Letters from Harold Edward 'Pompey' Elliott to his family, January 1917 - April 1917 - Part 11

but the aeroplane men
have no such chance
The Bosche brought down
no less than four of our airmen
a day or so ago & it was
sickening to see the planes
come down & the men in
them were mangled out of
all recognition. We buried
them. The other day our
men bought down a 
German Prince - Prince
Carl of Prussia - the Kaiser
nephew. He was unhurt
only his machine was damaged
& he guided it down very
cleverly & made a good landing.
Although he was right out
in front of our lines as
he could see my main outpost
line along a ridge but I had

pushed out some 500
yards in front of this small
post of three men & a Corpl all
along the line at intervals
of 300 or 400 yds to watch for
any mischief. He had
landed inside this & when
he hopped out he started
to run like mad towards
his own lines. When he had
gone about 200 yards he saw
he was running right into one
of these small posts so he
turned off to the left & ran
between the lines. As he would 
not halt the boys fired & wounded
him in leg & back. He is getting
better I hear although he was
pretty bad when we got him
Capt Legge my Staff Capt was
first over to him & dressed his
wounds. He said he is a

very fine chap - powerfully built
& good looking. We did not
know then that he was the
Prince. But that came out
later. Unfortunately the Prince
in his running had got just
out of our Boundary into that
of a Brigade of the 2^nd Division
& as he was caught in their
ground they claimed him
so although my boys had
shot him we had to give him
up. Well Katie dearest
pet this is all the
news this time. It is
very cold again now & wet.
We ^ (ie this Division) still pushing on but
shortly the old 1^st Div will
take over the front line & then
we get a real rest. This morning I
had to send Col Stewart & his boys
up to help the 14^th Brigade at daylight.
Thery had captured a couple of villages & were
not sure they could hold them. But I think

matters have cleared
up there now. Tell Mrs
Marshall that Norman
did spendidly in his
Course at Aldershot
& finished up by getting
married. He was offered
the Command of a Battalion
in England but preferred
to come back to your old
man & wait his time here
That was very good of him
wasn't it? He has not
arrived yet. Fred Falk is
now Major & so is Jack Scanlan
Scanlan & Capt Legge have each
gone to Schools in England
with a view to their appointments
as Brigade Majors. I shall
soon be losing Major Wieck. This

will be a great loss to me but if I
get Jack Scanlan I wont do too
bad. Millions of love & kisses for you &
the wee pets from Dida Don

DONATED RECORDS LIST
3297
3rd Series
P.S. I am enclosing
some newspaper cuttings also
& a Bosche frank mark note
which one of the boys gave me.
A mark is about a shilling
or 10^d

France
7/4/17
Dearest Sweetest wifelet
Two dear
sweet letters from you today so I am
very happy. We have had a rest
since the 29^th March but both the
57^th & 59^th had to go up odd nights
& relieve the people in the front line as
they have not really had much spell rest
yet & those that have not been in the
line have been working hard repairing
roads etc. I had a letter from poor
old Harry Duigan. He is being sent
back to Australia for 6 months. I
doubt very much if he will ever come
back again. He is threatened with
Consumption & all sorts of things so
he is better away from that climate
He will be back in Australia no doubt
even before this reaches you & will come
& see you. I don't know if his lads will

go out too but that is pretty certain
Norman Marshall just got back
last night too. He did very well at
the school & he will take the 60^th Bn

& be the new Lieut Col. I should
think Mrs Marshall would be
just bubbling over with pride in
him. Fancy, Katie, joining as a
private & now Lieut Col with a
Military Cross as well  & pretty sure
of a D.S.O. too before long. And his
men just think the world of him
too. This is in the 57^th I hope the
boys in the 60^th will like him as
well. I feel sure they will too

in a very little time. I was afraid
that he might miss the bns. as one
a Lieut Col Davies who was  out of a

job was sent to take charge of the 68^th
just for a fortnight or so. Then a
vacancy occured in one of Tivey's Battalions
& Davies is to go there the day after
tomorrow & Norman will take over
the Battalion right away. I am
all A impatience now to hear of the
safe arrival of the silks & how you
liked them. I'm afraid you would
have rather had a lighter blue in the silk

but it is so awkward to explain to
people exactly what you want. Nevermind
you will love me good won't you darling
pet. I am glad you asked me dearest
about what Baaby Belle would do if anything
happened to you. I should have thought of that
before. I don't quite know the procedure but I will
find out as soon as I can & let you know.
Now you tell me that you are getting on so well
I hope indeed there is no chance of anything
happening but one should never leave
a single thing to chance. Let Belle know
that my will is in the Safe with Mr Roberts.
It is as well she should know that in the event
of anything happening to both of us. The
Ballarat Trustees Company are the Executors.
My St Michael & St George Cross & the Cross
of St Anne I have left in the care of Mrs
Edwards my cousin. She says she is
writing to you & sending a drawing of them
I was thinking of posting them to you but
I was afraid a Submarine might get them
which would ^ have been a pity & ^ have caused me a lot
of bother to get duplicates of them even if

it were at all possible to get duplicates.
So I decided to keep them safe in England.
All my surplus kit is at my uncle's Mr
James A Scott. "Elmdale" The Hyde,
Hendon. London. He is not really my
uncle, but is Uncle Aunt Marys (Uncle
Robert's Widow) brother. He is very nice &
would send them out to you very carefully
packed. He is a Jamaica Merchant &
seems very comfortably off. When there is no
war they live the summer in England & the winter
in Jamaica.

I have had all sorts of congratulations about the
ways I my boys have fought. General Walker whose
Division has just taken over from us spoke with
great admiration to our little spunky own general
man about it & of course the latter is just
fairly bubbling over with delight but all the same
I never feel any confidence in him. I know if the least
thing went wrong I could expect no defence from him
no matter how blameless I might be. I have just the
same feeling towards him as towards Jim Courtney. I have
no real pleasure in doing well for him as I had
under McCay for with all his faults J.W McCay
was a true soldier & knew good work when he saw
it. Now I captured 13 villages & 7 miles deep
of country in 7 days with all the villages strongly
wired & fortified & lost only 2 officers killed &
11 wounded & about 400 other ranks of whom about
60 only were killed. The next Brigade that went 
in lost more men than that & only captured
one village & a chateau & advanced a mile &