Charles E W Bean, Diaries, AWM38 3DRL 606/47/1 - June 1916 - Part 6

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63
done at first tt /
divergent interests of two
various papers had prevented
them from agreeing to this
in the war. (At first he wdnt
admit tt any o / evils of
newspaper competition remained)
We went out to the Correspts.
villa at Romand - & xxxx a
delightful place it is - a
glorious wood at / back
& a beautiful old garden.
Gibbs, dear chap, stayed
& entertained us - as did
Beach Thomas, Russell, &
Wilson (the Canadian). We
had our coffee & strawberries
outside on / thick grass
o / lawn. Afterwards
Reynolds & Thomas made
hay White and Gibbs Ross &
 

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64
Perry Robinson ^& Reynolds played
Badminton.
Col. Wilson nearly knocked
me off my perch this morning
by saying - when we sd
we'd like to see / operations
"What Operations." He keeps
up / pretence to these chaps
that n operations are in 

/ air - tt he has never
heard of them; until they
told him straight out two
days ago tt it was useless
pretending they didn't know.
Then Brooks Lieut Cadge went off
today to the  _---- th Army to
arrange how the various
pressmen shd see the show.
They say we were slowly
bombarding across the
Somme where / line crosses
it. Brooks / photographer
 

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65
came back w Cadge at
dinner, w / news that
we had brought down three
observation balloons today
by dropping phosphorous
darts on them ( a new
dodge) - one German balloon
he saw ws climbing up &
being hauled down & bobbing up
again (evidently out of fear
of this attack - there were
9 in one bunch).
The real bombardment,
he says, starts at 5 a.m.
tomorrow & will be something
never before known.
There will be a bombt.
at Malincourt - )  The
ammunⁿ stacked by the 
guns is a picture - 4000
rounds of 15 in. ammn
are amongst it, I believe.
 

5
66
- The [[bbt?]] C O 
Hunter Weston is there in
[*?8th*] charge of the 7^th Corps.
There are British guns,
Gibbs says, behind the French 
troops S. of the Somme!
And there are French troops
N. of the Somme (where we
thought there were only British).

June 26th Monday
Raining today & overcast.
Follg letter
GHQ
26 / June
Dear Mr Fisher

Since writing the enclosed I hear from Gen. Charteris
tt he has bn informed tt I have bn gn a Commission. He tells me
tt under original decision of the authorities this makes no real difference.
Since altho' an offr from our force may be permitted to take
photographs for record, tt offr cannot be I, because I am
writing articles wh go to the Press.
 

5

67
or, reversely, if I am appointed official photographer
I cannot continue as eyewitness. General Charteris
added however, tt there might be a solution by wh
this might be overcome - namely if I were allowed
to take photographs inside our own force only &
these were then kept by the authorities
(either by the War Office or by the Commonwealth authorities
in London) in safe custody until / end o / war).
as / property o / Cth. Govt.
I think tt, while I have no assurance whatever from
Gen. Ch. tt such an arrangement will be made, it is
very likely tt it may be made. And it wd quite
satisfactorily meet the requirements. Press photographs
wd continue to be taken as now for us by the British
Official photographer & none of mine wd be press photos
but wd be / Austln. Govts official record for historical
purposes not to be used until after / war.
 

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68
We can hear the big guns
roaring - even from Montreuil,
a most rare thing - 40 miles 

away at the time. Only at
intervals - but quite clearly
when Ross & I were walking
round the old walls today
we heard them. The we
bombdt really began on
Saturday, I believe, with
wire cutting all along /
line. They are cutting wire
& registering now - with little
reply & this goes on for ^7 days.
The anzac troops brought off
two successful raids last night
at 1 a.m. - & got 12 prisoners
& there were 10 raids in all,
on / British front.
We had to be down here,
R. & I, to fix up abt our
car & make sure of getting
 

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69
to anything tt is doing, Gen.
Charteris wanted to see me
again, today ; & when I
went in, he told me tt he
he had a letter from Gen. Robertson
saying tt I ws being given
a commission & tt this
wd presumably enable me to
be made Official Photographer.
But, Charteris sd, this of 
course wd mean tt I
wd have to give up all
writing - they cd choose
wh they preferred. I argued
for a short while as to /
principle & was on / point
of giving up when Charteris
suddenly & quite unexpectedly
gave way. As Hutton
Wilson also gave way at
once about the car - he had
not realised tt a Singer car
 

70
5^th Bde raid;
O.C. Pty.  Maj. R.J.H. Travers D.S.O.
17^th Bn.
Scouts. 2/Lt C. Wallach, 19 Bn. & 5 o.r.
Assault Pty.  Capt K. heritage 19 Bn.

Telephonist 1 m.
Linesman 1 m.
Runners for O.C. Assault 2 m.
Covering Pty.  Capt E.W. Kirke  18 Bn.  2 NCOs 10 m.
Total strength 6 offrs. 65 O.R.
White Armband covered w khaki to be torn off.
British army ^pattern uniform.
Our Front line [[?]] to be [[trimmed?]] to ½ normal garrison.
" Holmes leaves for Paris at ..... pm tonight.
Party to move out 45 mins before zero to postn abt 
150 yds from enemys trench
Bombt. began at 11.30 p.m.
Diversions by rt & left groups on
1.32.a & 1.21.b&d respectively
Centre group on 1.26.c & d.
(reinf by 3½ batteries)
5000 rds arty to be expended.
2 M.T.M batteries w centre group 2.2" TMs w each diversion
 

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71
wd do us - & as we have a
promise of a car for immediate
needs, our visit was well
worth it. The fact is the moment
they really understood what
we wanted, in each case,
they saw it ws reasonable &
what we are getting is
exactly the permission we first
asked for in every respect.
Charteris is a very friendly
old bird when tackled /
right way - & little Hutton
W., tho' nervy, is the same.

June 27^th
Report of raids say:
(1) Party of 5th Bde under Maj.
Travers D.S.O. 17 Bn, entered enemy's
trenches at I.26c. 9½ 1½. Short
bombt. Trench not much damaged. One
dugout blown in. 4 Prisoners taken
 

72
Bayonets to be painted with
dark paint & carried fixed.
M. gunners carried spanner.
To remain 10m. or less.
To come back by luminous tape.
O.C. can return direct or remain
in Nomansland.

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73
(3 of them wounded). 20 of enemy sd to be
k. by raiding party. Two stores of 
grenades were blown up - & a lot of
equipment brought back.
Lieut Heath 19 Bn ws ^^slightly wd. 1 o.r.
killed, 12 other ranks w. enfilading
m.g. fire on party when going across
& party shelled w shrapnel
after leaving enemys trenches.
(2) Party from 3^rd N.Z. Rifle
Bde under Capt. Powley entered
enemys trenches at Pont Ballot
from C29 a.4.1½ to C.29.a.5.4.
where ditch enters trench.
Scouts went out at 10.30pm,
Rest at 10.45. all assembled in 
Nomansland at 11.9 pm. At
11.15 pm our arty, trench mortars
& m.gs opened. At 11.30 arty
lifted onto enemys flank & support
trenches & raiding pty entered. Trenches
were found to be full. 9 prisoners (2 wd)
 

74
Prisoners say a wiring & irrigation party ws
here wh increased nos of men found.

[Note. Germans have a search light at O.1a]
Scouts cut way thro our wire same night at 10.30.
Both tel. wires from our "Assembly pt." were cut
immediately bombt. began - prob by blow backs
as enemy hadnt begun till 11.25.
All wire cut exc. 3 strands & a bit
near parapet. All back by 12.30 (some by 12.5).
Arty stopped at 12.33.
29 Germans sd to be k & 9 brought in.
Arty fire good. Enemy v. shaken.
Ditch 8 ft wide 5 ft deep
Parapet 20 ft.
Ditch diff. to get out of tho' dry.
Funkholes under parapet to
hold 2 men, 2ft 6in in high
lined w timber. One
dug out w table & elec. light.

Raiding pty Attack ws under LtCol. A.E Stewart O.C. 2/Bn. NZ
Rifle Bde. Raiding pty commanded by Capt A.J.
Powley, assaulting pty under Lieuts. A.P.
Castle & C.J.H. Davidson (3 offrs. 70 o.r.
2nd Bn 3 NZR Bde, & 2 sappers.
Arty fired 3025 rds in the day. (It stood ready
to fire on German archies if they fired on our
aeroplanes attacking balloons that afternoon.
was also on batteries at J.Id 4.4. but not active]

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75
brought back. 30 is "an accurate
estimate" of killed who were disposed
of by knobkerry bayonet & bomb &
revolver. These were counted & more
must have bn k. by bombs mortars
& arty. Party stayed in enemys trenches
15 mins when signal gn to retire,
by whistle, wh ^repeated & all heard. Our
casualties 1 k. 8 w. all on 
return journey (1k & 3 w by
explosion of ^German grenade wh they
were carrying in, (some difficulty in
getting these men away - last to leave en's trench).
[*many papers etc
left in Nomansland
owing to this diffy.*]
After 1st phase finished enemy
retaliated on our support lines
apparently from 2 batteries. Party

brought back 5 rifles, 5 gas helmets,
1 large wooden periscope. Patrols
report tt parapets at Pont
Ballot were badly damaged
by our bombt.

We have bn shelling Fromelles etc.
retaliation for our shelling on this