Letters from Harold Edward 'Pompey' Elliott to his family, November 1916 - December 1916 - Part 11

off to you all right. I hope the

little gauntlet ^French girl didn't make

any mistake in the address.

Tell Mrs Layh Bert is quite

all right & Mrs Smith that

when I saw Bob the other day

Oh I've put her he looked the

picture of health He is sure

to be Brigadier Genl very shortly.

It is strange that Henry Bennett

Bob Smith Ramsay McNicol &

myself all started in the same

Battn. with old Jimmy Courtney ^when I was adjutant

I taught all of them a lot in

the old days. Well dear old

sweet loving darling pet

with all love & kisses to you

& the wee best darlings in all the

world for Dida Do.

P.S. The poor chap ^in the 37th Bn who got

Fogeys parcel is named Ball.

He was delighted to get it &

the only thing tat is troubling

him is that he has got to find

& thank me & he's scared

                                    France

                                      27/12/16

My dear little Soldier Laddie,

                  Dear old mum tells 

me always what a big strong soldier laddie

you are growing & that you look after her & Gagy ^Dhurack

& dear & Nana quite well now. Since I wrote

to you before we got a lot of big waggons like

traction engines & put guns in them

& ran them "bumpety bump" up

against the old Kaiser's wall & knocked

a great big hole in it & caught

thousands & thousands of the Kaiser's

naughty soldier me & we killed

a lot of them & more we put in jail

so they couldn't be naughty any

more but then it started to rain

& rain & snow & hail & the ground got

all boggy & the waggons got stuck in the

mud & the old Kaiser has such heaps 

& heaps of soldiers that he sent up a

lot more & thinned them out where the

wall wasn't broken & started to build

up another big wall to stop us going

any further. So we had to stop &

                       2

wait for the sun which has gone

off away down to Australia to warm

my little laddie to come back to us

& dry up the mud. So when the weather

gets cold again where my laddie

is he will know that the nice warm

sun has come right away back

up here to warm Did & his soldiers

& dry up the mud so the waggons wont

get stuck anymore & Dida & his soldiers

will build such a lot of great big

steam waggons like trains & put

big guns on them & drive them against

the wall all the way along & not just

one little bit to make a hole in it

but all the way along so that the old

Kaiser wont know where to mend it at 

all & lots & lots of his men will surrender

& promise not to be naughty any more &

then we will catch the old Kaiser who

made them naughty & made them kill

all the dear little boys & girls & burn all

the houses down. Now what does the

Laddie think we ought to do to a 

naughty old Kaiser like that when

we catch him? And when we have

caught him then Dida & all his soldiers

will come home. But it is very very

cold here & the Jack Frost here is not

a nice little Jack Frost who just pinches

your fingers so you can run to a fire to

warm them but a great big bitey Jack

Frost who pinches the toes & fingers of some

of Dida's poor soldiers so terribly that

he pinches them right off. Isn't that

terrible: Does the laddie know Jack frost who

makes the grass all white in the morning &

pinches your fingers in the morning when you

get up with the cold. The sun chases him

away every day at home with you but

up here the sun goes right away & it

is dark nearly all day except from

eight oclock until half past four at

this time of year & Jack Frost doesn't

care a bit for the sun & just stays with

us all the day. So we all want the sun

to come back quickly to us & drive

Jack Frost away & dry up all the mud

& ice. And the naughty old Kaiser

burnt down every little house all 

round here & Dida's soldiers have

to sleep out in the mud or dig holes

in the ground like rabbits to sleep

in. And all the trees are blown to

pieces by the big guns & there is no wood

to make fire & Dida's soldiers have to make

fires of coal & the waggons are all stuck in

the mud so Dida's soldiers have to carry

it through all the mud & everything they

eat & wear has to be carried too. And

Dida's soldiers get so dreadfully tired

they can hardly work or walk at all.

Isn't that old Kaiser a naughty old man

to cause all this trouble.

Now goodbye dear little laddie. Give 

dear old Mum a kiss & tell her Dida's coming

home soon & that you will grow up soon & you

wont let any old Kaiser come near her or 

Gagy or dear or Nana.

Heaps of love & kisses from Dida

                                                          France

   Pages 1-4 omitted                   30.12.16

I have not yet had an opportunity of getting 

more Fragment from France again.

It is ^was not quite so good as the first one

but I am sorry it went astray all the

same. It was funny about the cable tough

I wonder if that Annie Violete did send it

or did she forget. She told me she had sent

it. Perhaps sh put on a wrong address. I told

you I got young Stillman Mrs Roberts nephew

his Commission with Col Duigan didn't I.

Division has collared him ^now as Assistant

Provost Marshall as soon as they found

out he was a lawyer. It is a nice

comfy & pretty safe job but I dont think

he was anxious to take it at all as it

will prevent him learning his job with

me & he knows I wont let him get promotion

till he does know his job fully in the

trenches. He is a very nice boy & will

if they give him a chance make quite

a good officer. I don't know what madness

affected the people over the Referendum

I heard only a few days ago that Russia

was so disgusted with the slow progress

                             6

that the British & French armies are

making in contrast with her efforts

that she was on the verge of accepting

very good terms of peace which Germany

offered & only for a very special

embassy sent over by the British Government

they would have done so. This would

have freed 2,000,000 men to be hurled

upon us here like a listing avalanche.

If this happens then Australia can

count on becoming German pretty soon

& then those lunatics of anti-conscriptionists

can look out for trouble. The only

salvation we have is that the Russians

dare not trust the Germans word. They 

felt sure that after we had been beaten

thoroughly Germany would soon find out a

pretext to start another war with

Russia all by itself & then there would

be trouble for her, but you can well

imagine the trouble the British Govt has

to convince the war weary Russians

that the British are doing everything to

win the war while the Colonies refuse

                          7

to adopt conscription at any price

I have told you all sorts of reasons caused the

silly ones amongst the Anzacs to vote against

Conscription. I am more than ever pleased

with my dear little people & I am longing

to come home to them. What dear little kind

hearted mites they are. I think they will

like Kiplings stories the gust so ones especially

if you tell them that Mr Kipling wrote them all

for his own little boy - his only one - his dearest

beloved - & the little boy grew up to a big man

& came to fight the Kaiser because he was

naughty & the Kaisers soldiers killed

him & now Mr Kipling is very very sad because

he has no dearest beloved. Well darling loviest

dearest sweetheart that's just about all

the news this time cept that I love you

just about a million & a million

again. Mrs Smith will be pleased to hear

her old man ^husband came to London from Australia

& they were wedded a week or two back.

He has been given a decoration by the King

of Montenegro - The Order of Ianilio or

something of the sort Bye darling pet

millions of love & kisses for you & wee pets from Dida Do.