx patrols
report the wire as not cut still - the
business is a very slow one.
he says - "I am getting White to make
them send in a definite report about
it. If the patrols can go up there &
examine it, they ought to send up 50 men
with wire cutters & simply cut the
wire quietly - leave it there still, if they
like, but still cut it." I believe
 

[hand drawn sketch - see original document]
 

74  22
our attack wd have bn made
at / same time as tt o / 2nd Corps
if / wire had bn cut.
A soldier of the Norfolks at
Mouquet Farm told me tt there ws
very little wire in front of them yesty -
"There isn't any wire to speak of now,"
he said. Of course their's ws a fight
around an open village - They will
find wire enough when they come
to Grevillers trench. This man of the
Norfolks had been "over the bags" six
times, all on the Somme - & wounded
3 times; & he ws very proud of it. he
sd his Coy only had one killed yesty.
Coming back up the Bapaume
Rd - we I noticed how / Germans coming
up to Pozieres were under cover until they practically
reached the top wh is exactly at /
windmill
[hand drawn sketch - see original document]
From the windmill they cd see down the village,
the top of La Boiselle-Sausage Gully spur
& a splendid look down on / north →

[hand drawn sketch - see original document]