Letters from William Rawson Leach to his family, 1918 - Part 9

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deep & when they get the word to
hop into the Hun they do it with

delight for they know & have seen the

ravages he has worked in this

country & will not be satisfied

until he has been brought to

justice. I can quite imagine your

feelings on Easter Monday when down

at the S S cutting up the sandwiches

& no doubt your thoughts would

wander back to the days when

we were all with you & impatient

& eager to get away from home the

morning of the picnic. My thoughts

were cast in that direction on Easter

Monday & I thought of you all at

home & did not forget the S S picnic

as I imagined you would be having

at that time & under what different

circumstances I was placed, we were

face to face with the monster our

backs to the wall & he was attacking

our sector we were covering our own

boys & the guns were belching out

in defiance of his hordes which

were coming on his mass formation
 

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& thank God we stopped him.

Yesterday I went down for a

swim to the river which is

only a short distance from

our battery & happened to run

into a group of Australian infantry

& there was a band playing, so on

making enquiries they told us

that Billy Hughes & Joe Cook would

be along in a few minutes so

we waited & subsequently they

appeared & addressed the gathering.

They assured us that you were

all waiting in Australia for us

with open arms & that all eyes

were on us from those quarters

& also that we had never failed
them yet in anything we had been

asked to do. So when they return

they will be telling you of how

they visited the boys on the

Western Front. 

Today they are celebrating America's
 

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"Independence Day" in all the

allied countries & we celebrated

it in a very fitting manner.

Hence been up since 1 AM this

morning & have given Fritz a

good gruelling. I would like

to tell you more only censorship

debars me but it was a very

successful operation about which
you will no doubt read in

the newspapers in a few days

time rest assured "alls well".

There has been great aerial

activity & while our planes
have been patroling the skies

in hundreds there is not a

Boche to be seen in the air.

You will hardly believe it when

I tell you they are bringing up

supplies by aeroplanes. This morning

two cases of small arms ammunition

landed quite close to our

battery they are dropped from

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a plane & steadied to the

ground by means of a parachute

attached to them. There is no

doubt about it that the allies

are masters of the air. I have
just finished smoking a nice

cigar which Mrs Baxendall & Esther

sent me a box of also other

useful articles. They are very

good to me & write regularly

& it makes one feel ever so much

nearer home.
I will have lots of funny &

exciting experiences to relate to

you all when I get back for I

could fill a book with them.

One will be glad to get out of

khaki when the time arrives but

he has a lot of humour & fun

in the army even though it does

have its draw backs. I am sending

you on some Photos of the Battery

which were taken last January

while we were out having a rest
 

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I expect you will be able to pick

yours truly out of the crowd. Send
one of them on to Elsie will you?

You can keep the other two. Now Father

I will have to close so good

bye with love to mother self & all

at home

Your affSon

Rawson

[*Return those letters

when read*]

[*Australian 

War Memorial

PR00441*]

France

Friday

July 19^th 18

Dear Mother

I received your two welcome

letters dated april 30^th & May 7^th

about a week ago. They were

addressed direct to the battery.
I note your remarks re sending

them through a private address

but I would propose that in

future just send them to Uncle

Fred & address them to meMr R E Leach

in place of my number & rank.

Uncle Fred always puts them in

one big envelope & stamps it

afresh & the result is that I always

get my letters a week earlier than
if addressed to the battery direct.

I dont mind waiting the week

but if I should happen to get

to hospital or the likes my mail

in all probability would be

chasing me for weeks where

I could easily keep in touch

with Uncle Fred & he can re-address
 

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them to me & I would get them

within a few days. You can send

my parcels & papers to the Battery

for we have an unwritten law

amongst ourselves that if any

of our mates happen to be away

in hospital or on leave we are

at liberty to dispose of parcels

so that it cuts both ways. Only

the other day we demolished one

of our mates parcels who happened

to be away in Blighty wounded

& four of us made it look very

silly in a short while.

We are still having a good

weather & they are just about

to commence harvesting here in

France. You never see any young

fellows in the fields here all the

work is done by the old men

& the women folk the latter

doing as much work as any

man! ! I have seen some good

crops in Australia but I have

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never seen wheat crops similar

to what they can grow here in

France, they are wonderful crops

& any of them will go from 40 to

50 bushels per acre. I sent you

& Alice some PCards a fortnight

ago I hope you get them alright

We had a very pleasant time there

while we _^were out for a rest.

We had a m gun knocked out of

action about a week ago & for 

the past five or six day I have

been down at the Ordnance Work

Shops making the necessary repairs

We finished it last night & I

am now waiting for the team

to come & bring the gun & we I

will be off back to the line

again to "box on" with Fritz.

It has been quite a change & rest

down here for once in bed at night

time you are assured of a night's

rest without being disturbed. whereas

up at the guns you are up all

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hours of the night as that is

the time we do most firing & we

have always to be on the alert

just at day break as that is the

time you can expect Fritz if he

intends hopping the bags. The

quicker the artillery get into action

against Fritz's infantry the less

effective is his attack likely to be.

All the married men seem to

be enlisting from Parkes now.

I had a letter from Scarboro the

other day & they had heard

that Edgar Holgate had

enlisted in that time. Oh well

good luck to them all. They

mustn't realize they are coming

to a picnic, but so long as

a fellow keeps his pecker up

& doesn't worry things aren't

too bad then. One does a bit

of swearing at times & makes all

sorts of vows but there's lots of

fun & humour in the Army

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& you get that way that it

takes a lot to dampen your

ardour. We have a lot of hard

cases in our battery & they

take no more notice of shells

than if they were cream

puffs. There is one of our fellows

when he hears shells dropping

he will start singing "Where

did that one go to Erbert" & you

will see him poking his head out

of a dugout or trench.

Fritz has started another offensive

on the French but has come a

big gutzer & we have had some

very reassuring news this morning,

have just heard that the French have

captured 20,000 prisoners & 300 guns.

I think the darkest hours are over

for us & that we are just about

on the threshold of victory

as much as we are all tired of

the War the boys are all yearning

to give Fritz a good lashing &

nothing but to return with victory