Letters from Harold Edward 'Pompey' Elliott to his sister-in-law, January 1917 - April 1919 - Part 15

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always avoiding getting in to a

fight whenever he could dodge

it - Now the Bran Huts above

us can see just what his

popularity is worth to him in

a real emergency. It will

be a lesson to them & I hope to

him but that is almost too much

to hope for. I am delighted that

Con Stewart came out all right

Norman Marshall had a great

deal to do with fixing that up

I feel sure. He is very popular

with the men & is a splendid officer

always in the thick of the fighting too.

I am delighted that he got

another bar to his D.S.O. for the

Peronne stunt. He has his Bars

on his D.S.O. now. This shows

that he has actually now the D.S.O.

three times & each time for Bravery

which is a very great reward

I hope to get him a C.M.G. soon.

I have recommended Bert Layh

for the C.M.G. & hope he gets it. I 

have recommended Denehy for

the Belgian Croix de Guerre &

Scanlon for the French Legion of

Honor. I dont know if they

will get ^them of course. Did Katie

tell you I have been passed a new

Decoration - the French Croix de

Guerre. I am enclosing a bit 

of Ribbon for her. My 2^nd row of

Ribbons are growing now. I have

six ^five on the top the C.B., C.M.G., D.S.O.

D.C.M. & the Queen's Son of Africa.

Then in the 2nd row I have the King's

South African & the French Croix de

Guerre. Soon I will have the Gallipoli

Star. I believe the ribbon for it is on 

view but it is not yet authorised

for wear. I hear the Ribbon is ^a very

pretty one. How are the wee people.

I haven't had any stories about them

for a long time. I spect ^expect as they

grow older & more grown uppish

there wont be so much to tell about

them. All the talk at present

is of Peace but I dont think it

is nearly as near as people think.

The Hun is scooting back to his

own country where he will be still

a hard nut to crack for us & 

I suppose recruits will be harder

to get than ever.

Do you remember Eric Connelly.

He was a very nice ^fine old Boy wounded

in Gallipoli & went home to Australia

He then came back with Genl McNichol

He became Major & D.S.O. He wedded

whilst in Australia just before coming

away this last time - a very nice

girl I heard. The poor chap was

killed a little while ago by an

aeroplane bomb dropped near

his camp. He was dreadfully

injured & died soon after. His 

poor little wife is on the voyage

from Australia to England. Won't

it be ^a dreadful shock to her on

her arrival away from home &

friends & everything. Eric was

a splendid fellow like all my 

old 7^th boys. I had two of them

killed in our last fight. Capt

Stan Neale the Univ. Footballer

a pal of Geordie's & Capt Hornsby

I was very sad indeed about them

Jack Gray is now with the 38^th

Bn as Medical Officer & Robertson

an Ormond man with the 57^th

The latter Reg did great work at

Bellicourt near St. Quentin were

we had very hard fighting.

We thought we had found a

Corpse factory a place where we

had found the Germans boil down

their dead to make fat for explosives

There were a lot of dead neatly

arranged at the side & two

big coppers. In one of them floating

in oily stiff was a mans head

freshly severed from the body.

Some of the Bodies had their

legs & arms cut off by a knife

& were lying by the bodies. The

evidence looked complete but

afterwards some of the German

prisoners told us that it was only a

Cookhouse. When they found

they could not stop us they

sent some engineers to set a trap

for us in the Cookhouse by mining

it & fixing a fuse under the copper

so that if we lit a fire under the

copper the fuse would light up &

blow up the Cookhouse & all in it

Well they were just fusing it up

nicely when it went off & killed the lot

One man's head being blown into the soup

so no one wanted any of it & that was

the greeny mix we saw. Then a doctor

was sent in & he tried to save some

of the men by cutting their damaged

legs & arms off & that accounted

for the other peculiarities we had

noticed. I didn't go to see it

myself but sent young Moor the

V.C. boy to make a report & he said

he thought the Bosches story was

correct. But it was a very

awful sight - & the smell was

dreadful so he could not

stay there too long to be quite sure

Oh Braby I have just got a specially little

letter of yours this minute dated

28^th July. I got one from Katie

dated 1^st August nearly a week

ago so I wonder where this special one

got to.

Don't you go wanting to kiss Bertie

Layh. Lots of girls over here in England

felt that way too & I'm afraid he

developed into a bit of a flirt

& didn't write to his wife till I

sorted him & teased him in

front of all the other officers thr

peasants. That's what comes of wanting

to kiss other people's husbands.

If you want to know anyone xxx

xxxx & belongs not to you

dont it specially when you nearly

loved me once from Katie

I hope Katie does come here

over soon. I'm very lonely for you

all with Layh & Denehy & all

the old Boys going off home to their

people & others killed. It is

very sad to be left alone.

Bye Baaby dear & also a million

of love to you & the Bairnies

from Dida.

France
6/11/18
My dear Baaby                  

It is very wet

& miserable here today. Mud

& dripping trees. There is only one

consolation we are not up with the

front line in the mud & slush

but have cover over our heads.

I guess you will all be rejoicing

at home today with the news 

that Austria has thrown up

the Sponge. Personally I expect

a deal of hard fighting from the

Germans yet in a desperate

effort to turn the tide. Probably

the Fleet will come out for one

last fight rather than be caught

like rats in a trap & have 

to surrender in the end.

I enclose some little things

that may interest you particularly

the copy of the French Army

Order giving me the Croix de

Guerre for my work at Villers-Brettoneux

The British have never given me

anything for that action yet,

though its all the British schools

own methods of attack etc

are now being taught & cracked

up to the skies.

We never see anything of Birdwood

now & a good thing too. We

have never had such a splendid

run of success as since we

got rid of him. General Monash

is worth a dozen of him as

a soldier & as a man there

is no comparison at all.

Birdwood is as mean spirited

as any Uriah Heep. The latest

manifestation of this spirit is

in an order just published about

the officers gone to Australia on 1914

leave. He never had the manliness

to deal with any of them that

shared in competing in the

field but some that he has let

them go on leave anyone that

he doesn't like are to be quietly

put on the shelf & will not be

allowed to return & this

after four years constant fighting.

Well Baaby as we are not

fighting I haven't much news

to tell you this time. I hope

you will send me lots of stories

about the wee people since I

am never tired of hearing

of them. I enclose a letter

from Cousin Nellie telling

about her wee pets little ones. Little Alick

is a splendid little fellow. I can

imagine him thinking only of his 

mother when the teapot burst

on them. Tell the laddie about

him. With heaps of love

& wishes for a Happy Xmas

& New Year. I cabled out ₤50

xxxxxx this day to you

my old Lady. I hope she gets it

all right. Bye & kisses for the

wee pets. Dida

P.S. I had a letter from Grandma

She says our pets little ones are growing

such bonnie children & very

smart. She is sure I will be proud

of them when I see them. Fogy ^She says

that our Caddie has the Bonniest

complection far too good for a boy

my name will be mind with Fogie

again. I have given her such a 

sorting for smoking [[?]] this
& Lyn & Wik miserable with
her tantrums - thankyou I

never ought her near managing

She is be longing for her 

Children again with me much with

then poor [[?]] [[?]] must with

France

15/11/18
My Dear Baaby,

Many thanks for your

letter of the 12^th Sept which you

said was going to be a special little one

but spread over 8 pages before you 

finished. Thats the sort of special "little" one

I like. The cheek of you saying you

had about a million letters & things

in the mail which had just arrived

& wanting "more". And you write

me a "special" "little one" about once a month.

I am so glad that Dhurack's 

little bottle of Perfume arrived

all right for the wee pet. Isn't 

it strange how long it takes to get

the kits out to Australia. It took

a long long time for jack's Geordie to get

out & my uncle Jim went to 

the Head Quarters Depot & hurried

them up. Look Baaby I am

getting him to send out by one

of the transports several boxes ^of things

of shells cases the laddies rifle & other

things to be delivered to the Naval

Military Institute in Queens

Street. If they arrive whilst

you Katie is away will you

let the people there have my

your new address. I gave them

the Elsternwick one & I think

it will be too late now

to change it as they have

probably gone off. I am sorry

for poor Hugo. But I dont think

that in Civilian life one realizes

how gradually we come over here

to regard death almost with

contempt. There were so many

of our pals gone before that it

seemed little more than a step in the

darkness to join them. Of course

one instinctively shrank from the

awful mutilation which was so

of the accompaniment of death

in the field but often it was so

quick & merciful far more so

than any death at home would

be when one can count the slow

& merciless approach of death.

Yes I think the girl at the Counter

of Sear's shop is Miss Sears all 

right. I liked the little stories

about the lad & Gagy Knowning Dhurach

places again. I want some more

stories about the "nips". So Hurry

up with them. I am so glad

the wee our little people like little wee

Jacquelyn. Even if we don't like care for

Lyn we must see that Geordie's 

wee Bairnie does not suffer because

he died for us. I was so callous