Letters from Harold Edward 'Pompey' Elliott to his sister-in-law, January 1917 - April 1919 - Part 1

France
20/1/17
My dear Baaby,
I wonder what happened
to your letter that it didn’t turn up. I
hope it came along afterwards. This
one of yours that reached me today is
dated the 28^th Nov. It should have
come along last week as I had letters
dated the same time which reached me
then. I am sorry you are having so
much trouble House hunting. What
a pity that man had consumption. It is
lucky no buyer has turned up for old
M^r Gribble yet or you would be awkwardly
placed. You are sure determined to get a
perfect place at last. What a pity you
could not go to Colac to oblige old [[ ^Mr ]] Gilpin
when he has been so Kind. I have not
received any of the parcels yet. I’ll sure
enough write & thank him if I haven’t
lost his address by the time the parcels
arrive here. If I have I’ll enclose it
to you & [[ ^{you can} ]] send it on to him. I am
afraid poor old Bert Layh is in
for a bad time. He jumped over a
trench or something & ruptured himself 
 

a little. Today he is much worse so
I told the Doc he must send him off
to Hospital at once. It is no use
fooling with a thing like that &
a good rest will do him no harm
& there wont be any fighting - ie real
ding dong scrap for some time until
the mud dries up. I got the photo
all right & was delighted with it. I hope
Mum’s turns out as well. If it does
you must take the little people along
there too so that I’ll have a complete
set to show people. Tell the wee laddie
I got his letter & was quite pleased with it.
I am sending him a lot of postcards by
this mail. Tell him I am pleased he loves me
good.. I’m sorry Iakie Auntie [[ ^Violet ]] didn’t come
out to see you all, but I expect you [[ ^she’s ]]
in a terrible hurry to get to her own bairns
at Tocumwal. Katie said mother was
coming down to Melbourne but I expect
she didn’t do so. or you would have
mentioned it. Im looking forward
to news of Lyn’s [[ ? ]] in the next
letters. 
 

There is not much news to tell here. The snow
has covered the mud. but it doesn’t stop you
from falling into it when you strike a
shell hole. It is very beautiful: The
whole world is a wedding cake today with
crisp frozen icing about six inches
thick all over it. At night if you
flash an electric torch on it the frozen
particles gleam like diamonds
I was up near the front line this
morning & old Fritz got scared about
something & sent off a whole lot of shells
all about the place none I am glad to say
nearer than 50 yds from me but I was glad
to get home safe. All the boys were not so
fortunate & several were lying about
as I came back. Death is often very quick
& sudden here. A man leaves you for a few
minutes & next you hear of him is that he is dead
Things are however very much quieter than
they were when we were in the line before. if
you take one day with another. The strafe this
morning seemed very exceptional but when we
came here first it was just our daily portion
Bye now Baaby dear Heaps of Pogues from
Dida.
 

France
21/1/17
My dear Baaby,
Your letter dated
the 3/11/16 came along yesterday but it
was sure enough written on 3/12/16
Perhaps the motor ride with M^r Dent mixed
you up. I don’t Know when I’ll be able to
afford that motor car for you but if I had
the money you Know I’d send one out to you
by the first mail boat. It is not only the
first cost either. It takes a good deal to Keep
them up. I agree with you it would be very
nice to have one. I got M^r Lowes letter all
right but not Janie’s. I haven’t met
Andrew Cruickshank yet. I’m afraid
if he is the same Andrew I could not
do anything for him. He would only
get reduced to the ranks for getting
“tanked” unless he is very much altered.
I wrote to Dr Welsh’s Colonel. He
replied & said he would give me full particulars
in a few days as at present he was very
busy. I think they had a “scrap” on at the
time. When I get his letter I will
send it on but of course it will be only
the same as she already has 
 

Such a sperrik [[ ^Scrap ]] of a letter you wrote. this
time. Thats because you went out
Motor riding instead of telling me about
the old lady & the Bairnies. I’m getting
good pals with the new “Sperriky”
General. I mayn’t be much of a general
but I do get things done & people are
beginning to notice that this is so
& I think I will get on all right even
with a Sperrik. Of course I got on well 
with old Jimmy Courtney while I was
working for him. It was after I left him
he got snaky. I wrote to poor old
General M^cCay who I Knew would
be down in the dumps at being sent
back to Australia [[ ^England ]]. I enclose you his
reply. You can give it to Katie to Keep
He seems quite affected by my letter
doesn’t he? Whatever his faults he does
Know his job & he is a wonderfully
brave man, as brave as anyone I’ve
ever seen & I told him if he ever goes
to war again & wants a soldier he
can ask for me & I’ll go with him 
 

I had a letter also from Johnny
Avery which I will send along after
I’ve answered it. We are in the
Front line again. Things are much
quieter than they were & we have
cut good trenches right through to
the front line so except for odd
unlucky shells we dont lose many
men now. Some of the Sperriky [[ ^beastly ]] things
though break through into [[ ^the ]] dug outs & blow
half a dozen men up together. I
am scheming to make a lot of
little dug outs & put a man in
each so that not more than one can
be hurt by each shell. Ever since
the snow fell some days back it
has been freezing hard. Yest & the
snow is still lying thick everywhere
round. Yesterday I & two young
officers were walking up the Trench to
the front line. There was about a foot of
water in it as we thought & it was
frozen hard. The two boys jumped
on it & walked along. I put my 
 

weight upon it & it collapsed under
me & I went up to my thighs in mud
I had the dickens of a job to get along
the trench for the ice wouldn’t
hold me & yet if I tried to walk
along it was too strong to break [[ ^{with my shins} ]]. So
I had to break it by pressing on it
with my Knees in turn. Fortunately I had
long rubber boots on & didnt get wet.
One of the boys however started to jump
about on the top & it broke & let him through
& as he was much shorter than I the
water went all down the top of his boots. He
was very “wet” in both senses of the word.
Big heap. “Jack Frosty” here Baaby -
No good for Chilblains. eh! I
Keep pretty well but can never quite
get rid of the bronchitis cough that
Keeps coming back upon me. I get
nearly right & then get my feet wet or
something of the Kind & get bad again but I
am pretty “sparky” still. Heaps of pogues
Baaby dear & Love from Dida.
 

France
11/2/17
My dear Baaby,
Many thanks
for your letter of the 15^th Dec. I am
just up for the first time for a
fortnight & I’m very pleased. Hope
I dont get bad again. If I can
Keep going until the 16^th We are
coming out for a spell from the
front line & I will get leave
for three weeks I think & have a
good spell away from it all. This
should put me quite right again
I enclose you a little strip with all
my ribbons upon it. The blue & red
is the C.M.G at one end & the scarl
crimson one with the teemy timy white
bars upon it at the other is St Anne
the other you Know. Bert Layh
is just back from leave. It was
he who brought me the strip (He is
quite well.). Meantime Mrs Duigan
had a proper brooch made with
all the ribbons on & sent it to me
so as I dont need Berts Strip 
 

I am sending it on to you. Bert
went to Buckingham Palace
to get his D.S.O. He brought
it over to show to us before sending
it home. It is a pretty little
white enamel cross with a gold
centre & gold clasp. I have seen
no more of Jacky boy since I last
wrote. Havent seen Geordie to
tease him about Rose Walker. He
so they tell me very popular
with the Bn he is with although
he “sorts” badly all the men who
try to malinger. They say he is
working himself to death for them
though massaging their feet to
cure their frostbites & chilblains
etc. Should not be surprised if he
gets a D.S.O or something one of
these days. The old A.D.M.S.
at Division - Col Horne said he
was very pleased with him.
What a queer little old fashioned
rubbish Dhurach is. I was very 
 

much amused at her remark about
the Punch & Judy Show. Its just what
you would say yourself. Dont you
be teaching her to say motherrrr
etc.  I am glad Katie was able
to get out without the Bairnies. Was
it the plain white Silk that Katie
had made up or the one with
flowers upon it. & did it look
nice. Surely the Scarves & Black
Silk will have reached you by now
My letters will explain the delay
if you get them. Its Very sad that
my letters have not been reaching
you isn’t it. If you see M^r Clarke
again give him my Kind regards &
thank him for [[ “speerines” ? ]] & say I’m
very well. Its still most shocking
cold but apart from that the weather
is quite lovely & bright. There is no
comparison with the awful mud
we had a few weeks ago. The ground
is just like flint for over a foot
thick & you actually bend the point