Letters from Harold Edward 'Pompey' Elliott to his sister-in-law, April 1915 - December 1916 - Part 10

to try & trace him & I must have
answered the question pretty nearly
a dozen times now. It is almost
absolutely certain that he is dead
He was a very nice clever young fellow
and I was very sorry to lose him.
The dear little people sent me very
pretty cards didn’t they. Tell them
Dida was very pleased with them.
Today is a nice bright day for a
wonder I wish it would stay so.
Theres a bit of a German Trench
that I would like to take next time
we go in. I am sure we can do it
without much loss if only it will
stay fine for a few days after we get
there. I enclose in this also a photo
of Eric Roberts which he sent me from
Egypt.
Bye Baaby dear & heaps of pogues
from Dida. 
 

France
2/12/16
My dear Baaby,
We have
just come out of the Trenches again
& I found about a million [[ ^{heap of} ]]
letters waiting for me. We have
had a dreadful time in the
Trenches which are full of
slush & mud. I cannot tell
you all about it. It is dreadful
how the poor fellows who are
wounded suffer now. They have
to be carried for miles under fire
& put down again & again in
the mud which is frozen over now
& so is better walking but we dread
a return of showery weather. Our
only comfort is that the Germans
are suffering equally & are
bearing it less well as quite
a number one or two nearly every
day get fed up with the mud &
shelling & come in & surrender 
 

Some get shot in doing so. They
All say whether they are “Kidding”
us or not that they are all
sick of it over there & would
surrender wholesale if they
could do so without risk
of being shot by their own
officers or by us. However even
so there does not appear
much prospect of the War ending
soon. Advance at present is
most difficult owing to the dreadful
mud. You would pity the men who
get their feet frozen. Their sufferings
are dreadful. I was with Geordie
yesterday. His aid post is
right up near the front. I was
round on an inspection & quite
a lot of shells burst near us
when he come out to see me
so I told him to get away back
inside his dug out & he sorted
me for not having my tin hat 
 

on. He is not looking too
well. Of course it is very
trying up there. You hardly
get a decent sleep all the
time you are in the line with
the constant shelling. It is
the worst place we have yet been
in for shelling – and with the
constant interruptions you
get from being awakened to
attend to surrenders.
The first few days we were in the
line it rained like fury now
the days are so foggy that you
Cannot see 20 yards in front
of you most of the day & there
was ice an inch thick on the 
water this morning. I still
have a pretty bad cold. It is
impossible to Keep ones feet
dry Tell Nana I wear the
two pairs of her Speckly socks 
 

& yet my feet get cold. I have a
pretty comfortable dug out under
ground about 40 feet but lined
with boards & while in it am
safe from shell fire. The poor
men have little or no shelter so
you can judge how they are
faring  It is shocking how
that Conscription has failed
& these poor fellows have to stay
on here & try to do the work of
double or three times their
numbers who ought to be
here. I am very sorry about poor
old Nana, & Mr Trowbridge. Give
them both my love. I had a long
letter from Rory just back from
his Honey moon he seems very
happy. He wrote so nicely
about the little people. He seemed
to like being with them. I havent
seen anything of Jacky boy
of late. We expect to be going 
 

out for a rest about Xmas.
We are going into the Trenches in
a few days. Meantime we are
roadmaking & mending in the
mud. Only one degree better than
the Trenches but here we do get
hot food & blankets to sleep in
at night. These so far we have
had little of either but I am
scheming to get these comforts
up to them next time. Poor old
Flora. I wonder if there was
really any thing between them. [[ ^{her & Muphy} ]]
[[ Lil ]]  Cruicky will be sad too.
This is all the news at present
I am very very sad at heart
at the dreadful suffering of the
men. Love & pogues to all
the bairnies & Nana
From Dida 
 

France
17/12/16
My dear Baaby,
Your two letters dated
the 30^th & 31^st Oct duly came along
yesterday. Big heap pleased me. As 
the 31^st was just a continuation of the
other one I’ll forgive you making it
a Sperrity [[ ^short ]] one this time. I was pleased
to get the photo. Oh you say mum posted
one the day before – a sperrity one with a 
photo of herself in it. Well [[ it ]] the rubbishey
little villain didn’t come ag along at all so
I’ve only got the photo of you & the wee people
to cheer me after all. Perhaps Katies will turn
up later on. I dont feel at all well today
Baaby dear. I have had a cold for some time &
yesterday while I was up near the Front
Trenches & Snow Storm came on & I
got a chill upon top of it. Wouldn’t be
surprised if I had to lay up. I will cable you
if I have to go to hospital So if you haven’t
heard you will Know I am Keeping my end
up. I should hate to Knock up now. I
dont think anyone who would try as I
am doing to Keep the men going. I lay lie 
 

(2)
awake all night, at times trying to find
a way to help them out. This may [[ ^{seem to} ]] be “skiting”
but I believe it true & Genl M^cCay has adopted
quite a lot of my suggestions & made
Tivey & the other General [[ Man ]] do the same
as I started doing. Thats a heap of skite
about you prophesying that I’d get the
Interpreters sister to choose the Silks. --
Drefful Skite you Baaby. Because
you didnt Know at all. I guess though
you’ll be thinking by now its me thats the
Skite. I hoped to get them off by Xmas but
the silly little rabbit lost the addresses &
had to wait till she got them from me again
I do hope they go all right now. It was
Very strange about Conscription. Most of
the Boys were in favor of it but a lot
against for all sorts of queer reasons. You
Know that in spite of all we can do the boys
have a dreadful time. Fancy lying night
after night in the slush with no proper shelter
& no place to sleep getting your toes frozen
off as you try to sleep & getting blown to
pieces by shells & all the other horrors of war 
 

3
Naturally practically every one of them
is sick to death of the whole thing & never
never want to do any more soldiering once this
is over. Well some of them said. What if we
Vote for conscription now we will be soldiers
for always & every time there is a war on
the Government will call us out & we will have
to go through this thing all over again & perhaps
we wont wan’t to fight at all like the Saxons
& Austrians whom the Germans have made
(because they have conscription there) fight against
us against their will. Oh No. No Conscription
for me thank you. Thats the way some of
them talk. Then there are others with brothers
& other dear men at home in Australia. They look
round them & see no hope of the war ending soon
They see the awful sights & scenes of suffering
round them & they say. “If I vote for conscription
my dear brother will be dragged over here perhaps
against his will & be forced to endure all this awful
Misery to have his toes frozen off, to be perhaps
torn to pieces with a shell & perhaps lie
unburied amidst the mud & slush of this
awful place – Will I Vote for conscription 
 

and thus cause this awful thing to happen
to him. No thank you No Conscription for
me. It is bad enough for me to be here myself. I
wont drag my people into it if I can help it.
And so the thing goes on. Only those who have
the far vision could rise superior to such
feelings natural enough as they are. To these
it appeared clear -“If we dont have conscription
we may be beaten in the end. who Knows – If we
do have Conscription we will at least
be doing everything in our power to win
If we are beaten even then – that is in the hands
of God. If we dont have Conscription & are
beaten then it is our own fault & praying is
useless since we have refused to help ourselves.
Well if we are beaten – the Germans will come
to Australia that is very, very certain. The 
Germans themselves make no secret of the fact
that if they can get it they will take it. Well
if the Germans come to Australia -then on
Australia will fall all the horrors we see
about us & have read about of concerning
the German occupation – then my brothers
& dear ones & not merely the male ones but our