Letters from Harold Edward 'Pompey' Elliott to his sister-in-law, January 1917 - April 1919 - Part 4

France
9/4/17
My dear Baaby,
Got quite a big fat
letter from you two days ago
It beat Katie’s two fatter ones
to me by over 24 hours. It is
such a long while too since we
had letters. The one of yours
is dated 28^th Feb. January. One
of Katies was dated the same
day the other – at least the last
page of it was dated the 4^th Feb
She said you had been too busy
to write. Be sure & tell me
how the [[ ^my ]] dear old lady is Keeping
Baaby dear. She says she is
Very well but asks what would
happen out there if anything
went wrong with her. She says
of course nothing is going to happen
but I don’t like [[ even ? ]] send as
a hint. So tell me good & take
 

2
heaps of care of her for me won’t
you. You Know you would have
to wed me if anything did happen
for I could have no one else
to take care of the dear wee pets
for me but “Dear”, the little
darlings would die out sure
enough. So to escape that fate you
must just look after Katie all
the more. I should be very sad
for a long long while if there were
no “Sunshine lady” looking out for
me when I came home or no
“Dear” either for the matter of that
So you must both be there together
looking bright & happy & well &
with heaps of pogues & loves for
me. I am so sorry we [[ ^{Jack & I} ]] didn’t
tell you about the cakes. Perhaps
it was because neither of us got
much more than the taste of them. I
Know the other boys with me
just about gobbled all my mine
up & were looking round for
more --------------- 
 

3
before I well Knew it had arrived. So
you needn’t be afraid it wasn’t appreciated
here. I guess it was the same with Jack’s.
I haven’t seen Geordie for about a
week. His Battn has been fighting & had
a good few casualties but they are all
N.S.W. men & I don’t Know them [[ ^{at all} ]] hardly
His Colonel is the best one they have got in
that Brigade but he is very young only
about 25 & with a D.S.O. he is inclined
to be a bit conceited & youthfully self opiniated.
When I was in the 1^st Brigade in Egypt
I sorted him up & he got a transfer to the
Brigade he is with now.
It is pouring with rain today
but looking out of my window I can
see breaks in the clouds & it is likely
to be bright sunshine this afternoon
There is a tremendous bombardment
on just now. It must be just deafening
a little nearer the front line. Here it is like
the roar of the breakers on Warnambool Beach
in a Southerly gale with every now & again
a thunder clap thrown in from the
monster guns of which we have quite a
number now. A wireless message has
just been passed to me saying that our
troops who are attacking under cover
of this storm of shells are progressing splendidly
If it fully succeeds Fritz will get a very
nasty Knock. but the Lord send that people
at home should imagine that because 
 

we drive him back 20 miles we’ve got
him beaten. He is going more or less of his
own free will but hurried here & there by our
efforts. So long as he Keeps an unbroken
front before us he is safe but I do long
for our Australian Light Horse from
Palestine. Had I them with me I believe
I could have been half way to the Rhine by
now. As it was with my Infantry I outstripped
even the 2^nd Australians on my left by a
couple of miles & the British Division on
my right by nearly six miles & things
got so serious that for three whole days
I was under absolute orders not to
advance a foot & I had to watch
the Boche digging trenches like fury
night & day where he had none at all
in front of me & I could do nothing but
fret & fume & swear. I’m afraid
“Dear” you’d have been glad you were home
in Northcote those days if you could
have peeped in at me. I [[ rocked ? ]] young
Capt Legge completely because he didn’t
hop out of bed at once one morning when
the Boche tried to be funny & drive us back
Legge always was fond of his bed & when the
Message came in about the attack I sent
word to him to get the 60^th under arms
at once. It was a cold frosty morning &
he didnt want to do it & was very sulky
P.T.O.
 

& slow & it took half an hour for the message
to get to the 60^th although not 100 yards
away. I was boiling over about it & had
him in & told him that no true soldier
would think anything too much trouble
if thereby he could save the life [[ ^of ]] or injury to
one single soldier & that I did not want
him with me any more. He got a very
nasty shock (I think) but it will I think
do him the world of good. He has now
been sent to a school in England & has as he
has heaps of brains he will do well. I wish
there were more like him. I sa in that 
respect. I saw my old 7^th Boys yesterday
& they are not a patch on the Boys of my
Brigade. The officers all want to come over
to me. They say that their present Brigade
Staff are all “Dud’s”. A “Dud” is a
Brummy Shell that doesn’t go off when
it is fired. We used to have a lot of
them when we bought our shells from
the Americans.
I think I will have a try to get [[ Barton ? ]] with
me at any rate. He is a fine boy & they
have done absolutely nothing for him. He would
make a Splendid Brigade Major too.
I havent seen Jacky boy for a long time
but his Division is away out of the line
having a “rest” or making roads or
something so he is all right.
We are expecting to be into it up to
our necks in a few days again So Keep
on praying hard that “Dida” will have the right
plans shown him to save his boys as much as
possible & lick the “Huns” good. Baaby If you saw
the way they have treated this Country you’d
never speak to a German again. They’ve even
bashed the poor Kiddies toys to pieces & burned

[* them & chopped down all the fruit trees & put poison or nightsoil in all
the water & carried off all the girls – poor things – for “officers Servants” God help them
Well some day we’ll punish them  Bye Baaby dear Heaps of love & pogues from Dida *] 
 

France
[[ 12/4/17 ? ]]
My dear Baaby,
It was lovely getting a
letter from you so soon again, but some of
them must have got drowned sure
enough. This one is dated the 18^th Feb
& the other away back at the beginning of
Feb so there must be at least two letters
between that I didn’t get. But it may
only be the result of putting girls in
the [[ ^Base ]] Post office in London so that the men
may be relieved from Service. They say
that our letters went all to Glory at first
but no doubt the sudden change caused
that to happen & they will improve as
times go on but it was very sad
waiting & waiting for letters. I am
so glad you have got a place to suit
at last and an awa’ from Northcote.
Will you send the wee laddie to school as
well as Violet. Tell me all about the house
& the rent & everything if you haven’t
already done so in your former letters.
It will be very sad for you for the next
few mails as readdressing the letters will
 

no doubt cause a days delay in delivery
I had a long ride over 20 miles yesterday
to see Mrs Edward’s son John who
is a 2^nd Lieut in the 1^st Royal Welsh
Fusiliers. It was very bad [[ ^luck ]]. When I
got there I found he had been wounded
on the 30^th of last Month & sent off to
hospital. It is just a flesh wound
not at all dangerous. A fragment
of shell struck his wrist & then glanced
on t the inside of his thight cutting it
open. The only danger that could be is
from gangrene & he was given an anti-tetanus
injection to prevent that from
setting up. They are about 10 miles from
here. It was a bright sunny day & I
enjoyed the ride very much in spite of
a strong wind that made me glad of my
overcoat & to see a warm fire on
my return. My old black horse is in
splendid form these days. Such a
sperrik of a letter as you wrote – it was
Big heap lazy you. We are still “resting”
or roadmaking which is the same thing here 
 

But there has been a big attack on & we were
ordered to be prepared to move on a 2 hour
notice in case anything unfortunate
happened but nothing so far. There is
glorious news of doings in the British
Armies on our Flanks Vimy Ridge
Captured by the Canadians, 9000
prisoners & 50 guns. That will give
old Fritz a nasty taste in his
mouth but the capture of even [[ 10^s ]] of
thousands of prisoners is nothing to a
nation which counts her soldiers
by the million. They say the Russians
have had a million soldiers captured
& yet she fights on. The Germans prefer
however to despise the Russians utterly
One officer we captured wore two iron
Crosses. He said he had got them for
capturing with one other man alone seven
Russian machine guns. He & a friend
Crept close up to the Russian trenches
& then suddenly shouted out in German
& all the Russians ran for their lives
[[ lives ? ]] leaving their machine guns behind to be 
 

Captured. He was given an Iron Cross
i e a private’s & a commission on the
Spot. Then when the Kaiser got to hear of
it he had him given an Officer’s Iron
Cross which is a much more elaborate
affair as well. And if true without doubt
the job deserved such recognition. However
he had all the starch taken out of him when
my boys met him & he put up his hands
& hollered “Kamerad” with the best of
them. It is lovely to ride over this
country where it is not torn up with
shells. The fields are gently undulating
with little patches of woods here & there
& all getting lovely [[ ^{so beautiful} ]] & green now. There are
no fences & hardly any hedges. The fields are
divided by ditch or drains & my old
horse loves jumping over them. Wouldn’t
you like to be us now Baaby dear
I hope I see Jacky boy soon. I enclose
a letter I got from General Birdwood this
morning. I had applied to him to have my
Brigade called “The Australian Victorian Rifle
Brigade” & he turned it down. I then wrote 
 

& said I though it a mistake to bar us
assuming distinctive titles like the
British Regiments & this is his reply.
I have written again to him & told him he
is all wrong. He used to get angry when I
told him he was all wrong in Egypt but b my
Boys have done so dashed well now that
he begins to have a shrew suspicion that what
I say is just[[ ^somewhere ]]-about-right. By the same
mail I got two letters from Katie. It is bad
luck the parcels are so long arriving. I
suppose you will have to wait now for next
summer to have them made up & perhaps
Taffeta will be out of fashion then.
Wasn’t that little French lady a gawker [[ ^{foolish person} ]].
I just wonder how the wee people will
get on at school. It snowed like fury [[ ^heavily ]]
last night & today it is [[ ^so ]] that windy
your hair nearly blows off when you
go out of the room without a hat
but it has dried up the snow & much
of the slush which followed it wonderfully
Bye dear old Baaby. Heaps of pogues
& love from Dida. Go to Back of P 1 
 

P.S. My new Diary is filling up pretty
quick. Will you please get me another like
it only not so big & clumsy. More like the
first ones I had Baaby dear. It is hard
to carry a big fat one. Let the cover be
a limp one not hard. If [[ nessary ? ]] a leather
one because they will have to last a long
time. The little people & perhaps their
babies too might want to read them
some time.
Oh. Sir Robert Best lives out at Surrey
Hills I think & runs the branch of
Our Comfort fund there. I have his
Son Lieut Best in the 58^th Bn with
Col Denehy. He is quite a good boy.