Charles E W Bean, Diaries, AWM38 3DRL 606/73/1 - March 1917 - Part 5

74  47
these - on a road N. of Vrancourt - the
Lagnicourt road, I expect it was - with a
barricade across the road & the men
dug into ditches. The Germans were
shelling Vaulx quite constantly. The
house in wh the 26 Bn had his Hqrs ws hit
- one end of it - while we were there,
& 3 or  4 shells were put it to tt corner o /
road (one into the pond) when we were 100
yards away from it. The Germans
had been pushing quite a deep rly
cutting towards Benguatre from Vaulx
- it ws a big work, unfinished. 2
They are a wonderful crowd.
Their work is most systematic. They
have left a few houses in Vaulx &
Vrancourt though they are shelling
them now. They always blow up the
churches so tt we cannot range
on them or observe from them; they
poured tar over the various ruins to make 
them burn - the tar covered wood & the
little tins of tar standing by it were
there in several cases.
The earth from dugouts in the
 

74  48
Beugny  line, I noticed, was spread
carefully out behind the trench so as
not to make a mound. In this factory,
under which I write, the earth has
been taken out & laid under a big
open shed or roof at the back - carried
across the yard & laid out there flat; or
else heaped inside the walls - so tt
no one from an aeroplane or an aeroplane 
photo cd notice it.
March 24. Went down to see Gellibrand
& get an account of the fight of March
20. The reason for the failure clearly
was - he got within a few hours 3
orders from above.
(1 ) Follow the enemy energetically.
(2) Pull back your outposts behind
Vaulx & Vraucourt (He managed to beg
off this, partly, & keep 2 coys inst. of 3
out there;
(3) The Corps Commdr wishes you to
occupy Noreuil, Lagnicourt, & Longatte.
This last arrived at 11.p.m. or 11.30 -
just as the last rearrangement had
 

74  49
been completed.
Gellibrand took it to mean - Birdwood
wants these villages occupied forthwith -
He wdnt have sd he wanted them unless
he had some object in getting him
My own belief is tt Birdwood
& the army hadnt really any fixed
policy at all. They had given one
originally, in their original instructions to
Advance guards - but they had received
captured orders since, saying tt / German
ws to trap us on every opportunity -
& they were half inclined to press on (Gough
especially) & half inclined to hold back &
be cautious.
Anyway - they sd they wanted it;
& Birdie Gelly saw / thing must be done
by night if at all, as it meant advance
agst m.g. fire in the open - & called
it on for 3 a.m. It cdnt be done
till 4.30. Then One Coy of 23rd
lost its way & got along / wrong
road - almost to Lagnicourt instead
of Noreuil- & / other coy of 23rd wh
had practically cut off Noreuil was
 

74  50
unsupported & came back.
The battalions ^ had found it impossible
to gather their scattered outposts in / dark &
/ rain. But there we no downheartedness.
many o / men enjoyed this fight in /
open & considering they had had no
training in open warfare it ws
very well carried out; & the breaking
off o / action & retirement in plain
daylight ws extraordinarily successful.
Corps - Birdwood & White - who
make no allowances for anything but
success - are inclined to open their eyes
at / casualties. But if you say
you "want Noreuil & Laqnicourt &
Longatte occupied" you cant expect
this to be happen without / risk of casualties..
If you don't try hard they blame you
- quite rightly. If you do make a serious
attempt there is no royal road for
avoiding casualties, so far as I know.
But they do not take this responsibility.
White - I daresay White cd plan these
things to happen with out casualties if he
 

74  51
had time, wh Gelly hadn't. Birdwood couldn't.
Gelly's idea ws roughly:

[Diagram - see original]
or more clearly
[Diagram - see original]
 

Noreuil ws protected from Lagnicourt &
Longatte by hill spurs -. He ws not being
protected either on his right or left flank
by 5 Div. or British - so he cd not go for
the three places together - but he
cd go for the centre one.
The fight must have bn a trying
one for the 21 & 23 owing to the frequent
changes of orders during / day. This
 

74  52
ws partly / result o / weakness o /
divisional staff; the general staff of the
2nd Divn is lamentably weak.

March 28 [on the night of March 25 I went
up to see the Lagnicourt fight.
Midday next day the dugout in
which was this diary was blown
up by a German mine with a
delayed fuse, & two men were
buried in it. The engineers dug
for two days & nights until digging
became very dangerous - when
at last they had to give it up. They
had nearly reached the signal room
in which the Sergt & runner were -
but the roof was in imminent danger
of collapsing & there ws no hope of
finding the men alive.
Last night ^March 27/8 this diary & my
sleeping bag & suitcase. were dug
out of the debris by Lieut. Warreker
& his batman.]
I go to England tomorrow to get a
new typewriter etc. The battle of March
26 is described in my article.