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

74  23
The photos show Le Sars after 5 months strafing; or more.
They will be there to compare with Pozieres
after  two &¾ months. I am more than ever
convinced that never on the Somme have I
seen a hilltop battered like that one.
But the ground about the Butte
has been squally shattered for a short
distance. Courcelette & Martinpuich are
nothing to it either of them - Both have
quite a fair amount of building
visible - the Butte country, like Pozieres,
is powdered.
Our planes had a bad time today.
We are using our slow planes; until the
pilots have had practice with the little
new fast ones. They are not allowed to cross
the lines - as yet they do not go over.
Consequently the Germans "sit on the tail
of our big two seater planes." Of
10 planes wh left Lavieville this
morning 5 have not returned. One
of the 18th Sqn. was on the roadside
below Le Sars. Three of ours landed all
right & they say tt / pilot of another
we descended at Loupart came back
to our lines without seeing a German.
 

74  24
Birdwood told me the report as a rumour
- but I dont believe it is true. As we
The German watched someof our planes -
one, I am told a German, - came
down nose downwards to earth like
a leaf from some tree – curling round
& round with one wing off.
[sketch-see original document]
You cd hear a sort
of cheer from our
men in l various
parts of Le Sars.

March 12 Round to
6th Bn. News that
Bagdad has
fallen. Everyone
very much cheered. Our patrols have
still found wire in front of Loupart wood only
partly cut.
Read the Dardanelles Report. I
cannot understand how they let Churchill
down so lightly. He was clearly the clever
active man between two rather slow & solid ones
- Asquith & Kitchener - & the way he pulled the strings
& got his plans though by hook or crook (generally crook)
is shown in his tricky telegram to Carden on Jan 5 - a
piece of sheer diplomacy - another word for roguery.

74  25
March 13. I arranged to go out to the
6. 12 & 5 Bns today to get their stories
of recent (& Pozieres in case of 12. & 5) fighting
As we left Anzac Boddy, my driver,
told me tt a rumour had arrived tt the
Germans had left some more of their trenches.
I heard fag ends o / rumour all day;
& on returning tonight, I found tt the 7^th & 6^th
Bdes last night had found / German trenches
empty 3 has after / Germans had left
them. They had pushed on thro'
Grevillers & now had posts in Grevillers
on the far side of the village.
The Germans seem stlll to hold
Till trench. Calling Loupart-Till trench "1" on this
sketch,  & Longent-Transloy "2", they seem to
[hand drawn sketch-see original document]
hold a line wh is
a combination of two-
- the double line _∧ shown opposite.
The 5^th Divn
has been ordered to
push against the double
line "1" tonight (i.e. Till trench)
- I suppose this means
to make a reconnaissance
or raid strong eno' to show if
it is held.
 

74  26
March 14. Went up with Smith to
See Gellibrand, & saw Smith (5 Bde) & Tivey &
Lloyd also.
Traffic ws going down thro' Le Sars
& there has bn a corduroy road made round
the big crater. ^Lloyds Arty ws going up.
Found Gelly in same ^series of dugouts  as Smith
in the Sunken Road Le Sars Cutting x They Gelly
[sketch-see original document]
told us tt from 9 to 12 on morning
of 12^th the Germans were putting 5.9,
at rate of 2 a minute round about
their H.Qrs. This gave him his first idea tt
they must be going back - the batteries were
firing off their Ammn. It ws very unpleasant
at lunch (wh he always has upstairs
in a room at the top o / dugout).
He went across to Smith in the
gully near Factory Corner, & found tt
the Enemy had put 250 pineapple
bombs into Smiths front line - evidently
using up all his old stuff.
This evening Gelly sent out a
party wh reconnoitred the wire in front
of Loupart & ws fired on & had casualties.
But/ enemy ws seen firing on his
own front line or near it - & Gelly
 

74  27
sent / order tt the trench must be
entered. He rang up division but divn
wd take no responsibility beyond telling
him to go on patrolling. He sent across
his men in extended order & they
found gaps & got into Grevillers trench -
the German having just left it.
(I think (or possibly this ws when he rang up
Divn - but they wd not initiate
any scheme, anyway).
7^th Bde ws being relieved by
5^th Bde - 17 Bn marching in - &
they pushed on  after somewhat later
through Loupart wood & put posts
N. of Grevillers; the 6^th Bde put
its posts E of Grevillers.
Last night they went on
agn. The 6^th Bde got into the trench
marked X-Y on the plan two pages
back, & when there, got the 8 Bde
to come up through their trench
on the Bapaume Rd & go down
it towards Till trench. The 8 Bde
got into the Brickfield (B) (from wh the
Pineapples (or pigeons) used to come) &
 

28

[sketch-see original document]
 

74  29
also into the X-Y trench S. of Bap. Rd.
They are sending strong patrols tonight
agst the factory in N end of Till, &
agst a more southerly portion of Till,
& are also going to try & bomb
down the X-Y trench into Till.
At present they get m.g. fire from
near Bapaume behind Till trench abt Q on sketch
plan. 14^th Bde is also going to test Till trench further S.
This afternoon the Germans started
firing shells by the salvo into Le Sars, & one
cd see fires in a number of the tree clusters
(wh mean villages) on / skyline.
The Germans are at last retiring
opposite the XIV Corps. It seems tt we
are to recognised to be following / Germans
closer than any Corps abt here.
[sketch-see original document]
It is clear tt when Gellibrand ws
divisional commdr he twisted Forbes'
tail, & Forbes went off in a little bit of
a huff to see why his patrols were not
sending in reports. This has resulted in
the 6^th Bde going more energetically into
 

30
This interesting walk is described in my
Article of Mar. 16.
As we went thro Grevillers we
reached a cross road - one rd running
E & another branching S. We were
undecided which to take (the ground - white mud
_^on the roadway showed practically no tracks) but
eventually took the road to the S.
It was as well we did, for it
led to the front line post of the 21^st Bn.
Up the other road ahead of us 500 yds
away we should have found the
German post. The corner was being
shelled with pineapple boards from
a small trench mortar; none fell
when we were there, but we
heard them from the post to which
we went.
Cew. B. Nov 25. 1928

Wire cutting
at Laupart
——
Inf. reports
absolutely
correct
 

74  31
this fight than ever.

March 15. Took Maj. Evans & Capt
McCall on the most interesting walk,
I think that I ever made - Factory Corner,
Flers, Geudecourt, _^Fritz Foll Lard trench, Bayonet trench, Rye trench,
Luisenhof Farm & Crater, Ligny (where
we were shelled back to the valley)
then Ligny, Lying Thilloy  Le Barque,
Misty Way, up Bapaume Rd to near
first hill top, across to W. end of
Grevillers, (over war our trench  & Warlencourt
trenches) Quarry (or ? Ponds Bertin) Church,
Coy H.Q. through Grevillers, back
to a Quarry dugout, Warlencourt trench,
along wire to Fost Stein, where
Loupart wood crosses it then down
to junction of Malt trench, Emma alley
& Gamp trench, [sketch-see original document] down Emma
alley past Warlencourt, to Les  Galwitz
support & Salwitz - to Le Sars - & so
to duckboards to villa camp.
Big fire in Bapaume.
March 16. to Amiens.
We hear from the air tt Till trench is
absolutely empty. But our p Every
 

74  32
one expected wd. at dinner tonight tt it
wd be deserted & we shd be in
Bapaume by tomorrow. But after
dinner came news tt the 5^th Divn
had tried it all along & found it well held
10 m.gs. Looks as if / Boche had
bn lying low on purpose.

March 17 Herbertson looked in this morning,
as I was dressing, w / news tt
Bapaume had fallen to us.
Smith & Gellibrand - bdiers of 5 & 6 Bdes -
put then heads together & wanted to
attack last night at 3 a.m. as they
believed / German was going. He threw
145 flares in 105 minutes - When
our patrols were heard by him be
blew 4 whistles & then one or two
snipers & a few m.gs opened fire -
Our people had located just where these
men were. Gelly & Smith wanted
to rush / German trench with a small
party w flares etc in front of each of these
German snipers or m.gs, & small
columns to cu /t wire & get in between
 

74  33
each party of flare throwers & / next.
the two  The 18 Bn ws ordered to
send up 200 men for / job, but
division, when the operation order ws
sort of confided to it, would
not permit it. At 9 o'c. they
ordered patrols to be sent out (wh
reported situatn normal as they
always would when fired on
w m.gs. - so it is normal as far
as they can see; & at 11 p.m.
Divn Countermanded / order &
advised patrolling. At 4 p 18 Bn
had to be withdrawn (to delight of
19Bn - Scott) & ^19 Nn ws told to patrol.
At 4pm. they excitedly reported tt /
Germans had left; by 6.30 they were
well out beyond Biefvillers;
[*8?*] The 5 Bde got a move on at 8 a.m. -
30 Bn getting into Bapaume & lining
up on main street after some 2
men were hit by snipers. At 10.30
they got orders to go down further right,
 

On reaching Bapaume, after exploring the old
xxxxxx gardens & moat, & passing some of 8^th Bde
on the roadside (photographed by Baldwin) &
in the crater at a road intersection East
of the Gardens, I met young Kennedy (a young
Staff officer of the Corps) & together we
walked through the S. part of the town
by the Cambrai road. The Germans
were shelling some big school or bldg on
the left (with it had an open railed courtyard)
with 5.9, & some of it exploded pretty
close on our left xxxxx After a short while we
walked out of the town into open fields and
found a company of the 30^th under Capt Barbour lying
- down there firing in the grass north of the road.
Faraway on the right was German transport - 2 or
3 waggons - retreating towards Cambrai. Across
the open in front of us, Barbour said, was a German
Machine gun in some near guard post. The Germans
had been sniping men who went across to some huts - a
- S. of the road - The story of his walk is in an article
I wrote on Mar 18^th
C.E.W.B.
25. Nov 1928.

[*German beer garden
for the refreshment
of the troops- little
latticed & cubby
houses with seats
& tables, & German
noticeboards*]
 

74  34 

through town. Coming out of
town they had a couple of men wd -
& one hit by a m.g. The Germans
however bolted when they saw
our men (Barbours Coy) break int
skirmishing order.

My xxxx experiences on March xx 17 &
today are in the two letters I
have written today. It is
how 6.5 a.m. on March 18 -
Baldwin is going to take his
pictures (he came w me to Bapaume
and so did Brooks) to the Censor,
& my articles also.
I must get to bed.
————
March 18. Baldwin worked all night &
took his photos to G.H.Q. with my
articles today. Brooks had very
meanly, & against all G.H.Q's own
arrangements, got in before him.
The Light Horse went thro'