Cecil Mills Collection - Wallet 2 - Part 20 of 22

Just in rear of Trenches 
14 - 4 - 16 

Dear old Girl. 
Am a couple of miles
in rear of the firing line just now, sent
out to do a job. Have been in the Trenches
for 4 days, & come out tomorrow night
for 5 days to be in reserve, where we will stay
in Billets &c. Last night your parcel came with
the sox thanks. Your pair are beauties, put
them on this morning & they are so comfy. 
A man requires a lot of bad luck to get hit
in the trenches we are in. It is a neat
home. We've only had 2 killed and 1 wounded
so far. It's jolly cold and miserable at times. 
It has rained nearly all the time, but the
trenches are all boarded & we have huge 
to gum boots up to our thighs. Have to
go away with the Billeting party now old
Sweety Heart. Hope to write you a decent
letter when we get out of the Trenches to- 
morrow night - Love to all & a great
big hug for Johnnie. With all my love old
woman. Your loving Husband 
Cecil

(1890) Wt. W 9044-1194. 12/14. 40,000 Pads. S. B. Ltd 
"B" Form. Army Form C. 2122. 
MESSAGES AND SIGNALS. No. of Message   
Received Sent Office Stamp. 
Prefix ................................... Code ............................ m.  
Office of Origin and Service Instructions. Words. At ................... m. At ..................... m. 
From .................... To .......................... 
By ......................... By ........................ 
TO 
Sender's Number Day of Month In Reply to Number 
* A A A

From 
Place 
Time 
* This line should be erased if not required. 

14 - 4 - 1916 

Mrs CB Mills 
c/- Dr A Burne 
"Kinellan" 
Dalleys St 
Waverley 
New South Wales 
Australia 

PASSED FIELD CENSOR 2964

Somewhere in France 
17 : 4 : 16. 

Dear Old Girl. 
I managed to get a wee 
bit of a note off to you last Friday, while I 
was down at H.Q. Well being under Fire is 
quite an ordinary experience now. We went 
into the Trenches last Monday night & took 
over from an Imperial Regt. The section we 
have is pretty safe. The Germans can blow 
our parapets to bits at any time, but we can 
do the same to theirs, so a sort of armed 
neutrality exists & we try & out one another 
in rather a gentlemanly way on any provocation. 
If more than about 6 of our chaps got together 
in a working party, the Germs shell the party & 
we do the same for them if we see any of their 
parties. The shells whizz round about our ears 
at times. They have knocked our parapets down 
once or twice with High Explosive shells. When 
Shrapnel is being fired, one is very safe in the 
front fire trench, as long as one keeps close to the 
front wall. The snipers & machine guns make 
it pretty warm along our parapets at times & 
it is not safe to poke ones pretty head up too far 
& keep it up too long at a time. We had no casualties
in our Coy during out time in the Trenches. 
We came out on Saturday night, & got into our 
Billets about 1 o'clock on Sunday morning

2/ 

& the men has a good spell all day Sunday. 
We have to do a lot of fatigue work, & nearly all 
my men are out today, & one of the poor blighters 
got a bullet through his ankle. They are doing 
fatigue work about 1/2 a mile in rear of the firing 
line & its a jolly sight more dangerous there than 
in the trenches. It is at that big Convent, or rather 
all that is left of where the Convent used to be, that 
we stand a chance of losing men. This is the 
Convent where the Germans ravished all the 
nuns early in the War. A great number of 
the nuns were sent to Ireland to be confined. 
It must have been a dreadful business. This 
village we are in can be shelled with ease by 
the Germans. They have a go now & again & 
stick a few High Explosives in & set fire to a 
few houses, then whip some Shrapnel along & 
everyone ducks for cover. It keeps one lively. 
Our guns are giving them some hurry up 
this afternoon, & our windows are rattling 
a treat with the concussion. Some awfully 
funny things happen in the trenches. The 
second night we were in I was sneaking round 
patrolling my section, with my overcoat & big 
gum boots up to my thighs on, & after some 
marvellous escapes, all of a sudden up went my

3 

feet & my shoulders hit the mud. By Jove I was
in a mess, have not got the mud off my coat
yet, & never will I think. Talk about rats! There
must be millions of them, all sizes & colours, they
run about day & night, & even dispute the
right of way along the trench boards. We seem
to get an awful amount of wet weather in this
part of the world & it is still jolly cold. I'll
be jolly glad when the warm weather comes,
which should be sometime next month. The men
will get a hot bath & a change of underclothing
while we are out. It will be grand to get up to
ones neck in hot water with plenty of soap
again. I've got a great dug out in my Section.
It is the swagger one of the whole line. It has
a window in it, sundry shelves, trench boards
right along the ground, & a great big bunk
with heaps of empty sand bags on it, & also a
chair by way of furniture. There is certainly
a bit of water under the trench boards & it is
not advisable to step too much to one side
in the dark. I did it once, & went splosh. 
I got my section nearly dry the last day we
were in, by keeping men on the pump all
day, we got a wonderful amount of water
out & if the chaps that took over from us keep
it going, & the rain holds off, we should be pretty

dry and comfy when we go in again. It took 
me 3 or 4 days in the trenches to get over the 
effects of the route marches up to the firing line 
Was all aches & pains, & the night we got in I 
was dead beat & was jolly glad to get my equipment 
off. We had to stand to all the first night 
& I thought daylight would never come, but the 
longest night comes to an end if one only waits 
long enough. Had a letter from Reg Stossy on 
Sunday. There was not much news in it, except a bit 
about the Derby scheme & a few remarks about 
Percy being one of our big city men &c & it now 
costs 5/- to speak to him & the price rapidly 
going up. We hear there is a mail in at 
Brigade, which we may get in the course of a 
day or so, as soon as there is time to sort it. 
Don't suppose there will be any chance of getting 
the photos by that mail, but your next letter to 
me should be addressed direct to the Battallion 
& once 6th Reinforcements is cut out, my mail 
will come a bit quicker. No more tonight but 
I will have a chance to write again before we go 
back to the Trenches. Much love to the Family 
& heaps for you & the boy. 
Your loving Husband 
Cecil 

34/ O.A.S Abroad 

17 - 4 - 16 

Mrs C.B. Mills 
C/- Dr A Burne 
"Kinellan" 
Dalley St 
Waverley 
New South Wales 
Australia 

PASSED FIELD CENSOR 2964 
G E Wright