Letters from Harold Edward 'Pompey' Elliott to his family, November 1916 - December 1916 - Part 7

lose their toes or feet & even their
legs. It is terrible how rapidly the
wretched thing develops here. Some
men who started back from the trenches
with very little sign of it after walking
two or three miles to the dressing
station had already developed
gangrene with toes & feet. I am
in an old German dug out nearly
forty feet below the Surface. I have      
two pairs of socks on & yet my feet 
are cold as frogs here at 3 p m
While I am writing to you & my
fingers so cold that I can hardly

write. Yet the poor boys are on

guard in a shell hole out in front

nearly up to their knees in slush

& mud. My ^own boys being out of

the line ^at this moment are working very hard

pushing up boards etc for them
to stand upon & are making a

very light little to railway 

to send up food & water ^etc & so lessen

the awful toil of carrying these

daily through the mud. We

hope to get a railway within about

800 yards of the firing line by making

use of various gullies & dips

hidden from the enemy. On these

foggy dull days we could work

it all day & this Fritzes would

never see us & it makes no noise

or smoke being driven by a little

motor engine. Such a little Baby

then it is with two little toy trucks

in front & two behind but it is wonderful

what a load it will pull along.

The laddie would love it for a toy.

but 100 men could hardly pull

the load it takes away with care

When it is finished 75% of the

dreadful labor of carrying will be

done away with. We are also getting

dry dug outs made where men

coming from the front line can get 

early attention in safely & comfort
When we come back again after
Xmas we will I hope find things
Very comfortable. We have made a
good start & by this time Jacky boy's
people get here things will be
Vastly improved to what they were
when we took over for we found
not a single thing done towards
making the men comfortable. I
have had two letters by the last
mail from Mrs S. McLaren of 186
Gateshouse Street Parkville. asking
about her sons No 2101 Pte F.F.
McLaren 60^th Bn & Pte John McLaren

(No number given) of the 21^st Bn. I will

do what I can to trace them but

dont know if I shall have any luck

It this the lady that Ine Stewart

mentioned. I am enclosing our

official notes on Pte Jenkin whom

you asked about once before. I

think I told you all I could find 

out about him but forgot to enclose

Col. Stewarts note, I should not

like to go away & leave my boys now
I dont think anyone will try to look
after them as well as I have. I do
not spare them or think of their hardships
if the work to be done is essential
& cannot be neglected but apart
from that I don't think any of the
other Brigadiers are more careful
of the men that I have been. Well
my dear old darling Katie God
Bless & keep you safe & well

you & your two darlings. Tell

them Dida is always thinking of

them & loves them good 

France
8/12/16
My dearest Katie,
Heavy rain has 
set in again & things are very miserable
I have had to go back to bed but I think
I am getting better. I will cable to you if I
have to go to hospital so if you dont
hear you will know all is well. Isn't
the news about Romania & Greece just
awful. I have always thought that it
would be all over by Xmas 1916 1917
but I begin to fear I will never see
home again. This wretched misfortune
seems to be almost the last straw. With
the wheat & oil lands of Romania at
her disposal it would seem impossible

to starve Germany out & God knows
when we can fight her to a stand
still. I wonder if this disaster were
needed to bring the Australian people
to their senses or if it is true, that
"those the gods wish to destroy", as the
old Greeks used to say, "they first

make mad" Certainly to me they

appear to be mad. England seems

at last to be waking up & bumping 

old Asquith out. But there they
have all the Zepps & submarines to
teach them the danger of remaining
any longer in a fools paradise.
It seems to me that never before have
we been in such awful danger of
being defeated & you know what that
would mean - the end of the British
Empire. Certainly Australia would go
to the Germans. There is no doubt
it would be justice for people capable
of such selfishness as our people have
proved themselves deserve no better
fate. And those Labor scoundrels
would soon find out the difference
then. You should have heard the
great cheers that went on in the
enemys lines last night. Evidently
the news of the fall of Bucharest
had just been announced.
One can only hope that God will
open peoples eyes to their danger
& strengthen their mind & will to 

conquer. Genl Tivey was slightly 

wounded a couple a days ago by
a splinter of shell which just cut his
pants & bruised his knee a little. He

had a day in bed on the strength

of it & got himself reported wounded

but it was the softest wound I've seen

for a good while. He was quite beside

himself with joy about it. I suppose

he will now incur a wound stripe

with the rest of us. Some people are

queer aren't they. Genl Antill

got ill the other day & Col Heane

took over the old 2^nd Brigade but he
was wounded the very day he took

over & at present Col Jess who I

selected to succeed me with the

7^th Batt has now the old Brigade &
Swift of the Essendon Rifles tres the
7^th Bn. He is only a boy about 22 &

if he gets the job permanently

& becomes Lt Col he will be far

the youngest Colonel. ^so far The boys used

to nickname him "General Swift"

& he may in truth become one 

sure enough one of these days if

the war goes on. General Glasfurd

was killed & Genl Paton wounded a little
while back. I hear that Genl Major Genl
Walker & Major Genl Con both Imperial
officers are going back to the British

Army. If their places are filled as
I believe is intended from our own
men it will bring me pretty near
promotion to Major General. Our Genl

McCay is far from well too & he may
have to be replaced at any time
I am not anxious for the job
however by any means for it will
bring very great responsibilities
with it & at present I hardly
feel strong enough to stand those
worries than I have upon me
now. The mail closes tomorrow
morning dearie  & this will go to
you. I am afraid it is not a

very cheerful epistle. I am I must

confess not feeling at all elated 

8 a.m.  10^th Dec
Feel very much

better in every

way darling

this morning

Cold nearly

gone

Love

Dida

Tubb called

to see me yesterday 

at the prospect of things in general

Dont forget to tell me xx xxx  x xxxxx

dearie pet when you write xxxx xxxxx xxxx

Tell In Rock to pray that the minds

of the people at home are opened to our

great danger before it is too late.

I fully expect that next spring the 

Germans having settled with the

Roumanians & Russians for the 
time being will swing back on us
here & the most fearful fight of all

history will result. Unless we have

additional recruits we cannot hope

to hold them back. It is almost

certain the Germans will have

tanks perhaps better than ours.

At present the German Aeroplanes

are far inferior to ours for all

the "skite" in the papers & Almost

every day our machines are

brought down & every day the

enemy's planes get more daring

swooping down & firing on our

men with machine guns