Letters from Harold Edward 'Pompey' Elliott to his family, January 1918 - May 1918 - Part 12

trenches on a hill in front – in case
the Bosche by any chance or by gas etc
drove us out of our present front line.
You have to dig them at night because
the Bosche can see you & shell you
in daylight from his hills. He left
his Kit in the room & the bed nicely
made. He came home at 2 a.m. &
found all his Kit flung out in the
back yard which was filled with
the usual stinking manure heap
& the good lady – not very young –
asleep in his bed – which was also
hers. She had returned during the
evening & had taken this way of
asserting her rights. – I don’t
Know how it was settled – maybe
they shared the bed, one doesn’t
inquire too closely – some of these
ladies I hear are quite willing but not
nearly so many as one might believe
from our old notions of French People.
The great majority are decent respectable
women who Know Very well indeed how
to take care of themselves & do it too.
Strange to say they like our
men very much more than the English
Soldiers. A priest gave me the 
 

reason that our men don’t worry
the women nearly as much with
immoral suggestions – One does
not need to make out our
men as angels but the priest told
me that it was the fact that the women
told him that if our men tried to be
too familiar they were easily
Checked & never again referred
^to the matter or worried them, but they could not
Choke off some of the Tommies at
all. I was very pleased indeed
to hear this. Also in this retreat
the looting that went on by the Tommies
was a shame & scandal & often
their officers were the worst. I was
going to have one Captain who was
stealing Champagne by the
Cart load hanged in the Market
Square – for it as we were trying
all we could to prevent our men
getting liquor from the abandoned
hotels & stores. & here this blighter was
setting a lovely example. However
I handed him over to the Provost Marshall
for trial & posted a notice that
I’d hang the next one. That yarn
has spread throughout the whole 
 

[*D.RL. 3297 (3^rd S)*]
British Army in France & promises
to become more famous & widespread
even than the story of the Hat. I
wonder how long that will Keep
going – I see it in all sorts of papers
still. Well darling old sweet
wife I must stop again. It
was bad luck about poor Reg
Avery. A very fine boy Norman
Lovett that I used to have on
My Staff a Sydney boy was
Killed too a few days back.
He was such a splendid fellow
I felt his death more than any
in the War except poor Geordie.
He was such a splendid soldier
He had won an M.C & bar & Croix
de Guerre. He was a splendid athlete
so full of life & joy & spirit, never
down cast never tired. It was
like a Tonic to meet him
Now he is dead & his Colonel with him
both had been right through from
the landing on Gallipoli. Lovett had
been ^hit three times hit before. It is sad
indeed. Well Bye now my sweet pet
Millions of love & Kisses from your Very
own Dida Don.  P.T.O 
[* P.S  Did I tell you that Col Denehy is still away on
his month’s leave but daily expected back. In his absence Col Watson
has done splendidly as have the whole Bn. I am recommending Col Watson & Capt Ferris of
that Bn for D.S.O’s also a Corpl Sayers from Geelong for V.C. *] 
 

P.P.S. ^My Face sores ^from the gas are quite better dearie so dont worry
about them till next gassing which may come
any day unfortunately for the blighters threw
12000 gas shells yesterday into a little
town just near y & got a lot of the 14^th 
Brigade & others. Both you & Dear Belle must
take more care of yourselves & have more
Holidays. Tell Dear I want you both to be
well when I come home. So take a holiday
dearie every now & again whenever you don’t feel
just it & make Baaby Belle go too. Your Warnambool
or Tassy people friends would be glad to have
you for a time & what about having a word with
Rory for a trip to Tokecumwal. now & again. Don’t
Consider the few pounds & necessary & don’t
you be starving yourselves as I ‘specs expect
you pretty nearly are to be saving. Remember
you & Baaby Belle will be pretty near my only
pals when I come back. All my real
good ones are getting Killed one by one.
I sent some other copies of the ^photo of Geordie’s grave home
some time back – The blighted Bosches
have got nearly all the Country about
there again. now – Poor Geoff M^cCrae’s grave
is now in their hands but Geordie’s is still
in our hands. I hope that he never gets it.
Some day I may be able to get one of poor
old Jacks grave for you but terrible fighting
is still going on along the Broceliande
ridges now. So far the Bosches have not
gained an inch there but all the 
[* ground is being shot over so it may be hard to find grave or
marking. I told you that M^r Begg had arranged for a
Dissolution of the partnership with Roberts. It will be a great
relief to me. I don’t Know yet whether I will have to pay any of
the Creditors myself. Mr Begg at Moules will attend to your *] 
 

P.P.S (contd)
business for you & wont charge You much I
am sure. So don’t go near Roberts office
any more. The less you have to do with
him the better. He would probably have robbed
us of the money for that land at Frankston if
you had given it to him. I am sure he is
without any scruple or conscience from what
Mrs Roberts wrote to me. His mother had to
pay thousands to make good his work before this
The little box was made for me by a Lt Taylor
who had to be sent back to Australia because his head
was going wrong. I Kept him at my H.Q’s for a time
whilst we were waiting orders what to do with him
& he carved the Box in his spare time.
I have mentioned this several times dearie
in letters but somehow they don’t seem to have
reached you. It is very drizzly & horrid
today darling. Genl Hobbs is very good
to me ^now. He says I must take every care
of myself as they cannot afford to
lose me now. I have a number of very
nice letters from the ^British Generals ^under whom
I served under here at different times
till our own people got me back again
I have sent them over to Mrs Edwards
to Keep for me. I am more pleased
with them than with medals – Bye sweet
love. 
 

France
18/4/18
My darling Katie,
I had just closed up &
posted a letter to you when a big
fat mail came & I got three letters
from you & one from Baaby Belle &
some from other people. The It is very
sad dearie that I cannot carry your
letters. When we were in Gallipoli I used
to Keep your letters until I had quite a
big pile. Then when I had to go away
I burned them. but here we are almost
always on the move & I do not want
them to be read if anything happened
to me so I read them through & then
destroy them as soon as I have
answered them. I should like to Keep
them all. Oh there is one I am
Keeping for the time. – That is one
in which you give me the measure of
your table for the table cover when
I can get enough money together to buy
it but I’ve been sending so many
£50 quidlets remittances to you that I have not
been able to manage it yet –^But as As owing
to the fighting I’ve not been able to get
leave yet my black Pay book is getting
fatter & fatter – There’s about another
£40 quidlets or so saved up already 
 

2
and when the last £50 quidlets went
it looked very sorry for itself indeed.
Living costs me very little at present
since there are no shops & nothing
much to buy at all except from the
Canteens which are very reasonable.
indeed about 3 francs a day is all our
meals cost us over & above the army rations.
& at present rate of exchange 5 francs equals
3/8 of our money. I expect one or two of
my letters must have caught the “Andania”
I don’t think many mails pass without
you hearing from me dearie pet. It would be
a shame to let any go when you want my
letters so badly dear old loving sweet lady.
The Little Pirani boys was very good to the
wee our laddie giving him his tricycle
wasn’t he – I hope the laddie boy wrote
him a note & thanked him very nicely
– you would see to that. Tell Baaby Belle I never
got to see Elsie Fischer. I’m glad she you
told me the husband man has altered
his name. I knew he was called Moses
once & I might have made a mistake
I have seen Frank Fischer in France
several times. He was very well. They
have (the 6^th Bn) been in some pretty heavy
fighting up north & I dont Know if he 
 

3
is still O.K.  Tell Hugo, if no ill news
has reached you of him before this, that
Frank is doing well as an officer &
is well liked in his Bn. It is queer
about his adopted son being like
Mrs Fischer. But it is nice for it to be so.
I hope the new bairnie does not put them
off the old. What a time you must have
had in that Storm. You were a brave little
lady not to be frightened. The House must
be a pretty rubbishy affair mustn’t it
to leak so badly & a new place at that
too. I hope the poor little Finlayson girl
gets better. It is very sad for poor old Fin.
Give him my love & rememberances when
you see them or ring them up. (The next
letter is dated the 10^th Feb).
I am glad yo the Cable came to hand
all right & I hope it did stir some
of them up a bit. I notice by a cable in
the Times that a big meeting came to
the Exhibition to protest against
Mannix & his doings – there is no
question that the fellow should be
Charged or expelled as a Traitor.
You must be having an anxious time
now all of you with people over here.
I was never so proud of being an 
 

4
Australian as I am today in spite
of the Failure of Conscription – The
gallant Bearing & joyous spirit
of the men at the prospect of a
fight thrills you through & through
you simply cannot despair or
e downhearted – whatever the odds
against you when you feel their
pirits rising the more the danger
eems to threaten – It is glorious
ndeed to be with them. – Did I
ll you that on the 4^th April the
59^th not 800 Strong withstood
presure of 3 German divisions
I have the map & am presenting it
Australian War records showing
learly that on the front the 59^th had
hold there were 3 German Divisions
posed in depth - but the reception
eir leading files got turned the
Stomach of all who should have
followed from the fight – One of
my machine guns which I placed
slightly forward of the line & protected
by a swamp fired across the front &
piled 200 German Corpses in a
ghastly rampart of Slain before the
survivors of the Column concluded that 
 

5
they had urgent business elsewhere.
Remember that the ordinary proportion
of wounded to Killed is 5 to one &
you can tell what gaps were made
in their ranks by the gun &
what disheartened them was they
could not get at it without swimming
the swamp & canal which is about 20
yards wide & 30 feet deep whilst the
gunners in perfect security could
play a regular hose of lead upon
them every time they tried to close.
So contemptous of the German as
a Soldier did our men become at
his futile efforts that a Corpl – a
Geelong boy named Sayers & three
others charged a party of 30 under
an officer & put them to flight
Killing the officer & 5 others & capturing
two others who were too badly wounded
to run & the rest skedaddled for
their lives shedding arms & accoutrements
as they ran. This party had a machine
gun too & attempted to set it up
& open fire but dared not wait as
our boys came at them with the
bayonet so they dropped all their
ammunition & a lot of gun fittings &