Correspondence between Herbert Vincent Reynolds and his family, 1914-1915 - Part 10

[*[[Br? Kay]]*]
Gallipoli

Wed 21^st July 1915

Dearest Mother
I received your letter dated June 9^th but there were no papers with it the "Couriers" you

said you sent by the last mail have not come along yet although the "Punch" found me allright

I have not heard from Ellis yet my letter could not have reached him, I was round to the 7^th 

Batt last Sat but found that Lieut Walker had been seriously wounded on the 12^th and

I could not find any other of the Eliss'es mates, they seem to have fared very badly. Frank

Stevens & W Madden got back here again, they said that they seen nothing of Pete in

Egypt I do not know if he is still there or if he has come along here, I expected him

to send me a few lines but have had none from him. I am glad to see that you

received my letters written on the boat and I hope those written here have reached

you allright. I expect you are all wondering how things are going here, as far

as we are concerned they are pretty slow and things are getting a bit monotonous

the lads are grumbling about the inactivity, a few outpost & patrol skirmishes

of a night is all that is doing lately except the artillery who get banging aways

at times, the turks are not game to try & force us to into the water again

like they did on the night of the 18^th and 19^th of May, they got such a leathering

then that I'll bet they have not got over it yet, anyhow they have kept

well away from the canibals & aboriginals from Australia since, We lost a few men

in the attack but nothing like what they lost I dont think I'm far out when

I say that for every man we lost they lost 20, they came up after the old

German style massed formation & the slaughter was awful, I went through

the trenches after & there were turks lying on top of one another in places, the

machine guns simply mowed them down as they came up. Their artillery made it a

welter just after dawn on the 19^th, they sent it in every way, but it did not hit

more than a couple of hours, one of their planes was over & let loose half a doz thunder

bolts but whatever the target was he missed it & done no damage. There was a

hun over the other morning in his plane but one of his bombs came in usefull

as he put her just into the water & there were fish to be got a few minutes

after, there were two dropped but the 2nd one did not explode & it would have done

no harm if it had, as no one was near it. I hope these few lines reach you safely

remember me to Grannie & the rest hoping these lines find you all well

especially Grannie I remain

truly

Bert

[*[[Br? Kay]]*]
Mrs H Reynolds

Albert St

Sebastopol

Ballarat

Victoria

Australia

21^st July 1915

Gallipoli

July 30^th 1915

Dear Mother

I hope my previous letters have reached

you all right ∧Received your letter dated June 15^th also one from Stan

D, Ada. & Siss, you might tell them that I will write

to them later on. No papers came along by last mail.

I do not know what to think about Ellis or Pete neither

have answered my letters. Pete had not left Egypt last

I heard of him & they cannot tell me if Ellis is coming 

back here or if he is being sent home. Wallie Mitchell

went away he is run down & wants a good rest, his

unit has been ∧kept going since the the Wed after landing

that is the tent division, & they have had plenty to do. 
We have been here mear 4 months now & we could pretty

near all do with a spell, so far, we have been very

lucky as there have been very few cases of fever

etc. all the troops have been inoculated for Cholera

since a∧rriving here. These are only a few lines to let you

know things are all right Frank Stevens & Bill

Madden are back here again. Wallie Raine may

be sent home he got wounded rather badly. Hoping

you are all well yours truly

Bert

FIELD SERVICE
POST CARD

Mrs H Reynolds

Albert St. 

Sebastopol

Ballarat

Victoria

Australia

I am quite well.

I have been admitted into hospital 

{ sick           } and am going on well. 
{wounded } and hope to be discharged soon.

I am being sent down to the base. 

I have received your {letter dated 27^thJune

{telegram "

{parcel " 

Letter follows at first opportunity

I have received no letter from you

{ lately.

{ for a long time.

Signature } Pte H V Reynolds

only.}

Date Aug 28^th 1915

St Georges Hospital

Malta 29^th Aug 1915

Dear Mother

I expect you will have been wondering

why I did not write for the last couple of weeks.

but the mail left the peninsula the day after I came

away, & I did not have time to write before leaving, and

we were messing about for 10 days on the boat before

coming here so, that is why you received no word

from me for about 3 weeks. I was in our field 

hospital for a few days but got no better so they sent 

me to Lemnoss but the place was full up & we were 

brought on here, there is nothing serious wrong

with me, I dont exactly know what is really the 

trouble, but I could not keep anything down for

8 days and my head is troubling me a lot lately. 

anyhow I'm not doing too bad here, anyhow

I can do with a bit of a spell after 16 wks solid

going, it is about time I think that all our

fellows are were given a spell they are gradually

all getting knocked out & being sent away sick. 
I received your letter dated June 27^th

Another chap from Sebas got wounded

about a week f before I came away he had

his arm broken by a sh bomb he was in

Ellis Stone's company in the 7^th his name

is Jack Tresize. There is very little to write

about. I think this is about all I can write

this time hoping you are all well at home

yours truly

Bert

Mrs H Reynolds  29 Aug 1915

Albert St

Sebastopol

Ballarat

Victoria

Australia

HMS Hospital Ship Plassy

English Channel

Sept 11^th 1915

Dear Mother

Just a few lines, to let you 

know where I have got too now. We left

St Georges at 9.30 am in a motor

wagon and got on board this boat at about

10-30am, we did not have long to wait before

getting under way as we sailed out of harbour

at 12 noon Sept 5^th. We have had a lovely

trip have had no rough weather whatever

although we expected to get some in

the Bay but it was exceptionally calm,

we are in the channell now, and will

be in Plymouth tonight. I am feeling

pretty right now but still have a

cold on me. I did not think they would

send us to England from Malta but 

it seems that I was wrong. There is one

thing troubling me and that is my

money I have about 6₤ to draw and

I have run out of the few shillings 

that I had on leaving the Peninsula

and do not know when I will be able

to draw any more, they paid us the

huge sum of 2/- at Malta. I did not

draw any pay on the Peninsula as

there was no means of spending it, our

unit did not even get a weeks spell

at Imbross which most of the Australian

units got. We lived like rabbits there
in dugouts into which old Abdul used

to send us at the double, when he

started his fireworks. We got shifted

out of our bivouack about a week

after landing they made it to warm

to be comfortable one morning in

particular they made a welter of it and

started sending over his old scrap iron

as if he had objections to the hospital

us occupying this particular position for

our bivouac. we had the luck of xgews

that morning only one of our unit was

wounded and his 3 mates who were all

living in the one dugout & that was

next to mine, took him in to it and

started bandaging him up they had 

not been in above 30 sec when a shell

hit the box we were using for keeping

our rations in and sent rations box

dirt and every thing flying besides

cutting the rope that the water proof

sheets were fastened over the dugout

with, it then went into the dug out

next door where these 4 chaps were

and covered them with dirt and knocked

down the sand bags they had on the 

side but to our surprise none of

the 4 were hurt. We shifted next day

to another bivouac where we could

not be seen by Abdul and there