69 26
rate territorials. Why do they
put second rate terriers in w
our men on a job like this?
They sd our Aust. arty ws not
quite so good - It it fired on
61st Div, hit a gas plant &
gassed 70 men - (May or
may not be true - it may come
from the rival artillery).
1st Army (11th Corps ws in charge,)
sd it anyhow, the attack "had
succeeded in its object." That is
not true - it is the opposite.
Tomorow is a more important attack - white told
me th he was anxious chiefy abt t artillery
3 C.O.s.
more or less - army, 10th Corps, and
have to do with
them. Hobbs
Between it all, have they a fixed
plan? He has
begged Reserve army to see that there is
a definite written arrangement tomorrow.
He has also asked Walker to let the 2 Bdes go out
69
take not only the 1st miserable trench but the outskirts of the village
very shortly after I first attack the waves to go out
and lie outside. If they only take the shallow
trench they will come when they are shelled during day. But
if they go on into village it will be very hard for
German arty to shell them.
Lying out in front of their own trench waiting
for the 2nd phase they ought to escape the German
barrage by gettin both lines in front of it at once.
They will be too close to t German for him to
shell them properly.
The staff of 13th Corps told us several times /other day
13th
& many other British officers have told me - that the
troops are not making many prisoners. "You can tell by the. numbers," they said. "Only about 100 for the day- that's not much."
69
G.H.Q, says: 28
Enemy is working "feverishly"
on
line behind 3rd line just
in front of [[Hers.]] Heaps of
what appear to be entrenching
tools lying abt.
26 Res. Div -
12 Bns
[[Poziers]] 2nd [[Fd]]. Res. D.
3 [[?]] 12 Bns.
185 [[?]] of Bns
[[?]]
3rd Fd D. [[9?[[ Bns
7 Div. 9 Bns Trench
8 Dv. 9 Bns.
Another message from [[?]] v. Reity C.O. 3rd Bn. 16 Bas/R.
c/. little red notebook
11 July. 1916. 2 pm.
Battalion partly not [[is?ent?]]. Could not the
fire of heavy how. battery, wh for several hours has
systematically and successfully bombarded t dugouts
of second line not be kept under by our arty?
As regards condition o/ 3rd Bn o/
16 [[Bav?]] Inf Regt, I regard it as my duty to point
out that t men remaining are severely shaken, so tht
their fighting value is to be rated v. low. The heavy
fire; t the impression made by t wounded &
dead; t diffty of bringing up food & its frequent
absence are t cause
From t front line I have no report
till now. [[v. Risky.]]
29
German [[Posites]]to N.
(Sketch map. See original document)
July 21. Came to 1st Aust D.H.Q.
69 30
July 21
[[Ovilliers]] [[Biselle?]] Pozieres
(Sketch map. See original document)
From ∧Albert-Becourt Road near top
of hill before entering wood
[*SIDING
COOMA LINE
N.S.W.*]
31
Sketches made on
July 24
Found out afterwards tht our
men were right up against the
tramway where it entered t wood
(we cd see 2 officers there
(Sketches. See original document)
Pozieres from SW.
Tramway
our line
O.P. here in our possession shell German balloon. whitish bldg. square topped red bldg.
Our men here (only tree with foliage)
All these trees are shredded exc. one here
69 32
(sketches. see original document)
Salvo of German black shrapnel
between us & control maison
German balloon
our trenches
Remains of fallen aeroplane.
Bazentine wood.
our [[cy]]
Tramway
from) One of four flame shells
memory) somewhere near German
next day) look out with [[long]] top.
(From memory) Two officers whom
next day) we cd see watching t shelling
[[right up asst th accuracy]]
33
(Sketch. see original document
Bazentin wood
our aeroplane
[[with full ??ty?]]
Bldgs of [[Control maison.?]]
34
July 21. At 11. o'c . today I came into
[[Albort]] to 1st Bast. Divn HQrs
The 1st Divn is always exceptionally
kind to me. Ramsay had asked me
in to their mess two days ago.
They night I ws had a beautiful little
mess in the Rue de Boulan. Everyone The Town Major
sd to them when they went in - that there
were some excellent digs in th quarter
-plenty of room. They cd have t
whole street & the Chateau. They
were delighted w everything - there
ws the beautiful Chateau; & several
fine mess houses in t street. The
chateau had not one hole in t roof or walls & t
houses had sinks & W.C.S w water
in them - if you pulled t plug they
were flushed! It ws too good to be
true. So they went in. The little
69 35
day I ws there 3 shells had fallen
in the Chateau gdn - & one in t back
wall of chateau 1 day before. That
evg -I wd have gone into t mess
but it ws late & when I asked
Gen White if it were necessary
to go back at night he sd- not for 24
hrs. So I stayed at Coutay. At 2
in the morning the gene inhabitants
of mess C. were awaked by several
big shells falling in t street. [[Mi?]]
went up to Ramsay & sd "Look here
Bob, is n't this getting over t odds?"
How abt t Cellar?" So they went
down into t cellar - next minute
the house ws shaken by a tremendous
crash with a dazzling flare. Bits
o t garden came thro all t windows
& an unsuspected well ws found to
have been uncovered there in t morning.
19 36
Then there were S into the street
& one into t house next door. I
think they were aiming at t relay station.
Anyway, next today D.H.Q. shifted
to No 12 Rue de Pont de [[Noyelles]] off the Rue de Doullens
I am writing this in the C mess No 12 de Doullens.
The 48th [[Divn was]] to have taken some trenches
W. of Pozieres last night had
failed to take them; there ws a
conference in t Chateau when I
arrived. Gen. Owen who had been
in [[Confee]] w Gen White told me tht
there was a mistake in t artillery
plans. Our infantry ws to
advance [[?]] & the artry
barrage as arranged wd have
cut into the second line of infantryartry - So which ws
right to be anxious abt this.
37
I think it was next day we went up farther
to trenches of 2 Bn in front of the Copse. XXXX
(Must have been next day July 22. since
the sketch on p. 46 - made up there during
the slow bombardment - seems to have
been made drawn that day (The date & time July 22.2.10 refer to it).
[*Lost abt 50 men
in this show, I believe*]
The bombardment being on the
Cy. trenches they were very
quiet, & you could
watch comfortably. The position
was a sort of advanced post towards
Pozieres trench.
C.E.W.B.
16/7/26
The diary was not
written up as I
was too busy but
there may be something
in my cables for
that day. The men
were writing letters home
- it was a bright hot day,
& they were in good spirits
We found them in shallow red brown earth
trenches (similar to those
in Vol XII, beginning of Battle of Pozieres)
69 38
He had evidently [[s?b]] off Walker Owen
w full instrns to Hobbs.
I went out to t trenches
w M. Maze, a young French artist
on the Reserve Army staff & Casey.
We went thro Becourt wood & up
behind t guns in "Sausage" valley
& through a long commun. trench.
Our tenth Bn ws resting back there
[*Northants. The 3rd bde is to try tonight
1 & 3rd (1st Div to bomb up t trenches
3 Bde Brit.) wh t Northants failed to
4 *] bomb up - as far as
Munster Alley (wh is German). The
Divn Staff dont think they will
manage it.
Walker sd to me tht the 1st
Aust. Divn wd be knocked out
by this attack tho most people
think they will succeed - the
3rd & 1st Bdes first night & the
69 39
2nd Bde second night.
Aeroplanes. 8 Germans: "Do you think we'll win, Sir?"
Guns are banging off all
round - abt 40 or 50 to the
minute, sometimes more all the
time. Some are near - one
or two v. big ones - every 15 minss or so whose great
report makes one jump & one
can hear the
shell climbing
w t swish of a great rocket,
or escaping steam.
Every
now & then waggons or motors
- sometimes one or two waggons galloping
thro. Then the fut fut of a
despatch riders motor bicycle.
(70 shells
fired by us at minute incl.
one big one) Motor Lorries whizzing
past.
It is a curious sensation sleeping
in a house in a strafed town - rather
an
uneasy one. Harry Butten
-
an
