Letters from Harold Edward 'Pompey' Elliott to his sister-in-law, April 1915 - December 1916 - Part 7

came from near Newcastle in England
Also Everyone says if he had lived he had
in him the makings of a Kitchener or Lord
Roberts. One of my patrols in no mans
land stumbled over his body the other day all
decayed & horrible but we got his watches
& papers & about ₤ 20 worth of money off
the body. We had the place marked & later
when the job will not be so dreadful we hope
to get the remains brought in & decently buried
but hundreds & hundreds will lie there till
after this war or till we drive back the
Germans finally from their lines. Every day
they make their lines stronger & more formidable
Goodness Knows if ever we will break them
now. They must have got a big shock
when we broke them last time for they have
been working like mad night & day ever
since to make the [[ ^lines ]] stronger & stronger & lots
& lots of us must die before we reach the
ridge beyond their lines. I suppose "Rose
Walker Elliott" will have arrived before this
reaches you But what a joke if its a Boy.
Have they got an alternative name ready
for her if she be a boy. You say you could 
 

Keep going for a week. [[^{lilting about the Bairnies}  ]] Well next time you
feel that way just Keep on & put it in
the next letter -- Sort of to be continued in
our next like -- That will be better than
a Mrs Roberts sort of letter. When will the wee
lady be making a start at a School or will Katie
get a Miss M^cGacharn [[ ^governess ]] to teach her at first
I don't like the idea of sending the poor little shy
mite to a school. She might learn to be cheeky there.
General M^cCay told me he was recommending
me for a foreign Decoration. I suppose I
must [[ ^should ]] be thankful for small mercies [ ^{seeing the result of that fight} ].  He
got [[ ^made ]] what is called a "Chevalier of the Legion of
Honor" so I expect mine would be much the
same. The medal is a [[ ^bronze ]] Cross & the ribbon is
red with a sort of little teeny tiny rosette
so the middle of it. It is considered one of
the best of the French grants. Something
like our D.S.O. & C.M.G. I think.
But I won't be disappointed any if I don't
get it. I've got used to that & I have my
boys & have got rid of all the old pesky
Colonels who used to trouble me before
So but for my sorrow for the men who fell I
would be very happy in my command & 
 

so long as they don’t go promoting some [[ ^one ]]
of the spericks over my head will [[ ^would ]] never
ask [[ ^want ]] for anything Higher. The Higher 
one gets the less one is in touch with the
men under you & although you don’t
have to [[ screw ]] any more which is a great
relief still one feels apart from them. I love [[ ^like ]]
to get to know the men personally & pick the
good men out for myself & help them on. But
after you leave a battalion one cannot do
this & I am not always satisfied that the
other Colonels try to do this properly or even
if they try that they succeed. All sorts of influences
come over one. Twice I allowed my judgment to
be overruled [[ ^{on the Peninsula} ]] by other considerations othan that
the men were the best I could find & I always
regretted it afterwards. Well Baaby dear 
we have been having a fairly quiet time recently
but I expect something will be happening one of
these days & some more of these poor boys will be
Killed & wounded but that is the only way we can
win through. It is very dreadful indeed.
I hope you will always be content to stay with
us, & that you will Know that all of us
P. T. O.
[*as well as the wee laddie think of you as our “Dear”
& that you are our “Baaby” Heaps of love & pogues for
you & the wee pets from Dida. *] 
 

P.S. I have just got from
Major Denehy a photo he took
on Gallipoli just before
leaving at the Evacuation
Poor old Geoff M^cCrae came
out very well in it. If Mrs
M^cCrae would like to have
it you can tell Katie to
send it to her 
 

France
11/9/16
My dear Baaby,
I got your wee sperick [[ ^little ]] of a 
letter & you dont deserve an answer to
such a one. I have seen Jacky boy. He rode
over about 20 miles to see me yesterday.
He is looking very well indeed. He
looks after the horses of his machine gun
Coy except when there is a scrap on
& then he [[ ^{tries to} ]] make away & get up in the
firing line. He had some very funny
yarns to tell about the fighting at
Pozières & the way the Germans were
squealing for surrender mercy when
they got caught. Also very interesting
news about the lovely [[^deep ]] dug outs the Germans 
had made Some of them two stories deep
in the chalk rock with papered
walls & furniture galore. Now it all belongs
to us. Very [[ ^{I am very} ]] sad today. One of my Essendon boys 
who got a Distinguished Conduct Medal
in Gallipoli for showing us how to fool the
Turks by firing rifles after we left the
Trenches by means of a can of water
dripping into another can was made an
officer in Egypt & was doing splendid service
here. He was in charge of the little baby cannon
we call Trench Mortars & was getting on
splendidly. He would have had another
Medal soon I think for his Services. [[ ? ]]
Someone picked up a peculiar shell fired
from the German line & took it to him 
 

for examination. He got the fuze out &
was examining it when it went off in
his hand & blew his right fore finger off
& damaged his hand & chest & cheek & put
out his right eye. I had a report from
the Hospital that he would not be fit for
further service. As I Know that would
break the poor kid’s [[ ^lad’s ]] heart nearly (he is only
twenty) I wrote & told the Doctor what
a splendid fellow he was & said I would
sooner have him with one eye than a dozen
other with both eyes & asked him to
do everything he could for him to enable
him if possible to return to Service.
I had a long letter from Scanlon one of my
old 7^th Officers. He said he had seen Katie &
the Bairnies before he left & that he had never
seen a boy resemble his Daddy so much as the
laddie did me. What do you think of
that opinion. In your last letter[[ (^{not this one)} last sperick) ]] you said
that you thought he was getting more like the “Elliotts” 
& Dhurach had my eyes. I suppose Geordie will
be just about in England now. I don’t know
whatever has happened to Violet. I have not had
any word for her for a long time now. She
has not replied to my last letter & I don’t
Know where she is. My Cousin Charlie has gone
to a School at a place called Comines to fit himself
for further promotion. They have a lovely time
there & quite safe of course as it is near
Boulogne. He has done quite well in the
field being very cool under fire. He had a 
 

narrow squeak the other day. He was living in a dug out
& was just standing at the door just going in when someone
spoke to him & he stopped. Just that very moment a
big shell lobbed [[ ^landed ]] on the roof & broke it all in. If the man
had not happened to speak he would have been
all smashed up It makes one become a fatalist
to live here long. A shell burst in our parapet
the other day & bulged it in. A man was in the
trench got a terrible fright & jumped up & ran 
out along the back as he though the trench would fall
in & crush him. He had just got about five or
six yards when a fragment of the shell which must
have gone up to an enormous height dropped on
his head & crushed his skull like an egg shell
If he had not lost his head in one sense & had
remained in the trench which did not fall in he would
have saved his head in another sense. Not long ago
there was a report that someone was sending signals
to the Germans from behind our lines. I took one
of my staff officers out to try & locate the house
where the signals were seen. We stumbled about
the paddocks for a time & got very tired without
seeing anything. There was an elm tree cut
down by the roadside. I Said I was going to
have a sit down anyhow. I sat down on the end
of the log & he leaned up against the stump. We
had hardly settled ourselves when a bullet
zipped just over my head & struck him in the
side & he fell forward on me. The wound is pretty
serious & he has gone to England but I don’t
think there is any danger from it In our
big fight we got a lot of [[ Germans ]] but I didn’t see anyone 
 

of them that I thought you might like. So didn’t Keep any
for you. I think you’ll have to get Jack on the look
out for one too. They gave their money & everything
to the boys & called them Kamerade & all to be let
off being deaded [[ ^Killed ]]. I’m sure one would agree to be
wedded [[ so ]] you need not despair yet Baaby 
dear. I like the last photos of the Kiddies a lot 
Dhurach looks a dear wee thing. Her smile is
much more natural in this one. The wee laddie
too looks such a little man in his pygams.
Geordie says Violets Kids [[ ^children ]] are a bit of a handful
for Grandma & [[ toge ]] with all the work they she
have & Grandma like Nana is suffering from
Rheumatism a good deal. So Geordie thinks
Violet ought to go home & look after them
herself It will be sad if Johnny doesn’t
see her after all. But I think it likely
that Johhny [[ ^he ]] will get a few days leave at
least very shortly. I have not seen or heard
a word of him since he left Egypt. But he
will be up somewhere where Jacky [[ ^Boy ]] is I think
He was in their Divisional [[ ^artillery ]]. I will take a run
up & see them one of these days. I would like
to see the old 7^th Boys again. They have done
Very well again & I hear two of them have been
recommended for the V.C.  It would be nice [[ ^fine ]]
if they got it & [[ ^so ]] Kept ag ahead with the
record of V.C’s. Bye now Baaby dear
& heap of Pogues from Dida 
 

France
13/9/16
Dear Nana,
Your letter came along all right. You
will be glad to know that Jacky boy as the
lad calls him went right through all the
Somme fighting without a Scratch. They are
back in the Trenches again now but it isn’t
so bad there. They are not attacking at the part they are [[ ^holding ]]
Thank you very much for your stories about
the little ones. I am always hungry to hear of their
sayings & doings. Little Dhurach must be getting
very good at her Knitting that she could do one [[ ^{a washer} ]] so
quickly for Capt Grillo. It was very good of you
to get the wee laddie the little dog. & I am glad
he is so fond of it. I am getting the letters
very regular now. I wonder will Dhurach be
able to play me a little tune when I come back.
Does the wee laddy laddie still sing “Onward
Christian Soldiers”, & dance as he used to
do or is he getting too grown up for that now
I have not heard from Violet for some weeks now
She didn’t answer my last letter but I heard from
My Aunt at Newcastle that they were expecting
Violet up there very soon now for a visit. I don’t
think she has seen Johnny yet but as his Artillery
are out of the line for a spell he will probably get
7 days off soon. I expect I will be getting a
few days off myself very shortly. It is rather
trying here as in Gallipoli when you cannot
get away from the sights & sounds of the Trenches
for so long. This morning while I was going
my rounds a poor boy was struck in the face & 
 

blinded by a piece of shell just as I passed him It is
not that one is afraid but it is just heartbreaking
to see these fine boys maimed & broken like that every
day & we seem to be getting no further forward
with it all. We Keep worrying the life out of
the old German of course breaking down his
trenches & when we think he is not looking
mainly at night we send over parties of
men who make a rush into his trenches
& out again Killing all they can find &
then race back to our lines. Sometimes we
lose good men this way because he always
fires his artillery like fury after it & if
they are not quick enough getting back they get
a hot time but it all helps to Keep him on
the jump & not able to sleep comfortably for
fear of them. Jacky boy is looking the picture
of health now. He is as full of jokes as the
Laddie. All the boys write & tell me when they go &
see the Laddie. They all seem to think he is very
like me. Do you think he is. He doesnt look
so very much like me in the photos do you think? I
like the last one of the two of them – the laddie in his
little pyjamas & Turks Cap & Dhurach with her shawl
on. It is raining very heavily tonight. It is all right
for me. I have a comfortable house to live in but the
Trenches are awful when it rains all slimy sloppy
mud & water to your Knees. They say all fighting
Ceases here in winter except for a little shelling each
side being only too intent on Keeping a little bit dry
With heaps of love to you & the babies
Yours affectionately Harold