Letters from Harold Edward 'Pompey' Elliott to his family, January 1918 - May 1918 - Part 14

France
28/4/18
My dearest Katie pet,
Here I am
again dear old lady still alive
but very sad for the loss of so
many of my boys. Of course
it is nothing like as bad as
Polygon wood & we have given
the Bosche an awful hiding
but I have lost 40 officers
& over 500 men that we can
ill spare but We have however
Killed thousands & thousands
of the Bosches. I cannot
tell you all about it now
except that some of the
British got tired or scared
or something & ran away
& my boys had to take back
the line from the Bosche & did
it wonderfully – Regular
"Bouquets" of praise have just
been showered on us. I am
sending you some censored
copies of some of them with this
So far it has only got as far 
 

as the Commander in Chief –
I suppose Genl Foch & the
President & the King maybe
will have a say in it yet
Some people say it is the 
absolute best thing done yet
in the war – As to that I would
say that if it is – it isn’t
much of a war at all but
our boys certainly did
well. Some wonderfully brave
things were done. One of the
60^th Jumped into a trench
with 10 Bosches & he fought
them all – They stuck a
bayonet through his arm &
one through the leg & Cut
his head open with the butt
of a rifle – but he fought
& Killed 9 of them & 1 only
got away & ran for his
life – In another case the
an officer & three rushed
a Bosche post of about a
dozen men – Lt Simpson
it was who met you once 
 

The Bosche all surrendered
Then a Bosche machine gun
fired on my boys & they had
to jump into the Trench along
with the Bosches to get out
of fire – The treacherous
Varmints in the Trench seeing
there was only four grabbed
their rifles & tried to Kill our
boys but instead our boys
Killed the whole dozen – being
wounded themselves but not
badly – they had to stay all
night amongst the dead Bosche
Next morning at daylight
a German officer & his orderly
came over thinking his own
men were still in the post &
the our boys shot them both.
The next night Lt Simpson
led another rush on a post
but was shot dead after
doing wonders –
Our boys simply have no
fear at all – One post they
rushed & Killed 20 out of the 
 

21 who held it & brought in
the other as a prisoner – to give
information –
One dreadful instance happened
A mad fool of a german (Prussian)
Officer surrendered & then just
mad with rage at being defeated
when our officer went up to him
struck the latter in the face with
his fist knocking him down
Our officers men were all
around them – they made
one rush at this Prussian
officer – in a second he was
Knocked down & Kicked
& bashed with their rifle butts
into a bloody pulp you could
hardly tell he had been a man
– in the next posts rushed our
they men refused to listen when
the Bosche wanted to surrender
& stuck them all like pigs
A whole lot bolted leaving
a big gap in the Bosche line.
He started to throw up a lot
of reinforcements & shelled 
 

us heavily but we were so
mixed up with those of his
own men who had not retired
& had not surrendered but were
holding out bravely that then
got shelled as well by their
own guns & this was the last
straw so they hopped out &
came running across to
our position with their hands
up but The boys quite
rightly this time took no
notice of them whatever & shot
them all dead hands up or not
In the early part of the war the
Bosche used to try tricks of that
sort to get our men to stand up &
when they did they were shot from
some other posts in rear
I got the tiniest wee bit
gassed the other day – not mustard
but the deadly stuff – I only got
the very least tiny whiff – but my
throat has been very bad since. I
think it is getting better now &
my heart & lungs seem all right 
 

but I can hardly speak or swallow
without considerable pain & I cough
& cough like whooping cough
until I am very sick & vomit
up & lot of white frothy phlegm
The Doctor thinks it will be all
right in about a week from now
It is beastly stuff – I hope I won’t
die of gas suffocation – at times
I have been absolutely gasping
for breath when a fit of coughing
stopped – but I feel otherwise as
good as gold – The weather is
nice again though last night it
rained. Col Stewart is now
Brig - Genl. Three of his Colonels
have fallen in action  one Killed
outright so I told him if he
liked & Norman Marshall who is a
great pal of his, was willing I would
agree to Transfer Marshall & any
other officers he liked to the 14^th 
Brigade as in any probably the
60^th would be broken up very
soon – So they are being transferred /
tomorrow – Camp Stewart is delighted.
Bye love Millions of love & tishes from Dida 
[* P.S. One of my boys got gave me a German Automatic Pistol.
That will be for the laddie when I can get it home safely *] 
 

France
28/4/18
Sweetheart wifelet
I had just closed
up my letter to you this
morning, when along comes a mail
with a dear loving fat letter from
you in it. It is dated the 22^nd Feb
& you had just got my letters written
at the end of December. I am
delighted you got the Book
from the Australian Front.
I am very sad by the paper
today it looks as if there will
be terrible fighting all over the place
where poor old Geordie was
buried. Katie it is a miracle
how the Germans stand the
fearful punishment meted
out to them & yet comes on
for all the world like an army
of baby locusts – you Kill &
squash & burn them ^here you do the same to them till you’re
tired of Killing & worn out from
want of sleep from the shell fire
& you must go back if only to
get a rest for your men
Wherever Australians have 
 

met him so far he has had
to stop where he was but I
hear he is preparing for
renewed & better efforts along
this way. I don’t think he
has a hope unless he can get
up a lot more artillery &
mortars which he may be
doing – The loss in officers in
this fighting has been very severe
indeed. He is at his old tricks
of picking off the officers. I can
feel real good that you are all
praying for me or how could
I Know how to fight the Bosche
as I did the other day – Genl
Birdwood & the French General
said that nothing like it had
been done in the war. The Times
today calls it a “crushing reverse”
for the Bosche
Oh if only recruits were coming –
I hear one of Genl Monash’s
Battalions it too weak to be
Kept going any longer so the
few who remain must go to 
 

other Battalions – It is sad that
such famous & Splendid Regiments
must here be disbanded. In your
letter you say – “By the time you get this
you will be in the thick of the Battle” – 
We are just that - very much so - but
we fought the Bosche to a Standstill
of utter exhaustion yesterday
& today it has been very quiet – 
hardly a shot in fact to be heard
We are coming out tonight for
a little spell. Thank the
Lord some Australians who have
had a weeks spell are available
now & take over from us. I am
not worrying the least little bit
over that old business ^of Roberts darling.
I haven’t any time for that dearie
You should just see me with maps
& rulers trying to study out how
to lick the Bosche.
I spoke to old Bert Layh (who
by the way did simply magnificent
work in that Big attack as did
Norm. Marshall & all the others) about
him not writing to his wife He said he 
 

had written but admitted it was
only after Lt. Ackeroyd had
Spoken to him about it – He said
there was nothing ever to write about in
England. Tell Mrs Layh anyhow that
her old man is looking splendid
He has done magnificent work &
will likely get a Bar to his D.S.O. which
will serve to show that he really deserved
it twice over which is a great honor
I am just popping over bursting with
delight to hear that my little pet
Dhusach is so clever with her
lessons. – Isn’t she just a darling. Tell
her I’m as proud as a Peacock about
my little sweet pet girl learning her
lessons so well. I am so glad that
Dhusach has got a nice little playmate
It will be good for them both. I’m afraid
after he’s
I always
tell people what I think & chance the
Consequences. That Staff officer
man that I had to take – I had to
get rid off of – He made a
shocking mistake that might