Letters from Harold Edward 'Pompey' Elliott to his family, November 1916 - December 1916 - Part 1

France
2/11/16
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My dearest Katie,
I came back to my 
little tin hut out of the front line last
night.  I had started on foot at 9 pm
& got here after 12. The mud & slush
most of the way was quite up to the knees
& I had fallen over into many shell
holes so you can imagine the state I was
in but I found a heap of letters awaiting
me including two from you one a wee one in
pencil written in the train & the other a nice
big fat long one.  One from Dear Belle & two from poor old
Mr McCrae ^Geoff's Father. Muddy & tired worn out as I was I
read them all before I went to sleep
& was quite cheered & comforted by all
your kindness & love. I do indeed think
you ^women are all wonderful & one of the wonders
of them all is my own dear cheery
sunshine lady. My poor boys had
a terrible time in the trenches. For the
3 days ^& 2 nights they were there they had practically
no sleep or rest for the trenches were two to

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three feet deep in water & there are no
dug outs there. For myself I had a rabbit
burrow - an old german dug out 30 feet
deep into the white chalk. The entrace was
very small & narrow & a great bother to me
to get in & out. Once there however it was
comfortable & warm & my cold got nearly
better while I was there. When I went
round the trenches of course I got slopping sopping
wet just like the boys but we had a fire in
the end of the dug out & I promptly went to bed
until my clothes were dry again & did not
put them on again until quite dry. I
am very glad to say that my horse
old Darkie is not hurt by the folly he
got the other day as I thought but the
poor old chap has been living up to his
belly in mud & is losing a lot of his
spikyness sprighliness. However I hear we are
very likely to move out of the line very
shortly for a rest so he will get a decent
stable again for a little while & stand

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a chance to recover his spirit again
I cannot of course tell you of the
fighting. If to the present it has been
slight here owing to the weather
but the Bombardment goes on for
ever. I believe Jacky boy's people are
coming to take over the line from us but
don't know for sure yet. Wasn't the
dear wee laddie smart to sweep up
the fire all by himself when Baaby Belle was at
the telephone. Tell him Dida was
quite pleased to hear about him doing
that & tell dear little Gaga Dhurach that she is
much cleverer. than her old "Dida" because
he doesn't know how to play music pieces
like the dear wee lady. Dida will be
delighted when he comes home & hears
the wee girlie playing tunes for him. She
must learn bye and bye to play the dear
old Scotch Tunes for Dida & perhaps to
sing them to him. Then Dida won't
ever be able to go away from home

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any more but just stay with her little
pet lady. Ask her does she know who was
Dida's Pet.. Bert Layh looks the picture
of health, He was not up in the front
line this time as I had a job for him
in rear. He is a good soldier right
enough & of great help to me. Stewart
Duigan Bateman & all the rest are
well. The old 7^th are near still. I would
like very well to steal Bastin from them
Poor old Geoff never got his promotion
to Lieut Col. When anyone is killed
it is only in very very exceptional
cases that they are gazetted to any
higher Rank after death. Genl
Bridges got his K.C.B after death
but that was while because he was
then. G.O.C all Australian Troops
& it was to mark him with Special
honor. Well darling dearest best
old lady there is not much news
to tell you about that I can write 

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owing to the censorship. Much of horror
& suffering but so far nothing so
dreadful as Lone Pine. Here the
cold weather seems to stop putrefaction
of the bodies & things are not so
offensive but nor are the bodies so
crowded though thick enough in all
conscience. Even behind our lines our
our dead lie uncared for, for all
effort is taken up with supplying
the troops with food & water & the mud
is so dreadful that men are exhausted
in moving even a short distance.
Heaps & Millions of love & Kisses for you
my own dear little brave loving wife,
& to our sweet little ones from your
very own Dida. Don. 
Let me know about the Wedding. Geordie
is well. He wanted me to tell him one
day when a fight is coming or as he
wanted to Volunteer to go up in the front
line but I told him to get out & Trait his regular turn

P.S. I've just heard
that Conscription has
been rejected. Isn't that
a Scandal. I feel that
our Country has disgraced
us in the eyes of England
France & all the other fighting
allies

France
9/11/16
My dearest Katie,
I am big heap very
sad. For some reason our H.Qs mail
bag has gone astray & while all the
Battalions have got their mail up
to the 18^th Sept we at H.Q's have not
got any at all yet since last
week. up at the Trenches or
rather just as we got out of
them. We are all hoping it will
turn up today. We are all
very comfortable now once more
We are a good long way back from
the firing line. We had a ride
down in Motor Busses .ie the men had
I & the Brigade Major had a car to
ourselves & had a very nice journey
We i e H.Q of the Brigade are now in a
fine old country house which is called
in French "Chateau" belonging to
the Marquis de Sevigne' one
of the old French Aristocratic
Families. He has handed over

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one wing of his house entirely
to our Staff. We have 10 Bedrooms
a Sitting Room, Dining Room
& three rooms which we use as
offices & another which we use
as a post office. In the Stables
& Barns we have over 200 men &
a lot of wares so you can tell
that it is a pretty big place. It is
comfortably but by no means
luxuriously furnished. The
Bedrooms of the wing we inhabit are
all on the 2nd Floor. A big corridor
runs down one side of the Building
which (the corridor) is very well lighted by windows
which open into a sort of Court
Yard or Quadrangle. the Bedrooms ^open out of the corridor &
stretch right across the building
with big French Windows overlooking
a little park which has some
lovely old trees but The Grounds
are rather neglected just now
as all the men are away

3
at the war. I was very sad quered that
Australia has turned down
conscription. I cannot understand
it. I suppose it was the Catholics
that were against England as
usual together with all the Cold
footers & wasters. I wonder what
they will do now to keep up the
supply of recruits to these Brigades
We are already short of men. I
suppose they will begin to wake
up when we get defeated & have
to retreat again like we had
to in the Beginning. I think the
papers are a lot to blame for
always making out that we win
easily whereas every foot of ground
has to be paid for by dozens &
dozens of men. It is true we
have driven the Germans back
in onl one little place about
30 miles long & about 10 miles
deep on a front of about 800

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miles long & on all the rest of
that weary way the German is
holding his own & ever where we
have driven ^him back you can see
nothing but lines of Trenches
everywhere. The French have
sacrificed thousands of their
best men & are now getting very
very short of men to fight
with. They have borne the brunt
of the fighting for two long years &
it was up to us to help her
out this year but Australia
has dishonoured the Cheque
I wish Maloney & all the rest of
his crowd could be set down
here to see the way these Germans
treated the people here. I hope
we will never hear anything
more about the loyalty of the Irish
again. they are a lovely lot. I
will try to find out some news
of the boys you wrote about later