Charles E W Bean, Diaries, AWM38 3DRL 606/131/1 - July - November 1916 - Part 3

11     26
of left flank & Lt Trenery in
charge of block on rt flank.
The Lewis gunners & party in front
were mostly got back.  Lt Helms
(with them) ws seen coming back
but evidently never got back for
he ws never seen again.
They lost from shell fire coming
back.

(No German barrage lights
were noticed).

S. placed blocks - &
bombing posts & L.m.g. to
protect flanks & rear (as
shown on sketch map).
The sap ws through in 3 hrs
- excellent good work by ^2nd Pioneers.
Capt Taylor I believe lost his
arm. They were getting
sniped & were under shell
fire. 

11     27
There is no question that
the prisoners reported by
25 Bn. H.Q. were those taken
by 19 Bn. The prisoners
fairly bolted for our lines.

There were abt 100 N. Fusiliers
in trench at this time, & a fatigue
party of 50 came in towards
evg.  Scott ws fighting German
w his own rifles & ammn
& bombs - eat his food,
drank his mineral waters & warmed
his cold coffee with his
x solidified alcohol warming tins
& used his very Pistol &
flares. The N. Fus. used the
German ^coloured flares also.

It ws 10.30 the night of
Nov 14 when Germans attacked
both flanks & front. On
flanks they came up trenches &
over top - & across the front
they came over the top. 

28
The Germans had 15 Taubes ^dropping signals (&
6 observatn balloons) over us
tt day - & we had no aeroplanes
- one came over but ws
chased away by Taubes. One
German plane at night came low
down - cd not be seen.  Those
in the day were v. low - why
Germans they didnt put m.gs on is not
clear.  Nobody ws allowed to
look up & there were many
dead Germans in the line
so they may have taken us for
Germans.

The German arty got on
to us the 2nd day abt
4 in the afternoon.

11        29
There ws a L. Gun posted in
a shell hole in front. A flare
went up & this L. Gun began
to fire & gave warning. The
Germans withered away in
front ; but on flanks they
got close up & tried to bomb.
We were standing to till
day. The L. gun on right flank
got 8 Germans who were found
lying there in morning, & 8
were k. on right by one bomb.
Germans were crying out in
Nomansland all night. Abt 11 p.m. it
finished on the flanks.

They attacked on the flanks
abt 2.15. am. with bombs. They
were xxx throwing coloured flares
on some system - the front line
signals being repeated perhaps
a mile back. The second
bombing attack died down before 

30
Pte. Healy, a youngster, of L.Gs ws hit thro'
hand - had it smashed - as he went
jumped out. He went on to secon
first trench & then when all L. Gunners were
cut up he carried L.G on along
to the Second objve, & asked if it
were wanted there.

Pt. Birtles

Pte Lewis Lewis w L. m. g was out 150
yds in front in a shell hole
& spent entire day out there w
two other men sniping Germans.
Sd they had the time of their lives.

11        31
daylight.  Abt 80 men of 19
Bn in trench then - none had
coats or sheepskins - they were
as they stood in ordy uniform.
The cartridge pouches had to be
stripped for L. guns & infantry
were armed w German rifles.
The men did this of their own
accord.
N. Fus. had clearly bn given
too much rum before the attack.
& this has a really bad effect.
Our men are not given rum
before an attack - (They had a
small tot before marching up
to warm them). Men half fuddled
w rum cannot keep their
direction in a muddle & the
reaction is bad. There were
more N. Fus. in trench than of
our men.
[*19 Bn. said that these Northumberland
Fusiliers had apparently been 8 days in
the front line & in shellholes - 19th Bn marvelled at the way in
which they stood it. So no wonder they needed rum.*]

Nov 15  Gen. Holmes came up
the second morning.  He decided
tt a watery stretch of trench
that ws on the right shd
be occupied by 25 Bn.

32
Pte F.D. Thompson ws in charge of L.G. on right -
for 48hrs he hardly took his eye off it.

Germans in c. attack wd start
bombing at the Commn trench - some distance
from us. Threw up a yellow flare as starting
pt; threw abt a dozen bombs; threw
a green flare where they got to; 12
more bombs - another green flare
further on. They cd be seen by their
own flares. When they got to a point
we had marked, 40 yds from our
blocking post, Lewis m.g. got the lot.
There ws only one c.attack on right
- the L. gun got the bombers in this
part of the trench - 8 dead germans were
during earlier attack
in / trench at this point. The point
ws chosen as being too far to throw
a bomb. The bombs were then falling
abt 15 yds from our block. The 2 men
left ran back to the Germ. Commn
trench & put up a flare (green) there to show
they had got back.

Trenery's m.g. on right cd command
German trench as far as next
Commn trench. He did not want this
wet low part o / trench occupied.

11         33
The trench 19^th were holding
was drier than our trenches
no duck boards or revetting -
very wide & broken in parts.
On left in N. Fus. Sector
(where it slopes down) it ws.
very muddy but had bn
occupied by Germans.  The
bit on right looked as if it had
not bn occupied - it was deep
sticky mud.

A bombing party of 25 Bn
under a Sergt came up the
Commn sap.  An officer came up
but Sergt ws practically in charge.
They went down some way beyond
block without opposition &
finding it v. muddy came back.
There were abt 50 of them.
The party came right back to 19 Bn.
blocking post & went straight back
to their own line. They certainly cd have
held tt bit of trench.

During this afternoon the
19 Bn was shelled - all round

34
Pozieres.:
Abt. Aug. 27^th The German's bombarded
their own line S. of the wind mill
on Pozieres for 20 mins in the ^pouring rain.
Green wriggly flares were going, & our
men were standing up cheering
them to go on.  They went on for 20
mins & only hit our line once.
That line was hardly bombarded
at all.

Their trenches were abt 30 to 50
yds away.

11     35
but no casualties. There
ws no further c-attack
19 Bn ws relieved at midnight
The 19 Bn had to send officers down
to guide up the relief

There ws a party of 24 Bn
(1 Coy) crowding trenches & obstructing
the relief. It cd not be found out
from their officers what they were
there for. Finally the officer sd tt
they were sent up to dig a sap but
he did not consider it feasible -
That sent S. off like an explosion.

The wd were lying in the
trench - one sergt with an eye blown out
other blinded, three holes thro cheek, both
arms broken, one foot blown off - for
24 hrs before he died.  Another ws
dragged in w bone sticking thro' his
shin from Nomansland. He was brought back -
the N. Fus. - got him out (his leg ws black) but he got that is in England.
----
Sherbon ws hit abt 6.20am.
getting his men ready into
(It took 6 hrs to get Bn. down
there - guides lost way).
shell holes. It ws scarcely light 

36 
A man ws coming up w 3 prisoners -
out o / parados to get out w / other
prisoners.  A little old Australian
ws guarding them - a man who sold
a motor car to come away - the
last German dropped a small egg
bomb behind him & blew the
escorts left foot off.  The prisoners
were of course shot at once.
The Corporal died - he lay there
quietly for a long time only asking
for a drink of water.
[The 7th Northumberland Fusiliers
wh attacked on the left went out
& were never heard of again.]

11     37
eno' for him to have bn seen -
Germans may have heard
something.
The Germxxx had 2 white flag parties
(Midday Nov. 15) under white
flag.  Jones sat up & pointed them (from
top of parapet) to where a
wd German was ^groaning.  They
did not come over to get him
tho' they waved back.  They
seemed to be taking walking
cases back.

One of our offrs sitting
up on a stretcher was shot
2ce thro' chest at night
while in sap.  This certainly
was accidental - a m.g.
trained on sap.
----
The officers were mostly k & w
by shell fire in Nomansland - clearly
our own shells. 

38
There ws a continuous search for the
wells on the map - this Centreway was only
found after some days

It looked as if the wells
were barraged in Pozieres.
He practically kept us out of them
exc. the one in Centreway wh
ws dug out by 4 Engrs & 4 Pioneers & others
was used for 3 days & then crumped in
with one shell.
------
it open cost abt 150 casualties.
(Total loss for 8 days 220)  This ws
kept open until abt Aug 6 &
then it ws absolutely abandoned.
EMV ws to be the thorofare, &
COPSE AVE ws to be the first aid trench
for stretchers but the only 1st Aid
tt ever came out of it ws the Bn's
own wounded.

The trench ws filled with troops
on Aug 4.  It ws to have been
kept clear for wounded - but it
ws crowded by infantry going up
that night.  One big shell landed
near corner of Copse at C - &
the place was pull of legs, heads,
& pieces of men around a huge
crater next morning.

11     39

4th Pioneers.
[Diagram - see original scan]
Aug. 2. Futrell went up thro Pozieres
from Chalk Pit to Copse Ave - then
a dead end.
That night came in w 200 men &
dug to road ' ---
The barrage made it impossible
to dig across road direct so
trench swerved to right as shown.
In the area skirting this barrage
they lost 7k. & 23 w in the first
10 minutes & therefore went a little S.
The digging of this trench & keeping