Letters from Harold Edward 'Pompey' Elliott to his family, November 1916 - December 1916 - Part 2

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Oh here are a lovely lot of letters for
me. just arrived - is am happy now a big fat one ^long from you  & another
little one from you both dated the 19^th Sep
& a postcard from the dear wee people
and a little sperriky letter from Belle
Dear & a letter from Mr Henderson at
Essendon & one from poor Mrs
Morrow at Ballarat replying to
the letter I wrote to her about poor old
Andy & me from Mrs Mason in
England telling me that Charlie has
arrived back there. I will try &
find out for you about the boys
you mention. I am very much
afraid though that it will not be very
definite. In practically all those
cases they lag out in front of our
lines & we were unable to get them
in although our boys tried very
hard taking in all they could.
Much of the fighting was in the
dark & no one knows how
they died or anything about them
 

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10^th Nov
I have been inquiring about those
boys you mentioned dearie. In
regard to xxxx McLaren all we know
is that he was with Geoff McCrae
in the charge on the German Trenches
on the 19^th July & never came back
again & no one knows what happened
him. We have not yet been informed
that he is a prisoner of war. It
is almost certain however that
some of these boys were captured
With regard to Jenkin: Do you
remember that I told you that after
the fight on the 19^th July a lot of our
wounded were lying out in front
of our trenches with the Germans
firing at then & a lot of our boys
most led by Mrs Marshall's son
Norman Marshall rescued over
300 of them but about 30 of the
rescuers lost their lives whilst
doing so. Young Jenkin did
splendid work all night with
one party & rescued a great
many. The others were knocked
up but Jenkin went out 
 

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again in the early dawn about 
half past four & never came
back any more. He said before
he went out that he had seen
another wounded man out there
& he would go & get him in.
In all probability he was killed
while doing so. Please tell his
poor mother all about him Katie
& tell her the whole brigade is full
of admiration for the gallantry
& devotion of her son & the other
boys who also lost their lives whilst
on this work of mercy. His work
was fully deserving of the V..C.
& it is only due to the fact that so many
of our boys were eager to risk their
lives in this work that it became
so impossible to get recognition for them
all that in nearly all cases it had
to go unrecognized. Another man
a Mr Routley who lives at 8 Highbury
Grove Kew wrote to me about his son
Sergt Routley who was missing in
the same fight. It was reported in
the London Times about 20^th Oct that
 

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he died of his wounds as a Prisoner
in Germany but of that I have had
no official notification so I cannot
say whether it is true or not.
I have suggested that if he makes
himself known to you & I ever
hear any thing further of his boy
I will write about him to you
& you can tell him  about it. The
Commander in Chief Sir Douglas
Haig is coming to see me tomorrow
& General Birdwood is coming
to Church Parade the day after.
Sunday. During our last turn
up or the Trenches General Birdwood
wanted the 14^th Brigade which is in our
Division to do an attack. I went
up into the line because I was told
that the 15^th might have to take it on
in the event of anything preventing
the 14^th from attempting it. I had
a good look at the state of the
mud & the Trenches & came to the
 

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conclusion that it was madness to
attempt on attack in the circumstances
& told Genl McCay so on my return
M^cCay could not go up himself on
account of the dreadful mud &
his lame leg which prevents him
getting about. McCay took my view
entirely & told General Birdwood
that he would not take the responsibility
of ordering the attack. So it was put
off. The Brigade who relieved us
belonging to our Division Jacky boy is
with however tried to do the attack
for General Birdwood as he wanted
to get a very bad doing & had to
come right back to where they
started. I am glad I spared
our poor boys from the attempt
but I don't expect I improved my
position with Genl. B. much. However
the result seems to prove that I was just
about right doesn't it. The mud was
up to your knees - fancy attempting
 

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a charge under those circumstances.
Isn't the wee laddie a rogue - He settled
your fairy soo man all right. I
wonder if he discovered you were only
cheating him after all Katie. It is
a beautiful day Katie clear & bright,
& very fresh & biting out of the sun
but very nice in the sun. I had a ride
over to the little Village about 3 miles away
where Col Merait & his boys are stationed.
They have a lovely country Villa or Mansion
to live in. It has a lot of lovely beautiful old
walnut furniture & some lovely
marble ornaments or ^made of or the purest white
marble. He is looking splendid. I had
dinner with Col Layh the night before
last. He also has a beautiful house
so we are all very comfortable for a
week or so — then back to the Trenches.
I saw Jacky boy for a few moments
He was passing along the road with
his waggons going up as we were
coming out. He looks as bright
 

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and cheerful as ever. I did not see
Bob. Smith though. I hear he is all
right. I had a note from Geordie. They
are still in the same place a fair
distance behind the firing line. He
told me that Lyn Cousin Harold Barker
was blown into the air by a big shell
but got off with a very bad shaking &
a broken leg. Geordie was very surprised
He was called to attend an wounded
officer & found it was young Barker.
He was very lucky indeed that he
was not blown to pieces for it was
one of Fritz's "Jack Johnston's" &
usually there isn't much left of the
man they get mixed up with. Fortunately
at present the mud is so soft &
that the effect is very local as they the shells
bury themselves deep into the earth
& the pieces dont spread much but if
they drop on you it is hard to find
enough of you to bury. I had a letter from
 

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McLeod of Diggers Rest. He wanted a recommendation
from me that he was a Motor Driver. He wants
to transfer into the Motor Transport Coy.
Tell the dear little people I was delighted to
get the letter from them with the dear little baby
on the card. The old Marquis here has a lot
of lovely dogs. As all the men have had to
go to the war he has a couple of funny old
women looking after them & he had some
photos taken of them. He gave me one &
I will send it to the laddie. Dearest old
Katie does she love me dickless?Tell me Dida
[[???]] Surely it will be like
[[?]] after this my darling. God bless
& keep you till then. Tell Mr Rock
that I was feeling very sad on the 8^th Nov
I had just heard of the failure of the
Conscription Referendum. I picked up
the little book of Daily Light to gave me
(I really dont know how I have managed
to preserve it all through Gallipoli & France
but I have it still). I turned to the
 

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page for the day "November 8^th". In part of
it there is this passage "He will swallow
"up death in Victory: and the Lord God
"will wipe away tears from all faces; and
"the rebuke of his people shall he take
"away from off all the earth: for the Lord
"hath Spoken it."
I dont know how I came to pick up
the book but the passage caught my
eye as soon as I opened it &
it cheered me up quite a lot.
Surely the war will not last another
year but I must say the German
shows mighty little sign of weakening
anywhere. I guess he will feel very
much encouraged when he hears that
Australia has turned down conscription.
Now dear old Katie I must Hop.
Wasn't it a joke about old ^Colonel Field ^meeting Mrs
Cruickshank. Its a wonder he didn't give me
a character sure enough for the
way I used to sort the poor old
chap up was something scandalous
 

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but the or old chap was surely the
Limit. And so you think the little people
are getting like me. I hope their hearts
are like yours though Katie- trued
good & sweet & bright like my
sunshine lady & then their looks won't
matter. The woods about here have
lovely autumn tints just now.
There was one lovely beach tree
in the park at the place where
Col Stewart is.. It had all sorts
of shades of gold & brown on
its leaves & looked glorious in
the bright sun. There was a
wonderful old chestnut tree
there. It was a real picture of "Under
the Spreading Chestnut Tree". It had
hardly any leaves left, but it must have
been be a glorious shady old tree in the
Summer. Still on the whole the country
hereabouts is not so pretty nor are
the houses so nice as in England