WAR HISTORY

Press, Volume LXX, Issue 21319, 12 November 1934, Page 5

WAR HISTORY

DR. BEAN TELLS OF HIS WORK

In an interesting article in "Reveille," the official publication of the New South Wales branch of the Returned Sailors and Soldiers' League, Dr. C. E. W. Bean gives some idea of the magnitude of the work of writing the history of Australia's part in the Great War. Dr. Bean states that at the end of the war bs bad about 300 notebooks filled

in with a record of what he had seen personally, and of the first-hand accounts obtained from officers and men of the fighting in which they had taken part. These, together with other accounts obtained after the war, were the first basis of the information for the history. The second basis was the immense collection of records left by the regiIments themselves, together with tne

actual messages sent to and from tha foremost battle lines, and the orders and reports of headquarters. Each volume was read many times before printing, the maps in each voume took 70 days to draft, six months was required to prepare each index, and every One of nearly 2000 names mentioned in a volume was carefully checked bv three different methods. Many details had also been checked; from German and Turkish sources.