Charles E W Bean, Diaries, AWM38 3DRL 606/80/1 - May - June 1917 - Part 1

AWM38

Official History,

1914-18 War: Records of C E W Bean,

Official Historian.

Diaries and Notebooks

Item number: 3DRL606/80/1
Title: Diary, May - June 1917

Includes references to the 18th and 19th

Battalions, the 11th Infantry Brigade, Bullecourt,

gas shelling and the New Zealanders' attack at

Flers.
AWM38-3DRL606/80/1

1   80

May 23-26
1917
Visit to French

front.
Original    DIARY NO. 80.

AWM38     3DRL 606 ITEM 80 [1]

DIARIES AND NOTES OF C. E. W. BEAN

CONCERNING THE WAR OF 1914 - 1918

THE use of these diaries and notes is subject to conditions laid down in the terms

of gift to the Australian War Memorial. But, apart from those terms, I wish the

following circumstances and considerations to be brought to the notice of every

reader and writer who may use them.

The writings represent only what at the moment of making them I believed to be

true. The diaries were jotted down almost daily with the object of recording what

was then in the writer's mind. Often he wrote them when very tired and half asleep;

also, not infrequently, what he believed to be true was not so - but it does not

follow that he always discovered this, or remembered to correct the mistakes when

discovered. Indeed, he could not always remember that he had written them.

These records should, therefore, be used with great caution, as relating only what

their author, at the time of writing, believed. Further, he cannot, of course, vouch

for the accuracy of statements made to him by others and here recorded. But he

did try to ensure such accuracy by consulting, as far as possible, those who had

seen or otherwise taken part in the events. The constant falsity of second-hand

evidence (on which a large proportion of war stories are founded) was impressed

upon him by the second or third day of the Gallipoli campaign, notwithstanding that

those who passed on such stories usually themselves believed them to be true. All

second-hand evidence herein should be read with this in mind.

16 Sept., 1946.       C. E. W. BEAN.
AUSTRALIAN WAR MEMORIAL
ACCESS STATUS
OPEN

30

1 80
8
May 23 -26

1917

Visit to French

front.
June 24. 12.20pm. At

Brentwood (Chigwell Match).

Higgs came in & said you

could hear the guns

clearly. We went out into

the garden & from the first

I thought one could hear

the undercurrent of pulsation

of the guns in a bombardment

Presently came heavier bumps,

some quite distinct, though faint;

& there ws no doubt about it.

We were hearing a heavy

bombardment in France or

Belgium. I have heard it less

distinctly 10 miles from the line.

2

At this stage I was invited to visit the

French front - these are hurried notes, often made

in the travelling car:- Bailly - 2 yrs

May 23. Interviewed

the two men of 16 Bn who

escaped from Marguion.

Then came down by car

with Southwell. to Paris. G.H.Q.

suggested the car in a telegram

telling me to get a pass if 

I wanted _^ to go by car - I could

see White disapproved of

my going by car &

not by train.

Stayed At Paris I

went to the Maison de

la Presi, where they

a young man in

immaculate dress, & manicured

hands & a powdered face

(or face _^ it was treated in some way anyhow)

told me of the proposed 

itinerary. It is nothing

like as complete as I had

hoped - not Verdun - just

two days out of Compiegne.

One of these will take us 

to the country where the

French offensive took place.

May 24. Started early with Ross

Lyons, & Bruce (of Reuters) under

an old Cavalry Captain.

3

in Germ Nomansland till the Foret Germans

went by March 17, in front of forest of Laignes

One House half French ½ German
in Nomansland

Deep sandbagged trenches

with village stones.

More wire than wc.

"  loopholes

Especially Germs barbed

Salvaged [mortar?], as

by rd ready to be carried

away.

German hurdles wattled trenches

covered

Beautifully drained under road.

Stores in front trench

Cemetery. Wire

8
4
Mt Renaud
Count [shorthand] [[?]] [[?slage?]]
Opened [[caffeine?]] from the
Foret Oursecamps

D'Escagnac.
New bridge
River rising over [[its?]]
bridge
Canal - new locks.
Sunk barges.
Noyon
German inscriptions
all gone - bridges blown
up.
Germ. cleared out all
women betw 15-60
and those w. you children.
& then poured in the
inhabitants of surrounding
villages wh they wished
to destroy.

8
5
All metal gone from

Noyon Cathedral (Roman -

Gothic) organ & bells.

Blue & white colours of

Joan of Arc. Bronze

figure (18 century) left.

Flavy le Martel

1st destroyed town &

Burnt away

Cugny - Magots

House joke;

Suzoy - swans

picture

Railhead - rly

just being made.

Hand drawn diagram - see original document
Small rly goes past.

Artillery horses lent to 

to plough fields.  Heard soldiers

Just 1800 xxx

killed down

6 

French are trying not to

damage St Quentin.

Germs blocked / canal &

turned water into valley of

Oise near La Fere.

French have the Basse

Plateau - Foret de Coucy.

& then line runs round

to Craonne - short of Laon.

The St Gobain ws v. difficult

& the idea ws to squeeze

Germans out.

 

8
7

Little rly thro Tussy

just made - Broad guage

one line finished thro Jussy -

second line unfinished.

Prinz Eitel Friederich

Schauz - Faillouel
- French now destroy everything German.
Hubertus Haus.

Beer drinking place.

St Quentin Cathedral

Wire visible on ridge to right.

Also practically point near Vermand

where British line ends.

It is v. quiet.

Massif de St Gobain.

Hand drawn diagram - see original document
The first

French offensive

was on
16 April
at

8
8

Chauny - well

screened - blown to

bits by Germans, like [shorthand].

(Palais de Justice.)

Soldatenheim - blotted out

on 21st April.

They told people to stay

in Faubourg de Noyon -

then shelled suburb

where they were -

18 or 20 were killed.

More professional

Better Staff work

than ours

: Point de vue de

l'enemi ici.

Extinguish lights.

Gas!

Better screening.

German permits.

Germans blew down Chateau

de Coucy tower as they sd it

gave observation. 20 tons of

dynamite blew it up.

8
9

Generally - the French

front seemed extraordinarily

quiet. While we watched

about 10 miles of line

near St Quentin, southwards,

not one shell burst in

half an hour & I only

heard one gun - & that

may have been a bomb

at a school. We were

taken, by special request,

to Coucy. The Germs

The old castle tower

there has been blown

down - the Germans 

destroyed everything within

a certain distance of

the Hindenburg line, which

seems to me to have been

why they left Noyon -

(but they may have been

too hurried there).

8
10

The road down to

Coucy was screened -

& the only horizon was

only 2000 or 3000 yards

away. Our cars went 

down this road, into 

the village. I saw one

shell - a black H.E. universal
- burst in the air. But

the Germans and French

seemed otherwise almost

asleep - the place . if 

it had not been blown

up by / Germans - might

have bn a _^beautiful English country

town on a fine summer

Sunday.

In / distance towards

the Foret de Gobain we 

saw a few big German

shells burst over part o /

battlefield - which there ws

as red & shattered as Bullecourt