Letters from Harold Edward 'Pompey' Elliott to his cousin Emily Edwards, July 1916 - December 1918 - Part 2

Cousins have a great time on the Beach
which is only a few minutes walk from
either house. - It is Holiday time there
in the Summer - Gladys Walker - Lyn's
sister has got married to a Doctor James
who has a practice in the next suburb.
- Do you remember me reading out her letter
to Jack on the babys arrival - Freda
her other sister has become engaged to a
man who is coming to my Brigade as
a Reinforcement. So the world goes on.
Did I tell you that I liked the little book
of poems you sent me.- very much - but
"Bees in Amber" are gems of thought. I
read them very often. I enclose a cutting
of a poem by Richard Church - It is a
fine Philosophy. I wonder why one does
instinctively cling to live & as instinctively
shrink from death. - If there is nothing
after death - what more is it than prolonged
sleep - if there is something after
death will it not in all probability
be an existence brighter & better than
this. -. Practically all my most valued
friends - men who joined up largely because
I did - have gone. The only answer is that
there is work to be done here & it was necessary
to plant "Death" standing sentinel upon us
or we would desert our posts & go

There were many reasons why I should
not have accepted the offer of 6 months leave
chief of which was that the enemy has
been promising us this offensive & I
should not like to be away when that
happens. I missed the Battle at
Krithia when my old Battalin made a
Very Brilliant Charge through being
away wounded. I missed the Pozieres
Battle & Messines because in each case
my Brigade was not engaged. I have
a sort of envy of those who can say they
were present in each occasion.
If this Broche attack comes off
it will be an occasion when Henry V's
words at Agincourt might well be
applicable.
"We few, we happy few, we band of brothers
"For he to day that sheds his blood with me
"Shall be my brothers - ...
"And gentlemen in England now abed
"Shall think themselves accursed they were not here
"And hold their manhoods cheap while any speak
"That fought with us upon St Crispin's Day"
Please convey my Kind regards to your
husband Patty & Gertie.
Yours very sincerely
H.E. Elliott.

Belgium
3/3/18
Dear Milly,
I have your letters of the
20^th & 24^th Feb. written at Moreton -
Hampstead. I am quite well though
I am by no means pleased with the
sudden return of winter & Snow
we are now experiencing. We are
very busy preparing both for the
enemy attacks upon us &
deriving means by raids &
otherwise for keeping him
jumpy & nervous. The work
is interesting & exciting & I
dont think I will ask for leave
until we come out of the line
at the end of the month. It
always means that someone less
fortunate than I has to wait
longer for his turn when I go away.
so while I feel all right I will
go on. My face is quite all
right, I think that trouble

2
has solved itself now until I
get mixed up in the gas again.
He is continually sending it
over in shells but our H.Qs here
are a long way back from the line
& hidden from sight by a big hill
so we are not troubled at all
by his attentions. Our casualties
are fortunately few at present
though one minenwerfer shell got
12 Victims of whom 7 were Killed
outright. We are going to have
a raid tonight. I am hopefull
of a successful issue, but there
is always a good deal of risk
of disaster in an operation
of such a sort. The other night
he tried to raid our line &
was run with the result that
he left 26 dead & 1 officer &
4 men wounded & prisoners in
our hands out of about 70.

3
who formed the party. It is
a ticklish operation getting
through belts of wire if you
should chance to be caught.
I have my own way of running
these things - so far we have
always been successful but
one never be quite sure. A
big shell landing in the midst
of the party where they are close or
an undisclosed M.G may
suddenly open with disasteres
results, but I am hoping for the
best & providing so far as human
vision & power can go against
every possibility. I am very
glad your sister is still showing
improvement in her health. that
must be very pleasing to you.
I hope J.C gets his leave all
right soon. I am sending

4
you a post card photo of my
babies. They are getting big now.
I also send you a home made
snapshot of them & also another
showing my mother holding poor
Jack's little girlie "Jacquelyn"
his wife disguised as "Father
Christmas. - My girlie holding
Violets latest baby Rosemary
Judith who was very naughty
& cried all the time (Poor Kiddie
was sickening for measles at the
time only they did not know) my
laddie & half of Violet's laddie
John. He has a Red Indian
suit & feather cap on. [The photos
were taken at a little Xmas Party
they had for the children].
In the other one there are just
the same people except that you
can only see little John's fingers
holding my mother's hand

5.
The light is shining through my
mother's glasses from the back
making a light spot in her nose
which looks funny. I think you
will notice a resemblance particularly
about the forehead to your people.
I am sending two more of
Jacquelyn - One with my sister
Florrie & the doll house in, - the other
is a frame of flowers of which she
evidently does not approve. In all
of them she has the same little white
silk cap on but in some of them
the effect of the bright sun on it
makes it look funny in the photo.
Some of them are very good
but may interest you. If you
wish to do so you may keep
them. I have others of my own.
I asked Katie to send me
copies for you. I read Dr
Gerard's Book when last in

England & am now reading with
interest the extracts from his diary
published in the Times.
I'm afraid I could not invent
a name for "Aunt Martha" without
seeing her first. I hope my
letters do lighten a few hours
for her. When we have been in
action it is easy to write fairly
interestingly but when one
gets into a routine job of holding
the line there is little to tell
about & keep within the rules of
the Censorship. Things are going
well in Palestine I see. I often
envy our people out there. My
first soldiering was as a
(Light?) Horseman in S. Africa
& it is so much more interesting
than with the infantry though
always where there is heavy
fighting the infantry must take

.6.
it on. If your nephew can get
attached to the Anzac Mounted
Division out there he will have
quite a good time riding round
the flanks of the enemy & surprising
him. The little bit of open warfare
we had last year near Baupaume
surpassed in interest all the
weary months we have spent
in the trenches or trying to
"slog" way through the
front. but there there is no flank
to find. I have not seen Masefields
book that you mention but his work
in Gallipoli is quite the best &
truest account I have seen
of that Campaign. The sweater
is a great comfort to me thanks
very much. Please give my Kindest
regards to your husband & Patty.
I hope to see you towards the end of
this month or early next.
yours very sincerely HE Elliott

Belgium
18/3/18
Dear Milly
Many thanks for your
letter of the 10^th March.. We came out
of the line into support on the
15^th. We are however still very busy
working on Rear Lines which are being

prepared in case the Broche tries to
break through. Our raids were quite
a success. We put in seven altogether
& got 18 Broches alive & Killed others.
We had a very nice telegram from
General Plumer & another from Genl
Birdwood congratulating us on
the results when we came out.
Genl Plumer has resumed Command
of us now. That also looks as if you
may expect J.P to be up this way
shortly. They say there are heaps &
heaps of Broches over against us now
so the fun should begin any day.
My boys are quite hoping he will
come on. The Raids have given them
great confidence & in the vast
majority of cases the Broche showed
very little fight & the only two deaths
of our side were caused by our