Letters from Robert James Henderson, July - December 1916 - Part 2

France
18/8/16

My dear Mum
Sorry I have had no chance of writing
letters for some time past as we have first
come from the firing line where believe me those
of us who are left have been through hell
about six times. It is not a bit of use trying
to tell you anything about it the whole thing
is so ghastly as to be indescribable & am doing
my level best to get the whole thing out of
my mind which is indeed hard. We had
some very severe fighting which you will see
by our causality list we brought roughly half
the battalion out and out of 23 officers we
lost 17. How I am here to tell the tale
almighty Providence alone knows. but outside
a few scratches & upset nerves am safe &
sound and hard at work again reorganising
& training ready for another go on the
29^th of this month so you see they do not
give us much of a spell that is the
worst of having a reputation to live up to
You would not have recognised me after coming
out a beard clothes all torn & bloody, boots
& socks not off for a week, & no wash

of any description & worst of all no sleep. with
very little food & water we all cryed like babies
& swore like the devil the first night out I
was terribly annoyed with myself not being able
to control my feelings. The officers we lost were
as follows A Coy Toby Barton missing who bye the bye
is the same old Toby who played tennis at Robbos &
who Mick knows, the Gladesville people he is
missing am inclined to think wounded & a prisoner
I was with him in our part of the fight.
Ralf Kell slightly wounded B Coy Les. Henley killed
poor Leslie was killed just near me on our way
out from the trenches it was indeed bad luck
we were well behind the firing line when a shell
burst & hit him so that you see one is not
safe until some miles away every one is terribly
upset for he was dearly loved by all Shall
write to his Mother when I can collect my thoughts
then (Gerry Fox Capt) was hit & left in No Mans
Land I heard he was wounded & crawled out
at 2 o'clock in the morning trying to find him
had a most exciting time surrounded by Germans
but had the good luck to dodge them crawling
on my stomach from shell hole to shell hole
but alas could not find poor Gerry the Germans
found him when daylight came & captured him
then Pattrick got a hit where on the part he

sits on was talking to him in No Mans Land
with shell fire & bullets flying all around us
trying to put him on the right track back
to our trenches Neville Wallach was wounded
in the arm These are just a few of our
officers who I think you know or know of
Oh one more Capt J.K Henderson is missing
do not mix him up & think it is I, brother
to Marjorie Henderson Mick knows him I think.
We all did very good work 13^th again you
know we but got to terribly cut up as
a result it is indeed sad one becomes terribly
attached to all these fellows living, working,
joking together etc. I had quite a lot of
excitement with the bombing platoon having hand
to hand goes with the Huns but of course
lost some of my brave lads these fellows will
follow you to hell as long as you lead them
and take the same risks as they do One
incident which pleased me with a couple of
my men in a German trench we came to
a 30 ft deep dug-out I threw a smoke bomb
in and called on Fritz to come out 3 of them
came up & I asked if any more were down there
he said no a couple of minutes later another came
up one of my men then called the one who
said no a - liar & put his bayonet through
him seems cold blooded but he deserved it & one

cannot be too careful if we had worked along
the trench this fellow would have come out
and shot us from behind I must also plead
guilty to robbing dead Germans for papers
& information collected quite a lot of useful
& interesting information Am just going to bed
will finish this rambling letter tomorrow Sunday. Enough
of trying to relate war experiences am trying to
get it out of my mind shall tell you all about
these incidents if lucky enough to return some
day. Have just returned from Church parade and
received the enclosed card of congratulations from
General Cox who commands our division I got
a great surprise my name being sent on to
the General from our Colonel am commencing
to think I must have done something special
but as far as I can see one only did
ones duty. Tell Mick it will cost him 5/6
to speak to me to-day shaking hands &
being congratulated by Generals etc. Mum dear
you might have this card framed & keep it
for me. The worst of this sort of thing one
has a reputation to live up to now which
of course will entail all sorts of risks but
this sort of thing must go on. Received
a parcel yesterday with sweets, tobacco, socks
& a book etc yesterday also 10 letters 7 from

Australia & 3 from England. It was simply
great but do not know when I shall be
able to answer them all. The letters from
Hope Davies were bosca am in for
a great time in England if ever lucky
enough to get across there the only chance
seems to be to get a decent sort of a
wound leave being out of the question
however first intend to carry on and
do my little bit as far as I am
amable able & leave the rest to a
higher power Do not get too alarmed
if you do not receive letters regularly
for we shall be in & out fighting etc
& it is next to impossible to write
letters & get mail away Shall cable
first opportunity & let you know if I
am OK. Saw Nana yesterday is he is
hale & hearty & doing well. Excuse this
very bum letter but am terribly upset
in more ways than one & hope to do
better next time love to all. From
Bob

18/Aug/16

[*P.S Received my second star about a
fortnight ago nearly forgot to tell
you. RJH.*]
Hospital Ship
3-9-16.
My dear mum
Just a few times to let
you know I am still alive and
kicking although I can assure you
it is not my fault. We have been
in action again and as per usual
were badly cut up. I am wounded
in the right leg above the knee
a bullet from a Machine Gun passing
right through without touching a bone
it is simply marvellous being in
the midst of high explovise shells
shrapnel, bombs, etc & having the
luck to stop a single bullet through
a soft part of the leg. I carried
on fighting for 1 hour after being
hit then walked back 5 miles which
took me 5 hrs to a dressing station
from there went to a clearing
station from there hospital train to
Rouen which place we have just
left for England We are passing

down a beautiful river but cannot
[[s?]] anything being in bed with a
timber yard stick on the side of
my leg they are taking no risks
of further complications setting in.
However am quite all right and hope
to be hopping around London in
about a weeks time having a
good time. Trust Father received
a cable I had sent to him
from London a couple of months
ago asking for £50 to be sent
to London as I have most of my
clothes & things kicking around
France & expect shall lose same
and as my pay book is pretty
dry I shall require extra money.
Cabled to Father from Rouen
yesterday, shall cable again when
reaching London Was in an English
hospital at Rouen for a couple
of days & had the time of
my life. The sisters were most
charming & talk about look after
you. It was simply great

have been living on the fat of
the land still we have had a
very rough time and shall be
glad of a spell I expect to
be back again with the battalion
in a months time but shall
try to get a little time off
to have a look around England
also to have my teeth fixed
up they are in a dreadful
condition We lost 8 officers this
stunt up to the time I left the
front line & a lot of men
I have a fellow friend officer with
me here from the battalion Lieut
Browning his father is a member
of the Union Club Dad will probably
know him strange to say he is
hit practically in the same spot
as myself it is great having
the two of us being together
All our chaps previously wounded
are in England, Kell, Pattrick
Wallach etc etc what a good time

we shall all have together Shall
have plenty to tell you all if lucky
enough to get home again have seen
quite a lot of France & shall see a
bit of England and the battalion is
going into another part of the line
aga after a rest which it badly
needs that is what is left of it
I doubt if it is 200 strong now
notwithstanding we had reinforcements
after the previous stunt about which
I told you in my last letters home.
Expect Nana will be in action by this
I think his brigade were releiving
ours hope he pulls through all right
Am terribly behind with all my
correspondence but expect shall have
to rest my leg for a few days
so shall have a chance to square
up Tell Father I shall cable for
more money if I run short while in
London I should be able to meet it
all right see Mick about that
Shall write again soon lots of love to all
Bob.