Letters from William Rawson Leach to his family, 1918 - Part 11

(4)
so you can see that we make
ourselves comfortable when the
opportunity offers. I am feeling OK
myself. I had a letter from
Arnie Walmsley the other day
& he had Leo up there on leave
I am expecting my leave some
time next month if all goes
well & am looking forward to
a good time. I got Alices parcel
last night the one with the
three bulletins & a pair of sox
in. Tell her I will write here
later on. Now Father I think
I will have to close so
good bye with love to
self & all at home
Your aff Son
Rawson.

France
August 18^th 18
Dear Mother & Father
I received your welcome letter
dated June 4^th last night & it is the first
I have had for about six weeks so you
can guess how glad I was to get it.
I also received one from Alice. A couple 
of nights ago I received the pcl with
the oranges in & three of them were just
lovely the other was destroyed being
squashed. Three of us had one each &
we thoroughly enjoyed them. The butter
you sent had gone bad so dont send
any more unless you send the tinned
factory butter which is sealed down. "Iceberg
brand" is a good brand a lot of the
boys get it in their parcels & it is OK
dont send any more tinned cheese we
get plenty of cheese in our army ration
in fact we get sick of it. Condensed milk
is always useful (sweetened). Many thanks
for the cigars you sent in the parcel
they were much appreciated. I will
look out for the other pcls you & Alice
mention I have got my parcels very
well & may have lost one or two. I got
no letters from you dated between May 18^th.

(2)
and June 4^th so I take it that there
are a few more kicking about for me.
You mentioned first getting my letters with
details of our efforts to stop Fritz in his
wild career. It is now ten or eleven days
since I last wrote you & since then we
have been through some stirring scenes
& we have been on the offensive &
given the huns something to put
in their pipes. The stint commenced
on the morning of August 8^th Everything
was concealed till the night before & we
moved our guns up to 2000 yds of his
front line trench & at 4.20 AM the next
morning the barrage opened. We knew
something big was coming off & we were
all anxiously waiting for the hour
to come when we were to get a little

of our own back at 18 minutes past
four we got the order "stand to" & xxx then
minute later we heard "one minute to go
& the next minute all the batteries for miles
round opened fire & away the big push
went. Our range lifted to 2000 yds &
we were in close communication with the
infantry.  About an hour & a half later

(3)

down came hundreds of prisoners

You could just see them coming through

the fog & mist & smoke the latter being

from the guns. At 8 o'clock we moved 
up about five or six miles forward

& got amongst Fritz's batteries turning 

his own guns on him. We had

one very interesting experience moving

forward we were just going over

Fritzs front line trench & our

gun got stuck in the trench & a

tank came to our assistance & hooked

on to us & pulled us out. The most

inspiring sight of the lot was just

as it was breaking day hundreds

of tanks could be seen making

their way past us on one flank & 

on the other flank could be seen

motor lorries & vehicles of all kinds

taking up supplies, engineers with

pontoons for building bridges across 

the river.  It was a great sight & the

hun went for his life. Casualties were

very light & I passed dozens of Fritz's

machine gun positions from which never

(4)
a shot had been fired they got out

of it as quick as they could. You should

have seen the guns & ammunition we

captured. We fired hundreds of rounds

of his own ammunition at him.

We have had a good run during the 

stunt plenty of work & long hours but

one doesn't mind that when he

knows he is on the tracks of the

huns. We had practically no artillery

resistance he used to come over at

night time dropping bombs but

apart from that we walked home

as the saying is. We are out of action

just at present having a bit of a blow

dont know when we will be going in 

again. We have had swimming sports

this afternoon & they are just over. it 

is Sunday afternoon & I expect it is just 

about your tea hour now. I only wish

I could pop in for a good feed for

Ive got a good appetite tonight. I think

I told you in previous letters that I was

in the third division & what Alice 

guessed in her letter was correct we

were defending the place that she

(5)
mentioned when Fritz started his

Offensive in March last.

I wasn't surprised to hear that the

lad had enlisted so he is going into

Camp in December. Does he intend going

into any particular unit & take just 

what comes I dont know that I can

offer him much advice as he probably

knows more about soldiering than I

do. But unless he is exceptionally keen on

getting into one of the fighting units, the

A.S C is about the best unit I know of.

Its almost as good as being a civilian

tell him when he comes away not

to hoard up a big kit to lug about

as it is more bother than it is worth.

All I have at present is my uniform (one

suit) two shirts & a few pairs of sox &

handkerchiefs. You can always get clothes even

if you have to pinch them for there are

plenty over here have never been short yet

& if I cant get them from the Quarter Master

some of my mates generally have a spare 

shirt or whatever you may happen to 

want. Now Mother & Father I will have

to close so good bye love to selves and

all at home your aff son,

Rawson

PS. Saw Gordon 
Best & Frank Berry

a few days ago 

both OK. 

That Ernie Parker was killed

up north about the end of

March he was in a different

division to me.

Rawson

Australian
War Memorial
[*PR00441*]

France

Sept 10^th 18. 

Dear Mother & Father

 I wrote you a short note

a few days ago & gave it to one of my

mates to post in Blighty as he was

going on leave that morning. This 

letter I hope to have the pleasure 

of posting myself in England as I 

am expecting going on leave any day

this week now so you will quite

understand how I am putting in the 

names of places etc as this wont 

have to go before the censor pencils

I received a letter from you last night 

dated June 29^th & one enclosed from

Ruth she had just got back from

her winter holiday & seems to have

had a very good time. Yesterday &

today it has been raining & there is

plenty of mud about. I will be jolly

glad to get away for a fortnight

& get onto clean footpaths & roads. Now

for a little of our whereabouts & doings

of late. Perhaps I can go back to March

21^st when Fritz started his offensive. We 

were at Bailleul then & came away from

(2)
there on the 23rd we came right down

the line through several big French cities

Frevent, Aire, St Pol, Doullens, & we were

to come into a place called Vaux Sur-Somme
but Fritz's patrols were there

before us & we stopped at a place called 

Bonnay. It was at Vaux where we galloped

into action on Easter Saturday. That was

where the Australians stopped Fritz's rush

on Amiens. A few days later we moved

round to our left in front of Heily & Mericourt
 & from there we went further still to the

left in the Village of Rubencourt. They

then gave us a spell & we went right

back to Abbeville for a little over a

fortnight & we came back into action

again on June 2^nd this time we had

our battery in Villers Brettoneaux &

we were there for about six weeks

& from there we went into action back

at Vaux once more. Now comes our

offensive which was started on August 

8^th. Our hopping off point was in front

of Vaire & Corbie with Hamel just in front

of us & from there we pushed on to