Charles E W Bean, Diaries, AWM38 3DRL 606/210/1 - 1915 - 1918 - Part 8

wear steel helmets - We were 
in / old Jo port line & / old
French line ws our support
line & there were 25 CTs on
45 Bn front each of wh had
to be held w a bomb stop. For
/ first 2 days bomb stops were
not alted as the Bn Divn ws to
advance.
This ws  the Alpine
Corps, & were good shots.
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48 Bn. 8. Aug. The MarkV※
Tanks started with their crews &
parties. There were 8 of them.
They were to go just behind Bn.
They all got their assembly
point (before / fog.) in / valley
behind Bn HQrs. It ws light
when 48Bn moved at ^(before Zero,) but
fog came down just after moving.
This gave a lot of difficulty in getting
to Accroche wood but all tanks
exc. one, & Bn got into positn
E of Accroche wood with / Offr wd
(Lt B.A. Jones) the man k, & one wd.
The Germs had one 5.9 Bty playing
along the Hamelet Warfusee Rd -
This outed caused these casualties
& one tank ws left behind.
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Bn ws East of Accroche Wd
for 25 mins. Then they moved
to Rat Gully in plns in arty
formation. The tanks came on
behind. The fog had cleared.
The ^only trouble ws one 77 gun
firing possibly from near Susan
Wood. This ws easily avoided -
it ws firing on / one point near Rat Wood)
The Tanks tailed out a bit.
Bn got to Rat Wood. Lt Morley
went out & got  / informatn tt
46 Bn were going well.
Bn left ½ an hour after reaching
Rat Wood in exact accordance
w programme. The R.H.A.
followed closely but Tanks were
a good way behnd trying to
cross the Gully near Rat Wood.
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The parties w / Tanks
were marching along by
them. They had tried getting inside
but it ws terribly hot & they
got out again.
48 Bn moved on in
arty formatn to near Susan
Wood. The only shell fire ws
shrapnel fired from some point
unknown & very high.
At Susan Wood Bn
waited 15 mins. A little
indirect m.g. fire was met -
The tanks were a kilo behind
& cd be seen.
Bn moved to Richmond
Wood gully, & at Q28 they
shook out into skirmishing order
as they came under heavy m.g.
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& shellfire. Col. Perry wd.
here & a few others hit
This ws from ^near the hospital probly.
46 Bn ws then fighting & 45
also.. This fire was so sharp
tt the men were taken under
command of their offrs &
pushed straight on as hard
as they cd to Richmond
Gully. Bn now had its
rt on / rd.
The abovementioned fire
wh got / Bn while it ws
advancing knocked out 3
tanks. These tanks had caught
up here (6 of them - one
missing & not known of). Bn
is  ws coming under
fire of this gun wh ws firing
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from between / road & / hospital
at / tanks - & this is why /
offrs took their Coys forwd (at
a steady double.)
In Rato
Bn now had its rt on
/ main road. There it found
tt the 45 & 45 Bns had gone
on to their objective.
The tanks were coming up
on the right in order to get
into / gully by / main road.
48Bn remaind in
Richmond gully abt ¼ hr
to give / men a spell before /
hop over. Meanwhile one of
Scouts Pte Gell & Lieut Morley
went out with the 45 Bn.
Gell came back & reported 45 Bn
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O.K. When 48 got up to 45
Morley reported to C.O.
(Col Perry remained on duty-  hit
thro the arm) that 4 Bde were
alright on rt flank but had
trouble on left.
The tanks were not up here
again they went astray. 48Bn
waited on the 45 objve. under
direct m.g. fire from the old
Bray line on their left. There
seemed to be 4 m.gs firing &
/ Germs cd be seen moving abt
there.
While 48Bn ws lying up there
one gun (77. from the left
front) knocked out 3 tanks
N.E of Hope Wood - (they were
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Mark V. tanks probly of 45
Bn. This took / fire off the
48 Bn.
From this positn all /
men cd see their final
objve. Abt 15 mins after reaching
45^th objve (10.55; tho' only
3 tanks had arrived, 48 Bn
decided to give it a go before
the Germs. began to reorganise.
⤒
___ ___ ___
D      C    A

___________
     B
HQ
They had bn in skirmishing
order since first under
mg fire. 2 tanks went
with A Coy; one tank,
76 

Orpheus, went out with
D Coy on / left - a very
fine action - This tank
had its complement inside.
It got 100 yds past / objve.
& ws then hit. Several o /
crew were burnt & 2 of our
L.gunners were killed getting
out o / tank (possibly Vickers
also) by German sniping.
Those who got out moved
back to the Old Bray line
& got there abt / same time
as / leading Coy.
The other two tanks
went to their objective -
A Coy got to its objve with
only 10 casualties - These
tanks then reported back to
77 

Richmond Valley.
The Centre Coy had
some difficulty at the bit of
low scrub near R13 central.
Some m.g.s held them up
there; but by getting into the
trench line & bombing &
fighting with L. Gs. they captd
this with 80 prisoners.
2 Plns of D Coy moved
in pretty quickly & came
under heavy m.g. fire
from just E of / objve (200
yds perhaps). They were on
/ left of C Coy. They got
into the trenches there &
the 2 plns wh were folly
them were caught & suffered
pretty heavily by ^this m.g. fire. wh
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