Charles E W Bean, Diaries, AWM38 3DRL 606/213/1 - 1915 - 1918 - Part 6

Lts Small & Richardson k. (as above)
Lt Worthington wd. in / advance
on / lower slopes - by m.g.
Lt Mailler ws also wd abt
/ same time by shell.
Lt Flood ws wd in / early
stages (M.C. for this for dash 
in settling Germans in early stage. He
killed
abt 6
& was
hit on
/ side o / head
as he ws going
for a big German.
Lt Massey wd abt midday by
nosecap of shell.

(Small ws an original man, a
New Guinea man, commissioned
after Pozieres a gt favourite & very
cheerful by disposition. It ws he who
led the c/attack at Morlancourt - a
Sydney man).
Lt Flood M.C. this stunt.
Croft got M.C. at Mt St Q.
Capt Manifield also got M.C. for this.
It ws Sergt. Dolan who ws
surrounded by Germs on / top o /
hill & broke away.
Maj. Fussell commd 17 Bn in this.
49

Aug 8. 19 Bn.

Col Bateman took over 

on 8 Aug. Bn COs were told on 

4th. Gen Monash's letter ws read

to Coys at 7 pm 5 p.m. in the Aubigny

System behind V/B.

J.O line of 19 Bn ws on right

of 20.

Diagram - see original document

Their rt ws on

the road. Front

abt 1200 yds.

Went over with

about 280 rifles i.e.

miners signallers etc. 7 Bde on rt of

19th. This line ws inside our old line.

24 Bn held a screen in the Abancourt

Line covering / assembly. They had

instrns to with draw ½ hr before

Zero.

The assembly ws very quiet

Bn came up round N. of V/B

63

past the H.Qs. big camouflaged Hqrs

& so in. They lay in / open on

tapes. The line dropped was sited back

in a S.W direction in order to

conform to / movement on the 

right.

There ws a very heavy fog.

The Each Bn had 6 ? tanks on its

front - the right No. turned up.

The 19 Bn objve ws. in the trench

system 800 yds W of Warfusee.

The right Coy under Lt Sell got

19 m.gs. on its sector in

posts along or beside / road,

scattered very irregularly. The

Bache cdnt see & they were

right on him before he cd fight.

Any fire ws wild & unaimed.

The m.gs. were well sited but the

fog quite prevented them from being of use.

64

There ws no trench system -

2 or 3 mgs, & a little dugout for

/ crew in a short length of isolated

trench.

During / early stage it ws

exceedingly hard to keep directn

 - Coys got mixed - in some

cases / tanks came back

towds our line completely lost.

Abt 5.30 Lt Satchel sig. offr who

took out a phone wired tt

he ws out abt 1000 yds W E. of

Abancourt trench. All my fire 

had ceased & German ws doing

no shelling. It looked as if

/ German were getting away /

guns in the Warfusee Valley -

& this turned out so : / Germs

got most of those guns clear by

/ time we reached tt place.

65

C/  A/ _→

B/  D/

Abt 6 am. word arrived tt both

front line Coys were on their

objve.  & 17 Bn had gone

thro folld by 8 Bde.

D:  Sells.

A:  Maj Boyden.

At 6.30 Bn

Hqrs wh had

been in front o / tapes in a Coy Hqrs.,

moved forward to a trench on

/ road just W of / objve.

Battln lost 42 altogether.

Lt Griffiths ws killed near

one o / small German posts

by / road - he evidently went

straight for the m.g. & ws k

abt 6ft from it - his body ws

almost in / trench.

Maj. Boyden ws wd in /

leg. Receipts were obtained for over

300 prisoners.

66

38 m.gs. & 12 mgwfrs were 

sent back to / transport lines.

Supply tanks took up

bombs & ammn. As one

of these ws returning abt 7 a.m.

it went up on a land mine

at abt .27 D 8.7. This burst

/ Caterpillar & it ran off it.

Another tank had struck

a mine just S. of this other one,

near / road. There were abt 2 nests,

½ doz mines in a nest -

They were & each nest ws surrounded by a

couple of strands of barbed

wire - & inside this were in
Diagram - see original document

each case ½ dozen things looking

like kerosine tins with 3 or 4 inches

sticking above / ground.

Diagram - see original document

One tank had hit each of these

67

& / effect ws / same in each

case - / caterpillar rolled

off. An R.I. Sergt ws later

on these to keep people off

them. In / supply tank wh

ws full of Australians & Crew

no one ws hurt. All scambled

out after a heavy explosion.

Bn stayed there tt night.

Aug 9. Next day just before

midday the 19th moved to

support 17 Bn in an

attack on Framerville.

Just before Col. Bateman

left HQ W of Warfusee a

message came tt 2nd Divn

wd continue / advance

at 11.30 a.m. It ws then abt

11.15 but they were 2-3 hrs

68

march away from / Blue Line. 

Co.l Bateman left Capt. McMeekin

to bring Bn on, & pushed

up to a C.Os Conference

near Harbonnieres.

 

20|    18|         

19|     17| 
         
The order for
attack ws
then gn by
Brigadier as

the Crucifix in 5 c N W of
Harbonnieres.  Zero Hour ws gn

as 4.30 p.m.

Instrns to 19 were not

to enter Framerville unless

17 Bn were in difficulties.

They passed thro' 8 Bde.

Instrns to Coys were not to

get nearer than 500 yds to

Framerville. They formed Arty

69

formatn as they came out

of Morcourt Gully. They stayed

500 yds W of Framerville -

At abt 10 p.m. 19 Bn ws

ordered back from here

to the Blue line in suppt to
17 & 18 Bns.

Only 2 casualties this

day.

On Aug 11 there ws

a further advance & 19 & 20

took part in this.

The J.O. positn ws just

NE of Framerville. A line ws

taped in theChateau grounds.

Zero ws 4 a.m. There ws a

mist early.  There ws a

barrage. 7 Bde & 20 Bn attacked

at same time. It ws a good thick 

barrage but ragged. The German

70

reply ws heavies on Framerville

& Vauvillers villages - not heavy

on troops. The 20 Bn had a

difficult job as their flank ws open.

But 19 Bn had no gt difty -

150 prisoners were taken. They reached

a line not quite so far as /

objve on / E side o / gully, in

touch with 7 Bde. The 20 Bn had

a difficult time but by midday

19 Bn linked w them - they were

across on the W side o / gully.

Abt midday runners

from ^beyond Rainecourt reported tt they

were getting sniped from Rainecourt.

A pty of 17 Bn ws sent up there &

got a m.g. & 6 men.

There were abt 50 casualties.

The German m. gunners at this time

seemed to be working differently. They

71