Letter from William Robert Felton, 13th Battalion, to his Aunt and Uncle, 11 October 1915

PR82/8
Victoria College
17^th General Hospital
Alexandria
11-10-1915
Dear Uncle & Aunt,
Just a line to thank you for your
birthday card, also the one from Lydia & Gordon. I
got them yesterday. They were a bit late, but
that does not matter. As you will see by the
above address, I am in hospital again, but not
wounded this time. Just an attack of Tonsillitis
& Lumbago, I hope to be out in a day or two now
and then back in _^the part where the fun is. This
is a fine game. Plenty to eat & drink & plenty
of excitement, so what more can one want? Our
boys are the finest lot of fellows immaginable, &
I am proud to be one of them. A braver lot of men
never lived. It is fine to see them in the trenches
firing away as if they were shooting at bottles in a
Sydney Shooting Galley. The first bayonet charge
I was in, they sang "Australia will be There", all
the time they were bayonetting Turks as fast as
possible. A big Turk had tackled me so I
had all my time cut out with him. Anyway
I managed to give him about 6 inches of steel so I
went ahead and waited for the next piece of

Turkish delight to come along. We won the day
& took the next two lines of trenches in front of us.
You don't know how I was wounded, as I have never
told anybody yet; so I will tell you now. I was sent
out with two men on patrol. I sent one man to the
right & the other to the left, leaving myself in
the centre. I volunteered for the job. It is what
they call "sacrifice post". The reason it is called
that is because, it was our job to get between
the two Turks & our men, & fire 25 rounds at
them. So as to make them fire on us & take their
attention off the other troops. It is odds on your
not getting back to your own lines. While the
enemy were firing in our direction the rest of the
got round each side of them & surprised them.
The tw other two men were badly wounded, I was
fool enough to let them plug me in the leg, & would
have been captured only for a mate of mine saving
me. Death comes a long way before being taken
a prisoner by the Turks. You are not sure how
you are going to be blown out, by them. They don't
believe in their Government feeding prisoners on
tucker that would come in handy for themselves.
We did not take prisoners for the first fortnight,
after we found out what sort of a barbarous enemy
we were up against. Although they a one

3

of the bravest lot of soldiers you could wish to
meet. Especially their snipers, who are remarkably
good shots. They get behinds our firing line & do
a lot of damage. Others dress in our uniform & mix
up with us, giving orders. Of course we know too
much for that now, & we always question the order.
Before we were up to their game, one German Officer
came up in our clothes & spoke in excellent English. He
said "The Australians will not fire another shot
to-night, as the French are advancing across their
front." Of course we stopped, & we suffered for it.
That is only one of the hundred & one schemes they
get up to, to ty try & get us get out of our trenches
& attack them, when they have a nice reception ready.
Well I think I will close now as news that will
pass the censor is scarce. I am not too sure of
parts of this letter passings. We'll chance it anyway.
So Good-Bye for the present. Hoping this will
find you all in the best of health. Regards to all
the relations.
I remain 

your Affec. Nephew
Willie
P.S My ^new address is
on the back of this 

page.

1039 Driver W. Felton
Transport Section
13^th Battalion
4^th Inf. Brigade
2^nd. A.I.F.
Meditn. Exped. Force.

PR82/8
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W. Fellon
10 Raglan St
Waterloo

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