Letters from Harold Edward 'Pompey' Elliott to his family, May 1917 - December 1917 - Part 19

3^rd Dec 1917

My dearest Katie pet.

Here I am here

still. But I am just about
quite all right again & will
go up before a Board at London
tomorrow & get sent back
to France as soon as possible. Today
is a very bright day.
Yesterday it was bitterly cold
with just a little snow.
The weather is heaps milder
than last year at the same
time. I've been just loafing
here Katie & it has been just
something lovely to have the

2
rest. I don't think I knew
how very near I was to a 
complete knock up. It has
taken me the full month
to pull up anywhere near
right again. I am feeling
pretty good just now though.
Frank Tuff poor old
Freds brother is threatened
with consumption & has been
invalided home. I hope he
gets there all right & in time.
He has a job in Queensland
to go back to & he should be
all right there. He got the M.C.
at Pozieres & is even better
officer than poor old Fred.
He says he will look 
[*D.R.L. 3297 (3rd S)*]

3
you up you poor old darling
lady, I hope you are still smiling
bravely at all our troubles:- my dear
sunshine lady God bless & keep
you always. I had a very kind
letter from Mrs Marshall about
Geordie.
If you have time you can
suy write to Mrs P. Buckley at
the address & thank her for looking
after your old man me & his my boys.
She always has 5 or 6 here. & an
Australian Nurse. It must cost
them thousands really I dont know
how they can afford it & I think
they are getting pretty anxious
as they would never expect that the
war would be going on for years like
this but having put their home at the
disposal of the Govt. I suppose they would
not like to say anything now but the
expense must be terrible. The worst is
some of the boys take it all as a matter
of course & often dont write after they
have left & I think she feels it a good
deal at times. Others are very grateful
& their wives & mothers write & thank her.
Bye dear old sweetheart, darling pet
I must stop. Heaps of love & kisses
[*2DRL/0513*]

Belgium
10/12/17
My dearest Katie,
I am back again
in the silly old War. I left
London on Wednesday last (today is
Monday) about 1 pm. Col Mason
was with me. It was a nice fine
day when we left but it got very
cold on the sea. On arrival we were
met by a Motor Car & got back here

after a very cold drive about 11 pm.
This part of the line is the
quietest I ever was in. We
have comfortable dug outs &
there is hardly any shelling
at all even up on the Front
line. Genl McNichol came
to see me today. He looks
wonderfully fit & well
He is acting Divisional
Commander whilst Genl
Monash is away on leave.
He McNicol is a wonderfully smart chap
though he is not well liked.
I get on with him very well

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myself. We are going to be relieved
soon I hear & go out for a rest,
Even with such a quiet Sector
the men in the front line have
much discomfort and hated work
to put up with. The constant
patrolling in the dark is very
trying. The other night it was
pitch dark & freezing cold -
out on patrol a poor fellow
stepped on a Shell hole
frozen over. The ice bore him
till he got his full weight on it
& then let him through & he was
drenched. He was sent back to
Battalion Head Quarters at
once but the cold was so intense
that his clothes were frozen stiff
before they got him undressed
& he nearly froze to death. The
weather is however ^ on the whole wonderfully mild
& that frost was exceptional. Most
days were quite bright though
the sun has not much power

for warmth & it sets about half
past three in the afternoon & never
gets anywhere near overhead.
I did not notice this last year
at all as day after day & month
after month went by about this
time without us every seeing the
sun for clouds, but this year it
is very noticeable. Everything
is ready for the Voting on the
Conscription Referendum
tomorrow. Our men - the men we
have now have not the spirit of
the old ones & I am quite prepared
to be here that they a lot of them will vote no in
the hope that they will be sent home
to Australia by the Yudo crowd.
as Mr Hughes says he will not
carry on the Govt in the face of a 
"No" Vote. It is scandalous that
it should ever be made a party
matter. One can hardly conceive
of people juggling with fate in
such a manner as this. Everything
points to the Bosche making a

terrific effort to break a way
through on this front before long
just as he did on the Italian
front & I hear he is bringing over
thousands & thousands of his troops
from the Russian Border now
that he has succeeded as I feared
in humbugging those fools over
there. Well Katie dearie is no
good grumbling - we must take it
as a judgement upon us if we are
beaten in the end. I am very weary
old lady & wish it was all over
& I could come back to you
again. I wonder how my dear
little pets are tonight. Here it
is nearly Xmas again & so long
that I have not seen them, my
dear darling Katie - I send you all very
love & a million million kisses for you & those
wee darlings. God bless & keep you all
safe. I have another £50 quidlets
saved up darling & I will send
them along to you next time I see the
Pay man clerk. Bye dear sweet lady your very own
Dida

1
France
19/12/17
My dearest Katie
We have been
on the move again & are now behind the
line in a very safe place. It is very
cold. Few days ago we had a very
heavy Snow fall & yesterday & today
it is freezing hard. I had occasion
to go round the Villages through
which the tropps are scattered.
yesterday. In places where the road
are in cuttings in the hills the
cutting had drifted full of snow
so that it was impossible to
get through it & we had
to scramble up in the high
banks. The frost had made the
snow as dry & powdery as desert
sand & it blew in clouds. before
the wind & stung your face just as
sand would. Where a bank or
hedge intercepts it it would
piles up feet thick just like sand
& other places were swept almost

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bare of the snow. Today the wind
has died down but it is still
frozen hard & the ground is like
iron. The horses don't like it a bit
as the surface of the road becomes
like glass & the poor things are scared
to death they will fall. Unlike us
they have no hands to put out to save
them if they do fall & xx They always
get hurt if they fall & they ^accordingly walk
so gingerly across the bad spots.
Oh Katie. What do you think just
as we were coming out of the line
Genl Birdwood came to see me & offered
me 6 months leave to go home & see
you ^I suppose it was reported to him that my health was bad. It was a drefful great temptation
darling but I could not take it for
he could not promise that when I
came back I would get the
same brigade again nor would
he promise to give it to Col Stewart
If he had done either of these
things I think I would not
have been able to resist the

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temptation offer at all but the man
they have in mind to succeed
me is a certain Col Watson whom I
don't think much of at all. I would
not feel at all happy in handing
over the Brigade to him. Also I feel
sure that with this rest now I
will be all right for some time.
They seem to think I am pretty much
knocked up but I put it straight
to General Hobbs yesterday - "had he
noticed that the work of the Brigade was
falling off in any way?" and he said
he had not.
Of course with Geordie & Jack death
& losing all those officers & men in
Polygon Wood & the anxiety of the
fight there all coming together
as they did it almost broke me
up completely but one must not
give way to such things must one.
And so I am pulling round
quite as well as I could expect